Sunday, July 6, 2014

Switching AS3X off on UMX Radian

You may have noticed I recently got the UMX Radian and have been really loving it.  One thing I've been interested in trying is puting the AS3X stabilization on a switch, so that it can be turned on/off in the air.  92PathSE@rcgroups has a great writeup on what he did to do this, reproduced below.

Executive summary:
  • install driver on PC
  • enable X-Port on channel 5 of RX
  • attach cable to plane
  • read current configuration
  • write new configuration
You'll need: 
  • a SPMA3060 USB Programmer
  • Some software from Horizon
  • a TX
  • a Windows PC
  • a charged battery for the plane
  • patience
First, you'll need to install the correct drivers for the USB programmer. I won't detail that here, but I have XP so it wasn't an issue. See the product page on Horizon's site for more info.

Second, you'll need the software from Horizon. See above.

Third, you need to enable X-Port on Ch5 of your RX. This can be tricky. The manual on Horizon's site details the process, but leaves out a few things. Here's what I had to do:

  • Unplug the Programmer from the PC if it is plugged in
  • Create a fresh model in my radio, a DX8, and bind it to the RX
  • Turn off/unplug everything
  • Turn on TX, max the throttle, hold full right rudder with my toe
  • Plug the battery in on the plane
  • Wait for solid light, then some really fast blinks
  • Keep holding the rudder and unplug the battery
  • Power off TX
That should enable X-Port!

After this, you can swap back to your normal UMX Radian model in your TX and rebind, assuming you already have one.

Next, you'll need to connect the programmer to the RX. In this plane, the plug is in the center of the board. Peel the tape off and split the plane in two. Be careful!

Finally, programming the board...

  • Plug in USB programmer into PC
  • TX on, throttle off or whatever
  • Plug in battery
  • Start up the software and wait a sec for it to connect
Note: The plane must be very still for it to work. Even the vibration from my PC was enough to keep it from connecting at first. Seems like the AS3X has to arm first before the RX will talk to the programmer.

After this, you can change your programming. I highly suggest pressing "read" which will show the current config in the bottom area. Write these down/save them to a config!

One thing that was nice is the ability to disable AS3X entirely. You can only use Ch5. On the DX8, Ch5 is the Gear switch which is perfect.

I found these links useful during the process:

blogodex = {"toc" : "AS3X"; "idx" : "UMX Radian"};

1 comment:

  1. After several hours, was finally able to make this work with SPMA3060 programmer. AS3X is gone! I used an old XP machine but not sure if this is necessary. Two things that seemed to help me were: 1) Update driver software from original 2003 to 2019 version. 2) Make sure driver is assigned to com port you are using in Device Manager. Horizon says this is not possible to do however, IT IS Possible. Good luck.

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