Moving Spektrum AS3X and SAFE receivers to a different plane

[prestonowtm]

I use the pre programmed AR636 in about 15 planes. The self correct never takes 50ft of altitude. It's tenths of a second with the flip of a switch. I suppose if you are headed straight down open throttle it might take 50 ft...but then you are liable to rip the wings off of whatever it's in. I wrote a post earlier about these...wondering if anyone read it..HH will send you a pre program receiver if you ask them for the P47 one. They slip right into just about any warbird. Hell I even have one in a Flightline ME262 and it works great. No screwing around with files trying to figure out what to do. Set it up on a toggle on/off. They are 79.00 shipped. They even help a lot with landings in heavy cross winds. You do have to set them flat and stable, oriented towards the front of the plane as close to the CG line as you can get. I use heavy duty double sided tape. Almost every warbird is set up the same even twin engines so the P47 receiver from Eflite is a drop in on almost every plane I have. Slowly putting them in everything.

[xviper]

I use the pre programmed AR636 in about 15 planes. The self correct never takes 50ft of altitude. It's tenths of a second with the flip of a switch. I suppose if you are headed straight down open throttle it might take 50 ft...but then you are liable to rip the wings off of whatever it's in. I wrote a post earlier about these...wondering if anyone read it..HH will send you a pre program receiver if you ask them for the P47 one. They slip right into just about any warbird. Hell I even have one in a Flightline ME262 and it works great. No screwing around with files trying to figure out what to do. Set it up on a toggle on/off. They are 79.00 shipped. They even help a lot with landings in heavy cross winds. You do have to set them flat and stable, oriented towards the front of the plane as close to the CG line as you can get. I use heavy duty double sided tape. Almost every warbird is set up the same even twin engines so the P47 receiver from Eflite is a drop in on almost every plane I have. Slowly putting them in everything.

Nice to know that the 636 doesn't take that much to recover. My reference of 50 ft. was for the Bigaole, which uses GPS to sense altitude corrections.

[prestonowtm]

It is pretty much instant. Even nicer is with signal loss you can set the receiver up to circle at altitude until signal is regained. I have been flying for a loooong time and first ran across these receivers when getting my granddaughter into flying. As well behaved as her little Apprentice was out of the box I started looking into the 636. It had a learning curve because I had no information other than trial and error at the time. I had never flown with a gyro either..that probably didn't help. Heck I don't like flying without the backup system now. Lose orientation..click..no issue. Wind is running 15 to 20 mph..click..no issue. Amazing little receivers. A plane that is just an absolute bear to land on a windy day..click..no issue. I swear they probably drop my blood pressure when flying now...lol

[Air Florida]

I have taken out my AS3X (AR636a)receiver and installed it into another aircraft. I understand that is a no no but the interesting thing is everything works albeit that I needed to reverse the servos in order to have all the flight controls and flaps to operate in the proper direction. The gyro and SAFE also works. I am just wondering if anyone else had tried this with success.

[xviper]

I have taken out my AS3X (AR636a)receiver and installed it into another aircraft. I understand that is a no no but the interesting thing is everything works albeit that I needed to reverse the servos in order to have all the flight controls and flaps to operate in the proper direction. The gyro and SAFE also works. I am just wondering if anyone else had tried this with success.

It appears many have done this. Just read the posts in this thread and you'll see some have done it and some have had problems. Read the very first post and you'll see the details.

[zflyer]

Hi forum users, a quick and no doubt dumb question(s). AS3X, if I choose not to use the SAFE feature does the stabilisation still work ?
Would the pre configured E flite mustang work on my Hangar 9 Mustang

[xviper]

Hi forum users, a quick and no doubt dumb question(s). AS3X, if I choose not to use the SAFE feature does the stabilisation still work ?
Would the pre configured E flite mustang work on my Hangar 9 Mustang

Yes, the stab will still work. "AS3X" is the stabilization feature of the RX. SAFE is a recovery feature and has to do with the RX seeing which orientation of the plane as being level and right side up.
As for it working from on Mustang to the other, that depends on whether or not all of the servos are of the same type (ie, normal or reversed). You won't know till you try it. Plus, you won't know if the gains will work with a different plane. An Eflite Mustang may or may not fly the same as a Hanger 9 Mustang.

[Fred]

Hi forum users, a quick and no doubt dumb question(s). AS3X, if I choose not to use the SAFE feature does the stabilisation still work ?
Would the pre configured E flite mustang work on my Hangar 9 Mustang

As xviper wrote, yes. I just wrote an article based on my recent experience hacking the receiver. Here it is:

What on earth is SAFE® or: How I hacked AR636 from V900 to fly the Freewing Mirage 2000, with SAFE and AS3X

Table of Contents

• My new problem
• AS3X® terminology
• AS3X® features
• SAFE® leverages AS3X
• Open stock AR636 vs SAFE-enabled AR636
• How to tweak rate gain, dual rate and expo on an AR636A
• How to use AR636A on a non-E-flite plane, “without” SAFE
• How to use AR636/A on a different SAFE plane from E-flite
• How to use AR636/A on a non-E-flite plane, “with” SAFE
  • Deploy a pre-made SAFE model on a similar plane
  • Create a new SAFE model from the ground up
  • Trick SPS into unlocking wing type changes on a SAFE model
  • Disable direct parameters for the PID controller
• Postscript

[dblewis76]

Very useful, thanks!

