jfail1

My Feedback: (2)

I am one of Bill's test people. I tested and used (and still use) the TwinSync since day one. Of course there were some startup issues especially with the documentation of the TwinSync in the early days. The product works great on three of my twin engine models and has since day one. Bill is very attentive to this forum and is far above most in supporting the product. I am sure this is some sort of aberation and Bill will make it right.

It works and works great, just look back in this thread and you will see there are many satisfied users.

I presume when you refer to lack of documentation you are talking about the display unit. Mine works great by just plugging it in. The display alternates between the two engines.

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

Branded,

Thanks for your compliments.

The twinsync is not a high volume production product and will likely never will be.

I understand what you are saying. The twinsync was not designed as a product to be profitable or for me to quit my day job. It was done as a service for an idea that many modelers had.

My day job is supporting big companies taking electronic products into prodution at run rates in >100K per month volumes. The RC hobby will not suppport that kind of expense or production volumes. So I suggest that you buy a "Y" cable and send it back to me or RCS for a full refund.

The other option is let me know your issues and I will resolve them. If you are loosing the dispay then your battery is not able to keep adequite voltage to all of the things you have being power from it. I had a similar problem on my one of my planes where if I had 6+ JR 8611 servos running at the same time every thing would shut down if I exercised everything. The weak link was the connetors. You are pulling down your battery too low.

If I could build 10K of them they would be completely surface mount and built on automated lines just like futaba.

The Twinsync was developed for hobbists that fly model airplanes and every unit is tested even though they are hand built. I did not want to fly my own twinengine airplane without something like this.

Send it back to me and you will get a complete refund. Better yet - why don't you try it out first. Then comment.

branded

My Feedback: (9)

Uhm, I did try it out (the Display)...Please read ALL of the postings before commenting, thank you.

It doesn't work, I assume because it's so poorly manufactured. I don't know of anyone that would install something like this into a multi-thousand dollar twin; such as I fly. Gouging into the plastic body of the Display IC to gain access to the copper traces underneath is clealy poor practice.

High volume, or not, this goes to basic electrical skills. I'll leave it at that.

I have not completed my evaluation of the Twin-Sync itself- but first glance for a CYPRESS based contolled device it appears that you've done a good job concerning the code.....Ive been setting up my gassers for the past couple of days with the Twin Sync and it appears to function as advertised.

I will follow up with more info as necessary.......

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

The units are tested for functionality at the end of the line - not soldering qualtity - these are not ISO 9002. I may have made some connections too tight that resulted in some sloppy work.

It is easy to criticize other peoples work rather than offering helpful suggestions. So How do we fix it?

So, I was actually thinking about replacing the four digit display with a new 16x2 alphanumeric LCD that is now ready to go. If you want to try one out you can.... Again this is a hobby and not a business.

P.S. expense is about equal to income on this project... So the "Y" cable is your other option that would have saved me a lot of time and trouble.

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

I sent you a PM

branded

My Feedback: (9)

Fair enough, but I pointed this out because there are hobbyist out there not savvy enough to repair your defects, or any other supplier's defects, particularly electrical "stuff".

Look, you are clearly getting very defensive here. Let me try to make you understand. I'm pointing out to you some quality issues.
It's not helping your argument to minimize your responsibilty for some of these defects by continually stating that this is not your "day job".....

If you've learned anything in this RC Community is that we're passionate about our aircraft. If a company fields a product that implies that, hey, use it at your own risk because afterall, if I go bust I have another job to fall vback on then I don't think you're going to capture everyones confidence.

Hey, the LCD would be fine.....I think the problem you had was with the PC artwork, and then the order of assembly.

I'm going to put the display off to the side and revert back to my trusty ole' tach....

I'm not looking for any freebees here; just looking to see if this is a viable product for twin gassers.....

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

Fair enough... The display was a last minute an add on - by request

I was not getting defensive or rancor. I was just trying to help some one who was only logging complaints without a request for help or asking any questions.

