9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Hardware Support for the 9XR Pro
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SkyNorth
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by SkyNorth »

HK has got the Pro sale for $70...
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... dule_.html

This is the price they should have sold it for!

-Brent

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Myckey
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Myckey »

I can also confirm that the Taranis gimbals which are adjustable for spring tension DO fit the 9XR Pro, and very easily, much easier than putting Aurora gimbals in the 9X case, no soldering or glue is required.

I'll be posting some pictures and guidance in the next couple of days.

Phil
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by SkyNorth »

Myckey wrote:I can also confirm that the Taranis gimbals which are adjustable for spring tension DO fit the 9XR Pro, and very easily, much easier than putting Aurora gimbals in the 9X case, no soldering or glue is required.

I'll be posting some pictures and guidance in the next couple of days.

Phil
Looking forward to your post.
HK had talked about a metal joystick upgrade but that was over a year ago.

-Brent
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jhsa
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by jhsa »

Brent, the pro uses 5V or 3.3V on the gimbal ADC? Asking because maybe I'll attempt converting the gimbals to hall sensors and magnets instead of the pots when I have some time ;) But the hall sensors I have work with 5V

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MikeB
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by MikeB »

3.3V

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jhsa
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by jhsa »

Thanks Mike.. That will probably exclude the PRO from that possibility I guess, at least for now :(

I hope the new 9xtreme board uses 5V..

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by SkyNorth »

How strong is the signal from the Hall device? you may be able to drive a resistor divider (like the 3.3V 9x LCD does).
Or a small quad op-amp like a LM324 , could do the level conversion... and provide a nice drive signal to the A/D converter.

-Brent
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jhsa
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by jhsa »

Maybe the voltage divider would be an option.. But the best would be to use the same reference voltage as the processor, right? With conversions as far as I understand it is never a 100% match? :o :(

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by SkyNorth »

The problem with using the voltage divider, is that the current available to drive the input of the A/D converter may be to low , and introduce noise.
The A/D input has about 100K impedance , so this will "load" the voltage divider and cause errors.
The OP-amp acts as a Buffer and increases the drive current ...and overcomes the problem by driving the A/D input with a low impedance.

If the Hall output can drive a few MA then you may be able to use just a pair of resistors without the OPamp buffer.

-Brent
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by jhsa »

meanwhile I will be trying to source hall sensors that work at 3.3V. If anyone knows any that is widely available on ebay it would be much appreciated :)

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Myckey
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Myckey »

How to fit Taranis Gimbals to a 9XR-Pro chassis. Part 1 is just the wiring.

I would like to say right at the start that there is no angst in this process, there are no special skills involved, no soldering and glue to contend with, this should be a straightforward job which can be completed in an easy afternoon session.

Here are the two gimbals side by side, note the “ears for the mounting in the Taranis, these will go shortly in Pt 2, note the inner holes, they are the holes we will use.
01 Old and the new side by side.jpg
Firstly though the wiring, the Taranis gimbal comes like this.
02 The Taranis wiring as it arives.jpg
So with a sharp knife release the six wires that come from the gimbal and go to the multi pin plug.
03 Lift the plastic tab to release the wires from the Gimbals.jpg
Then release the wires that come from the multi pin plug and go to the three pin socket being careful as we need to reuse the socket, then put the wires, (in order) into the three pin sockets, the upstanding part of the connector (arrowed) goes towards the top of the plug with the single rib on it.
04 Put the three pin plugs directly on to the end of the gimbal wires.jpg
The correct order of the wires is like this.

This is the right hand gimbal from the back (i.e. throttle if on mode 2)
05Right hand (from the back) gimbal wiring.jpg
Left hand (aileron and elevator in mode2)
06 Left hand (from the back) gimbal wiring.jpg
The gimbal should now look like this.
07 Rewired gimbal.jpg
That, believe it or not is the wiring completely finished and the remaining wires with the multi pin plug on them can go in the bin.

Pt 2 physically getting the new gimbal to fit into the TX chassis will be posted up soon.

Should be straightforward but any questions just ask.

