Available 9X Modification Summary 2019 needed.

[AirHammer]

I am looking for information on modifications that is up-to-date. I have found alot, but some information seems to have been lost, or the pictures are missing from posts.

I have had my Turnigy 9x for many years, and was going to use an AR-Uni board to modify it, but they were quickly selling out and I just kept missing the supply until they quit making them. Other large mods are no longer available, so I am looking at doing a little more DIY work to make this radio AWESOME!! for my son to use. I am using a X9D+ so we may share some modules like the multiprotocol and a DIY DSMX module or the R9M...

I plan on replacing the M64 with the AtMega2561 chip.

I have had the modification for flashing almost from the day I got my radio, and there is still plenty of valid information out there about that.
I plan on adding a backlight, and that too has alot of information out there.

The telemetry modification is a little hard to find now though for two reasons. One is that the one with the RS232 encoder seems to be missing now. And the other is that all the mods I can find on that also show modifications to the XJT/DJT module. Is it possible to do a telemetry mod that doesn't involve modifying the module? If so, will it also work with DSMX(DIY) and the multiprotocol module? Any valid links for such. I am hoping that it can be done such that the modules can just plug-in to the rear module bay and all mods are inside the radio.

I am also looking for information on audio. I found a couple of modules that seem to function like what is being looked for. One - "TF Card U Disk Mini YX5200 MP3 Player Audio Voice Module Arduino DFPlayer Board" on Ebay for $1.72 and one WTV020 "voice module MP3 sound U-disk player TF card WTV020-SD-16P for Arduino 2Y" on Ebay for $1.82 I am thinking I may be able to follow the information out there and make one of those work. Anyone with experience with those?

If I added a haptic mod, and also saw some information on converting switches to 3 postion switches or adding switches to the radio, I think I could make this radio as good as the QX7, minus the Lua script capabilities, and have some fun doing it...

Thanks for any input
Air Hammer

[MikeB]

Many of the "original" documents are here: https://github.com/MikeBland/er9x/tree/master/doc.
A DJT is fairly easy to modify.
A XJT may be used without modification as long as you include the inverter in the radio.

For voice, search on here for "Ardu-voice", where an Arduino is used. This gives a very good solution.

Mike

[jhsa]

I am looking for information on modifications that is up-to-date. I have found alot, but some information seems to have been lost, or the pictures are missing from posts.

First of all, be very welcome to the forum..

Yeah, the wiki is not working anymore unfortunately, probably because of security reasons, but we might be able to help you.. I have some pictures of the mods I have made. I think I wrote one of the wiki tutorials also. Let me try to find it on my computer.. Perhaps I kept it

I have had my Turnigy 9x for many years, and was going to use an AR-Uni board to modify it, but they were quickly selling out and I just kept missing the supply until they quit making them. Other large mods are no longer available, so I am looking at doing a little more DIY work to make this radio AWESOME!! for my son to use. I am using a X9D+ so we may share some modules like the multiprotocol and a DIY DSMX module or the R9M...

Yes, the 9x radio will support most of the modules and protocols, but you will have to use Er9x instead of OpenTX that no longer supports this radio as far as I know.
Er9x is what I also use, and in my opinion it is awesome as you will find out.
It supports all the modules you have mentioned as far as I know. Not sure about the R9M but I think I have read that Mike was going to add support for it also in Er9x.
Mike, please correct me if I am wrong..

I plan on replacing the M64 with the AtMega2561 chip.

Very good idea. are you able to replace the chip yourself? If so then you will have no problem doing the other mods

I have had the modification for flashing almost from the day I got my radio, and there is still plenty of valid information out there about that.
I plan on adding a backlight, and that too has alot of information out there.

Good..
For the Backlight mod, please read below.

The telemetry modification is a little hard to find now though for two reasons. One is that the one with the RS232 encoder seems to be missing now. And the other is that all the mods I can find on that also show modifications to the XJT/DJT module. Is it possible to do a telemetry mod that doesn't involve modifying the module? If so, will it also work with DSMX(DIY) and the multiprotocol module? Any valid links for such. I am hoping that it can be done such that the modules can just plug-in to the rear module bay and all mods are inside the radio.

As far as I know, the only module that needs modding is the DJT, to bring the telemetry connection to pin 5 of its connector. Or you could use an external cable and connect the telemetry to the connector on the back of the radio.. No need to mod the module then.. But i personally preferred to mod it
The multiprotocol, XJT, and probably the other you have mentioned, already output telemetry on pin 5 of the module's connector, so you are ok there

I am also looking for information on audio. I found a couple of modules that seem to function like what is being looked for. One - "TF Card U Disk Mini YX5200 MP3 Player Audio Voice Module Arduino DFPlayer Board" on Ebay for $1.72 and one WTV020 "voice module MP3 sound U-disk player TF card WTV020-SD-16P for Arduino 2Y" on Ebay for $1.82 I am thinking I may be able to follow the information out there and make one of those work. Anyone with experience with those?

