Need help setting up receiver in EasyStar
 

I purchased a J3 Cub trainer from ebay. After discovering that the instructions were in Chinese, I went on to find that there was a nice little ball of silicone in the rudder servo which caused it to jam once in a while. Three jams was enough to destroy the airplane completely. Now I have this Abe Lincoln's axe thing going--I bought a new ARF kit (EasyStar) and new servos. Now I've found that the J3 Cub used a proprietary receiver with built-in servos, so I had to buy another receiver. I got the receiver today, a Cirrus 4 channel designed for the wattage Cessna/Corsair, and now I'm looking at 12 little pins and wondering which one is which.

I have an esc with three leads, a 400 motor with two wires coming from each terminal, and two three-wire servos. Can anyone tell me where the esc leads go, where the power goes in, whether I need a separate battery for the receiver (I'm using a 6cell 700MA unit)? I appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks,

Cheburashka

RE: Need help setting up receiver in EasyStar
 

Lets have a go at this - its hard when I don't know the colors of wires YOU have. From photos I've seen the Cirrus Rx has the channels labelled on its upper face (1, 2, 3, 4 or batt). From top to bottom the three pins for each channel are (probably) negative, positive, signal.

The ESC should have two wires labelled "to motor" from one end (?red +, white or black -) , and at the other end, two wires labelled "to battery" (?red +, white or black -), plus the three wire lead to the Rx (?brown -, red +, yellow signal). [the ESC will almost certainly have BEC (Battery Eliminator Circuit capability) so you do not need a separate receiver battery].

Connect the two wires from the 400 motor to the two "to motor" wires from the ESC. Connect the 3-wire lead from the ESC to the Rx into Channel 3 (throttle) with the signal wire (?yellow) down. Connect your 3-wire rudder servo lead (signal wire again down) into Channel 1 on the Rx, and the elevator lead into Channel 2.

ONLY WHEN YOU ARE READY TO TRY THE SYSTEM, turn your Tx on FIRST, THEN connect the battery, with correct polarity, to the "to battery" lead on the ESC.

Let us know how this goes!

Cheers, Phil

RE: Need help setting up receiver in EasyStar
 

Thank you Dr. Kiwi!!

Your advice is very helpful. You've answered everything, with one exception. The three wires coming from the esc are all yellow, and they are soldered straight into the circuit board in a straight line. I'm assuming the one that connects to a ciruit terminating at the crystal is going to be signal. The other two aren't as easy to trace. Dare I assume that since they've put signal at the bottom that the other two are in the correct order? If I botch it--say putting positive into signal--would that kill the receiver? How can one test the esc to see which wire does what?

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to finding out that the amperage of the esc is too low for the 400 motor. . .


Steve

RE: Need help setting up receiver in EasyStar
 

Geez - you are on your own! What sort of ESC has all yellow wires! But, seriously, I don't think that having the wires reversed will be fatal - it just won't work. If you have a 400 motor you need an ESC rated for at least 10A. If in doubt buy a Castle Creations Pixie 20P - at least its wires are standard colors!

Cheers, Phil

RE: Need help setting up receiver in EasyStar
 

Actually, if you get the wires reversed, it WILL be fatal. Connect that positive lead from the ESC to anything but a positive pin on the receiver, and kiss your new receiver GOOD BYE when you connect a second wire :(

The ESC wires are all yellow because it was meant to be thrown away with the plane...

You may be better off getting yourself a new ESC with a proper connector on it.

You'd think you could trust a product name Cheng Teng
 

It continues.

I tried the esc that came with the plane. I think it was the esc, although it acted like a smoke screen generator. And now I own a brand new esc from a reputable manufacturer.

After getting all of the parts connected (with the only thing from my original airplane being the transmitter) I found that the esc wouldn't work at all. If I turn off the transmitter I get these little surges at the prop from CB interference, and with the radio on the surges stop, but I can't get any power. The battery is charged and everything should be working.

It's a moot point anyway, since the rudder and elevator work in reverse and the crappy radio doesn't have servo reversing. GRRR.

So I have to go back to Ebay and buy someone else's used radio and transmitter. This assuming that the problem with the esc isn't somehow linked to the demise of the original esc.

I was told that this was an expensive hobby, but I never expected to piss away $150.00 trying to get a $30.00 airplane that I paid $70.00 for to fly like a $120.00 airplane. I could have done something more useful with that money, like developing a crack habit.

Is there a simple way to test whether the receiver is putting out signal to the esc? Failing that, is there a way to test the function of the esc while bypassing the receiver?


The upshot of all of this is that I'm wondering if I should just put away my marbles and wait until I have $300 to spend on a reasonable RTF system. My other option would be to scour ebay for a nice used unit from someone who has moved up (4-channel narrow-band FM units seem to go for around $60.00) or a new system with a trainer mode. Is it at all likely that I could get this EasyStar going without having to spend more than $100 on top of what I've already spent?

I appreciate all of your help. If you have any questions about Modernist American Literature I'd be glad to answer them.


Steve

RE: Need help setting up receiver in EasyStar
 

Just my 2 cents ... ebay ain't worth the trouble, so stay away!

1) HobbyZone products aren't too bad, all work as advertised.
2) T-Hawk, comparable product
3) GWS starter system, SlowStick, charger and couple of battery packs should be around $250, and you can move the equipment to another plane.
4) Stop looking at ebay.

RE: Need help setting up receiver in EasyStar
 

I agree with Peter. Trying to cobble something together from ebay "bargains" is something that should be left until you're a little more knowledgable about the technology.

Evidently, you must've connected the ESC to the receiver with the + lead in the wrong place. Sorry to hear that.

My advice is to put aside everything you have right now, and start over with proper equipment. All you're going to do with what you have now is throw money at it until you're totally disgusted, and quit. Check the top post titled Good First Planes in the Electric Training forum.

RE: Need help setting up receiver in EasyStar
 

Advice taken. Into the rafters it goes.

I'll be starting a new thread asking for advice on a complete RTF kit.


Thanks,

Steve