Tarot ZYX - program box setup
last updated 2-25-2012

1. connect zyx to receiver
Connect the ZYX to your receiver but do not connect the servos right now. Also if this is an electric heli I leave the ESC unplugged from the receiver. I power the receiver by a 4-cell nimh battery. The idea is to eliminate the possibility of the main blades spinning while you do the setup. You can also disengage the motor pinion from the main gear. Or unplugged two of the three motor wires.
  The gyro comes with two male to male extensions and another that has three connectors on one end. All three extensions have a Futaba style plug on one end.
These plugs have a key(ridge) on the side of the plug that will match the cutout in the ZYX case.
3plug extension - Black (tail gain, gear channel), Red (elevator), White (collective, Aux1)



2. radio - set swash to norm, initialize travels, trims, subs, d/r, hold pitch 0,50,50,50,100
 NOTE: Make sure you set the radio swashplate type to Normal aka 1 servo, aka H1
 If you started with a new model in your radio then the only thing you would need to set is the throttle hold pitch curve. Note however that some radios have the throttle hold function disabled. For example, with the Spektrum DX8 you need to go to the system menu then to function "F-Mode Setup" then set Hold to a value of Hold. This will activate the Hold function and set it to the Hold switch.

3. zyx - Advanced menu, enter, data reset, enter, down

The following are in the "Basic Setup" menu
4. zyx - installation direction
 This describes which way the ZYX is oriented in the helicopter. It cannot be installed on a slanted surface. And when you mount it try your best to align it straight. For example, if you have it on the standard gyro tray of the helicopter then check that the edges of the ZYX case are parallel to the gyro tray.
1 - mounted with label facing up or down & servo plugs either front or back
2 - mounted with label facing up or down & servo plugs left or right side
3 - mounted on side of heli with servo plugs front or back


5. zyx - load model
 There are five selections. This presets the flying characteristics. After you have flown it you can customize the way the heli feels using the agility and acceleration settings as well as dual rates and expo in the radio. Note that the programming box can store 5 models in addition to the 5 presets. Models 1-5 load different then models 6-10. Loading a preset model 1 through 5 will only change flying characteristic parameters such as agility. It will not effect things such as gyro orientation, servo reversing, collective range, etc. However models 6-10 will effect all settings.

6. zyx - Tail Servo Type. This is not labeled correct. It does set the tail servo type, but it also sets the cyclic servo type.
“1520us 71Hz”：All servos are 1520us analogs.
“1520us 250Hz”：Tail 1520us digital, swashplate servos are 1520us analogs.
“1520us 333Hz”：Tail 1520us digital, swashplate servos are 1520us digitals.
“760us 250Hz”：Tail 760us digital, swashplate servos are 1520us analogs.
“760us 400Hz”：Tail 760us digital,  swashplate servos are 1520us digital.
“960us 333Hz”：Tail 960us digital,  swashplate servos are 1520us digital.

7. zyx - Model type, sets the swashplate type ex. 120 degree

8.  zyx - monitor. Move the aileron stick to the right and look at the letter beside "A:". If you get "A:R" then it is correct. If not then in your radio, go to the reverse function and change the direction of the aileron channel. Do the same for each of the others. Note "E:U" means elevator stick pushed forward toward the top of the radio. After you have all four moving the correct direction you need to zero the center positions. Place the collective stick in the center then use sub-trim in the radio to zero each of these. Next hold full right aileron then use travel adjust (aka end points, ATV) to acheive 100 on monitor. Hold aileron left and again adjust for 100. Do the same for the other three channels. Note that the travel adjst values in the radio should be close to 100. If they are more then 115 then you may not have set the dual rates to 100% back in step 2.
There is another page on the monitor function, press 'down' button to get to it. This is where you set the gyro gain or condition (aka bank switching) if you have firmware version 2.5. If using the radio to adjust tail gain then you can see if the gyro is in heading hold "G:A" or standard rate "G:N". You can also see the gain value here. A good starting gain would be 35.


9. zyx - connect the servos
Now that you have the correct servo type selected and swash type, it is safe to connect the servos. In the picture below you can see an example of a 120 degree swash. Channel 3 will always be the 'elevator' servo. This is the servo that is between the frames. The side servos are channels 1 and 2. On some helicopters the elevator (ch 3) is at the front (ex. trex 600n, Furion6) which would put ch 1 on the left; while others are at the back (ex miniTitan) which would put ch1 on the right.


10. radio - in hold and collective stick in middle. Because of the flat throttle hold pitch curve you setup in step 2, this will tell the servos to go to center.

11. heli - install servo arms. The servo arms need to be as close to 90 degrees to the links as you can get them. Due to the way the splines engage the servo arms, they may not go on at a close to 90 position. Try rotating the arm 180 degrees and re-install it on the spline. You will use the servo trim function later to get the arms exactly right. In the picture below you see the link is not 90. This is due to the relative positions of the servo and the swashplate. The important thing here is that the servo arm is at a 90 relative to the main shaft.


