Hi,
I am looking for a way to connect an arduino to the trainer port of the DX6i and send ppm commands to my drone. I have found a few people reading the ppm signal from the trainer port to use the DX6i in flight simulators but I want to go the other way. If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be good. I did find one post with some instructions and some same code but it just doesn't seem to work. (Link Below)
Replies
You said he can use the joy stick on the dx6ifor steering right? If he can why not use the same joystick for steering and throttle left right for steering and forward back for throttle. Or am I missing something?
I tried the joystick device, which worked well. Except that I kept on burning out my throttle servos because neutral would always be reverse. So I went back to the drawing board, bought a brand new Spektrum DX3 transmitter and modified the hand controls which enabled me to get on with it just fine.
Thanks folks!
Hi,
Our client's spinal injury means his hand function is driven by the larger muscles in his upper arm. This doesn't give a lot of fine control, which means changing speed on the joystick also makes the car weave across the track!
We ended up using the steering wheel from a dead RC gocart control along with an air pressure sensor. This signals were processed by a circuit we put together and the output fed into the trainer port of the original transmitter. I've been promised video of the unit in action!
The project files are here to share: http://tecsol.com.au/projects/BreathPMMforRC
Well if I could recommend a radio, it would be the turnigy 9x series or even the new 9xr, as it opens up more flexibillity with aftermarket firmware that allows more features to be used, & uses a modular bay for the transmitter module, you can still use spektrum equipment by using a orange tx module or alike that supports spektrum equipment
later on if you wanted you could even go into long range transmission by using an open lrs module
The DX6i is a great radio, thats what I am using however every day I see more how limited it is
Hi, I'm looking at a similar project to Chris. I have a quadriplegic client who uses a Spektrum DX6i to operate a model race car. He's having trouble using the joystick for both steering and throttle, so we want to set up a mouth operated throttle. I understand there is a method of feeding data into the DX6i through the trainer port, but I'm struggling to track down enough data to enable me to make up an interface circuit. (I'll most likely use a PIC).
I'd be very grateful for data or leads/links:
I'm happy to share details of the final outcome...
Many thanks!
James
Right after some comments about this post I feel I need to go back over it and explain a little better.
A few years ago I was on the UK series of Robot Wars. Since then then robot I built has been sitting gathering dust so I recently decided to re-vamp it. I have the basic robot re-built and I have added a digital compass and GPS. To drive it I use the DX6i. However I want to be able to extend the control to my laptop this will allow me to drive the robot via gps waypoints or perform pre-set routines.
That is a rough overview of the project. Now for the main issue I have. The transmitter I have is a spektrum DX6i I want to be able to connect this to my PC and send commands to the robot via the controller. I have seen there is a product available that will do this (PcTx) however for me to purchase this and get it shipped to the UK it is expensive also there seems to be some debate on its compatibility with the dx6i. As a result of this I want to attempt to build a similar product using an arduino. I have the hardware built as I think it should go and I have obtained some sample code from http://www.ianjohnston.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&... I have also adjusted the code according to the dx6i specs https://bitbucket.org/fpvkiwi/channel-wizard/wiki/Compatibility however I am still having issues getting it to work. So if anyone has any ideas to point me in the right direction or if anyone has done anything close to this I would appreciate it.
Sorry for the now lengthy post but I hope this now covers everything that is needed.
Chris,
In the future it would be better received if rather than re-posting the same question in different forum sections add more information to clarify your question in the form of a reply to your own post. Explain what you've learned on your own and what is your current step is that you are having difficulty with. Don't just add a post that is clearly a 'bump' as this will also aggravate people. Always add some kind of useful information to get your point across. I'm not entirely clear on what you are trying to do here (perhaps that's part of the problem with your post) but if you want to add extra channel information into your PPM stream through the Trainer port of your transmitter, there is a product here that will do just that and it's code base is open source! It's not Arduino but if you would consider an alternative I think it might do what your looking for. If not you might be able to get the answer by reading through the code. In either case you've learned something. It's called the Channel Wizard and it can add up to I believe 8 additional PPM channels to your transmitter.
Here is a link to the Channel Wizard wiki.
And here is a video of the Channel Wizard in use with a Futaba 9C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE7slObvq_Q
Good Luck and Happy New Year,
Nathaniel ~KD2DEY
@Chris,
I believe that someone has already answered your request for information concerning your project: http://www.diydrones.com/forum/topics/spektrum-dx6i-trainer-port-ha...
You can also try here for interface information: http://www.endurance-rc.com/tutorials.php
Please keep in mind that this is DIY not a hand-holding Forum.
Regards,
TCIII