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surface movement. The Aileron Dual Rate switch (SW-3) may be in the upper or lower
position, but let’s place it into the lower position for now. This will be the normal position in
this example, and the aileron movement should be at 100% for full response. Now, flip the
switch to the UP position. The value remains at 100%. Using the (-) Data key, begin
decreasing the value to 75% and stop there. Now, turn the aircraft receiver on and move the
aileron control stick. You should see that the amount of motion by the aileron is less than what
you set under the End Point Adjustment, and this indicates the changes you made in the Dual
Rate is working. While holding the control stick fully to the right, for example, and then
flipping the Dual Rate switch downward, you should see the aileron increase the motion as the
switch is used. If so, then you have set the Dual Rate control. Note that the dual rate control
will affect both directions of movement at one time. For example, if you programmed the
ailerons to be reduced to 70%, both right aileron control and left aileron control will be reduced
by 70%. This is in contrast to setting the End Point Adjustment, where one direction is set
separately from the other direction. You may set the Dual Rate percentage amount to any value
down to zero percent.
CAUTION NOTE: Do not set the dual rate at a value of zero, or you will
have no control of the flight surface control, possibly resulting in a crash or loss of the model.
The value must be above zero percent, and we recommend nothing less than 10% in order to
retain control of the model.
In use, you may wish to begin the flight with the Dual Rate switch, (SW-3) in the UP position,
giving a lowered control surface value and gentler aircraft response. When you wish to
increase the control surface authority for faster control response, simply move the Dual Rate
switch to the lower position. Programming of the elevator and rudder Dual Rate is the same,
but using the Elevator/Rudder Dual Rate switch, (SW-1). Both elevator and rudder dual rates
are affected by the same switch, but each control surface may be set-up independently. To
reset the Dual Rate value to the factory default of 100%, simply select the channel you wish to
reset while in the Menu Function program and touch the CLEAR button once.
EXPONENTIAL CONTROL (EXP)
Exponential (Expo) controls is a way of describing a control stick motion in relation to the
control surface motion. Without Expo, you may move the control stick halfway, and the servo
would move half with you. Whenever the servo moves in exactly the same one-to-one
relationship with the control stick, we call this a linear relationship. However, if the servo
moves with a varying percentage of motion in relation to the control stick, it is called an
exponential relationship. For example, if you moved the control stick ¼ of the way to the right
in an exponential relationship, the servo may only move 1/8 of its’ travel instead of ¼.
However, by the time the control stick reaches 100% of its travel, the servo will have caught up
to the control stick, also providing 100% of its’ travel. The result is that the servo moves very
little when there is a significant amount of motion from the control stick, yet will provide full
motion when the control stick is given full motion at the limits of the stick travel. Using this
example, a model aircraft that is very sensitive to control input can be made to fly gently until a
large amount of control stick motion is made. Many pilots favor this control enhancement. It
replaces the use of Dual Rates for some pilots, but in the Optic 6, you can have both Dual Rates
and Expo simultaneously.