Larry G

I have four AR6100 receivers, and was told by a hobby shop salesman that I need to add a add-on capacitor to protect myself from "brown outs".

Is this reccomended? If it is, Spectrum should include it free to all AR6100 owners. If I have to buy it, now my $50.00 receivers cost $57.00.

rcers

Nope - the cap will do nothing, well actually it will protect you for about a 100th-10th of one second. Then it will be depleted.

That will do little to help with a 3-6 second brown out.

Here is the good news - what you need is the new fast connect upgrade (version 1.6) and you should see a little sticker on the 6100 that has a version. No sticker means v1 then there is v1.2 and v1.6. The sticker will be on the RX somewhere - can't remember where here at work.

Fast connect upgrade in v1.6 re-starts the RX on the last two channels it was using before the power drop. That <6 seconds go to less than half a second. Much better.

Even better - use high quality BEC's and servos that don't draw as much. Then you wont have an issue at all. Remember it is not the receivers fault it does not have the 3.5v it needs to run. Your other equipment is to blame.

I have well over 1k flight with Spektrum - nary a single issue or "brown out". But I use good servos and separate BEC's or quality ESC's with good built in BEC's.

The cap by the way - is made for the Spektrum CAR receivers - when they race on carpet. Has something to due with static ???

Mike

crash_out

The newer spektrum RX's shouldn't have a problem with brownouts, and it's really only an issue if you are using components that can't handle what you're putting them through-ie a BEC that's only good for 1 amp, and you're using 4 servos.

The simple answer is that if you haven't had a problem with them yet, you're probably not going to. I have a friend that has at least 7 of the older RX's, and has NEVER had one brown out, even using some cheaper ESC's and such.

Larry G

I'm using Turnigy "Plush" speed controllers, 40 & 30 amp on my bigger motors, and 25 amp on the small ones. My air fleet has some 4 servo setups. I believe the controllers say "linear BEC" but I will have to look at the specs. Haven't had a problem yet. All my new receivers are V1.6, I sent back the V1.2 I had for upgrading.

rcers

You should be just fine....

Mike

Larry G

Any issues with the AR6200? The one that came with my radio does not have any version number on it.

rcers

All "electronic" devices have a minimum voltage. The 6200 is no exception. It needs 3.3-3.5v minimum or it may "re-boot" so to speak.

So again - it needs adequate voltage and good equipment.

It also can be updated with the "fast connect" feature, but I don't have any stickers on mine - on no question that they are a bit different in firmware and likely updates.

I think there is a way to check for fast update something about the lights flashing VS - I can't remember....

You could also call Horizon Support.

But again - I have too many Spektrum flights to count, not one issue with low voltage cuts, and I know that is due to quality low draw servos (Hitecs) and use of separate BEC's for applications where I use more than 4 low current servos on 3s.

Mike

Rodneh

rcers has given some good advice in his above posts, i.e. knows what he is talking about. A word of advice for anyone using any of the 2.4 GHz units, if using high current demand servos or lots of them, use a seperate power supply for the receiver only and power all servos through a seperate power box or bus. All of the 2.4GHz recievers will drop out (reboot) if they get a momentary negative going transient on the power bus. If you fly big and/or expensive planes, the dual power supply will save you much grief.