I never presented this product as a "company" releasing a product. If you read the threads here you will see the complete history. It was a completely workshop built product here on RCU. But it if helps there are now some pro's flying with it.

I think you will find it works great for what you want and I can fix the display in a matter of seconds. Your battery voltage is dropping too low and causing a reset. I had the same problem on my P38. You are overloading your battery and you may not realize it.

This is a good warning signal that your are pulling your battery voltage too low and you should fix it. I have gone to 2 and 3 leaded batteries because of this problem. I can explain it in the forum or we can take it off line.

The bottom line is that a standard servo connector is only rated at about 3 amps. It is easy to pull more than that today and get a low voltage to the rest of the system because of the connectors and servo power now.

Bill

Michel

Greetings Gentelmen ( and Ladies )

I have just recieved the L.E.D. read-out for the Twin-Sync . If you would be so kind , as to give a brief discription of the hook-up precedure , and explain what the colored L.E.D.s are , and there function , I would appreiate it . Or tell me were I can get some info on it , that also would be helpful . I did read pages 19 amd 20 , but it didn t show any diagrams of an independent power supply . Or the L.E.D. functions ( I guess they are the same as the L.E.D.s on the Twin-Sync , right )

If this product is this good now , imagine what it will be in the future

ThankYou

Michel Gravelle

Saint-Jerome

Quebec

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

Michel,

My appologies for any short comings in the documentation. The function of the LEDs on the display is the same as the LEDs of the TWINSYNC.

As for the connections to the display... RX minus or ground goes to the outer most pin as shown in the manual (of either connector). RX positive goes to the middle pin (of either connector). The signal (which is the inner pin on the ver 1.4.x twinsync) goes on the outer pin on the display as shown in the manual. The other pin on the twinsync away from the IC toward the board edge is RX minus or gnd. You can hookup the display with one set of connections or two with one supplying signal and the other supplying power.

The new 2.0 version of the device only has a single three wire connection.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Blade47

Bill: With the install done, the tweaking and dry testing gone over countless times over the winter ,,,,, it is now time to run this puppy up at the field.

The weather and field condition is to be perfect this weekend and I have a DVD cam all charged up for the table test and test flights .. It will take a day or two after to convert the vid to something I can send you for your approval to post on this thread.

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

Guys,

This is a follow up from 2engsout. Turns out his range issues were caused by his receiver antenna:



JR ZPCM RX TWIN SYNC RANGE TEST


5-9-2007


These test were conducted with 2 totally seperate and independant old style and new twin sync boards. I used my JR 8103 TX with the modulation set for ZPCM and 2 JR ZPCM older 910 series RX's, one with my usual Revolution pt #1010 6" loaded antanna, and the other with the standard 39" long wire antana. Both units were layed side by side on awooden work bench at the field, and both RX's were on ch22 so I could walk away from the bench with the TX and Lynn Langer, my helper could see both results at the same time and signal me accordingly when each unit went to fail-safe. ALL test were done without the hall sensors plugged into the units since there was no aircraft involved. All distances are to "last good signal lock" before the RX went into fail-safe. A servo was plugged into the elevator RX port and programed to go to "full up" at fail-safe for the baseline test and 2 servos were also plugged into the twin sync test programed to go to idle for fail-safe for the rest of the test.




1. Baseline test: No twin sync plugged into RX: 6" ant = 234' 39" ant = 560'


2. with twin syncs plugged into RX's 6" ant = 233' 39" ant = 489'


3. swapped twin sync boards only 6" ant = 303' 39" ant = 535'


4. SPCM RX with 6" loaded ant 6" ant = 102'


5. new style twin sync board with 39" ant 39" ant = 455'


Conclusion: Clearly the use of the 39" long antana almost doubles the distance to fail-safe!! I am going to retrofit the 39" long antana on all of my RX's to help increase signal strenth. Knowing how much the 6" loaded antana degrades signal strenth, I now recomend that no one use a loaded antana when using the twin sync. Be sure to conduct an exstensive range test with a helper to signal fail-safe for you.


