Hey guys,

Been on the sidelines with this hobby for nearly 10 years and alot has changed since I was last active in this hobby. I have a new build I have started (Adams A500) and the elevator servo is nearly 7 feet worth of distance away from the reciever. The instructions do not cover the basic set up of such equipment and my question is what is the best way to connect the two. Servo extensions or custom wiring? What about boosting the signal or any chance of interference at such a long distance? Would like to here pros and cons of all aspects. I'm leaning towards custom wiring as the alterintive would require alot of extensions even the 40" ones.

Another question reguarding dual servos for the same function (multiple flaps/dual rudders etc.). Would you connect with "Y" harness or use a mix function of the radio between 2 channels?

Whats the consinces of the new futuba "fast" radio systems?

I know I could probably search the sight and find most of my answers but my time is limited.

Thanks in advance to those of you that can help

Good flying

Well I figured out the search function. A lot of good advise on making your own extensions. Man I have a lot to learn or have forgetten a lot over the years or the sport has just advanced that much. I'll take my pick. You guys seem like you have been a great help to many in need and I certainly will be in need of advise.

My big question is what to do about a 6-7' long extension. For an elevator servo it is kind of important, obviously, and there is no way to make the length shorter. Will I encounter problems with such a long wire? How would I solve any problems before they occure.

Thanks guys. I look foward to catching up with the technoledgy I have missed in the last 10 years. When your job becomes flying you tend to do other hobbies on your time off. Now that the airlines have cut back I am flying RC again.

Brian

Make your own extensions and then twist the wires between the reciever and the servo. Twisting the wires is a common technique to prevent stray signals over long runs. There is actually a lot of physics behind it. Using a larger guage wire with as many strands as you can find will also help. Smaller strands twisted into larger wires gives more flexibility, and larger guage wire will give less impedence to the signals.

Brad

Twist if you like, a lot of guys do. I buy my servo wire in bulk and clip the servo lead wire and solder on my extension. I used to use the store bought leads/extensions but they should be pulled and cleaned every year and I'm very bad about doing things like that. By soldering on my extensions I get rid of that little problem. I almost never use a Y harness, I have seen too many of them fail, if you must use them try to put them on something like flaps so it doesn't mater if you have a bad one. You buy a high powered radio for a reason, use it, that's why you bought it in the first place. P-mixing is easy and works very well. I have only gotten to program one plane so far with the Futaba 10 and I like it very well, maybe because I have been using the Futaba 9-C for so many years. I also like the JR 9303, both easy to program. At the moment JR has a better selection of RXs you can use so you can save some money but I like the FAST system better?? Maybe?? Both nice radios

My thoughts are pretty much the same a Grey Beards. I avoid extensions if at all possible as I have seen to many fail, especially those that are buried inside a wing or fuselage as, if not cycled often, build up a high impedance and cause servo jitter if not outright failure.
As to radio systems, I have one Futaba FHSS, one Airtronics RDS8000, one one Spectum. All are good so far but as an electrical engineer with many years in the RF field, I am partial to the Futaba or Airtronics as their frequency hopping systems are theoretically more reliable and more immune to possible interference than Spectrum or JR. I have not had the Airtronics long enough to comment on their reliability from an assembly and component standpoint. Futaba's long term use in the military work is particularly pertinent as to the reliability of their frequency hopping techniques.

Twisting does nothing (in this application) other than make the total wire run longer.

Very true, the only advantage you get from twisting is often a neater layout. There are places and environments where twisting has some advantages but a model plane is not one of them.

That has been my thinking but if someone wants to do it I just let them and don't say anything about it, doesn't seem to hurt or help. When looking at radios I look at not only the mixing they offer but how easy the radios are to program. I use a lot of the little things offered like Expo on throttles and I use two elevator servos a lot so that has to be in there. The plane on my bench right now is a trike gear and i added a servo just for steering and slaved it to the rudder, ch 4 master and ch 5 as slave, easy mix. It's worth sitting down and reading the instructions for a radio before you buy or you can end up having to go old school and be using Y harness set ups.