Taranis X9E

[John-Frederick Davie]

Not long had my 'E' - (I'm an owner of a 'D' as well). But let me hasten to add, I am not an experienced flyer, I’m still an ‘A’ grade at the 'stagger around the circuit' level.

Seduced by the looks of the 'E' and of course owning something new and shinny, I made it my early Xmas present. First impressions, great, liked the layout and the general good looks. The gash bits, well the rubbish harness and the equally rubbish struts mating to the harness.

I purchased a DJT module to suit the mix and match of FR-Sky receivers that I own, fitting was simplicity itself and once I had read the ‘destructions’ correctly, the bind procedure was straightforward as well.

The next step was to try it out in real time. I configured my trusty Ready 2 and with everything ready to go, that’s where the problems really began. I had learnt the control function as ‘thumbs on top’ flyer; the new ‘finger & thumb grip’ really did for me.

Getting the plot airborne and doing the usual circuits required more than usual concentration, but oh dear, the landings. The bill for props was becoming ridiculous; I even got a Xmas card from Inwood’s my local dealer, for outstanding prop customer!

I went back to try ‘thumbs on top’ and as awkward as it was with the existing layout, at last I managed a half decent landing; it was time for modifications.

First off the suspension system and harness; a rugby training harness was acquired and a couple of dog leads. A touch of Cyno and scissors produced a fine harness. So easy to do, I also made one to fit when wearing my bulky cold-weather suit.

I decided to make a suitable tray; the base plate from an old DVD player was pressed into service. My bandsaw soon produced a pleasing shape then a few hours on the mill liberated a pair of attachments hooks from a block of Ali. Not to many detail modifications and I had a serviceable tray.

I looked long and hard at the on-board suspension struts with the thought to remove the assemblies, saving weight, in the end they were left in place. What I did do, was to trepan a 25mm hole in the rear cover, sealed with a car floor rubber bung, to give easy access to the module switches.

In order to facilitate ‘thumbs on’ I dumped the plastic ‘ears’ – sorry wrist supports and it was back out to the flying field. Glory be! I made the first decent landing in an age; I think the Ready2 also breathed a sigh of relief!

Now for the detail mods: The existing sticks were too long for comfortable ‘thumbs on’. It was not a great deal of trouble to liberate a pair of suitably sized sticks from some M10 Ali. bar stock. Fitted them today, they feel ‘the dogs b***ocks’, just the right height. When storms Adam to Zebedee finally go; it’s back out to the field to test and evaluate.

The Tx itself, I am not a great PC user, even the thought of hooking up the Tx to the PC gave me the twitches. My ‘D’ still remains with the original firmware that Fr-Sky provided; I am far too much of a whimp to even try and up-grade on my own! What I have noticed with the ‘E’ is that most of the set-up remains familiar to me. My one gripe so far, how the heck do you easily reverse servos? With the ‘D’ it was easypeezy, but now I seem to have to do a raft of button pressing to achieve the same thing; the rest of it is coming to me. With all set-up tasks I only attempt them when the need arises; I then learn and document the task for future reference. What a ‘Wally’, I hear you sneer!

Conclusions; well I love my new shinny thing and one day far into the future I may actually get too know how to get the best from it (but I’m not holding my breath)!!

[Masher]

Thanks for that lighthearted but informative post John. I am a devoted "D" user and currently trying not to buy the 'E'. I have read the RCG threads (a feat in itself) and found that the only gripe seems to be the struts but these are now metal. Then there's the top display which apparently is invisible outside?

Are your struts plastic or are you saying the revised metal ones are still rubbish? I have less concerns about the tray set-up since I have learnt to fly fingers & thumbs.

Can you copy model set-up's from the D to the E or do you have to start from scratch?

I keep telling myself I don't need one, can't justify one, mustn't buy one etc etc........................ but there is a strong urge to get one PDQ!

[John-Frederick Davie]

Hi Masher - my advice to you - Go forth my good man, bag of gold in hand and have a serious conversation with T9 Hobby Sport or Banggood et al. You know it makes sence.

.My struts are the plastic ones, I have not seen the latest metal ones so cant really comment

IMHO Fr-Sky would have done better to have ommited the struts completely. They could have designed a good after market tray to suit. I think the integral struts are just a gimick.

