Livin' on the Edge....tx

MZ250Ben

Member
I'd like to share my experience with making the change to Open/Edge tx as an old-school rc flyer (my first radio was a Futaba Conquest AM, and I still use a JR XP6102 FM radio at Fest, although I do use a Spektrum DX8-E for my casual flying).

People will tell you the following, which I ultimately found to be true:

It IS better.
It will take roughly a week of frustrating tinkering with your pc and the interface.
If you are an above-average computer nerd and have experience with programmable micro controllers and coding (ie: Arduino), the logic switch function will blow up your universe. It is basically an Arduino with a radio transmitter. You can make it do ANYTHING.

Last weekend I sat myself down and decided to figure it out once and for all. In 24 hours, I went from a maniac screaming at my laptop: "HOW IS THIS BETTER?? THIS IS NOT BETTER!" to carefully dialing in slow-motion flaps to the flaperons on my favorite plane while saying, "Oooh, this IS better!" I just last night created a set-up for my OMP m1 from SCRATCH, no borrowed files at all. Works great. A week ago, I wouldn't have had a clue where to start. I have plans to use telemetry to re-map my throttle in real time based on battery voltage in order to maintain consistent flight performance during combat, or to maximize flight times when I'm not trying to smash other planes.


So here is my advice to anyone going from the old intuitive way to the new, confusing but way more fun way:

1) Get a new transmitter. I tried a used Taranis XD-9, which an Uber-nerd could probably have made work, but being so old, myriad compatibility/update issues just made things worse, and the more I read on forums of similar efforts the more I realized I was chasing my tail. After wasting $60 on a multi protocol module that changed nothing, I shelved it and got a brand new Zorro for 1/3 the price of my DX8. I didn't think that I'd like the smaller size and PS controller shape, but I really, REALLY do. I can put the thing in my coat pocket, for crying out loud. Try that with DX8 or TX16. There are oodles of entry-level options out there, but getting a popular one means more relevant instructional Youtube vids will be found. You'll need to get the special batteries too, that was a fun surprise. 18350 3.7 lithium ion cells are what you need for the Zorro. You can plug a 2s lipo into it too, but it's more tidy to use the 18350 cells.

2) Do not assume that a new radio is loaded with the latest firmware. After I got things working, some things began to mysteriously NOT work and even got worse with subsequent attempts (calibrations and model info vanishing, etc). I then did what I should have done FIRST: check the firmware version. Mine was TWO YEARS OLD. That's a fossil in open-source programming terms. The problem is that you will get Opentx buddy online, which will be the latest version and then try to program an ancient firmware version with it. Most of it will work, and you'll be like, "Hey, I got it!" but no you don't.

3) Before you try to setup models, explore the radio settings via the Edge tx buddy interface. You're going to be turning this radio off and on a LOT, and here you can turn off the obnoxious, pointless voice greeting at power-up, and increase or decrease the boot up and shut off times. Also check the switch configurations, the Zorro has 4 buttons, 4 toggles and 2 rollers. The rollers were not configured out of the box, but all the rest of it was.

4) While the PC interface is great, you will eventually be doing most of your programming and adjustments on the transmitter screen, and in many ways this is actually easier. These guys who are well into Edge can snatch the radio form your hands and with a flurry of clicks and thumbs solve every issue you've been fighting for weeks in a matter of seconds. I will be that good someday! I will also be the Shah of Persia.

5) WHEN YOU CHANGE SETTINGS ON THE TRANSMITTER, THEY WILL NOT BE THERE ON THE PC INTERFACE UNTIL YOU PUT THEM THERE TOO. The smart way is to never work from the file on the PC, read your file off the radio and put that same file back in. Or have a test file that you copy new models from into your read file. I realized I had made this mistake when the radio began talking to me again at power up. And my rollers vanished. And my flaperon offsets were back to zero. And the rudder channel I had corrected was reversed again. This was fun to find out when the helicopter was in the sky! So, yeah, you will do field adjustments, so get in the habit of copying your radio to the PC EVERY TIME. That is if you plan to even use the PC. I get the feeling that a lot of folks don't. You really don't have to except for firmware updates.

6) Here's kind of a specific one, but one that is relevant to anyone using mixes, especially for throttle cut, which you should always use: The order in which you stack the mixes under the channel line MATTERS. Big time. Example: I had throttle cut dialed in on a switch under throttle channel. Then I later added a new mix under the same channel for an optional curve, activated by a different switch. Because I placed it above the cut mix line, it overrode the cut switch, thus I had throttle cut ONLY IN ONE MODE. This is why in the right-click menu there is an option to flip lines. I did that and all is well. This is also why you remove rotors/props while checking stuff. I mention this because these are the kinds of things a layman won't always know, and when it comes to throttle cut, such normal ignorance can be outright dangerous. I know we're all careful, but complacency kills.

7) Do you really need all the capability that Edge/Open tx offers? Of course not. One of my friends, a LONG time open tx user, just bought his first Spektrum! And he likes it. It's just as programmable, really, but more familiar to most out of the box. I initially had no plans to utilize any feature beyond what my old boring self already did on my JR 20 years ago, but a week in and I already have. This sort of thing is soul-food for exactly the FF type, old or young. I'm having a great time with it, and I invite others to share their experience or frustrations. I've had a hard time finding current threads on the subject weren't so deep in the woods that a newbie is instantly lost or getting out-of-date info. And folks here seem to respond with a reasonable degree of regularity, more so than most forums I follow.
 

Bricks

Master member
Hardest part of being a relative newbie to OT Edge TX way to many ways to program the same out come. RCGroups has an Edge TX forum one poster wanted to program his smoke pump to vary with the throttle. Five different posters gave 5 different ways to do it, then argued on the correct way it should be done. I am guessing more then likely all 5 ways would of worked. So newbies go HHHHHHhuuuuuuuhh?????????????????

I have Spektrum and Radiomaster TX16s the major reason the TX16s stands out from the Spektrum DX9 is the multi protocol. I find on the Radiomaster I am having to re-calibrate as the stick centers want to wonder some with the stock gimbals.
 

MZ250Ben

Member
Hardest part of being a relative newbie to OT Edge TX way to many ways to program the same out come. RCGroups has an Edge TX forum one poster wanted to program his smoke pump to vary with the throttle. Five different posters gave 5 different ways to do it, then argued on the correct way it should be done. I am guessing more then likely all 5 ways would of worked. So newbies go HHHHHHhuuuuuuuhh?????????????????

I have Spektrum and Radiomaster TX16s the major reason the TX16s stands out from the Spektrum DX9 is the multi protocol. I find on the Radiomaster I am having to re-calibrate as the stick centers want to wonder some with the stock gimbals.
Absolutely, I had plenty of this when trying forums for answers, I just came away more confused than before. Once I settled in and began to tinker, I adopted the strategy of learning ONE thing at a time. I know that learning one thing on edgetx often means you must learn 3 other things first, but just kind of isolating my goals really helped. There are still things I want to learn or at least become more fluent with, but that's kind of the fun part, it's always there to work on. Also, learning to use and read the model/radio simulation can really expedite things, I've noticed anyway. Just gotta be sure you're reading the right output thingy...