Puzzling issue with Freewing MiG 29 initialization

[Falcondriver]

Hey guys,

Well, the mystery has been solved. By happenstance, I received a brand new Spektrum 9CH AR9350 that is apparently DOA. Lights up and everything, but it's dead. Of course, this was discovered by simply using another receiver. Thanks all for your help, thought I'd follow up and let you know what the problem was. Perhaps this information will be useful to someone else.

[xviper]

Okay...I looked at another Spektrum receiver and the symbology orientation on the casing (circled in yellow). After looking at the symbology orientation and the orientation of the ground and signal wires, tell me if you still think I have these backwards. The first (top) photo is of a factory installed Spektrum AR636A, so that’s my reference. One thing I have found out about Spektrum is their manuals SUCK.

Both or those are correctly plugged in. If you've ever seen the inside of one of these RXs, you will see that all the pins come UP from the circuit board, then take a 90 degree bend to reach the outside. Just imagine the pins as they come up and bend. It's like a triple lane turn at a traffic intersection.

[xviper]

Hey guys,

Well, the mystery has been solved. By happenstance, I received a brand new Spektrum 9CH AR9350 that is apparently DOA. Lights up and everything, but it's dead. Of course, this was discovered by simply using another receiver. Thanks all for your help, thought I'd follow up and let you know what the problem was. Perhaps this information will be useful to someone else.

The "another" RX you used, was it also an AS3X RX? On my BNF Elfite planes, if I plug in the battery with the plane upside down, it will NOT initialize. It'll just sit there and beep. As soon as I turn it right side up, all is normal. It wasn't "dead", just "playing dead". I would think that due to the AS3X, if the plane is too far from level, it won't initialize. You said you had it hanging out the side of the plane. Before you send it back, you might want to try to initialize it again while it is relatively level. Once it's initialized, then it can go into any angle you like for installation and testing. Just make sure it's secured firmly before final testing and flying.

[Falcondriver]

The "another" RX you used, was it also an AS3X RX? On my BNF Elfite planes, if I plug in the battery with the plane upside down, it will NOT initialize. It'll just sit there and beep. As soon as I turn it right side up, all is normal. It wasn't "dead", just "playing dead". I would think that due to the AS3X, if the plane is too far from level, it won't initialize. You said you had it hanging out the side of the plane. Before you send it back, you might want to try to initialize it again while it is relatively level. Once it's initialized, then it can go into any angle you like for installation and testing. Just make sure it's secured firmly before final testing and flying.

Hey Viper,

Point well taken. The original receiver was installed, in place, with the aircraft right side up. My last attempt to troubleshoot was to physically walk the aircraft into my local hobby shop and verify my findings, which were correct. The issue was the receiver.

[xviper]

Hey Viper,

Point well taken. The original receiver was installed, in place, with the aircraft right side up. My last attempt to troubleshoot was to physically walk the aircraft into my local hobby shop and verify my findings, which were correct. The issue was the receiver.

OK, just wanted to make sure you covered all the bases so you didn't toss a good RX.

[Gilatrout]

Hey Viper,

Point well taken. The original receiver was installed, in place, with the aircraft right side up. My last attempt to troubleshoot was to physically walk the aircraft into my local hobby shop and verify my findings, which were correct. The issue was the receiver.

I recall the 9350 required that both satellite remote receivers.be plugged in. If they are not, the receiver will not initialize

[Falcondriver]

OK, just wanted to make sure you covered all the bases so you didn't toss a good RX.

Absolutely. I appreciate you bringing it up; you never know :-)

[Falcondriver]

I recall the 9350 required that both satellite remote receivers.be plugged in. If they are not, the receiver will not initialize

Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt to try that at this point. Thanks for the info.

[Falcondriver]

I recall the 9350 required that both satellite remote receivers.be plugged in. If they are not, the receiver will not initialize

You know your stuff my friend. Did as you said and.... IT WORKED! Nicely done!

[xviper]

Haha! It ain't dead till the fat lady sings. (Not meaning that Gilatrout is a fat lady.)

[Gilatrout]

*bows*

A little trick when setting the gains. In the as3x programmer set the gain that you want to modify (relative) to 100%, assign the gain channel to a trimmer on the xmitter, and lower the trim all the way to zero. The gain in the receiver is as a result now 0% of 100% or off. Now when you fly, trim up the gains to where you like. Land and take note of the trimmer value. That value is the value you should set in the programmer for that control surface as Absolute. Reset and repeat for each other surface.

Keeps the math simple.

The new 637T and forward programming make this even easier.