Controller Terminology Questions
09-24-2006, 09:31 PM
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Controller Terminology Questions
I have a couple of questions. What does Exponential and user definable mix mean in regards to controllers? What exactly is servo reversing. What do people think of the Futaba 6EXA Super. Any other tips on controller selection would be appreciated. Thanks for answering my dumb questions.
09-24-2006, 11:50 PM
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RE: Controller Terminology Questions
* The Futaba 6EXA radios are pretty good computer radios cost to functionality wise to start out with, I believe. I have the 6EXAP computer radio which is similar and I can do pretty much everything I need for my 3 flyable models with it.
* Having "Exponential" on a controller's channel means that instead of normal 1:1 controller stick movement to actual control response ratio, you can make it so that for example: You move the elevator stick half way up on your radio, but with certain percentage of "expo" turned on, say 30% (I forget if negative or positive amount) you can make the actual control surface move a small amount, say, only a third of its range upward. BUT as you get closer to your stick's movement limit, the actual control surface on your plane will start to move more further per degree of stick movement, more like 1:1. OR in the opposite effect (again, either positive or negative percentage of expo, whichever one it is), you can make it so that small amounts of stick movement will initially cause greater movement of the control surface on the plane. So to sum it up in simpler terms, you can set the expo percentage on certain channels so that you get finer detail control by moving your controller inputs a small amount, but as you mash the stick closer towards their maximum travel on your radio, the plane's corresponding surface will move at a more 1:1 controller input ratio. It's kinda hard for me to explain, but if you do it yourself with a control surface you will see the effects a little clearly.
* User selectable mixing means you can mix the movement of 2 channels (or more I guess depending on the complexity of the radio). For example, say you want to automatically add a little rudder input whenever you bank your plane using the aileron stick movement to aid in turning the plane. Well, if I recall the 6EX radio wants you to choose the "Master" channel (the aileron in this case) and the "Slave" channel (the rudder), then you select the percentage of movement for the slave channel (the rudder). This way while you hold your aileron stick toward right or left, during that time, the radio will automatically add a little bit of rudder movement according to the percent value, in the respective direction (you may have to adjust exactly which direction). OR you want to add flap mixing to your ailerons, or "Flaperon" mixing, so that you can lower your ailerons as "flaps" when you want to land by adjusting the knob on the radio's top right corner (for the 6EX in this case) while still retaining their normal aileron function within their movement limits.
* Servo or Channel reversing is a feature that basically allows you to reverse the direction a servo will move given the movement of your control sticks. So if you move your rudder stick LEFT but your rudder moves right, you can Reverse the rudder servo's channel to correct that. SO basically you set it once for whichever servo needs to work in the proper direction. BUT if it's an ESC, and you reverse that ESC's channel, it won't make the motor spin the other way (you do that by simply switching the motor leads polarity) but it may help in making sure that 0% throttle on your radio is really being correctly interpreted by the ESC as STOP and not all ahead full 100% (as I found out a couple times by accident) ! Usually an airplane ESC will not "arm" when plugged in to a battery until it "sees" the throttle at 0%. SO if you are having trouble getting your motor to spin, you might find out that the throttle position is being interpreted incorrectly by a certain ESC and you may need to reverse the ESC channel to make it work right.
Whew! I hope this clarifies a few things for you. Though if I were you starting out, don't worry so much about expo and channel mixing and stuff at first (maybe servo reversing will be useful though). Just familiarize yourself with the functions of your certain plane and grow with that.
* Having "Exponential" on a controller's channel means that instead of normal 1:1 controller stick movement to actual control response ratio, you can make it so that for example: You move the elevator stick half way up on your radio, but with certain percentage of "expo" turned on, say 30% (I forget if negative or positive amount) you can make the actual control surface move a small amount, say, only a third of its range upward. BUT as you get closer to your stick's movement limit, the actual control surface on your plane will start to move more further per degree of stick movement, more like 1:1. OR in the opposite effect (again, either positive or negative percentage of expo, whichever one it is), you can make it so that small amounts of stick movement will initially cause greater movement of the control surface on the plane. So to sum it up in simpler terms, you can set the expo percentage on certain channels so that you get finer detail control by moving your controller inputs a small amount, but as you mash the stick closer towards their maximum travel on your radio, the plane's corresponding surface will move at a more 1:1 controller input ratio. It's kinda hard for me to explain, but if you do it yourself with a control surface you will see the effects a little clearly.
* User selectable mixing means you can mix the movement of 2 channels (or more I guess depending on the complexity of the radio). For example, say you want to automatically add a little rudder input whenever you bank your plane using the aileron stick movement to aid in turning the plane. Well, if I recall the 6EX radio wants you to choose the "Master" channel (the aileron in this case) and the "Slave" channel (the rudder), then you select the percentage of movement for the slave channel (the rudder). This way while you hold your aileron stick toward right or left, during that time, the radio will automatically add a little bit of rudder movement according to the percent value, in the respective direction (you may have to adjust exactly which direction). OR you want to add flap mixing to your ailerons, or "Flaperon" mixing, so that you can lower your ailerons as "flaps" when you want to land by adjusting the knob on the radio's top right corner (for the 6EX in this case) while still retaining their normal aileron function within their movement limits.
* Servo or Channel reversing is a feature that basically allows you to reverse the direction a servo will move given the movement of your control sticks. So if you move your rudder stick LEFT but your rudder moves right, you can Reverse the rudder servo's channel to correct that. SO basically you set it once for whichever servo needs to work in the proper direction. BUT if it's an ESC, and you reverse that ESC's channel, it won't make the motor spin the other way (you do that by simply switching the motor leads polarity) but it may help in making sure that 0% throttle on your radio is really being correctly interpreted by the ESC as STOP and not all ahead full 100% (as I found out a couple times by accident) ! Usually an airplane ESC will not "arm" when plugged in to a battery until it "sees" the throttle at 0%. SO if you are having trouble getting your motor to spin, you might find out that the throttle position is being interpreted incorrectly by a certain ESC and you may need to reverse the ESC channel to make it work right.
Whew! I hope this clarifies a few things for you. Though if I were you starting out, don't worry so much about expo and channel mixing and stuff at first (maybe servo reversing will be useful though). Just familiarize yourself with the functions of your certain plane and grow with that.
