Difficulty in getting channel 6 to work

I couldn't let a day go by without asking another silly question .....

I'm trying to get channel 6 to work on my quad to use a locator buzzer.


I went into my radio to the mixer screen
I scrolled down to channel 6
I selected simple, then I assigned the switch that I wanted to use. I've been saved my settings and just to be on the safe side I turned off my transmitter and then turn it back on again.

I plugged in the locator buzzer to the proper channel on my receiver plug in my battery and try to test it out. The lights flash and clicking sound is heard but no buzzer.
I also plugged in my quad to base flight and open the receiver tab and I'm not getting any movement with that switch.

I'm wondering if there is something else that I should be doing but I'm not sure.

If it's an on/off switch, you might consider a min/max channel, to make sure you get a clean edge.

Check the channel monitor to make sure channel 6 is actually changing.

mwm wrote: If it's an on/off switch, you might consider a min/max channel, to make sure you get a clean edge.

Check the channel monitor to make sure channel 6 is actually changing.

I'm not really sure what you meant in the first paragraph ( i'm pretty new to deviation but I'm still learning), but I did check the channel monitor and it's working just fine....

I am also using a naze32 and I just realize they have a support for buzzers directly on the fc.
I'm going to read up on that and see if I can go through that way. I still may run into the same problem though but I will check that out first

FDR wrote: Did you set the switch as the source or as the switch?
It should be the source of the mixer, otherwise it won't change anything: the output will be zero in either state...

You actually gave me advice on setting up channel 5 about a week ago so I went back and followed your instructions for that... I might've made a mistake but I'm pretty sure I did Set it as the source....
When I'm back in the workshop I will doublecheck...

FDR wrote: Did you set the switch as the source or as the switch?
It should be the source of the mixer, otherwise it won't change anything: the output will be zero in either state...

Here's a little video to document exactly what I want to do and what I have done to try to do that so far. Probably easier to watch this video to see rather than me trying to explain it.
Thanks

The switch is mostly set up right on your Tx. Change the curve on channel 6 from Expo to Min/Max. That will give you a nice, crisp edge when you switch it, which the buzzer may care about.

I couldn't really see the screen long enough to see if your FC was seeing channel 6 change. Nor could I see any other connections on the Rx. Or what the Rx is.

The problem is probably in your quad setup. Can you prove that that's right? Does a servo connected to the Rx output the buzzer is on work? If not, tell us about that setup. What Rx are you using? What's the configuration, if any is possible? Ditto for the flight controller. What are the connections between all these parts?

While I'm at it, you shouldn't be using Heli mode on a multirotor. Use airplane mode. Unless you have a cyclic pitch multirotor, anyway - but they're pretty rare. The nightly builds have a "multirotor" mode - but for now, it's just aircraft mode with a different icon, to try and keep people from using a heli config on a multirotor.

Finally, try reading through my model config tutorial . It walks you through setting up a multirotor with multiple flight modes, etc.

Double post

Double post sorry

ShawnecJP wrote:

mwm wrote: The switch is mostly set up right on your Tx. Change the curve on channel 6 from Expo to Min/Max. That will give you a nice, crisp edge when you switch it, which the buzzer may care about.

I couldn't really see the screen long enough to see if your FC was seeing channel 6 change. Nor could I see any other connections on the Rx. Or what the Rx is.

The problem is probably in your quad setup. Can you prove that that's right? Does a servo connected to the Rx output the buzzer is on work? If not, tell us about that setup. What Rx are you using? What's the configuration, if any is possible? Ditto for the flight controller. What are the connections between all these parts?

While I'm at it, you shouldn't be using Heli mode on a multirotor. Use airplane mode. Unless you have a cyclic pitch multirotor, anyway - but they're pretty rare. The nightly builds have a "multirotor" mode - but for now, it's just aircraft mode with a different icon, to try and keep people from using a heli config on a multirotor.

Finally, try reading through my model config tutorial . It walks you through setting up a multirotor with multiple flight modes, etc.

That's weird, everything that I wrote down was deleted....
I use the rx1002 ( that was in the title of my video).

