Receive 9xtreme and Installation

[s_mack]

I would suspect it is a matter of settings, but it shouldn't be too hard to test that. João, first off you have two boards... feel free to diagnose. You can be certain to load up both with the EXACT same firmware, models, settings, etc and see if they behave differently.

If they do behave differently, then something hardware is different. I would very much suggest it has to be the backlight controller chip rather than the main STM chip.

Actually, as a first test, just swap the backlight itself and see if that makes a difference.

[s_mack]

I have a new second board I'll install today to see if it's ok. It's also from China and I'm assuming another batch, different from my first board sent to me?

Nope. We're all on the exact same first batch.

[ShowMaster]

I just tried mine again after I thing was 10 min and still normal to me. I'll have to swap out the 9xt boards to see what I get?
I do have another 9x board but I was hoping to not have to remove the mods and flash the fw. Maybe I have one more pullout I repaired last year?
First is a 9xt swap out today.
Ok, I turned on power just now as it takes me 5 min to type on my iPhone.
Screen and audio OK, I got the sw warning.

[MikeB]

I did get some 'incorrect' switch warnings on the prototype boards, and I thought I had fixed that. It is probably a timing problem, possibly related to getting the switch information from the original board, as opposed to those switches routed to the 9Xtreme.
It may also depend on what your default settings are. Mine are usually all switches UP/BACK except the THR switch that is forwards.

I'll run a few more tests.

Mike.

[ShowMaster]

I have a new second board I'll install today to see if it's ok. It's also from China and I'm assuming another batch, different from my first board sent to me?

Nope. We're all on the exact same first batch.

Ah, yes, but before or after the snack break or shift change? I had a ford that I think was assembled on a Friday after lunch. I couldn't pass a dealership without stopping in.

Anyway, Good to know.
A few morning chores and then off to the lab to see how the new board performs.

[ShowMaster]

I think the sw thing is simple. Any way to tell what sw position , old or new board is doing it? That may help if it's just one?
Ok, to the chores.

[ShowMaster]

I let us down today! The honey do list was huge! I just finished up outside. That'll teach me to out things off for RC!
She's actually very supportive but they were heavy backyard projects. Tomorrow is all mine! I'll try again Sunday.
Drinking wine now and I'm afraid I'll cross the streams or blow up my flux capacitor.
[emoji298]️

[IanF9X]

I let us down today! The honey do list was huge! I just finished up outside. That'll teach me to out things off for RC!
She's actually very supportive but they were heavy backyard projects. Tomorrow is all mine! I'll try again Sunday.
Drinking wine now and I'm afraid I'll cross the streams or blow up my flux capacitor.
[emoji298]️

Honey do lists are hard, I know too well.

[ShowMaster]

I just installed a new unused before 9Xtreme board in my already working 9Xtreme 9x. It went very well. Turned it on, it did its fw flash thing and came alive. I did a calibration and turned the audio up full. No difference in good audio quality from the first board install. Yes I hear in my quiet shop, the higher pitched data whine I think we're calling buzz.
If I power on with the bottom trims both in or out, the higher pitched data whine isn't there. I go hear a very low level lower pitched data growl.
The higher pitched whine come on after the last audio announcement and stays there.
Unplugging the backlight, no change.
Unplug the ad card no change. Still a faint high frequency data buzz when in the display screen mode, no audio going on.

Not a bother, but we are listing things to try and get rid of.

I've been able to connect with eepeskye and download models and flash ersky9x rev 218 successfully.
So far it seems to act just like my first board from several weeks ago.
I did swap my throttle and trainer switches. More natural location I'm used to for training.

All I know for now.

[jhsa]

I did swap my throttle and trainer switches. More natural location I'm used to for training.

What about this? You don't need to release the sticks
Only 2 supported at the moment though

João

[ShowMaster]

Not bad. I'm so used to the trainer sw in the left on top that it's not a big deal. I'm usually many seconds and altitude ahead of the student. I'm old school pinch flyer so o usually hold the case with my little and next fingers (1 or 2 each hand). I never really have the tx gripped hard.

Do you wire a NC push button in series with the trainer sw to preserve its wiring and sw action when needed for other apps, or not use it?

[MikeB]

Those are expansion switches (extra to the normal ones), called PB1 and PB2.

Mike.

