A couple Devo 7E questions

From a n00b, so feel free to point me to the thread where these are answered already. I did search, but I'm not coming up with anything.

1. Unboxed my brand new 7E yesterday. Installed deviation-devo7e-v4.0.1. When I create a new model, I don't see a "multi" option, just "plane" and "heli". How do I get that option?
2. I'm a little confused about builds. I'll eventually mod the 7E for flying my MJX hex's (X800 and X600, and yes I realize I'll need to open it up and add a module...terrifying but I'll try!) and I see that the MJXq protocol isn't included in the 4.0.1 release. It *is* included in v4.0.1-6a1c6ae. So can I simply copy the contents of the v4.0.1-6a1c6ae\protocol folder to 4.01\protocol folder and it'll work? Or do I need to actually "dfu" v4.0.1-6a1c6ae to my radio?

Thanks!

1. multi is only available in the nightly builds, not 4.0.1.
2. No, you can't copy the protocol folder between builds. Those modules depend on values that are created at build time. That kind of copy is much more likely to crash your transmitter than to work properly.

We got things mostly to the point of doing a release last summer, but it got put on hold when the RE got busy on other things. Unless there's a known bug in the nightly that affects you, you're much better off running it than the last release - which is now several years oldl

Hi WildDoktor!
The Sebydocky tutorials are good help, for the devo7E mods!
www.drone-maniac.com/diy-devo-7e-tutorials/

Regards

Oh wow; I didn't realize the official build was that old! Thanks for the info mwm. I installed the latest nightly, and sure enough, the "multi" option showed up. Cool!

Then, since I will eventually do the nrf24l01 mod, I installed devo7e-v4.0.1-4e67384 (which looks like it dropped yesterday...fresh!). I did the dfu thing and then copied the Protocol folder from that zip file to the 7E. Then I created a model named "MJX"...a multi, using the MJXq protocol. (Obviously it won't work yet, and I also will need to edit the .ini file once I install the module, but I just wanted to see what it looked like.)

ursus69, thanks; I've watched most of Sebydocky's tutorials and they certainly are good help!

Ok, next n00b questions:

1. When setting up a model you can choose the number of channels. So...what's a "channel"? How do channels relate to sticks and switches?
2. When setting up a model to be a joystick (to connect to a PC for flight sims):

• Should I use a fixed ID?
• When using USBHID, I'm assuming PPM In should be "none"?

3. I renamed a model.ini file on my pc; named it "joystickUSB.ini" and then hooked my 7E up and copied that file to the "models" folder on the 7E. Then I tried to load that model, and the screen was blank; like there were no model.ini files in the folder at all. What's up with that? I'd love to not have to use the excruciating keyboard on the Devo to name my models.

Thanks for all the help guys!

WildDoktor wrote: So...what's a "channel"? How do channels relate to sticks and switches?

www.rc-airplane-world.com/radio-control-functions.html

Answering my own question now...

the ini files can not have any other name then modelXX.ini. Where XX is a number from 1 to 30 (or more).
If you want to change your model name as it is stated on the tx screen then open the modelXX.ini with notepad++ and type the name there after:
name=

TomPeer wrote: the ini files can not have any other name then modelXX.ini. Where XX is a number from 1 to 30 (or more).
If you want to change your model name as it is stated on the tx screen then open the modelXX.ini with notepad++ and type the name there after:
name=

Ahhh...got it. Perfect, thanks! I have a few models renamed now and ready for configuring.

Can anybody answer this one?

2. When setting up a model to be a joystick (to connect to a PC for flight sims):

• Should I use a fixed ID?
• When using USBHID, I'm assuming PPM In should be "none"?

WildDoktor wrote: So...what's a "channel"? How do channels relate to sticks and switches?

Nowadays there is virtually no corelation between the number of channels and the number of sticks/switches, as they can all be mixed and matched in almost limitless ways; deviation is a hell of a lot more powerful than a "standard" TX and you are limited to your imaginiation and logic.

Channels in this sense relate to how many "slots" there are on your receiver. It used to be that each channel would have one physical thing attached (eg. servo, ESC...), but again this has changed a lot in recent years; receivers now have the ability to have a single physical connection providing, say, 14 channel's worth of data, and inversely flight controller boards can interpret data on one "slot" and extrapolate that to multiple different settings.

With 4 sticks and 2 two-way switches it would "traditionally" have been a maximum of six channels, but with deviation you can set up mixers to take the positions of those sticks and switches and mix them into, say, 10 different channels, each with a different output. Or you could mix it all down into one chanel, it's entirely up to you.

