Spektrum receiver blinking LED - what it means

village_idiot · Jan 10, 2009, 05:26 PM

What does the blinking LED on a Spektrum receiver mean?

There have been far too many posts about this condition, so here is the answer. The blinking LED was put into the latest firmware as a tool to help you diagnose a certain problem. It is there to tell you that the receiver rebooted during operation (flight). The intent was that you would look at the LED before you launch to notice that it was solid, then look at it again when it came back. If it was flashing you knew you had some kind of power supply fault.

The side effect is that the LED will also flash under a few other conditions.

What happens is the receiver remembers the 2 "channels" that it was using when it last had power. If that matches with the two channels that it now finds the transmitter on, it will flash thinking it had a power outage. Under certain conditions this could happen after days of sitting at home waiting for the next flying day because the transmitter may start transmitting on exactly the same channels as the previous day (slim but not impossible). Also if you land and change batteries without turning the TX off, the receiver will power up and find the TX on the channels in memory and think again that it had a power outage (which it did since you just changed the battery).

How do you avoid this when you are just changing the battery? Turn the TX off before putting the new battery in the model. Yes this will power up the receiver first which many have been taught is a very bad thing to do, just turning the TX off and back on while the receiver is powered down may be enough to allow for a channel change (but I found this doesn't always work with the LP5DSM TX). The only sure fire way is to connect the receiver first, then wait more than 2 seconds for it to start scanning for the TX, then power up the TX.

MAKE SURE that you have the throttle failsafe set to the lowest throttle or you could get bitten by the model!!! This is especially true with electric models. Also check to make sure of the gear operation by holding the model up the first time you do this, just to make sure it boots and stays with the gear down. I do think I read this in the information that came with my receivers.

I am going to request that this be made a sticky to try and keep the number of posts about this condition to zero.

freechip · Jan 11, 2009, 09:25 AM

My question to Spektrum support : I have recently purchased a AR500 & notice that some time when the system is on, and I have full control of the system, the LED on the AR500 is solid on & sometimes its BLINKING ON, I have look for this info
on your site and cant find it, CaN YOU HELP?

Spektrum Support Answer : Thank you for your recent email.

This a quick reconnect feature. While flashing you should still have
control of the servos. This is an indicator that at some point during
your flight your receiver lost power. This event can also be recreated
when disconnecting and reconnecting the battery without turn off the
transmitter. If you have any further questions
please feel free to give us a call at 1-877-504-0233.

Chris Puckett
Horizon Hobby
Product Support Team
4105 Fieldstone Rd
Champaign IL 61822
1-877-504-0233

Pinecone · Jan 12, 2009, 08:45 PM

IMO, do NOT turn off the Tx before the Rx.

All you have to do is to power cycle the Tx anytime between powering off the Rx and powering back on.

So:

Land

Power down Rx

Turn off Tx

Replace pack.

Turn ON Tx.

Power up Rx.

Fly, Repeat.

No blinking.

village_idiot · Jan 12, 2009, 10:23 PM

OK, yes you have a point, I will edit the first post to reflect the changes.

foamflier84 · Jan 17, 2009, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinecone

IMO, do NOT turn off the Tx before the Rx.

agreed. This thread helped me too.

It only blinks because it thinks battery is low
(turning off tx before rx, tricks it somehow.)

Still flies normal with blinking light it's only to inform you.

Pinecone · Jan 17, 2009, 08:14 AM

It doesn't trick it. Read the first post on how it works. Cycling the Tx power makes it most likely to select two different channels, so the Rx has to go look for it. When the Rx has to look for the Tx channels on power up, it assumes that it was an intentional shutdown.

powerlines · Jan 20, 2009, 10:47 PM

I have seen some 7000s blink from the Start?? what is up with that.. TX on.. Start 7000.. BLINK.. redo RX.. BLINK.. rebind.. and it will fix it. ??

WIERD!!

David22 · Jan 21, 2009, 12:38 PM

turn off rx power, unplug tx power.
restart tx and then rx
blinking should go away

If all else fails rebind and blinking will go away

crow man · Jan 29, 2009, 09:19 PM

There are many many threads posted on this subject, it's true. Maybe this question also belongs here:

