Christmas is coming

Hardware Support for the 9XR
SkyNorth
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Christmas is coming

Post by SkyNorth »

Hi,
Here is sneak peek inside a new 9XR model , coming from Hobby King in time for Christmas (hopefully)
It is based on the Sky9x , re-designed to fit in the 9XR.

photo.JPG
I dont know what it will sell for , or what will come with it yet.

It uses real Tact switches , and has support for a Rotary encoder , and a Haptic buzzer
Built in USB socket and micro SD card slot , full sound / voice output , RTC + battery backup , 5V - 1.5A Switching power supply,
Battery capacity monitoring, Hardware support for telemetry connections. (RS232 or logic level) through
5 pin RF connector. There is also a spare switch input , and spare A/D channel and a second PPM output and spare serial ports
for future hacking , such as the addition of a Blue Tooth module.

It will definitely raise the bar on the entree level radios , and allow a lot more people access to
the Advanced (ARM) versions of the Open Source firmwares (er9x and OpenTX)
It will also provide a great working platform for the DIY'ers wanting to build their own radios.

-Brent

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Rob Thomson
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by Rob Thomson »

Well done Brent!

I was wondering when you would announce :)

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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by Daedalus66 »

That's great news. Key to its success will be a price that keeps the 9XR Pro well below Taranis. That should be possible with volume production.
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by NI0X »

Key to success is good Hardware, if the sticks are c**p, it's not important how low the Price is since this has alot of Features!
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jhsa
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by jhsa »

Good point.. Are the sticks the same??
My er9x/Ersky9x/eepskye Video Tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5uJhoD7sAKidZmkhMpYpp_qcuIqJXhb9

Donate to Er9x/Ersky9x:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=YHX43JR3J7XGW

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MikeB
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by MikeB »

It should ship with a version of ersky9x installed. If you look on the ersky9x googlecode page you will see a .bin for it and eepskye also supports this in preferences. The EEPROM structure is the same as ersky9x.

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Kilrah
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by Kilrah »

Cool, is the board 100% compatible? Does it have the coprocessor as well?

Anyway it's just what the 9XR should have been in the first place :)
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MikeB
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by MikeB »

Not quite 100%, and no, it doesn't have the coprocessor. It does have a RTC chip though (on I2C), which is the main thing the coprocessor did.
It also has the 3S8 ARM processor, so more flash and RAM available.
The source files just have a few conditional compilation bits in, but most things like A2D, SD card, voice, etc. are the same.

Mike.
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SkyNorth
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by SkyNorth »

The early 9XRs had 100' pots , that were not fitted tightly to the joystick frame , They now use 80' pots that are mounted more securely.
The sticks perform OK , considering they are built by the same company that builds the 9x sticks , the performance is similar.
If you are expecting 4 ball bearing Gimbals , then look else were

Showmaster has been field testing the design , and has reported no problems , using his 1st Generation 9XR

It is meant to provide a price / performance point , that anyone can afford.
HK will be able to sell the whole radio for less than what I could sell a SKY9x upgrade board for...
This means that a lot more people on a tight RC budget , can have a feature set equal to or better than the top
of line models costing hundreds of dollars more.

The co-processor was removed , as it never has been fully utilized , and the RTC chip provided a better price point , considering the
quantity that they will be produced in.
Mike , also found some extra I/O lines that were wasted on the LCD , this will give a extra switch input , and a extra A/D input for
future use.

-Brent
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by jprikkel »

Probably not possible to put a 9XR pro board in a 9x? I just don't like the 9XR form factor.

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SkyNorth
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by SkyNorth »

No one would have been happier than me , (well maybe Smack) if the 9x and the 9XR , used the same mounting holes and form factor.,
It took me quite a bit of shoehorning , to get the sky9x design to fit into the 9XR

-Brent
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by ReSt »

Is there a chance that this board also will be available as a spare part, like the one of the actual 9XR ?

