Friday, May 24, 2019

Taranis OpenTX v2.2.1 Flight-Modes and Sound Profiles

Here are some setup notes for my Taranis (running OpenTX v2.2.1), about Taranis audio and setting-up sounds. Remember that if you switch computers and you start having USB detection and communication problems ... try a different (higher quality) Micro-USB cable.
OK, so let's start with this tip:



I setup the S1 (left) potentiometer to be the Taranis' full-time volume control. The other command is for resetting the Timer to zero. These are Global Functions (affects all models) .

A while back I assigned sounds to my Flight Modes (via Special_Functions and Play_Track) .

However when I am using an Android GCS (like Tower/Mission-Maker) ... their nice verbose announcements include Flight-Mode as well. Having them both announce the Flight-Mode seems redundant and un-professional. Turning-down the volume isn't a good solution because other important sounds are silenced.



With the help of the guys in the forums, looks like I have figured out a way to have TWO separate Sound Profiles (controllable with a switch). One for flying with the GSC, and the other without. It's a combination of new Logical_Switches and Special_Functions.


Finally, I recently found-out that (some how) I downloaded the wrong Amber v2.2 sound-file pack (back in 2017), or ... it has been slightly updated in the past few years. Anyway, the new file I downloaded is 19mb and now has about 714 wav-files. I installed this on my Taranis-x9d (running OpenTX v2.2.1). It seems to work fine, and provides more Amber spoken tracks than the old file.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

FrSky Taranis X9D TX Clock Battery Replacement.

It's flying season again, so I took my FrSky Taranis X9D transmitter down off the shelf. I haven't used it much in the past 6 months, but I do keep its main battery charged/cycled. I bought it new July-2014.

I noticed the Time was very wrong, and the Date was 1970. I tried to set the correct Date-and-Time several times, but it kept reverting back to 1970 after a simple power-cycle.

Turn off Taranis and remove main NiMH battery.
Loosen 2 of the switches a bit (just the two on the case-seam)
Remove 6 screws on back
Carefully separate halves and lay flay on table (don't strain cables)
Replaced tiny CR1220 3-volt lithium coin-cell battery.
- The old one was dead (down to 0.5-volts).
- The battery socket is clean (no corrosion)
Re-assembled and test radio.
Set Time and Date and test it's retention after a power-cycle.
Be sure Time and Date survives the radio being turned off for 15 minutes.
Mine tests good again.

FrSky Taranis X9D - Inside PCB and CR1220 coin-cell battery.
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