1 or 2 dead switches, can't tell!

[spagoziak]

Hey folks,

I just got my 9x today! And 10 minutes later had the smartieparts board installed, er9x flashed to it.

Everything appears to work great! Except the Aileron DR switch and the throttle hold switch. Now I know that sometimes the soldering joints aren't so hot--and I admit I haven't re-soldered those leads yet.

However...

I tested each switch with a multimeter and one of them stays at 0 volts in either position and the other does toggle between 0 volts and -4.80v. So it seems that one switch is probably dead and the other seems alive after all? The diag screen shows 1 for both of those switches.

Questions:
What are the best next steps to take? Could it be a firmware issue (that only needs another flash upload)? Is it likely a dead switch? And what the heck would cause a switch that toggles voltage to not report to the board? More importantly... how to fix it?

I'm pretty hot with an iron, so your experience and anecdotes should get me well on my way to solving this one

Thanks in advance guys,
spag

[Westy]

So when you operate the switches.... the Switches do not turn off in the diag screen? they both only show 1? in both switch positions?

did you have a look at the solder joints and check all the plugs? disconnect the battery and test the switches in Ohms to if you get an open and then closed circuit.

[Kilrah]

Which version of ER9X did you flash? My guess is you flashed the FRSKY version but did not do the associated H/W mods.
For FRSKY telemetry, there is a hardware mod required that disconnects - you name it, the throttle cut and aileron D/R switches - from the processor pins they are connected to on the stock board, and wires them to 2 alternate pins.

So if you did the mod but don't use an FRSKY version of the firmware, OR you use an FRSKY version without doing the mods, those 2 switches won't work because the firmware will expect them where nothing is connected.

[Westy]

Wow .... I did not know that ...... good one!

[spagoziak]

Wow Kilrah, bullseye!!

Pretty incredible troubleshooting, right there... I did exactly as you described. Adding my FrSky modules is tonight's project. I figured putting that firmware on would get me one step closer to done.

Thank you very much for that!

[Fiddler]

Great post

I did the hardware side today and tested whilst it was a spider web across the bench without upgrading the FW... I got the two switch error too

Thanks for the tip