Discussion Spektrum receiver blinking LED - what it means

[Martin Y]

I'm using a electrifly esc and every time I use the push button to switch off the unit the RX losses it channel. But I have discovered if I unplug the battery and don't push the button everything's OK. Go figure

[Daedalus66]

Originally Posted by Martin Y

I'm using a electrifly esc and every time I use the push button to switch off the unit the RX losses it channel. But I have discovered if I unplug the battery and don't push the button everything's OK. Go figure

Which push button is that?

[Martin Y]

The one that turns on the ESC. here's manual http://manuals.hobbico.com/gpm/gpmm2...055-manual.pdf

[shafferama]

I have been puzzling over this blinking thing...kept meaning to email Horizon but never got around to it and there didn't seem to be any effect on the performance of my AR6100s and 6200s....Now I know....Thank You Mr Village Idiot very much!

[ALF F14]

I actually like when the light is blinking, I've got a 6100 mounted underneath my F-14 Tomcat and it reminds me of the anti-collision light on the chin pod of the real thing!

[modfly]

Good info VI, I get this blinking all the time and I played with the power up sequence to eliminate it but its good to know what it all means.

[hrholloway]

I have been using a DX7 AR7000 setup in electric planes for about two years now without any issues. Recently I installed the AR7000 RX in a Seagull Edge powered by a 20cc gas motor. Initially I had trouble with the throttle servo that would glitch at idle rpm. Problem went away when I replaced the servo with a digital one. The servo was located about 300mm from the engine and connected via a plastic sleeved metal pushrod with a metal on metal z-bend link at the engine side. (I know metal throttle linkages are bad but hey this is a DX7 and this is what came with the kit).

Fifteen flights later I decided to cyno the pushrod sleeve in place as the throttle control was not precise enough to my liking. I started the motor at home to test the throttle setup and found that the servo glitch had returned with a vengeance. I also noticed that the satellite receiver would start blinking at about 5Hz (5 cycles per second) as soon as the motor was running. At times the LED would go out completely and come on again blinking. The same would also occasionally happen with the primary RX. To my horror I found that if both the primary and the satellite LEDs were off at the same time connectivity would be lost completely and power cycling the RX would be the only way to restore the connection.

After stopping the motor the satellite receiver and sometimes the primary receiver would blink at about 5Hz until power cycled. Both receivers would then display solid until the motor was restarted after which the satellite receiver would immediately start to blink at 5Hz and turn off intermittently. The satellite receiver was further away from the motor by the way.

Replacing the metal pushrod with a plastic one solved the problem completely and after several flights and range checking with motor on both receivers display solid LEDs until switched off.

Although I have not found any documentation from Spektrum to support this my observations would indicate that a slow blink (2Hz) indicates a power dip and a rapid blink (5Hz) radio interference.

The sobering realisation is however that the 2.4Ghz system can suffer from interference to the point that all control is lost. All I had to do to accomplish this was cyno the sleeve of the throttle pushrod. Doing so must have enabled the metal on metal contact to be more consistent. This only happened with the throttle completely closed, as in fail safe mode, from which the receiver would never recover.

My Setup:
Seagull 78" Edge 540
Zenoah 20cc gas motor
16 x 8 prop
RX AR7000 with standard 6 x DS821 servos
2 separate 1500mah nicads for RX and electronic ignition

Radio power sequence:

TX on -> RX on -> fly -> RX off -> TX off

On electrics/gas setups I would suggest observing the RX with the motor off. Start the motor and see if the LEDs start to blink. If they blink you stand to loose your model.

Hope this helps save a model.


Regards,

Ron

[Shread]

hrholloway, it look's like you have a big problem with powering of you receiver and servos!
I have slow blinking only once: I've installed small bec with 1 cell lipo in my 0.9m dlg and sometimes have a problem with slow blinking and absolutely no control with ar7000 receiver. When i try to measure bec output voltage before and after connecting to recever i found that firstly it was around 5V and 3.4V after...

[village_idiot]

First... Have you updated the firmware of your AR7000 to the version with the data/bind label? If not then you blinking is probably unrelated and probably from a broken antenna or two (the change from metal to plastic throttle rod may indicate low signal). I would send that receiver back to Horizon and let them check it. I would also examine the installation and make sure that the satellite was far enough away from the main to do its job properly. If the throttle rod runs over the top of one, it should not be anywhere near the other.

It might be worth a new thread to sort out your problems as this type of flashing has not been a consistent problem for other people (though the metal throttle linkage has been a problem in the past).

[hrholloway]

It's not a voltage problem. Voltage data logger shows voltage never dropped below 5.1v. It's a noise problem 100% reproducible and it did cause complete radio lockout in 2 out of 10 tests. There have been other reports of fast LED blinking of between 5 and 7Hz which have gone unexplained. The slower 2Hz blinking indicates voltage dips. The faster 5Hz blinking seems to indicate interference problems. It's also not a reception/power output problem. I can range test to about 60 meters with output power reduced by pressing the bind button.

Ron

[hrholloway]

Originally Posted by village_idiot

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.

Yes I have! When metal on metal noise caused it.

Ron

[teamdavey]

Check around - more likely is that you are feeding so much spark noise into the system that the processors are resetting - there is another post around discussing that and the solution via a spark plug change.

Doesn't change the fact that you fixed it by removing the pathway.

[djackson010]

I just got the Spektrum 7000 system for my Futaba 7UA. I installed the stuff and want to bind the receiver. I cannot get the receiver to blink. I have the binding clip attached to the charging jack just like the instructions say. However, I was wondering if the fact that I only have the positive and negative wires going to the charge jack matter (no ground wire?) Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks.

[BigGuyJT]

Originally Posted by djackson010

I just got the Spektrum 7000 system for my Futaba 7UA. I installed the stuff and want to bind the receiver. I cannot get the receiver to blink. I have the binding clip attached to the charging jack just like the instructions say. However, I was wondering if the fact that I only have the positive and negative wires going to the charge jack matter (no ground wire?) Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks.

I dont know a whole lot about these. But, are you trying to bind and AR7000 to a Futaba 2.4 transmitter (FASST)? If thats the case it wont work. Spektrum is DSM2 and will only bind to Spektrum transmitters. Dx6i, Dx7...

[FourPlay26]

Hi all

My AR6200 is also flashing

I bind as per instructions unplug take out bind plug and turn on, what at this point I have solid lights. Unplug then plug in, flashing lights any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help