Flaperon setup

[Colin Carmichael]

Hey guys.
Having trouble setting up the flaperon mod on my carbon cub s and a F5J glider.
When I unplug the y cable and then replug into aileron and aux 1 the control surface on aux1 doesn’t move but I believe there’s power there.
Have tried 2 different Spektrum receivers and 2 different Spektrum transmitters same result.
Channel assign seems correct.
Lost on me.
Any help please
Thanks

 

[leaded50]

if used cable extensions, control your connections, Found many times, one connection eg wasnt ok, (pushed hard enough together) or one turned wrong way.

 

[Merv]

Channel assign seems correct.

Tell us what your channel assignment is.
Are you using a build in flaperon mix or a custom mix in your Tx?

 

[Colin Carmichael]

if used cable extensions, control your connections, Found many times, one connection eg wasnt ok, (pushed hard enough together) or one turned wrong way.

This might be right but I tried several times with different receivers and transmitters with the same result don’t know if I could stuff it up that many time lol I didn’t fluke it once?

 

[Colin Carmichael]

Tell us what your channel assignment is.
Are you using a build in flaperon mix or a custom mix in your Tx?

1 throttle
2 right ail 1
3 elevator
4 rudder
5 gear
6 left ail 1
Then aux 234

Built in flaperon mix in the tx. A Spektrum DX9
Also tried it with an old tx Spektrum DX6e and 2 different Spektrum receivers??

 

[Merv]

The channel assignment looks good to me.

Go to the Monitor page on the Tx & see if the Aux channel is responding to the aileron input.
If it's not responding, something is missing to put the Tx in Flaperon mode.
If it is responding, something else is wrong, maybe a bad servo lead or connection somewhere.

 

[Merv]

Having trouble setting up the flaperon mod on my carbon cub s

Here is an FT article that may help.

https://www.flitetest.com/articles/spektrum-flaperon-setup-full-tutorial

 

[Bricks]

1 throttle
2 right ail 1
3 elevator
4 rudder
5 gear
6 left ail 1
Then aux 234

Built in flaperon mix in the tx. A Spektrum DX9
Also tried it with an old tx Spektrum DX6e and 2 different Spektrum receivers??

You cannot use a Y cable for flaperons each servo has to have it`s own wire running to the receiver.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

Bricks is quite right its impossible to set up flapperons with a Y harness. You need to split the ailerons: ail lead 1 to ch2 and ail lead 2 to ch6, set them up first as independent ailerons on your transmitter ensuring that they operate in the correct directions (may require reversing in the transmitter, or even the leads swapping over on the reciever). Once the aileron operation works you can add the flapperon mix, just remember the more flaps you use the less effective the ailerons become particularly at slower speeds (ie when coming in to land) and in most cases the nose will pitch up when you deploy them. So you may need some down elevator mixing in to compensate. Thats also a tricky setting, as too much and the plane will nose down too much, its a suck it and see setting.
I learnt this while setting up flapperons on my Bixler 3, too much down elevator and it dropped the nose, I had to give it lots of up elevator to compensate the first time. Turned out after some experimentation with the Bixler that I didnt really need the elevator mix anyway, so just flew with 30% flapperons.
Each plane will react differently so I suggest try it before you add an elevator mix, deploy the flaps and be ready to add some down elevator, then if its needed you can mix it in later.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

Here is an article that may help.

https://vietnamtransformer.com/our-products-category/dry-transformer

Not relavent to the site, already been reported.

 

[Ketchup]

Yep, just reported all of the account's posts and the account itself.

 

[PeterL]

Hi,
Did anyone solve this? I'm having the same problem as the OP. I am not using a Y lead, and from his channel assignment, neither was the OP. My channel assignment is the same except I am using receiver channel 5 for the left aileron servo. Both ailerons work fine when I select 2-servo wing, but the left aileron doesn't work when I select the flaperon option.
The Flite Test tutorial https://www.flitetest.com/articles/spektrum-flaperon-setup-full-tutorial mentions changing the wing type from normal to flaperon. This makes me wonder if the Spektrum flaperon option actually assumes a single aileron channel (although two servos of course). This is supported by the fact that under Channel assignment, channel 5 is showing as free, and none of the options available includes left aileron, only aileron.
Any assistance greatly appreciated.

 

[PeterL]

sorry just realised the OP did mention using a Y cable, but his channel assignment suggests separate connections for each aileron - that is certainly what I have

 

[LitterBug]

Hi,
Did anyone solve this? I'm having the same problem as the OP. I am not using a Y lead, and from his channel assignment, neither was the OP. My channel assignment is the same except I am using receiver channel 5 for the left aileron servo. Both ailerons work fine when I select 2-servo wing, but the left aileron doesn't work when I select the flaperon option.
The Flite Test tutorial https://www.flitetest.com/articles/spektrum-flaperon-setup-full-tutorial mentions changing the wing type from normal to flaperon. This makes me wonder if the Spektrum flaperon option actually assumes a single aileron channel (although two servos of course). This is supported by the fact that under Channel assignment, channel 5 is showing as free, and none of the options available includes left aileron, only aileron.
Any assistance greatly appreciated.

You must set up a mix in your transmitter and assign a channel for the second servo. Whether you use a predefined flaperon mix, or mix it yourself. I've done it many times with my DX8 and FrSky transmitters. Can you take pictures of the settings you have set up in your radio?

