I want to set up throttle/rudder differential coupling on an electric
seaplane, and found the instructions for my intended radio (Futaba 8UA-
F) in Don Edberg's book, but the instructions are for an I-C version.
I'm unsure as to which ESC wire (s) I need to disconnect (cheapo
Chinese ESCs) or any other differences. Anybody done this?
TIA,
Geoff the electronics idiot
MJKolodziej - 20 Jul 2009 02:39 GMT
>I want to set up throttle/rudder differential coupling on an electric
> seaplane, and found the instructions for my intended radio (Futaba 8UA-
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Geoff the electronics idiot
Are you wanting the rudder to counter the torque when you advance the
throttle for take off?
If so, the flight pack should be set-up normaly. The programing will be
done in the Tx.
I'm sleepy, I may be misunderstanding.
:/
mk
Doug McLaren - 20 Jul 2009 19:38 GMT
| >I want to set up throttle/rudder differential coupling on an electric
| > seaplane, and found the instructions for my intended radio (Futaba 8UA-
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
| done in the Tx.
| I'm sleepy, I may be misunderstanding.
Well, the title is `twin electric', so I think you're misunderstanding.
There will be two throttles and if they're going to be seperate,
they'll each be on separate channels. You could use an
elevon/flaperon on-board mixer to give you one channel for throttle
and one channel for a delta between the two throttles, or you could
just give each ESC it's own channel and do the programming in the TX,
if it can handle it.
I wouldn't expect it to be different between an electric or an IC
powered plane. Except that you could make a hardware mixer in the
plane for the IC version, where your main throttle servo moved another
servo that let you adjust the throttle to each engine -- this would
just be a hardware mixer built into the plane. People sometimes do
elevons and flaperons in the same way.
But using a small electronic elevon/flaperon mixer would let you do
the same thing with an electric model.

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Doug McLaren, dougmc@frenzied.us
Re graphics: A picture is worth 10K words -- but only those to
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Fubar of the HillPeople - 21 Jul 2009 00:28 GMT
Why two throttles? My "Sick Stick" is a twin electric and I just "Y'd" the
rx leads for the ESCs together into channel 3. Then you would just mix the
rudder/throttle the same as you would for any single engine/motor plane.
Dan
> Well, the title is `twin electric', so I think you're misunderstanding.
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> But using a small electronic elevon/flaperon mixer would let you do
> the same thing with an electric model.
Ray Haddad - 21 Jul 2009 00:49 GMT
>Why two throttles? My "Sick Stick" is a twin electric and I just "Y'd" the
>rx leads for the ESCs together into channel 3. Then you would just mix the
>rudder/throttle the same as you would for any single engine/motor plane.
Perhaps he wants to have some additional turning capacity to work with
rudder and aileron.
--
Ray
ve7eje - 20 Jul 2009 21:21 GMT
> I want to set up throttle/rudder differential coupling on an electric
> seaplane, and found the instructions for my intended radio (Futaba 8UA-
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Geoff the electronics idiot
I do this with my Dueces Wild. Works great! You should see the
sucker spin! My transmitter is a Futaba 9CAPS and the ESC's are e-
flight 60's. It should make no difference between I-C and Electric.
I haven't disconnected anything either. One ESC connects to the
throttle channel, the other to Ch7 IIRC.
The e-flight ESC's allow you to parallel connect them to the receiver
with no problems. Not sure about others though.
Check the Futaba FAQ page for the setups.
-Rob-
Chris Dugan - 21 Jul 2009 17:40 GMT
> I want to set up throttle/rudder differential coupling on an electric
> seaplane, and found the instructions for my intended radio (Futaba 8UA-
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Geoff the electronics idiot
If you are using BEC equipped ESC's then you will need to disconnect one
of the two positive (red usually) power wires from one of the ESC's where
it plugs into the Receiver. If using an external RX battery then
disconnect BOTH of the positive wires from the ESC's where they go into
the RX.
The important thing is that the Black (ground or negative depending on
your terminology) and the signal wire (White on Futaba wires) must be
connected from both ESC's to the RX.
The red leads are only used to SUPPLY power to the RX and the rest of the
servo's, you cannot have both ESC's feeding the same RX (without wiring
in some diodes) without causing problems.
Pop the connector out of the plug and then just bend them back against
the ESC's servo lead; then wrap some tape around them to secure them and
insulate them.
If using one ESC and its built in BEC circuit to power the radio gear
make sure it can handle the current demands, or it could overheat and
shutdown with 'interesting' results :-)

Signature
Chris
Geoffinpdx - 23 Jul 2009 02:41 GMT
Chris, you've got the answer I was seeking. Thanks. I am indeed
planning to use differential throttle for on-water steering since the
plane has no water rudder. I was pretty sure I needed to disconnect
one ESC positive wire, and you've confirmed it. The mixes in the
radio will handle the coupled rudder/throttle differential - I just
couldn't remember how the rest of it went.
Thanks to all for your input!
Geoff
Doug McLaren - 28 Jul 2009 21:31 GMT
| The important thing is that the Black (ground or negative depending on
| your terminology) and the signal wire (White on Futaba wires) must be
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
| servo's, you cannot have both ESC's feeding the same RX (without wiring
| in some diodes) without causing problems.
It won't cause problems if you don't do this.
If one ESC provides slightly higher voltage than the other, then it'll
end up providing most of the power to the RX and servos. If they both
provide exactly the same voltage (which isn't likely), then they'll
each share 50% of the load.
They're just voltage regulators in most cases. You can put them into
parallel just fine -- it doesn't break anything -- but in general
you'll find that the load isn't evenly distributed among them because
they'll have slightly different output voltages. But if one ESC can
handle all the load (and usually this is about heat more than anything
else), then there's no problem.
| If using one ESC and its built in BEC circuit to power the radio gear
| make sure it can handle the current demands, or it could overheat and
| shutdown with 'interesting' results :-)
Well, that's always what you should do with any plane that has has
at least one BEC.

Signature
Doug McLaren, dougmc@frenzied.us
"Don't tell me I'm burning the candle at both ends -- tell me where to
get more wax!!"
Ron van Sommeren - 29 Jul 2009 16:24 GMT
> I want to set up throttle/rudder differential coupling on an electric
> seaplane ...
Neat differential thrust video :D :D
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=529025
Vriendelijke groeten ;-) Ron
MJKolodziej - 29 Jul 2009 22:47 GMT
>> I want to set up throttle/rudder differential coupling on an electric
>> seaplane ...
> Neat differential thrust video :D :D
> http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=529025
>
> Vriendelijke groeten ;-) Ron
Cool!
If you didn't know about the VPPs you would wonder how the heck he did that.
Danka Ron,
mk