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Taranis X9D+


KELL
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Entering my man cave one evening I became aware of a clicking noise coming from my transmitter case, on opening it, my radio sprang into life only to shut down a nano second later. The switch is off, but yet it turns itself on / off continuously. After this strange behaviour I’ve trawled the internet, and found it’s a strangely common phenomenon. Lots of suggestions but no fixes as yet. People have changed their slider switchs which doesn’t help, renewed the on board 3v button battery without solving the issue. Has anybody out there solved this bewitching transmitter problem yet 

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I've got an elderly X9D (still going strong!), its not a plus, and I've never come across this phenomenon! However, basic fault finding techniques suggest always starting with the power supplies. In the case of the X9s, there are two - the 3V button battery and the main power battery. These transmitters were designed to run on 6-cell NiMhs, and my Eneloops seem to last forever in mine. So question 1 would be are you still using NiMhs, or have you switched to something more exotic?

 

--

Pete

 

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Peter I’ve still got in place my original battery, it holds a full charge without issue, gives me a good days flying and recharges well. Denis I’m not sure what you mean about “holding the grips” is that when I power off ? I appreciate your tips, I’m desperate. It’s taken me a good while to master this radio’s abilities with still more to learn so I’m very keen to fix this annoying issue .

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2 hours ago, KELL said:

People have changed their slider switchs which doesn’t help

My X9D+ SE 2019 the on/off is a push button not a slider. As suggested it can be switch it on if something in the case presses on the switch. Does this only happen when it's in the case or also when out of the case?

 

Steve

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OK, next question: Is the main battery still showing a reasonable state of charge?

 

I'm trying to ascertain if something is making it switch on, but it is then detecting a low battery state and switching itself off! I've not known a transmitter do this, but I have come across it on other electronic gear.

 

Also, have you spoken to Richard at T9? As I say, I've never come across this, and its difficult to diagnose at a distance. T9 are the official agents, and if its a common issue, I'm sure they will have heard of it and have suggestions.

 

--

Pete

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Spoke with Richard at T9 this morning. His opinion is probably the switch so start there. Unfortunately replacement switches are no longer available. Taranis radios are relatively cheap compared to other brands and it comes to the point of costs for replacement parts or go for a new upgrade radio. It’s my birthday soon so maybe a present to myself, I think I’m worth it. Thank you to those who helped on this thread. Your help and tips have been helpful. 

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I've never had to look at the switch on mine, but if it is the switch, you might be able to renovate it with a good squirt of switch-cleaner (Servisol or similar). https://www.amazon.co.uk/Servisol-Switch-Cleaner-Lubricant-Contact/dp/B06ZZX2RL3  (There are plenty of other places that sell it - look on ebay, for example)

 

Unlike WD-40, it not only cleans, but lubricates as well. Give it a good squirt, waggle the switch, repeat a couple of times. Try and ensure it gets into the area where the contacts are.

 

As long as the contacts are not physically damaged, this will usually sort out any switch! Switches on RC gear do accumulate a lot of oil and dust over the years, and if that is the issue, this will sort it!

 

Good luck!

 

--

Pete

 

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I am totally confused by the references to the on off switch. As I said before my 

 

On 06/05/2022 at 12:45, EarlyBird said:

My X9D+ SE 2019 the on/off is a push button not a slider.

It's not a switch either there is nothing to waggle as it's a push button that has to be pressed until the TX wakes up and vibrates then when I stop pushing on the button the start up sequence completes. To switch off the button is pressed and kept depressed until the shut down sequence is completed when it can then be released.

 

Here is mine.

 

image.png.ed33fdc6fd1e0591a95e2cc62300cf51.png

 

I am beginning to think mine is unique with all the references to on/off switches and associated waggling.

 

Not to worry.

 

Steve

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The confusion is surrounding the number of X9D variants there are out there!

 

Mine is an early (2013) X9D, which has a slide switch for power. I may have been mistaken in identifying Kell's Tx from his description. Later Frsky radios had a "software" on/off switch which relied on a momentary contact to instruct the thing to switch on or off. I'm not a fan of software switches, but recognise their convenience in certain applications.

