RF Evoltuion, Spektrum WS2000 Sim Dongle, Spektrum DX7s and a decade of mystery solved in a few minutes...

 

              

Ultrastick Wiring: RCEXL Opto Kill Switch is NOT an BEC

Spent some time in a conversation with Google Gemini (their AI) and learned a lot I hope I knew and forgot about how the opto kill switch is not an IBEC.

The diagrams for the RCExl Opto Kill Switch look like this:

The RCEXL Optical Kill Switch does two things. It uses a light junction to separate the hard wire electrical connections so the 20,000 volts of noise generated by the spark plug do not flow back into the receiver and electronics interfering with them or frying them altogether, AND it serves to kill the power to the ignition. Power to the OKS passes through, so my 2S 7.4v LiPO would send up to 8V to the ignition, if the light sensor inside the is on. Here's how Gemini explained it:

The RCEXL unit has two sides that are "optically isolated" (connected only by a beam of light inside the chip) to prevent electronic interference from reaching your receiver:

1. THE RECEIVER SIDE: It plugs into your receiver to  get a signal and a small amount of power just to run the internal LED and the "gate."

2. THE IGNITION SIDE: It has a "Battery In" and an "Ignition Out" lead. You must plug a battery or regulator into the "Battery In" lead.

What happens when you flip the switch:

1. Switch On: The RCEXL unit closes the circuit, allowing power from the ignition battery to pass through to the ignition module.

2. Switch Off: The unit breaks the circuit, cutting off power and killing the engine.

I had my circuit like this:

This works, but apparently it allows interference noise hardwired back into the circuit. Options are a separate battery (two battery system, nice in big airplanes) or one battery and an BEC. Note that with this setup the RCEXL unit LED did not light up... so I think the RCEXL is bad.

Above is how I will be doing this circuit. I purchased a RCEXL Opto Kill Switch with BEC (see below). from Valley View RC. Curiously they are the only place that carries this.

Apparently this (above) is the OPTIMAL way to do this. It protects the circuit by filtering out the feedback, and offers a kill switch. I have one of these on the Pulse XT60 (need to see if I also have a RCEXL switch as this would be redundant).. Pictured below is the Tech Aero one I have, and is most recommended, in that its one of the few out there. Problem is its over $70 delivered, which is why I went with the RCEXL one.  IBEC's, especially one with a LED indicator light, are very hard to find, and nothing under the Tech Aero price.

I did drop by the workshop to check a few things, like do I have a IBEC. I have a UBEC but Gemini did not recommend this with the kill switch, and it added more complication to the circuit. I built a little holder to secure the receiver pack, and removed the RCEXL kill switch. I will likely return the one arriving today from Amazon as I don't need it, and am waiting for the one from Valley View, coming by some dude on a bike from Indiana, maybe 3-5 days?  Tomorrow I may try firing up the engine without the kill switch, wiring in directly to the battery through a 5V regulator. I am concerned that the touchy EVO 10cc will try what little patience I have left (hence today a day of rest).

This build has been no fun at all...

Seriously. This is my third build of the Ultrastick 10cc and this one has been one pain in the ass after another. It has been three days of total immersion: I get started and hours go by before I realize it. Today was build final, but I have, yes, some issues to resolve before its a wrap.

My shabby workshop in my garage from the1700's 

(yeah, my apartment is in a house over 250 years old).

The tail assembly looks great, but it was one little thing after another. It starts with my habit of replacing CA hinges with pin hinges. Lets just say I should have stuck with the CA hinges. Despite perfect dry fitting, once the epoxy went on nothing went as planned. I am honestly am some what shocked at how clean it looks. The discerning reader will note the cote patches and kindly say nothing about them...

I was so annoyed at the process I was prompted to put this missive here as a reminder. See that space just aft of the vertical stabilizer? There was one in the front too, with the deep attachment point in between. Seems the epoxy lifted it and let it slide back a couple of mm, despite my taping the entire thing down. This, of course, placed the rudder-fin joint back a couple of millimeters, making the tail assembly a couple of mm aft, which it bore grudgingly.  Yeah, its been that sort of build...

The dual switch assembly went in, also with a few minor issues. One of which I found the wiring for both switches to be Y'd together into one Futaba style connector to the receiver. One is supposed to be receiver, the other ignition. This switch came from the last Ultrastick. Did I do that? It does have one Y;d lead for the lead from the battery to the switches, but the outputs should be separate. This issue became obvious when I was trying to wire in the optical kill switch: there was no lines from the switch to a connector for the kill switch power input. If I did that weird Y, kudos as the solder work was so perfect I wondered it if came that way, how could that possible work, and how did I set this up last time? I am still not sure I know WTF is happening...

