General Align 3GX Setup Series

[Tony]

Hey everyone, I'm redoing the entire 3GX setup series and I will be putting all of the videos in this thread. As I add videos, I will post a reply so that you guys know I added one. This will, in the end, be a complete series on the 3GX V3.1 on how to set it up and what each of the flight modes do when you change them.

As always, if you have questions, post them up.

3GX Setup Guide Part 1 Mounting & Wiring

3GX Setup Guide Part 2 DIR and GOV Setup

3GX Setup Guide Part 3 Rudder, Delay & Anti-Torque Compensation

3GX Setup Guide Part 4 Flight Mode Settings On The Gyro (No Computer Needed!)

3GX Setup Guide Part 5 Flight Mode Settings On The Computer

 

[Tony]

Part 3 has been added to the list. Part 2 will walk you through everything including the Gov setup that you MUST do. Part 3 is your rudder setup that includes your anti-torque compensation depending on what position you mounted your gyro. More to follow.

 

[Chompwat]

Perfect timing Tony, this is exactly what I need for my upcoming build. Thanks.

 

[Chompwat]

Forgive me if I'm just being dumb and have missed something, but once the Rx and 3GX are connected as in video 1, the power lead is in the bind port.
This lead has to be removed to place the bind plug in the Rx and now there is no power to the Rx.
Does the Rx have to be bound prior to connecting everything up? Will the 3GX initialise as normal once everything is reconnected?
Sorry if this has all been covered elsewhere or if I'm missing the obvious.

 

[Tony]

When you bind the system, you can plug the power wire into any port on the Rx, they will all accept power, and the positive and negative are all connected together. So you can take that out and plug it into the rudder port if you need to. Make sure your ESC is plugged into the Throttle port on the 3GX though.

 

[Chompwat]

Got it thanks, yes that makes complete sense. More valuable learning!

 

[Chompwat]

Ok, so I've got my Rx Bound and connected to the 3 GX and power is on.
I currently have v1.2 firmware.
The software is downloaded to my computer for 3.1
Using the supplied USB cable connected to the data port the 3GX will not connect.
I have tried connecting powered on, and I've tried powering on after connection.
I have also removed the 3.1 software and installed the 1.2 software that came with my heli.
Still no joy.
The 3GX unit is working as I have connected servos and all is fine, it just won't connect via the USB.
Any ideas?

 

[Slobberdog]

Ok for a start, I know you have all the lights lit up but your esc is plugged in wrong, it should be in the throttle port not the battery port, with the white wire at the top, that said it should still connect to the PC.

When you have it powered on you must have the tx on as well and the software open plug in the 3gx to the PC give it a little time to install the driver for the stick then it should come up with USB on the header bar of the software to the right hand side, its as easy as that, although I had done it once I had done the initial setups on the heli, but I don't think that should make a difference,

 

[Chompwat]

Thanks Kev. The instructions are a little confusing regarding Batt/ESC connections..lost a bit in translation I think
I did try it as you said as well but it was no different.
I have noticed that the status light on the 3GX stays red whereas on other videos I have seen the status light turns green.
Also my PC is pretty tired now so it may be that end of things.
I have decided to progress with,the mechanical build, get everything in situ. Then try again later
Anyway thanks again for the advice.

 

[Tony]

I'm not sure what you have plugged into where on that 3GX, but the ESC should be in the throttle port (as already stated) and it looks like one of your signal wires is not plugged in correctly. Scratch that, I don't think either one of them is plugged in correctly. Have a look at Video #1 again where I plug these wires in. Nothing should be plugged into the bind port or the battery port.

 

[Chompwat]

I'm not sure what you have plugged into where on that 3GX, but the ESC should be in the throttle port (as already stated) and it looks like one of your signal wires is not plugged in correctly. Scratch that, I don't think either one of them is plugged in correctly. Have a look at Video #1 again where I plug these wires in. Nothing should be plugged into the bind port or the battery port.

Hi Tony,
Leaving a aside the ESC wire which we already know was in the wrong port, the signal wires and power wire to Rx are as in your video. This may be a trick of the light or camera angle!
But then reading your comment again that nothing should be in the bind port is contrary to the video, which has the wire taking power to the Rx in the s bus/bind port ???

 

[Tony]

The red/white/black wire should be plugged into the batt port of the 3GX to the Rx.

 

[Chompwat]

The red/white/black wire should be plugged into the batt port of the 3GX to the Rx.

I think this is where I have become confused!
The 3 GX has two batt ports, one in, one out..

My understanding is the left horizontal port is Batt In, and is for connection of external BEC if used to power the whole shooting match. I am not using external BEC, and my unit is powered from the ESC BEC connected through the throttle channel of th 3GX. Therefore I have nothing plugged in to the Batt In port.
The right horizontal port Marked S Bus/Bind is the batt Out port and it is this port that I have the red/white/black wire connected to.

The wiring diagrams in the manual and the software show this to be the case. Is this right?
Thanks for your help.

Chomps.

 

[Tony]

You may be "technically" correct, but on the gyro, the positive and negatives are all wired together in parallel. Meaning, if you feed one pin power, say the center positive pin, then ALL center pins will have power. So in reality, you can plug that in just about anywhere as long as you have all of your other plugs plugged in.

Is there anyway that you can get the two color coded wires and get a great picture of them? I think you may be correct in that there is something lost in the photo.

 

[Chompwat]

I'm not sure what you have plugged into where on that 3GX, but the ESC should be in the throttle port (as already stated) and it looks like one of your signal wires is not plugged in correctly. Scratch that, I don't think either one of them is plugged in correctly. Have a look at Video #1 again where I plug these wires in. Nothing should be plugged into the bind port or the battery port.

I have just watched the video again, and in it you clearly say to plug the red/white/black wire in to the bottom right port which is marked SBus/Bind.
I'm not being picky Tony, I just want to be sure.

 

[Tony]

Nah, your fine bro lol. If I said to plug it in there in the video, sweet! At this time, I have a LOT on my plate, I'm excessively over worked, my body is shutting down on me and I have one of the worst head colds that I have EVER had. So, I may not be thinking quite clearly. What I want to make sure of though is that you got the signal wires in teh two plugs all correctly installed. For some reason it just doesn't look right, but I think it might be the blur in the photo throwing things off and mixing colors.

You may need to refresh my memory as to what issue you are having. Again, very sleep deprived all week.

 

[Chompwat]

Hopefully these show the wiring a little clearer.

 

[Tony]

Everything looks great there!

 

[Chompwat]

Thanks Tony, your help is very much appreciated.
I hope you feel better very soon.

The 3GX connectivity issues I am experiencing seem to be fairly commonplace.
I googled just that and found a whole host of threads discussing the issue.
It seems the problem exists where the OS is Windows 7 32 bit, which just happens to be my OS.
One suggestion is to uninstall the software, update Windows? And restart the computer before reinstalling the software.

I'd be interested to know if any others have experienced this, or if anyone is using Windows 7 32 bit that has not experienced problems.

 

[Tony]

Once you plug in your dongle, open up Device Manager (you can click the Start button on the computer and just type that in to search for it). In there, if this thing is not connecting, there should be a yellow triangle with an "!" in it. Or something like that. Right click that and select Uninstall or Remove, Can't remember what it says exactly. From there, Reinstall the 3.1 software and try it again. There has to be a driver missing somewhere. Might need to do a direct install from FTDI.