Assembling 1st EDF

[Pilotguy]

A flier made me an offer I couldn’t refuse so I bought an unopened, unused Hobby-Lobby FJ-3(F-86). Got it all put together & bound to my dx6 Rx. There’s no output from the ailerons at all. No sounds, no nothing when I move the right stick to the left or right.

I put in “Airplane Type” for “Normal wing” (there’s 1 aileron servo on each wing connected with Y harness to Rx channel 2. Theres 2 elevator servos. The wires coming out from the 2 elevator servos going to the Rx are confusing me.

Coming out from the Right elevator servo are 3 wires (black, red, yellow) but the red & black wires are going into the Left elevator servos connector & the yellow wire is going directly to another connector which the manual says gets plugged into the Rx AUX 2 port.

Whew ... Coming out from the Left elevator servo Connector are white, red & black wires which the manual says gets plugged into the Rx ELEVATOR port.

I tried a different aileron Y harness but it didn’t work. All other channels work ok. What else can I try?

Thanks...

[Robert Belluomini]

They are using common power between the two elevator servos. The yellow wire is the signal wire for the one servo. Pretty common practice. Have you tried plugging one servo in at a time to the Aileron channel to make sure the servos are working correctly?

[xviper]

This is where a servo tester would come in handy. You can more easily eliminate where the problem might be - in the servo itself, in the "Y" or in some other component. You speak of aileron and elevator. Can you not hook up each aileron servo and test? Do the same with each elevator servo. If they work when directly connected, then there's something wrong with the way they're using common grounds or common power leads or your "Y".

[Pilotguy]

Yep ... if only I had a servo tester. I disconnected the aileron Y harness & plugged in 1 aileron at a time. The Right works. The Left gives me nothing, no sound, no vibration, no nothing. Good bet this Left aileron servo is dead & needs to be replaced?

[xviper]

It's possible ................. or something wrong with the plug, maybe a poor solder or the pin isn't fully seated when you push it on. Also, try a different RX (a non-636 type). It's also possible that one or more of the control surfaces isn't turned on.

[Pilotguy]

I tried different Rx (AR400). I still get nothing from that Left aileron. Will try seating the connectors better.

[xviper]

I tried different Rx (AR400). I still get nothing from that Left aileron. Will try seating the connectors better.

See if the pins inside the plug are not sliding in and out. Oh, and until you get a servo tester, the AR400 on a separate model would make a good tester. You just need a power supply like a stand alone BEC but then, so does your average servo tester - (servo tester or AR400 + external BEC + 2s or more LiPo). Here's mine:

[Pilotguy]

Somehow I got all channels to work with all the servo leads connected to the Rx. But I did not have to Rx in the final location because I was only testing to get all channels to work, which they finally did.

I moved the Rx to its permanent location, re-bound with all servo leads connected to Rx but only throttle worked; no other channel worked. I disconnected all servo leads from Rx then plugged in only throttle to the Rx & re-bound. The motor worked. I then plugged in the elevator to the Rx but got no output from either elevator. I then removed the elevator servo lead & connected the aileron lead ( Y harness) and also got no output from the aileron channel. I am so confused.

I

[Pilotguy]

When connecting each servo lead to the Rx, is it correct to orient the wires in the same direction. In the attached pic only the throttle is connected to the Rx. From top to bottom the orientation is brown, red, orange. Is it important to connect all other servo leads in the same orientation?

[xviper]

When connecting each servo lead to the Rx, is it correct to orient the wires in the same direction. In the attached pic only the throttle is connected to the Rx. From top to bottom the orientation is brown, red, orange. Is it important to connect all other servo leads in the same orientation?

YES! If a lead is turned around, it will NOT work. Brown or black is negative and should be the same with all servo leads and this side MUST be on the designated side of the RX pins (see markings on the RX). Middle is power and is red. The signal wire can be yellow, orange, white or some other lighter color. You can't swap ground with signal. Use the negative side as your reference.
What I find a bit odd is why are you needing to bind so often? Once bound, it should never have to be done again unless there's something wrong with the receiver. And on that subject, that's where I've never liked the AR636. Even on BNF planes from Horizon that come with that RX, binding can be so hap-hazard. A little too close and it won't initialize. A bit in a different direction from the plane and it won't initialize or bind. On my Convergence, it was like this. Every 1/2 dozen times I go to fly it, it wouldn't initialize and I'd have to de-power it and repower it but with the TX a bit further away or on the other side of it, but I'd never have to re-bind. Sure, it uses a serial RX but I've seen the same thing happen with friends' BNG Timbers, which uses the 636.

[Skyboom]

They have to all be in the same direction. Does the Rx work properly in your other planes?

[Pilotguy]

Yes, the Rx works. I just plugged in all servo leads in the opposite orientation from top to bottom (orange, red, brown)& only the throttle works(motor turns the EDF but still no other channel responds to Tx stick inputs.

[Pilotguy]

In these 2 pics ... the little - + signal markings engraved on the Rx ... do I interpret those markings as ... the - servo wire being connected to the lowermost of the 3 Rx pins?

[Pilotguy]

[Pilotguy]

I obviously just learned something about binding. I did not know that you only need to bind 1X. I thought that if you change or remove or add servo channels you must bind again. At least I have learned that now.

[Skyboom]

1-throttle
2aileron
3-elevator
4-rudder
5-gear
6-aux1
Turn your Tx on. Plug in the battery. Make sure the bind plug is out. And see what works.

[Pilotguy]

Holy Cow it all works now! The problem was stupid me. I now have the black/brown (-) wire of each servo connector correctly matched to the - pin on the Rx. What an important learning curve for me! In the past I have 4 PNP airplanes that I managed to connect without nearly this amount of confusion. I don’t know why I had so much confusion connecting the servo leads on this project, so weird. Thank you all, your knowledge is invaluable!

[Skyboom]

Anytime bro.

[Pilotguy]

See pic. A few servo wires are hanging in the path of the inlet airflow to the ducted fan. Do you think it will disrupt the airflow to the fan too much or will it be ok?

[Pilotguy]