Futaba 4PL Setup, Tips, Tricks & Help

[rcjackson0926]

Originally Posted by articzap

Sounds like the deadband is to narrow on the ESC's or a weak drag brake setting.

Yep, it was the dead band.

Thanks,
Rusty

[Harley]

Originally Posted by Denus

Hey peeps,

I got an issue.
I'm trying to set the gearbox servo on my RC4WD Bruiser.
The slider on the PL4 (3 positions: back/neutral/forwards) will be used to set the gears.

So far so good, but the end run of the servo cannot be trimmed it seems.
Actually I can but the setting is not saved when I move the switch to another position.
So the servo is pulling and pushing at maximum, and there's nothing I can do about it. This way, I'll give my servo an hour before it burns out.

Any ideas how to set a 3 position gearbox on the PL4?

Thanks!

You just have to go to the channel you are setting the servo on and adjust the EPA. It sounds like you are adjusting the trim not end point.

[meffie]

Ok I need help. I followed the wiring and radio setup exactly....

1: When I 4wd forward throttle, the rear motor is in reverse, front does nothing unless I almost max the throttle and it's in reverse as well
2: Front Dig. Works normal, but in reverse
3: Rear Dig. Works normal, but in reverse.
4: Reverse....Both motors work equally going forward.

So I thought well hey, just set the throttle to reverse....

But when I do that, both motors spin equally, but the front goes forward, and the rear goes reverse...

What do I need to do?

[Denus]

Originally Posted by Harley

You just have to go to the channel you are setting the servo on and adjust the EPA. It sounds like you are adjusting the trim not end point.

Hi,

Wel that worked indeed, thanks.
But I thought that the Posi trim (and Subtr) would be the right setting here.

Anyway: got my 3 speeds working now

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by meffie

Ok I need help. I followed the wiring and radio setup exactly....

1: When I 4wd forward throttle, the rear motor is in reverse, front does nothing unless I almost max the throttle and it's in reverse as well
2: Front Dig. Works normal, but in reverse
3: Rear Dig. Works normal, but in reverse.
4: Reverse....Both motors work equally going forward.

So I thought well hey, just set the throttle to reverse....

But when I do that, both motors spin equally, but the front goes forward, and the rear goes reverse...

What do I need to do?

What did you set to reverse, the radio or the ESC's?
What ESC's (I'm assuming you have 2 ESC's?)

[meffie]

Originally Posted by Charlie-III

What did you set to reverse, the radio or the ESC's?
What ESC's (I'm assuming you have 2 ESC's?)

I set the throttle on the Radio to reverse in hope's that would fix. Got it turned back now exactly as the video said to setup.

Yes dual FXR's.

I'm gonna check them out today and calibrate, see if it changes anything

[Harley]

Originally Posted by meffie

I'm gonna check them out today and calibrate, see if it changes anything

Calibrating is probably the culprit and you have your FXR's programmed correctly.

[Harley]

Originally Posted by Denus

Hi,

Wel that worked indeed, thanks.
But I thought that the Posi trim (and Subtr) would be the right setting here.

Anyway: got my 3 speeds working now

Good deal! The Subtrim and Trim are just to adjust the center point, not the extremities.

[NVUS]

Originally Posted by meffie

I set the throttle on the Radio to reverse in hope's that would fix. Got it turned back now exactly as the video said to setup.

Yes dual FXR's.

I'm gonna check them out today and calibrate, see if it changes anything

I just had that same problem setting my xr10 up a few days ago... calibrate the ECS's and problem solved! everything works flawlessly now

[meffie]

Ok sigh I'm about to give up here.

I did a factory reset on both esc's. Then when I go to calibrate, for LED 6 forward throttle, I have to hold reverse and vise versa for the reverse profile. So basicly everything is still backwards.

Again if I change the Radio to reverse throttle, the motors spin opposite directions.

The other thing I notice is if I go like full throttle, then reverse, then let off and try full throttle again nothing happens. Then if I ease into the throttle, only 1 more spins...

[meffie]

Something I just noticed. The front FXR has the Red Wire cut from the plug going to the receiver, the rear does not. Could this be my issue?

[WAM]

Originally Posted by meffie

Something I just noticed. The front FXR has the Red Wire cut from the plug going to the receiver, the rear does not. Could this be my issue?

If you have a bec running to the RX, both esc red wires should have been disconnected. I just pulled back the pins on mine.

FWIW, I have the same hardware as you. 4PL and dual FXR's. Both FXR's came with version 28 software and needed to be updated to version 30 using Tekin's Hotwire. To do that I had to temporarily reconnect the red wires. Then disconnect the red wires again and hook everything back up to run radio calibration. I calibrated each esc separately because the Tekin tech support guy said to. And lastly I had to reverse Channel 2 during programming. Don't recall if I had to mess with Channel 4 as well.

[Harley]

Having to use reverse instead of forward to program is not a problem as long as both are the same. It sounds like you dont have your ESC's programmed correctly. This is not a radio problem. Do you have one of the motors wired in reverse polarity? If so make sure you don't have an endbell that's rotated 180.

[meffie]

Both motors are wired the same

[Harley]

Originally Posted by meffie

Both motors are wired the same

You need to wire the rear motor backwards. Take a look at the wiring diagram.

[meffie]

Originally Posted by WAM

If you have a bec running to the RX, both esc red wires should have been disconnected. I just pulled back the pins on mine.

FWIW, I have the same hardware as you. 4PL and dual FXR's. Both FXR's came with version 28 software and needed to be updated to version 30 using Tekin's Hotwire. To do that I had to temporarily reconnect the red wires. Then disconnect the red wires again and hook everything back up to run radio calibration. I calibrated each esc separately because the Tekin tech support guy said to. And lastly I had to reverse Channel 2 during programming. Don't recall if I had to mess with Channel 4 as well.

k. I'll try and find someone with a hotwire and see what they are. I'll also disconnect the red wire from the rear and see what I get

[meffie]

Originally Posted by Harley

You need to wire the rear motor backwards. Take a look at the wiring diagram.

Swapped the rear motor connection and same issue's. I give up. Guess I'll try and find someone in town who can figure this out

[WAM]

Harley, while we're talking about removing the red wires etc, how about some education on that stuff? Am I correct in assuming all the center RX pins are tied together inside the RX? Without a bec, the esc supplies input voltage to that network and the RX and servo live off that power. We disconnect the esc red wires with a bec because now the bec supplies the power and we don't want that to fight with the esc power.

Assuming I got all that right (??) how much current can pass thru the RX from the bec to the servo? Do even biggish servos draw more than 3 amps or so? Are we at any risk of burning out the RX internal wiring if we don't bypass it for the biggest servos? I just assumed you'd know.

[Harley]

You disconnect both ESC's red wires because you don't want to burn up the BEC inside based on the different voltage levels from the BEC. You can pretty safely run 2 servos through the RX without a worry.

[meffie]

ok so I got both motors going the same direction, proper trigger throttle direction, digs, proportioning etc...

However...

The front is spinning much faster than the rear with the proportioning at norm. Also If I go from full throttle forward to reverse nothing happens. I have to wait a second before I can hit reverse.

I did check both esc's are updated and set exactly the same.