Digi-Fleet Conversion

[geminijets]

After Shaun and Phil's Retro Flying at Pontefract Mike kindly gave me one of his 10 model memory conversion boards. He also supplied a Digi-Fleet transmitter to convert

The board is one of his smaller GTB encoder boards. I have followed Mike's manual which is very good. Only issue I have found is to make sure the Joystick gain pot RV1 is fully anticlockwise or you will only get half of the stick movement.

A few pictures of the conversion as follows:

digifleet1

digifleet2

digifleet4

digifleet5

digifleet6

digifleet8

digifleet13

digifleet14

digifleet15

I have reused the existing wiring for the switches and the meter. Looks a lot neater and I only had to crimp some servo connectors on them. I replaced the wiring on the sticks as they were not long enough and also they move a bit when the trims are used so I was not happy using the old wires. It is very tight in the case I had trouble fitting the switches in the top. I had to put the spacers on the outside. Got the meter on the case working but had to add a 10k resistor inline with it. I used the "meter adjust" pot to fine tune it.

Still waiting for a a lemon diy tx module to turn up and a 2s lipo balance socket to I can get the 5-pin DIN plug wired up. I plan to run the 3 wires for balance plug on the 2s lipo and binding to the 5 pin DIN as Mike has done on his. Don't really need to do it as the case is really easy to open.

So far I am happy with the conversion and Mike has done an excellent job. I'll update when I have finished it and tested it out.

Rob.

[Shaun]

Great job Rob but you've put the throttle stick on the wrong side

Shaun.

[GarydNB]

No he hasn't....
Gary

[Tobe]

....o yes but we live in a free world.
Mode I is a remnant from the time we flew reed but also there there was variations.
However you will never fly a real airplane with rudder on the stick and ailerons on the pedals or even aileron and throttle on the stick and elevator in your left hand... yes I know that before controls became standardized and that was in the early 1900 there were all sorts of way in trying to control an airplane.
I know that several F3A competitors flew mode 3, I.e. aileron and rudder swapped but still throttle on the left side and the reason was in rolls aileron is fix but you continously are correcting with rudder and elevator so that's why they kept on the right stick.
There is a lot to say about "stick control" and I delt a lot around it in my years in the USA not only concerning the different Mode's but also between pitch versus thumb flier, basically a thumb flier needs 15% of expo to fly equally smooth as a pitch flier!
Last but not least there's no right or wrong as long we enjoying it and feel comfortable as most issue are between our hears as much is depending in how well your left brain interact with your right brain.
To understand this, if you are right handed most of us find difficulties in wiping our b*t with our left hand and if you have to work behind the dashboard of your car in a mirror condition so to say you ou would choose your left hand fully comparable with who flies model helicopter, most find it easier to hover / fly tail in compared to nose in but when we flip the chopper upside down it's easier to hover nose in compared to tail in.

[Mike_K]

Hi Rob

It looks like you're doing a really neat conversion and I'm pleased the Fleet cleaned up as well as it has, the before and after photos look so different! And the wiring is looking very neat and tidy inside, I agree that re-using the original wiring is a good idea if there is no corrosion.

If the Digi-Fleet badge bent slightly when you removed it, I've got a couple of others removed from cases too badly corroded to use, but the badges are good. I need to put in the instructions to use light heat from a heat gun to help lift the badge off.

As you're using mode 1, don't forget to go into the settings and make sure that "mode 1" is selected, otherwise, your throttle and elevator will work in reverse and the "throttle lock" alarm will be going off at every startup or when you change models.

Cheers

Mike

[Wavemeter]

Great work - looks a fab and well appointed transmitter

[geminijets]

Finally got on and finished the conversion. I cut out the mount for the Lemon TX module from some 1mm epoxy board I had. The antenna mounts were cut from the same epoxy board using a hole saw. I painted the top piece black to match the case. I was going to use a 450mAh 2S lipo but I don't like using them in transmitters. Finally made a 6 cell NiMH pack using some 950mAh Vapex AAA cells which work well.

A few pictures of the completed transmitter.

Only problem I have is one of the "feet" on the bottom is broken so it will not stand up.

If anyone has non broken one they can send me it would be much appreciated.

Mike the badge looks fine. I think the light in the photos make it look worse than it is.

Rob.

[Shaun]

Cracking job Rob. Just need to get itt flown now.

[Mike_K]

A lovely neat conversion Rob, thanks for posting the pictures. I think your extended module mount is a better idea than me fitting a longer IPEX to SMA extension lead, it's always best to keep the lead as short as possible. And have you used 14500 Li-Ion batteries? I've bought some with very low capacities, they advertise 1500mAH, but when put on a discharger they only have a hundred or so mAH, so check the true capacity before flying.

Another minor thing I've spotted is that you haven't fitted a link to the LemonRx channel 5 resolution. By default, it has a low resolution on Channel 5 so that it will operate the LemonRx stabilised Rx with a non-computer transmitter conversion. Unfortunately, this encoder uses channel 5 for the second aileron by default and you may prefer more than 32 step resolution on your left aileron!

There are a few easy ways to resolve this (assuming you have two aileron servos and they are individually plugged into the receiver):
1. Use a 6 channel (or more) receiver and use the channel order/assignment menu to move the second aileron to channel 6 (you can change the default output order in the System PPM&Channels menu so that the gear channel is on output 5 and the second aileron on channel 6)
2. But the better solution is to solder a link to the LemonRx DSMP DIY module as per the instruction manual

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1voYsft ... p3ySo/view

Besides that, I think the LemonRx module is a good choice and it's definitely a more reliable module than the OrangeRx DIY hack module as well as being cheaper, more readily available, physically smaller, proper warranty (if you ever need it), and excellent support. Its only real downside is that it will only work on the protocol it was bound to last, so you need to use receivers all of the same types if used with multi-model memory transmitters like this one. I only use DSMP LemonRx receivers which use DSMX 11mS with the module, so you don't have to keep rebinding such as if you used a mixture of other receivers like say an old AR6200 DSM2 22mS receiver. By contrast, the OrangeRx module can change protocol without rebinding by pressing the bind push-button rapidly 3x and it indicates which protocol is selected by flashing the LED.

Cheers

Mike

[James]

Geminijets
A really nice conversion. With regard to the broken foot, I bought spares from Derek Olley in 2002 and luckily that included some feet. If you send me your address, or if you prefer email as you may not want to advertise where you live, I will gladly post one to you. My email is jamesiparry@talktalk.net
James