RealFlight Evolution with Radiomaster TX16S - mapping problems

F

fluppe

New member
Hello people.

I have RF Evo with the RM TX16S.
I use it with the Spektrum WS2000 dongle.
I have setup my radio in RF, but no matter what I try, I cannot assign a switch, knob or slider to a channel higher than 8.
This happens no matter if I am in USB mode or if I am using the dongle.
In my radio, I use the onboard 4in1 module under the DSM protocol and I see 12 channels to use.
So........what am I doing wrong here ? What did I miss ?
I encountered the problem whilst trying to set things up for a Blade 230S V2 helicopter.
I can rev up, but the chopper won't get into the air.
Channel 9 is the throttle hold in RF, but I can not control it - neither in dongle mode nor in USB mode.
The J key doesn't do anything apparently.

Can anybody help me adress all 12 channels in my transmitter please ?
Ans now.....pushing my luck further......can someone please post a picture from his/hers transmitter pages for a heli : model setup, inputs and mixes , please ?

Thanks in advance for reading and thinking along with me folks !

Greatings from a cold and windy Brugge in Belgium !

Philippe.
 
Hey Bill, thank you for your answer. I knew the dongle only allows for 8 channels. Hence , I was trying the USB way. I will look into your link. Thanks for the help.
Philippe.
 
fluppe said:
Hey Bill, thank you for your answer. I knew the dongle only allows for 8 channels. Hence , I was trying the USB way. I will look into your link. Thanks for the help.
Philippe.
Click to expand...
I wrote the post that Bill linked to. In that is a link to another thread, and in post #10 of the subsequent is a screen shot of my setup. 8 proportional channels, and 13 on/off functions for RF. Screen shot is from Companion for OpenTX, but it works exactly the same in Edge Companion or in the radio. For the first 4, I used the default from the Inputs section, but since they are defaults, you really don't need anything in Inputs, and can link to the sticks themselves for those. This assumes you will be using the Software Radio in RF, so you won't need to use the Heli page, do any rates or expo, or any other mixing, in the radio. Of course, turn off all RF modules if using USB, as you don't need to send a signal via the antenna at all. Will greatly increase time between charging.
 
Hello Bill and Flapper.
Thanks again for your help.
Unfortunately this didn't help me much. I could not work with the settings you proposed.
So, I started from scratch again.
This is how I got it working :

Turn on the radio.
Make a new model and name it whatever you like.
Don't try to bind, just leave it as it is.
Insert your USB cable on the top of the radio.
I now have all the channels to my disposal.
In RealFlight I opened the radio calibration screen and made sure that every channel was "unassigned"
I then followed the channel configuration of RealFlight radio calibration screen and assigned every channel to a corresponding channel in my radio.
Somewhere along I had read that in RealFlight all channels were considered as " proportional " , knobs and swithes inclusive, so I made sure that was how I configured them all.
In my radio I added each time a channel in the input screen and then in the mixing screen I assigned a switch and how to behave.
( Momentarily each input is left at 100 % as you van see below ).
Each time I had conceived a channel in my radio, I went over to the RealFlight screen and applied that channel to the salme channel in RealFlight.
This seems to work for me. Finaly !

Below are the screenshots of my INPUT page and my MIXING pages in my radio.
I hope this is of use to other people.

Greetings from Brugge in Belgium.

Philippe.
 

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Well, it works for you, but is not optimal radio setup. Nothing bad will happen, just a lot of extra work.....
On the Inputs - none of them are doing anything to change what is happening in the Mixer page, and the lines calling for Ch5 through 11 are doing nothing at all. Lines 1-4 (AETR) are optional for this use, and do not need to be referred to over on the Mixer page, but of course can be.

On the mixer tab, the 3 position switches only need to be entered once, with the switch as a source, and no position at all. For example, Ch5 only needs the single line of: SE Weight 100% . Nothing for SE↑. SE-, SE↓ in the switch entry line at all.
CH9 for the two position switch does work, as it is saying "Only send a value when SF is down"

This simple version works, because, for example, CH5 sends a value of +100% anyway when the switch is up, 0% in the middle, and -100% when down.

