Another Newbie needs help with FMS connection

[fatloafer]

Help please!

I'm a dumb-ass newbie and am trying to resist the temptation just to go out to the park and crash my new ESKY Honey Bee 4 channel heli. So I am trying to get the transmitter to operate the FMS simulator. No luck so far.

I don't even know if this question is posted in the right section, so I've repeated it in all the 'interface' sections.

I have installed PPJoy and PICJoy on 2 machines (XP and Win2000)
No errors on installation.
Which serial protocol should I be using? I have a choice of :-

FMS PIC 9600 baud (Generic)
FMS PIC 9600 baud (0xF0+ sync)
FMS PIC 19200 baud (0xFF+ sync)
Zhen Hua 5 byte protocol
Aero Chopper serial

but no matter which one I choose, PPJoyCom just sits there with a message 'waiting for stream init'

This question has probably been answered 1000 times, but can someone please do one more.....I have contacted my supplier, who are very helpful, but have really only directed me onto this forum.

My transmitter has the following on the front
E sky 4 channel transmitter
0404
PPM

And an added-on momentary 'TRN' switch at the top (what does this do; no reference to it in the instructions in the box)

Thanks
Anthony

[fatloafer]

I've just taken me interface cable apart. There's no PIC microcontroller in the cable! Have I been sold a dud?

[phildc]

I would first look at the signal with diagnostic tools.
E.g. try to connect you (ppm ?) signal and ground to the mike plug, and run the thermometer or virtual scope.
The ppm audio thermometer:

The diag topic:


Phil.

[phildc]

I am not a specialist of PPJoy, but would suggest to install ppjoy only, get either a ppm or a zhen hua on the serial port, let ppjoy convert it to a virtual joystick in your system, and select joystick interface in fms.

There are more infos (but in french) in

Phil.

[Steve Lewin]

Unless I missed it in all those words you haven't said what type of interface/connection you're using or where you got it from.

There are some working interfaces which don't contain a PIC. How you set them up in PPJoy/FMS depends on which one you have and I'm afraid we're not that good at guessing.

Steve

[fatloafer]

The cable came with the helicopter kit.
It has no part numbers on it
It has a 4 pin connector which plugs into the back of the transmitter
It has a 9 way D female socket at the other end with only pins 2 (white), 3 (red) and 5 (green) wires connected

I bought it from RCScale.co.uk

I'm afraid thats all I know!

Anthony

[phildc]

Ok, that's a pure serial (RS232) connection (5 is ground, 2 is data in = to the pc, 3 is data out = from the pc).
I don't know if your transmitter is giving a RS32 signal.
You could test with
Select the COM nbr used. The software will start with a speed of 19200 bps (where the synch for FMS is x'FF = 255). You can later change the speed to 9600bps (synch x'FE = 254).
Do action = start to read a number of bytes. Read again with 'Clear'.
Between two synch characters will be the channel values, from ch.1 to ch.N. (if the transmitter gives an RS232 signal, known by fms as 'pic serial')

Phil.

[fatloafer]

Thats what I thought phildc. I have tried some other terminal packages I have on my PC, but nothing seems to be in the correct RS232 format.
I will look directly with an oscilliscope at what comes out from the 4 pin connector on my transmitter.

I think I'll find only the 4 channels of PPM data will come from pins 1-4, whith the shield being the gnd.

It seems a little mad to me that there doesn't seem to be much coherent information on what's what. No-one seems to know what cable I'm supposed to use with my ESKy transmitter........

Anthony

[phildc]

[fatloafer]

Hi Phil,

I have scoped out the D9 end of my cable, and on pin 2 of 9 way D connector I see what looks like the raw PPM data; looks like theres 6 channels in all. If I move the sticks individually on the transmitter, then I can see an associated PPM channel changing.

I get 'negative' pulses of just under 500uS in width and about -1.2V when referenced to GND (pin 5). But its not a clean signal DC-wise. I can take a screen shot from the scope and e-mail it to you (or post on here but don't know how to do that yet).

On Pin 3 there's a DC level of 12V with reference to pin 5. This is a very stable DC level.

Surely I cannot simply stuff this PPM signal straight into a PC's serial port?

My supplier ASSURES me I have the correct cable.

Should I swap pin 2 to pin 9?

??????

Anthony

[phildc]

[Peak Fly]