Preliminary testing on 2.4GHz module with 14MZ, VERY NICE!

[tkilwein]

Received my NEW TOY, it was waiting for me!

Package it arrived in was good from my viewpoint. Tower really packed the H out of it. Not complaining here.
The tx module is smaller than I thought. With Towers packaging, no way this will get damaged.
Both the TX module and RX were packed in separate foam sheets with instructions in the bottom of the box.
You also get another DIDDLE stick( same as in the 14MZ tool set), a plastic stick would be fine, as all you do with it is push a button to bind the RX. But it is nice, in case your one with the transmitter gets lost or damaged. I am now collecting several of them.

The antenna will rotate 90 degrees in both the rotation and bend (X - Y planes). Bend the antenna at some angle and then rotate the base. Good thing here as you do not want to rotate to twisting the cable off.

The current version TX case needs to have the foam cut out by the handle on the right side for the antenna, easy to do.

Last night I upgraded my TX to the official code on the Futaba site, all went fine, TX functions on 72MHz
with no problems, same as before.
First thing was to verify the TX reconized the new module. Followed the included instructions, easy.
No problem came up and the wrong freq module screen came up.
Changed the freq to 2.4 multi mode for the new test model with 12 servos configured off the 2 sticks. J1=3, J2=3, J3=3, J4=3 servos each.
Powered up the RX with 12 mini-standard servos in, these are not blazing fast, HS-81, Hobbico CS-11, JR NES241, GWS naro and finally Futaba 9201, 9152's. I will test again with 8 - HS5955TG's in a 36% plane with DA100 running and smoke pump on tomorrow.

The rx just blinked green at me, it was not binded.
I had to bind the RX to the TX, very simple push the button for 2-3 seconds and all done. worked flawlessly.
Nice leds, easy to see for quick indicator. WIll check in bright daylight if not cloudy or gloomy tomorrow.
RX binded now (CA anyone?) and it was off to the races.

Did the wiggle test, all servos moving smooth and nice.
Executed the servo movement test. All servos moving smooth and not jerky.
Everything works as expected.
Tomorrow I will test with 8 HS5955TG's for the blazing speed test.

Now the BIG ONE!
The desk PC up and running massive data xfer over the WIFI router and WIFI hubs to my laptop WIFI.
Two cordless 2.4GHz phones on and connected.
Cell Phone on and connected.
ALL the ABOVE devices are within 2-4 feet of the RX, all servos move nicely with both stick and servo test.
Moved to ~ 30ft from the RX setup, still good.
Everything works as expected. The phones receive-get a noise blip faster than I can count from the TX.

Turned TX on and executed the Transmit ok.
Went in the system menu and attempted to do the range test with the above equipment still on and running.
The TX screen then shows following: (This step is WRONG as I find out).

Currently transmitting (RF ON)
Range check is unavailble


Well IDIOT (me here), do not activate the (TX transmit on) first, say no and then go into the system menu and do the range test. I have a few things to learn.

Again with all the equipment-devices above running and active.
All servos moved smooth and nice, no drop outs of glitchy movements on ALL 12 servos.
Again ~30ft and no problems, all 12 servos still working fine, no glitches or jerky movement.
Everything works as expected.

Next test:
Another BIG ONE!
Using calibrated power supply, running the servo tests first then second wiggling the sticks(two tests here), I then proceeded to LOWER the power voltage: Power lead wires are less than ~9inches of 20 gauge wire.
5.2, 5.0, 4.8, 4.6, 4.4, 4.2, 4.0, 3.8, 3.6, 3.4, (3.2Volts) OOP's, Very NICE!
At 3.4 to 3.2 the power lead losses with servo current drain, etc the RX then dropped out. 3.4VOLTS!!
Remember there are 12 servos running during this test.
Repeated this two times running the servo tests.
Repeated this two times wiggling the sticks.
Again at ~3.4 to 3.2v the rx stops working. NOT TO SHABBY!
Well below spec's.
Seems Futaba does not have a issue here like another vendor. I have my guess why, but I will leave it.

Let the servo test run for 10 minutes, again no problems.
Works as expected.

Time is running out tonight.
I have more tests to do but it is looking VERY GOOD at this time.
Still has to pass a few more tests I can do, along with the flight testing this weekend.
I need to verify that the 14 G3fasst RX will only respond to the TX it is bond to, I need to have a friend help me here with his TX, I need two Futaba TX's for this. Also verify the other vendor's TX does not make RX glitchy. I do not expect a problem from the above tests done so far.
Looks like I will be placing a 6014 RX on backorder shortly. The features/delta between a (8 fasst) to a
(14 G3fasst) RX is worth the extra $ IMO at this time.

Spectrum analyzer checks - looks to be done later.

SW code issues will be something I am not going to focus a lot on at this time, as these will be worked out.
Futaba say's they are working SW on as we speak.

I will update as more tests - flying occurs.
GO Futaba!
Worth the wait, long as it seems. I hope they get the supply moving for all soon.
I did not have to neuter my 14MZ to 8 channels and a dingleberry cable sticking out.

