ERSKYTx (was ersky9x) Questions

[MikeB]

Yes, I did a change to the bootloader. It now detects the USB plugged in and stays in the bootloader, rather than dropping out to the SAM-BA code. You should be able to read and write the EEPROM from eepskye when the bootloader is running. In eepskye, BURN|CONFIGURE menu, just untick the "Use SAM-BA" tick box.
SAM-BA should only be needed to solve a major disaster. On the 'PRO, you power on holding the ERASE button in, on the SKY board, you need to use the ERASE link. The processor will be completely erased, and boot into SAM-BA mode. (The EEPROM is a separate chip and is NOT erased by this operation.

Mike.

[ShowMaster]

OK, it all makes sense now. I missed the change info but I understand. Ok on the master reset as a last resort and using samba then. I was lucky today. I was able to get to the sd card and flash r204 from it when I loaded the wrong FW and newer bootloader. I didn't have to open up my sky 9x cae to reset.

I just used the bootloader in r212 and it works as you say it would now. Good news for both of us. Even better is the fact that my FAS40 is reading and displaying the correct amperage now with your scaler values. I'm pretty sure I've got it all working thanks to your help Mike. Using my watt meter was a real help in setting the scaler values up.
I'll give the Pro a try later now that I know what I'm doing again. It's 103f outside so the boat pond in the shade asap will be nice. No planes until the temp gets back into the 80's. I hate sunscreen in my eyes also.
Send us some rain please.
SM

[jhsa]

Oh I would gladly send you some rain.
But I would trade it for some sunshine

João

[ShowMaster]

Good news is there's no limit on using water to make and sell Beer at the local Budweiser brewery. Water for my home yes.
Bad news is my club field has some silly rule about drinking beer when flying RC planes. Something about personal safety issues. From some of the daily crashes I'd swear people are drunk ha ha.
Always something to "kill the buzz".
Well soon we'll have our month of winter and maybe it'll rain.
It's all funny in sad way.
I honestly in the past long rainy seasons, flew my planes in the rain from in my car. Sticking a 50 MHz tx antenna out the window sure was a pain. I haven't tried it with 2.4g, not enough rain the last few years.

Ok, enough sun/rain fun talk.

As you may have read, Mikes got me up to speed on the sky ver C (3) board and ersky9x FW. Wow, set the radio aside for a few months and a lot has changed. I hope to show off to the boat guys, what a Pro can do for them feature wise soon. I didn't want to use my pro at the pond right off in case I fell in ( maybe drinking beer).
I got my RC boat ready for the pond and all tricked out with telemetry, brushed motor setup now using a 2 cell lipo. I'm making 2 cell packs out of old 3 cell packs with a bad cell. Good enough for my boat and I have many I saved, 2200-3309. I added water cooling and now got the water canon pump mounted and working. It's too big, windshield washer type, so I'm looking for something smaller. Not many inexpensive options for boats. Maybe a RC fuel or smoke pump?

How about a FPV boat? Good close ups of the ducks or return to home if the radio fails? Maybe good views of the spectators on the shore?

I'm not a big boat person, I just wanted a break from flying and watching foam planes all the time.
I have all this RC equipment sitting here and I can never fly it all. Since moving to Frsky 3+ years ago, I just don't crash anymore and the planes with radios, just keep stacking up.

Hopefully I've added enough RC talk to this post to resemble something on topic?
I'm serious about the boat telemetry, and maybe a camera on it. Also what the pro can offer the RC boaters at a low price for the features it offers.

To be clear, will the XJT module in a Pro offer 16 channels now?
SM

[MikeB]

Yes, XJT gives you 16 channels.

Mike.

[ShowMaster]

I thought so Mike, thanks. I'll be sure to mention it to the boaters. They seem to have a lot of lights, pumps, sound effects going on at times. Some use custom boat TXs with many switches as I remember.
Humm.
When will HK sell the pro board as a spare part?
How well do we think 5.8g video will work at 100 meters max over a water pond?

[MikeB]

I've asked regarding the 'PRO board as a spare part.

Mike.

[playlet]

Hi!

Where can I download the latest stable ersky9x firmware for 9xr-pro?

This page (https://code.google.com/p/ersky9x/source/list) says that r212 is available. eepskye also "downloads" r212 but when I install it, I get r204!

So, where can I find r212?

Thank you!

Ivan

[MikeB]

The revision number on the page you list is that of the last "commit", which may only be source file changes, not always the binary.
For various reasons I haven't committed a new binary, but I have provided "test" varsions on this post: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4676#p65894.
While called "test" versions, they are fully useable, indeed, I'm usually using the latest for my actual flying.
For the 9XR-PRO you need the file ersky9xr_rom.bin from the .zip file.

I hope to do a full commit, including the binaries in the next few days.

Mike.

[playlet]

Ok, thank you very much, Mike!

Br,

Ivan

[Daedalus66]

Hi!

Where can I download the latest stable ersky9x firmware for 9xr-pro?

Ivan

Just to clarify, R204 IS the latest "stable" version of ersky9x firmware. You are asking how to access the developmental versions of the firmware. Those are the test versions Mike refers to. I'm flying with an October version without problems.

