Futaba 6EX 2.4 Ghz

[TheJackal]

I know this is mainly a US site, is the Futaba not out in the States yet as all the posts seem to be for Spektrum.
I know the DX7 is the preferred tx but the 6EX is the direct opposition for the DX6 (and £100/$200 cheaper than the DX7) and seems to be slightly better (5 point throttle curves, no binding plug, one single receiver).
I've just bought one for my first heli (T-Rex 450S) and was thinking what people's experience was with it.
I'll be using it with a Logitech 6100 gyro (I think thats the one I have, still building lol) and was wondering if anyone had the same combo and what their preferred positioning on the heli is as it is bigger than the 401.

38 year old noob from the uk here by the way with a history of nitro buggies.

[wlfk]

Seems a bit late to ask the question now you've bought it!

But don't worry, its fit for purpose.

The real no-no with gyros and the T-rex is to mount them on top of the boom clamp. They're forever getting whacked by the flybar, in a crash.

K

[antennahead]

The 6ex fast has been available in the US since about march or so of this year, I purchased one myself and have been very satisfied with it, not much is posted because there are far less Futaba 2.4 users as opposed to Spectrum, the other reason is that they are easy to use and just plain work.

[wlfk]

I've found only one thing about it that I disliked:

When you flick on 'throttle-hold' whilst in 'idle-up' mode, you switch to using the 'normal mode' pitch curves. As far as I can tell, there is no way of changing this.

A few 'wants' would be a model select so that you won't accidentally start to fly your heli in aeroplane mode, and a timer. But really it's fine and great at the price.

K

[Blackrat]

We got a new guy come join us at the field, he has one of these radio's but for the life of us we couldnt get it set up right, but not being familiar with the radio maybe missed something, but we put it down to the radio being faulty

after trying various different settings for the throttle curve we tired setting it at 0-50-50-50-100 (idle up) but what happens is it doesnt do the throttle channel but rather the elevator channel ? wtf ?
Three of us had a look at the radio and couldn't figure it out, anyone else had something like this ?

[antennahead]

wflk, I don't like the fact that the radio changes to normal pich curve when throttle hold is engaged,There is now way around it as far as I can tell except to change your normal pitch curve to something that may be too agresive for a beginner. the only other thing I don't like is no sub trims, but these are really small complaints, it serves its basic functions very well for the price.

Blackrat, check to see what mode the radio is set to, as you can set it to mode 1 through mode 4

[wlfk]

It sounds as if lots of your channels are mixed up. This is from memory:

Channel 1 collective pitch/Aileron
Channel 2 collective pitch/cyclic pitch
Channel 3 Channel Throttle
Channel 4 Rudder
Channel 5 Gyro
Channel 6 collective pitch/Aileron

But I'm pretty sure the pitch servo should be channel 2, not channel 6.

You should have your swashplate set up for 120 degree CCPM.

Although you might not be able to tweak each channel individually, it's set up in such a way that you can tweak all the ones that matter. So when you tweak 1 aileron channel, you tweak all of them.

Your throttle curve looks very funny. If you're not using a governor it should be progressive from 0-100(ish). If you're using a governor then it should be 0-90-90-90-90 or thereabouts.

K

[antennahead]

khaled, Here is the chanel line up as noted on the sticker on the front of the TX,

1 aileron
2 elevator
3 throttle
4 rudder
5 gear/gyro
6 flaps/pitch

I don't kow if its a typo that they have channel 6 listed as Flaps/pitch but, channel 6 is flaps/throttle hold, so no there is no trim for this channel.your throttle and pitch is combined on channel 3 so, plug your pitch servo on channel 3 (what is listed as throttle) then you can use your throttle trim for your pitch trim. thats the way I have mine setup anyway, this also applies only to electric, not nitro. I had the same problem when I originally set up my machine with some cheap towerpro servos and the arms wouldn't line up at 90 degrees. I found that if you tried to set 90 degrees with the trim button, it really made flying difficult because the mechanical setup is then way off. keep trying different arms until you find one that will line up at 90 so that your mechanical setup is right.when I was trying to solve this very problem the guy at my LHS with 18 years in RC said that all servo arms will line up exacty as the ones I have, so I ignored him and bought a few different arms that would fit (He made me buy them as he wouldn't let me open the packages to see because he new he was bullsh%ting me to get me to spend over $100 on new servos). and just as I suspected one of them did line up pefectly at 90 degrees. I do feel that if you start with good servos you don't have these problems and have since installed hitec hs65mg's and couldn't be happier.