On my fancier version, it allows for split functions on a switch. So SE↑ could be Smoke on/off, and SE↓ could be Reset. Or whatever is mapped in RF. Primarily useful for activating SAFE in planes that have it.

The curse of these Open systems - it can take a while to learn how the logic flows from one "page" to the next.
 
Hey Flapper. Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated !
Your proposal didn't seem to work when I copied it over. Hence my further search.
I wil give your solution another try. Maybe I did something wrong.
I don't fully understand the logic either.
When I tried to assign a switch, I did have to put one in the "inputs" page and then work with it in the "mixing" page. Otherwise RF didn't recognise the fact that there was a switch to work with.
But.........back to the drawing board ans chewing away o_O:)

Greets,
Philippe.
 
@ Flapper :
Before I try your solution, can you please explain to me why you us a function and how I can "read" your channel 10 in the picture for example.
You'd do me a big favour because I don't "see" it right now.

-------------------

Okay. Followed your lead and this time everything works just fine. Still don't understand the function thing.
 
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I hope I don't get too deep/wordy -
In the beginning, there are "sources". These are the sticks, switches, knobs, sliders on the radio. There are many others...but we'll keep it simple. All sources put out a value between -100 and +100. Sticks, etc. of course can put out any number in the range, depending on their position. Switches are either only -100 or +100 for 2 positions ones, or -100, 0 or +100 for 3 positions.
INPUTS is the page where you create new sources that use one of the defaults as a starting point. It is only a numbered list, and has nothing to do with channels. I hate that the default models name these with the same name as the sticks - so you can have an "Ail" stick, and an "Ail" Input. Gets confusing as to which one to pick later on. (I actually rename the Input, say from "Ail" to "I-A" so which is which is obvious). If the Input is left at default, it does exactly the same as the original source. If you change the weight in the Input to say 80%, then the Input will only put out a range from -80 to +80. So Inputs are used to "tune" the behavior of the original source - total movement, dual rates, expo, etc. You then have a choice later on in the Mixer of which source to use - the original one, or the modified Input one. If using the "Software Radio" in RF, there isn't any need to modify any of the original sources, so entries here are not really needed.

The MIXING page takes the source, and modifies it further before passing it to the Outputs page. If you change the weight here to 80%, on the original stick it would take whatever value (say +100) times .8 and send 80 to the output. If using the Ail input that is already only +/-80, it sends 80 * .8 or only 64 to the Output. So usually left at 100%, unless needed when combining multiple sources to one channel.
For RF - the sticks/knobs/sliders are fine being used as is for the channels in the mixer.
Windows and RF use a seperate channel for each button and needs to see either a value of 0 or 100 (off or on). If it sees less than 0, it just counts it as 0. So a basic 3 pos switch source (sending +100, 0, -100 will operate as On, off, off in RF. Which is what happens when defining say SA as a channel source in the Mixer, with no other changes in the options.

I got fancy in my setup. Look at Ch 11: The function in the mixer setting says "if the current value (x) of the source is greater than 0 send the value, otherwise send 0". So when the switch is in the position to send +100, it gets passed as "on". And seen as "off" on that channel if in the middle or the other position, since the switch value is either 0 or -100.
On Ch10, it says "if LESS than 0" pass it along. But that would be -100, which Windows/RF doesn't recognize as "on", so I changed the weight to -100. A minus * a minus = positive. That channel is then seen as turned on.
So, one switch where an up position can turn on/off one thing using one channel, and a down position can turn on/off something different using a different channel.

You'll quickly discover there are always at minimum 3 very different ways to accomplish the same thing in these radios. My version might be over the top for RF - but serves as a basis for emulating a Windows joystick with all its buttons for other games. I was originally curious to see if I could make the radio behave exactly like the Interlink DX, which with suitable mapping in RF it can. Except I don't have a scroll wheel for menu selections...
 
