Radio Control Jet International - April-May 2018

(Tuis.) #1
nect it to the rudder channel via a Y lead, thus
saving a channel, and in the same colour
display screen we can also adjust the gyro
sensitivity! But that’s not all: we can also acti-
vate the Gyro mix to have the gyro controlling
the brakes differentially to maintain a straight
path while the pilot activates the brakes; I
think this feature is particularly valuable for
larger and heavier models. The steering pro-
gramme also allows us to set a specific or dif-
ferent centre position of the noseleg during
retraction! Very important - the system does
not allow the steering servo to move when
the landing gear is retracted.
Now let’s move on to the sequencer: as men-
tioned, it can control up to 8 servos or linear
actuators used to open and close the gear
doors: it is a simple job to program up to 10
(!) steps for the retracts and for each servo,
adjusting the direction of movement, the
speed of travel and of course the timing of all
movements. This means that the servos or
actuators for the doors are controlled directly

by the GS-200 and therefore no additional
receiver channels are required. A very impor-
tant feature: since the GS-200 controls both
the retracts and door servos, should we get
the timings wrong for the final step so that the
doors should then close before the leg has
completed retracting - the GS-200 detects
the problem and prevents it occuring!
Regardless of the timings set, the system will
prevent the door from closing while the
retract is moving: FANTASTIC!!!! One last
gem? Here it is: on one side of the GS200
there’s an SD card slot which we can use to
save all our programming and update the
software!

Conclusion


Saying that I’m in love with the Electron GS-
200 unit is an understatement: I installed it in
my L-39 Albatros that I will be flying at the Top
Gun 2018 event in Florida - it’s a very smart
and high quality product.
Well done to the Electron team!
The price, which you can check at
http://www.electron-retracts.com, is extremely
competitive, particularly given the quality of
the product: 150 Euros excluding any taxes
and shipping if you buy it on its own, or just
85 Euros if bought together with a set of
Electron retracts.

Marco Benincasa

The GS-200 can be programmed to accept a wide
variety of different protocols, making it compatible
with practically all the radio systems available today.
The first example shown here is the one to select if we
connect it to a power unit, for example one from
PowerBox Systems. With any of the other Modes we
can easily select the channel controlling the 3 functions
that are handled by the GS-200: Gear, Brakes and
Steering

To have the doors open and close as we need, we must set the open and
closed position of the controlling servos, as well as their speed.

reduce the maximum braking force depen-
ding on the weight of the model (lighter
models require less braking force) and we
can also use the pulse ratio function, so that
the brake activation will be pulsed and not
continuous, to avoid locking the wheel com-
pletely and flat spotting it, rather like an ABS
system does on cars. We can adjust the
pulse force to 1 of 5 different levels to get
exactly the level of braking required.
Now let’s move on to what I think is a real hit:
the integrated steering gyro. Obviously I am
well aware that installing a gyro on the stee-
ring is not a new idea, but something that
started at the time of the spinning weight
gyros, continuing right up to today with the
modern and microscopic piezo gyros now
available, but what Electron has done to inte-
grate it in the GS-200 is currently quite uni-
que. Let’s start with control of the steering
servo, where we can adjust the direction of
travel, end points and the centre position
directly from the GS-200. We can also con-

GS 200 Electron


WEBSITE
http://www.electron-retracts.com

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