Phil
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Myckey
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Myckey »

Part two The hardware

We need to lose the “ears”, when you cut, grind or sand these of leave a little meat round the outside edge as we are going to subsequently enlarge the four inner holes.
10 Need to lose these ears.jpg
The “ears” that have to go have been sanded of with a dremel in this picture, here it is finished
11 Finished with no ears.jpg
At this point take the battery out, remove the back off the TX and remove the existing gimbals from the TX, (four screws and two plug sockets) DO NOT REMOVE THE FACEPLATE, this needs to be left in place to line up the new gimbal, put the new gimbal in the TX, it is an interference fit in the faceplate so be sure to push it down firmly all round until the tabs from the gimbal (circled) are firmly on top of the posts (arrowed).
12 Make sure it's seated properly.jpg
It’s time to check alignment now as yours might vary from mine, looking at the back of the case you should see that the lower two outside holes in each gimbal very nearly line up perfectly as circled in this shot, (might want to enlarge the photo to see this), the other holes will be about 1mm out.
13 Holes very nearly line up.jpg
Turn the TX over now and look at the fit through the faceplate, mine were recessed too much leaving the gap all around as arrowed.
14 Gap between gimbal and faceplate.jpg
The gimbal needs to go further through the faceplate but to do that we need to remove some of the material from the face of the gimbal but only where it sits on top of the posts.

I used a cutting disk in a dremel to do this but a file would be just as good just taking a bit longer to do. The amount you need to cut back is the same as the gap, a little less and there will still be a small gap, a bit much and you shouldn’t tighten the screws up too hard as the faceplate won’t be able to meet with the post , any harder than is needed to hold the gimbal in place will only try and bent the plastic of the gimbal and will probably strip the screw thread in the case.
15 Cut back the face plate at the corner.jpg
As you will recall the hole very nearly lined up, they saw us coming but they just didn’t do quite a perfect job. So the easiest way to do this as the faceplate securely locates the gimbal laterally anyway is to enlarge the holes in the faceplate ONLY, a 3mm drill is what I used and if you drill from the back that will be pushing the drill outwards which is the direction we want it to go in.
16 Drill out the holes with a 3mm drill.jpg
Now for the exciting bit, put the gimbal back in the TX, the Taranis plastic is thicker than the original so you need some slightly longer but the same size diameter screws, you should find that when the gimbals are seated properly on the top of the posts that the screws will now screw firmly down into the holes and there is now no gap left between the faceplate and the gimbal face.
17 Seated nicely.jpg
If all isn’t well retrace above until satisfied, then put the plugs into the sockets, the shorter of the two wired sockets connects to the inner of the two plug sockets like this.
18 Shortest wire from the gimbal goes to the inside socket.jpg
At this point I suggest connecting a battery, turn the TX on and go to the calibration menu to check that the sticks are doing the right things, if in the wrong plane swap the plugs over if it is in the right plane but going the wrong way swop the outer two wires over.

If/when all is well disconnect battery, reassemble case and that’s it the job is done and it should like a bit like this.
19 Finished.jpg
Now don’t forget to go and calibrate the new sticks properly!

This should all be straightforward but any questions just ask.

Taranis gimbals can be bought from FrSky dealers which includes HK although there isn’t a great stock level around.

As Brent said above this TX is on special offer right now and doing this simple upgrade (in my opinion) is well worthwhile because the circuit board is excellent and the software is beyond compare (but you knew that), but it’s badly let down by some of the hardware especially the gimbals as it arrives to you from HK.

Phil
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jhsa
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by jhsa »

Phil, thank you so much for this guide. It is excellent. Gotta order some taranis gimbals ;)

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Myckey
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes LCD Screen

Post by Myckey »

Something very strange has happened to my screen (this is a 9XR-PRO by the way), it isn’t a disaster but it’s annoying the hell out of me. As you can see in the photo below the text on the screen has moved left cutting the first part of the display off (the name of the plane is actually an Angel) and the right side where it would normally not have any screen just has white noise on it.
Duff Screen.jpg
Questions,

Is there anything I can do about it? (I’ve tried cleaning up all the ribbon connections a couple of times).

If this is a broken LCD screen (meaning I can’t) does anyone know of anywhere that I can get a replacement screen (HK do not sell replacement screens for this TX).

Thanks

Phil
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MikeB
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by MikeB »

You have managed to get "Optrex display" turned on the general setup. I should probably move this to the hardware menu, and quite possibly remove it from the 'PRO altogether.

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by jhsa »

And really hide the hardware menu as in er9x. There are ONLY options that need to be set once as they depend on the hardware you have installed on the radio. if someone at the field plays with your radio ( I've seen it happen several times), or some child at home, and enters the hardware menu, he/she can really mess your radio up.. Not just a model, the complete radio..