The Spektrum 6200AR 6-channel Ultralite Receiver is a 6-channel DSM2 receiver connected to a small satellite receiver by a short three conductor cable.
Both the main receiver (the one with the pin-outs) and the satellite have the orange indicator lights. The lights serve different functions depending on what you are doing but when the receiver is bound to the transmitter and the receiver is working properly, in flight mode, they should both stay lit continuously barring any low voltage or power loss condition.
When I installed a 6200AR into my Fledgling Gen II EP, I didn't have any problems binding it to my DX7 (I own and have flown AR6000's and 6100's in airplanes and 400 size eletric helis so I am familiar with the bind process and there has never been a problem).
However after powering down the rx (unplugging the Lipo from the esc), I noticed that the next time I connected the battery, the receivers were blinking... it bothered me so I experimented for maybe 30 minutes, re binding a couple of times. Sometimes both receivers would blink, but sometimes one of them would blink and the other would remain solid. Adding mystery is that it wasn't always the same one that was blinking: sometimes the main receiver would blink and the satellite remain solid, or vice versa.
I thought I would run that past you guys on this thread to see what you say since from the number of posts some of you have racked up in a relatively short time, there is apparently a lot of knowledge here,

heh heh

Before you ask, here is my start up protocol for every aircraft I have (I runn all off my dx7)

* plane on ramp facing into wind, shades on, shoes tied heh heh: everything ready to go.
* check function switches and throttle stick position all the way (**edit: all the way down**) on transmitter.
* turn on transmitter.
* go to plane: attach deans plug connector on battery (3s lipo) to esc connector
* check servo function, proper direction
* 30 paces away, range test using range test button.
* look around one more time for anyone/anything in the way of plane
* take off.

Thanks in advance. Right now I am going to install a small switch on the cable that runs from my esc to my receiver (on the ground lead (the black wire)) so I can turn the rx on and off from there with the lipo connected, to see if that helps.

village_idiot · Jan 29, 2009, 09:24 PM

Can't say that I have ever seen one blink while the other is solid. Most of what I use is AR6100 and increasingly AR6300 so I'm not an expert with the satellite receivers. The only time that you should normally get this difference is if the satellite and the main have different firmware. But it should always be the same if that is the case.

crow man · Jan 29, 2009, 09:32 PM

6300!! Im going to have to check that out..
BTW I just powered it up for the heck of it, and of course now they are both on solid, continuously. sheesh
Thanks for the quick reply- I did order two of the 6200s, they both got here today and I was installing one for flight tomorrow lunchtime. If I keep running into that I may switch the little cable and see what happens. I know, I never heard of such a thing and earlier tonight I spent >90 minutes searching so I wouldn't have to post, but anyway this is a good thread and deserves to be sticky, you will save people a lot of time.
I have had my ar6000 go blinky on me a number of times and I know it doesn't mean that it needs to be rebound or that it won't fly, but it just bothers me, probably a lot of us are like that. Airplane people. Everything has to be just so...
Anyway, thanks Village Idiot and the other thread participants.
crow man Alb., NM USA

TrevC · Feb 11, 2009, 02:01 PM

One more "blink" scenario I've not seen mentioned on this thread. Sometimes, from a "clean" start (ie switching on Tx then powering up Rx) I've had the blink situation. I was careful to not say "switch on" Rx because in my TRex there is no Rx switch - you just plug in the battery. I think this must sometimes cause a power fluctuation if the connectors don't join solidly straight away, which fools the Rx into thinking there has been a power interruption - which of course there has! Anyway, I now fly with blinking lights and don't worry. Shame my instructions didn't mention it though - maybe Horizon put in an addendum sheet now?

Martin Y · Mar 01, 2009, 04:04 PM

Hi Guys

I had the same problem a few days ago and found it beening the ESC will cause the fault. The ESC caps store a bit of power after the battery is unpluged so the RX doesn't turn off right away. Then it states hunting for a channel and finds a wifi one near by then locks onto it with a low voltage state the the error occurs. To correct this You can either use a seperate outside battery to start up and shut down the RX then disconnect before/after flight or splice a switch between the ESC and RX connector power wire then switch power from ESC to RX off first then disconnect main battery.

Martin

Doby · Mar 13, 2009, 04:32 AM

Thanks for the post. I thought the blinking was normal. Not tell I seen this sticky. Thanks again!

Daedalus66 · Mar 13, 2009, 09:55 AM

My impression is that the last 2 or 3 posts deal with problems that most people never see. In over a year of flying various Spektrum receivers with the flashing update I have not seen any such anomalous behaviour.

The only time I get unexpected flashing is if I fail to turn off the transmitter when unplugging and replugging the battery.

As for the receiver hunting for signals while running on capacitor power and then finding a wifi channel, surely this doesn't happen if you turn off the receiver first and then pause a moment before turning off the transmitter. I have not observed this in my basement with a wireless router operating nearby. Maybe it's something specific to one particular ESC?

Certainly, I would strongly advise against adding extra switches, which are just one more thing to go wrong.