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Flapper ! You sure are THE MAN !!!
Thank you a thousend times for the effort you just did. I had to read it a few times but now it is chrystal clear to me. Again, thank you, thank you !
I have posted this link in a few clubs I am in, hoping this can help as many people as possible.
Greetz,
Philippe.
 
It can get deep pretty fast - I spent a long time before I grasped what was going on. Lots of "Why don't my dual rates work?" etc because of confusion between sources, inputs, and channels.
One other item - think of the switch option in mixing as being an additional "IF" statement. So "IF SA↓, then let this line be active"
So suddenly lots of things you can do - like having a switch that lets CH2 be controlled by the Thr stick, but when flipped a new line switches it to be controlled by the Ele stick. Or having switch SA be a source for a channel, yet being able to use another switch to determine whether it can be used at all or not.
Why anyone would do either is an open question, but it demonstrates the extreme flexibility of these systems!
 
Bill Stuntz said:
The spektrum dongle only has 8 channels. So you can't assign more than 8 channels. The USB connection will probably allow you to use all the channels. There are a bunch of threads here that discuss how to configure the USB interface for different Tx's. I assume that at least one of them will help you. You might try this one: https://forums.realflight.com/index.php?threads/edge-opentx-tx16-radiomaster-setup.59274/
Click to expand...
What USB cable is used to connect the RM TS16s?
Thanks,
Ray
 
Hey Ray. Just noticed your post. It's a standard USB cable like found on telephone chargers. Use the usb connection on top of your radiomaster.
 
For us TM TX16s users, this thread may be the most detailed explanation of how to setup a model for use in RF. I hope it gets pinned for future reference. Thanks for starting the thread Fluppe. Huge thanks to Flapper for the detailed explanation - excellent bit of work.
 
I was able to successfully program the TX16S and it works perfectly with the Edge TX Companion simulator, but when I connect it via USB and fir up RF, I cannot get it configured properly. For example, when the rudder stick is centered, RF sees it at 100% rather than 50% so the plane taxis in a circle. I tried many times to calibrate it in RF but can't seem to change that. In the Edge TX simulator it works perfectly.

Also, RF doesn't seem to let you change channel assignments. The lack of RF documentation is very frustrating.

Any ideas what the problem is?
 
I think you'll want to sort out the channel assignments first. That's done in the Controller Profile. RF treats any controller it doesn't recognize as a Gamepad device and sets up a default Controller Profile based on that. You'll want to edit the Controller Profile to work based on how the model in your TX16S is configured. In the Controller Profile, you just click the big blue button for each RealFlight channel and then move the corresponding control on the TX16S. You'll see a bunch of Windows Game Controller terms listed inside each blue button, but you really don't need to worry about what those are.

After RF is paying attention to the channels correctly, calibrating the controller in RF should get things going.
 
I've found that at times it also helps to go into the Windows joystick settings, and calibrate it there. Then do the calibration again in Real Flight.
Make sure that on the TX, in the mixer, Channels 6 and 7 are both either using a variable source (stick, knob, slider) or a 3 position switch. Windows behaves badly if those channels don't have a natural center position. And, of course, that makes RF behave badly...
 
Thanks for the great responses! I've been learning a lot about Edge TX using the resources here and elsewhere on the internet, so it's just a matter of getting the settings in RF correct.
 
flightengr said:
I think you'll want to sort out the channel assignments first. That's done in the Controller Profile. RF treats any controller it doesn't recognize as a Gamepad device and sets up a default Controller Profile based on that. You'll want to edit the Controller Profile to work based on how the model in your TX16S is configured. In the Controller Profile, you just click the big blue button for each RealFlight channel and then move the corresponding control on the TX16S. You'll see a bunch of Windows Game Controller terms listed inside each blue button, but you really don't need to worry about what those are.

After RF is paying attention to the channels correctly, calibrating the controller in RF should get things going.
Click to expand...
I am still completely frustrated. I did what you said and followed the calibration instructions in RF. The only control that works correctly is the throttle. The rudder aileron, and elevator show they are at 100% when centered and go down to zero when the stick is moved down or to the left. Nothing I do in the calibration changes that.

All controls work fine in the Edge TX simulation.
 
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