Yes, my buzzer is connected to my RX properly.
I set it up as per the instructions that I included in the picture in my last mail. These instructions came with my buzzer and did not require me to connect it to my fc.
This particular buzzer has three different functions
If I wanted to just activate with the switch when I can't find my model then all I need to do is connect it to my receiver
If I want to use it as a low-voltage warning I can connect it to my battery as well
If I want to use it as a warning that I have lost the signal from my receiver I should connected to the flight controller as well
I can also set it up as a combination between all of these three different functions if I would like to
At the moment all I want to do is to use it as a locator buzzer so all I want to do is connected to my RX.

I didn't review the video before I posted it so I had assumed that you would be able to see my channels tab on base flight. You can't see it very well but I assure you that when I flip the switch that I assigned it's not flipping on the receiver tab in baseline. I guess you're just going to have to take my word for that....

I originally tried to attach two different pictures, one that had the actual instructions and two, the one that showed the schematics . I will try attaching them again as I think the same schematics photo was attached twice....

Bench test the buzzer independently? Maybe a faulty unit?

Well, I think RedSleds may have the right idea. Doesn't seem like the funny behavior you are getting from it is normal under any conditions.

As for knowing you have it set up correctly - saying something repeatedly doesn't make it true. I just found out I'd been misreading PB's module installation instructions for close to a year. Going back and doing things properly cleared up two different problems I'd been dealing with.

So - can you connect something simple like a servo, and that you know works, to that channel on the Rx? If that works, then the problem is pretty clearly the buzzer. If that doesn't work, then there's something wrong between the Tx (as it shows it's changing the values) and the servo channel (as it's not seeing the change).

mwm wrote: Well, I think RedSleds may have the right idea. Doesn't seem like the funny behavior you are getting from it is normal under any conditions.

As for knowing you have it set up correctly - saying something repeatedly doesn't make it true. I just found out I'd been misreading PB's module installation instructions for close to a year. Going back and doing things properly cleared up two different problems I'd been dealing with.

So - can you connect something simple like a servo, and that you know works, to that channel on the Rx? If that works, then the problem is pretty clearly the buzzer. If that doesn't work, then there's something wrong between the Tx (as it shows it's changing the values) and the servo channel (as it's not seeing the change).

Yes, something isn't right. I just have to nail it down and I will take your advice and redsleds advice.
I will reread the instructions and triple check my connections.
I don't have much extra quick meant that I could attach to test to see if the server is working or not but I will figure something out.
I don't plan to be flying in on grass within the next week so I could sometime to nail it down.

I wouldn't be surprised if the poorly written instructions on the buzzer from Banggood are wrong either....
I did to the servo wire around thinking that maybe the signal wire was on the opposite side but when I did that I didn't get any power at all.
I will work on it over the next couple of days and if I solve my problem I will update this thread
Thanks for your advice!

One question regarding your helicopter Vs. airplane model file concern....

Can I just simply go into this current model file and change it to an airplane type or will I have to adjust other things as well?

It's not that easy then maybe I should just start working on a new model file from scratch..... Hmmmmm

ShawnecJP wrote: Can I just simply go into this current model file and change it to an airplane type or will I have to adjust other things as well?

It's not that easy then maybe I should just start working on a new model file from scratch..... Hmmmmm

Dunno - I never tried that before. You'll want to check the AIL & ELE channels afterwards. Right now they are set to Cyclic values, which means they point at virtual channels and do things with them we can't do even in the advanced GUI, and the actual values depend on your helicopter setup. This could work fine, but you only need Simple mix types with whatever curve you want on them.

The problem you get from using Heli that way is that you might not have it set up properly, meaning that your AIL & ELE and Throttle channel will all get mixed in the output, causing you lots of headaches. And if you want tot go back and set dual rates, or tweak the curve or some such - well I assume you can do that, but have no idea how.

Well at the moment it purrs like a kitten and I'm experiencing absolutely no anomalies while I'm flying at all.
At this point I won't fix what ain't broken
But I'm going to start working on a new model file based on what I've learned from you and see how that works and can I can compare them.

Mission accomplished !
It just wasn't receiving enough voltage when only plugged into the receiver.
It needed to be plugged into the battery as well.

I made a full video detailing the set up and test so please feel free to watch this if you think you can help you ( anyone who stumbles upon this thread)