"Brown outs"

[Tim Mackey]

We often get folk complaining that their radio has "lost bind", or is refusing to connect correctly after switching on and so on. In many cases this could be simply down to the normal delay after switching on the tx, whilst it acquires its free channels - if you power up the Rx before its had chance to do this, funny things can happen  

With the Spektrum radio system, "brown outs" ( the onboard radio power supply has "dipped" below the minimum threshold ) show up as a flashing LED and this is sometimes confused with a similar flashing of the LED which correctly occurs when initially binding the Rx and Tx.

 

This should NOT be confused with a loss of signal, which may or may not happen in certain conditions  - such as flying a park fly range receiver too far away, poor installation technique - or perhaps a low Tx battery etc.

 

I have done a short video showing both situations - correct binding of a Spektrum Rx unit, and.....a demonstration of the brown out indicator - the video for which is below.

As explained in the preceding video ( "binding" ) I used one of the "Orange" clone receivers - however the procedure is exactly the same as with a genuine spekky job

 

 

The "Binding" video is over HERE

Edited By Tim Mackey - Administrator on 19/11/2010 14:18:50

[leccyflyer]

Erm, that's not a Spektrum radio system, is it? It looks like one of the orange "compatible" receivers.

[Tim Mackey]

Yes Leccy, your correct - I did explain in the "binding" video which sort of precedes this, that yes, its the "orange" clone of the spekky receiver - however the procedure is exactly the same

Edited By Tim Mackey - Administrator on 19/11/2010 13:52:22

[Terry Walters]

Thanks Timbo - I knew most of it but seeing you do it clears up some of the doubts.  Job well done.

Terry

[leccyflyer]

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 19/11/2010 13:49:28:
Yes Leccy, your correct - I did explain in the "binding" video which sort of precedes this, that yes, its the "orange" clone of the spekky receiver - however the procedure is exactly the same

Edited By Tim Mackey - Administrator on 19/11/2010 13:52:22

 I watched the videos in the opposite order, and have just seen that..

 

Thanks for the demo

[Tim Mackey]

I have edited the video now to explain my use of the clone rx  - cheers for the heads up.

[Tom Wright 2]

Nice and concise Tim,i am sure many will benefit from,these vids,

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

Davids post has been moved to a new thread just here...

[robert chamberlain]

Hello,----- It has been suggested I go to a 5 cell receiver batt pack to avoid voltage drops due to a temporary high servo load. Am I correct in that this would cause the rec to brown out and shut down for a second? If so, would it re-set quickly? How quickly? Am I on the right track with this?-------Thanks in advance,----Bob C

[Denis Watkins]

Posted by robert chamberlain on 24/05/2018 03:24:55:

Hello,----- It has been suggested I go to a 5 cell receiver batt pack to avoid voltage drops due to a temporary high servo load. Am I correct in that this would cause the rec to brown out and shut down for a second? If so, would it re-set quickly? How quickly? Am I on the right track with this?-------Thanks in advance,----Bob C

Bob, check this **LINK**

[Cuban8]

A five cell RX pack will do you no good if it's constructed from batteries with a poor C rating i.e so called 'high capacity' AAs (sometimes as bad as 1C for a certain 2200mA size that I've tested) . If the pack can only deliver 2A, before collapsing, whether 4 or 5 cells, then that's all you're going to get and if your servos at any time need 3A, then you'll be in bother - no matter what brand of radio you use.

Nimh RX packs never seem to come marked with their C rating, so the user is guessing as to whether the battery is going to be sufficient, you wouldn't normally guess about the performance of your Lipos/motor/engine/strength of airframe etc, so why take a chance with the performance of certain receiver batteries?

Be honest, do you know how much current the RX batteries in your models can safely supply and what the worst case scenario for current drain from your models is? Would you know how to check?

 

 

 

 

Edited By Cuban8 on 24/05/2018 08:19:57