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Different Transmitters have Different Servo Centers?

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Old 04-16-2018 | 05:34 PM
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Default Different Transmitters have Different Servo Centers?

I’ve got a new transmitter I’ve been swapping out receivers to put most of my cars on one controller. Every servo center is off requiring a far amount of adjustment to bring it back. With the stock controllers all these cars had good centering. Does every combo transmitter/servo have a different servo center?

I can adjust the llinkage to correct, but this came as a surprise to me. With the RTR controller the center is good, but with the Flysky FS-iT4S they are all off about the same amount.

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Old 04-16-2018 | 06:09 PM
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You "upgraded" from cheap rtr radios, to an equally cheap FlySky radio. I wouldn't be suprised if center on the FlySky radio was off. A servo has a range and a center point of that range. The servo horn needs to be in the right spot when the servo is physically centered. You can take the servo horns off and reposition them, but if they need to be reposition too much, you might not have enough travel.

Any radio from Airtronics, Futaba, or even Spektrum will work better than that FlySky.
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Old 04-17-2018 | 05:50 AM
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Originally Posted by urnotevenwrg2
You "upgraded" from cheap rtr radios, to an equally cheap FlySky radio. I wouldn't be suprised if center on the FlySky radio was off. A servo has a range and a center point of that range. The servo horn needs to be in the right spot when the servo is physically centered. You can take the servo horns off and reposition them, but if they need to be reposition too much, you might not have enough travel.

Any radio from Airtronics, Futaba, or even Spektrum will work better than that FlySky.
While I tend to agree that generally "you get what you pay for" in R/C, I would argue that any computer radio (including FlySky) is a step up from any analog RTR system. As much as I dislike FlySky, I have had better luck with the brand when compared to horrible experiences I've had with Spektrum, and honestly I've pretty much sworn off both Fly Sky and Spektrum as neither brand will ever see another dime of my money again (unless they're bundled with a RTR, though I think I'm pretty much done buying RTR's too)

Problems I've had with FlySky: Over time, particularly running off-road, not sure if it was dusty conditions or high impacts from large jumps on a 1/8 outdoor track... the Rx's would start losing their bind, and this problem got progressively worse until I had re-bind the Rx daily. After replacing the Rx with a new unit, the problem was resolved, but was short lived until a few months later the exact same issue happened until I replaced the Rx again which made owning the brand far too expensive to maintain because I was operating 15+ cars in my collection at the time. I did find that my on-road cars were almost problem-free so I was able to slowly phase out my FlySky systems.

Spektrum was one of those systems that worked great for 96% of the time, every once in a while, they would glitch... sometimes it was intermittent, and other times the radio was practically useless, sometimes it was a range issue and would only glitch in the far corners of larger tracks, other times it was line of sight issues and I had to hold the radio high above my head to get a better signal when the car was driving behind some track features.

I have tested almost a dozen different brands of radios over the years and by far the best budget brand that I can trust is Radiolink, I found that my consistency and fast lap times were within 1% of name brand radios and I never experienced any problems with Radiolink on the track, they have also stood the test of time over many years of use, to this day I still keep them as backup systems.

So is it worth buying a name brand system? It all depends if you want support for spare parts should you drop/damage your radio, most budget systems (like Radiolink) don't offer any service repair centers so they're pretty much disposable. High end systems also tend to offer advanced ergos which improve comfort and feel. Sometimes it can be really hard to justify the expense of a luxury radio system and Radiolink has really hit the sweet spot for budget minded drivers.

As far as centering goes, yes I've noticed that it changes between switching brands of radios as well as changing brands of servos too! Also keep in mind that some servos over farther throw than others, not only do you need to reset your center, you will also need to set your EPA's as well to prevent brown-out or possibly burning out your servo

Every time I install new electronics, I always like to keep my radio set to "0" on both the trim and sub-trim so that I get equal throw in both directions. I will take my tuning wrench with me and use my wrench to center the car, first using the link between the servo arm and steering linkage, then I will fine tune using toe until the car is perfectly centered.

Best of luck with your FlySky system... if you do mostly street bashing then chances are your system will do really well for you
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Old 04-17-2018 | 06:34 AM
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Originally Posted by billdelong
While I tend to agree that generally "you get what you pay for" in R/C, I would argue that any computer radio (including FlySky) is a step up from any analog RTR system. As much as I dislike FlySky, I have had better luck with the brand when compared to horrible experiences I've had with Spektrum, and honestly I've pretty much sworn off both Fly Sky and Spektrum as neither brand will ever see another dime of my money again (unless they're bundled with a RTR, though I think I'm pretty much done buying RTR's too)

Problems I've had with FlySky: Over time, particularly running off-road, not sure if it was dusty conditions or high impacts from large jumps on a 1/8 outdoor track... the Rx's would start losing their bind, and this problem got progressively worse until I had re-bind the Rx daily. After replacing the Rx with a new unit, the problem was resolved, but was short lived until a few months later the exact same issue happened until I replaced the Rx again which made owning the brand far too expensive to maintain because I was operating 15+ cars in my collection at the time. I did find that my on-road cars were almost problem-free so I was able to slowly phase out my FlySky systems.

