Synchronizing 2 servos on a Futaba

[Vern Smith]

I need some help from the Futaba guys. A good friend of mine, who has the $2,300.00 Futaba transmitter, and I were trying to get two servos hooked to the rudder to cooperate with each other this morning. I have used JR for 15 years and do it quite easily by plugging each servo into it's own channel and mixing the two. This allows me to synchronize the neutral points and end points for both servos using the JR sub trim and end point adjust functions.

The Futaba had lots of terms not very familiar to me like group and combine. It also has a mix function. Given the scenario described above what is the best way to synchronize two servos plugged into individual channels and retain the ability to independently adjust the neutral and end points for each servo?

A second question is the uniqueness of the high dollar Futaba. Do the models a step down the line that sell for around $1,300.00 have all the same programming options and screens as the high dollar model?

Thanks for the assistance,
Vern

[Mithrandir]

go to the FUNCTION Menu and assign RUDDER to an available channel... assign J4 as the control stick and T4 as the trim... you can assign 3 channels to all be RUDDER and the DR and ATV will affect the 3 servos correctly.

There is a benefit to grouping channels together...

[Vern Smith]

Mithrandir,

As a general rule, is grouping the preferred way to synchronize servos, rather then use mixing for example?
Vern

[Mithrandir]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Vern Smith
	Mithrandir, Does your information pre-suppose that the channels the two servos are plugged into are "grouped"? Vern

Ummmmm... I can't remember exactly.... with the 72 mhz Rx's, they were in grouos of 3 I think... the 2.4 might be different....

But, on the Tx, in the FUNCTION menu, you can assign any function to any switch, knob, slider or stick... so you can put RUDDER on CH3, RUDDER1 on ch5 and RUDDER2 on ch10... if that is what you want.....
Should I take a picture of my FUNCTION Menu?

[Vern Smith]

You have been helpful enough already, let us screw around a little before we put you to that much trouble

Vern

[Mithrandir]

if you go to the FUTABA Flyers Club web site, there are preprogrammed models you can download. Sometimes it is helpful to see how other people program stuff....

Be sure to Program the Fail Safe too!!!

[Vern Smith]

Much appreciated, we will check back with our next laundry list of problems

Vern

[Vern Smith]

We were able to synchronize the two rudder servos by manually matching all the settings for the rudder channel and the Aux channel. This worked great until we tried the snap roll switch. It would only talk to the rudder servo. My friend, in a burst of brilliance discovered that you can make a switch a master in the Futaba. He made the snap roll switch the master and the Aux channel the slave. That seems to have done the trick.

Is there not a simpler way to do this, like selecting the rudder as master, the aux channel as slave and let the radio carry all the various rates, expos, and related switch commands along? Really, the only thing that you would want to retain individual control over would be direction, neutral and end positions.

It's obvious after spending some time with the Futaba that it's control software is very sophisticated and provides a lot of control options that I have never found on my JR's but it's not very intuitive and it's easy to lose your place. I'm sure a lot of this comes with practice. I won't comment on the manual

Vern

[Josh Price]

you can have more than one channel set as rudder and still change its endpoints, travel, speed, etc. and when you set up d/r to the rudder it will effect all the channels that are set for rudder,

just go to the funtion menu and set what ever channels you have the rudder plugged in to and change its label to rudder and check to make sure you have the propper stick asigned and trim asigned.
It is different at first but with in minutes you can have it figured out and it will make things so much easier

[Mithrandir]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Vern Smith
	We were able to synchronize the two rudder servos by manually matching all the settings for the rudder channel and the Aux channel. This worked great until we tried the snap roll switch. It would only talk to the rudder servo. My friend, in a burst of brilliance discovered that you can make a switch a master in the Futaba. He made the snap roll switch the master and the Aux channel the slave. That seems to have done the trick. Is there not a simpler way to do this, like selecting the rudder as master, the aux channel as slave and let the radio carry all the various rates, expos, and related switch commands along? Really, the only thing that you would want to retain individual control over would be direction, neutral and end positions. It's obvious after spending some time with the Futaba that it's control software is very sophisticated and provides a lot of control options that I have never found on my JR's but it's not very intuitive and it's easy to lose your place. I'm sure a lot of this comes with practice. I won't comment on the manual Vern

go to the FUNCTION Menu and assign RUDDER to an available channel... assign J4 as the control stick and T4 as the trim... you can assign 3 channels to all be "RUDDER" and the DR and ATV will affect the 3 servos correctly.

There is a benefit to grouping channels together...

[Flyfalcons]

Make sure the control and trim functions for your second rudder servo are listed as "NULL".

[Vern Smith]

I sure appreciate all the help. My friend figured out why we had all the trouble to begin with guided by all your advise. The problem started when he originally set up the transmitter for two rudder servos. He says that Futaba lists aileron 1 and aileron two as well as elevator one and elevator two to accommodate a servo on each panel. When he say there was only one runner listed he assumed he had to duplicate the system Futaba provided for elevator and ailerons. After we were educated in the Futaba naming jargon everything worked beautifully.

I've been kicking around the idea of buying a 2.4 system and I think I would prefer FAAST At the expense of hijacking my own thread could one of you answer a couple of quick questions for me.

1. Is the 12 FG just a 10CAG with 2 more channels?
2. What do you get for the $600.00 premium you pay for the 12Z over the 12FG?
3. I only need 7 channels, are the 7 channel receivers as good as the 9, 10, and up receivers?
4. Will any receivers I buy now have the update to fix the overheating problem?
It gets hot in South Florida

Vern

[DougV]

Hi Vern,

1. Is the 12 FG just a 10CAG with 2 more channels?
No, the 12FG software is way more advanced than the 10C, it's the same as the 12Z and close to the 14MZ, and the 12FG is a 14 channel radio (12+2).

2. What do you get for the $600.00 premium you pay for the 12Z over the 12FG?
2 CPU's on the 12Z, 1 on the 12FG, plus the 12Z has speaker volume control, and better pods.
The 12Z has 4 trim tabs, 12FG has 6 trim tabs.

3. I only need 7 channels, are the 7 channel receivers as good as the 9, 10, and up receivers?
The 8 and 14 channel rx's are 2048 resolution with F/S on all channels, the 7 channel is 1024 resolution with F/S on throttle only.

4. Will any receivers I buy now have the update to fix the overheating problem?
I will say yes, but then again.. you never know.

It gets hot in South Florida
Tell me about it.

Regards,
Doug.