List of compatible Receivers for 7E Transmitter

Hi all, I am new to this forum and an Aero modeller since 1950. But there was a big gap. In 1992 I had to leave RC, now I have bought 7E, it is already been modifed for range, and I intend to further modify for commercial copter. For me the whole R/C world has changed beyond recognation. This 2.4GHz development is great.

Is there a list of compatible Receivers for this TX. I am into building model Aeroplane and Quodcopters. I would like to buy one receiver which would be enough for me to progress in Quodcopters up to telemetery, GPS, etc.

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The 2.4GHz world it's hard to create a list of compatible receiver/transmitter pairs, because they have are actually compatible to a protocol, and the list of receivers compatible with a protocol changes at a fair pace - at least until the manufacturer abandons it.

If you're running the walkera firmware, then the compatible receivers are the Walkera Devo receivers, which IIRC correctly have part numbers that end in a D.

If you've installed the deviation firmware that this forum exists to support, then you now get the older walkera protocols that were used by their pre-Devo transmitters but never named, and hence referred to as by the transmitter names: WK2801, etc. You also get a reverse engineered version of spektrums DSM2 and DSMX protocol(s), used by Spektrum receivers, a number of other HH products, and some licensees. HobbyKing's OrangeRx receiver line includes some compatible receivers, and the LemonRx brand has some, though those are, like the deviationTx version, unlicensed reverse engineered clones. Oh, be aware that the DSM ground receivers apparently aren't compatible with the air transmitters. Finally, you get the 6-channel Nine Eagles protocol, though receivers for it are hard to find.

With that software, you also have the option of installing extra rf modules, each of which adds another set of protocols you can use.The "supported Models" link in the menu on the left is a spreadsheet, the second page of which lists modules and protocols. The first page lists models, not receivers, including the module and protocol they use.

Hi,

Welcome!

Why do you guys always get the 7E instead of the Devo 10?

Commercial quads? With the Devos/DeviationTX? Really?
What do you mean by "commercial"? Flying over people / cities? Making money out of it?
Where do you live? EU?


If you are into quads don't forget the newer Spektrum DSMx receiver AR7700 which is going to support PPM and "Spektrum SRXL" protocols.
The Spektrum AR9020 also supports "Spektrum SRXL / Remote RX".

Compatible excerpt for going "digital" (1 cable instead of multiple servo cables):
APM 2.6 - PPM
BrainFPV - PPM, DSM (SRXL oder Satelliten-Empfänger)
CC3D - PPM, DSM (SRXL oder Satelliten-Empfänger)
Crius AIO - PPM
Flip32 - PPM
KK2.1.5 - PPM
Multiwii SE 2.5 - PPM
Naza M Lite - PPM
Naza M V2 - PPM
Naze32 Acro - PPM, DSM (SRXL oder Satelliten-Empfänger)
Quanton - PPM, DSM (SRXL oder Satelliten-Empfänger)
Revo - PPM, DSM (SRXL oder Satelliten-Empfänger)
Sparky - PPM, DSM (SRYL oder Satelliten-Empfänger)
SP Racing F3 - PPM, DSM (SRXL oder Satelliten-Empfänger)

Up to 8 channels PPM.
SRXL: up to max channels as sender supports (in case of DeviationTX limit is 12 on Devo10; not sure on Devo7E)


DSMx is FHSS (hopping thru channels) whereas Devo is 3 channel DSSS protocol.

Please note: There is no offical "declaration of conformity" for using the own Spektrum DSMx protocol implementation on 10mw or 100mw with the Devo.
So this may still be appropriate for you going for the hobby side, but it is surely not anymore the case for going COMMERCIAL and making money with it with all the required contracts / pre-checkups to start the quad over special places.
Probably I got you wrong on that keyword. For COMMERCIAL even modifying a transmitter range diode sounds a bit strange

Greetings

Thomas

Thank you very much. It will some time to digest all that you have written.

Hi, first of all 7E is what I can afford period. 2nd I am 82 years old. Do not know how long I will last. Non of my off springs are interested in aero modelling, they would rather inherit money than (for them) a piece of junk.

What I meant by "Commercial Copter" is to assemble Quad copter from commercially available components.

Your did mention "Spektrum DSMx receiver AR7700" . Is it compatable with Devo7E ?

The list you have so kindly given above, are I think they are flight management computers of some sort. What I wanted was a receiver to serve me as I progress in this field and as long as I last. Hope you understand.

Greetings

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Up to 8 channels PPM.
SRXL: up to max channels as sender supports (in case of DeviationTX limit is 12 on Devo10; not sure on Devo7E)

Be warned that 8 channels of PPM has issues depending on the PPM frame length used by the receiver. This is not settable on the flight controller. SRXL doesn't have those problems. Neither does SBUS, and you're more likely to find support for that in your flight controller. The only Rx's that will support it that are compatible with your Devo 7E are the newer OrangeRX DSM Rx's.