[OctavioS]

Hi all,
I just finished assembling another 9x with the 9xtreme board and the difference from this 9X to the other 2 is that this one has the Hobbyking 9x board with the Atmega 128A chip.
The problem is that when i power on the radio, a "switch error" blinks on the screen, but i hear in the backgroung the tx welcome message.
please check the video and the pictures just to see if anybody can detect any wrong stock wireing.

[s_mack]

I would suggest that has the original 9x firmware still on the 9x, because that's what it does with a switch error.

I'd check your connection between the 9Xtreme and the 9X. Specifically, the spring pins. The old standard: clean pins, clean pads, screw tightly (never too tightly), check the pins are all there and aren't broken, etc.

[MikeB]

Something else that is odd is the backlight, driven by the 9Xtreme. It should come on RED, then show BLUE and then GREEN as it flashes the firmware to the original board.

A description of the startup backlight colours is here: viewtopic.php?f=126&t=7852#p105253.

Having said that, it looks like I may have the timing wrong for the backlight driver chip. Pin 7 of that chip is left unconnected, which means it should be expecting a "High Speed" data rate. I'm sending at "Low Speed". I've just tested sending at "High Speed" and the backlight still works for me, and João was having problems with his backlight that this change seems to have fixed!

Mike.

[jhsa]

I can confirm it is working.. Since I flashed the radio with a version Mike sent me with the fix the backlight always start with the colour I have programmed.. I still didn't fail to do it..

João

[OctavioS]

I would suggest that has the original 9x firmware still on the 9x, because that's what it does with a switch error.

I'd check your connection between the 9Xtreme and the 9X. Specifically, the spring pins. The old standard: clean pins, clean pads, screw tightly (never too tightly), check the pins are all there and aren't broken, etc.

Guys thx for you help, but Steven's tips worked out great.
I disassembled everything and cleaned the contact points with coton and alcohol and the moment i powered on again it was ok.
So again thx!

[LTMNO]

Yes, i was gonna say that I also have the HK PCB with M128 and I didn't have that problem, all worked for me.
I do have the Hiss but its faint, not enough to be bother with it.

[bob195558]

Hi Mike,
I have received the new XJT module and will install it as a Secondary Internal XJT transmitter module.
I will create a new post 9Xtreme Add 2nd Internal XJT Mod (viewtopic.php?f=126&t=8226) to document the mod when I am ready to begin.

I have a question before I begin so that I understand everything first.
As I have been thinking about, what would be the best why to use these two XJT modules together.
I think its best to use them, in much the same way as we are using two modules with erSky9x on Taranis.
Because with the Taranis we need to use Com2 (battery bay) external telemetry Rxd/Txd wires for protocol: PPM with TSSI
and because the internal XJT has the telemetry connection Com1 S.Port to it already, this makes the need to turn off this Com1 telemetry
between internal XJT and the Taranis radio when using the external module using Com2 Telemetry.

With the 9Xtreme board there is no need use Telemetry with the internal XJT and no need to use the protocol: PPM.
And the first justification for having an internal secondary XJT module like this, is being able to use two D-series receivers at the same time
and a second justification being able to choose between external XJT module using PPM with TSSI or PXX with SWR.
This also allows full backward compatibility when using D-series receivers.

To my question, both XJT modules should not be sending RSSI telemetry data back to the 9Xtreme radio at the same time,
is by not connecting Com1 telemetry wire to the internal XJT module S.Port connection,
will this make it so that no telemetry data from internal XJT, is sent to the 9Xtreme radio using erSky9x on 9Xtreme ?

Bob B.

[MikeB]

Yes, if you don't connect pin 5 of the internal module, you won't get any telemetry from it, but you also won't be able to update the firmware on it without this connection.

Mike.

[bob195558]

Hi Mike,
2) Two more quick 9Xtreme questions,
can I connect the TX telemetry Black wire at the same time to both of the XJT module's external Txd (PPM)
and the external S.Port / Pin 5 S.Port (PXX) pins ?


3) I think technically, I have the TX and RX marked incorrectly on the 9Xtreme board ?

If I remember correctly, the Telemetry wires need to cross connect between the main-board Txd
and to the module Rxd connection and the main-board Rxd to the module Txd connection.
Is this so with the 9Xtreme Board ?

Bob B.

[bob195558]

Yes, if you don't connect pin 5 of the internal module, you won't get any telemetry from it,
but you also won't be able to update the firmware on it without this connection. Mike.

If I needed to update the XJT module firmware, could I open up the radio and temporary
run a jumper wire to pin 5, do the update and then remove it after the update is completed ?