Rick Simmons 2engsout

hiramboesky

Does the Twin-sync come in kit form?

Acetronics

Hi, Bill

I fully do agree with the tests done ...

"Short antennas" have been forbidden for planes on our field ... we had too much planes out of control with these antennas.

- Processor units ( Fail-safe, glow heathers, etc ... ) used or not, the results were the same !!!

seems short antennas are only usable for slope soaring ... or heli.

Alain

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

There is not a "kit". I could sell you all of the parts if you want I guess if you want to solder one up? email me at [email protected].

2engsout

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Guys, I got my 94" P-38 to the field the other day with the twin sync installed. Here are the specs: Moki 1.35's on 5% nitro, JR 8103 TX, an older JR 910 XZ - ZPCM RX with the standard 39" long RX antanna. Previous range test have proved that the Revolution pt # 1010, 6" loaded RX antana I have been previously using only yeilds about 1/2 of the distance to "fail-safe" on the range check test. It works fine for my helicopter flying but should not be used in airplanes! Todays range test yielded 291' with engines off, and 271' with engines at full throttle. I had picked out some older Futaba S-130 throttle servos to install which are pretty slow, .26 sec. at least. Posistion #7, the slowest servo speed setting seemed to work the best with these servos. It took about 1 second to sync up after a power setting change due to the slow servo speed. These servo speed settings are changed by going to rotory switch posistion #4 and getting the correct LED displayed. Refer to your manual. Faster servos do sync up much quicker. I use the JR 537's on my Ziroli DC-3 with G45's, and they sync instantly. I always start the left engine first, let it warm up, set the needles for good response, and then shut it down. Then start the right engine and repeat, but leave it idleing after its tuned. Restart the left engine and slowly bring up the power and confirm that your sync point activation is where it should be. Bring up the power to full and confirm that everything is as it should be. Then shut them both down and refuel. Now you are ready to fly. Starting both engines and bringing them up to full throttle, I again checked everything and throttled back to idle. I set my TX timer and taxied down to the far end of the field and lined up on the centerline. I throttled up slowly, easilly holding the centerline because of identical thrust from each engine. Listening to the engines as the plane passed by, I confirmed that I had two good engines and no reason to abort this takeoff. I eased back on the elevator and I climbed to altitude with confidence that the worst thing that could happen was that the plane would just slow down. It did'nt. Confirming 2 good smoke trails on the 1st lap told me the carb mixure settings were correct. The sync was so tight, the untrained ear would have trouble believing there was actually 2 engines running! VERY NICE! Overall, it was an uneventfull, perfect flight, with not a worry in the world! A relaxed FUN day at the field, flying my twins!! I want to thank Bill Wike for all his efforts and all the other beta testers for their contributions developing this fantastic device!!
Rick Simmons Zenoah engine beta tester. 2engsout

Michel

Greetings

If you don t mind I d like to throw this in
Don t you just love it when a plan comes to-gether [sm=thumbs_up.gif][sm=thumbs_up.gif][sm=thumbs_up.gif]

This is what you call a good thread

Mike [8D]

UkerDuker

My Feedback: (3)

I will be work on my AC-130 wing next week. I will be purchasing my 4 RCV90SP's shortly after this.

I'm curious about using two twinsync units with onboard glow, one for the outboard and one for the inboard engines. I know there was talk about having a four engine sync unit, but no testers were stepping forward. This would allow the opposite wing engine to be reduced to idle rather than pulling all engines to idle.

Any thoughts on this?

Mike

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

I have two beta testers but no flights yet. They both have the four engine sync units. I will call them today to see if there are any updates. If you want I can make you up two TwinSyncs that connect together to become a four engine unit. I don't have anymore of the actual four engine units. You will not be able to use the remote display with them but they will sync all four engines together (if all four are running).