The AR7700 is a DSM Rx. It and the orangeRx Rx's are compatible with the Devo7E if you've installed deviation on it. Otherwise, not.

The 7E with deviation has 12 channels of output, but only 7 with stock firmware. The number of "channels" in 2.4GHz radio gear is purely a function of software. On the Rx side, having more channels that you can connect devices to doesn't make sense, so # of servo connectors, or 8 for PPM output. SRXL and SBUS are both limited to 16 channels. I'm not sure there's a good reason to limit the number of channels on the input side other than speed issues.

Very informative. Thank you very much.

Hi and welcome, mzbeg; hope I'm still in the game at 82!
A couple of things to clarify for you, and some bits I don't know about but will take a stab at;

- the whole PPM / SRXL / SBUS etc thing. Basically, unless you are using a flight controller board of some sort, and only ones capable of interpreting SRXL / SBUS etc. (single wire output containing info from all channels), then go for PPM; this is the "traditional" method with a separate socket for each channel / servo. Virtually all flight controllers will also work with this, it's just more wires and possibly a bit slower processing. If you are going to be using it in planes, without a flight controller (typical), then PPM would be the best bet.

- your second requirement of telemetry; I'm not up on telemetry, but it appears to me that telemetry is typically handled by a module separate from the receiver. I'm guessing there's combo rx/telemetry boxes out there, but I couldn't come up with any in a brief search. So grab an RX you like, and add telemetry at a later date.

OK, so that was only two things...

mwm wrote:

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Up to 8 channels PPM.
SRXL: up to max channels as sender supports (in case of DeviationTX limit is 12 on Devo10; not sure on Devo7E)

Be warned that 8 channels of PPM has issues depending on the PPM frame length used by the receiver. This is not settable on the flight controller. SRXL doesn't have those problems. Neither does SBUS, and you're more likely to find support for that in your flight controller. The only Rx's that will support it that are compatible with your Devo 7E are the newer OrangeRX DSM Rx's.

Hi Mike,

do you know how many channels are working on PPM with quad FCs just fine? 6? 7? Is it only the 8CH channel which gets you into trouble because of frame length?
I am kinda new into the quad FC / FBL and digital bus systems too...

There are not too many "Spektrum SRXL" compatible FBLs / FCs out there!
SRXL protocol != Spektrum SRXL as far as I know (compatibility).


For mzbegs question: There aint any DEVO receivers which support PPM, s-bus, srxl, SUMD and all kind of digital protocols, right?

mwm wrote: The AR7700 is a DSM Rx. It and the orangeRx Rx's are compatible with the Devo7E if you've installed deviation on it. Otherwise, not.

Yes, because of DSMx (FHSS) and DeviationTX compatibility I suggested this new receiver as an alternative to the Spektrum AR9020 if you like to use a digital bus

Thomas

mzbeg wrote: The list you have so kindly given above, are I think they are flight management computers of some sort. What I wanted was a receiver to serve me as I progress in this field and as long as I last. Hope you understand.

You need receivers as well as flight controllers for stabilization / steering of the quad.
For helis it is called flybarless (FBL) stabi.
For quad its called flight controller (FC). This FC controls the 4-6++ ESCs (connected to motors) so you can steer them.

With just a normal receiver you can not directly fly the quad because of missing mixing / stabilization


Walkera has receivers which include heli FBLs too.
I guess there are also Walkera quad (DEVO) receivers which contains the FCs (maybe the BNF/ARF/RTF quads)? e.g Walkera runner.
I am not into Walkera that much...


The above AR7700 compatible list are quad FCs. There are of course some more...
The FCs are different.
e.g the Naze Acro is a FC which is concentrating on razing / acro flying (CP heli style). Full Naze in contrast seems to have some (more) stability functions (barometer)...not sure about stability in Flip32/Naze32 Acro without the "FULL" keyword.
Some FCs even have no GPS port, barometer & co. sensors and no stability modes which you can switch in-flight, e.g NanoWii.

If you would like to have a "auto flying" (camera) quad FC with GPS and stuff you probably need to get a FC which is a bit more expensive and provides all this (and actually just "works" on those functions), e.g Naza / Naza Lite.
Well, there are specific dealers who can help you getting started to find the specific quad FC you are looking for


Quad flight controller with DSM2/DSMx satellite (SAT) receiver port:
Some FCs also support the connection just of a (Spektrum) DSM2/DSMx satellite. See the list. Sorry, excerpt was from German site.

There is a newer FC called EZNov Neuron, which also (besides CP heli FBL + plane) supports quads and lets you connect 1-2 satellites.


With only the satellite but not a full receiver you loose e.g the Spektrum telemetry FlightLog feature (DSMx Spektrum receivers with DataPort).


