S vs non-S modules?

I'm wondering if I in fact do not have an "S" module; I thought I did as I seemed to get telemetry from my Mini CP, but I honestly didn't pay much attention to it so it may well have been bad data, and I've had it disabled 'cause it chews the power.
Is there a distinctive way to tell? I just found a few things that indicated a diamond shape printed; mine has a caret shape. My module is labeled "WK-21201RF" "2010.08.03" "V1.0"

My devo is just labeled as Devo 6, not Devo 6S, but I'd always been of the belief that the module was the "S" version. So, if it ain't, apart from telemetry am I losing out of anything, specifically is there any range differences when running Deviation? I know at one stage there were 10mW vs 100mW versions, but it seemed that was purely a software-imposed limit?

FDR wrote: BTW disabling DEVO telemetry in the TX won't stop the Mini CP to send out telemetry information, only the TX will not receive it.
I don't think it will save too much juice on the TX side, and definitely won't in the model.
To disable telemetry in the Mini CP you need to upgrade it's fw...

Strange, everyone has always said turning off telemetry in the TX has a definite impact on flight times? In the order of 4mins without vs 2.5mins with?

Thought; for DSM2 / DSMX, would the RX need to send something back to the TX on binding to say it's got a clear set of channels? ie., they keep trading off against each other untll they find channels with less noise? If so, then maybe that could explain dropouts people are having; they are hard-binding on channels that are noisy, and not searching around for clear channels?

PS. So is there a definitive way of knowing if you have an "S" module or not? Is the "diamond" definitive?

RoGuE_StreaK wrote:

FDR wrote: BTW disabling DEVO telemetry in the TX won't stop the Mini CP to send out telemetry information, only the TX will not receive it.
I don't think it will save too much juice on the TX side, and definitely won't in the model.
To disable telemetry in the Mini CP you need to upgrade it's fw...

Strange, everyone has always said turning off telemetry in the TX has a definite impact on flight times? In the order of 4mins without vs 2.5mins with?

That's what I see. The Proto X (non-SLT version) also has telemetry, and the flight times on it fall from ~4minutes to about 90 seconds if you turn telemetry on.

Clearly, something that consumes power when you have telemetry on in the Tx isn't happening on the Rx side when telemetry is off. I assumed the Rx didn't enable the telemetry transmitter under those conditions, as that's would seem to be the biggest consumer of power for telemetry.

FDR wrote: I was specific about the DEVO telemetry.
There is nothing in the DEVO protocol's packets, which would tell to the RX, that it should send telemetry informations:
bitbucket.org/deviationtx/deviation/src/...er=file-view-default

So why does the mini-cp - which uses the Devo protocol - get a third more flight time if you turn of telemetry in your tx?

Here's a typical finding, published at rcproreviews.com/walkera-mini-cp-brushless :

I have found out that using the telemetry eats up the battery time.
I went from 5 full minutes of flight time on my Master CP with telemetry inhibited in the TX to 1:25 minutes flight time with the telemetry enabled.
I found the same thing with my Mini CP, 1:25 minutes flight time with the telemetry enabled and 3 minutes flight time with the telemetry inhibited.
My friends Mini CP had the same results as I did with telemetry inhibited and enabled.

vlad_vy wrote: I think it's fake. With my Mini CP and Ladybird I havn't any difference at flight time, telemetry on or telemetry off.

Like I said, my mini cp sees the drop in flight time if I turn on telemetry. Maybe you're is busted and doesn't change behavior based on the Tx setting?

vlad_vy wrote: I'm sorry if I said something offensive. But, how it can be possible? Telemetry transmitting (2.5-4.0 mW) can consume several additional mA, but not 0.5-1.0A.

Top be honest, I felt like you saying "it's fake" was calling me a liar. Which I found offensive. Thank you for the apology. I'm sorry if I offended you in turn.

I don't know why it happens, but I see it, and other people have been reporting it for as long as I've had the Mini-CP (which I bought with my first Devo Tx years ago). Maybe more than just the telemetry Tx gets shut off if you turn of telemetry - the sensor, for instance? Possibly the difference in available current changes the engine behavior in some way to increase it's power draw?

My Mini-CP uses 330mAh batteries, and flies ~4 minutes with telemetry off and ~2.5 with it on. Part of that is my being paranoid - I think I set the warning at 3.5 volts where it starts losing power at ~3.3 volts I fly without telemetry. I'm to groggy to figure out the actual difference in power consumed, but that should be enough data to get the number.

... and use always the same lipo!
After a period of use they may have differences in wear. A fully charged lipo does not always mean the same flight time.
That's my experience.

Just reviving for a second; with the recent talk of the 4-in-1 boards, I'm wondering whether there is actually a physically difference on the S vs non-S boards that allows or disallows telemetry for the cyrf chip? Do they use the same chip but with different supporting hardware? If the latter, is there a "simple" (ie. 7E range-mod) hack to turn it on?
The 7E has telemetry; how does it differ to the non-S modules?

As another thought, if the non-S modules are wired differently to the S modules, and seemingly the 7E modules as they support telemetry, could there be issues in deviation code when using a non-S module? Just playing devil's advocate, and also to satisfy myself that my 6 is perfectly fine as it is without forking out for a "replacement" module.