As the D does just everything I reckon the E will do all of that and even more everything. I have not attempted a copy (see aforementioned whimp status) But as Im putting models on selectivly, its no great pain to enter them via finger.

One day I will get to grips with Open Tx and really learn.

Edited By John-Frederick Davie on 31/12/2015 16:10:27

[John-Frederick Davie]

Couple of interesting points about the X9E.

Fitting a DJT module: I followed the 'yellow brick road' with the exception of the extended antenna lead - I used one that I had handy. Bound ok to a Int standard Rx and tried a flight. Lost the radio link almost straight away and lucky to recover the model with minumum damage. Range checked out to 100 meters all good.

Purchesed the recomended lead from T9 - fitted OK and back to the flying field - extended range check fine - flight fine - solid control all the way. Assumption, the antenna lead I fitted originally duff.

Now Im looking to flash LBT firmware and its 'peer into its soul' again - I take out the DJT - taking a good look at the pins - the ones used to flash Rx's - Happy with the initial look so its back in with the DJT - and here is the problem ! Looking down at the DJT it was apparent that the CCT board was cocked up to one side, the Tx pins had not engaged correctly, simple to wriggle it about to get it in correctly - Conclusion, its easy to fit the DJT into position and displace the CCT board!!! Almost certain this was the cause of my original crash. The fix? a goodly load of hot-melt fixing the CCT board firmly in its case.

Second interesting point: Though everyone will say 'Everyone knows that!' Had trouble getting into Bootloader mode. The 3 finger shuffle produced a line of writing then disappeared, just leaving a lit blank screen.

Played around many times - then the penny dropped - Trims inward - Power On - observe info and instantly release the power button - bingo, into bootloader mode.

Oh another wrinkle if you are a DJT user with your 9E - you need access to the bind button on the DJT to bind. OK easy to lever the back off the 'E' - However a hole trepanned over the DJT's position and one of those little rubber car floor bungs (Halfords) makes for a real easy access point - my hole is aprox 25mm.

Hope these couple of points are useful................... Jay Dee

[John-Frederick Davie]

Again I suppose everyone knows this - The LBT firmware comes from FrSky as a .rar file.

Download a free copy of 7Zip to extract the file from the compressed format - EasyPeasy! (got a model called that!!)

......JayDee

[Mike Blandford]

In case you missed the information, the latest LBT firmware for the XJT module supports D8 mode, so if you have also upgraded the main firmware to one that also supports D8 mode, you won't actually need the DJT.

Mike.

[John-Frederick Davie]

Thanks Mike didnt know that - in actual fact only just upgraded my 9D to OTx Comp V 2.1.17 - from the old 27?? standard.

So LBT will address/bind with my mass of V8FR-II receivers then? No need for the DJT. - thats good news.

....... JayDee

[John-Frederick Davie]

I am attempting to flash my X9E's firmware to the 2016 LBT EU firmware. The version I have used is Vers 151223 issued 23/12/15.

I downloaded the file from FrSky - then in Bootloader mode, sucked it off the PC and put it into the firmwares file.on the 9E

Then accessed the SD card, went to Firmwears highlighted XJT_LBT_build 151223.frk and hit 'flash internal module'.

The download worked just fine, BUT when checking the op modes in model set-up all I have is D16 which is indicating that I am still on the pre '16 EU firmwear............ HELP!

[John-Frederick Davie]

I am using Open Tx Companion 2.1.17

[flight1]

john

Did set the settings correct in conpanion 2.1 correctly before flashing the radio this is different to the firmware for the internal 'transmission' module? You must make shure in settings the little EU box is not ticked then flash the radio again ( not the eu LBT firmware). this should give you accsess to the other modes long range and d8.

 

don't forget to flash th RX's as well for it all to match then rebind all again.

 

Edited By flight1 on 07/02/2016 21:08:35

[flight1]

I forgot to say in previous post when you have made shore the 'eu' box is unchecked in the companion 2.1.7 setting section you need then to click the down load button and download the firmware as per your new settings selection and then flash the radio with that new version and then all ok..

mine is all there and working great the 2.17 is good

[John-Frederick Davie]

Hi - yes indeed. I had success last night when the penny dropped that the X9E was not on the correct firmware, it was on 2.0 - I up issued to 2.1.17 and the download to the internal XJT works faultlessly.

Many thanks..

