Flysky Paladin PL-18 with FTR16S Receiver

I am embarking on this new hobby as completely uninformed. So please forgive me if I ask ‘Newbie’ questions.

I want to build a large fixed wing uav, capable of mapping and possibly doing some search and rescue work. As my first build I selected the eachine atomrc Killer Whale in kit form. In an effort to get the most bang for my buck I thought I would go with the Flysky Paladin PL-18 Transmitter. If I purchase it from Hobbyking it comes with 2 receivers, one being the ultra small and lightweight FTR16S.

Knowing that most companies are big on promise, but notoriously short on specifics I thought I would ask and see if anyone had tested this particular receiver. Flysky claims the receiver can output; IBUS; SBUS; and PPM. I would like to stay with one of the digital protocols. I am going to be using the mRobotic’s Pixracer R15 flight controller which is supposed to accept a Futaba S.Bus & S.Bus2 input. My question on this subject is, are the Futaba S.Bus protocol and the Flysky protocol going to be compatible? If not I suppose I can use the PPM signal as a second choice.

I will break this off for now. Thanks in advance for your insight!

Charles

Yes the flight controller should be able to detect the SBUS output from your Flysky receiver, you can set this up via the radio menus one you have bound to your receiver. But I would say that for longer range missions you would be better off investing in a system such as TBS crossfire, or a new project express LRS, as these focus on actual long range R/C systems. I am not sure about teh PL-18 specificially but I imagine you should be able to hook up a crossifre module on the back when it comes to that.

While with arduplane you don’t strictly need a R/C link all the time, its always better if you can should you need to take over manual control.

But otherwise sounds like a fun project and you will be learning lots along the way… my suggestion would to keep things super simple and build your way up… as building a long range aircraft is more complex than what it might seem initially.

I would like to thank you for your reply. I had selected the Flysky PL-18 mainly based on the number of channels available. After looking at the TBS offerings I can get a 16 channel radio for roughly the same price. This is without the transmitter module, but the crossfire Lite module only adds $150.00 to the project. When comparing the Tx modules the Flysky only outputs 79 miliwatts compared to the TBS Crossfire Lite that outputs up to 2 Watts in the 33 cm band. I feel like the power difference more than justifies the added cost.

Again thank you for your insight!

Charles