12. zyx - on the programming box go to "Servo Reverse" in the "Basic setup" menu. Here you will can select channel 1 to 4 and set each to a plus or minus. Use the picture you used in step 9 to determine the channel number you need  to reverse to get the elevator direction correct.
a. Move the aileron stick to the right. The servo on the right needs to move the right side of the swashplate down and the servo on the left needs to move the left side of the swashplate up.
b. Push the elevator stick forward (top of radio) and watch the swashplate. Did the front of the swashplate go down and the back side move up? If not then reverse ch3.
c. Move the collective stick up. Did the swashplate move up(*see note below). If yes then move to step 13. If it was the wrong way then in the "Basic setup" menu go to "collective range". You will see a value such as 70. Hold the down button until you get to -70.
*NOTE: Most helicopters are designed such that the swashplate moving up increases the pitch of the main blades. In this step it is important to note that when the collective stick is moved up the leading edge of the blade (thick side) moves above the trailing edge (thin side).

13. zyx - Tail servo reversing instruction. As seen in the first picture shown below, the tail blade at the top is folded to point to the front of the helicopter. In the 2nd picture you see the tail blade is positioned so that it is parallel to the tailboom. Move the rudder stick right; did the tip of the tail blade move right as shown in this picture? If not then reverse the tail servo in the programming box - servo reverse function channel 4.


14. zyx - servo trim. 90 all 4 servos, use non heading hold mode for tail. Check your radio setup for the switch assigned to the gyro gain/mode. You will know if you are in non-heading hold mode by looking at the ZYX gyro. It will have a blue light instead of red.


15. heli - adjust links (servo->swash) to level swash. Remember the collective should be in the middle. Fold the blades together to check for a level swashplate at each of the 3 points. In each of the three pictures below you see the folded blades are positioned over the three balls on the lower ring of the swashplate. At each of these positions the blades should be inline with each other. If they are not inline but the gap between the blades is the same for all three positions then it means the swashplate is level but the blades are not at zero degrees pitch. Consult your helicopter manual for the correct height of the swashplate. If the swashplate is at the correct height then adjust the links that go to the main blade grips to achieve zero degrees.
NOTE: For large helis like 600 class and above the blades are heavy so the test in the three pictures below should be done by holding the helicopter in each postion with the folded blades always pointing to the ground.


16. heli - check gyro response to tilt and tail reaction. If any are wrong then in the ZYX go to function Gyro Direction.
When you tilt the nose of the heli down, the front of the swashplate needs to come up.

When you tilt the head of the heli to the right, the right side of the swashplate needs to come up.

When you rotate the nose of the heli to the left, the tail blade needs to move right as shown in step 12.

17. zyx - Servo Limit - tail servo limits. In this function you the gyro should be in heading holding. The ZYX will have a red light instead of a blue light. There is tail servo limit A and B. Start with A and move the rudder stick all the way left. Adjust the value and note if the servo moves. The servo will move in a jerky fashion so do not worry about that. If it does not move then try rudder full right. Adjust A and B so you get full mechanical travel of the tail pitch slider. Compare the numbers you have for A and B. If the numbers are not equal then adjust tail control rod and readjust A and B again. If the numbers are within 5 that is great. More then 10 you should adjust it. Now what are the numbers you came up with? Are they around 90 each? If so then you can move to the next step. If they are less then 80 then move the ball on the tail servo arm in a hole toward the center and try again. If your numbers are above 110 then move the ball out a hole.

18. zyx - Collective pitch range. Set this value to 70. Check the top and bottom pitch. If you have +12 to -12 that would be a total of 24 degrees. A common situation is that you have 30 or more degrees total pitch. This happens when you convert a flybar heli to flybarless and you leave the servo arm balls in the same place. Not all the time, but a lot of the time the balls need to be moved closer in. Adjust the value to get the collective pitch range you want. This is usually +-10 or +-12. A good value to end up with is in the range of 60 to 80.

19. zyx - Servo Limit - aileron limit. I know the book says to adjust this to prevent mechanical bind but in my experience with another flybarless unit I found it to behave more predictable when I used this function to set the maximum cyclic pitch I wanted.  I recommend not more then 10 degrees cyclic. I like to run 6 to 7 degrees max on mine. Typical values are around 70. On one of mine that I measured, 80 gave 10 cyclic, 60 gave 8 degrees.
To measure Aileron cyclic pitch position the main blades inline with the tailboom. Place the digital pitch gauge on one of the blades and adjust the collective stick so that it reads zero degrees. Next hold full right or left aileron on the radio and read the degrees of pitch on the digital pitch gauge.

20. zyx - Servo Limit - elevator limit. Same as previous step but with elevator


21. zyx - piro optimization. When you activate this you will have about 40 seconds to check it. The swashplate will tilt then you rotate the helicopter and the swashplate will change the tilt direction like a compass. For example, the helicopter is pointed North when you begin the test. The swashplate tilts down on the South side. Now you rotate the helicopter so that it is now pointed East and the swashplate should still be tilted South just as it was at the start of the test. If not then reverse the piro optimization direction and try again.

22. zyx - RC tail deadband (Tail tuning menu). The default is 60 which causes two problems. First is you notice that the stick has to be moved a small distance from center before the heli will rotate. This is the dead or no action zone. The second problem is that when you reach the edge of the deadband and keep the stick there for a slow tail rotation you instead get quick stop/starts. This looks like a wag problem which would make someone think the gain is too high but it is not. Some deadband is good to keep from working the tail servo too hard due to tiny variances in the stick sensor of the radio. I suggest setting this value to 10.

23. zyx - swash acceleration (Swash Tuning menu). The default is maxed at 125. When you make a quick stick movement it responds with a greater reaction. This is like the pitch pump function. This is good for 3D smack type flying. For a more smooth 3D style I run 90.

24. radio - hold pitch. Set your throttle hold pitch curve to what you want to run. 0,25,50,75,100 is the default.