[Andy48]

Posted by John-Frederick Davie on 04/02/2016 21:11:23:

Again I suppose everyone knows this - The LBT firmware comes from FrSky as a .rar file.

Download a free copy of 7Zip to extract the file from the compressed format - EasyPeasy! (got a model called that!!)

......JayDee

If you are using Windows 10, you don't need 7Zip. Simply right click on the filename in File Explorer and an option to extract comes up. This probably works in Windows 7 and 8 too.

[John-Frederick Davie]

Hi Andy and thanks for that - however it doesn't work with Win 7, and Im holding off on Win 10!

Another new OpSys woild strain my limited interlectual powers to breaking point!

Regards......... JayDee

[John F]

Posted by John-Frederick Davie on 08/02/2016 15:06:49:

Hi Andy and thanks for that - however it doesn't work with Win 7, and Im holding off on Win 10!

Win 7 was busted well before it was released.

Win 10, on the other hand, is very lovely and boots very quickly.  I've not had any issue other than an update for a printer driver.

Go for Win 10, you'll be fine.

Edited By John F on 08/02/2016 15:11:43

[Andy48]

It looks like Microsoft are automatically upgrading to Windows 10 now, so you may not have any choice.

As John says Win 10 is good. Yes it takes a week or so to get used to but after that its a lot faster and hasn't caused any problems.

[John-Frederick Davie]

I’m having a little trouble flashing a ‘external device’ from the X9E. I successfully downloaded OTxC 2.1 to my PC and have upgraded the X9E to this std. I flashed the LBT firmware to the X9E OK and now have the three .flk files on its SD card.( I get D8/D16/LR12 on the mode button ok)

Iv’e just had a go to try and flash LBT on a Rx – in this case a X6R – I knocked up a ‘bodgie’ lead, swopping the +/_ pins at the X9E module end As a first test I connected the lead at the Tx end (sig lead to the top of the Tx) checked with a DVM on the other end of the lead – nothing! Buzzed the lead and it checked out fine. Removed the lead and checked for power at the pin block – no sign of 5Vdc! I have obviously gone wrong somewhere!

Q. does the Mode have to be set to D16? Q. Do the Chans need to be set to 1 – 16? Q. does the Ext module need to be set to off? Q. Can I flash X6R’s with the latest LBT firmware or is it only X8R’s

Many thanks guys!

[Andy48]

You know the lead connects to the Smart Port lead on the receiver?

The X6R uses the same firmware as the X8R.

Not sure it matters about mode or channels or ext module. No doubt someone will enlighten further on this point.

[John-Frederick Davie]

FITTING AN INTERNAL MODULE…...I don't know if this has come-up in another thread however its worth posting.

I got myself an 'E' but as things go just couldn't get on with it so have gone back to my 'D'. With the 'E' I wanted to be able to use both the international firmware and the LBT. I purchased the relevant module, and set to, not a difficult task in any way. Come the first flight using this module everything checked out ok extended range checks etc. Then the flight, almost as soon as the plot was airborne, we were in trouble with a lost radio link. The link seemed to reconnect and a landing attempted. First approach had to be aborted and round again, rounding out at altitude for finals the link was lost again and the plane dived vertically into the ground.

Then came the good news, it had dived into a goodly pile of rotting onions and was virtually undamaged. After recovering to the flight line, again all the good checks were carried out with every check passing A+, instant loss of faith and much head scratching. A while later I, once again had cause to pull the back off the ‘E’, taking a look inside and the DJT module didn’t look right. It appeared to be cocked up on one side, understanding began to dawn.

The DJT incorporation calls for the modules top cover to be removed and discarded. The module is them positioned and the friction of the pins holds the assembly in place. Now the rub!! The circuit board itself is NOT retained within the module; it’s only the friction of the socket on the pins that retains the assembly. It would appear that the module case is retained OK, its just the circuit board that can come free within it. A poor insertion, a less than solid insertion, rough handling of the Tx, a bumpy car ride and a disaster is there waiting to happen. Some ‘rough handling’ tests then proved that the circuit board can slip off its mating pins.

The cure? A healthy dose of hot-melt holding the cct board within the module case. Some more rough handling tests were successful. Pity I couldn’t get on with the ‘E’, maybe in the future!

[David perry 1]

You can kill windows 10 stone dead. It tried to reboot my laptop till I installed the barrier.

D

[Andy48]

Why would you want to kill it?