[wlfk]

http://manuals.hobbico.com/fut/6ex-2_4ghz-manual.pdf

page 28:

You need the 3s swashplate setting for the T-rex 450s

Left aileron is ch. 1
Right aileron is ch. 6
pitch servo is ch. 2

They call right aileron 'pitch' but that's for the mechanical mixing swashplates only.

K

[Vernski]

My radio is a Futaba T6EX 2.4 Ghz fasst , these forums seem to be a vast waste land for this model for some reason. I have my printed manual and the one I downloaded online, I have read and reread it a zillion times and
I'm finally getting somewhere, now I run smack into setting up the 401.Futaba's manual for the 401 is way out there with a lot of big chunks to deceifer, I downloaded Bob's videos and they are helping some but seem to raise as many questions as they answer the T6EX doesn't have sub trims so that makes everything confusing to say the least. Is there some other threads or forums that might help one understand how to set up the 401 with this radio? I need the manual for "Dummys" Thanks---Vernski

[_ZeF]

I bought this radio as well for my TREX 450SA which is my first quality heli... The only disappointment i have so far is the lack of subtrims adjustments... Unless there is a way to do the subtrims work differently that i dont yet undertand, the only trims i see are DTRIM which are the digital trim on side of the sticks, the normal trims in other words.

Am i wrong?

:confused:

[Pinecone]

That is why little about that radio. It is very limited in features and harder to use for helis.

For the gryo, set the gear switch to gear. Plug teh gyro sense into the gear channel. Set the gear switch endpoints. + setting will be heading hold, - setting will be rate. I started with a setting of + and - 50 and fine tuned from there.

[jeffros1805]

I love my Futaba 6EX 2.4. works great for both of my helis (1 electric, 1 gasser).

What sold me was ..
1. Futaba name
2. 2.4 g faast
3. can be used with both heli and aero
4. reading on this forum about so many problems with spektrums (how many glitch problems have you read about with futabas?)

my .02

[Vernski]

I bought this radio as well for my TREX 450SA which is my first quality heli... The only disappointment i have so far is the lack of subtrims adjustments... Unless there is a way to do the subtrims work differently that i dont yet undertand, the only trims i see are DTRIM which are the digital trim on side of the sticks, the normal trims in other words.

Am i wrong?

:confused:
Hey ZeF the way I'm reading page 18 of the manual on trim settings, is that after the servos have been centered or 90ed you adjust with the trim levers on the face of the tx. This changes the servos position
in increments of "4" and if you need finer adjustments, then you have to go into the programing mode and
select the trim menu and select the ch you want and adjust in increments of "1" +or- but isn't that a sub
trim or am I missing something here?---Vernski

[Pinecone]

Not saying the Futaba FASST system is not good. But the 6EX has its issues.

Lack of Subtrim
No separate Throttle Hold Pitch Curve (uses Normal pitch curve)
Expensive Rxes

The DX6 has issues also, like 3 point curves, and in Idle Up Throttle Curve point 3 was hard coded to 100%.

Spektum issues mainly come down to getting a good solid voltage to it.

[daijoubu]

Hey ZeF the way I'm reading page 18 of the manual on trim settings, is that after the servos have been centered or 90ed you adjust with the trim levers on the face of the tx. This changes the servos position
in increments of "4" and if you need finer adjustments, then you have to go into the programing mode and
select the trim menu and select the ch you want and adjust in increments of "1" +or- but isn't that a sub
trim or am I missing something here?---Vernski
A true subtrim would let you adjust a single servo without adjusting the position of any of the other servos that have been mixed into that function. The Futaba 6ex does not let you do this. Adjusting trim for the elevator function will move all 3 servos.

[Vernski]

A true subtrim would let you adjust a single servo without adjusting the position of any of the other servos that have been mixed into that function. The Futaba 6ex does not let you do this. Adjusting trim for the elevator function will move all 3 servos.

Well ok I see now, the movement of the three servos is mixed in the ccpm function. So thats maybe why Futaba stresses having the servos 90ed as it says in the manual if the trim is off much go back and 90 it so they are exact. I'm just curious, so if you say adjust one +10 and another -10 what would happen to the 3rd servo? Or would it stay the same cause +10 and -10 = 0 ? So the cyclic ties them together, what a bummer
I guess I will just have to live with that. Does anyone know of any other forums or threads on the 401 gyro I could take a look at? Thanks!---Vernski