Four-Servo Swashplate Support

The XLC Carrier has a H4-45 swash, so set H_SW_TYPE to 5 for H4-45. For servo hookup use the following:
LF servo is Motor1, goes to SERVO1 output on your controller
RF servo is Motor2, goes to SERVO2 on your controller
LR servo is Motor3, goes to SERVO3 on your controller
RR servo is Motor5, goes to SERVO5 on your controller

tail servo is Motor4, goes to SERVO4 on the controller

Turn on the H_LIN_SW_SERVO by setting it to 1. This is important to prevent servo binding.

Now, follow this very carefully, and make sure the link is off one of the cyclic servos before you proceed. You can put it on after you get everything adjusted.

When you do your setup set the collective to manual mid with the H_SV_MAN set to 3, make sure all the servos are trimmed to 1500 pwm with the SERVOx_TRIM settings, make sure the arms are at 90 deg to the swash link, and make sure this corresponds to zero pitch. You will have to adjust your swash links by turning the turnbuckles to get the swash leveled and trimmed at zero pitch.

Be careful moving the swashplate with cyclic until you get the above all set.

Now, set the minimum and maximum collective you want with the H_COL_MIN and H_COL_MAX settings, set your cyclic range with H_CYC_MAX, etc…

After you get all this done, try your one link you have removed at full collective and cyclic range and see if it fits properly without stretching or binding anything. If it does, you’re good to go, put it on. If it doesn’t fit or appears to bind at some point, then re-check your setup geometry.

There is very little room for error with four-servo swashplates. So if you must move a SERVOx_TRIM away from 1500 pwm to get it leveled at zero pitch with the 90deg geometry, then you do not have the right length swash links.

Do you have the JetCat SPT5 turboshaft engine in it? The throttle control for the FADEC goes to SERVO8 on the controller. This engine and FADEC has a built-in governor. So select H_RSC_MODE and set it to 3 for just throttle curve. Adjust the five throttle curve settings to what you need for flight idle to full power.

For ground idle, set the H_RSC_IDLE to what it requires to idle your engine with the clutch disengaged. This is also the starting idle setting.

To start it, do the following:

  1. collective at bottom
  2. arm the controller.
  3. turn off throttle hold
  4. wait for the number of seconds you have the H_RSC_RAMP_TIME set to
  5. advance the collective all the way to the top
  6. within two seconds move the collective all the way to the bottom and turn on throttle hold

This will initialize your engine’s FADEC and the start sequence. Monitor for hot or hung start and if it over-temps or the gas generator fails to accelerate properly, disarm to abort the start.

If you get a good start and the engine settles into stable idle, turn off throttle hold to engage the clutch and advance it to flight idle power. MAKE SURE FLIGHT IDLE IS HIGH ENOUGH TO PREVENT FLAMEOUT IN FLIGHT AND MAINTAIN AT LEAST 340C NGT - or you will be in autorotation. Set the H_RSC_RAMP to what it takes to accelerate the engine to flight idle without over-fueling it and getting flame on the tail-pipe. The RAMP set too short will burn the N2 section and make it glow red. If you see it over-temping abort the spoolup and set the RAMP longer.

One final warning with turbine power - do not try any auto takeoff or landing stuff with a turbine. It requires a human pilot to start one, bring up to speed and shut it down. Once you get it running and flying, you can engage Auto Flight Mode and fly waypoints all you want. But the autopilot cannot handle safely starting and shutting down a turbine engine.