So if you can it is nice:
- to go for a full receiver which maybe also includes quad stabi
- or a full receiver which supports a digital bus (for FC single wire connection) to connect an appropriate quad FC
- or a full receiver + satellite support / or full receiver with 2 full diversity antennas which you traditionally can connect to a FC servo wire by servo wire (which is IMHO not PPM - can't remember the name of the traditional servo wiring right now)

Thomas

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Some FCs even have no GPS port, barometer & co. sensors and no stability modes which you can switch in-flight, e.g NanoWii.

Umm, what?

Not all FCs support "GPS auto-flying" / headless modes some pilots may be seeking for.

Not all FCs implement all sensors on their board (e.g Acro versions).

For example on NanoWii you may not be able to switch between stability vs acro modes IN-FLIGHT (according to my colleague and his Invertix).

So be careful what cheap or expensive quad FC you choose!


So IMHO it may be wise to contact a local quad dealer who does installations and configurations on a daily routine basis.

Or you have to try to find every information on the internet yourself...

I do not think that this is really the goal of mzbeg?

Self-learning has not worked out so well for others who jumped into CP heli flying for example... (problems transmitter configurations, mechanical heli problems, crashes, lost in informations what to do...)

My 2 cents

Thomas

Well, it's not the FC that does not support e.g. GPS, the software does not...
For this feature you will need only a serial port and mostly a I2C port for the magnetometer.
Even the CC3D does it, but I have to admit , for this I would choose a PixHawk or something comparable.

What aMax said.

RoGuE_StreaK wrote: go for PPM; this is the "traditional" method with a separate socket for each channel / servo.

mzbeg, note that I stuffed up there; PPM is combining the separate servo pulses into one signal line. Can't remember (or find off-hand) the term for standard servo outputs.
That said, PPM is a good thig to have if it's laying around on the RX, it would be generally the more adopted "one wire" method for flight controllers, though the other methods have likely been reverse-engineered by now in the community-based FCs.
Basically I'd go for a receiver that's got "standard" servo ports as well as a single output line. That way you can use it either "normally" or with an FC.

RoGuE_StreaK wrote: What aMax said. Basically I'd go for a receiver that's got "standard" servo ports as well as a single output line. That way you can use it either "normally" or with an FC.

Wow I am over whelmed by the response, help and suggestion I am getting. Makes me very humble. Could you please name a receiver. After reading all the above suggestion, I am inclined to think most probably I would have to buy two receivers overlapping each other in their capabilities.

mzbeg wrote: Could you please name a receiver.

It entirely depends on your budget; you could spend $6 on a compatible RX, or $100+. Also depends on whether you want to add a different TX module, which opens it up even further.
If sticking with the stock TX module, I'd suggest DSMX over just DSM2. I'd also suggest getting an RX with "diversity"; this is using two (or more?) separate antennas, the RX constantly monitors the antennas and chooses whichever antenna is getting the best signal. Note that just having two physical wires sticking out does NOT make it a diversity system, so check the description / specifications.

There seem to be some questions of compatibility with LemonRX receivers at the moment; as to whether this will be improved (if there is in fact an issue), who knows, but things do tend to get resolved eventually around here if there is enough interest. Also OrangeRX, though possibly less so, especially with their newer stuff. But you can get a 6ch diversity DSMX receiver, with a satellite port for future expansion, for $13 (plus shipping) from Lemon.

A satellite is a little receiver that has a single signal output; it can be used as a remote diversity spot on your plane or quad, so you can put it in areas which might get better reception in certain orientations where the main RX is possibly blocked. But note that many flight controllers now have the ability to use JUST a satellite as their receiver; so, if you get an RX with a satellite port, and a satellite, then you can come up with any number of combos depending on how good the reception is; RX+sat on a big plane, RX only on a smaller plane/quad, or satellite only on a small plane / quad with a flight controller.
NB: many quads have a lot of carbon fibre, which does a good job of blocking signals; you may want as many spots covered as possible, so RX+sat may be a good idea until you determine you don't need the extra reception.

[EDIT] I STILL don't know what I'm talking about RE: PPM; now I'm wondering if PPM is the correct term, and CPPM is the correct term for a single Combined signal...

Mzbeg, It wasn't many weeks ago that I was struggling with the same questions you have. I don't know if I made the right choices as most of what I ordered is still in the pipeline, but time will tell. Besides having a 7e, much of what you said has a familiar ring, so I'll tell you what I did and why.

My first venture into RC since I had a u-control gas engine plane when my kids were little was in January of this year, when I bought a toy quad on a whim, followed later by a Devo 7e, and then a couple add-in modules to fly the toy quads.