WildDoktor wrote: 2. When setting up a model to be a joystick (to connect to a PC for flight sims):

• Should I use a fixed ID?
• When using USBHID, I'm assuming PPM In should be "none"?

Pretty sure fixed ID will have absolutely no effect either way here.
Again, pretty sure PPM In doesn't matter, if you have it set and have a trainee TX connected then you'll get their inputs in your USB (if it's set up correctly), otherwise it won't do anything

Thanks RoGuE! That really makes it "make sense". I appreciate it a lot!

One note, one rant:

First, and most important - that is not a nightly build. That's a test build. Nightly builds are usually created whenever the sources change, but the mechanism is currently broken and the people who can fix it haven't been around for a while. Test builds are uploaded by developers so others can test features before they get merged into the main line code and show up in the nightly. You should really only use those when instructed to do so by the developer. Not sure what you got there, but it's likely that hexfet did a test build for new protocols, which would be the latest nightly plus new protocols.

As Rogue_Streak notes, channels & "functions" are largely unrelated these days. Each channel is basically a value that is sent between the Rx and Tx every frame, the time between frames being measured in milliseconds. Proprietary Tx firmware tends send analog inputs as channels, possibly tweaked, and tie switches to functions. Some functions are values that are usually sent to the Rx, like "gear", and hence are channels. Others change the behavior of the transmitter, like dual rate settings, and aren't sent to the receiver so aren't channels. This make that explanation a lot more confusing than it needs to be.

Deviation (and other open source firmware) breaks the connection between inputs - either switches or analog - and functions/channels. This makes it really powerful, as Rogue_Streak notes. So you can switch the sticks between flight control and gimbal control when you go to loiter mode, and do things like use the AUX knobs on a Tx to enable a mix. Some really expensive camera platform Tx's do the former, and I've not seen any proprietary Tx's do the latter - not that I've seen all proprietary Tx's, or even any of the really high end stuff.

This change also highlights what I feel is one of the biggest ripoffs in the RC industry - that radio systems are priced by number of "channels". That's just a magic number in the firmware! There may be a limit based on the protocol (i.e. - number of slots per frame), but below that it's a trivial change. On receivers, you get "6-channel" receivers that have 6 PWM outputs but support 12 channels via SBUS. And the Devo 7E is a 12 channel radio with the right firmware. Ok, possibly limits of the proprietary firmware keep you from using mor channels, but, c'mon!

Thanks mwm; I just got back around to this. I'll check the nightly compared to the one I have, but the one I have seems to be working for my simulator needs. And thanks for the rest of the response; I'm slowly learning.

Speaking of simulator, here's my next question:

How do I setup the switches for landing gear and flaps? I've searched and searched and can't find a tutorial. This must have been answered a million times already, but I'm not finding it.

I'm using the FPV Freerider sim and some of the aircraft have gear and / or flaps.

Thanks!

How to use existing switches for Landing Gear and Flaps?

I found an example on the web of how to use the HOLD or FMOD switches for landing gear. Is this correct? I don't want to go down this rabbit hole if this is the wrong way to do this:

The Deviation firmware splits FMOD into a boolean for each position - FMOD0, FMOD1, FMOD2. You have to create a mixer that consists of 3 submixers that set the value to -100% when FMOD0 is on, replaces it with 0% when FMOD1 is on, and replaces it with 100% when FMOD2 is on.

Yeah that's about it. This is one of those cases where it is set up as two switches each going to their own dedicated channel, in the model you create you'd effectively be using the 7E as a "6 channel" transmitter, 4 channels directly relating to the sticks and two channels directly relating to the two switches.

Very confusing for a n00b. So, something like this? (I notice that scrolling through the Switch setting there's no FMODE2...only FMODE0 and FMODE1.)

Model menu
Mixer
Ch5
Complex
Mixers=3
Page=1
Switch=fmode0
Mux=replace
Src=none
Curve=expo0
Scale=-100

(My goal is to fly BMI Flight Simulator and be able to retract gear and use flaps.)

SUCCESS!! But...only because I finally hit the right search words in Google.

That pointed me to this very site, where FDR in this post said: "on the throttle channel's configuration page there is a safety switch and safety value as well. Set the safety switch to the switch you want to use as throttle hold, for example the RUDD DR, and the safety value to -100.".

I puzzled on that for a while, then figured it out. So now, in the Ch5 config page, I set the safety switch to HOLD1, safety value to 100. in the Ch6 config page, I did basically the same: set the safety switch to FMOD1, safety value to 100.

Started up BMI Flight Simulator, configured the controller, and BAM! Suddenly I have a working ch5 and ch6! Assigned them to Flaps and Gear, respectively, and now I can use flaps and retracts.

Woo Hoo!!