Bank Switching (optional)
Bank Switching - What's that?
With Bank Switching you can change between 3 different parameter sets in flight, instead of only using one fixed parameter set. This allows to adapt the system to different flight conditions or different rotor headspeeds, i.e. when hovering, cruising, speed flying, landing and so on. Or you can use the Bank Switching to selectively change specific parameters, i.e. change between different rescue modes, test the effects of a parameter, etc ... Please note that due to the variety of setup options, it is only possible to enable and setup the bank switching with the StudioX app!
Usage instructions
When Bank Switching is active all parameters have to be set in the software. This also includes the gains that usually are set with the 3 dials on the device as well as the tail gyro gain. By default the settings for each bank correspond to the default position of the dials. The tail gain must be taken from the gain value that is shown on the StudioX main screen, in case you've already flown the heli without bank switching.
The AttitudeControl gain can still be controlled with a separate switch channel. So you can use different Attitude Modes by using the bank switching feature for example. When no additional channel was assigned in RECEIVER MENU, you must also set the Attitude gain for each Bank in the software in order to enable or disable the AttitudeControl. So you may use bank switching to enable AttitudeControl automatically when changing your flight mode on the radio by only using one control channel.
The dials do not have any functionality anymore, the gyro gain channel now is used to switch between the banks. When the gyro channel is in center position, Bank 2 is active, when the gyro channel is moved to positive direction Bank 1 is active, and when its moved to negative direction Bank 3 is active.
| Menu-LED (Bank) | A H (Bank 1) | D K (Bank 2) | G N (Bank 3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rudder channel | > +35% | -35% to +35% | < -35% |
Please note that the values may vary slightly. Actually, there is a little range around center position, so you do not have to set the gyro channel to exactly 0% to activate bank 2. Also the signs may be interchanged depending on the type of radio system used. Anyhow, you can see in the StudioX app which Bank is active at the moment as well as you can read the current bank from the display. Each time you change the Bank the Menu LEDs will light up for 4 seconds and will indicate like a little bar which Bank is selected: bar on top is Bank 1, bar in the middle is Bank 2, bar at the bottom is Bank 3.
| Bank 1 is indicated by LEDs AH | Bank 2 is indicated by LEDs DK | Bank 3 is indicated by LEDs GN |
Following the Bank display you will see the AttitudeControl display for additional 4 seconds. When LED A flashes AttitudeControl is off, otherwise one of the Menu LEDs B - N shows the amount of AttitudeControl gain, see AttitudeControl instructions for further informations.
In order to use bank switching in flight either you can assign a 3 - position switch on your transmitter to the gyro channel (which is used for bank switching now) and select banks randomly or you can link the gyro channel with you flight mode switch, so that the parameter banks are set automatically for each flight mode.
Using a 3-Position switch to toggle parameter banks
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| Assign a switch to the gyro channel... | ... here we use switch G | In the servo monitor you can see how the switch changes the output of gyro channel |
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| 0% (=Bank 2) | -100% (=Bank 3) | If you like to inverse the switch direction just reverse the gyro channel in your transmitter |
Using the flight mode system of your radio to automatically switch parameter banks
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| Activate the gyro function in your transmitter... | ... and use the flightmodes to control the gyro channel. Set the values to select banks for each flight mode as necessary. | As already mentioned use the servo monitor and the display on the device to check whether everything is working as expected. |
- When using bank switching please be absolutely sure which banks you're using in flight and which are the banks you can choose from. When you do not need a bank either make sure that you can't activate it on the transmitter or copy all parameter values from another bank to this bank, so you will not switch to an unwanted condition by accident.
- When Bank Switching is disabled always the parameters of Bank 1 will be used!
- The options you can change in the devices PARAMETER MENU are always related to Bank 1, no matter whether Bank Switching is used or not!
Setup with StudioX app
When StudioX has connected to your MICROBEAST ULTRA, click the Parameter button from the overview screen. In parameter view click the "Next" (->) button repeatedly, until you reach the screen Bank 1 - Gains or directly go to this options screen using the box on top. Here you can activate Bank Switching by clicking the specific button above the gain adjustments. When Bank switching is activated, the following screens are accessible and can be used to change parameters for each of the Banks 2 & 3 besides the parameters of Bank 1 in the beginning.
- Please note that the first screen "Quick trim" has global effect, meaning that the values are used in all of the Banks. Separate trimming for each bank is not provided.
- By default the gain settings for each bank correspond to the default position of the dials. The tail gain must be taken from the gain value that is shown on the StudioX main screen, in case you've already flown the heli without bank switching. If starting directly using bank switching, we'd recommend to set the Tail Gain to 50 and readjust the gain as needed. See section about the Tail gyro for further information.
- The default values are shown in braces for some parameters. If you like to know the values behind the Control Style parameter, click on the advanced view tab. Here you can see which numbers are set at a given control style.
- We recommend to created a Backup of your settings before making any adjustments. So you can easily change back to your initial setting, in case you're not satisfied with your new settings. Also we'd recommend to not change to much parameters at once and to increase/decrease settings only in small steps.
- When you've set a separate control channel for the AttitudeControl function in Control setup menu, the gain adjustment for AttitudeControl in the app will have no effect. Only you can use Bank Switching to change between different rescue modes in flight, but the gain is not adjustable by app. On the other hand when you did not assign a separate channel for the AttitudeControl, you can set the AttitudeControl gain for each bank/flight mode and use the Banks/flight modes to activate/deactivate the rescue in flight. Here AttitudeControl will enable when the gain is higher than 12! Check the status display on the device overview main screen or the display on the device to see if AttitudeControl is active and what gain is set!