At the end of the day this is what I had, the optical kill switch not installed at this pic.

Because this is only 17 seconds of flaming hotness You Tube made it a short, and I can't figure out how to get teh embed code for a short, so you'll have to click the pic for the video. Sorry for my tone, I had had enough of cockamaemee BS.

Then there was this little gem. I expected a tube from the electronics bay to the rudder control rod exit point, and likewise on the elevator side. The first segment of the tubes is visible, but the wire hit every frame as if it was NOT in a tube. Took forever. I had no idea where it would come out, but the rudder, then elevator exit points popped thru when I finally got the rods there. That likely was because there was a least a tube at the end, or it would never have exited. WTF? Well, it works... The control rods are cut to exact length so you have to use the metal clevis provided. Which led to this problem...

             

Sorry for the video quality, doing a two-handed thing one-handed. None of the metal clevis's fits tightly enough. I had to crush them all down more tightly then screw them in, and secured them with a littler CA (one still came apart today).  FFS. This was true for all of the small gauge clevis's, I didn't use the large ones.

So, that was yesterday.

Today wasn't as bad, but time flew. I went in at around 930a, looked up and it was almost 2p, blinked and it was 630p. Hadn't even bothered to stop for lunch (and I had skipped breakfast). 4

I finished up installing the electronics, (will get a pic tomorrow), and mounted the engine. I installed the optical kill switch. When I turned on the power to the switch the LED didn't light up. Checked to make sure my switch assignment was good (Gear to H button on my iX12). Checked to make sure the ignition switch worked and had power by swapping it to the receiver. It did. So maybe the LED is bad or the kill switch is, though one means the other as I don't have a spare LED. So I ordered a new one that will arrive tomorrow. I don't think the status of the electronic ignition matters, but if the new switch doesn't work, maybe? All of this, mounting the engine, unmounting it as I drilled the throttle control rod tube whole too high, remounted it. I also painted and gas proofed the firewall. All of this seems to have take more time than it should. 

I did take a moment to paint the prop tips. I did the classic red strip on white background, but it didn't go well and re-did it as just white. Not sure I will bother with the red center stripe.

I pulled the DC-3 from the loft. Haven't flown this in years... started thinking about it last night. It doesn't like grass for take-off and landings, so I haven't been able to. It tended to lift off before it had quite enough airspeed to stay aloft because of the grass. Now that I have access to a geotex runway, that may not be a problem. Its a simple foamie. Pic tomorrow.

And now I am starving...

Tomorrow I will install the new optical kill switch. I hope it just works. Then will come the challenge of getting the EVO 10cc engine to start, run and tune easily... not looking forward to that. I may take a day off depending on weather and go fly or sail or both. 

Wow... John Hayes rebulids the Alpha Sport 450 wing

 

This was the state of my Apha Sport 450 wing after my controlled flight into a line of trees that proved closer than advertised. The right wing leading edge had a fractured as martial loss not as impressive but seious as well. Repairing this requires skills far beyond mine, yet I was loath to abandon what is my first true rc aircraft.

On a whim I approached John Hayes, a friend from SNHRCC. I knew he is a master builder, and I felt if there was any hope,i t would be him. He agreed, and a couple of days ago I dropped it off (and experienced the wonderland that is his workshop for the first and I hope not last time). Two. Days. Ago.

He sent me these pics today:

The right wing.  Can't even tell where the damage was.

This is the repaired left wing. Are you kidding me? Its literally new. This is a rare level of skill.

He will cote them and let me know when to come-back it up. I just can't wrap my head around how well this repair has come out. I am just so impressed by John's skills as a builder, just so please with the outcome here.

Thank you, John. You are giving me my baby back.

My Alpha Sport 450 back when I got her over a decade ago. 

Sadly, like many good things, no longer produced.

MX2 and Cubby are up

 

I described the debacle that was "simple repairs" to my Hacker MX2 in last night's post. I had to replace the bad aileron servos, and it required a lot more than it should have. The new servos required new servo arm extensions, which I had to manufacture. Overnight the CA did bond, and I easily put a single screw into each to further secure them. Once I got that done, the rest was simple. A little time to make sure the ailerons were level and zeroed, and everything is grand. No more jiggy shit. Returned the gyro after having to make a better bed to secure it in after mining the foam to get the servo wire extensions in place.  That rectangle under the fuse is where I had to cut to gain access to pass the wires.

