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connecting RX on arducopter

Posted by Bart on January 4, 2011 at 4:06am

Hi,

I'm on the edge of completing my Arducopter. Having a little problem with the RX.

Does it need a power connection or not. Didn't find any manuals in the Futuba-box.

I'm building the pre-soldered and tested kit and it includes ESC's with BEC.

Do i use the right pins to connect to the apm? (most left ones on RX block)

Ans yes i am a complete noob on building my own RC stuff.

Oh and another question: can i use any USB cable to connect to my pc or do i have to use a special one?

For all you wannabee-arducopter-noobs:

The arducopter pre-soldered, tested kit is pretty easy to build if you have any experience with LEGO and/or Ikea.

I'll get back to you on the flying as soon as mine is ready to fly...;-)

arducopter, futuba, rx

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Comments

Cliff Dearden January 4, 2011 at 8:33am

Hi Bart, I'm pretty sure but it would be nice if some of our 'clever' guys out there could confirm this.
Bart January 4, 2011 at 8:11am

hmmm, what should i do? anyone with the decisive remark?

Red seems to be on the middle pin, no argue on that.

But where to put the black and the signal?
Cliff Dearden January 4, 2011 at 7:37am

Correct me if I'm wrong anyone but all the signal wires are connected to the bottom row of pins which is the

negative rail. They should be connected to the top rail ? The 2 wire red and black lead should be connected

to the middle and bottom pin. The middle pin being the red wire.
Bart January 4, 2011 at 6:17am

Ah Thx you all.

The Black-RED-Signal info was most wanted.

As soon as i've installed al the escs and wires i will try the configurator.

thx again for the speedy answers!
Paul Feely January 4, 2011 at 5:31am

You connect the 2 wire re-black lead from the APM to any of the receiver channels (just make sure you get it the right way round they go black-red-signal).

It is detailed out in the 'setting up electronics manual' which you find in the download section of the manual (it is a pdf, pages 16-17 refer).

http://arducopter.googlecode.com/files/Setting-up_ArduCopter_Electr...

Good luck with the rest of it. Paul
Magellan January 4, 2011 at 5:26am

Noob here too, but I've had mine flying for about a week now. (easy to fly)

On mine, Power follows the following path

Lipo 11v to ESC

ESC 5 volts out to APM via soldered-on two wire power cable. (connector on one end and soldered on the other)

APM 5 volts out to Receiver via two wire power cable with connectors on each end.

Hope this helps. Don't forget to configure your ESCs as well as spend a lot of time learning with the Arducopter configurator. You can learn a great deal on how it works by spending time with this tool.
Dale January 4, 2011 at 5:22am

it will work if you use the 2 wire lead to connect to the power & ground, on any of the channels. be careful not to mix up the pwer & ground though.
Bart January 4, 2011 at 5:09am

Ok.

The kit didn't include a 3 wire standard servo lead but a 2 wire red&black lead.

Can i connect that 2 wire lead to the remaining pins on any of the channels 1-6 or do i have to connect that lead to the 7th channel?
Paul Thompson January 4, 2011 at 4:54am

It will need power, at the moment you just have the signal wires hooked up, They are correct, but you will also need a ground and power wire to the receiver. Just use a standard 3 wire servo lead to connect one of the channels between the receiver and APM, the receiver will then have power. Yes you can use any USB cable.