I was about ready to test fly my newly built Trex 700 Gasser conversion. I read the manual and watched tony's video on how to set up the 3gx. Everything seemed fine until i was ready to take it outside and fire it up. I noticed that i had no heading lock mode and only rate mode. I had positive and negative values in for the gain and nothing would change it. I tried reverting the 3gx to V3.1 and still the same thing. When i was setting it up the first time it was V4.0 which is what came in it and it defaulted to heading hold when i first bound the receiver to it. I have an AR8000 receiver with a TM1000 telemetry module and running that with a DX9 radio. Im going crazy as to what could be going on here. I so want to get this bird in the air. I do know that i can turn the governor off using the aux2 channel and i have the rudder gain in the gear channel. Both of these are the same in the radio. One thing i noticed when i hooked up the 3gx to the computer the rudder gain was at 120%. That scares me to put the thing in the air.
FBL Gyro 3GX stuck in rate mode
- Thread starter Kyle17960
- Start date
Tony
Staff member
It sounds like you have a switch not matched up. Go back into your gyro menu on your Tx and select the option to select your switch. Flip the switch that you want to use and it should select it for you. Then, see if the status light changes from red to green. Let me know. I will dig further if this doesn't work when I get off tomorrow.
I've tried that and went through the manual of the transmitter to see any other place it might be a switch or channel mix up. So far everything seems in line. I even just tried taking the AR6100 out of my trex 450 since I have the rudder gain on the same switch and tried that. Still stays stuck in rate mode. I then hooked up the AR8000 to the trex 450 and it switched back and forth no problem. The 450 has a futuba GY401 gyro on it.
Tony
Staff member
channel A, that's the far back left switch, correct? Try taking it to -100/100 and see that does. That in no means is what you should fly in, but it's the extremes of each. And make sure when you flip the switch that the arrow on the right is moving.
Also, you got my message above, correct?
Also, you got my message above, correct?
The manual shows the governor as channel 7. That comes down from the 3gx with the power. I can turn the gov on and off no problem. I'll try switching them. Nope that still has the same results. I changed the channels in the gov and gyro but kept the same switches. On thing I keep forgetting to say is that the tail rudder servo is insanly sensitive to the stick. I keep wondering if this unit is just bad.
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Yes I have tried scrolling all the way to 100 plus and negative and yes the arrow jumps back and forth. Yes A is left side all the way back.
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Yes I have tried scrolling all the way to 100 plus and negative and yes the arrow jumps back and forth. Yes A is left side all the way back.
Tony
Staff member
I have to head to bed here soon, work again tomorrow. But lets try this.
You have completely went through the DIR and Rudder setup menu's? You have the tail end points set perfectly? If so, don't worry about the sensitive tail, it does that.
Question, why are you running the AR8000? There is no need with you running that DX9. Just plug the two satellites into the 3GX and bind it. Put your TM1000 into the bind port, and use the bind button on the telemetry modules bind button to bind the system. For testing, you can use just one satellite Rx, but when you are ready to fly, you really need two. Oh, and you might try rebinding the system as it sits just for giggles.
You have completely went through the DIR and Rudder setup menu's? You have the tail end points set perfectly? If so, don't worry about the sensitive tail, it does that.
Question, why are you running the AR8000? There is no need with you running that DX9. Just plug the two satellites into the 3GX and bind it. Put your TM1000 into the bind port, and use the bind button on the telemetry modules bind button to bind the system. For testing, you can use just one satellite Rx, but when you are ready to fly, you really need two. Oh, and you might try rebinding the system as it sits just for giggles.
Yep all the is setup. I went through the manual and watched your videos to make sure I did it right. The tail slides all the way side to side and has no binding. The sensitivity that scares me is if I move the rudder stick the slightest amount it moves the servo all the way in that direction.
I tried rebinding everything and still the same result. Then I took the satellite out of the ar8000 and plugged it into the ant1 port and the tm1000 in the bind port. It wouldn't bind. I tried ant2 port then I bound but started to boot up would almost finish and start over. It did that a few times then I shut it off.
I'm going to get two new satellite relievers today and will try it that way this afternoon.
Thanks so much for all the help and suggestions.
I tried rebinding everything and still the same result. Then I took the satellite out of the ar8000 and plugged it into the ant1 port and the tm1000 in the bind port. It wouldn't bind. I tried ant2 port then I bound but started to boot up would almost finish and start over. It did that a few times then I shut it off.
