General General Helicopter Servo Question

N

NordCelt

Member
I'm a bit confused about receivers and the servo's they control. There are ports on the receiver for ELE, AIL, and RUD as well as AUX1 controlling pitch. What confuses me is pitch needs to control all three servo's, aileron needs to control two, and elevator one. If you take things apart and don't keep track of what the pinout from the receiver was how do you know what to plug in where. It seems somewhat easy for elevator but I don't see how you could identify the difference between aileron for which goes to AIL and which to AUX1.
 
Might need to check the documentation on the original build, it tells you which servo to plug into which port on the Rx. There may also be some simple way to figure it out just by looking, but thats well beyond my skillset
 
Documentation or just pay attention to how you disconnect things. I would either mark the board, color code things it take pictures.
 
Hi Nordcelt, the elevator is always the center servo and convention says the left servo is AIL and Right is PIT but you can fly OK with AIL & PIT the other way around its only a matter of reversing the channels and swashplate settings. (Note to reverse swash settings if it is a negative number change it to positive and visa versa.)

Further confusion due to some Brands have the swash reversed with the elevator servo to the front. When I started the CPPM settings used to drive me nuts, but I have it down pat now.
 
Thats if your looking from the nose of the heli. Typically its addressed as looking from the tail. So it would be aileron right, pitch left and elevator center.
 
Thanks for the info. When I tear a heli down I have always labelled where the leads came from. I'm still fairly new to heli's and it was just a general question. Admiral gave the the generalized answer I was looking for. Thanks to all for your input.
 
NordCelt said:
Thanks for the info. When I tear a heli down I have always labelled where the leads came from. I'm still fairly new to heli's and it was just a general question. Admiral gave the the generalized answer I was looking for. Thanks to all for your input.
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Hi NordCelt, as usual, Admiral came through with a great answer. I have some different helis and they have various layouts for the position of the servos. Most helis have a 120 degree arrangement around the swashplate, but there are other options, too. For example in the 120 degree layout, the Elevator servo can be positioned forward of the swashplate or behind it but always in line with the boom. Aileron and Pitch are left and right of the swashplate and can also be forwards of the swashplate or behind. Always study the heli and its layout before disconnecting wires or removing servos. As murankar suggests, taking photos helps, too. I also used to label up the servos and wires in the beginning but I had long periods between doing anything with the heli, I don't need to do this now. It takes a bit of time but it does stick in the end.

A long while back now, I bought Ray Hostetler's book "Shop and Field Companion", which I still go back to from time to time when I want to delve deeper into theory (or get to sleep LOL). It's a bit heavy for a beginner but is full of good stuff. I've corresponded a couple of times with him and have always benefitted from prompt feedback with sound advice.

Good luck!
 
Thanks Heliman450. I tend to read a lot of tech related books instead of just pure entertainment books so makes sense to me to read that book at night. I'm a retired test engineer so prefer boiled down material that gets in depth. I've ordered "Shop and Field Companion". Thanks for telling me about it. Looks just like the type of info I've been looking for.
 
NordCelt said:
Thanks Heliman450. I tend to read a lot of tech related books instead of just pure entertainment books so makes sense to me to read that book at night. I'm a retired test engineer so prefer boiled down material that gets in depth. I've ordered "Shop and Field Companion". Thanks for telling me about it. Looks just like the type of info I've been looking for.
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Hi there, Ray also has a very good series of DVD's, however, with the amount of free advice here or around the internet, they are probably not worth spending the money on. I particularly like his attention to detail regarding the build quality. His book is pretty much pre FBL and he only touches on it at the end. That's its main weakness in my opinion. Take it in small bites, don't try to read it cover to cover. Good luck!
 
Actually, I have all flybarless so ordered Flybarless Helicopters from him. There's a lot of info on the net but I spend a lot of time searching so this is just what I'm looking for. Something that is in more of a course format. I'm actually playing around with fundamentals now studying and experimenting with electronics and an Arduino plus other boards to understand what's causing everything to work.

When I was a kid eons ago I'd always be asking my mom for a butter knife so I could pry apart my toys and see what makes them work. Guess I never changed much. I'm an old fart now and worse than ever.
 
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