450 Align 470lm electrical help

Noob

New Member
I've owned a few mini heli's over the years including my Align 150(first 3D heli). I've gotten pretty good at flying(less crashing) so I decided to purchase a Align 470LM kit. I also purchased a Futaba R2008SB receiver(I have a feeling this is the wrong receiver) to pair with my Futaba T6J.


I'm having a hell of a time hooking up this receiver, I understand some of the cables that go into the Micro Beast Plus V4.2 Except the ESC cable. It says that it goes into the receiver in the 470lm manual. It shows it hooking up to a switch, and I have no idea where the other two cables go(into the receiver). The receiver manual is no help.

I unplugged every cable from the receiver and started fresh, I read the Beast plus manual, it shows the cables hooking up to a 7 channel receiver, I hooked it up exactly like it shows, It powers up and nothing works(won't pair).

Also, My tail servo is humming pretty loudly, Is that normal for this helicopter?




If anyone has a diagram or pictures and is willing to help a noob out, It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Noob
 

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RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
I'm only going to be able to help in one area, ie the battery, esc, throttle stuff... I don't fly heli's nor do I use gyro's ( ie like the MicroBeast etc ).... I will cover several things within the power area... but nothing about the other stuff I don't have any experience in. I'll try to also explain a little bit of the terminology just in case you aren't familiar with it already.

First... If you saw a switch mentioned anywhere... I suspect that was in the MicroBeast's documentation, if so, the one I read through ( quickly mind you ) does show a switch as optional equipment. It isn't included nor is it needed. I didn't see a switch mentioned in the 470 documentation, but as mentioned, it was a quick read through. If that manual mentioned it, I also suspect it was talking about IF a switch exists, it probably wasn't saying there was one, they were just covering all possibilities. While I've never seen one, I've also read that some ESC's have them as well, again, I don't believe this applies in this case and they probably only mentioned it to cover all bases.

While still on that subject of supplying power... Typically on an electric model ( whether an airplane, heli, multicopter etc )... Most of them are powered on by simply plugging in the battery. There is seldom a switch involved. As a safety point, this is why you'll see everyone say to make sure your throttle is all the way down ( except the one time you are calibrating the throttle ) before you plug in your battery so the prop/rotor doesn't spin up. Battery power is provided by what is called a BEC ( battery elimination circuit ) which is often included in many of the smaller ESC's ( electronic speed controller ). The ESC is the throttle channel for an electric model and controls the speed of the motor.

While still on the subject, this time of the throttle... On a Futaba system, the throttle signal is reversed from what Spectrum ( and many other radio brands ) use. So you will likely need to check this and probably reverse the throttle channel during your initial setup.

When setting up the throttle for the first time... remove any and all props or rotors for safety purposes. The first time you setup the throttle, you will want to calibrate the throttle signal from the radio to the ESC and motor. Follow the instructions given for your ESC on how they recommend to do it. Typically you will put your throttle on the radio up on full throttle ( all the way up ), plug in the battery, then bring the throttle all of the way down and if all is well, the ESC will arm the motor so it will operate, often you will hear beeps from the motor when this happens. This can differ with different ESC's, so read the manual for the one you have. Other than going through the calibration steps, the other stock ESC settings are usually unchanged unless you have a different need or preferance on a specific setting.

Ok... where to plug that darned ESC in at... lol. Simply put, it plugs into the throttle channel on the receiver you are using. On a Futaba receiver that is typically channel 3, on a JR/Spectrum it is channel 1. The servo wiring will be one of two color combination types... a brown, red, orange... or a black, red, white. The brown or black wire is ground, the red is the positive power... and the orange or white leads are the signal wire. On the Futaba receiver, the servo plugins are "keyed" with a tab on one side to only go in one direction if you have a servo with that type of plug. On other servo plugs that are not keyed, you have to pay attention to which way you plug them into your reciever. On the Futaba reciever that tabbed side is the signal side where the orange or white wire will go to. On a JR/Spectrum, they are usually just labeled as plus, minus and signal... typically with the symbols +. - , or a ^ or similar symbol.... the ^ ( caret symbol ) is the signal side on the receiver. If you have more questions, I'd refer you to the manual for the product itself since there may be some slight differences to what I described.


Here is a basic video about hooking up an ESC ignore anything that isn't related to your setup of course but it should give you some basics to visualize and see how these are hooked up...

 
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Noob

New Member
I'm only going to be able to help in one area, ie the battery, esc, throttle stuff... I don't fly heli's nor do I use gyro's ( ie like the MicroBeast etc ).... I will cover several things within the power area... but nothing about the other stuff I don't have any experience in. I'll try to also explain a little bit of the terminology just in case you aren't familiar with it already.