 

[PeterL]

Thanks LitterBug. The plane is now all set up for a maiden flight (without flaperons) hopefully in the next couple of days. If it survives (!) I'll try manually mixing LA to RA. I don't recall having to do that with the current 2-servo wing setting, but I did copy the model setup from a previous plane so maybe I did it then . . .

 

[PeterL]

OK my plane flew - albeit over-powered and very twitchy!

I'm using a Spektrum DX8E transmitter and a Spektrum AR620 receiver. On the receiver, I have the ESC plugged into port 1 of the receiver, the right aileron servo into port 2, elevator into port 3, rudder into port 4, and left aileron into port 5.

When I choose "Dual Ail" for Wing in the Aircraft Type menu on the transmitter, all controls work as expected including the ailerons. Under Channel Input Config, channels 1-4 are N/A, Channel 5 (labelled Gear) shows Inh, as do channels 6-8. How the receiver "knows" that port 5 is the left aileron I have no idea, but I have checked there is no mix programmed for RA->LA in the transmitter, or any other mix involving ailerons.

Conversely, when I choose "Flaperon" for Wing type, all controls work as expected *except* the ailerons; only the right aileron moves. When I assign flap movement to a switch under "Flap system", only the right aileron moves when I operate the switch. When I look at channel 5 under Channel Input Config, there is no option available for Left Aileron, only Aileron; if I choose Aileron, then the left aileron moves correctly but it doesn't react to the flap switch. I have tried to program a Right Aileron -> Left Aileron mix manually, but I run into the same problem that I can't select Left Aileron.

So somehow the built-in Flaperon option seems to be assuming a setup different from what I have, but I don't know what that setup is.

Litterbug, if you read this, can you explain how I would do a custom mix to achieve the same result as flaperons, i.e. downward movement of both ailerons triggered by a switch?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[LitterBug]

Try using channel 6 (flaps) instead of channel 5 (gear) for the second aileron channel when using the flaperon wing type.

You can also use the "monitor" function on your transmitter to view the output to each channel on your reciever. When you move the sticks and switches, the graph for each channel affected will move.

 

[CappyAmeric]

OK my plane flew - albeit over-powered and very twitchy!

I'm using a Spektrum DX8E transmitter and a Spektrum AR620 receiver. On the receiver, I have the ESC plugged into port 1 of the receiver, the right aileron servo into port 2, elevator into port 3, rudder into port 4, and left aileron into port 5.

When I choose "Dual Ail" for Wing in the Aircraft Type menu on the transmitter, all controls work as expected including the ailerons. Under Channel Input Config, channels 1-4 are N/A, Channel 5 (labelled Gear) shows Inh, as do channels 6-8. How the receiver "knows" that port 5 is the left aileron I have no idea, but I have checked there is no mix programmed for RA->LA in the transmitter, or any other mix involving ailerons.

Conversely, when I choose "Flaperon" for Wing type, all controls work as expected *except* the ailerons; only the right aileron moves. When I assign flap movement to a switch under "Flap system", only the right aileron moves when I operate the switch. When I look at channel 5 under Channel Input Config, there is no option available for Left Aileron, only Aileron; if I choose Aileron, then the left aileron moves correctly but it doesn't react to the flap switch. I have tried to program a Right Aileron -> Left Aileron mix manually, but I run into the same problem that I can't select Left Aileron.

So somehow the built-in Flaperon option seems to be assuming a setup different from what I have, but I don't know what that setup is.

Litterbug, if you read this, can you explain how I would do a custom mix to achieve the same result as flaperons, i.e. downward movement of both ailerons triggered by a switch?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

As for flaperons, it is usually not worth it in a light plane - you gain slightly more drag and imperceptible lift. On the downside, your aileron inputs will have a different feel from what you had a moment before, and if you are having “twitchy’ roll, that won’t help on landings.

Speaking of “twitchy” - add expo on aileron and elevator on your transmitter, and lots of it - 40% is a good place to start if you tend to over control.

 

[MachineCat]

Speaking of “twitchy” - add expo on aileron and elevator on your transmitter, and lots of it - 40% is a good place to start if you tend to over control.

Talking about this, I had a feeling that this totally depends on the plane. Today I was having this discussion with my son, setting the higher expo maybe the reason why we "over control", because it seems what happened is that when at the flat part of the curve, the aileron was not enough, so naturally we wanted to move the stick more, and hits the steep part of the curve. We have not tried our theory yet but we think a lower expo on this perticular plane may help.

Don't laugh at me if I was wrong. I am a newbie here.

 

[CappyAmeric]

Talking about this, I had a feeling that this totally depends on the plane. Today I was having this discussion with my son, setting the higher expo maybe the reason why we "over control", because it seems what happened is that when at the flat part of the curve, the aileron was not enough, so naturally we wanted to move the stick more, and hits the steep part of the curve. We have not tried our theory yet but we think a lower expo on this perticular plane may help.

Don't laugh at me if I was wrong. I am a newbie here.

With expo, you don’t get more control throw than you would without it. Expo just softens stick input at the center - to lessen over-controlling - as long as you don’t automatically defeat the point of expo.

Full sized aircraft flight instructors use a trick when a new student pilot over-controls - placing a pencil between their middle finger and the other fingers when they grip the control yoke - thus weakening their grip and softening their control inputs. This is correlates to expo in R/C.