DX6 & The SD Card

[Equad]

FYI for everyone with the SD card and the DX6 -

I talked to Horizon today about the DX6 not reading the card I had. The answer was that not all cards work, and big cards don't seem to work. I couldn't find a card smaller than 16GB.

Their recommendation was a Sandisk 2GB card which they said can be found at Wally World.

So if the 16GB card I bought at lunch doesn't work, I guess I am off to Wally World.

Cheers - I hope this helps someone.

[chris-nc]

I've seen a couple of posts where people were having problems with SD cards. I just got my new DX6 on Thursday, and I've been using a 4GB micro SD card, in a standard SD adapter with no issues. I've updated voice files, saved models, and had real time telemetry logging with no problems. Maybe another option...

[aerocal]

It should work with cards up to at least 32gig. The problem is not the size. if you want as foolproof of a card as you can get for the DX radios get an SD HC Class6 card. It may have trouble with some basic Class 2 cards.

[Equad]

Thanks for the tip. The 16gig card I bought today won't work. It even froze the program when I inserted it. I had to pull the batteries out to clear it. I will try again tomorrow. Mo Money.

[aerocal]

"froze the program when you inserted it" doesnt sound quite right.
Are you trying to update? Can you describe exatly what you did/were doing and where you got hung up?

[Equad]

Sure, first the instructions say insert the sd card and hold the wheel down while you turn on the power. Well that has never worked for me. I was in the set up - transfer Sd menu where in options it prompts you to insert card. I did, the thing froze on list. Couldn't get it to do anything from that point on. That is when I removed a battery to reboot it.

[aerocal]

Ah ok. It doesnt need a card to function. You only need to press and hold roller while powering on if you want to boot into Setup Menu. You can access Setup from Function menus.
I havent seen one lockup like that just inserting it. I would definitely try a better card.

[flightengr]

I've only tried inserting or removing the SD card from the Spektrum transmitters while the transmitter is off. I don't know if I'm being paranoid or not, but I'm trying to avoid unnecessary problems like that screen lockup.

I've been able to use Class 4 cards with no problems. The card that came with my DX8 (128 MB, seems like class 0) never worked. Brand name cards are the way to go; I use SanDisk or Kingston.

[Equad]

Here is what I have learned. Class 10 cards don’t work. I didn’t know anything about SD cards except when you buy one you get a big one for your computer and camera data. That philosophy doesn’t work for the DX6. SD cards are rated 2 – 4 – 6 – 10. Which determines the speed of data transfer.

When getting a SD card for the DX6, don’t buy a large card, anything over 8GB seems to not work, mostly because all the larger cards I found were rated 10. Buy a cheap small card. SMP files are small so you don’t need a high capacity card. You are better off with a 2 or 4 rated card.

You can tell right away if the card will work or not. Put the card in the DX6, press the Menu Roll button, then turn on the power. If it doesn’t boot, there is no need to go any further, it is not going to work. If it does boot, the only advantage is that you bi-pass the first screen and you wind up at the top of the menu. You still have to scroll down to the Transfer SD selection in System Set Up.

On the DX6 it is ok to load the card after the box is powered up. If you go to the Transfer SD menu the first option you see is – insert SD Card. When you do that, then the options change to import or export.

It was important for me to get a card that worked because this is my first Transmitter and the ability to download a program to bind to a device is helpful for a couple of reasons. If you are new to this, programming a device like the DX6 is a bit intimidating, and second after you load a program you can go back and learn the options the author set up. I notice a difference in some options for the same device written by different people. I have found that to be very helpful.

By the way, I have called Horizon twice about this and they don’t have a clue. They just know that some work and some don’t.

I hope this helps some other first timers like me, and saves you some money. Remember, buy good cards, but small capacity rated at 2 or 4 and they will work. Cheers….

[flightengr]

Just to clarify, the process of pressing and holding the menu roller button while turning on the transmitter has nothing to do with using the SD card. It's just a way to bypass the current model's function menu and get directly to the system menu. Until recently, that was the only way to get to the system menu on many of the transmitters! That's because the functions on the system menu are carried out while the transmitter is not actually transmitting (the Spektrum logo light turns off), so you don't want to have a model in the air at the time. Now on most transmitters with current firmware, you can go into the function menu and choose "system setup" as a way to get to the system menu.

Of course, you do have to get to the system menu one way or another to use the "Transfer SD Card" screen.

[Equad]

You are correct, but it is a quick way to test a new SD card to see if it will work or not.

[Xrayted]

Originally Posted by Equad

You are correct, but it is a quick way to test a new SD card to see if it will work or not.

I still don't understand this?? The SD card doesn't even have to be installed in order to operate the TX, so Im not sure how this has anything to do with a bad card or not?