First... If you saw a switch mentioned anywhere... I suspect that was in the MicroBeast's documentation, if so, the one I read through ( quickly mind you ) does show a switch as optional equipment. It isn't included nor is it needed. I didn't see a switch mentioned in the 470 documentation, but as mentioned, it was a quick read through. If that manual mentioned it, I also suspect it was talking about IF a switch exists, it probably wasn't saying there was one, they were just covering all possibilities. While I've never seen one, I've also read that some ESC's have them as well, again, I don't believe this applies in this case and they probably only mentioned it to cover all bases.

While still on that subject of supplying power... Typically on an electric model ( whether an airplane, heli, multicopter etc )... Most of them are powered on by simply plugging in the battery. There is seldom a switch involved. As a safety point, this is why you'll see everyone say to make sure your throttle is all the way down ( except the one time you are calibrating the throttle ) before you plug in your battery so the prop/rotor doesn't spin up. Battery power is provided by what is called a BEC ( battery elimination circuit ) which is often included in many of the smaller ESC's ( electronic speed controller ). The ESC is the throttle channel for an electric model and controls the speed of the motor.

While still on the subject, this time of the throttle... On a Futaba system, the throttle signal is reversed from what Spectrum ( and many other radio brands ) use. So you will likely need to check this and probably reverse the throttle channel during your initial setup.

When setting up the throttle for the first time... remove any and all props or rotors for safety purposes. The first time you setup the throttle, you will want to calibrate the throttle signal from the radio to the ESC and motor. Follow the instructions given for your ESC on how they recommend to do it. Typically you will put your throttle on the radio up on full throttle ( all the way up ), plug in the battery, then bring the throttle all of the way down and if all is well, the ESC will arm the motor so it will operate, often you will hear beeps from the motor when this happens. This can differ with different ESC's, so read the manual for the one you have. Other than going through the calibration steps, the other stock ESC settings are usually unchanged unless you have a different need or preferance on a specific setting.

Ok... where to plug that darned ESC in at... lol. Simply put, it plugs into the throttle channel on the receiver you are using. On a Futaba receiver that is typically channel 3, on a JR/Spectrum it is channel 1. The servo wiring will be one of two color combination types... a brown, red, orange... or a black, red, white. The brown or black wire is ground, the red is the positive power... and the orange or white leads are the signal wire. On the Futaba receiver, the servo plugins are "keyed" with a tab on one side to only go in one direction if you have a servo with that type of plug. On other servo plugs that are not keyed, you have to pay attention to which way you plug them into your reciever. On the Futaba reciever that tabbed side is the signal side where the orange or white wire will go to. On a JR/Spectrum, they are usually just labeled as plus, minus and signal... typically with the symbols +. - , or a ^ or similar symbol.... the ^ ( caret symbol ) is the signal side on the receiver. If you have more questions, I'd refer you to the manual for the product itself since there may be some slight differences to what I described.


Here is a basic video about hooking up an ESC ignore anything that isn't related to your setup of course but it should give you some basics to visualize and see how these are hooked up...

Thank you for the reply, I've decided to take in my heli to my local hobby shop to get help considering I just almost broke my wrist, I plugged it in and the motor started spinning up.
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
I plugged it in and the motor started spinning up.

That is the very reason everyone recommends taking off the props or rotors during your initial setup. Of course disconnecting the motor during this part would be safer, but it isn't always that easy or in some cases even possible to do that.
 

Smoggie

Well-Known Member
Your receiver has Sbus output, so in this case the best way to connect it it to the Microbeast is by a single cable from the Sbus output of the receiver. This saves a lot of wiring clutter.

It's covered in this video:
 

Noob

New Member
That is the very reason everyone recommends taking off the props or rotors during your initial setup. Of course disconnecting the motor during this part would be safer, but it isn't always that easy or in some cases even possible to do that.
I didn't have my blades on, I have my microbeast on the rear right under the head. I've now disconnected my motor to prevent it from happening again.
 

Noob

New Member
Your receiver has Sbus output, so in this case the best way to connect it it to the Microbeast is by a single cable from the Sbus output of the receiver. This saves a lot of wiring clutter.

It's covered in this video:
Thank you Smoggie!
 

Noob

New Member
I've hooked it up exactly like Ron Lund did in that video, and nothing works. Is it possible that my transmitter is not compatible with this receiver?
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Both the reciever and transmitter you listed earlier use Futaba's F-FHSS protocol... they are compatible. If you are worried one or the other is having a problem... manually bind them together minus everything else ( ie no servos, no gyro ), of course you still need to provide power to the reciever, so you'll need the ESC/BEC or equiv.

