I need a Tx...

mwm wrote:

DoubleQuad wrote: ... And it has just dawned on me that each switch takes a channel above what the quad needs to fly. Is that correct?

So 4 switches would need an 8 channel rig?

No. Switches can either change the state of a channel directly, change the behavior of the radio, or both. For instance, a light control switch probably uses a channel, though a lot of the toy-grade quads hack those into unused bits in other channels. On the other hand, throttle hold just locks the Tx throttle output to -100. And the flight mode switch on a 3d heli might change the throttle and pitch curves as well as using a channel to set the gyro.

Going the other way, multiple switches can be mapped to a single channel. The Blade 200QX has 5 flight modes (AP, Smart, Stability, Agility and RTH) set with a single channel. I ignore Smart mode, set AP/Stability/Agility with the flight mode switch, and use the Gear switch to enable RTH.

The thing to realize is that "channels" on a Tx is a marketing term. The Devo 7E is sold as a 7-channel radio, even though it's only got two switches. That's because Walkera puts their gyro control on channel 7, so they have to give you a 7-channel radio. But as Deviation shows, the hardware can do more channels - they just don't want to cannibalize sales of their other radios. Other radio manufacturers are no better. On the Rx end, it's a bit better: the number of servo connectors is a real limit. Except that with things like CPPM and SBUS, those 4-channel Rx's can handle 6 or 8 or more devices, and so need to get more channels.

BTW, once you get used to deviation, you may find proprietary radios like the Orange T-six limiting. Or you may find it a lot easier to use. Be warned that it's certainly radically different from deviation!

Sorry yes I did mean for actions on the quad itself. But the previous reply informed me that I can MUX stuff together too...

Things have just got very interesting!

I have just been resting through the mixer section...

Is there a Deviation For Dummies or a How To... section in here somewhere?

RoGuE_StreaK wrote: PS. I haven't kept up with the 7E developments in some time, but a fair while ago there was talk of using trims and/or nav buttons as switches, which if that went ahead could be something to experiment with before getting ino hardware modification. I should really dust off my 7E and finally get Deviation onto it...

That showed up in 4.0, and is available on all supported Tx's. I use the left trim switches on the Devo 10 for camera control on my V323, and the Ext button on the Devo 6S to switch flight modes on a NanoQX. I currently use a switch to reset timers, and I really need to start changing those to use a nav button instead, but just haven't gotten around to it.

You can even use these things as virtual analog sources, with a resolution of 201 steps (from -100 to + 100), and an automatic stop at 0. That automatic stop may make them preferable to the extra analog inputs on the 10 & 12, which have no easy way to detect "0".

That said, I still think you want more switches than the 7E comes with stock. If you're really averse to hardware hacking (I am, which is one of the reason I now have a 6S instead of a 7E). you can make do with the buttons. Switches have state, and toggle switches provide visual and tactile feedback of that state. Buttons don't. And there are more things that have state than there are switches on the 7E, so it really is just making do.

DoubleQuad wrote: So if you can MUX channels together on the Tx what do you need to do at the other end to deMUX?

Sorry that may have been a bit unclear, and possibly bad terminology; it's more like adding/replacing/muxing various inputs into one channel. For example your aileron channel on a plane could dynamically change the amount of throw based on the throttle position; the higher the throttle, the less throw so you don't roll stupidly fast, without having to keep flicking dual-rate switches.
(Don't know if that would actually be useful at all, just the first thing that came into my head)
The RX end doesn't need to decipher it 'cause you've done all the "clever" on the TX side.

RoGuE_StreaK wrote:

DoubleQuad wrote: So if you can MUX channels together on the Tx what do you need to do at the other end to deMUX?

Sorry that may have been a bit unclear, and possibly bad terminology; it's more like adding/replacing/muxing various inputs into one channel. For example your aileron channel on a plane could dynamically change the amount of throw based on the throttle position; the higher the throttle, the less throw so you don't roll stupidly fast, without having to keep flicking dual-rate switches.
(Don't know if that would actually be useful at all, just the first thing that came into my head)
The RX end doesn't need to decipher it 'cause you've done all the "clever" on the TX side.

Once again I have to thank you for your in depth and informative answers guys!

Thanks, I am slowly beginning to understand how this all works. Slowly but surely

Here's some mixes I've actually used in flight. Most of them are now dealt with by the flight control boards, but still...

At least one of my FP heli's had a tendency to yaw to the left when given forward throttle. So I mixed forward throttle into the yaw to offset this. Net result - it now flies in a straight line where before it would veer off to the left.

Since multirotors control pitch/roll/yaw by changing the various prop speeds, giving one lots of any of those could well cause it to lose lift. You can compensate for that by mixing the appropriate channels into the throttle channel, so that your craft will stay level without you having to manually compensate for it. I used to do that, but - getting it set up is a pain, and will mean you won't be looking to compensate for it when you fly a new craft.

Actually I've just finished building my first home-made flying wing, and it's probably a good example of using the complex mixer;

- it's got elevons for starters, which are a mix of elevator and ailerons. Only two servos / flappy-bits are used, with a channel each, but each channel takes the inputs from your elevator (climb/dive) and ailerons (roll/bank) and mixes it together, with the combined result going to the servo

- then, being an untested plane, I've got several "dumbing down" and "agro'ing up" switches, which apply a fixed scale via multiplication to the results from above; eg. FMOD1 applies 66% to everything and FMOD2 applies 33% to everything, but DR1 applies 125% to everything. So I can dumb the inputs right down to 33% if it's way too frisky, or right up to 125% if it's too docile. And if I have both FMOD1 and DR1 selected, I get 66% x 125% = 82.5%

Note that I didn't know what the hell I was doing with it until about half an hour ago, so once you grasp the concepts and figure out which method will achieve your aims (usually googling with "deviationtx do-something-or-other...") then you can achieve practically anything with it