Taranis help...

[Jim (Chairman)]

Chris,

I have an usual config that I would like to try in Taranis.

I have a little quadcopter that I made and I want to fly it on Taranis.

Connecting the FrSky RX to the flight controller will be easy as I use CPPM. I have a little D4R-II that I'll use.

One feature that I would like to have that I had on my homemade proprietorial transmitter is a minimum throttle setting know.

Normally the throttle stick runs from 0% to 100% throttle, right?

The minimum throttle knob "raises" the 0% up to (let's say) 30% throttle, which is the lift off or hover point. Then the throttle stick travel is bottom = 30% -> top = 100%.

It means that even if the you drop the throttle stick right down, you still actually have enough throttle so you don't hit the ground very hard!

Any idea how to do this on Taranis?

Maybe we could discuss on club night...?

I will bring my TX anyway....

Cheers!

Jim

[Chairman]

Hi Jim

You may be able to simply use the throttle trim for this?

Otherwise I'd try adding a second mix to the throttle channel.

Try a mix with source as the knob (or maybe a side slider), Weight 30% and offset 30% (so it starts at one end rather than centre).

(You may find it needs to be 15% and 15% to give 30% for the whole range of the knob).

[Chairman]

Hi Jim

Having set me a challenge last night, I just had to try to crack it, and crack it I have 
Attached is a simple model that has your "Tickover knob" This works up to 50% throttle.
When a tickover is set, the whole throttle stick range now fits into the remaining movement between tickover and full.

I've used Ch10 as a place to set the range and offset of the tickover knob. (This is then used in two places)
Ch11 is the inverse of Ch10 and the offset means it starts up at +100 when Ch10 is zero.
Global Variable 1 follows Ch11 and sets the weight of the throttle stick.

So, the throttle channel works off the throttle stick over a range of GV1
Added to this is the Knob S1 (range adjusted from 0 to 50%)
GV1=100, minus (Knob S1 (range adjusted from 0 to 50%))

Cheers
Chris

[Chairman]

I also promised this link, to a very useful page of links. See first two posts.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2178865

[Chairman]

Sorry Jim, can't help myself now.

Attached here, is an eepe with two versions in it.

The original as above, and also one with sticky throttle cut added. This means that when you flip the arming switch, nothing will start up until both throttle stick AND tickover knob are at low.

[Jim (Chairman)]

Chris,

Absolutely excellent!

When I have ten minutes later tonight I'll "merge" this into my Quad & Hex models....

Thanks a lot!

Shame I can't fly this weekend (away). New higher wattage motor and MASSIVE 4S batteries just arrived. Will do some power testing shortly. Lots of useless lead removed. CofG back on...

Cheers!

Jim

[Jim (Chairman)]

Chris,

Merged your original setup into my Quad and Hexcopter models.

The flight controller that I use (MultiWii) will not allow you to arm the motors unless:

1) The craft is level within about +/- 10 degrees.
2) The throttle position of off minimum.
3) All the sensors / accelerometers / gyros have been calibrated.

I don't need the arming checks on the Taranis as it's done effectively by the flight controller.

Would be a nice a safety feature for a large / very powerful electric model, like Gavins new 6kW motor and ESC....! Pity he insists on buying Futaba...

Thanks a lot for all your help.

PS: Will you be around at the field on the Friday night before the Fun Fly? If so, we could maybe "second maiden" my Arising Star electric?

Cheers!

Jim

[Jim (Chairman)]

Chris, or any Taranis users...

I've managed to download and convert a LUA Reference Guide as a PDF file. The original file is hosted on Google Docs and seems to be too big to download.

LUA scripting allows Taranis users (Version 2.0.0 firmware and above) to write their own customer functions, macros and telemetry screens. Very cool!

Here you go...

Jim

[Chairman]

Yep I'll be around on the Friday evening.

[Chairman]

Jim
Checkout the latest Taranis update, it looks like it's a personal one, just for you!

Version 2.0.14 / 2015-01-12
[Taranis]
Fixed blank LCD screen at very low temperatures
Shortened radio reboot time in case of watchdog reset
Fixed timer problem in bootloader, which prevented radio from powering off after being connected to USB
Fixed issue with heli swash plate mixing when using notrim
Various fixes for double-keys
Added switch auto detection in Timer source
Totally removed splash screen display if duration is set to ---
Back-light turned on sooner at startup (Taranis +)
Fixed reverse polarity on external CPPM output
Suppressed center beep for non-existing pots
Fixed THt persistent timer running after model load (with Throttle at -100%)
Fixed buffer overflow for automatic flight mode change audio announcements (if very long model and flight mode names were used)
Limited stick throws to 100% when using trainer in add mode
Fixed Lua lcd.drawLine(), first pixel was not drawn
Fixed missing last column for some bitmap sizes
Minor display corrections
[9XR-PRO]
MAVLINK adaptation
[9XR]
Added 115200 bps speed to MAVLINK
[9X2561]
PWM backlight fixed
[All]
Various texts and translations corrections
Various small bug-fixes

Chris

[Jim (Chairman)]

Chris,

Downloaded and installed last night.

Left my Taranis in the back of the car all night so it was VERY cold this morning.

LCD booted up first time!

I have no idea what would cause that or indeed how a software update could cure it, but it has!

BTW, what is the best way to do a "Throttle Enable" switch for safety on electrics?

Cheers!

[Chairman]

Hi Jim
My sticky throttle goes as follows. Change the switch and add sounds as suits you.

[Jim (Chairman)]

Chris,

Excellent!

I've done it with a simple switch, which does override the throttle output, but does not disable the throttle timer or let you play a "Throttle Enabled" sound.

Will tinker around more tonight.

Must clone the "Volume Control" function onto all my models also...

Thanks!