Hey guys,I want to use flaps for crow, butterfly, airbrake or whatever it's called. The issue is my ailerons are y-d into my attopilot.So I know that each aileron has to have independent control....So it has to be both y-d to atto and hooked up to ch6 on the receiver as well. What about hooking one aileron through another y cable to atto and the receiver? Cut the aileron power line to the receiver so one aileron isn't getting power from two sources? Just some thoughts.Anyone have any ideas? I'm not a radio programming pro, is this impossible or am I just making this hard on myself? I'm using a Futaba 10c.

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  • My 3USD vtail mixer just came in from Hong Kong. It has 2 servo input pigtails and 2 servo male output headers.
    I plugged my Rx-AP-vtail-servo in the following way on my test bed (AP for ArduPilot):

    Rx ch1 out (ailerons) ---> AP ch1 ---> vtail ailerons ---> left wing aileron servo
    Rx ch7 out ---> vtail elevator ---> right wing aileron servo

    The ch7 is a proportional channel coupled to a slider on the Tx and replaces the elevator channel usually used for v-tail setup (elevons). I added a first mix activated by a toggle switch in my Tx: When the switch is on, ch7 is offsetting its trim for flaps down position. The ailerons act as usual. I can use the proportional slider for trimming both ailerons up (faster flight) or down (slower flight) manually during flight if needed. Finally, I added a second Tx mix to correct the higher wing lift occurred by lowered flaps. So its the toggle of flaps also adds some down elevator by a simple trim offset (elevator keeps the initial movement freedom, but is offset down.

    To implement the setup in the airframe, I had to add a servo signal wire to the wing, replacing the initial Y connection. Since I have RS-232 connectors between fuselage and wing halves, I fortunately had both ailerons signal lines accessible through separate pins! (I could have Y'ed the ailerons servos inside of the wings...). After this little solder job, plugged everything in and assembled the wings on the fuse. I adjusted the offsets to proper values and my flaps were up and running!

    The V-tail mixer was just the perfect solution. But I was also glad I had the programing possibilities of my old Futaba FC-28 transmitter to have it exactly as I wished it.
  • Yes, It's possible.
    You'll need to replace your dumb Y with a v tail mixer for the ailerons - available everywhere.
    run the elevator input into your channel 6 - run the roll input to the ardupilot.

    You'll want to add a radio mix on your flaps which respond to channel 6, then channel 6 should result in clean braking without a change of attitude. Adjust the mix until the response is clean.
  • I'd like to have flaps on my trainer for landing as well, but with ArduPilot ailerons setting, both servos are coupled too. If there's a way to get independent throws on both ailerons, that would be great. I couldn't find a way until now, but I thought that ArduPilot could read the "flaps down" order from a spare Rx channel and then modify the pulsewidth to offset the servos center position. At the condition that both servos are mirrored in both wing halves, this could indeed work.
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