Jan 10, 2009, 05:26 PM	#1
village_idiot Inciting Riots Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 7,245	Spektrum receiver blinking LED - what it means What does the blinking LED on a Spektrum receiver mean? There have been far too many posts about this condition, so here is the answer. The blinking LED was put into the latest firmware as a tool to help you diagnose a certain problem. It is there to tell you that the receiver rebooted during operation (flight). The intent was that you would look at the LED before you launch to notice that it was solid, then look at it again when it came back. If it was flashing you knew you had some kind of power supply fault. The side effect is that the LED will also flash under a few other conditions. What happens is the receiver remembers the 2 "channels" that it was using when it last had power. If that matches with the two channels that it now finds the transmitter on, it will flash thinking it had a power outage. Under certain conditions this could happen after days of sitting at home waiting for the next flying day because the transmitter may start transmitting on exactly the same channels as the previous day (slim but not impossible). Also if you land and change batteries without turning the TX off, the receiver will power up and find the TX on the channels in memory and think again that it had a power outage (which it did since you just changed the battery). How do you avoid this when you are just changing the battery? Turn the TX off before putting the new battery in the model. Yes this will power up the receiver first which many have been taught is a very bad thing to do, just turning the TX off and back on while the receiver is powered down may be enough to allow for a channel change (but I found this doesn't always work with the LP5DSM TX). The only sure fire way is to connect the receiver first, then wait more than 2 seconds for it to start scanning for the TX, then power up the TX. MAKE SURE that you have the throttle failsafe set to the lowest throttle or you could get bitten by the model!!! This is especially true with electric models. Also check to make sure of the gear operation by holding the model up the first time you do this, just to make sure it boots and stays with the gear down. I do think I read this in the information that came with my receivers. I am going to request that this be made a sticky to try and keep the number of posts about this condition to zero. Last edited by village_idiot; Jan 12, 2009 at 10:28 PM.

Jan 29, 2009, 09:19 PM	#9
crow man seeks thermals Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: New Mexico Posts: 109	There are many many threads posted on this subject, it's true. Maybe this question also belongs here: The Spektrum 6200AR 6-channel Ultralite Receiver is a 6-channel DSM2 receiver connected to a small satellite receiver by a short three conductor cable. Both the main receiver (the one with the pin-outs) and the satellite have the orange indicator lights. The lights serve different functions depending on what you are doing but when the receiver is bound to the transmitter and the receiver is working properly, in flight mode, they should both stay lit continuously barring any low voltage or power loss condition. When I installed a 6200AR into my Fledgling Gen II EP, I didn't have any problems binding it to my DX7 (I own and have flown AR6000's and 6100's in airplanes and 400 size eletric helis so I am familiar with the bind process and there has never been a problem). However after powering down the rx (unplugging the Lipo from the esc), I noticed that the next time I connected the battery, the receivers were blinking... it bothered me so I experimented for maybe 30 minutes, re binding a couple of times. Sometimes both receivers would blink, but sometimes one of them would blink and the other would remain solid. Adding mystery is that it wasn't always the same one that was blinking: sometimes the main receiver would blink and the satellite remain solid, or vice versa. I thought I would run that past you guys on this thread to see what you say since from the number of posts some of you have racked up in a relatively short time, there is apparently a lot of knowledge here, heh heh Before you ask, here is my start up protocol for every aircraft I have (I runn all off my dx7) * plane on ramp facing into wind, shades on, shoes tied heh heh: everything ready to go. * check function switches and throttle stick position all the way (edit: all the way down) on transmitter. * turn on transmitter. * go to plane: attach deans plug connector on battery (3s lipo) to esc connector * check servo function, proper direction * 30 paces away, range test using range test button. * look around one more time for anyone/anything in the way of plane * take off. Thanks in advance. Right now I am going to install a small switch on the cable that runs from my esc to my receiver (on the ground lead (the black wire)) so I can turn the rx on and off from there with the lipo connected, to see if that helps. Last edited by crow man; Jan 29, 2009 at 09:22 PM. Reason: left out a crucial word

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Jan 11, 2009, 09:25 AM	#2
freechip Air, Ground & Water Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Rockland, Ontario Posts: 3,080	My question to Spektrum support : I have recently purchased a AR500 & notice that some time when the system is on, and I have full control of the system, the LED on the AR500 is solid on & sometimes its BLINKING ON, I have look for this info on your site and cant find it, CaN YOU HELP? Spektrum Support Answer : Thank you for your recent email. This a quick reconnect feature. While flashing you should still have control of the servos. This is an indicator that at some point during your flight your receiver lost power. This event can also be recreated when disconnecting and reconnecting the battery without turn off the transmitter. If you have any further questions please feel free to give us a call at 1-877-504-0233. Chris Puckett Horizon Hobby Product Support Team 4105 Fieldstone Rd Champaign IL 61822 1-877-504-0233

Jan 12, 2009, 08:45 PM	#3
Pinecone Will fly for food Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Maryland Posts: 5,471	IMO, do NOT turn off the Tx before the Rx. All you have to do is to power cycle the Tx anytime between powering off the Rx and powering back on. So: Land Power down Rx Turn off Tx Replace pack. Turn ON Tx. Power up Rx. Fly, Repeat. No blinking.

