As I move through the APM Planner 2.0 setup I now cannot calibrate my radio? Its as if the Pixhawk doesn’t recognize the Spektrum DSMX Remote Receiver [SPM9645]. I have already gone through the binding process twice to verify pairing.
During calibration attempt, stick and switch movements are not shown on APM screen.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Mike
Please confirm you bound when the satellite was connected to the main receiver and then moved it over and connected it to the Pixhawk.
Hi mdenovellis,
I’m using the Spektrum satellite with my PX4 on my Flip Sport Quadcopter and binding was not any problem so long as done with the satellite hooked up to a real Spektrum receiver which is then removed for using the satellite standalone with the PX4.
It should be the same for Pixhawk. 
Here is comment on this on appropriate wiki page:
copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common … on_PPM-Sum
Best Regards
Gary
I can confirm that the satellite receiver was correctly bound to the Spektrum AR8000 receiver prior to plugging in satellite into Pixhawk.
When the DX9 is powered on, the satellite emits a solid amber LED indicating both are bound together.
I am starting to think I stumbled across a bug. This pixhawk is brand new.
For the heck of it, I will try APM 3.1.1 tonight but I read the release notes and my issue is not listed.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi,
Probably you already know this, but cable from Satellite goes in far left connector of Pixhawk with signal wire on bottom.
copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common … _RC_Inputs
If Orange light is on on solid on satellite that should indicate bound.
If your RC is on and connected, the green bars will show (and move with the sticks) whenever you are in the radio calibrate mode screen, you don’t actually need to go into cal mode to see if the RC is working.
If you do not see any green bars in the radio calibrate screen, it means your RC is not communicating with the Pixhawk for whatever reason.
Regards,
Gary
Gary,
That is the case except the Spektrum satellite receiver has only one connector and it is plugged into the SPKT/DSM port.
The PCB’s two-pin power wire is connected to the “+, -” of the RC pins on the pixhawk.
How can I further diagnose?
Thanks,
Mike
Hi,
Sounds like a problem, I’ve kicked it up the chain to see if there are any firmware version problems or if anybody else is actually using a Pixhawk with Spektrum satellite.
As I said it is working fine with my PX4 turn on the transmitter when it’s in the radio cal window and immediate green bars tracking sticks and switches.
But a Pixhawk while almost identical does have small differences.
Only other possibilities are bad satellite or bad Pixhawk if what you have stated is accurate as far as I can tell.
BTW you do need to have the same vehicle selected on your transmitter as when you bound just in case you didn’t know.
Best Regards,
Gary
Gary,
Yep, correct model is chosen in the DX9. The satellite and the AR8000 that it is bound to work great and were tied to my APM 2.5.2.
Thanks for getting this escalated.
Thanks,
Mike
[quote=“mdenovellis”]Gary,
Yep, correct model is chosen in the DX9. The satellite and the AR8000 that it is bound to work great and were tied to my APM 2.5.2.
Thanks for getting this escalated.
Thanks,
Mike[/quote]
For what it’s worth, I’m using the same 9645 satellite bound through an AR8000 on my APM 2.5 setup to a DX7s on a PixHawk with no problems. You mentioned using APM Planner. It has been too buggy for me so I quit using it both Win and OSX. Using Mission Planner under Win XP currently so not sure if there is a radio glitch with your software setup possibly or you have some other hardware issue.
Hi guys, using a spektrum satellite on a pixhawk, works fine on a 7ch transmitter, but not on my dx12. Dont have a dx9 handy to test with but can borrow one in the next few days to test. I think it is rejecting the data stream for some reason in my case with the dx12 i dont think the pixhawk is configured to handle the 12 channels.
Actually when i do the bind procedure i pull the bind plug out before bindingto set the failsafe. Haven’t tried it leaving the plug in…
worked perfect for me with a 6200 and dx6
Update: I just attempted to try setting up the Pixhawk via MP and Win 7 (VMware). I got a little further than with AP Planner 2.0. I have successfully upgraded to AC 3.1.1 however, the radio calibration still fails. There appears to be zero communication with the Spektrum satellite receiver and the Pixhawk. I triple checked and the two Spektrum devices are bound and in sync.
I can get into the CLI via the terminal in MP and run basic tests and verify 3.1.1 is installed. Interestingly enough the system warned me that the radio is not configured. At least the pixhawk is aware.
The idea that the Spektrum DX9 & DX18 aren’t working but the DX7 and DX8 are working is starting to make me wonder if this is indeed some sort of bug.
Looking forward to 3DR Engineering diving into this further. If I can assist in the troubleshooting, please feel free to reach out to me.
Thanks!
Mike
Only models up to DX8 are currently supported.
Implementing more channels is on the to-do list
Craig,
Thanks for the update. Okay, so at least we know the culprit now. Do you have a time frame for resolution? Until then, I will grab a DX8 and see if I can continue the build-up of the hexa + pixhawk.
If you need a guinea pig to test DX9 features, just let me know. 
Again, thank you for the update. Now, I can get some sleep.
Mike
Glad you answered this one Craig, 
I am using a DX7 so no problems.
I will mention in the wiki that only DX7 and 8 work for now but others are coming.
(We can remove warning when they are implemented.)
Have added to wiki page here: planner.ardupilot.com/wiki/commo … on_PPM-Sum
Best Regards,
Gary
Does the DX8 give 8 channels or 7? I was having issues with my dx12 but got it to work by binding using a 6ch rx instead of the 9ch, but i only get 7 channels showing up. So if you have a 6ch rx laying around try binding the satellite with it, I would be interested to see if the dx9 works like this.
[quote=“gary”]Glad you answered this one Craig,
I am using a DX7 so no problems.
I will mention in the wiki that only DX7 and 8 work for now but others are coming.
(We can remove warning when they are implemented.)
Have added to wiki page here: planner.ardupilot.com/wiki/commo … on_PPM-Sum
Best Regards,
Gary[/quote]
Okay this explains why my JR x9303 is not working with my Satellite Receivers. Can anyone say when more than 8 channels will be supported? I am grounded until that feature is included.
Regards.
I have a DX9 and I used an AR9020 9ch receiver to bind my satellite receiver. I connected the sat receiver to PixHawk. The sat receiver’s led is solid indicating it is connected to the radio. Sadly, the latest version of QGroundControl and Mission Planner 2 do not indicate the PixHawk sees the receiver. The px4io status command shows RC=fail. 
I can bind the sat receiver to 7 channels and PixHawk sees it just fine. But 9 channel binding results in an undetected sat receiver.
Does anyone have suggestions to get the sat receiver working with more than 7 channels?
Bob Hillier
Does anyone have suggestions to get the sat receiver working with more than 7 channels?
Spektrum DX8 is supported. DX9 or above is not. It is on the to-do list
If you would like to have DX9 supported faster, I suggest sending a DX9 receiver to Lorenz so he can write the code to connect to it.
I have a DX9 using a Spektrum satellite receiver. I can only get it to bind in 7ch mode. Sadly, throttle is on ch8. I have no throttle control for my grounded 450 trad heli.
Can I configure Pixhawk to use ch7 for throttle? I’ve looked through the config parms but see an obvious way to assign ch7 as throttle control.
Bob Hillier