Malcolm Holt

Keith. I sent you a personal message about this. See your inbox.

I am somewhat mystified here. I don’t have my 14SG handy to check but I am pretty sure that you cannot use Idle Down in conjunction with Throttle Cut. When you switch on the Throttle Cut it disables the effect of Idle Down. To check this, go to the Idle Down menu. Make sure that Throttle Cut is off. Operate the Idle Down switch and you should see the display toggle between On and Off. Remain in this menu but now switch on the Throttle Cut. Operate the Idle Down switch again and you will see that it has been disabled. Idle Down remains off. Throttle Cut disables the throttle stick but I don’t understand why this is a problem. Throttle Cut is designed to kill the engine. Once the engine is dead the throttle stick has no effect anyway. Your problem appears to stem from accidentally operating the Throttle Cut switch while flying. To prevent the risk of this I always use the right Dial RD as my Throttle Cut switch and set it so that I have to turn it to its full extent before the engine dies. As I never use the Left Dial for any purpose there is virtually no risk of turning RD accidentally while flying. Reversing the throttle channel has no effect on Throttle Cut. Have a look at my post to you above dated 27/04/2019 in which I explained why you might be having problems.

Frank got there before me. Investigate the failsafe settings thoroughly. Make sure that your receiver batteries are fully charged and in good condition. If you still can't pinpoint the problem I suggest you contact Ripmax who will probably recommend having the transmitter serviced.

Ideally you should try to utilise as much of the servo's movement as possible by the methods you have described. As there is no further scope for adjustment, other than by fitting longer horns, I suggest you go to the End Point menu and reduce the travel of the servos (inner numbers). The travel value acts as the basis for all movements of the servo. Accordingly the movement of the control surface will be reduced in the Function to which it is assigned and also in any mixes which are applied to it.

Yes, there is an anomaly in the software. In order to be able to use switchable throttle curves it is necessary to have VPP assigned somewhere in the Function Menu. You do not need to use VPP and you can assign it to any channel, even one for which there is no receiver socket. Check your different models and I think you will find that the ones where the curve switches appear also have VPP assigned somewhere.

I suspected that might be the case. Glad you find the book helpful.

Check the Model Type menu. What is the wing type setting?

No need to remove the back. Pages 17 and 18 of the Futaba manual explain how to adjust stick tension. Basic installation and mechanical matters such as this are pretty well covered in the official manual so, as the title indicates, my book deals specifically with programming.

Posted by Braddock, VC on 27/04/2019 10:20:36: I have a problem with the engine cut and idle down facility. I suspect it's my own fault but it only seems to happen when the throttle servo is reversed. I've checked on my kindle copy of malcolm's book but it doesn't switch my light on (or cause my penny to drop) any pointers gratefully received. Reversing the throttle channel should not make any difference. The only thing I can think of is that you might have adjusted the Limit Points on the throttle channel at some time and they are blocking movement in one direction. Go to the End Point menu. The Inner values (100 by default) determine the throttle servo travel so you have probably adjusted these to give the correct tick-over and full throttle positions. The outer values should be left at their default 135 to allow the servo to move beyond its normal travel and thus permit idle down and throttle cut. You might even have to increase them to permit sufficient movement. Have a look at the Throttle Cut section of my book which explains this. In the Throttle Cut menu the default position value is 17%. Change this to a smaller value such as 5% to cut the engine. In the Idle Down menu the default Offset is +0%. Change this to a higher value such as +50% to lower the idle speed. If you are still having problems can you please explain in a bit more detail exactly what is happening.

Posted by SR 71 on 27/04/2019 09:02:04: I have the 14 sg bought it shortly after it came out It has never been updated as im completely computer stupid Am I missing anything of importance by not upgrading it Thanks Tony Start by checking your current software version. You will find it under System Menu - Info. Then go to the Ripmax web-site. Select Futaba Radio software upgrades under Important Links on the left and then select T14SG from the list of available transmitters. You will then be able to download the manual for each upgrade. The first part of each of these explains how to do the upgrade but this is then followed by a list of the improvements made. (Don't be put off by the word manual. In most cases it is only two or three pages and you can ignore the first part). There have been some very significant improvements made over time but only you can judge whether they are of any use to you. That said, if your transmitter has an SD card and you have access to a computer with a card reader, the upgrade process is quick and easy. There is little to lose by upgrading subject to the proviso in my post above.

Posted by Robert Armstrong 2 on 26/04/2019 20:19:24: Help I have a 14SG on version 6.0 software. The Ripmax site shows version 8.0 now out. Can I update direct to v8.0 or do I have to go through v 7.0 first? Would like to avoid two steps if possible. You can go straight to Version 8.0 but note the following. Some owners of older non-Futaba compatible receivers (e.g FrSky) reported problems when they upgraded to Versions 7 and 8. I don't use these so never paid much attention to the discussion. If you have any older non-Futaba receivers I suggest you check on-line or seek advice from Ripmax before running the upgrade.

I am not familiar with this stabilizer but what is often required is a toggle switch which allows you to select three different modes of operation and a proportional control (usually a dial or slider) which allows you to adjust the gain from zero to maximum. This is exactly what the setup you describe provides. You have assigned SG as the control for AUX1 on channel 7. If you check the servo monitor you will see that the three positions of the switch deliver -100, 0 and +100 and these values appear to be what is needed to switch between the stabilizer’s different modes. This is normal. There is no ON/OFF icon because SG is not operating as a switch in this situation. It is simply controlling the position of whatever is connected to channel 7. If you had assigned a stick, the servo monitor would show proportional movement between -100 and +100. Because you have assigned a toggle switch it can only output three positions. You can reverse the operation in the Reverse Menu but otherwise cannot reconfigure the operation. However, as all is working, you do not need to and need not worry. Similarly you can check the operation of RS in the servo monitor. It moves the “Gear” channel proportionally from one extreme to the other and should adjust the Gain perfectly. Again you can reverse its direction if you wish but it appears to be working fine and you have nothing to worry about. (If you allocate a different function to Channel 5 RS will still work but you will need to re-allocate it in the Function Menu next to the new function). In summary, as long as you check very carefully that everything on the model is working correctly before you fly, you should have nothing to worry about. The difference between using a toggle switch as a control in the Function Menu and as an ON/OFF switch elsewhere causes a lot of confusion. If you want a bit more explanation have a look in the introduction to my 14SG book. You can read it here for free. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BMM9J7A    (You will need to copy and paste) Click on “Look inside”, scroll down to the Menu and click on “Controls and switches” Edited By Malcolm Holt on 03/04/2019 21:49:02

Just occurred to me. Do you mean 30 degrees?

Yes, the exponential is working as it should. I can't help but ask why you are only using 30% throw on the aileron servos. This places a much higher load on them and reduces the resolution. Can't you achieve the required throw by moving the connections to the horns and servo arms?

With the exponential set to -90, move the aileron stick from its central position half way to the right while watching the amount of aileron movement. Now move it from the half way position to fully right while again watching the aileron. The amount of movement in the first case should be less than in the second. What happens on your model?