Reinhard
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ShowMaster
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by ShowMaster »

I can verify that Brent's shoehorning a board in the 9XR is pure genius!
No extra space, and no space wasted.
The 9xR case wasn't designed to be roomy like the 9x. Even wires out of place can rub a stick.
The real buttons he used on the board added to a FW patch from Mike to prevent two from being pushed at one time, is a great improvement if it remains in the final product.
I think the FW patch has been added to any current er9x FW versions now.
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by SkyNorth »

I think that after they get production up and running , they will make spare boards available.
You also need the RF Deck section , as the two boards work together.
-Brent
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by ReSt »

Does that mean, that the board doesn't have a PPM output that could be used with any ppm rf module ?

Reinhard
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MikeB
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by MikeB »

PPM is there. The RF deck board is rather like the backboard on the 9X. That is the one that has the 5 pins for the RF module, but also contains some circuitry such as the soft power switch and current monitor.

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Post by SR71 »

Brent,
Great job !
I would like to make you my best wishes for a good sales success and I hope it can repay you for all the work done.
I am a pride user of your board on plain vanilla th9 with OpenTx.

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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by SkyNorth »

Thanks.
But I will not be selling them , Hobby king is paying me to develop the board for them.
I cannot manufacture the boards cheap enough to compete with the price of the 9XD (Taranis)

So by working with HK , the Sky9x project will live on in the 9XR. and bring a radio to the market , that has no equal in
the sub $100 price range.

-Brent
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by pmullen503 »

Too bad HK didn't design a bigger case for the 9XR.

Now, if they could get a better Spektrum module, one that would take native Spektrum serial and use the internal antenna.............

More pressure on the other manufacturers to improve their offerings! Good for everyone. Well done!
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ShowMaster
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by ShowMaster »

No knowledge just thinking,
HK did go to all the trouble to design in the antenna connector at their own expense and trouble. They also came out with many reversed engineered Spektrum products. I wouldn't count them out yet from following through with their plans for their new products. You have to admit that perusing Brent to design a skyboard for the 9XR shows that they may be getting ready for more higher end products to compete with.
Again, I'm just going on the products and new designs they're involved with we're seeing and hearing about. I have no inside info!
Exciting times for RC for sure.
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MikeB
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by MikeB »

Well, they sent me a 9XR in order to sort and test the firmware. In the back was a DSM tx module (using internal antenna) about which I know nothing, and as I don't have any DSM receivers I can't use it or test it in any way.

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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by pmullen503 »

Lemonrx.com makes really nice, small DSM2 receivers. I trust them more than my genuine Spektrum receivers. Inexpensive too!

I wonder why it's taking so long for a DSM module that uses the internal antenna to be released. Technical issues, a marketing ploy?
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Re: Sv: Christmas is coming

Post by dvogonen »

MikeB wrote:Well, they sent me a 9XR in order to sort and test the firmware. In the back was a DSM tx module (using internal antenna) about which I know nothing, and as I don't have any DSM receivers I can't use it or test it in any way.

Mike.
The LemonRX DSM2 receivers are really great. I have a some left over that I got for free from the manufacturer as review specimens. If you PM me your adress I will send you a couple.
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by rperkins »

My various ramblings to posts in this thread. Probably some of them are based on misconceptions on my part :)

I think it is great that they are working with you to adapt your board to their product. Congratulations. I'm curious did they reach out to you or was it the other way. In any event it seems to be a good idea. This thread could have had a better subject line if it wanted greater exposure . If HK havent started manufacturing this product already it wont be in time for the 2013 holiday season. IMHO . HK isnt known for their fast rollout , I dont think.

MikeB wrote:Well, they sent me a 9XR in order to sort and test the firmware. In the back was a DSM tx module (using internal antenna) about which I know nothing, and as I don't have any DSM receivers I can't use it or test it in any way.
Mike.
This is the first I heard of them working with the open source community during the 9xr rollout. If this was put out when the radio come out then I must have missed it. The posts I read were disappointed over the lack of working together. Thanks for the information.

The module you speak of using the internal connection. Was that ever offered for sale ? That may be a unique item.
ReSt wrote:Is there a chance that this board also will be available as a spare part, like the one of the actual 9XR ?
Reinhard
I think it will be dependent on the sales volume of the new product. My guess is contracts were in place to manufacture the 9xr boards at a level that have exceeded sales, so spares are available. The price of the spares supports this observation.