Disclaimer: These are my first hand experiences at this time!

[alex.venom]

Woooooow!! Now, THAT'S a good testing!! Thank you soooo much, tkilwein!
Ok.. ok... now I hate you a little bit because you told me all that and I started to scratch myself to get one of those (LOL) =D
It seems just awesome! Thank you! ;-)

[kgfly]

Interesting and well thought out testing, watching with interest.

[hoot]

I flew my 12Z with the TM-14/6014 in my Trex 600N yesterday.

It's just works and does it beautifully.

[tkilwein]

DAY 2
The first test bed, Gentle lady electric glider with PJS1500, custom heatsink motor mount, APC13x7, CC85HV, Medusa 3.5A reg and with 11 extra servos moving also.

Ground check.
Test run full-moving throttle LOOK 87AMPS at 25Volts = 2100+ WATTS of stupid power, the RX is within 7-8 inches of everything and works fine even with the range check test at ~30 feet.
The AUW is 2lbs 8oz with 2100+watts yee-haw. 840+watts per lb.
Ran the servo test and let it do it's thing for ~2 minutes, warmed up the motor and heat sink. I had to stop, I burnt one motor up already due to brass balls. Racing my electric gentle lady glider against a 46 gas pattern plane. He beat me in the turns but not on the straight. I had the wing tips flapping like ??? on the straights. The motor let the smoke out on the last leg
The setup works as advertized.

First flight.
Got in one short 7 minute flight on the hill side here. First time I flew in the open park spaces.
No problems, hard to tell the latency with the glider, but no glitches. only running 3 channels inflight.
I can go into the clouds-stratospere in less than 30seconds, so distance checks look good also.

The wind has come up and is not letting up, hopefully tomorrow morning for more flight tests.

[WillJames]

Excellent to hear it is working out for you guys!! Was it worth the wait?? It sounds like it was, that is AWESOME!!

[Kinger]

IRCHA is going to be AWESOME this year now that my 12 will finally be on 2.4.

[hoot]

Two more flights today... flawless.

[tkilwein]

DAy 3

I got in 3+ solid hours of ROCK solid flying in this morning. That's actual flight time counted when wheels leave the ground to touching for landing.
28F, windy and rain-snowing ocassionally. Snow is bad for 2.4GHZ freq as it reduces the signal, same as satellite TV. Used the RAYDIOWARM TX glove to protect the TX and keep it and hands warm.
2+hours of flight time in the glider and 1 hour flight time in the Banchee. Used two TX batteries up on this
day out flying.
Charging batteries as fast as the triton and tp1010c could.
Go up come down change batteries and go up again and repeat for a little over 3.5 hours of time.
I had to sit in the truck with the heater on a few times to warm my feet.

Flying in the snow with the glider as high as I could see it and no issues.

Here's a biggie, range test to over 400+ ft and still going.

""" I do not recommend this and will only do this one time """, I verified this would work on the ground 10 times before doing it in the air.
I only did it because I was the only one around as far as I could see, no traffic, no people, etc, all I had too loose was the glider and fail safe was set to go into a hard up and right turn with throttle cut. It would drop out of the sky into the lake or open space.
Again I verified going from range test to full power caused no control issues.
I power on and go into range test mode and take off (yes take off) flew for ~>500ft straight up and things started to not work right, I then exited the range test to normal power and continued to fly.
EDIT: while doing the tail wiggle on the way up slow response then went into fail safe. Recovery was very quick when full TX power applied from exiting range check.

The range test output could be reduced a little more. 4-500ft ground check is a lot, and this is with the antenna pointed to the plane.
This glider will go straight up as it has over 2100+WATTS of stupid fun power to a 2lb 8oz plane. Thats a 6c 3300mah lipo strapped on the center wing

Flying the Banchee I did notice a quicker stick to servo-plane movement, controls were quick and responsive. I am only a casual flyer and I can tell, so a hot shot should be able to critic more. Picture of banchee taken before the new TX put in.
I did one flight with the 72 rx prior to changing to 2.4 to get a feel of the differnce.

Changing from one model to another the new selected one has the old model trim values. This is a SW fix Futaba should have fixed soon.

Definatly looks like a 6014 backorder coming up.

The white spots in one of the pictures is snow.

The RX is next to the servos, Medusa 3.5A reg and CC85HV speed controller exactly as shown in the picture.

[hoot]

Great report. Keep up the updates.

[MarkD]

It would be nice to a similar test from Europe/UK as we have to run on 10th of the power output

US = 1000mW
UK = 100mW

[DavidH]

It would be nice to a similar test from Europe/UK as we have to run on 10th of the power output

US = 1000mW
UK = 100mW

Well what about the ones that gotten 2.4 ghz modules from North America and have uploaded the software that Hobbico/Futaba here in the USA posted? I would think they are operating on 1000 mW output.

