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Using the HobbyKing RC gear

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 5, 2009 at 10:00pm

If you chose the Blimpduino RC option, your kit will come with a HobbyKing 2.4 Ghz RC transmitter and receiver. It won't, however, come with instructions! (Blame HobbyKing for that). No fear, here's what you need to know.
Like all 2.4Ghz RC systems, you need to bind the transmitter to the receiver before you use it. Here's how to do it:

1. Batteries in transmitter, switch off.
2. Put the bind plug in the BAT slot on the receiver.
3. Connect an ESC (with battery attached) to one of the channels. Black line (-) goes to the outside. You will see a red LED blinking. (You might have to look from the side; it's hard to see)
4. Push and hold down the bind button on the transmitter while switching on. Keep the bind button held down until the red LED stops blinking.
5. Remove the bind plug and turn off the power. When you turn it out again with the transmitter on, thered LED should be solid.

Note that the Receiver comes with a little satellite antenna thing. Remove it--you won't need it indoors. Also, please note that the RC equipment is powered by the Blimpduino board, via the cables. Do not plug the battery straight into the receiver.

Here's the full manual:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
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Comments

  • Chin Wah John Tan October 30, 2009 at 7:10pm
    Ordered the blimp but was so sad that the IR beacon was missing from the package. Tried out the RC mode using this radio http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=20060 but only could get the vectoring to work. Connected the vectoring to channel 3 and the 2 servo to channel 1 and 2. Somehow felt that the board is not receiving the signal from the transmitter... or something. Deeply appreciate if anyone can provide some advice for me... Thanks in advance.

    I forgot to mention that when I can control the vectoring, the motors are still running in autonomous mode... Is this normal? I'm not too good at programming but somehow when I load the .pde file, the program says that there's unrecognised character. Thanks... really need some help to get this to work!
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