Staying in the spirit of the theme, the Cubby decided that there was no adventure in simple. It easily bound, that wasn't the problem. The problem was the connector was a massive EC5, which in my ignorance I used when I first started in the hobby (the Cub is one of my first planes, over a dozen years old).  I have since changed to EC3 on my 4S and smaller batteries and aircraft. 

The problem with EX connectors is that some are "push in ", and some are "pull thru". To seat the metal connector into the blue plastic housing, you either push it in, or pass the wire thru the connector before soldering the metal connector, and then pull it back in to the plastic housing to lock it in place. I sadly have a mix of them. And even if you get that right, being g able to push or pull it to lock it can be seriously difficult. When it is, I find heating the connector and letting the heat soften the plastic as I push (or pull) it into place. This usually works. Its one of those simple things that is just never simple. I wonder if XT connectors have a similar problem? I have never used them. Traxxas connectors difficulty is getting the solder to stay bonded to the metal. I now have a bottle of flux that might help with those. I use them on my heli receiver packs for nopartucular reason.

So I had to replace the EC5 with an EC3. Went thru a couple just trying to get the damn things to lock and stay. I also ended up extending the wires between the ESC and the battery end connector. 

Patched a few hangar rash issues in the cote, and she is once again shiny as she can be. There are some areas of melt wrinkled corners of cote that I can fix later.

Prior planning prevents piss poor performance...

 

The great news is my friend, John, whom I suspected was a master builder, will take on the repair of my Alpha Sport wing. I had almost opted to just by the latest generic trainer that looks very much like the Alpha Sport, but mine is part of my story and I couldn't just let it go.  He's an Engineer, and I mean capital E Engineer, as I realized when I saw his workshop. Over 40 years of RC experience, a lot of it hanging from the ceiling in his ginormous spectacular and manufacturing level equipped workshop. So much history. Next time I am there I will take pics, I was too awe struck to think of it today. John's skills at expert building and cote work just dazzled me?. So many complex surfaces that look painted smooth as clear ice... My little project is but a sneeze for him. Dude is a legend.

The lack of planning that bit me in the ass was me rushing out of the garage grabbing two planes without inspecting them. After visiting John, I headed out to the Flying Tigers field in Derry. It was a bit awash with recent rains, but flyable. Turns out the tail wheel connected to the rudder of the MX2 had broken off the bottom of the rudder. Also, the ailerons went literally juggy with vibrations intermittently.  You no fly. Turned to the Cubby only to find the model wasnt even programmed into my iX12...  I had purged a few planes, but I wouldn't have purged that one. No problem, its a simple setup, made q model and programmed my DR/Expo. Ok, the reciever, into which I need to plug in the bind plug, under the wing, attached by two 2.0 hex top screws. Easy-peasy. Except I don't have a 2.0 hex driver in my go box. Son of a ....

The gods have warned me its time to go home. Several times.

Got home and went straight to the garage workshop. Easily fixed the rudder thingy. Epoxied it, and added a popsicle stick along the bottom to add structural strength so this won't happen again (will add a pic tomorrow). Then I decided to swap out the aileron servos as the jigging kept happening. Made sure it wasn't the reciever, it wasn't. Should be an easy pull and replace.  Well...  the plane is sealed and the leads wind their way through the fuse to make it to the instrument compartment. The fuse is made rigid by a wood box that runs thru most of the fuse and a center wall to wall plate of thick foam There would be no simple pull and replace. Had to crudely tunnel along the wires to release them and pull them. Then to pass the new leads, more tunneling thru foam. That wasn't so bad. 

The servo arms laughed at that notion. The small arms had a special extension arm of brittle plastic on it held together to the servo arm by a very tiny screw. Had to carefully take it apart, and reestablish it on the new one. Hand drilled a small pre-hole, and replace the tiny screw. Of course the screw has a 1 mm hex head hole, my smallest driver being 1.5. Used needle nose pliers to extract that. Replaced the screw and the new arm, and installed. All's good. Started out smoothly with the other one right up to when the special arm snapped while screwing in the retaining hole. Great. That's just great.  Found a plastic part I could trim and make new extensions. Yes, extensions, as they need to be identical on both sides.   And... it won't accept superglue, which I need to hold them. I sanded them, glued again, clamped, and walked away.  I hope the sanding creates a bondable surface. I just need it to hold long enough to put a couple of retaining screws in, very tiny ones. This plastic won't split. We will see how that goes tomorrow.

Never got around to binding g the Cubby, that for tomorrow too.

Having an awesome time!

Introducing my RC Sailboat (and tug) fleet!