The way it works is one on inboards and one on outboards. One is master and the other is slave. If both engines are running on the master and you are above the sync point it sends the average RPM to the slave. Otherwise it sends "0" to the slave. If both engines are running on the slave, you are above the sync point, and it gets a non-zero avg. RPM from the master then it syncs the RPM of both it's engines to match that of the master. Otherwise they operate like indpendant twinsyncs. This gives you synchronized four engines. If one engine quits the two units stop talking and operate just like independant twinsyncs.

If an inboard dies it idles the other inboard - always equal thrust side to side unless you pull the stick back after a dead stick and then throttle back up.

pretty cool eh?

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

The new TwinSync onboard glow drivers are in and shipping to RCS in a couple of days. $49.95 (edited new price)for the pair. These are for use with the newer TwinSync 2.0.

They are about the size of a postage stamp. The intent is they now go in the nacell along with the battery. They use standard servo wires rather than the heavier 18 AWG of the original TwinSync w/glowdrivers. They also now include all of the connections to attach to the engine and glow plugs.

As always they will indicate no plug connection, weak glow battery, or plug is good for each engine.

Connections are Battery + and -, Plug tip, engine case, and servo lead to TwinSync.

UkerDuker

My Feedback: (3)

Thats exactly the results I want to have happen should an engine die. On my AC-130 build I want to add the LED to indicate the glow starters are on. I left out the LED on my HAwkeye.

I'll be interested in hearing how the testing goes.

Mike

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

send me an email if you want a four engine setup.

Robby

My Feedback: (18)

Email:

Dear Mr. yl,,
Could I have a four engine set-up..... And please make the engines 50cc or above...
Oh,, and include props cuz I am poor..

Signed,

deltatech

Hi Bill. It's Jason again "the guy with the Hitec radio". Last I talked to you I had some serious interferance issues and was asking about range checking. I sent my radio to Hitec and they said it was fine. I got the new throttle cable from you "thanks" and installed it. I tried it out today at our clubs 2nd field. The interferance seems to be gone "I suspect it could have been a cell phone tower a few miles away". However it's still cutting the throttle at various throttle settings and it doesn't seem to matter how far I am from the aircraft. Antenna up seams to clear the problem-taxi test's were good. I hope to have it flying soon with the help of an experianced test pilot. Do you have any thoughts before I go for a maiden flight?

Blade47

Bill: I have a field report for you ... on our last long week end I was able to get a video while a very experienced pilot did the test flight ...with all the ground checks done we stared each engine to tune top end (by the way the on board tack display works just great ) with the ground run done he taxied out for take off the engines can be heard going in and out of sync because i have the sync set to about 1/4 throttle ..no problem ... the video will tell the rest of the report ( which is all good ) when I post it on RCU ... for this test flight the left engine was running rich top end and you may even see it in the vid plus the right engine was very rich on the low end ( mid range) but the Twin sync over came both and managed the engine into sync no problem ... we did a second test flight ( not in vid ) with corrections to both engines which tighten the sync up very nicely and preformed well in all phases of flight.

Now .... I am setting up the unit to run Rudder/engine steering for the next test ..BUT.... I have found that I have a nice dead band when moving the rudder and here is the BUT ... left engine throttles when the rudder input is induced to about 1/3 throttle BUT when I apply right rudder the throttle does not move as soon as the left one would but will open to about 1/3 at full defection .... in other words left engine engages throttle movement sooner then the right will ...Hmmmmm any ideas? I will not test until I can find a solution to this

Hope to post the vid by this week end ... the sweet sound is very clear in the vid

Cheers

yl5295

My Feedback: (1)

another reason for the dead band is because servo center varies some radio to radio. You an adjust the subtrim or trim on your radio to get left and right engine engagement equal then mechanically adjust your rudder to be centered there. The Twinsync assumes that servo centers at a 1.50ms pulse width. That is not the case on all radioss.