You said something about a confirmation popup.. I think in this case that is not safe enough. This menu is like the service menu on other systems.. They hide it for a good reason ;)

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Myckey
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Myckey »

Thanks Mike for the quick reply,

I thought that as well (only because previously on flashing a 9X it flashed with it off and got the same sort of thing, however I have two radios, a 9X which does have an optrex display and the 9XR-Pro which obviously doesn’t.

Both radio’s are using ersky9x-r217 mod REVB-X as downloaded from or should that be by eepskye.

On the 9X under general then display I get the optrex option between “Light on Stk mv" and “Flash on Beep” but on the PRO this option doesn’t appear.

I have just downloaded the bin file again, put on the SD card in the firmware folder and reloaded it again (both trim switches inwards then switch on and hit menu) and that hasn’t changed anything.

It’s probably me (99% of past experiences confirm this) but I can’t find an option to change this anywhere.

Phil
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Myckey »

Update to the above, if I download the ersky9x for the sky board and load that on to the 9X board I get the optrex display on off option, turning it off, as you rightly say now removes this error and I have a perfect display.

As I understand it the Sky board and Pro boards are essentially the same thing so is anything else likely to be effected by this?

Or now should I now download again the correct (ersky9x for the 9XR-Pro) file and reload it?

Apologies for trying the Heath Robinson fix.

Thanks

Phil
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MikeB
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by MikeB »

The RTC in particular is different, so you do need the correct (ersky9xr_rom.bin) file flashed.
So I have removed the option from the 'PRO!
Another way to fix the problem is to read the EEPROM using eepskye, and change the Optrex Display option on the PC, then write the EEPROM back.
You found a good way of fixing the problem.

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Myckey »

Hi Mike,

Just for completeness, downloaded the correct 9XR-PRO file, loaded it on to the SD card and re flashed it and the screen has stayed perfect so now on the right software with a perfect screen

Thanks

Phil
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Helle »

Hy,
some problem with a 9XR-Pro

with no ext Modul in the socket TX starts and stops with the Power switch allways ok

with a Flysky-modul
sometimes at switch ON it hangs at start
and
sometimes it hangs at swicht OFF
at this situation the LCD ist not quit bright

After 2 or 3 trials it starts well and works ok
But Sometimens only with unplug the Batterie I can the Tx switch off

I am not shure but i think have read this problem everywere

does enyone have s solution

Firmware is openTx V2.0.17 (??)
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MikeB
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by MikeB »

When using the FLYSKY module, change the "PPM Drive" to "Open Drain".

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by jhsa »

Does opentx have that open drive option?

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Helle »

Hy,

openTx V2.017
No, no open drive option für X9R Pro, I think

How about a hardware hack at the flysky modul, diode, resistor, possible, were ?
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by MikeB »

I've created an issue on openTx requesting the open drain option is added.

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by MikeB »

It may have been added in revision 2.1 apparently.

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Helle »

Hy mike,,

sorry, I have 2.0.17 at the TX,
will test a 2.1.2 for the X9RPro with the Flysky modul

I will show first into the Simulator for X9RPro
Yes, at simulator there is a PPM and a OpenDrain /PushPull option

By the way what is: LP45 at DSM2 ??

Is there a possbility too for the XJT-Module and the S-Port Telemetry direct to the Tx, not via Futaba socket?
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by MikeB »

I think LP45 is a Low Power module, possibly from a DX4E.
The 9XR-PRO supports the XJT and SPort in hardware. I thought openTx allows PXX and does handle the SPort telemetry. Ersky9x certainly does.

You might be able to put a diode in the Flysky module on the PPM signal input to create an open drain signal for it.

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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Daedalus66 »

LP45 is indeed a low power module, but it's from one of the "toy" transmitters provided with the RTF versions of various little UMX models. It's DSM2 only.

The DX4e module is full power DSMX and identical to that in the DX5e and DX6i. Indeed, it's labelled DX5e.
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Re: 9XR-PRO Hacks and Fixes

Post by Helle »

Hy, Mike,

thanks, its running now all fine at openTx V2.1.2. N430

How can I update the Bootlaoder itself
there is yours 1.0 on the 9XR-Pro

but there is no Maintenance Mode when I hold both trim outside and power on

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