I'm going to get two new satellite relievers today and will try it that way this afternoon.
Thanks so much for all the help and suggestions.
So much for getting the satellite receivers today. No one around me had any. I hope I can get some soon. As for it turning off and back on again that was the receiver battery getting way to low. I must have been trying way more then I thought because I really drained the battery. I'll keep you posted if something starts to work soon.
I tried again this morning after i got the receiver battery charged up again. I had the satellite in and the telemetry module in and it bound up and everything actually works. I had a heck of a time getting it to bind though. I probably tired like 6 times until it finally bound. The odd thing is that its a dsmX satellite but it only bound as dsm2. I'm also getting a slow flashing light on the satellite receiver. I hope that is just how it is with only one of the two satellites hooked in. I should be getting a second tomorrow when a friend comes to visit. I went through and updated the firmware back up to V5.0 and reset up the whole heli. I should be good to take it outside tomorrow and spool it up and test hover it finally. Thanks for all the help. Ill add in anything else that i find odd so hopefully it helps someone else out also. Merry Christmas
Tony
Staff member
The 3GX only accepts DSM2 and not DSMX. It sucks, I know. I'm just glad that you got it working. As for the slow flashing, that is because you shut the helicopter off and left your Tx on. This is how it tells you it lost signal if you are flying. If you land, and that light is slow flashing like that, then you need to look for a fault, or at least a larger battery or BEC or something.
You will have to rebind it when you get the other Rx. I'm sure you know this, just sayin' lol.
Post up a video of the first flight! Would like to see it.
You will have to rebind it when you get the other Rx. I'm sure you know this, just sayin' lol.
Post up a video of the first flight! Would like to see it.
As to the rudder sensitivity to the stick, I have noticed on my trex450 with 3gx (V5) that when I am conducting a pre-flight check on the servos, I only have to move my rudder to the left or right from mid stick about 15% or so and the 3gx moves the rudder servo arm full left or right (thus moving the tail slider fully left or right). It flies fine, however. I think the gyro senses the stick input and expects tail movement. If it senses no tail movement, it increases the command to the rudder servo exponentially so as to compensate.
If this is incorrect, someone please let me know.
I got the other satellite receiver and it bound right up to the whole system yesterday afternoon and all was good. I charged up the transmitter and receiver battery so id be all good to test fly today in 55 degrees and sunny. The first few hovers were good just had to so some carb tuning to smooth the engine out a little. I had it up in the air above my garden and just slow flying around when all of the sudden i lost tail control and it started spinning. I just brought it down as soon as i could but with it spinning the main blades hit the ground and shattered the ends off. When i checked the heli here the tail servo went completely bad, feel like no teeth or a gear slipping inside. I can hear the servo motor constantly turning but nothing else moves and i can move the horn with my fingers. I just sent an email to the company where i purchased the kit from and im hoping to get replacement parts for what got messed up. So when i get the new parts and back in the air ill get a video and post it. Hope no one else had a bad flying day.
Tony
Staff member
Yeah, sounds like the tail servo stripped out on it. That really sucks. But sounds like it was flying great. Glad you got the issues fixed. Now, just get new blades, main shaft, feathering shaft, and anything else that broke and get that sucker back up in the air. I need to get my 600 in the air as well, but have a LOT of setup to do on it.
Well after a long wait and another surgery I finally have the heli back up and ready for a test flight only to find another problem in the system. The battery pack is getting taken down real fast and the telemetry is showing that the receiver voltage is dropping down to around 4 volts. This is causing the 3gx to brown out and want to reset. I dont know if its the 3gx pulling to much power or the voltage regulator that i got with the kit just isnt fast enough to adjust for the change in the flight pack voltage. Im looking for ideas on what to do next. It looks like either use LiFe packs and not use the regulator or maybe get higher capacity 7.4V LiPo packs. Right now i have 7.4 3600Mah Pulse receiver battery. I tried it tonight where i was shaking the heli and moving the sticks rapidly and im getting warning on the transmitter that the flight pack is down to 5.9 volts and shortly after that the 3gx did a quick reset. I charged the battery and it only took 300ma to charge and balance it. I was hoping this heli would be simpler for me since to me a gas engine is easy and its the electronics im not as familiar with.