Dansy

My Feedback: (53)

I have 3x LG15 (2 unlock) and one GS200, and none of those are flickering, to me that’s a power surge of some sort....I use direct power from one receiver battery..2s LiPo or li-ion depending on the model.

the only time I ever burned anything was 1 JP controller when up in smoke.....and with the Another JP controller 2 retracts motor’s (at different time) then I switch to the LG15’s

Tip22v

I’ve 3 of these units as well, 2 of which I’m running with a Mercury SRS. I’ve got a BEC in line like you, except my BEC is set to 7.5v. My Mercury is set to 7.4 volts. None of my units exhibit this behavior.

Len Todd

Currently, I run my JP gear at 7.4 VDC. Much lower than that and the gear is slow to operate and the current limit has to be set higher. I started out at 6.9 VDC and worked my way up in voltage. As the voltage got higher, I found that I could back off the current limits. At the lower voltage I was occasionally seeing the gear not going up fully after take off. Once I got the voltage up above 7.2, the gear consistently worked fine. Then, I backed off the current limit until they were not going up and then set the current limit .3 higher. The current limit setting depends on the gear type, cleanliness and keeping the gear's mechanical travel resistance low as possible (e.g. look for wear and sharp edges, etc.)

As to your question, I do not see any display changes on either my MercurySRS or my LGC 15s. I do not use a buss connection to the LGC 15. I am using Mercury's servo outputs to the LCG 15. You did NOT mention what type batteries you were feeding the Mercury with. I use 2s Lipo. If you are using 2s LiFe, you do not have enough voltage to run the Mercury at 7.4 VDC output. That may cause the Mercury to momentarily power on and off. And, with the Mercury powering on and off, the LGC 15 would also power on and off. The condition you describe is definitely NOT normal.

Putting a PBox in a Mini is adding a lot of weight and there really is no need for that amount of power capability. I have flown that plane and you want to keep it as light as possible. Beef up the Landing Gear mounts and keep the wire weight to a minimum. Make absolutely certain that you have the right CG. Initially keep the control surfaces on low settings. I maidened one last year and it snapped three times on me before I landed it. Even then, one of the gear ripped out because of the crappy mounts. You definitely want a lot of experience with this one. IMO not a good plane to learn jets on.

Afterburners

Yeah, it seems like a voltage spike but when I only hook up the battery that doesn't have the BEC, the Mercury still flickers when I hit the gear switch? I just disconnected mostly everything to the LG15 and the mercury still flickers but only for the gear channel. I assigned a different switch to the gear and it still flickers yet the flap switch doesn't do it or the brake slider. This is my first Powerbox. I'm not done setting things up. Maybe I need to reset it and start over?

Len Todd

PBoxes are great. Been using them for 5 years in several types of Giant planes. There is a bit of a learning curve. But once you get past that, they offer a lot of flexibility and reliability.

Afterburners

I'm using 2S Li-po's. They are charged up. As for the weight, It's about 5 ounces total and after looking at using a gyro and some sort of battery redundancy with separate components, it seemed like a better option to go with the mercury.

Len Todd

If the PBox is flickering to off and back on, the LGC will also go off/flicker. The LGC takes power from the Mercury to turn the LGC on. I would put a Hanger 9 volt meter between the Gear output on the Mercury and the LGC Gear Input and see if you are getting a drop in voltage. Then switch the meter to current and see what kind of load the LGC is putting on the Mercury. I would also be measuring the input voltage to the Mercury. Do you have both batteries powering the Mercury on? Are the batteries new and fully charged? Are you seeing the green LEDs on the Mercury flickering? What batteries are you using? What connecters are being used? I had a bad multiplex connector once. It came on an OEM adapter harness. With both components being affected, the issue is most-likely something at or to the Mercury.

Afterburners

If you read my post that you qouted, I basically disconnected the LG15 and still have the flicker but only for the gear switch. There is no hardwired output assigned on the mercury for the gear and brake commands as they come out on the sbus. The sbus connection to the "Gear In" connection is what powers the LG15. I disconnected that as well as the retract and brake power multiplex connection and the mercury display still flickers for the gear switch only. Not the flaps or brake slider. Don't take my post the wrong way, I appreciate your help.

Dansy

My Feedback: (53)

Pretty strange, I would reset everything back to factory PB a a new plane setup.....doesn’t have to delete everything you have in the TX just a new setup...and see...

Len Todd

Did you account for this from the LCG 15 Manual?

"The power input pin of the Gear and Brake inputs are internally connected together. This could cause a malfunction by connecting different voltages together. For example, if you connect the Gear Input directly to the receiver that is powered at 5V and the brake input to a battery regulator that supply 6V, then the 6V supply will flow through the unit to the receiver, being no longer powered at 5V by an independent regulator. In this case, it is necessary to cut the central wire (red) on the lead from Gear In to the receiver to prevent the voltage present at Brake In to reach the receiver. The controller and the door servos will be powered by the power arriving to the brake input ."