I had to replace my card in order to get the last firmware update to work, but I can easily put the bad card back in and fire up the TX exactly as you say without issue. The card is just a simple external hard drive and not part of the TXs operating software

[Equad]

Well let me explain it from my perspective. New to the hobby. Never owned or even seen a TX that needed to be programmed, I had no idea where to start, the local guys weren’t any help, so I was on my own.

I found a couple of SMP files to download for the quads I had and I thought that would be a good way to start and learn. If you read the instruction book for the DX6, then the instructions on how to set up a 200 qx, even though it is simple after you learn, if it is your first and you are on your own it is challenging. So for me having an SD card that worked was important for importing some files that I could learn with.

I am sure as cool as this hobby is that some people that are completely new to it like me will have the same issue if you don’t have any past knowledge or history with RC's. I was just trying to help new people like me. Nothing else....

[pontuz]

This is ridiculus. I bought the chepeast and smallest card from my local computer store, this happened to be a 8GB class 10 card. Everything else was larger.

The class 10 only means that this card is built good enough to support at least 10 MB/s read/write speeds. It doesn't indicate a different protocol, it doesn't indicate an imcompatibility. It's just a better built card compared to class 4 or 6.

Why the heck doesn't my DX6 boot up with this .

I think my daughter has an old 1GB card in her smartphone, she is sleeping, I'm gone steal, I mean borrow, it

[pontuz]

Originally Posted by pontuz

I think my daughter has an old 1GB card in her smartphone, she is sleeping, I'm gone steal, I mean borrow, it

Yup, that old 1GB card works, I put my new 8GB into her phone.

[andycrazy]

Originally Posted by Equad

Here is what I have learned. Class 10 cards don’t work. I didn’t know anything about SD cards except when you buy one you get a big one for your computer and camera data. That philosophy doesn’t work for the DX6. SD cards are rated 2 – 4 – 6 – 10. Which determines the speed of data transfer.
Cheers….

Dont know where you got that from. I updated mine using a class 10 32gig SanDisc Extreme U1 card with no probs. I also transfered some of my spm files from the DX6 to my computer to email to others using the same card. The card had previously been used in my Canon 5D MK111 camera.

[RC_Pilot2K4]

I just bought the 180 CFX and a DX6 radio today, downloaded the setup from Spektrum website, and everything works except when I just barely move the throttle up to spin the motor, it goes balls out full throttle. It's all or nothing and it spins up so fast that it shuts itself off. I've been flying glow and electric helicopters for a LONG time, and I'm pretty sure this head speed was about 3 times what it's supposed to be. I even setup a second model on the DX6 and set all the throttle to 10%. Same thing. As soon as it gets a signal to spin the motor, it goes ballistic. Anyone else have this problem? All other controls work as they should. Is this a bad ESC?

[aerocal]

Interesting. When you look at Monitor Is the throttle responding with a linear curve -100 to +100 ? What you see on the Monitor is what the Rx will be seeing from the Tx.
The one thing to learn and you might practice now while your getting started is when theres some kind of issue like this and you want to see if the issue may be in a setting somewhere its very helpful if you can attach the .SPM (model) file to your post. I can load it and look to see if it might be a programming issue.
Im not real familiar with the 180cfx. I havent heard of this though.AFAIK most if not all of the Blade ESCs do not require the Tx thr range to be setup.
If your Thr output is in fact linear it may well be an ESC issue.

[skremon]

Originally Posted by Equad

Here is what I have learned. Class 10 cards don’t work. I didn’t know anything about SD cards except when you buy one you get a big one for your computer and camera data. That philosophy doesn’t work for the DX6. SD cards are rated 2 – 4 – 6 – 10. Which determines the speed of data transfer.

When getting a SD card for the DX6, don’t buy a large card, anything over 8GB seems to not work, mostly because all the larger cards I found were rated 10. Buy a cheap small card. SMP files are small so you don’t need a high capacity card. You are better off with a 2 or 4 rated card.

I recently bought a DX7 Gen2 and had the same issue, the following did not work for me:
1. Lexar 16GB Platinum II SD HC Class 10
2. SanDisk* 16GB microSDHC Class 6

I borrowed the following from a colleague that DID WORK:
Samsung 16 GB microSD HC Class 4 (with adapter)

Please post which cards worked for you and didn't so that we can have a better idea of sd card compatibility with DX7 DX8 DX9 (which probably use the same hardware to read SD cards.

(*corrected)

[flightengr]

I've got a no-name 1GB micro SD card with adapter in my DX8. It doesn't even have a Class rating on it. I remember it was on an endcap at Target one day a couple of years ago. I forget why I bought it, but that didn't work out and the card wound up being fine with the DX8.

I'm running a Kingston 8GB Class 4 SD in my DX9.
It looks a lot like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Class.../dp/B00200K1SY