Possible 9X upgrade route

[MikeB]

This looks interesting:
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDue

Mike.

[jhsa]

You can build a complete radio with that board

[Rob Thomson]

Cheap too!

All one needs is someone who can make a suitable and generic transmitter case + gimbals!

Then the DIY'er is sorted!

[SkyNorth]

How about the whole SKY main board in a 2" x 3.5" form factor.
It is the same size as the upgrade LCD , and attaches to the mounting tabs.

-Brent

[jhsa]

you mean with audio and everything?? Nice..

Woow, there are some huge brainstorms here today

[bertrand35]

Wow!

[Romolo]

nice idea... but then, what about two passive shields (backplates) for 9x and 9xr (I mean for switches and connectors) ?

[Flaps 30]

Looks good.. Just needs a few more bits and bobs..

Yes the case is essential. Time for a proper case to suit us Europeans. I miss my old Simprop SAM 20 that was a joy to use with a tray. Still annoyed that I sold it many moons back to some shark of a model shop in North London. It was complete with four program modules. No menus or clicking of cheap keys. Lots of nice pots to tweak. Very easy to use.

[SkyNorth]

I was thinking about the passive Shield idea...it would be a way to incorporate the 7 way nav switch as well.
The board would come without the connectors soldered in place (connectors included)
I figure it would sell for around $50 ...
-Brent

[jhsa]

And what could we do with that board? do we just need to connect LCD switches and gimbals? and the rotary encoder with the navigation switches? Or do we need other boards to go with it?

Thanks,

João

[Romolo]

A passive shield will allow retrofit to also something like futaba ff9 or similar radios.

[SkyNorth]

It is for DIY designs , it could re-fit a old analog radio..or it could be used in the 9x series of radios
It is the same design a SKY3.0 without the co-processor .and headphone output , and bypass caps on the switch inputs.
The connectors on each side contain the signals needed for that side of the radio (gimbals / trims /pots)
There is a 10 pin header for the menu keys.

sky9x_rev_4.pdf

(188.3 KiB) Downloaded 534 times

[jhsa]

so, a shield is a board with all the connections for pots and switches? sorry, I know what they call shields for the multicopters. is this the same concept?

[SkyNorth]

Yes, the shield would fit the form factor of the radio and have the switches and connectors needed to plug in.

[kaos]

Dawn of the age of ARMS.

[mogplus8]

Could someone point me in the direction of an explanation of what the "7 way nav switch" is, how it works and what, if anything, it replaces? And where I can get one? I bought a board and the rotary encoder, but I don't think that is the same thing as it is not really 7 anything. It only has five wires coming out of it. Does the rotary encoder replace the existing nav buttons on the board? I don't see how it could... unless the rotary bit replaces the up/down/left/right keys (with a bit of judicious programming to emulate the Spektrum style programming mentioned elsewhere. I have a Spektrum and the programming is certainly easy) but the 9X has two buttons to emulate, menu and exit. I'm guessing that, again with a bit of judicious programming, both functions could be covered by one button (just select menu or exit with the rotary knob and click). Am I close?...

Another question. The LCD header can support LCD and remote keyboard access. Does this mean an LCD with touch screen?

I'm asking these questions as I want to build my own transmitter (with single stick), so I'd like to put all the programming functionality where I want it, not the standard 9X places... and a touch screen colour LCD would be Nirvana.

Just an aside, this thread started with a look at the Arduino Due, a very powerful board. There are others, such as the Chipkit Max32 using a Pic processor with tons of features and in Arduino format, the UBW32 also based on a Pic, and the STM32F4Discovery based on an ST chip. It even has a microphone and accelerometer on board. Then there's the Cerb40, which has the advantage of being programmable with C#. From my understanding much easier than C/C++, and the full IDE is a free, yes that's free, download from Microsoft. Apologies if I'm preaching to the converted. You may guess from the above that I've spent some time researching this and you'd be right. Then I discovered the Sky9x, and bought one immediately. Most of the hard work already done! Thanks Brent!

All advice gratefully received.

[Kilrah]

Well it depends what encoder you got. The 7-way one described in the usual mod has the rotary encoder part in the center (left/right/push) plus 4 buttons on the outer ridge that replace the original ones. MENU and EXIT are still used on the other side. So basically you've got all in one, you can navigate like before with the 4 directional keys plus MENU/EXIT, with the rotary encoder, or with a mix of both as you feel like.
The entire navigation can be done only with the encoder (left/right/press).

[mogplus8]

Thanks Kilrah. The rotary encoder I have is the one supplied by Brent, it doesn't have the four buttons around the outside. It looks like a normal knob but you can press it to activate a momentary switch. I don't have a working 9x to play with so it's a bit hard to imagine. If I understand what you are saying, the rotary encoder can replace the four directional buttons on the left, but the menu and exit buttons are still required?

[Kilrah]

No, the menu and exit buttons can be done with as well. A short press equals enter, a long press equals exit.

EDIT: at least on open9x.

[mogplus8]

I like it!!!

Thanks for the explanation.

[cre8tiveleo]

Wow!

That's what I said when I saw the board... it's the same size as the lcd, so small, so powerful, and at a price point of $50! $50!
DIY FPV'r dream!

It could fit in one of the 'toy' style joysticks. (with mods obviously)

[jprikkel]

Anyone still working this? I may be interested inn helping..

[MikeB]

With everything else going on I haven't done anything on it (yet).
I still have ideas, just not enough time!

Mike.

[skylark]

With everything else going on I haven't done anything on it (yet).
I still have ideas, just not enough time!

Mike.

Mike,
That would be brilliant. Sounds good to me. If you are venturing down that path (bravo), you can count me in also.
Stan.