Stick Controller Schemes

[aPpYe]

Hi Everyone,

I have an MOA with Dual ESCs and 4WS.  I decided to go with dual sticks and a 4 channel setup because of the level of fine control it allows.  This is my first time doing such a thing.  Here's my issue.

 

Because it made the most logical sense to me, I started off by going with the following scheme:

 

     LEFT STICK                                       RIGHT STICK
       Front Servo                                        Rear Servo
       Front ESC                                            Rear ESC

 

... Initially I found that the steering felt a somewhat backwards (I guess because I am used to turning the wheel with my right hand to control the front steering on my X-Maxx), but I stuck with it for a week or so.  Today I found that I was still mixing up the throttle channels, resulting in disaster on the rocks.  Perhaps unwisely, I decided to reverse things as follows:

 

     LEFT STICK                                       RIGHT STICK
       Rear Servo                                          Front Servo
       Rear ESC                                              Front ESC

 

... This made my brain happy as far as throttle goes, but I guess I had trained myself (formed the neural pathways?) by this point to like the steering as it was originally.  My brain was starting to feel the stress.  I then tried this insanity for about fifteen minutes:

 

     LEFT STICK                                       RIGHT STICK
       Rear Servo                                          Front Servo
       Front ESC                                            Rear ESC

... The idea (I guess) being that steering is "supposed" to be done with the right stick on a standard 2 channel setup.  My brain was indeed happy with the steering and throttle for a little while, at least tooling around on the living room floor, but it was just too weird when I got on the rocks.  Stress fractures began forming on my cerebellum.  I then went with this idea:

 

     LEFT STICK                                       RIGHT STICK
       Rear Servo (REVERSED)            Front Servo (REVERSED)
       Rear ESC                                              Front ESC

 

... Again this makes the brain happy on flat surfaces, but once again is too weird on the rocks.  At this point there are clear fissures across my cerebellum and my frontal lobes are starting to overheat.
I am now back to running this:

 

     LEFT STICK                                       RIGHT STICK
      Rear Servo                                          Front Servo
      Rear ESC                                              Front ESC

 

... And I can't decide if I like it better than the original setup.  My gut tells me I should stick with this because I initially found the original setup's steering backwards and I just need to untrain myself.  There is smoke coming out of my eyeballs, my ears, and my ass; I now have permanent brain damage.  😱

I guess my question is, how do YOU control your MOA 4WS crawler?

Edited June 24, 2021 by aPpYe

[lorrylemming]

From using a 4ws vehicle once. That car used a position switch to mix in the steering on the right stick. 

 

Position 1, front steer only 

2, rear steer only, 

3, both

4, crab

 

You could do the same with the throttle 

 

1 both 

2 front 

3 rear 

 

Not sure when you would use rear only but 2 would be like a dig unit. 

 

 

 

 

You're system does give you the most control but probably also the most difficult. What I've suggested would be slightly more limiting. 

[walkbythesea]

2 minutes ago, lorrylemming said:

From using a 4ws vehicle once. That car used a position switch to mix in the steering on the right stick. 

 

Position 1, front steer only 

2, rear steer only, 

3, both

4, crab

 

You could do the same with the throttle 

 

1 both 

2 front 

3 rear 

 

Not sure when you would use rear only but 2 would be like a dig unit. 

 

 

 

 

You're system does give you the most control but probably also the most difficult. What I've suggested would be slightly more limiting. 

I’ve only used my mates FTX Ravine MOA and it used a selector button to scroll between the above steering options - though without the option to control the front and rear ESCs independently.   
 

I’ve seen it as an option in programmable Tx’s and it’s the way I’d go - it’s really user friendly and prevents the brain fry that I can ill afford 🤪

[aPpYe]

I think both of these examples are with using a pistol style transmitter though, right?  With a stick transmitter, you independently control each servo and esc.  I have gone back to my original config, as I think I am most comfortable with it, just takes some getting used to.

[walkbythesea]

5 minutes ago, aPpYe said:

 

I think both of these examples are with using a pistol style transmitter though, right? 

 

Absolutely, but with an OpenTX I don’t see why you couldn’t program it to mix the sticks however you saw fit and give you different programmable schemes to switch between as above

[aPpYe]

With this being my first real crawler, I went with a Bully 2 kit and cheap electronics.  I went with a radiolink ts8 transmitter which required a radiolink 4 channel receiver.  No OpenTX for me, unfortunately.  I was aware of it and am a certainly open source guy (I run Linux), but I wanted cheap.  The radio does do mixes, but I can't actuate them with the switches.    The radio does allow a lot of programmability, but alas, the only things that can be switched on the fly like that are D/R curves.  To slave one channel over to another, I would have to whip out my phone and do it there.

 

All that being said, the morning after creating this thread I switched back to my original scheme (front axle all on the left, rear axle on the right).  I discovered that the whole switching things around like that, and perhaps sleeping on it, actually reinforced what I had been training myself to do over the last week.  It suddenly felt natural!  I have really started opening up what I can do with this little beast.

 

I may be converting my little Basher Rocksta (Stingray) over to the same receiver, but I need to find a tiny (enough) ESC I can fit two of, along with the receiver in that tiny chassis.  Luckily it doesn't even need drag brake because the thing is so light, the gearbox itself keeps the wheels from spinning.  I guess whatever thumbnail sized 4 amp or more ESC has the best low speed control ...

[stimpy]

Certainly sounds like you've been working things out. Personally my brain would fry trying to mix on a stick like that but then I guess it is similar to digger driving - which I let others do onsite!..

 

With regards to small escs, there are some 20A units on eBay and the like which individually may meet your requirement. These do not have drag break - something I think you may benefit from for decent crawler performance. That said, if the gearbox is proper tight or you have worm gear axles then you may not need that feature.

 

If you did need drag brake then sadly I can think of nothing cheap and small... Would be looking at the Holmes BRmini or a sidewinder 2 type of unit......

 

Stick a pic up of your Bully in the 2.2 pics thread if you get a mo - love to see it 👍