Jan 12, 2009, 10:23 PM	#4
village_idiot Inciting Riots Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 7,245	OK, yes you have a point, I will edit the first post to reflect the changes.

Jan 17, 2009, 08:14 AM	#6
Pinecone Will fly for food Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Maryland Posts: 5,471	It doesn't trick it. Read the first post on how it works. Cycling the Tx power makes it most likely to select two different channels, so the Rx has to go look for it. When the Rx has to look for the Tx channels on power up, it assumes that it was an intentional shutdown.

Jan 20, 2009, 10:47 PM	#7
powerlines I AM.. NO SHOES!!! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Hawkinsville, Georgia, United States Posts: 3,187	I have seen some 7000s blink from the Start?? what is up with that.. TX on.. Start 7000.. BLINK.. redo RX.. BLINK.. rebind.. and it will fix it. ?? WIERD!!

Jan 21, 2009, 12:38 PM	#8
David22 BEOWULF Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: North vancouver, B.C. Canada Posts: 7,194	turn off rx power, unplug tx power. restart tx and then rx blinking should go away If all else fails rebind and blinking will go away

Jan 29, 2009, 09:24 PM	#10
village_idiot Inciting Riots Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 7,245	Can't say that I have ever seen one blink while the other is solid. Most of what I use is AR6100 and increasingly AR6300 so I'm not an expert with the satellite receivers. The only time that you should normally get this difference is if the satellite and the main have different firmware. But it should always be the same if that is the case.

Jan 29, 2009, 09:32 PM	#11
crow man seeks thermals Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: New Mexico Posts: 109	6300!! Im going to have to check that out.. BTW I just powered it up for the heck of it, and of course now they are both on solid, continuously. sheesh Thanks for the quick reply- I did order two of the 6200s, they both got here today and I was installing one for flight tomorrow lunchtime. If I keep running into that I may switch the little cable and see what happens. I know, I never heard of such a thing and earlier tonight I spent >90 minutes searching so I wouldn't have to post, but anyway this is a good thread and deserves to be sticky, you will save people a lot of time. I have had my ar6000 go blinky on me a number of times and I know it doesn't mean that it needs to be rebound or that it won't fly, but it just bothers me, probably a lot of us are like that. Airplane people. Everything has to be just so... Anyway, thanks Village Idiot and the other thread participants. crow man Alb., NM USA

Feb 11, 2009, 02:01 PM	#12
TrevC Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Crowthorne, Berkshire, UK Posts: 188	One more "blink" scenario I've not seen mentioned on this thread. Sometimes, from a "clean" start (ie switching on Tx then powering up Rx) I've had the blink situation. I was careful to not say "switch on" Rx because in my TRex there is no Rx switch - you just plug in the battery. I think this must sometimes cause a power fluctuation if the connectors don't join solidly straight away, which fools the Rx into thinking there has been a power interruption - which of course there has! Anyway, I now fly with blinking lights and don't worry. Shame my instructions didn't mention it though - maybe Horizon put in an addendum sheet now?

Mar 01, 2009, 04:04 PM	#13
Martin Y Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: West of Toronto Posts: 589	Hi Guys I had the same problem a few days ago and found it beening the ESC will cause the fault. The ESC caps store a bit of power after the battery is unpluged so the RX doesn't turn off right away. Then it states hunting for a channel and finds a wifi one near by then locks onto it with a low voltage state the the error occurs. To correct this You can either use a seperate outside battery to start up and shut down the RX then disconnect before/after flight or splice a switch between the ESC and RX connector power wire then switch power from ESC to RX off first then disconnect main battery. Martin

Mar 13, 2009, 04:32 AM	#14
Doby Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 126	Thanks for the post. I thought the blinking was normal. Not tell I seen this sticky. Thanks again!

Mar 13, 2009, 09:55 AM	#15
Daedalus66 Helis and Fixed Wing Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 2,848	My impression is that the last 2 or 3 posts deal with problems that most people never see. In over a year of flying various Spektrum receivers with the flashing update I have not seen any such anomalous behaviour. The only time I get unexpected flashing is if I fail to turn off the transmitter when unplugging and replugging the battery. As for the receiver hunting for signals while running on capacitor power and then finding a wifi channel, surely this doesn't happen if you turn off the receiver first and then pause a moment before turning off the transmitter. I have not observed this in my basement with a wireless router operating nearby. Maybe it's something specific to one particular ESC? Certainly, I would strongly advise against adding extra switches, which are just one more thing to go wrong.