 Last year I plunged into a new RC hobby I had yearned for years about doing, RC Sailing. I have always loved sailing, but found the scale hobby too expensive and time consuming to get into, though I have had sailing lessons. Like flying, actually, I moved into RC and flight sim because real flying is expensive and I would never be able to afford the flight hours I would want to remain current. So RC has been my weakness and I have indulged deeply. I have been blogging my sailing adventures on Facebook, for some reason not moving to this blog for sailing, but I am remedying that today! 

These boats are essentially "plug-n-play", in that you need only supply a radio receiver (you only need 2 channels, but the smallest commonly are 6-channel). One is for the rudder and the other is for the sheet (one servo controls both the jib and mainsail). I use standard Spektrum/generic receivers and my Spektrum iX12 transmitter. Since you can't reef the sails, they come in 3 basic sets: A- Set for normal conditions, the smaller B set and for some C set for higher winds.  Standard is A-set. They are fun, easy to maintain, and easy to sail! When not racing (which I have yet to do), its a lot like I imagine fishing is... standing calmly, quietly and just being there.

Here are the boats in my fleet:

My first sailboat is this gorgeous Dragonforce 65. Its a 65cm class racing boat with one of the largest sailing populations world-wide. On Facebook: Dragonforce 65. Mine is modified with sails from a talented sail and graphics maker, Stefano, in Italy, START1969, otherwise it is stock. Its a low cost boat and I would highly recommend it as a first boat.

My second boat is the Kyosho Seawind. Its 1m long, 1.8m tall. These have been discontinued, but about a decade ago sold for $500. You can only get them used, as I did. Mine was in very good condition though the main mast was a bit soft and a top joint, so I replaced it (a few parts are still to be had). Like others, I didn't like how ineffective the rudder is when healed and into the wind, so I modified it replacing it with a true 1m sailboat rudder, and it handles fabulously!  My sails were also a bit rough, so I purchased a stunning A set from Simon at ERA Sails of Falmouth, England, and just love them. This set was one of the first he had made so I got them as a great deal. Kyosho still has them on their website, and rumor is they will come back into production. Like most things we love there is no understanding why they stopped making them. This boat is also a club racer, but in smaller numbers worldwide. On Facebook at Seawind One Design Class.

Wanting another inexpensive 1m boat (about the biggest I can get in my car without disassembling it), I got a Volantex Hurricane. This is more of a hobby boat, not a class boat that people race. I find it fun and exciting to sail! The only modification I did on this boat was to install an external on/off button so I wouldn't have to remove the deck between every sail. Its rudder is large so it didn't need replacing. I sail this one otherwise stock.

My last current sailboat is the much smaller Kyosho Fortune 612.  At 61cm it is a little smaller than the DF65. This is another hobby boat, not a class sailor. It is stock, though I didn't install the deckhands. It is alight wind boat. I am not fond of her sail material, for as you can see here, its a bit stiff. It sails great and is a lot of fun. I got her mostly because I love the detailing. I found her sail booms to be way too soft, so reinforced them with carbon rod. Otherwise they bowed under loading. I installed an external on/off switch, it is otherwise stock, though I would love to get better sails. I have toyed with the idea of putting the original DF65 sails on her... need to see if they would fit. Fun to sail, but needs light winds.

This is my rescue tug, Zaphod, named after my kitty who died in 2026. The Heng Long 60cm long electric tugboat I bought from Motion RC. Its surprisingly agile, powerful and useful. It comes in handy with a boat gets stuck, if there is no wind and a boat is out a ways. Its also fun to just putter around with!  It runs on a brushed electric motor, in which I installed two 3 cell (11v) 2200 mAh batteries in parallel to make for a long, long running 4400 mAh. It has proven useful a number of times.

My Dream Boat, the Volvo Ocean 70 (without foils)

There is a real life Volvo Ocean Race boat class called the VO70 (there is a smaller VO65 as well). I don't know a whole lot about the race, but I really love this boat design. The wide hall, the bowsprit, the sail configuration, the twin rudders! No company makes this model, but several industrious people have 3D printed the hall in sections, molded them together and built them up from acquired parts. There is a facebook page where they post their builds called Ockham Radio Controlled Sailing. The nearly completed (as I write this) Team Brunel VO70 is stunning!  A quote for all up was only $250 (I suspect less sails), so these could be made, affordably for < $600. 

It will be some time before I can afford one, get my hands on it. So for now, dreaming and watching!

Stayed tuned! I will hopefully be posting some videos, may start with a couple I already posted in Facebook.