Model Boat Mayhem

Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips => Radio Equipment => Topic started by: andyn on February 07, 2010, 07:56:50 pm

Title: A question for all you clever electrical type people...
Post by: andyn on February 07, 2010, 07:56:50 pm
I have a Spektrum DX5e that I use for IC boats, and on it the fifth channel is a switch on the top left. I was wondering if I could replace it with a pot for use as mixture control, would this be possible? Or is it just an on off channel in the Tx's programming?

Thanks,

Andy  8)

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Title: Re: A question for all you clever electrical type people...
Post by: Andy K on February 08, 2010, 11:02:37 am
I have two of these switches on my DX6i and they are only on / off switches. I have tried wiring a pot on one of mine without any success, perhaps someone from Horizon Hobbies could answer the question if you rang them.

Andy K
Title: Re: A question for all you clever electrical type people...
Post by: barriew on February 08, 2010, 01:22:13 pm
I'm pretty sure that Guy (Wideawake) answered this in his review of the DX5e for the mags, and the answer is no you can't.

Barrie
Title: Re: A question for all you clever electrical type people...
Post by: andyn on February 08, 2010, 02:04:02 pm
Ok then, thanks for your help :-))
Title: Re: A question for all you clever electrical type people...
Post by: Umi_Ryuzuki on February 08, 2010, 09:02:44 pm
People have long sought to replace the switches up top on these new Transmitters.
However the issue has always come down to the on board computer, and programing that
is already flashed into the transmitter chip.

It is only programmed to recognize two values from the switches.
So installing a reostat would only cause a change once one of the two
values of voltage are met.
Horizon is very proprietary about the electronics and programming so,
people that have looked into reprograming, or writing new code have
been turned away, by Horizon, when looking for help in this area.

When I was having my DX6 reconfigured, I asked about those switches also.
Bottom line, I was told, "It does what it does, and it does it well..."  ;)
Title: Re: A question for all you clever electrical type people...
Post by: PMK on February 08, 2010, 09:45:25 pm
Doesn't Spektrum include the hidden 'Service Menu' in their programming?
It usually involves having to press certain button sequences, or sometimes a wire jumper across two contacts somewhere inside. Didn't someone over at RC Groups show how he done it on a DX7? Once it's accessed it's then possible to let the micro' know that you're swapping the on/off toggle in place of pot'.
Perhaps possible to do ditto on the DX5e?
Title: Re: A question for all you clever electrical type people...
Post by: nick_75au on February 19, 2010, 08:48:03 am
Another issue is that pots have 3 wires to them in transmitters, so the extra wire has to be added, It will go to either reference pos or reference neg, I don't know any more than that.

Nick