Radio Gear.

[xtreme]

Hi, What radio gear do you all use and how do you have it set up? At the moment im using 40mhz Futaba skysport 6. i have taken appart a second futaba skysport 6 to modify this one so both sticks are spring return, i know you can get the spring return kit but it was about 11pm saturday night after the Huddersfield event and i wanted spring return for the sunday event so i could use it tank style without one stick being on a ratchet. That is just for my bot Hooligan so im only using 2 channels. Now for Savage i will need to use a 3rd channel for the flipper. How do you guys find it easiest to fire the flippers or axes on your robots? Im thinking of getting a DX5e or something similar so im on 2.4GHz.
Cheers

[Mouldy]

invest in a good 2.4kit with built in vtail mixing that you can ajust- i remember talking to you about it when we figured out it was your mixer slowing hooligan down alot..

look on ebay for a dx6.. buy that and set the mixing up on that.. that way you can get 100% v-tail mixing.

I drive on one stick.. i find it alot easyer. but you may have a personal prefferance.

ive always had fast acting weapons (aka flippers) on the toggle switch on the right hand side..360s disc is controlled on the throttle channel on my dx6.. as its got two speed controllers on the disc i find it easyer..Lifters i always have on the other left hand stick so i can spring return up and down.. again it all comes down to personal preferances..

[xtreme]

Is the DX6i ok? I think people were having problems with the DX6i and the BR6000s Combination wernt they? But i think the rx that comes with the DX6i is ok isnt it? The AR6200. only difference on the older ones was the AR didnt failsafe on all channels like the BR did it? but i think the AR6200 might.

[Mouldy]

check out the other thread- i believe andy has experiance of that. Ive never used a dx6i. Id try and get a 2nd hand dx6 or a dx7..

[grant_ploughbot]

Dx6i still doesnt work with the BR6000s and the AR6200 doesnt failsafe. The AR500 appears to work fine, and will run perfectly with the DX6i. Your other option would be the DX5e, which comes with the AR500 for a very cheap price.

[widow_twanky]

I dont know if it fails safe. I seem to remember it didnt. I think it only fails safe on the throttle and maintains current position on other channels.

That said you can buy the combo and sell the ar6200 on ebay. I got £47 for my one. That leaves more than enough for a new AR500. These seem to work ok but itll be the Portsmouth event when it gets tested in properly in Hydra.

You also have to consider that the AR500 is only a five channel receiver and on a robot like Hydra where I want to use two switched outputs jumpered to a buddy box its a bit of a sod.

If you want the simpler option, the DX5e seems to work well and comes with the AR500 for about £65. Its cheap but works and you do get what you pay for in terms of build quality.

Andy

[xtreme]

I could get the DX6 DX7 or DX5e. Im using a sidewinder so they failsafe and mix anyway. So its just the weapon that needs to be fail safed.

[widow_twanky]

No its not. The spektrum receivers dont work that way. On the AR6000 series receivers on loss of output the drive channels carry on giving you an output. Even with the BR6000 it gives you an output you set during the bind. The only one which will let the failsafes on the sidewinder kick in is the AR5000 which give no output when signal is lost (except on throttle which is preset I think).

Andy

[leorcc]

To put things in perpsective, these are the combinations we can safely assume they work well or have been tested:

Spektrum DX6 and BR6000 (most of us have this)
Spektrum DX5e and AR500 (provided the esc and/or rc-switch has its own failsafes)
Spektrum DX6i and AR500
Spektrum DX7 and BR6000 (Also been done before)
Spektrum DX7 and AR500

So basically, if you own a DSM2 TX go for the AR500 RX if you need no more than 5 channels. For DSM use the BR6000.

[leorcc]

Of course you could use a method of killing the power to the robot from the throttle channel since that one is always failsafed, I believe Paul Cooper uses the Futaba Fasst system that way.