Try the PBox w/o any connections to the LGC 15. Measure Servo output voltage on the Gear Out port of the PBox. Using SBus could complicate this.

Afterburners

Thanks for the assistance guys. I believe I found the problem. After continuing to google search late last night I found this thread in the PB forums. Screen flashing - Cockpit SRS / Competition SRS - PowerBox-Systems | Support I just checked my input mapping and I saw "gearswitch assigned to a number which was probably my channel for gear in the radio. I changed it to null in the PB and that fixed the screen from flashing. I don't think it was an actual problem as it is a function of the unit itself if you are using the internal gear sequencer. After watching one of Martin Pickering's videos on the setting up of the PB door sequencer, you can see the screen of the PB change to "Door sequencer in progress" when the gear switch is flipped but since I didn't have the sequencer setup but had the input assigned to my gear switch somehow, the screen flickered and I bet if you could slow it down you would see it say the door sequencer in progress message. Haha, just confirmed it by watching the video that I posted previously. I slowed the video down to .25 in the settings on you tube and you can see the message flash on and off.

Big Sky

My Feedback: (4)

Hope someone is still monitoring this thread, I bought a jet that has this controller in it. My question is, with the servo set up being single channel , duel servo and what not in the LG-15, using a spectrum 12120 power safe receiver with my DX-18 transmitter, I need to activate the srxl in the radio to use the two last channels on the receiver, which I am using for the brake and steering to the LG-15, but the gear channel is being fed through a aux channel on the receiver to the LG-15, does this mean I should use the menu in the LG-15 that list the srxl as a input option for it to work correctly ????

Tip22v

wow, nice work solving that one! Thanks for posting your finding. -Tom

Tip22v

I'm not sure I understand fully your question. Are you saying that you don't have enough channels on your 12120 to operate everything? I switched to Jeti a while back but I still have two DX-18 radios, a spare 12120 rx, and an extra LGC-15 so I can play around with it tonight and see what I can figure out. In the past, before I switched to Jeti I operated a jet with a 12120 and LGC-15 using a DX-18 and I did not have to use SRXL to connect them. -Tom

Tip22v

okay, have you enabled the X-plus channels on your DX-18?

Afterburners

Thanks. It's what these forums are all about. Sharing and helping out when we can although in this case I created the problem and solved it but appreciate the help from everyone along the way.

Big Sky

My Feedback: (4)

Yes, Just wondering if x-plus which activates aux 6 & 7 on the 12120 will operate my brakes ok when using single servo dual channel set up in the LG-15, With X-plus Channel 1 being assigned to a rotary dial on the transmitter, They seem to be locking up more than I would like even though I have Turned the travel input down on the channel

Tip22v

if I remember correctly not all 18 channels on the DX-18 are full resolution, but I don’t remember if all of X-plus channels are lower resolution, I think so because in my old setup I seem to remember using the two X-plus channels for retracts and flaps. You will definitely want full resolution for your brake channel. Also, if you are using JP electric retracts with the magnets you will need to remove the magnets to get get good proportional braking.

Dansy

My Feedback: (53)

Not on Spektrum....but build a few with these radio...Pretty sure X-Plus are ON-OFF type control, not proportional would work for the gear but not the brakes...

Tip22v

X-plus are not on-off, they are proportional, just at lower resolution.

Dansy

My Feedback: (53)

I stand corrected.....I always keep learning.....so what does that mean lower resolution?

Afterburners

Just grabbed this from a Spektrum PDF SPM18000-Manual_EN.pdf

CAUTION: Do NOT connect throttle or any primary control surface to the X-Plus Module. The X-Plus channels are intended to be used for auxiliary functions only. X-Plus channels have a resolution of 512 and variable latency from 22ms to about 88ms. When X-Plus is active, the first 10 channels default to 22ms.

I don't use Spektrum but I would assume the normal resolution for primary channels is at least 1024.

Big Sky

My Feedback: (4)

OK, Thanks, Tonight I'll try putting the brakes on a primary channel and switching the gear channel to a x-plus along with the power input for the LG as I am powering the LG through the receiver instead of a separate battery, I'll Use x plus channels for power and gear, and see if its any better.

Tip22v

No worries, you and I both use Jeti where we don’t have to worry about this kind of stuff Jeti and some other radios run resolutions of 4096, which means that the radio can send 4096 different positions for a channel. E.g. if a servo can travel 180 deg, a radio with 4096 steps of resolution can send commands in increments of .04 degrees (180/4096). A radio with a resolution of 512 can only send commands in increments of .35 degrees. The problem with the X-plus channels is more the variable latency than the lower resolution for most people.

Afterburners

Just asking if you have gone through the brake settings in the controller as well?