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[chrislang]

I Have acquired a J Perkins Twister Tx ( a 6 channel computer type close relation of the Planet 5 with 4 aircraft and 4 heli setup memories 5 of which are allegedly programmable.) However my total lack of experience with computer type Tx’s has lost me
There is a manual which I downloaded from - http://www.jperkinsdistribution.co.uk/detail.php?JPNO=7710520&activepage=6&Navmain=R/C%20equipment&subcatname=R/C%20equipment%20-%20Twister

As it arrived the Tx  is set up as follows , tested with servos attached to each of the 6 channels of a standard planet 6 channel Rx
Vertical movement on the Left Joystick operates both Channels 2 & 3
Horizontal movement on the Left Joystick operates Channel 4
Vertical movement on the Right Joystick operates Channels 1
Vertical movement on the Right Joystick again operates both Channels 2 & 3
The’ Gear’ Switch operates Channels 5
I haven’t found any combination that yet gives a signal to Channel 6

I guess this involves Channel mixing or some black art but all I really need for now is for the Tx to operate my 34” Aerokits Fireboat, preferably a mode 2 system that operates the Throttle with Vertical movement on the Left Joystick, the Rudder with Horizontal movement on the Left Joystick and a channel to drive a servo to operate the switch for my Fire Monitors and lights ( possibly with the vertical movement on the Right Joystick) .
If anyone can spare the time I would greatly appreciate any help you might be able to give.
Best Wishes
Chris

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

I have read through the instructions that you have pointed to and can only figure out that you have some of your channels mixed internally.

If you go through the instructions and experiment, I'm sure you will be able to have all channels working separately.  (it was a good idea to have servos on all outputs so that you you can see them working)

I have the planet 5 and love the switch at the top which moves a servo slowly from one side to another. Have to see if I can find a use for it on the boat.   

Ken

[triumphjon]

i bought mine at christmas , after much head scratching and emails to  perkins it transpires that the sixth chanel is only operable as a piggy backed from channel one !

[chrislang]

Thanks for those comments so far.  I really want to unstick channels 2 & 3 so that they operate independently, and so far have been unable to adjust the set up to do so. I suspect it's something to do with the 'Dual Rate' settings but I've tried setting up one of the Aero memories with all settings at 0 but I still get interaction between Channels 2 & 3. Any suggestions please.

Regards
Chris

[john44]

i bought mine at christmas , after much head scratching and emails to  perkins it transpires that the sixth chanel is only operable as a piggy backed from channel one !

Hi triumphion,
is what you are saying is, that the new Twister 6 channel is really a digital 5 channel with model memory.

you can piggyback using a Y lead

john

[Circlip]

Ahh, the wonderment of modern eeee  lectronics, looks like it's only pre-set for Heli or Aero functions. Seems as though the main chip needs reprogramming? Not the user changable functions.

  Regards  Ian

[triumphjon]

no y lead needed , yes its realy a five being marketed as a six , with four model memories !

[red181]

Hi Chris, I have read it over very quickly, not much time tonight. You need to use in aircraft mode. This tx is designed for a 3 d capable helicopter (ccpm), and as such has mixing on 3 channels, so when the throttle is pushed up, instead of just the rotor speed increasing (as we would understand with boats) there is interaction with 2 other servos that control elevator and aerlion that adjust the pitch of the blades. You could just disable this function, but it looks like that is done for you in aircraft mode.

This will (might/should!!) give you an extra channel, as now the gyro hold switch is redundant, I think that is either channel 5 on the rx, or the rudder channel, try a servo in these, if I had the time I could prob get top the bottom of this for you!   this will be an on/off switch, and then you have the flaps.gear switch as on/off operation.

Now, a heli is no reverse (obviously!) and the throttle will stay at bottom, so now you need to sort out a mid point sprung throttle stick, by transferring the spring and mechanics from the right stick up down movement, as you don't need this for the fireboat.

Dual rates have nothing to do with the mixing, dual rates dull the endpoints of stick movement, so for the boat will reduce servo throw, so leave at 100% or more, exponential (expo) dulls the centre point of stick movement, so when flying a heli its not real twitchy at centre stick, personal choice by the pilot.

I have a aerokits fireboat and use a turborix tx, it has proportional switches so will give fire monitor rotation nice and slow, and 2 on/off switches for lights, pumps etc, £25 from giant cod with a receiver, you have a lot of functions on that transmitter that could complicate your   use, hope that helps and hope I have not made too many mistakes in my rush

[nutter]

Gentlemen, I was doing a search on the Internet for info on this transmitter and found this thread. Now clearly you seem to be blissfully unaware or you don't care that the use of the 35Mhz frequency is illegal for surface use devices. Surface models i.e cars and boats are meant to use 40Mhz whilst 35Mhz is dedicated to model aircraft. 27Mhz is for general use and 2.4GHz can be used by anything. The Twister radio was marketed SOLELY for heli use and therefore definitely on 35Mhz.

Now consider a model aircraft doing 60mph being shot down because some moron playing with his/her boat or car is on the same frequency within a 2 mile radius. Model aircraft have killed people before and will definitely do so again through this ignorance. At least even if there was not a fatal accident someone would lose their expensive pride and joy. How would you feel if someone switched on to the same frequency as your boat which as a result caused your boat to crash???