Please those modules, no one is going to support them anymore. Currently, your only chance of having audio /voice on your radio is building your own module. The ArduVoice module is based on an Arduino Pro-Mini. If you are able to replace the processor on the radio, You will be able to build this with one leg behind your back This module can also control the backlight via software. It also gives you two extra pins that can be used as switches.. I used them for two pushbuttons on the back of the radio very helpful for trainer or for having the radio speak telemetry values, like model voltage or radio voltage for example.

Have a look ´

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6831

If I added a haptic mod, and also saw some information on converting switches to 3 postion switches or adding switches to the radio, I think I could make this radio as good as the QX7, minus the Lua script capabilities, and have some fun doing it...

The only reason it won't be as powerful is because of the limited capability of the AVR processor. It is not as fast, less eeprom memory, RAM, etc. But with the m2561 it will be already a very good radio.

here are some pictures of my mods, and also a video.

https://youtu.be/RzV7bnqhfCo

[AirHammer]

Wow, thank you for the quick reply. And a wealth of information. I am ordering the 2561 first and will flash it with no other mods at first to make sure that goes well. A great potential for problems there. I have successfully replaced an smd chip with more pins, but it may have given me some false confidence here. We will see.

I did have a question about the telemetry mod reading through old threads. There was some mention of needing a resistor to use the trainor port afterward, but I don't know if that is already covered in the information given???

As far as the audio mod goes, it looks like you are building something that looks just a diy version of the modules I mentioned. I had seen your post before with the arduvoice and thought that the WTVR020 was going to end up doing the same thing addressing the voice files by number and triggering with a serial connection etc. although I didn't go through any code to see how it addressed the sound files and if it was any different, I did see the compiler for OpenTX mention them so I thought it was popular enough to be covered. It may be more fun to build the ardu-voice anyway, although, more expensive, and I am trying to show my son how cheap we can do this. I will let him do some of the soldering, but I will handle the stuff close the the processor and changing it to a 2561.

As far as OpenTX vs ER9x goes, since OpenTX is based on ER9x, I don't think it will give me any trouble going back to ER9x after having my Taranis for some years now. I did flash the standard ER9x to the radio yesterday to have a look and was surprised to see how many options ER9x fit onto that original m64 processor. I may be mistaken, but I don't think that OpenTX fits all that on the standard m64 build.

For others happening on this thread wondering why I would bother:

The main difference I see between OpenTX and ER9x is that ER9x has a menu to drill down to the various "Pages" that OpenTX uses. I think my dad would like it better on his QX7. He is always complaining about not knowing which page to go to. Me... I do not have a preference, I like OpenTX, and will probably continue to use it on my Taranis, and I currently plan on using ER9X on the Turnigy 9X because It looks to have more of a userbase, and support for that radio.

In considering what the difference between my dad's QX7 and this Turnigy 9X after the mods, I think the only thing will be LUA scripts for things like betaflight PIDS, VTX config via LUA/smartaudio, S8R configuration, and the ability to flash firmware to the receivers via the transmitter pins in the rear bay. Although, I have actually done all that, I don't consider that to be a great loss. I guess a minor note is that when configuring sound, you will need a chart to know which number corresponds to a particular voice file. Other than that, for those with an old Turnigy 9x, I would say it is worth it, and you would end up with an awesome radio comparable to the QX7 (almost) . Also for those perusing ebay, it might make sense to get an old 9X radio and then do mods as you get more money to spend on the hobby.

[jhsa]

I did have a question about the telemetry mod reading through old threads. There was some mention of needing a resistor to use the trainor port afterward, but I don't know if that is already covered in the information given???

The trainer port has nothing to do with the telemetry mod
You might be confused with the trainer mod, that consisted in placing a resistor in series with the trainer outpu. That is not necessary anymore..

As far as the audio mod goes, it looks like you are building something that looks just a diy version of the modules I mentioned.

Nope, it is not

I had seen your post before with the arduvoice and thought that the WTVR020 was going to end up doing the same thing addressing the voice files by number and triggering with a serial connection etc. although I didn't go through any code to see how it addressed the sound files and if it was any different, I did see the compiler for OpenTX mention them so I thought it was popular enough to be covered.

No, those modules don't work the same way. Actually, those modules was how it started, but if i well remember, the new batch of those modules introduced lots of delay on the files being played, therefore a forum user and Mike decided to implement their own voice module based on an Atmega328. Then another user produced the modules and sold them.
These modules connected the same way as the old modules you mentioned. They used the LCD pins to communicate with the radio's processor. Then Mike introduced some serial communication. Only 2 wires were needed for communication, freeing some pins on the module that could be used as more switches. They are always welcome, right?
For the serial to work, you need to move the Throttle trim switches to the voice module, to free the serial pins on the radio's processor. Easily done as well, if you look at the pictures I posted above

When production of the MegaSound voice module stopped , and there was no other way people could have voice, I started the ArduVoice project. The arduino uses the same chip as the MegaSound module, and it is very cheap. You can get it on eBay for a couple of dollars. The biggest difference was that the MegaSound worked at 12MHz, and the arduino works at 16MHz, but Mike took care of that and adapted the code so it could run on the Arduino.
The arduino allows for an easier DIY of a voice module, specially because you can also use a ready available and cheap SD Card module, that actually works at 5V, so no level converters needed as with the MegaSound circuit.
This serial communication also allows you to Backup/Restore models to/from the Arduvoice SD Card. You can also download/upload those models using a computer and eepe..
As you can see, the functionality is completely different from those really old modules..