I've hooked it up exactly like Ron Lund did in that video

Never assume... you can say you believe you did that you did everything... but something is obviously wrong and you are one of the many suspects that could be it ( included all parts ) at this point and at this point, it's a matter of a process of elimination. That is why the first test steps is to exclude everything you don't need ( like I mentioned above ) and then just adding one thing at a time to the test setup on the bench. I would leave the motor out of the tests... just test the electricals and wiring basically.
 

Smoggie

Well-Known Member
Can you take photos of all your wiring, nice and close so we can see what wires go to which ports?
 

GoFlyBoy

New Member
I've owned a few mini heli's over the years including my Align 150(first 3D heli). I've gotten pretty good at flying(less crashing) so I decided to purchase a Align 470LM kit. I also purchased a Futaba R2008SB receiver(I have a feeling this is the wrong receiver) to pair with my Futaba T6J.


I'm having a hell of a time hooking up this receiver, I understand some of the cables that go into the Micro Beast Plus V4.2 Except the ESC cable. It says that it goes into the receiver in the 470lm manual. It shows it hooking up to a switch, and I have no idea where the other two cables go(into the receiver). The receiver manual is no help.

I unplugged every cable from the receiver and started fresh, I read the Beast plus manual, it shows the cables hooking up to a 7 channel receiver, I hooked it up exactly like it shows, It powers up and nothing works(won't pair).

Also, My tail servo is humming pretty loudly, Is that normal for this helicopter?




If anyone has a diagram or pictures and is willing to help a noob out, It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Noob
Hi
I had a problem recently too. Check that the MODULATION matches the Transmitter and Receiver
That is…. Example.
the receiver is 7 channel … so must the modulation setting on the transmitter. (7 channel modulation for 7 channel receiver… 10 channel modulation for 10 channel receiver)

once I corrected the MODULATION. …. The pairing went great.
 

Noob

New Member
Last night I messed around with my MicroBeast, I tried to reset to factory default, So I could go through the set up process again, but it would not reset. It would not bind to my transmitter. All I did was unplug the power cable. I plugged the power cable in tonight and it binded to my transmitter almost immediately , My swash plate servos are working normal but my rudder is acting funny and my throttle doesn't work.


My rudder is acting a little funny. When I press leftwards on my stick,my rudder stays in that position until I press right on the stick.
receiver 1.jpgmicrobeast.jpg
 

Noob

New Member
I just updated my microbeast plus to the current firmware and I reset it.


It started working, but my rudder servo got pretty hot. I disconnected the battery and checked it out, it seems to be fine.


I went to enter the parameters in studioXM, and now it won't recognize my transmitter. I also tried to enter the parameters on the microbeast but i'm having trouble getting into the set up menu.
 

Smoggie

Well-Known Member
Wiring looks ok. You should start out the setup with the servos disconnected from their links/pushrods so that they don't stall and burn out. You should also have the rudder servo unplugged from the FBL until you have set the correct center pulse (760us or 1520us).

I cant help with StudioXM, I'm not a beastX user, I was under the impression that the standard setup could all be done using the blinky lights?
 

buel williams

Active Member
I have a 470lm with microbeast plus I dont use fataba I use dsmx remote receiver spm9645 with adapter and my dx6 tx you can set up with beastx ar7210bx or 7200 user guide
 

Noob

New Member
I hooked everything up after programing my microbeast. My throttle is reversed so I need to figure out how to reverse that. My swash plate is not level, I built this two years ago and I did use a digital micrometer to measure them, I may have to redo them. My rudder is still acting weird.


here is a link to a video on you tube of how my rudder is acting, Can anyone tell me if this is normal?


Also, Is ESC beeping normal?



image0.jpeg
 

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
My throttle is reversed so I need to figure out how to reverse that.
I'm not a futaba person but I think you can change it in the TX. I do have the same FBL unit but I'm a spektrum person like Buel. So my pic wont help you...I don't think :thinking:
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
While still on the subject, this time of the throttle... On a Futaba system, the throttle signal is reversed from what Spectrum ( and many other radio brands ) use. So you will likely need to check this and probably reverse the throttle channel during your initial setup.

Yeah... it's typical on a Futaba compared to many other brands as I'd mentioned earlier in my first reply in the thread. This is changed in the transmitter settings.
 

Noob

New Member
I've entered the set up on my microbeast, I have everything set until I reach H-I on the parameters. My swash doesn't go up evenly like it says in the manual, It tells me I can reverse the servos but when I move my stick it doesn't reverse them, it just turns the light a different color.
 

buel williams

Active Member
I know on my microbeast in the parameters G for centering servvos and leveling swash is actually H and H is G. and some adjustments for pitch on main blades on rudder and aileron sticks may be backwards.
 
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