I recently changed my receiver to the Frsky X8R receiver- I added an SBUS to CPPM converter so that I can utilise all 16 channels of the X8R receiver. All seemed well until the first flight, where the quadcopter kept attempting to RTL or land. I over-rode it quite a few times before fear made me land!
I examined the logs and noted with some alarm that I was suffering multiple radio failsafes.
The log also showed that my VCC was low at 4.56 volts.
I then connected to mission planner and found that all channels in the calibrate transmitter screen were jumping all over the place! - it was even changing flight modes on it’s own as a result
youtube.com/watch?v=nSPUWrgMUSg
I then powered everything off, restarted it and this time the transmitter calibration screen was acting normal again…!
Can anyone please shed some light on this?
It’s a known issue. The safe way to set FS is through the PH. Program Taranis FS to “no pulse”.
Randy has a YT video showing the process.
You can enable 16 channels on an X8R in the Taranis by ticking the D16 box in model setup.
CPPM converters are only needed for FC’s that don’t support SBUS. Pixhawk does support SBUS
There is an RCG Taranis multirotor thread you might want to also follow.
I recently changed my receiver to the Frsky X8R receiver- I added an SBUS to CPPM converter so that I can utilise all 16 channels of the X8R receiver. All seemed well until the first flight, where the quadcopter kept attempting to RTL or land. I over-rode it quite a few times before fear made me land!
I examined the logs and noted with some alarm that I was suffering multiple radio failsafes.
The log also showed that my VCC was low at 4.56 volts.
I then connected to mission planner and found that all channels in the calibrate transmitter screen were jumping all over the place! - it was even changing flight modes on it’s own as a result
youtube.com/watch?v=nSPUWrgMUSg
I then powered everything off, restarted it and this time the transmitter calibration screen was acting normal again…!
Can anyone please shed some light on this?[/quote]
Thanks for the reply - I should have said that I’m using the APM 2.6… I had already set my Taranis to zero pulse, and programmed the failsafe according to Randy’s instructions.
I bench tested the failsafe in all scenarios and it worked fine…
The Taranis tranny does not report any telemetry errors, nor RSSI errors, so i looks like something happening between my X8R receiver via the SBUS to CPPM converter to the APM.
Today I tried a better voltage supply to the RX (now 5.0v - so should be perfect) and the same happened again - the APM was going back and forth from Loiter to RTL repeatedly - and once again all 8 channels were moving around all over the shop (hence triggering the flight mode changes)
My quad worked faultlessly on my previous Spekrum rx… hmm
I will have a look at the RCG Taranis multirotor thread as you suggested.
I was thinking of going down that route… but tbh the only method that I found on youtube looked very flaky… it seems like the expert even had trouble getting it to flash
Also I bought my quad second-hand off Ebay… so I’m not even sure it’s a genuine one. Having said that, I’ve had it over a year and it’s always performed flawlessly! - until I decided to go down the FRsky route…
Might give it a go Stu… although having had a few scares - I’m actually getting inclined to go old school and go back to installing the 8 separate servo cables…
I followed RabbitStu’s advise and went for the sbus flash of the APM. It flashed like a dream! first time - not like the slightly scary youtube video
I then connected the X8R direct to the APM 2.6 (no sbus to cppm converter this time) and went for receiver calibration.
as you can see the values jump all over the shop… especially the throttle - you can see that I leave it at full, yet the display in mission planner show is going up and down.
I’m not sure is this is really happening at the APM, or just a glitch in mission planner, but I’m sure as hell not going to test it by flying!
Have i missed some stupid setting somewhere - either on the APM, parameters in mission planner or setup of my Taranis transmitter??
I have the jumper across the correct pins on the APM, I have D16 mode switched on in my Taranis…
have you tried with the transmitter further away? maybe its failsafe…frsky at very close range is flakey, mine usually shouts telemetry lost if too close.
Good suggestion, but I already tried calibrating across the room… still the same.
I have been messing with various settings on the Taranis / X8R…
I tried only setting channels 1-8 on the tranny not 1-16 (still the same problem)
Then I re-binded (re-bound??) with the X8R set in D8 mode not D16 with channels 1-8 … hey presto the flakey signals go away in mission planner! and it all works as it should!
However - it looks like there is no failsafe settings in the Taranis when in D8 mode
so how the hell to I now configure a failsafe…?? one problem solved and another created…
I think you are right mate… it’s apparently a quick press of the ‘fs’ button. Unfortunately i need to set the throttle value below my usual minimum throttle value to be able to get mission planner to recognise an abnormally low value (i.e radio off) maybe i’m dim - but i cant figure how to do that…
I think I enabled something called extended trim or range or something, offset throttle to be lower than the trigger point and set the failsafe, then removed the offset.
well… I gave up on the D8 mode… I also gave up on the native SBUS connection direct to APM…
I re-flashed the APM back to the normal hex file for CMMP without SBUS support, reconnected the sbus to cppm converter.
Guess what…?? no glitches… no random movement of values… bloody typical…! I just put it back to where I started!
I wonder if my original hex file was corrupt or just plain old?
Anyway it seems rock solid at the moment - now I just have to muster the courage to actually fly the thing… after my last experience, I keep having visions of it clearing off over the horizon…#
. Worked for me following it though