Airplane flyers do not use 40Mhz and you should not be using 35Mhz. Please have consideration and purchase the correct radio or at least convert your radio to 2.4Ghz using one of the many CHEAP and exceptionally good conversion kits available. It's only 3 wires and the job is done in a jiff. What's more the receivers are exceptionally good and very cheap.

[knoby]

99.9% of us on the site understand that 35mhz is for aircraft, however, had you read a little deeper, you would have discovered this transmitter is  2.4ghz, so there is no problem with using it in surface vessels.

[malcolmfrary]

Quite right, but I think that should you care to look around this forum, there are plenty of mentions  and warnings regarding the inadvisability of using 35MHz for surface.
If you choose to look here -
http://www.jperkinsdistribution.co.uk/list.php?subcat=158&cat=R/C%20equipment%20-%20Twister&Navmain=R/C%20equipment
you will find that Twister is also marketed in 2.4GHz versions.  In case you are unaware, 2.4 is open to use by all, since bound TXs/RXs do not interfere with each other.  Allegedly.
Since the aircraft market is much larger that the marine market, there are plenty of radio outfits with aircraft instructions, and precious few for boats.  As a result, us boaters usually have to translate air terminology into something useful for boats.

[andyn]

It's set up for CCPM head mixing, most probably permanently....

[triumphjon]

its only set up for the ccpm mixing in the heli mode , ive been using mine sine last christmas on just aircraft setting having full use of all FIVE  channels and have FOUR  model memory . its most certainly a 2.4 GHZ SET  . i operate all of my boats in a fairly sheltered area of portsmouth harbour entrance , so dont need interferance

[nutter]

99.9% of us on the site understand that 35mhz is for aircraft, however, had you read a little deeper, you would have discovered this transmitter is  2.4ghz, so there is no problem with using it in surface vessels.

Indeed it is true that later ones are 2.4 and if that is the case in this instance and I missed it then my humble apologies. However this is a card quite close to my heart as I lost a very expensive Jet turbine model capable of over 300mph due to the misuse of a 35Mhz set by a father and son team floating an R/C yacht around 6 years ago before 2.4Ghz became the defacto. In total the crash cost me in excess of £2500 as it totally destroyed the JetCat turbine. Hence I am sure you can understand my concern.

Personally I am an all round rcer and have a boat (IC powered V-Hull Princess) , cars, planes and heli's. I use a JR-3810 system which is modular and meant that in the past I could simply swap out the 35Mhz module with the 40Mhz. Now of course with the advent of 2.4 all my models use the one FrSky module.

[NickKK]

I was sold a twister too .... I still haven't totally figured everything out, as the instruction manual is ..... lets say not very good .... instead of  crap ... I'm in the process of figuring out the throttle % ... The good thing is it is easy to reset everything ... I found that usefull ... There is away of swapping out two of the toggle switches to potentiometer type knobs but I haven't had time to figure that out yet ...


One you areo guys could gives us all a run down of the channels and what they do in simple terms ?

[triumphjon]

nickkk which switches are you able to swap for pots ? my set has several switches but ALL of them hve only two wire on them !

[red181]

One you aero guys could gives us all a run down of the channels and what they do in simple terms ?

For simple explanation purposes, a fixed pitch heli relies on headspeed to gain altitude, and generally has a mixing device to control tail blade speed in relation to main blades. A collective pitch heli is more complicated, the pitch of the blades changes to gain height (in relation to head speed) and the tail blades are driven by (usually) a belt, so speed is constant in relation to the main blades, but the angle of the blades (pitch) is dictated by a tail servo. , got that!!

page 5 of the op link http://www.jperkinsdistribution.co.uk/downloads/7710520a.pdf states what the channels are for, in heli terms, they are:

1/ Elevator  "tips" the swashplate forwards and backwards, giving forward and backwards flight

2/Rudder, controls nose left and right movement
11/ throttle, controls height, same as throttle for a boat, but obviously no reverse

10/aileron, "tips" swashplate left and right, giving left and Right roll

just to complicate things further, the link provided by op is for a mode 1 transmitter, in UK we generally use mode 2, which is sticks on the opposite sides.

Given the price of this transmitter, it isn't (IMO) a very good buy for a boat, you could spend a lot less and get a lot more, easier to use, with far more boat related functions

You need to do as mentioned previously, get off Helli mode, into aero, and then I would imagine all the channel mixing will go. I consider rc helis to be the most difficult rc discipline, up/down/left/right/forward/backward/roll left/roll right, all at the same time, and thats just to get in the air and hover

[NickKK]

The weekend being what it is ...... I've not had chance to figure things out. The switch I think the swirch you can swap for a knob is the one used for landing gear ( I think!!!)  What that does is move the servo the same amount as the knob ... instead of the servo going back to neutral it stays in the position set by the knob .. usefull for turning guns, elevating winch arms ....

I'm not sure you can still get them for the 2.4g kit ....

Two of the switches on the Twister are for mixing ... to operate the flaps/rudder ... flaps/ailerons  ... There is a proportional control on these. So if you turn using the tail rudder the ailerons will add a bit of lift so an airplane will turn without loosing hieght (extra drag of the rudder  slows the airplane down nose drops slightly).

When I get enough servo's I'm going to run the servo's on the bench and see exactly what does what. I'll post them here for all to see.

You do need to run the kit in aero mode for boats though.