Bob B.

[MikeB]

No you can't connect to both telemetry signals on the XJT. The SPort signal is always active, even in 'D' mode.

Yes, you could add a wire temporarily to do the update.

Mike.

[jhsa]

This goes back to what we were talking earlier. We could always use a level converter and connect both telemetry from both modules. One on com 1 and the other on com2. But then we lose the ability of having trainer over bluetooth
One thing I find funny. On skyboard and ar9x we have 3 com ports, two RS232 for the RF modules and 1 TTL for the bluetooth, but are not able to switch the power to the modules. On 9xtreme we can switch the power for the modules but can't have both modules sending telemetry and still have bluetooth Can you guys just join them together and make only one with all the features?

João

[bob195558]

No you can't connect to both telemetry signals on the XJT.
The SPort signal is always active, even in 'D' mode. Mike.

Bummer !

Then the best way to use this, seem to be to change the twin connector plug to two single plugs
and move the one Black TX telemetry wire to which ever is the proper pin for the proper protocol.
So another way to say it: It is bad (do not do) to send Protocol: PXX / D16 /S.Port signal to the Txd (Protocol: PPM/D8) DJT/XJT module pin.
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You could splice a 'Y' into the black wire and solder this to pin 5 of the module connector, then for the XJT you don't need to plug anything in to it.
For the DJT module, the black wire goes to the Tx signal and the white wire goes to the Rx signal. Mike.

OK, the above quote is not clear to me.
When using the external XJT module black TX wire to internally to pin 5, (which then must be only ever using PXX protocol)
and then splice a 'Y' into the black TX wire when using the external DJT/XJT module using Protocol: PPM (external black TX and White RX wires to DJT/XJT Txd and Rxd pins) ?

Bob B.

[bob195558]

Before my question was answered No, I did try both protocols PPM and PXX to a D-series receiver
and moved the external Black TX wire between the Txd pin and S.Port pin.
The results was, when the protocol was not correct the telemetry signal (data) was lost.
I did not try it with the X8R receiver with S.Port sensors and I did not connect to both Txd and S.Port pins together at the same time.

Though it did seem to work with what I tried, but that why I am asking about it, I am not clear to how and what it works.

Bob B.

[MikeB]

If you use a XJT module, and PXX protocol then the XJT always sends telemetry data over the SPort pin in SPort protocol. It may, in addition, send the hub data on the TxD pin when in D8 mode, although I haven't tested this.
However, in D16 mode, this a SPort data from the SPort on the receiver, but in D8 mode, this is the hub data, but carried over the SPort protocol.
I think the TxD pin on the back of the XJT is so you could use a FrSky telemetry display externally to the transmitter.

I have plans to allow an extra serial port input provided by an Arduino mini that connects to the 9Xtreme using the I2C interface and also handles an encoder input. This works already for the encoder, and I have re-written the I2C driver code to be able to handle the increased data of the serial properly. I still need to update the Arduino code to allow this, and ersky9x to read all the data.

I have mentioned that the I2C signals could be used as a serial port instead, so if you have an encoder connected to the original 9X board, you could have another serial port (logic level) instead of the Arduino.

As always, I will need time to implement all this.

Mike.

[bob195558]

I know, Mike you have higher priority that you are working on.
It not a priority for me to have this part working for now, I am just trying to understand how it works and how to best use it.
So when I start this new mod, I can just move the 9Xtreme telemetry TX black wire to its proper module Pin for its proper Protocol.

Do I have the TX and RX marked incorrectly on the 9Xtreme board, see full above: (viewtopic.php?f=126&t=7718&start=330#p106080).

Bob B.

[bob195558]

I have ordered another HobbyKing 9x because as it is on sale and the price with shipping was $33.93.
I do not need another RC radio, but my RC Hobby thinks it dose.
I think Steven has sold over 700 9Xtreme boards and I do not know when his inventory will becomes low
and when the new 9Xtreme-2 board will be coming out, but I want to have a 9x ready for it when it dose !
I think the 9Xtreme-2 will have more comports and capabilities.

Bob B.

[jhsa]

Well, I won't be able to buy a second one.. My wife woukd kill me if I did
I had to quit the Horus radio to buy the 9xtreme. I know the 9XT is cheaper but still can't afford a second one. So if for getting more functionally from this one I have to hack the hell of it (without destroying it) I will..

João