Apprentice receiver and new esc

[Brian Dorricott 1]

Hope I am under the correct heading ?

I have swapped out an Apprentice as3x safe receiver for a 6 channel orange Rx and all appears well . I thought I would test a 4max motor that is a little noisy so hooked up the safe Rx to battery and esc and bound it to a spektrum 6e everything ok up till now , stuck a couple of old servos on just to make sure and it did its little routine of rudder/elevator/aileron checks all well . The throttle however will not arm no matter what I check and this Rx was not faulty when I removed it , so I put the esc/motor/battery combo on the new orange Rx and it worked ok. Therefore esc/motor/battery all ok but not on the eflite safe Rx , I think the tx 6e setup is ok for the Rx because I flew Wednesday with it only thing that is different is the esc . Anybody out there point me towards something I may have missed ? I have done the usual re-bind etc but no joy and popped the Rx back on the Apprentice and it's ok no problem . Does the safe Rx need a specific Esc maybe ? As usual any help even mild abuse appreciated especially if I missed the blo...y obvious

[Dave Hopkin]

The ESC will probably need re-calibrating to the new RX

a) Take the prop off

b) Switch on the TX

c) Push Throttle to full

d) Power on ESC

e) wait if the initial set of bleeps to end

f) Pull the Throttle to zero

g) count to 10

h) Power off the model

i) Power off the TX

Now try the throttle response it should be calibrated to the TX stick

If it is put the prop back in and go fly

[Kim Taylor]

The above routine may well work, but be aware that the Eflite Apprentice receiver doesn't necessarily talk to all esc's.

If you look on RCGroups thread ' Eflite SAFE RX in another plane', you'll find multiple posts on difficulty getting 'foreign' esc's to operate.

Hopefully though, it'll work as described above.

Kim

[Brian Dorricott 1]

Thanks Dave but I don't get the tones when I try the calibrate routine I will see if does it on the orange Rx tomorrow . Maybe Kim put his finger on it and maybe the safe Rx does not like the unbranded ESC I am using but the Orange Rx does ! Don't you just love standardised gear built to a common spec which all works great together or not in this case .

Brian

[Kim Taylor]

Just to round this off (I know it was three weeks ago, but someone may find it useful) I have had reason to look further in to this over the last couple of days.

I've got a Max Thrust Riot (Devil) which I wanted to fit my old Apprentice receiver to, but the esc was having none of it.

In essence, I believe that the reason some esc's won't arm with the apprentice receiver is that the esc looks for a throttle low signal to arm it (presumably within a certain, but unknown to me, time frame). However the Apprentice receiver doesn't give this arming signal until the control surfaces have done their 'dance' which takes 10 seconds or more from switch on.

Having done a bit of research, I tried a couple of techniques which others have found to work. Before doing any of the following, REMOVE THE PROP!!!

1. Set up the throttle range using another receiver first, then connect the Apprentice receiver - this had absolutely no effect on my setup, although some have had success.

2. Remove the +ve lead from the lead connecting the esc and the Apprentice receiver throttle port. Arrange a separate power supply via the bind port of the receiver. Switch on your tansmitter and power the receiver up BEFORE connecting the lipo to the esc. Set throttle high, then plug in the lipo. You will get the tones from the esc, then lower the throttle, at which point it will arm and you will have full control of the throttle. Disconnect the lipo, then switch off the receiver, followed by the transmitter. Replace the +ve wire previously removed and plug into the throttle port. Switch the tranny back on, connect the lipo then switch on the receiver. With luck, you've got full control still and your problem is solved. This technique is often successful, apparently. In my own case, however unplugging the lipo caused the esc to 'forget' the settings and the problem was still evident.

3. Provide a separate switched supply to the receiver, Permanently remove the +ve wire from the esc to the receiver and connect everything up. The start up sequence MUST be tranny on, receiver switch on (wait for dance to finish) THEN connect the lipo. Eureka!!! It works.

So a bit of a faff and probably not ideal but with throttle cut set it's safe enough I think even if (as in my case) the lipo has to be loaded from beneath the nose. An arming plug would give a second level of safety, which I may well do in due course.

Of course, you could just buy a suitably rate Eflite esc, but (1) They're expensive and (2) That's just wimping out, you lightweight!!

Just thought it might be helpful to someone else searching the same issue.

Kim

Edited By Kim Taylor on 03/06/2017 21:31:09

[ericrw]

I have successfully installed the Apprentice rx , EFLR310013, into my Starmax 1600mm Mustang and there were no problems, apart from reversing a servo. My attempts to install the safe rx into my Seagull E-Pioneer,is proving difficult. Though I have bound it to my Spektrum DX6 (same TX) and it does the "Dance", moving all the controls;when the two way switch is On. However, I cannot get the Motor to activate. The ESC will not go into solid light but keeps flashing. Any ideas ?? Eric.

[Denis Watkins]

Try to trim the throttle down

If no change, reverse the throttle, and take the trim right down