Newbie Blues

[Lee Burke]

Okay, strict newbie mode.  So, I have a Futaba 6EX 2.4 and an Easy Star.  Two Hitech servos.  A Lipol 3S 2400 Ah and a controller on the standard motor.  So the helpful guy in the shop has soldered the motor to the controller and tells me the plug from the controller goes now onto the third (throttle) socket on the Futaba Rx.  Okay.  I get home and remember he said the brown wire goes to the outside of the Rx.  OK.  I plug in the accu and turn on theTX and then the reciever .  The led on the Rx flashes green and then red.  The throttle does not move the motor.  Hmm.  I plug in a servo - just to see.  Which way round?  They are not keyed..  What the?  Anyway I try it out both ways.  No reaction when I wiggle the Tx levers.  Ah, heck, how can something so simple be so difficult.  Singing the Newbie Blues.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Have you bound the TX and RX first Lee?   Yes the brown wire would be on the outside as you say.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Lee Burke]

Thanks for your replies, guys.  The Rx was not tied to the Tx.   I bought them together and the manual says,"For a T/R set the linking is already done at the factory."  Well it wansn't.  Actually, I did try to link them last night but was damned if I could find the ID SET button.  (I hear you laughing in the background - or is that a sigh of exasperation?) .  Anyway I looked at magnified picture of the receiver on Futaba's web site and finally found the ID SET button.  I guess I need more powerfull glasses .

 I was quite worried that I had missconnected something and burnt out the Rx.  Is that possible?  Well anything is possible, I guess, but is it likely?  The plugs are so small and not keyed it would be an easy mistake. 

As to the wiring on the Hitech HS81, it is yellow, red, black.  I guess if I reverse them by mistake the servo just works backwards, right?

[Bruce Richards]

If you reverse the servo plugs in the Rx then the servo will not work. I have done this on several occasions and never caused any problems for servo or Rx.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Now you've bound the two is everything OK Lee?

[Lee Burke]

Thanks for the info on the servos, Guys.  Yes, thanks, David the system works fine now.  Soon be able to take it out for its Maiden Crash   But I'll wait unitl I have someone more experienced to hand to show how best to this. 

[David Ashby - Moderator]

have you got anyone to help you are or a simulator Lee?

[Tim Mackey]

Neither Futaba or JR / Spektrum servo plugs will cause any harm if forced into the receiver socket the "wrong way around ", they simply wont work thats all.  Pretty much all modern servo wiring has the positive power lead in the middle pin, ( red for JR spekky, and red for fuby ) so whichever way around it is inserted, positive is always connected correctly. JR negative use brown for negative ( for some odd reason ) and fuby use black.

Sanwa I believe ( maybe the early stuff only ? ) has its pos and neg reversed to most other peeps

[YakMad]

Sorry Timbo but on some smaller micro RX's (35 mhz) you can damage them by having the Battery or ESC plugged in reverse. I managed to ruin two Hitec indoor RX's doing just this. I am always very careful appling power to smaller RX's double and triple check. Any idea is the Spectrum 6100 protected against this as I now have a growing collection.

[Tim Mackey]

I did say servo plugs Yakmad

However, it still seems strange to me that plugging in a 2 wire connector the wrong way around should cause a problem.

I have never used Hitec receivers - I always found the servos pretty good, but didnt much care for their tr /rcvrs

As for the ar6100 I havent knowingly done it, but would guess they will be fine....you could be the guinea pig and report back your findings - if there is a lot of smoke, wait until it clears before posting ...we dont want any mistyping throooo blurrrrrred visssssion

[Lee Burke]

David Ashby - RCM&E wrote (see)

have you got anyone to help you are or a simulator Lee?

I have a sim and there are a couple of clubs not too far away by so I will join one of them and get some help on a Buddy Box.   Thanks for all your help.

[Alistair Taylor]

Hiya Lee

If you reverse the red/black wire on the servos you will release the magic smoke, and be left with a dead servo.

I have the (mis?) fortune to own some old "Black Plug" Sanwa gear, and speak from experience. The +ve and -ve wires on this gear are indeed reversed (for some unknown reason), but as the wires are all black (the positive being marked with a subtle white stripe) this is not immediately obvious.

Mercifully you can't buy any of this gear any more, except off auction sites. In any case, your TX is more than capable of reversing servos, setting dual rates, making cups of tea, and filing your tax return, so you dn't need to muck about with servo wires

AlistairT 

[Lee Burke]

Alistair Taylor wrote (see)

 . . . your TX is more than capable of reversing servos, setting dual rates, making cups of tea . . .

Thanks for that info, Alistair. 

Er, where do I hold the cup?

[YakMad]

Timbo,

          Sorry I am not testing the reverse polarity on my 6100's having too much fun. , I know you said servo plugs but I could'nt help myself anyway I am going back to staring out the window at the blue calm sky................ will work never end!!!

[Tim Mackey]