A few months ago, I decided to build a 250 mini-quad. I ended up buying one, but I really wanted something else, so I figured I could mod my way from the purchased product to what I thought I wanted. The first challenge was the receiver, since it wasn't included. I wanted a CPPM receiver, and I wanted to use my Devo 7e without removing one of the existing modules. I chose an OrangeRX receiver from the (corrected) Rx20X series. They will do CPPM as well as PWM and there can be a combination of both types of control, i.e. up to 8+ channels of PWM and CPPM (or PPM) up to 12 channels. Some of the Orange RX receivers will do PWM or CPPM, but not both (as I understand). The specs on these things must be classified, I couldn't find a manual or spec sheet.

The receiver I got binds with the DEVO 7e (with nightly builds) in DMSX and it even sends back the Rx voltage to the 7e via telemetry. I don't know how much more I can expect, this was a receiver-only test. Next, I ordered a different FC, a full Naze32. The reason I wanted the full Naze was for the baro sensor and the Mag compass, which gives you alt hold and headless. I'm not a fan of headless for flying, but you can't beat the ability to turn it on and have your stick bound to a known magnetic heading rather than the front of the craft, which you lost track of. Losing track of the front of the quad is how beginners lose quads; I know from experience.

Besides that, the Naze32 is easily adapted to GPS, OnScreenDisplay and Sonar. Things that look like fun, even if maybe not all that necessary.
Things might not work out as expected, since at this point I have never even seen a brushless quad in the flesh, and all I know about them is what I read.

Thomas.Heiss wrote:

mwm wrote:

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Up to 8 channels PPM.
SRXL: up to max channels as sender supports (in case of DeviationTX limit is 12 on Devo10; not sure on Devo7E)

Be warned that 8 channels of PPM has issues depending on the PPM frame length used by the receiver. This is not settable on the flight controller. SRXL doesn't have those problems. Neither does SBUS, and you're more likely to find support for that in your flight controller. The only Rx's that will support it that are compatible with your Devo 7E are the newer OrangeRX DSM Rx's.

do you know how many channels are working on PPM with quad FCs just fine? 6? 7? Is it only the 8CH channel which gets you into trouble because of frame length?
I am kinda new into the quad FC / FBL and digital bus systems too...

I would trust 6 and probably 7, but not 8. But there are lots of variables.

Details: A PWM signal is just an "on" pulse that gets longer as the signal goes up, i a fixed-length frame. For RC gear, that's usually 1 to 2 ms in a ~20ms frame. A CPPM signal (also called PPM) just puts all those pulses in a single frame, with a delay between them. If to many channels are at full signal, they don't fit in the frame, and the flight controller will lose sync. Not a good thing.

As a practical example, FrSky's stock D-series Rx firmware uses an 18ms frame on an 8-channel Rx. If all 8 channels go to 100% (and you can get more than 100% out of them on most Tx's!), they don't fit in the frame. So FrSky released alternative firmware with a 22ms frame length, which solved the problem. But that also means there's 4ms more delay between moving the sticks and the flight controller hearing about it. I have trouble believing this makes a difference, but people who compete with 3d helis at high levels tells me it they can tell. Which is why FrSky hasn't gone to the 22ms frame length by default.

I use the 8ch PPM on Frsky 18ms firmware with devo 7e with 2x3 switches. No issues.

What I do is; the switches ch 6,7 and 3x2 ch7,8, I set the outputs 0-50 and -50-0-+50 , it is dectected fine in CC3D, no need to have switches set to full range -100-0-100, don'ty do it!!!
That way you can use 18ms firmware instead of the slowerr 27ms frimware in your Frsky PPM receiver.

mwm wrote: [..............................schnip.........
As a practical example, FrSky's stock D-series Rx firmware uses an 18ms frame on an 8-channel Rx. If all 8 channels go to 100% (and you can get more than 100% out of them on most Tx's!), they don't fit in the frame. So FrSky released alternative firmware with a 22ms frame length, which solved the problem. But that also means there's 4ms more delay between moving the sticks and the flight controller hearing about it. I have trouble believing this makes a difference, but people who compete with 3d helis at high levels tells me it they can tell. Which is why FrSky hasn't gone to the 22ms frame length by default.

Four milliseconds advantage in the signal frame,I would assume a common rc user even won't notice that or take any advantage on the this.
I dropped all the DSMX stuff right now because the 7e is not a good base for this. Fixed 22ms signal even on digital servo and poor range (300-400m) with all my clones.
A genuine rx is no alternative because of the cost. Even then it is not proofed that I have no to use a satellite
to gain the range I want to have in any case.
I switched to Frsky to have a feedback for the signal strength the receiver gets at the moment, don't want to count the dropped frames....
What can I say till now? Even a cheap DIY clone outperforms all the receiver I have used.
I have now telemetry for signal strength and two voltage sources without using any telemetry hub
My Devo7e (CC2500) and my Futaba FC18+(DFT) are now trusty companion and the genuine receiver are not expensive.