Ok..I need help.

[Txmustangflyer]

Done a basic model setup for my mustang.
Throttle, rudder, elevator, ailerons, flaps gear, choke.
My problem is how to assign the flaps and gear to a switch. I'm assuming it's either the logic switches or special functions, but not sure if that's right.
The other issue is throttle is not showing off or idle rpm.
Gear needs a two position (off/on) as does choke..flaps and gear on left side and choke on right side.
Yes, I am splitting my aileron channels to simplify wiring. Flaps will be the only Y harness

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Done a basic model setup for my mustang.
Throttle, rudder, elevator, ailerons, flaps gear, choke.
My problem is how to assign the flaps and gear to a switch. I'm assuming it's either the logic switches or special functions, but not sure if that's right.
The other issue is throttle is not showing off or idle rpm.
Gear needs a two position (off/on) as does choke..flaps and gear on left side and choke on right side.
Yes, I am splitting my aileron channels to simplify wiring. Flaps will be the only Y harness

Ok..Pretty sure it's the logic switches screen, flaps would be a 3 position straight line movement 25 degrees at first position 50 degrees second, servo will be set to be at max movement at 50 degrees.

The gear is a simple signal to the eflite retract controller.

Should I not be setting these up as channels?

 

[Wayne]

Got to the Mixer screen.
Double Click any of the current mixes and a menu pops up.
Select ADD a Mix.
The Mixer Library pops up, you can add any of those mixes, or if none of those will work, then use the Free Mix to define what you need.

This is the basics. I highly recommend you check out the manual, it has a lot of detail and will help you really understand what all you can do with this radio. Your only limit with this radio will be your own understanding of what it can do for you.

For example, if this was my plane, I would setup the Butterfly mix with the flaps, ailerons and elevator. This combo is pretty easy in Ethos and will make your Mustang safer and easier to land. Basically with Butterfly the flaps go down, the ailerons go up (Just partial travel!) and the elevator adjusts to keep the plane in the correct pitch angle. You can set this all on a switch, or use the side slider. (Or whatever you would like..) This is better than just flaps down. It adds more drag and also adds washout to the wings to help avoid a nasty tip stall on final. Normally this is a pretty advanced mix that can be very difficult to get correct, but in Ethos it is pretty easy. (Try the same in OpenTX!)

No go get comfortable and check out that manual, it is going to help you a great deal.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Got to the Mixer screen.
Double Click any of the current mixes and a menu pops up.
Select ADD a Mix.
The Mixer Library pops up, you can add any of those mixes, or if none of those will work, then use the Free Mix to define what you need.

This is the basics. I highly recommend you check out the manual, it has a lot of detail and will help you really understand what all you can do with this radio. Your only limit with this radio will be your own understanding of what it can do for you.

For example, if this was my plane, I would setup the Butterfly mix with the flaps, ailerons and elevator. This combo is pretty easy in Ethos and will make your Mustang safer and easier to land. Basically with Butterfly the flaps go down, the ailerons go up (Just partial travel!) and the elevator adjusts to keep the plane in the correct pitch angle. You can set this all on a switch, or use the side slider. (Or whatever you would like..) This is better than just flaps down. It adds more drag and also adds washout to the wings to help avoid a nasty tip stall on final. Normally this is a pretty advanced mix that can be very difficult to get correct, but in Ethos it is pretty easy. (Try the same in OpenTX!)

No go get comfortable and check out that manual, it is going to help you a great deal.

Yup, I had planned on doing that which was why I had the ailerons set on two channels.
Just not sure how to assign them to a switch and for some reason, the manual pdf won't open. For some reason it keeps wanting to use the software for my gps....not sure why.

I try to browse to it through office..it doesn't show the manual pdf as a valid pdf. Thought maybe it was corrupt, deleted and redownl9aded...same thing.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Ok..flubbed through it and figured it out..once I.blundered into it, from there it got simple. All 8 channels assigned from there it's just setting throws etc.

One thing that's confuzzling me...weight? The manual is very brief on it...
But for now, I have the gear and choke set, flaps on a side rotary. I may change choke to right side rotary analog..but for now is on a 3 position.

Whew..

 

[Wayne]

Weight is simply the amount of movement you would like. I really like how Ethos handles this, it is cleaner than OpenTX. Anyhow, if the weight is 100% and the rate is 100%, then your servo travel will be 100%. If the weight and the rate are both at 50%, then the servo movement will be 25%.

So the real question may be what is the difference between rate and weight. Weight is the default movement amount for the mix. Rates are typically assigned to a switch to allow dual or triple rates allowing the pilot to adjusted the aircraft sensitivity in flight.

So we are setting up a new plane's elevator:
I'll set up the triple rates to my favorite elevator rate switch. (My default tripple rates for a maiden flight are typically 100%, 75% and 50%)
I then switch on my high rates and adjust the mix weight to get the amount of elevator travel I would like in my highest rate. This will be a little more elevator then I think the plane will need. My goal is to fly the plane on my mid rates, and the low and high rates are just in case I need more or less throw on the maiden flight.

If my weight setting ends up being below 60%, I will seriously consider adjusting the linkage in the aircraft to get my weight setting to a higher value. This means the servo has to move further to achieve the same throw, this give me much greater resolution and more strength from the servo and also reduces slop in the linkage. All good stuff.

After the maiden flight I will then adjust the plane, CG and mixes as needed so my mid rates are my happy setting for the plane.