David

[tkilwein]

What I find interesting is the range check distance I get with 72 is ~350-400 and with 2.4 using the range check level, I get 400 to 500 ft. My 9zhps is ~400ft, my t6xh used as a buddy box tx is ~200ft.

I thought we had 100mw here in the states. I know my 2.4 TX module was not hot or warm and it was on for very long times.

[oak]

Both 6EX FASST and TM-7 module send with approx. 90mW EIRP according to FCC certification document. I see no reason why the TM-14 should transmit with another level.

Edit: Just looked in FCC test document and TM-14 is transmitting with approx. same power as 6EX and TM-7

[tkilwein]

Am I deaf or what?

I now hear the countup-down timers beeping at minute intervals and they go extra when timer expires.
I do have the volume up for music in the juke box menu before and after the 2.4 update.
Never heard them before the update.

[tkilwein]

DAY 4 update

Flew for ~30 minutes today in a light snow with no problems on 2.4 in the banchee model #11.
Snowing again. Ski-floats tomorrow!
Still rock solid!

Found minor SW bug,in the model # ordering while switching from 2.4 back to 72, Again I am not to worried as Futaba is working on SW. This did not affect the model configuration-setup info, just load and fly. NOTE: was not able reproduce.
EDIT NOTE: read on another forum post model ordering is reversed on purpose so no bug, the guy sounded like he knew something the rest of us do not.
The HW is functioning very well so far from my experiences.
The minor SW issues are not that bad. SW is easy to update. Another reason to buy the 12-14 series.
I design electronic hardware for a living and what I see so far is reasonable for early SW releases.
I think Futaba or Tower wanted year end $$ numbers to be better, otherwise the hardware would still be at Futaba until the SW was done.
I feel for Bax and Krysta on the support end, I hope they had a great holiday!
I prefer the oppertunity to hammer the HW and work around the minor SW issues I have seen so far.
SW code loads are easy to do.
I would have offered to be a BETA USER under NDA if they would let people do so. Testing a product out can be fun.

I am not disapointed at all in the 14MZ -2.4 modules, going to get ~6 more flying hours and then place the backorder for another 6014.
Glad I waited!

[Trooper Sam]

Don't forget, Krysta posted today that she was wrong, and in fact the FASST eight channel receivers DO give 2048 resolution when used in MULTI mode with a TM-14.

That's sixty extra bucks per receiver you can save if you choose the 608FS over the 6014FS.

[ClayK]

Don't forget, Krysta posted today that she was wrong, and in fact the FASST eight channel receivers DO give 2048 resolution when used in MULTI mode with a TM-14.

That's sixty extra bucks per receiver you can save if you choose the 608FS over the 6014FS.
Where was that posted? I'm interested in checking it out.

[DavidH]

From Krysta
Please see my edited answer to your original question. We just received word from Futaba Japan over the weekend that the R608FS does in fact do 2048 resolution when used with the TM-14 module.

As for the TM-8 module's failsafe, I will try to get a prototype to my desk to find out the information for you.


Sincerely,
Krysta
Product Development & Support Specialist
Futaba Service Center USA



David

[ClayK]

Thanks David.

[sambogosse]

Hello from France,

Since you appear to be among the first users of the 2.4 Futaba module for the 14MZ, could you tell me if there are any buttons or dials on the TX module allowing for some setup, like there is on 8ch modules (because in France we have that stupid limitation - part of the band is restricted to 10mW only - I saw that on some photos there is a switch with 2 positions : France and rest of world ...)

Thanks a lot !

Sam

[DavidH]

I am not aware of any buttons on the TM 14 2.4 ghz module. There was a switch on the original 14MZ 2.4 ghz as you describe that had France for one position of the switch. Futaba went back and redisigned the modules and I believe they address the issue your refering to with the software update in the radio. So I would think you would need your transmitter to be region coded for Europe and have the software update for the radios in that region.

David.

[sambogosse]

OK thanks for that reply

I have the asian version (since a wanted 72 MHz which is authorized in France but not in the bands available for europe in the 14MZ software...). So I guess either I ignore the band limitation, or get rid of my 72 MHz receivers...

Smart Futaba... can't see why did they change the module (except for zoning reasons...)

[MarkD]

OK thanks for that reply

I have the asian version (since a wanted 72 MHz which is authorized in France but not in the bands available for europe in the 14MZ software...). So I guess either I ignore the band limitation, or get rid of my 72 MHz receivers...

Smart Futaba... can't see why did they change the module (except for zoning reasons...)

Why didn't you you get 35MHz like the rest of Europe??. It seems France is the only EU country to use 72MHz

35Mhz ranges from CH60 to CH80 in France or if you want more move to the UK

http://www.futabarc.com/faq/frequency-international.html

[sambogosse]

That's wrong, 35 MHz is NOT ALLOWED in France... our local AMA have been requesting it for years, it should have been available from last summer but still nothing...

Well The region code is not the real problem ;) but I'd have liked to be able to control the frequency/power by myself, just like I could with the 72 MHz module (using it only with the authorized frequencies...)