Mapping channels to functions?

[isaksp00]

I have managed to get a "clone" Dragonfly transmitter to work with a serial cable, Win XP Home edition. I configured PPJoy and PPJoyCOM to use the Zhen Hua protcol, and I am successful in seeing the 4 transmitter joysticks control channels 1 to 4 in the FMS calibration screen. The cal. seems to work on all 4. What I can't get to work is the ability to control the Dragonfly model in FMS. I suspect it may be due to an incorrect mapping between channel and flight function. I can not find anything that describes how to map a channel to a function, and what polarity FMS wants. For example, the throttle stick (left stick, up and down) on my transmitter controls channel 1 in FMS, and in calibration when I move the stick up (advance throttle) the calibration bar for ch 1 goes down. I assume I assign throttle to ch 1, and it seems also pitch (just what do these bottom 4 functions do, eg tail and nick, and how do they relate to the top 4?);if advancing throttle decreases the bar height, do I invert it? How do I tell if I need exp (I assume exponential control of some sort)? After I calibrate the stick movements and I am supposed to center the sticks, does throttle really get centered or should it be in the down position?
If there is a link to a manual page or other thread on this, just point me there.
Thanks!

[Cobra]

Try the following channel order:
4, 2, 3, 1, 4, 2, 3, 1
I have inverse set on 1,3, and 4, and exponential set on all 4 of the bottom controls (the heli controls.)

There's a pretty good section on the #4 dragonfly over at:

And another site that looks useful:
Click on serial, I have the settings for 'dragongly transmitter' on my setup.

[isaksp00]

Cobra,

Thanks for the answer!

I did look at those sites and tried the configs, but it still doesn't seem to control the Dragonfly sim model much at all. Can you tell me what your transmitter sticks do, and I can see if it is the same as mine, and maybe try to map the channels appropriately if they are different? Also, maybe I'm just initiating flight wrong. When I try to start, I advance the throttle and nothing happens. Maybe a half min later, it does lift off, but uncontrollable (sticks seem to have little relation to control effect). After you calib in FMS, what position are your sticks in when it asks you to center them (eg, is throttle really centered or is it all the way off)? What port settings do you use in Win XP for the com port (I am curious about flow control)? Thanks again.

[Cobra]

Do you have a left hand throttle (mode 2) controller? If so:

controller ---- FMS Mapping/Calibration dialog bars

left stick/vertical - up,Ch1 goes down, down, Ch1 goes up
(Setting invert doesn't change the display bar response, but it does change the heli response.)

left stick/horizontal - left, Ch4 goes down

right sitck/vert - up, Ch2 bar goes up
right stick/horiz - left, Ch3 goes down

I do center the throttle/left stick for calibration. When done, if you center the throttle and let all other sticks self center the bars should all be about in the middle.

Also, before a good range calibration, you may see more than one bar move when you move a stick. The other axis on a single stick moves a little while you exercise the first axis, depending on how good your finger isolation is.

Exponential helps a little, but you should be able to fly the heli's with or without it. Exp seems to make it a little smoother for me.

I have another note over in the joystick interface forum (this setup isn't a PPM as I understand it) about stick response on these controllers. In my testing so far, it seems like only the center half of the stick returns values for motion. So you may find that yours does something similar. I'm interested if you see the same thing.

Kevin