I also think these 9xr boards will all be sold either in 9xr's or as spares before a new board is released for sale unless HK overall sales are affected by the lack of 9xr sales. I have no idea HOW important selling the the radio is for driving additional sales. I know it is important, but not how important.
ShowMaster wrote:I think the FW patch has been added to any current er9x FW versions now.
I didnt see that on the source code of er9x, nor did I see any branches
ShowMaster wrote: HK did go to all the trouble to design in the antenna connector at their own expense and trouble.
The biggest expense was the mold for the case. They have committed themselves to the case. I have a feeling that the antenna connector is not going anywhere. They still dont offer a module with the 9xr and I dont think any other manufacturer is going to limit their module to a 9xr. HK avoids FCC issues by not adding a module to their TX
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MikeB
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by MikeB »

The FW patch is just a code change in er9x and ersky9x. It is in:
void per10ms()
where code checks for a direction button already pressed, and ignores certain other direction buttons until it is released. As well as helping with the 9XR, it helps with my 7-way rotary encoder. Before this change, the direction switches of the 7-way would sometimes give me up or down when I wanted left or right.

The 9XR was sent to me specifically for installing and testing the SKY board, I had no contact before that.
They have recently asked for some other code enhancements, suggesting they are not doing any coding themselves. You will see a "ersky9xr_rom.bin" has appeared on the ersky9x googlecode repository.

I have never seen the module for sale, and the code enhancements requested relate to a possible enhanced version of the module (my guess) although information is vague at the moment.

Mike.
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rperkins
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by rperkins »

MikeB wrote: The 9XR was sent to me specifically for installing and testing the SKY board, I had no contact before that.
........
I have never seen the module for sale, and the code enhancements requested relate to a possible enhanced version of the module (my guess) although information is vague at the moment.
Mike.
Thanks for the clarification of the timing of coordination and of the possible upcoming release of a module utilizing the incoming RF connector.
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dvogonen
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Re: Sv: Christmas is coming

Post by dvogonen »

The 9xr DSM module with an internal antenna connection has indeed never been sold, although it was depicted as early as a year and a half ago. They have teased it many times, but never sold it. The Orange DSM2 module that HobbyKing sells is a major pain to use. The antenna sticks out in the worst way possible and you have to manually select DSM protocol. And there is no DSMX...
A new module would be great.
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Kilrah
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by Kilrah »

The orange module DOES have DSMX. The problem for some is actually that you can't tell it not to use it if the receiver supports it.

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dvogonen
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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by dvogonen »

HobbyKing have been a bit sketchy about the DSMX support of the module. People have claimed that it doesn't use the full channel spectrum but sticks to a few channels like DSM2 with the addition of DSMX data modes. As usual it is not easy to understand what is true and what is speculation.

What I do know is that the Orange module works just fine both in my Taranis and in my old 9x. I intended to use it only for BNFs, but I have come to trust it enough to use it in regular planes. The biggest problem is that weird antenna placement.

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Re: Christmas is coming

Post by kaos »

SkyNorth wrote:Thanks.
But I will not be selling them , Hobby king is paying me to develop the board for them.
I cannot manufacture the boards cheap enough to compete with the price of the 9XD (Taranis)

So by working with HK , the Sky9x project will live on in the 9XR. and bring a radio to the market , that has no equal in
the sub $100 price range.

-Brent
do you have a chance to talk with HK that they can make the sky9x board as upgrade/spares for their T9X? You just get a royalty from them or some kind of deal. Since they sold so many T9X, I think they may be interested in doing that. There are so many T9X users eager to have a sky9x upgrade board.
for people already have the T9X and in a budget, get Taranis is hard. But after they already have the T9X with a simple upgrade board (with HK's volume, the price will be lower) and have something invested in the modular system already, I think they would be interested to get a sky9x board for T9x from HK instead of getting a new 9XRpro.
Like a previous post, I also like the T9X better than the 9XR form.
By the way, my sky9x board still performs flawlessly. Don't think anything on the market is more flexible than that. ;)

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