While talking about rates, there is another nice little dude that can really help dial in the feel of a plane, and that is the Expo setting. In Ethos this is under the curves setting in the mix. This can be adjusted to feed that elevator in more quickly or more slowly around the center of the gimbal. Typically people will make a throw less sensitive near the middle, this makes the plane a little more relaxed to fly with small inputs, but then amps it up when you want to toss the plane around in the sky doing to acro. (Generally I try to keep Expo values below 25 (they start at 0). Some pilots love expo, and some hate it. I generally use a small amount on my primary flight controls.

You probably already know the above, but seemed like a good place to fully explain how I like to adjust things and get the right feel in a plane.

Right after a maiden flight, it is a great time to take some notes on what the plane needs adjusted, or better yet, do it then and there. I tend to forget some details as I usually am chatting to other pilots after a maiden.

 

[Konrad]

Its not just you, I too don't have a solid grasp on these two concept and their interactions. I'm sure if I did my programs would be a lot more elegant. But in the end it is more about, does the control surface move as I expect.

Thanks Wayne I'll spend some time reading this as it pertains to the mixers.

 

[Wayne]

In OpenTX it is a bit more confusing, but also a bit more powerful. (if you can justify extra options at this level)

With OpenTX the rates and expo are over on the inputs screen, and the weights are in the mixing page. And on top of that you also have the outputs screen that is used mostly to limit the throws of a servo regardless of what any mixing says. (Lets say we will do damage to a model if we run a flap too far, this is where you dial that setting in so it can never exceed that limit.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Ok. So, according to the build manual, elevator movement is supposed to be 45 degrees. So you would set your max movement in ethos to the servo travel that got you there as your Mid. I had planned on using the servo to adjust that movement in its travel anyway. I typically ran expo between 8 an 12 percent depending on if it flew a little nose heavy or not..
What you now have me confused on is setting of your low, mid, and high. Are you setting different weight values as mixes?

 

[gnichola]

What I have done on a model is create a set of logic switches for low and mid rates and then set curves for expo and rates for all 3 rates. There are other ways to accomplish the same thing, but this gives you at least one example.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

What I have done on a model is create a set of logic switches for low and mid rates and then set curves for expo and rates for all 3 rates. There are other ways to accomplish the same thing, but this gives you at least one example.

View attachment 8954

Then the radio sees the logic switch as a restriction to the channel is applied to, similar to a mix?

 

[gnichola]

Then the radio sees the logic switch as a restriction to the channel is applied to, similar to a mix?

Logically speaking, pun intended, a logic switch is no different than a physical switch. In my case those three switches are based on a single three position hardware switch, I just gave them a name to make it easier to read. So when switch low rate is active the line that says low rate becomes the active setting.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Logically speaking, pun intended, a logic switch is no different than a physical switch. In my case those three switches are based on a single three position hardware switch, I just gave them a name to make it easier to read. So when switch low rate is active the line that says low rate becomes the active setting.

Got it, so that logic switch, assigned to a 3 position physical switch on the transmitter affects ailerons, elevator, rudder without having to mix it to each.

 

[gnichola]

I am not sure what you mean by "mix it to each". In the screen shot I posted, the top line for "curve" and "weight/rates" is the default. Given nothing else, it will be the active item. All subsequent lines are based on some condition. Tapping on "Mid rate" in my screen shot would bring up a picker like this. Here you can see some of the choices, "always on", "switch position", "function switches", "logic switches", etc. Any of these can be a trigger to enable this particular line.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

I am not sure what you mean by "mix it to each". In the screen shot I posted, the top line for "curve" and "weight/rates" is the default. Given nothing else, it will be the active item. All subsequent lines are based on some condition. Tapping on "Mid rate" in my screen shot would bring up a picker like this. Here you can see some of the choices, "always on", "switch position", "function switches", "logic switches", etc. Any of these can be a trigger to enable this particular line.
View attachment 8956

What I'm saying is you've set it as a logic switch, but I'm not seeing how it's applied to the specific channels for rudder, elevator, aileron so I'm assuming that Ethos applies the logic switch to all channels. So, what I'm asking is if that is correct. If I were to do that I wouldn't want throttle, choke, optical kill, flaps, or gear affected.
See where I'm coming from?
For me to do it that way it would have to apply only to the channels for the three primary flight surfaces. I think, to do that, I would have to set it up as a mix...right?

 

[gnichola]

Gotcha, and no. So each channel is an independent entity. If I want my "low rate" and "high rate" logic switches applied to any other channel, I have to do that myself. So for example, in my setup, I use those same switches for all 3 control surfaces but not for the throttle. My suggestion to you would be to create a test model and play with some mixes, and view what happens in the outputs page. Or hook up a receiver and 4 servos and see what happens there.
Apologies, but I forget what your prior experience is, but if you have used other radios in the past, you really want to throw all that knowledge out the window as it doesn't apply to Ethos (or OpenTX).

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Gotcha, and no. So each channel is an independent entity. If I want my "low rate" and "high rate" logic switches applied to any other channel, I have to do that myself. So for example, in my setup, I use those same switches for all 3 control surfaces but not for the throttle. My suggestion to you would be to create a test model and play with some mixes, and view what happens in the outputs page. Or hook up a receiver and 4 servos and see what happens there.
Apologies, but I forget what your prior experience is, but if you have used other radios in the past, you really want to throw all that knowledge out the window as it doesn't apply to Ethos (or OpenTX).

Exactly on the previous experience. Too much has changed.

 

[gnichola]

A suggestion might be to go here: https://rc-soar.com/ethos/basics/quickstart/ Mike has a good overview of how things work and it could help clear things up for you.

 

[Wayne]

Wait a second - 45 degrees on an elevator? Does anyone else think that is a lot? Is that 45 up and 45 down?

 

[gnichola]

Depends on the plane, my KMX from Precision Aerobatics is set to 55 up/down, of course that is for 3D flight.