It may be more fun to build the ardu-voice anyway, although, more expensive, and I am trying to show my son how cheap we can do this.

I don't think it will be more expensive. Remember, with those other modules you had also to build some little board with transistors and an IC. They didn't connect directly to the radio.

As far as OpenTX vs ER9x goes, since OpenTX is based on ER9x, I don't think it will give me any trouble going back to ER9x after having my Taranis for some years now. I did flash the standard ER9x to the radio yesterday to have a look and was surprised to see how many options ER9x fit onto that original m64 processor. I may be mistaken, but I don't think that OpenTX fits all that on the standard m64 build.

OpenTX, as far as I know gives you compile options, so you could choose what options to have on your radio.
What Mike did in Er9x was reducing the code size to a minimum that all options still fitted in the chip. I don't know how he managed it.. It is just like magic.
But now the chip is completely full and new options can only be added at the cost of something else. For example, the m64 version doesn't have an Hardware menu. To configure the hardware you need to do it in eepe. This is not bad as you are supposed to configure hardware only when adding or removing hardware connected to the radio, just like when adding a switch, or a voice module.. Apart from that, no need to use it. Hardware doesn't normally change

Of course, the m2561 version of Er9x does not have any of these limitations and still offers at least one more pin that could be used as an extra switch, or change an existing 2 position switch to a 3 position..

The main difference I see between OpenTX and ER9x is that ER9x has a menu to drill down to the various "Pages" that OpenTX uses.

Yes, Mike did make the menus much more user friendly in Er9x and Ersky9x. You get an index menu, that in my opinion is much easier to navigate than having all the pages appearing one after the other.
He also took his time to organize all options and place them in the right menu. Still some work to do here in my opinion
So, in other words, Er9x and Ersky9x bacame much more user friendly, while keeping the same power it always had..

I think my dad would like it better on his QX7. He is always complaining about not knowing which page to go to.

Well, Ersky9x also runs on all flavors of the Taranis radios. So, if he wants he can flash his QX7 with Ersky9x. The problem is that models are not compatible between OpenTX and Er9x/Ersky9x

In considering what the difference between my dad's QX7 and this Turnigy 9X after the mods, I think the only thing will be LUA scripts for things like betaflight PIDS, VTX config via LUA/smartaudio, S8R configuration, and the ability to flash firmware to the receivers via the transmitter pins in the rear bay. Although, I have actually done all that, I don't consider that to be a great loss.

Yes, due to the less powerful processor, but did you watch the video from my Er9x radio I posted above?

I guess a minor note is that when configuring sound, you will need a chart to know which number corresponds to a particular voice file. Other than that, for those with an old Turnigy 9x, I would say it is worth it, and you would end up with an awesome radio comparable to the QX7 (almost) . Also for those perusing ebay, it might make sense to get an old 9X radio and then do mods as you get more money to spend on the hobby.

Yes, I do think it is worth it, if you already have one, or buy a used one if you do like to mess with electronic projects like I do.
If you just want a radio to fly your models without messing about with a soldering iron, then just buy a new radio that can support Ersky9x or OpenTX without any mods to it.

João

[AirHammer]

OK, took the mail a while... I just installed the 2561 and the eepe flash said it was successful. (done while outside the radio still) I am going to do the first half of the telemetry mod (moving the switches) while I wait on the inverter parts I ordered to arrive. Also the arduvoice parts. I will put it back in the radio for a test after moving the switches based on some old threads saying the 2561 firmware expects them to be moved. I figure a little soldering in this case will be less painful than some code mod and compiling.

I used hot air to remove the old chip at 330 degrees. It was a quick process, so I believe the 64M is undamaged. I elected to use the iron to solder in the new chip to minimize heat and time. This resulted in less than stellar looking solder, but what I believe before testing will be a perfectly performing job which is all I am looking for here

Pavel shared with me the project files for his megasound board, and I started converting it to an arduvoice. I originally thought I would use all SMD like he did, but I am finding that the capacitor shortage is causing high prices for some of the capacitors I would have to order. So I am still debating that.

Thanks for the assistance.

[MikeB]

er9x for the '128 and '2561 have a setting (in the hardware menu) where you specify whether the telemetry mod (switches moved) has been done, so it should work fine without doing the switches mod, and then you just tick the box to tell the firmware when you have done the mod.

Mike