Flysky TH9X with 9xtreme board troubles

[jhsa]

Ok, now with the radio still OFF, measure continuity between that pin 7 on the 12 way connector and pin 23 of the processor. Pin 1 on the processor is indicated by a little dot. then count counter clockwise. the processor has 16 pins on each side.

You should get a beep..

João

EDIT: Don't put too much pressure on the processor pins with the probe or you could damage them

[HCengic]

Test complete and beep is good

[jhsa]

Again, just to confirm, sorry.. between that pin 7 on the 12 pin connector and the 3.3V pads. It should NOT beep.

In case it doesn't beep, could you please download your eeprom from the radio to the PC using eepskye, put it in a zip file and post it here?

Thanks

João

[HCengic]

Between pin 7 and 3.3v pad no beep. I will work on posting the eeprom. Never done it so it may take me a few to figure it out. Again thanks so much for helping me with this.

[HCengic]

Here is the zip file of eeprom. Please let me know if I did it wrong as it is my first time attaching anything on here. Thanks

[jhsa]

Couldn't see anything wrong with your eeprom.
I'm out of ideas. The only thing we still didn't measure is continuity between pin 7 of the 12 way connector and ground, which is pin 1 of the same connector.
Again, RADIO OFF. You don't want to hear any beeping.

João

[HCengic]

I just did that test as well and no beep. Really strange how it suddenly stopped working.

[jhsa]

Did you install the latest test version of the firmware?
Can you check in Radio Setup/Version?

We need the date and the numbers in front of "SVN"

João

[HCengic]

It is ersky9x-pr219
It is the one Mike told me to install that has the ppm test at power on.

[jhsa]

Ahh ok.. and that test fails.. So, let's see what Mike says

João

[HCengic]

Thanks again for all your help.

So in the case that this radio turns out to not work again, do you happen to know anything about the Turnigy TGY-i10 10ch and whether it is any good or not. The reviews mostly say good but I'd rather have the input of someone that maybe knows a bit more about it. thanks

[MikeB]

I does seem as though you have a failure on the 9Xtreme that was working and now doesn't. I think it would be worth contacting Steven at Smartieparts and pointing him to this thread.
Which country are you in?
I'm wondering if it would be economical to send the 9Xtreme board to me to investigate.

Note that there is a way of at least using the board as you have it. There is an internal PPM signal that you could wire to the external module pin. While not ideal, it could at least get you a working transmitter while the original problem is sorted out.

Mike.

[HCengic]

Mike,
I live in Denver, Colorado USA. If sending the 9xtreme to you for diagnosis is an option, I am willing to do that but wouldn't want to take too much of your time. I have already contacted Steven and he is the one who pointed me to post on this forum, so I may give him the link to here.

Can you briefly describe how I could possibly wire to the internal ppm signal so I can still use the radio and would that mess with range any. I am not needing crazy amounts of range as I mainly fly foamies and multirotors line of sight. Thanks

Also, if I were to remove the smartieparts board in order to use the tx with the stock firmware, would that work or did installing the board make it where it needs to be hooked up to the radio in order to use the radio at all?

[MikeB]

Some posts back, there is a picture of the "9Xtreme Expansion grid". The internal PPM/PXX signal is on pad 9. You need to wire this to the top pin of the module connector instead of the signal that normally goes there.
An easy way to disconnect the original signal is to remove the crimp from the 12-way connector. You should tell which wire/crimp needs removing from the continuity testing you did. Unplug the 12-way connector from the 9Xtreme, and turn it over. You should be able to see little tabs that retain the crimps in the housing. Gently lift the tab with a pin or similar so the wire/crimp will slide out of the housing. Insulate the exposed metal of the crimp with some insulating tape.
Now wire pad 9 from the Expansion Grid to the top pin of the module connector. If possible, include a 100 ohm resistor in this wire. This will provide some protection for the processor pin.

The 9Xtreme includes circuitry to switch power to both the internal module and the external module. You will need to leave the external module enabled in the protocol menu so power is still sent to it. Then just configure the internal module settings to PPM and you should have a PPM signal on the module connector.

You could, if you wish, disconnect the switched external power, and wire the switched internal power in its place. The external switched power is on pin 6 of the 12-way connector (the PPM signal is on pin 7). Simply repeat the operation of removing the crimp/wire from pin 6 of the 12-way connector (insulating the exposed metal of the crimp again), then add a wire from pad 7 of the Expansion Grid to the centre pin of the module connector.

When you installed the 9Xtreme, it flashed new firmware to the original processor. If you remove the 9Xtreme, you will need to re-flash the original processor with firmware to make it work again as a Tx.

Mike.

[HCengic]

Mike I can't thank you enough. I followed your instructions precisely and now the tx works perfectly. I did have to use a 220ohm resistor because that is all I had on hand, but I don't believe using a larger resistor is a bad thing. Through all this I have also learned a lot not just about the radio but electronics in itself. You're the man. Thanks again

Also, I would like to thank Joao and Bob for their input on this as all of this kind of came together well in the end. Thanks guys.

[duststorm]

There seems to be no end to the problems I'm having with my radio.
I think I have the same or a similar problem as HCengic.
Yesterday the radio was working perfectly. Today it no longer emits a PPM signal. Not on the external JR port on the back, and not on the trainer port either.

However, connected to the internal ppm/pxx port it still works.

The unfortunate thing is that on another 9xtreme board, I had an issue similar to jhsa: the external ppm pin was shorted to ground (not to 3.3v though), probably in the processor or somewhere on the 9xtreme pcb.

Meanwhile I have a different 9xtreme board though and was using it perfectly fine until today. But now it appears that both the external ppm out and ppm out of the trainer port stopped working, even though they are not shorted.

Does someone have insight in what ways external ppm and the trainer port are linked? Do they use the same CPU out pin? Perhaps this can help me trace the cause of the issue.


I did not make any changes to the radio before it stopped working. The only thing I can remember is setting the DHT module in the external bay to V8 mode (could this really have made the difference?).
I might have accidentally pulled out the JR module out while the radio was on as well Could this have destroyed the cpu pin or something?

[duststorm]

Is the CPU on the 9xtreme ESD protected or does it go directly to the output pins (for example on the external JR bay)?
I don't suppose there are any public diagrams available of the 9xtreme?

[jhsa]

The pin connects directly to the module bay. Maybe a resistor would prevent this kind of failure?

[MikeB]

I've been going to post about that, I just have: viewtopic.php?f=126&t=8778&p=114789#p114789.

I'm not sure why the trainer output isn't working, this is an independant signal (which does have a 100 ohm resistor in series).
Can you test to see if the trainer input is working?
To check if the PPM/PXX output pin is damaged, try flashing the special test firmware in "ersky9x9XT_romPpmST.zip" found on the ersky9x test versions post. You run this without any module connected. It drives the pin both high and low and reads it back, then reports an error at start up if the signal is not working.

Mike.