 

If Kell's Tx is software switch type, then it should be possible to replace it with any "push-on, release-off" type push button. It might require a bit of physical bodgery, but would be cheaper than a new Tx....!

 

?

 

--

Pete

 

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Steve,

 

The original X9D and X9D+ such as Kell's do have 'normal' physical switches. Your later version SE has a 'soft switch', much like more recent Futaba radios for example.

 

The switch on my X9D+ feels very positive to operate... a definite 'click' is heard when it is switched on, but if the switch is moved slowly the TX switches on well before the click position is reached. This means the contacts are closing before the switch latch has changed over. The slider on the front of the TX engages with the switch itself which is internally mounted, and there is bound to be some free play between the two.

 

Perhaps in Kell's case, the internal switch is not always being fully switched 'off' when the slider is in the off (down) position.

 

As Peter says, Servisol is great for cleaning and lubricating switch contacts. It used to be an essential for TV and radio repairs. Use it sparingly though, as it can damage some kinds of plastic.

 

Brian.

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The Taranis (and plus) has a "soft power switch" that keeps power on after you switch off to make sure the EEPROM is completely written.
What is happening is power is getting to the processor so it starts up, then detects the power switch is off, so just turns the soft power off.

If you turn the power switch on, does the Tx operate normally?

 

My guess is the resistor that holds the soft power switch off is not connecting to ground. This would allow leakage current to turn the power switch on. The processor would then start up and turn the power switch off, but would only hold it off while the processor was receiving some power.

According to the schematic (rev 0.2 main board) I have, the resistor is R53 (100K), and pulls he gate of Q2 to 0V. As a first step, perhaps inspect the soldering of that resistor.

Warning: The X9D+ has two, flat ribbon cables that connect to the main board. One of these includes full battery voltage. If, for any reason you need to disconnect these, unplug the battery. It is possible, while plugging these cables back in to connect full battery voltage to the processor, which will destroy the processor. This happened to me on a prototype X9D+. I replaced the processor and it then worked again.

 

Mike

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Mike I believe you may have the answer.  With the switch on my radio starts up fine, it works well and no glitches have been noticed. I then switch off and couple of seconds later it begins to reboot, off reboot off etc. I unplug the main battery and wait a minute before plugging it back in and it’s perfect. Happy to sleep without a mummer. I’m guessing that removing the main battery kills power directly unlike the switch which softly slows the power down. Would that be right. Would I damage the radio by removing main battery power ? I was going to fit a flip switch on the case to save keep opening the battery cover. I’m aware I could catch it while flying tho so maybe not such a bright idea.

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  • 3 weeks later...

As a follow up to my original problem, I have the following update. I worked some “servisol” into the main switch, I even removed the switch gear to get to the back of the switch circuit board. I found some grey flakey residue over the contacts. This was easily removed with a light rubbing using a toothbrush. I applied more servisol in and around the switch, and wiped away an excess. When the radio was assembled and battery connected I switched on, went through the start up announcements and switched off. After a couple of seconds the radio bleeped on /off by itself in an annoying way, so I removed the battery and left my workshop in a sulking mood. A week later I went back in the workshop to set up a new model, reconnected the battery in my radio and switched on. All good. After an hour of use setting up a model I switched off. It stayed off. I bought the radio indoors to see what happens over time. I even put it by my bed before settling down to sleep. It was silent all night. So far after a few days the problem has stopped. Was it the servisol on the switch, or the battery being removed for over a week. I’m not sure, but so far so good. Will go through range checks when back at the patch, and hopefully continue with my flying .

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Thanks MattyB. Yes all seems secure with the battery and the connection too. The radio was turning itself on when it was left alone on the bench. Not being moved at all. It seems ok now and I’m off to my local patch on Sunday for some checks and hopefully flights. The actual cause is still a mystery but I hope my feeble attempts of the switch clean might of done the trick. Fingers crossed .

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