Spektrum DX9 - UNUSABLE MODEL- Hardware fault?

[leccyflyer]

Just had a strange one at the field with my DX9 - I was changing models and entered the Model Select option - selected my Dynam Hurricane, put the battery in the model and it wouldn't recognise the transmitter -ESC kept beeping. Checked the TX and the model selected was the DeHavilland Vampire -a model I no longer have. Selected the Hurricane again and on going to the Main Screen had an error message that the radio had a hardware fault which prevented it working safely. and that I should return it for service.

I repeated the process and noticed that the DX9 was displaying the model next to the one that I wanted, Then I noticed an entry UNUSABLE MODEL. Everything on the model list before this Unusable Model works fine - I get the model I select. Everything after this Unusable Model , it doesn't matter which model I select, I get the next numbered model in the list.

Any clues as to what the hardware fault may be and what I need to do to either recall the error code or fix it?

[kc]

Somebody had something similar to this last month - and the answer then was that the models needed an 8 channel Rx when only a 6 channel Rx was used in those particular models memory.    Worth checking?

[leccyflyer]

Thanks - I did see that thread the other day. This is a DX9 and the models all worked fine, for several years up until this rogue event- they are a mixture of  6, 7, 8 and 9 channels receivers, DSM2 and DSMX. I've just been pointed to the Model Utilities menu by a Spektrum rep and using that was able to move the errant UNUSABLE MODEL entry to the bottom of the list, such that all the models when selected come up as the correct model.

[Brian Cooper]

A chap at my club had a similar experience a few years ago with a Multiplex radio. . . The only thing we could trace it to was being corrupted by a mobile phone. 

 

Mind you, that particular Tx seemed to be particularly sensitive to mobile phones in general. 

[leccyflyer]

On further investigation the error message is a bug and a firmware update which is available would cure that and allow removal of the UNUSABLE MODEL entry. However as I've managed a workaround which appears to return the expected results I'm reluctant to update the firmware. I'm assured by the HH rep in the US that there shouldn't be an issue with updating the firmware which would affect the operation of DSM2 receivers in this legacy pre-2016 DX9 I'm not really wanting to test that out. It works, so I'd prefer to keep it that way, with over 75 models dialled in, using a mixture of DSM2 and DSMX receivers, even the slightest chance of losing any of those isn't desirable. 

 

The fact that the Vampire came up each time I selected the Hurricane is suspicious. It is the only operating model that I have ever got rid of, as a pal really wanted one,  and I thought that I had deleted it from the model memories a few weeks ago, but it's still there- I think that might be the origin of the UNUSABLE Model entry.

[Steve Dunne]

I use an old DX9 which is DSM2 compatible with several models, updated to the latest firmware versions as they are issued.

The DX9 still works happily with my old DSM2 receivers. The "unusable model" issue is an old one, fixed some years ago by Spektrum.

The fixes and other benefits of the latest firmware are valuable - I suggest you'll have no problems updating.

 

Steve.

[Chris Walby]

Leccyflyer, Have a chat with John at Logic RC (UK Spektrum service agent), I had a weird issue where in one menu I could select model, but if I accessed the model select via a different route I couldn't.

 

Anyway John talked me through a quick fix over the phone with no risk of losing models and all was sorted.

 

PS, the cause was between the TX sticks and pilots jacket! ..say no more!

Edited January 25, 2023 by Chris Walby