Spektrum was one of those systems that worked great for 96% of the time, every once in a while, they would glitch... sometimes it was intermittent, and other times the radio was practically useless, sometimes it was a range issue and would only glitch in the far corners of larger tracks, other times it was line of sight issues and I had to hold the radio high above my head to get a better signal when the car was driving behind some track features.

I have tested almost a dozen different brands of radios over the years and by far the best budget brand that I can trust is Radiolink, I found that my consistency and fast lap times were within 1% of name brand radios and I never experienced any problems with Radiolink on the track, they have also stood the test of time over many years of use, to this day I still keep them as backup systems.

So is it worth buying a name brand system? It all depends if you want support for spare parts should you drop/damage your radio, most budget systems (like Radiolink) don't offer any service repair centers so they're pretty much disposable. High end systems also tend to offer advanced ergos which improve comfort and feel. Sometimes it can be really hard to justify the expense of a luxury radio system and Radiolink has really hit the sweet spot for budget minded drivers.

As far as centering goes, yes I've noticed that it changes between switching brands of radios as well as changing brands of servos too! Also keep in mind that some servos over farther throw than others, not only do you need to reset your center, you will also need to set your EPA's as well to prevent brown-out or possibly burning out your servo

Every time I install new electronics, I always like to keep my radio set to "0" on both the trim and sub-trim so that I get equal throw in both directions. I will take my tuning wrench with me and use my wrench to center the car, first using the link between the servo arm and steering linkage, then I will fine tune using toe until the car is perfectly centered.

Best of luck with your FlySky system... if you do mostly street bashing then chances are your system will do really well for you
Thanks I appreciate the feedback! I figured slight zero adjust would be required, but I just wanted to check to make sure this wasn't anything strange to have to do. I'm new to all this. I did decided to go with the Flysky for my road racing at our local track so those cars will stay on asphalt. I'm now racing 3 classes and the FS is much better than the Spektrum my local hobby shop talked me into. I'll look at other brands as I grow my RC collection. I just needed something with some exponential adjustment and decent ergonomics for me as I learn the cars and racing component.

Thanks,

John
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Old 04-17-2018 | 01:58 PM
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If you plugged in the Servo plug to Channel 2, it will change the center. It should be the same across all transmitters.
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Old 04-17-2018 | 10:44 PM
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Originally Posted by rcbuggy88
If you plugged in the Servo plug to Channel 2, it will change the center. It should be the same across all transmitters.
If the servo and esc were plugged into the wrong channels, then the steering would move when you pulled the throttle. He does not have that problem. The transmitter is the only thing in common among all of his cars.

if you can make up the difference in center with sub trim, trim, and link length then make the adjustments and enjoy your radio for what it is, but be aware that the radio will probably start doing weird stuff as it ages. If you have that many cars, a nice radio is a wise investment. That is the only link you have to your car.

Also, Spektrum is only slightly better than FlySky in my eyes, simply because of Horizon Hobbies. I will never trust my cars with anything except Airtronics/Sanwa or Futaba.
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Old 04-17-2018 | 11:13 PM
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not sure why people are still getting Spektrum nowadays, they are famous for having quality issues and glitches, get yourself a sanwa and it's done.
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Old 04-18-2018 | 12:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Set
not sure why people are still getting Spektrum nowadays, they are famous for having quality issues and glitches, get yourself a sanwa and it's done.
Not sure why people are always advising Sanwa, there are so many other good brands....


To come back to the subject, yes there are center differences between brands, it is not always at 1.5ms pulse width but mostly it can differ from 1.48 to 1.52ms
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Old 04-18-2018 | 07:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Roelof
Not sure why people are always advising Sanwa, there are so many other good brands....


To come back to the subject, yes there are center differences between brands, it is not always at 1.5ms pulse width but mostly it can differ from 1.48 to 1.52ms
sure by all means don't get a sanwa.
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Old 04-18-2018 | 07:39 AM
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thanks what trim and sub trim are for..
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Old 04-18-2018 | 04:27 PM
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I just believe they all radios/receivers have different centers. I switched from a M12 to 7px and the center was off on throttle and steering. I had to remove throttle and servo to adjust. It wasn't a minor change to correct it.
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Old 04-18-2018 | 04:32 PM
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Originally Posted by mikesd1980
I just believe they all radios/receivers have different centers. I switched from a M12 to 7px and the center was off on throttle and steering. I had to remove throttle and servo to adjust. It wasn't a minor change to correct it.
it is a minor change. go into setting and adjust subtrim then you don't loose any servo travel in either direction .like trim does
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