DX3r framerate setting for use with Castel controllers?

Morning all.

I have recently bought a Spektrum DX3r radio, and I have been playing about with some of the settings that it has. One is called framerate, and this can be set in three positions. 16.5ms, 11ms or 5.5ms.

It does say in the manual that the faster settings are only to be used with digital servos, but it doesn't mention ESCs at all.

Can anyone tell me if it is safe to use the faster framerates with a Castle speed controllers (I have a Mamba25, Mamba Max, and I'll soon be ordering a MMM).

So far I have only dared to try it on the 16.5ms setting, which works well. I don't want to risk damaging something in the ESC by setting it faster though. I do want to use a faster setting though, if it is possible without damage.

Cheers
Andy

[Gee]

It's safe to use any of them with the esc. The framerate is for the servos only. Doesn't have any effect on the ESC. It's kinda like your tranmitter is talking to your receiver at one of those speeds. Then the receiver transmits that message onto the servo (steering) and it responds. The esc doesn't get that information only the channels that have a servo attached.

You can play with the different settings. It will not harm anything. If your servos start twitching or become withdrawn from you, grades start to slip, and they stay out all night drinking and raising hell. Then it would be time to change the frame rate to a higher one. But give them room to hang themselves.

Last time I tried to be funny with a mate in overseas he didn't get it or maybe it wasn't funny. So you can try the lower frame rate but if your servos act funny by twitching or jittering then you would need to change it up to he 11ms setting a try it again. I haven't ran across any servos that I had to have the setting set a 16.5ms to get them to work.

If that is the case, how does the TX know which channels have an ESC attached to it? How does it know whether I am using a servo to control the throttle of an IC engine, or an ESC to control the speed of an electric motor?

The Castle manuals and DX3r manual does state that servos will move erratically or not at all if they don't support the faster framerates, but nothing about ESC's, hence the question. I would hate to try it, and damage my only working ESC

Cheers
Andy

PS. I got your humour Still needs work to match the British aptitude for sarcasm though

I see what he is saying, I mean I have a converted revo that has my brake servo and esc on one channel

[BrianG]

From what I understood, the frame rate simply refers to the digital carrier signal. I thought the servo/ESC signal was still 1ms to 2ms pulses at a 20ms frequency...

I was under the impression that frame rate applies to the signal output from the receiver (to the servo/esc etc) as well. It is the 20ms bit of the pulse that is being changed when playing with the framerate.

It can be set to 16.5, 11 or 5.5ms on the DX3r... Methinks I may have to hook a receiver up to an oscilloscope at work to measure the pulse output signal...

Plus, if it was just the carrier form the tx to the rx only, then why would certain servos not work with the faster settings?

Cheers
Andy

[BrianG]

Hmm. I guess I let the term "framerate" mislead me then. The 20ms part to me simply means the frequency, which is 50Hz. When I hear "framerate", I think of the speed of the digital signal packets. Especially when I see choices of 16.5ms (~61Hz), 11ms (~91hz) or 5.5ms (~182hz), none of which is the "standard" 20ms/50Hz.

What you say about certain servos does makes sense though, although I never noticed any difference no matter what servo I used on the different settings.

But yeah, an o-scope would put this to bed.

[jhautz]

You can run the any of them on the CC controllers. Irun the 5.5 setting with no isues on a Sidewinder, MM amd MMM. No worries. Nothing you can do to screw up the esc with the frame rate. An analog servo will get pretty unhappy on the 5.5 setting though.