I have the Parkzone sport cub S2 (51") with the AR636. Can I program a switch on my DX6 to turn the AS3X off?

I don't have a DX6, but if it has a mode selection switch you can use it to turn off the AS3X. See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qnk...u_Gi1&index=14

Spektrum as a whole series of videos for programming the AS3X here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...RshoLuMZKu_Gi1

[Ronster]

Hallo guys, I am all new to the hobby of flying and fly now for just under a year. Tought myself with a Minni Apprentice S but it is finished now and in a thousand pieces.
However I just finished building a Sig 40 with a brushless motor and I bought an (AR636) reciever.
i was just wondering if the following two radios (DX7s & DX8e) will work on it and have SAFE mode as I can’t get it to work. Done all the steps on YouTube etc.
I would like to chat to someone who has done it successfully on a DX7s orDX8e.
please help

[Cory1971]

I have taken a ar636a and programmed it for my fun jet ultra. Works great and with a dx6i transmitter with switch to turn on or off the gyro along with the rates and different gains settings. The reciever does all the reversing for elvalon mixing as well as differential percentages. Piece a cake. It's awesome and currently I run gains at about 25 percent in the funjet ultra and at 130 mph I get no porposing . Flies like it's on rails . It really helps when I go to high gains for super fast rolls and yank and banking especially in high winds. Safe is a different story and I don't know if I'll try to risk programming it by trial and error. So many variables and settings as well as different rates for gains to program in a recovery that will work from any type of stall or orientation.

[Cory1971]

I'm sorry folks , I meant expo not differential.

[Papo-68]

I have a couple programming questions relative to the AR636 & AR636a. 1)First, I see that you can set up 3 different modes on a 3 position switch. I understand One for Safe & one for just AS3X. What would you use the third mode for??? 2) If I have a AR636a for one plane (say the 70mm Viper), can I download the settings for another plane, say the F-16 Thunderbird to this receiver to replace the Viper settings?

[xviper]

I have a couple programming questions relative to the AR636 & AR636a. 1)First, I see that you can set up 3 different modes on a 3 position switch. I understand One for Safe & one for just AS3X. What would you use the third mode for??? 2) If I have a AR636a for one plane (say the 70mm Viper), can I download the settings for another plane, say the F-16 Thunderbird to this receiver to replace the Viper settings?

It depends on the exact model of RX. I've just messed with a 636A out of an old Opterra. It had to be updated and wiped clean, however, those old 636s will NOT accept forward programming even when wiped clean. (The TX forwarding programming feature can't connect to the RX.) Mine could only be programmed with the smart phone APP and the bluetooth dongle. Plus, it was not possible to program in SAFE, only 3 levels of AS3X. SAFE is the bank/pitch angle limiter and self levelling feature. There was no programming step for SAFE in the smart phone APP. What I did on the 3-position switch was .............................. 1. NO AS3X; 2. Low rate gain AS3X; 3. Higher rate gain AS3X. After flying, if I determine that high gain was still below oscillation, I make the high gain my low gain and dial in even higher gain for the 3rd position. I like to use the high gain for cross wind conditions and for landing in windy conditions.
Once the RX is updated and wiped clean, I believe you can load another pre-written file into it. It this case, if SAFE is part of the file, then it will work. It's just that programming it manually from scratch has some limitations but those limitations are in the APP and not necessarily in the RX.

[Papo-68]

I have a Spektrum AR636a receiver out of an E-flite 70mm F-16 Thunderbird. I no longer have the Thunderbird but I just bought a Freewing 90mm F-16 Thunderbird. I put this receiver into the Freewing F-16 and everything except the elevator control seems to work properly, i.e. Rudder, Ailerons, Throttle, Safe function & AS3X. However the elevator is reversed. I have read/viewed a number of articles & videos that I must reverse the elevator on the receiver. When I do this, how likely will this receiver function on the Freewing F-16 exactly as it did on the E-flite F-16??? Also, has anyone else successfully moved their E-flite F-16 receiver to the Freewing F-16. If so, I’m hoping everything worked as expected on the Freewing F-16?.? Thanks in advance for any thoughts/recommendations.

[Gilatrout]

When moving/setting up an AS3X receiver to a new plane, it is important to pay attention to 2 settings. Get them wrong and the gyro may think right is left and up is down.

First make sure the wing type matches your model.

Second make sure the orientation is correct for the new plane.

In your case of moving from one 70mm F16 to another, the gains are probably ok. If you see oscillation, go into the programmer and lower the gains. Better yet, set the gains to relative and map them to a channel on your receiver so you can adjust gains in flight. The receiver is listening to 9 channels so if your transmitter supports mor than 6, you have headroom to do this.

The last thing to be aware of is safe mode. The AS3X programmer won't let you change any of the settings. If the original plane has been set up with safe mode, then so too will the new one. Be very careful here to make sure your flight mode channel is set up exactly as on the original plane or you won't be able to go in and out of safe mode. There is a 3rd party tool to help here, but that is a separate discussion.