The documentation for the 9XR Pro covers versions up to R204. Among the most obvious changes since then is an extensive reorganization of the Radio Setup menus. It's intended to make finding your way around easier, and I think it does the job very well.

[jhsa]

And it can only get better

João

[Fic]

Hi,
is possible to connect frsky hub direct COM in radio? I couldn't find "switch" in the source code. I find two telemetry protocol: frskyhub and standard frsky from TX and it has other frames.

[MikeB]

When the hub is plugged in to a receiver, the hub data is sent in "user" packets. These are decoded when they are received.
Each user byte, when fetched from the "user" packet is passed to:
void frsky_proc_user_byte( uint8_t byte )

If you want to connect the hub directly to the transmitter, then you would need to receive each byte from the COM port and pass it to this procedure.

Mike.

[Fic]

Good news!
Can I find building firmware procedure in this forum? I use ubuntu/windows and 9XR-PRO.

Thanks.

[Fic]

I can't find the tutorial.
Mike, can you compile the firmware with direct frhub data receive?

[playlet]

Hi! Is there a way to save the timer value to eeprom and later continue counting from the saved value? I would like to have the information on the total time ever flown on a model.
Is it possible?
Thanks.

[MikeB]

At the moment no.
I've added it as an idea in my "ToDo" list.

Mike.

[MikeB]

How do we think a "total time" for each model should work?
1) Just add, say, timer1 value to the total at a suitable point in time, or on user command.
2) Have a completely new timer for this value, with its own trigger (start/stop) method, to make it automatic.
3) Some other method?

Remember that the ordinary timers could be triggered using TH%, so this might not be elapsed time.

When should the total timer start running and when should it stop?

Mike.

[jhsa]

I like option number 2, but thinking about flash problems on some boards it would probably be better to do something around the number 1 option.
I normally fly powered models, so I use the motor on time (as I did in full size aircraft) to calculate the total time. Of course, there are models without motor. Gliders. In this case the timer would have to be started by the pilot.
Also sometimes we are just testing/repairing the model and don't want that time to be added to the total flight time..
In both cases I mentioned above the timer would be triggered by a switch I think.
What about if when we turn the switch off to stop the timer a confirmation Popup would come up asking if we wanted to add the current time to the total time? I'm guessing that would also be eeprom friendly with just one write?

João

[MikeB]

At this point I'm only considering this for ersky9x, so let's try to get the best method(s) to make it easy to use.

Mike.

[jhsa]

Ok.. But I still think what I described is the best method.. Now, if you want to create a dedicated timer only for that purpose, is also a good possibility in my opinion, even if not totally necessary
The time from timer1, or timer 2, could just be added to the model total time field. i do believe that despite the method used we should be able to decide if the current time should be added or not as I mentioned on my post above..

João

[MikeB]

To do the add method, it will need something to prompt the user it needs to be done. This will need to happen whenever the current model is being unselected or the transmitter is switched off.

Mike.

[jhsa]

Why not prompt when the timer is switched off? You don't need to save it only when changing models or turning the radio off. we could have just landed the model for some reason, get the sun glasses for example, switched the timer off,and then want to take off again. You could just ask if the person wants to save the time to the total time. Done
Or you could do it automatically when the timer is switched off, but then it's not possible to not save unwanted time..

João

[playlet]

1) would be great. You start the timer like you normally do (for this purpose, it needs to count up) and stop it after the flight yourself. Then, you use, let's say, a button combination on the TX (or a switch) to add the value to the last value saved. If you don't do it, you should be prompted to do it when changing a model or shutting the TX down.
---- I don't know if it's possible to delay the shutdown "process" or not. If it's not possible, the timer value should be saved to a temporary slot in the eeprom and a user should be asked to do this on the next powerup.

Also, it should be possible to change this value manually in the model settings.

Here's another idea, why not save this value to a SD card if you have write access...

I don't know how to automate this....


Ivan

[playlet]

A couple more questions, if it's not a problem

Is the .zip file from this thread (viewtopic.php?f=123&t=5731) really a collection of the voice files for the latest firmware (9XR PRO)?

Should the 9XR PRO speaker emit noise all the time (something like a wind noise, you can hear it only if you move your tx close to the ear)?

[jhsa]

Try the ones here:

viewtopic.php?f=122&t=5680

This pack below if you still run the firmware that came with the radio.. If you updated to the latest test version of the firmware you can use any of the packs on that thread..

"Voice Files For 9XR Pro With Er9x.zip"

João

[playlet]

Thank you! I use the latest test FW on the 9XR PRO and it works great...

[playlet]

I just found one more bug (perhaps).

I don't get the initial flight mode (according to channel position) voice announcement when you turn on the TX in the latest FW like I did on r204. It only speaks when I change modes. I would really like this back...
Is this a bug or was this removed from the current FW?

[MikeB]

This probably got removed. There was a 'problem' where a lot of voice messages were announced at switch on when they were not required. This was caused by all the switches being assumed to be off, so any that were actually ON were detected as having changed.
I now read all the switches before generating any messages, so only report on any switch changes.

Mike.