help setting up basic rc car

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summitfpv
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help setting up basic rc car

Post by summitfpv »

hi i have recently bought a fr taranais control. this is to be used with a traxxas summit for fpv. I'm new to the controller and found myself reading a lot and having a play. i came to seek advice or a set up for this platform. i have opentx on the control already and 2x4lite receivers and 2x8channel lite receivers from last owner but am not sure if i should update everything before i mess around.

if anyone else has already done this would be helpful to have a guide how i set this all up.

channel 1 steering - right stick left and right.


channel 2 throttle - left stick up for full throttle, middle to neutral, down to brake. (how to have brake, then have reverse once its set back at natural. if I'm going 20mph and slam the breaks on, it would destroy the transmission if it was aloud to go straight into reverse.)

channel 3 hi/low gear - In high gear with the (sf) switch off, and low gear with switch engaged. servo centres but need to either be fully on or fully off. if you can understand what I'm saying. at this minute the servo is centred when off. but needs to be fully right when off but fully left when on?

channel 4 diff lock front - id like to be on a switch the same as channel 3 fully on or off

channel 5 diff lock rear - id like for this to be on a switch the same as channel 3 fully on or off

if i could have a switch to engage channels 3,4,5 all to lock into engage (changing the truck to go from road use hi speed to low range diff lock for off road) would be amazing!

I'm planning to have a head tracker with 3 more channels to turn camera left right up down roll!
also id like to have the light turn on off a channel (i guess id need some hardware) i have the light just stuck on a spare channel usually, constantly on

im not sure weather ill be able to seek the advise i need from here? but if i can get guidance id much appreciate it and hopefully be able to present my set up for the whole community (the traxxas summit and the frsky taranais set up) seem to be very popular so I'm sure some of you guys have been through similar steps as me.

i will try to take this step by step so just setting up the throttle and steering id be happy with.

much appreciate for taking the time to read through my post.

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jhsa
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Re: help setting up basic rc car

Post by jhsa »

Well, setting the throttle and endpoints and direction of the front wheels, should be very easy.. Actually all apart from that brake request is the simplest thing you can do with the transmitter. Setting up a switch is one of the basic things you learn to do first.
If you are asking how to set a switch, that makes me think that you didn't even read the manual.
Now, there are two possibilities:
1- You didn't find the manual, or didn't even know it existed :)
2- You know that there is a manual, but didn't bother reading it and just want someone else to do the programming for you ;)

I believe that your case is the possibility number 1, so I'm sure someone will post a link here to the openTX manual. I'm not at the computer at the moment.

João

EDIT: There you go :) Enjoy some reading ;)

http://open-txu.org/
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summitfpv
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Re: help setting up basic rc car

Post by summitfpv »

yes i bought this second hand so no manuals to have a read through. thanks for the link. i managed to set up a switch for hi/low but it only allows the servo to be centred then go the one way. but with setting how far the servo will turn ( getting it to be fully one way, then fully another once the switch has been activated) what is this call expo? gain? weight? i can then follow the manual as best as i can. but there are some many things to change!

well since writing this i have figured out throttle on the right hand side. the stick automatically goes into manual and steering on the left steering centres once i let go. it feels bit funny having the steering and throttle on the wrong side though. i guess having throttle on the left stick would mean modding it so it centres? i have just tried also setting throttle to the left stick (up/down) and the esc won't allow it to calibrate there it just beeps. meaning the max throttle max brake and neutral position cannot be found? i think ill keep reading and try figuring bit more out
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MikeB
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Re: help setting up basic rc car

Post by MikeB »

The Taranis sticks are easy to change between spring centering and friction/ratchet. Open up the case, then look at the back of the gimbals. When you move a centering stick, you should see a bar moving that is pulled up by a spring. Now look at the current throttle stick. There is a screw that is holding that bar down. Simply unscrew the screw so the bar is pulled up by the spring. Also the friction/ratchet parts (two long metal pieces down one side of the gimbal) are engaged by screwws at one end. Slacken these off to remove the friction. Then do the opposite to the other gimbal to make the throttle stick not centre.
Put the Tx back together, then go into the radio setup and change the mode for 1 to 2.

Mike.
erskyTx/er9x developer
The difficult we do immediately,
The impossible takes a little longer!
summitfpv
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Re: help setting up basic rc car

Post by summitfpv »

ok thanks mike, so i can have it so it centres via spring on the left hand side. thats very helpful. ill follow your interactions and get that done. what is the difference between mode 1 and 2?

i have tried to configure my castle creations esc onto the left stick up and down, and it seems to not pick up the neutral position of the stick. but on the right hand side it works fine.

is that a setting issue?.

I'm thinking to delete all the settings which i have input for the channels. ill take the controller apart and swap over the springs assembly. then try give it another go. I'm in no rush just like to get things right. thanks for being so helpful much appreciated.

summitfpv
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Joined: Mon May 01, 2017 10:42 pm
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Re: help setting up basic rc car

Post by summitfpv »

Ok. So last night after a few hours of fiddling I managed to get throttle to become the left hand stick up and down.

I ended up having my esc rx wire to channel 3 in mode 1.
I'm glad this worked. I also have the right stick left right as steering. So those two channels are fine now. I'm going to try to install the spring into the left stick tonight and then will need to add all the other servos in.

On the other servos when I add them which I'm capable of doing now. But what setting would I need to adjust where the servo will sit initially when switch is on/off

I managed to get the hi/low servo to be where I want on a switch but it just sits on centre then only moves the on way. So it can activate hi gear but then won't swing fully back to activate low gear. I have read through mostly all the manual and couldn't see much about this.
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MikeB
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Re: help setting up basic rc car

Post by MikeB »

You set Mode 1 if the throttle is on the right and Mode 2 if it is on the left. This setting "tells" the firmware where the throttle control is, for things like the throttle warning and the mapping of the sticks to names (e.g. AIL, ELE, RUD, THR).
If you have moved the throttle to the left, you should set Mode 2.

Mike.
erskyTx/er9x developer
The difficult we do immediately,
The impossible takes a little longer!
summitfpv
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Re: help setting up basic rc car

Post by summitfpv »

I got all 5channels how I want them. I set the weights so that they engage without having any stress! I'm happy with the switches there all top left making it easy to engage them all at once. Push them all down to engage ! Happy camper.

For somthing abit more difficult now. I have led lights set up front back and ontop. They all just plug into one wire loom which then connects to the rx. How can I set up so I can have them on or off. At the moment once their plugged into the rx they are instantly on as it has power directly too them. Would I need to buy somthing to make this work? Or can I control the power to the channel?
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jhsa
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Re: help setting up basic rc car

Post by jhsa »

You will need an RC swich, The receiver cannot control the lights directly..

João
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