Dx5e project

[Tom Thomas]

hey all, I bought a Dx5e dirt cheap on eBay to fiddle with.

If I remember correctly it's seller said it didn't work as he had tried to change the mode.

It's mode 2 and the casing is a mode 2 case, so maybe he tried it and then tried to swap back?

His soldering is not the best, but I wanted to pick the collective brains of you talented chaps.

In the pictures below does anybody spot any wiring in the wrong place?

It powers up ok but I have to wait to fully test it as I don't have a compatible rx.

I know the blue and red wires are off and looking at images on the net I can see where they go.

Anyway some pics

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Dwain Dibley.]

Have you got a club mate who has a working one ????

Will he let you take the back off ???

Just a thought.

D.D

[Denis Watkins]

A simple start would be to test each newly soldered cable from its source, for continuity

To the pot connectors where they leave the pot, back to the board connectors

Without power pack in the Tx

It is unlikely the work went any further than the gimbals

[Tom Thomas]

No Dwain, I'm not in a club...... I be a loner

Thanks for the details Percy

Will have a look Denis, but I don't know what I'm looking at lol

[Denis Watkins]

OK Tom, in your picture, we can see the back of the stick pivots, the gimbals

These are connected to the transmitter at 4 points, 2 each side, by pots, potentiometers

Which are cylinder shaped variable resistors which produce our proportional control eventually.

The previous owner would only have soldered wires to these pots, 3 connections each

One or more of these soldered joints could be "dry", ie they look soldered, but are not electrically connected, " dry"

With a simple tester, these connections could be checked and resoldered

Edited By Denis Watkins on 26/10/2017 09:16:55

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Denis Watkins]

Tom, I cannot copy your picture

But left hand gimbal, bottom pot

A blue wire looks disconnected, as well as the red

Have a close look

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[John Robertson 3]

The "hidden switch" is mentioned at 3m 49s in this video on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRycayn9hXk

I'm a "loner" too.

[Denis Watkins]

Thanks Steve

That blue wire is clearly not connected

[David Ovenden]

Tom told us he knew the red and blue wires were disconected in his original post.

[Tom Thomas]

Posted by David Ovenden on 26/10/2017 21:58:39:

Tom told us he knew the red and blue wires were disconected in his original post.

Thanks David i did

I'd not Thought of dry solder Denis? Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for the thanks for the hidden switch Steve and john.

I have resoldered the connections and await the delivery of an rx to test it with.

I had noticed the antenna, it was trapped in the casing by the look of it, I will replace it Steve

[John Robertson 3]

 

 

Want Expo on the DX5e? I found a thread on, I think, RCGroups and found a document relating to the eFlite UMX Taxi. It had a passage mentioning the setting Expo on both the DX4e and DX5e. Not mentioned in the Spektrum handbooks (I have 1 of DX4e and 2 off DX5e [one of which is set up for buddy-boxing]).

For the DX5e (Modes 1 & 2), to activate Expo:

1] Hold the aileron trim switch to the right when powering on theTtx.

2] Release the aileron trim switch after a series of ascending tones to confirm that Expo is activated.

 

To deactivate Expo:

1] Hold the aileron trim switch to the left when powering on the Tx.

2] Release the aileron trim switch after a series of descending tones to confirm that Expo is deactivated.

The DX4e, with its mechanical trims (which I must admit I rather like as one can see exactly what trim level is engaged!), has a different procedure.

I have had well over 2 hours flying yesterday evening and this morning with the DX5e set up with Expo and I liked it - that reduced central movement helped in quite gusty spells.

 

 

 

 

Edited By John Robertson 3 on 27/10/2017 13:25:21

[Tom Thomas]

Very interesting vid that, I didn't watch it all but I'm assuming you would need to swap or adjust the throttle spring?

Many thanks for the expo tip john!

I wonder if it was built in on purpose ?.

[Tom Thomas]

So, my orange rx arrived and I got it to bind to the tx (even with its dodgy Ariel) .

It seems that both sticks respond to up and down movement, but they don't respond to side to side movement.

So I resoldered the connections to the rudder and aileron "pots" is it? But still nothing.

I have noticed some chalky like mess on some bits of the circuit board, would this indicate burnt out components?

[Denis Watkins]

Side to side stick movement is detected by the pots at the bottom of the gimbals

The round things

The wires on these are definitely spread in the picture and have been disturbed

Get your magnifying glass on these

[Denis Watkins]

Directed, not detected, apologies

[Tom Thomas]

Posted by Denis Watkins on 02/11/2017 20:15:50:

Side to side stick movement is detected by the pots at the bottom of the gimbals

The round things

The wires on these are definitely spread in the picture and have been disturbed

Get your magnifying glass on these

Hi Denis, yes that's the ones I resoldered.

[Tom Thomas]

Well, I removed the aileron pot and soldered it to the elevator wires (that previously worked) and got not a twitch.

I'm going to assume that whatever the previous owner did damaged the pot

Before I did that I noticed that the aileron trim contacts were soldered together see pic

I compared it to the rudder trim and saw that it was not meant to be

I did my best to remove the excess solder but it still wouldn't work.

So I took the aileron pot apart and the only damage I could see were possible scorch marks from the solder heat maybe? Decide for yourself.

Anyway, I've given up now but it kept me from shouting at trees for a while......

[Denis Watkins]

Go the extra mile Tom, and replace those pots

You can do it

[Geoff S]

I don't think that the excessive solder on the trim contacts would be a problem as the resistors are connected together by the circuit board anyway - perhaps whoever added the extra solder thought the track was cracked? If you have a pot of any sort handy you could try bodging one in to see if it had any effect - I've no real idea what value but I'd try a 1k for a start.

It's worth persevering IMO because a) it'll stop you shouting at trees and b) you've nothing to lose and it's interesting. It's interesting that both rudder and aileron controls don't work so probably something common to both horizontal pots, perhaps.

Geoff

PS As usual I just thought of something after I'd posted   Measure the value of the vertical pots to see what to use to try a new one.  They're almost certainly the same value.

Edited By Geoff Sleath on 03/11/2017 10:55:31