Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

I have a Laser 4 radio that I started in the hobby with. While flying my trainer and first low wing plane I bought my first 3d plane. I bought all the accesories including servo extensions, y's, etc. The plane has a total of 6 servos with 3 mounted in the tail. Needless to say all those extensions added up. Now I am wanting to buy a new radio that will last me awhile and that will be good for 3D. I am leaning towards the Futaba 7CAF/CAP. However I dont want to lose the fair bit of money I have invested in extensions and two aditional Hitec servos that I bought for this plane then have to buy these same extensions and servos again for the Futaba receiver. The extensions I bought are the Hitec "S" type, for example PN 57351S, PN 57347S. Would I be better off considering the Hitec Eclipse, Airtronics VG6000, or other radio so as not to lose my investment in Hitec servos and extensions?

mglavin

My Feedback: (31)

For the most part all servos and extensions are generic of today’s offerings... So you can inter-mix without issue. The only specific areas that one may experience problems with is utilizing buffered, amplified and reversing electronic wyes or extensions designed for "JR" or "Futaba" with other OEM equipment. So if you want to use a fancy boosted/amplified/reversing wye or extension utilize one designed for the radio system in use.

Hitec and Futaba products are backwards compatible; you'll not have any problems with this combination.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Your Hitec 'S' plug extensions, etc will fit the Futaba 'J' plug hardware and wireing polarity are the same. However the Futaba 'J' hardware will not fit Hitec 'S' plug unless the tab or spline is physically removed from the 'J' plug.

John

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

If they are compatible why does the product description on the Tower Hobbies website say "This is a Heavy Duty 24" Servo Extension with Hitec-S, JR, Airtronics-Z Connectors". Why isnt Futaba included in the description? I had been told they were compatible but was confused when I saw Hitec extensions and then the Futaba J type.

John so if the compatibility problem is with J type conectors, why are they even used? Why arent the S type the standard since they are more compatible?

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

The Futaba 'J' is not listed in that way simply because to work that Blasted tab or spline has to be cut off to plug into the Hitec 'S', JR or Airtronic 'Z'. it is compatable otherwise. Now if you plug one of the other three into a Futaba 'J' it requires no modification at all. All four of the majors plugs are 'now' compatable with the exception of the that tab on the Futaba 'J'.

Now if you do cut off that tab many fear that they will plug the things in bacwards. Fear not, yes they can be plugged in backwards if force is used but the result is it just does not work and will 'Not' damage any components.

By the way becareful of JR wall chargers unlike all the others they use a centerpin negative on their Tx charge plug!

In regards to your last question, I could not agree more with you. The modulation shift fiasco, proprietory plugs, JR's insistence on using reversed polarity tx charge recepticals and Futabas method of upper or lower band Rx tuning (the only one still doing this) are all just methods to control customers spending and force brand loyalty. Well in this communication age customers are becoming more aware of these marketing methods and in some cases how some of these ploys cost the customer a great deal and even equipment damage. Actually I am sure the manufacturers are more aware now in that the smarter manufacturers have almost all gone to totally interbrand compatable plugs and have shift selectable modulation for Tx's or Rx's.

All of the above of course just my opinion.

John

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

I want to make sure I have all this clear. Using a Futaba 7CAF radio, Hitec S extensions and a mix of Hitec and Futaba servos, my Hitec S extensions will plug into the Futaba receiver as is, but to contect the Futaba servos to the Hitec S extension I will have to trim a tab off of the servo conector. Is this easy to do with just an exacto knife? I live in north Argentina and the folks here dont exactly have the most up to date equipment so I am not able to see all the products before ordering them. A couple of times a year I am able to have some folks bring stuff in from the US and I have to be 100% that what I am going to get is going to work before hand. If I order something wrong, I dont think I could stand another long wait before getting my new plane in the air!!!

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

This is exactly correct and yes triming the tab is very easy with a #11 blade can be accomplished in just a few minutes and I have done so many, many times. Enjoy

John


If it will make you feel better I just went out and plugged a Hitec brand 'S' plug extension into a Futaba 'J' plug RX. Once agine if you plug the extension in backwards it won,t work, no harm, no foul, just reverse it and play.

FHHuber

The black and red color +/- code of Hitech and Futaba match. The third color wire is the "signal" wire. leave one Furaba servo at least with the lug and plug it into the RX before plugging anything else in and you'll never get the color codes wrong.

Its always safer to NOT plug them backwards... (especially the battery / switch connection) Having the + lead in the middle does help make it less likely to damage the electronics, but why risk it? Its easy to be SURE they are plugged correctly.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

A servo equiped with a: Hitec 'S', JR, Futaba 'J' or Airtronics 'Z' plug inserted into the Rx backwards will only leave an open power circuit and ground the signal circuit. It will not and can not damage the Rx or the servo in any way.

John

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

Thanks for the help. I will be finishing up my new kit and putting the radio on order soon. I am glad to hear that I can use my Hitec gear bc I have heard a lot of good things about the new Futaba radio and definetly prefered it over the Hitec equivalent.

vagent

I have two Avistars (yes, two of them--long story involving trees ) JR equipment in one and putting Futaba equipment in the other. I haven't completed the wing for the second Avistar (debating how much dihedral to put in it which some of you have already helped me with in another forum question). The one completed wing has two JR servos (standard JR BB servos), set up for flapperons/spoilerons--using a 5-channel JR421FX system. I have been flying this package for months now. I would like to try the wing on the plane set up with the Futaba electronics (6XAS PCM xmitter/recvr). By using servo extensions and/or "y" connectors, will the wing with JR servos function with the Futaba setup (and vice versa)? Thanks in advance. -- Joe