Armortek

This discussion topic covers radios using OpenTx (OTX) open source operating systems (OS). With Armortek moving to the Taranis X9D Plus as the new default radio, users will be using OTX and its software simulation and programming software, OpenTx Companion.

Some owners are already using OTX to good effect, notably Liam Mahoney, who use OTX to simulate gear changes on his Tiger. Jerry Carducci has written:

Jerry Carducci wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 20, 2021 12:29 am

Stephen White wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 08, 2021 11:29 am

Armortek wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:48 am

Our recommended radio of choice going forwards will be the Taranis x9d plus 2019
https://www.frsky-rc.com/product/taranis-x9d-plus-2019/

Umm.... Knowledge Base anyone? The X9D is a great radio for our models but the scope for screwing up OpenTx is considerable unless there's some simple guidance.

I've been experimenting, bench testing with my older Taranis (pre-2019) x9d to control the guts of my M3 Lee.

I'm using:

-2018 Taranis Plus x9d Tx ( using OpenTx 2.3)
-external XJT Tx module
-X8R receiver
-24v 24Ah LiFePo

I'm a old Mode 2 Tx user (since my earliest Futaba days in the 70's) setting defaults as AETR with my tank drive controls on the left stick- throttle and steering. I want to use the left stick for forward/ reverse and steering; it's how I've set up every tank I have.

I'm using Open TX Companion on a Win10 desktop to configure the Tx and model profile(s) via USB connection for this testing.

Modules I've attached so far are motion and sound with the focus of my tests being controlling the L/R drive motors and two geared motors
for turret functions. So far all is well mixing Rudder and throttle except some odd performance near neutral for main drive controls- one motor
insists on continuing running ever so slowly. I think I may have to implement some sort of compensating offset on the output definition or some sort of curve. Still fiddling with that. Other controls seem normal including fail safe settings (set to zero for channels 1-16)- I tested it by shutting down the transmitter with the receiver and modules still powered up and all motors came to a stop ( except for the rogue creeping mentioned above!).

I think that's about it. If someone has a profile they like that works well I'd appreciate comparing notes regarding your settings. If anyone wants a copy of mine I'm sure I could send a zipped backup of my definition as it is so far.

Jerry

Jerry, great to see. Maybe try some Sub- Trim on the Outputs for CH3? Interesting that you're using an XJT module. For most users, I wouldn't think range is ever likely to be an issue with the internal module. Sounds like your model has a state of the art setup, with Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and OpenTx radio.

Stephen

OpenTx

Why OpenTx?

About ten years ago, the RC industry made a step change in technology, not only with secure, frequency hopping signal protocols, but also with adopting software defined operating systems. This mirrored what had happened with military communications twenty years ago. The old analogue radios were configured by physically changing the transmitter or by selecting pre-defined options on the user interface via menus. On this Spectrum DX7, I've had to install a rotary encoder to operate the Benedini sounds.


With a software defined radio, the operating system allows the user to re-configure the radio without changing the system physically. So for the Armortek sounds, you could set up a number of virtual switches and allocate them to any of the inputs (sliders, switches, sticks) on the transmitter. Most of the early adopters were using proprietary software and you were effectively stuck with one supplier, who may or may not be meeting the users' needs. Then along came open source software, where the users get to change stuff and influence software development.

This is where OpenTx comes in. It's an open source operating system for RC and is now probably the most used operating system in RC. To quote the OpenTx developers,

OpenTX is open source firmware for RC radio transmitters. The firmware is highly configurable and brings much more features than found in traditional radios. The daily feedback from the thousands of users ensures the continued stability and quality of the firmware.

And it's freeware.

To call it firmware is slightly misleading, it's more than the software interface with the hardware, it's a complete operating system with a very powerful user interface and, uniquely, desktop configuration software which includes a transmitter emulation. So with OpenTx, you can play around to your heart's content on a PC or Mac and not damage your tank. Once you've got the OS doing what you want, it's a simple job to send (

flash

the new setup to the transmitter. This is the OpenTx Companion, with the simulated transmitter on the right, the channel outputs bottom left and the model setup screen top right.


Some major radio suppliers have recognised the benefits of open source software and adopted it as their chosen operating system. The main player is FrSky (not to be confused with FlySky). The definitive FrSky radio was the Taranis series, the lasted being the Taranis X9D Plus 2019.


So what sort of things could you do with OpenTx on an Armortek Model?

- continue to operate as you would with a Futaba or Spectrum analogue radio!

- use a powerful set of telemetry screens to see what the model is doing (which you could also do to a limited extent with Futaba and Spektrum)

- explore new capabilities such as having a number of setups for different running surfaces, easily selected by a virtual switch.

- explore new running modes, such as simulated gear changes, with sounds to match

- combine functions such as sounds and actions on the Armortek options modules (eg gun flash, recoil, sounds, track movement to simulate platform rock on firing the main armament.

And so on. The point is flexibility - to do what you want the radio to do and not be limited by the physical capabilities of the transmitter.

There is a downside, as ever. OpenTx looks a nightmare to the uninitiated. It's like any software - do I choose the simple, user friendly, cheap job and quickly become disenchanted when it doesn't do what you want. Or do I go for the grown up version which I can't use because I don't understand how it works and it looks daunting? We've all been there one way or another.

The good news about OpenTx is that you can safely ignore a lot of the capabilities in first setting up a basic model. And secondly, there is a huge amount of really, really good instruction out there. In particular, there are at least two YouTube channels with a series of videos taking you through OpenTx in simple stages. I can give recommendations if anyone is interested.

Interestingly, FrSky have moved away from OpenTx, and are now offering FROS (FrSky Operating System!). It's very much based on OpenTx but has a more user friendly menu driven front end. On FrSky's flagship transmitter, the Horus X12, FROS had a very cool reception, as has the radio. The next model down, the Horus X10S, is a runaway success but it's interesting that FrSky make great play of saying they still support OpenTx and most users I've seen, including me, have binned FROS and are using OpenTx. Yes, OpenTx takes a bit of learning but it's really not that difficult to know enough to get started.

I'll end with a story. The US and British Armies both developed complex command and control systems made by one of the largest military suppliers. The systems were highly capable but somewhat impenetrable to use. They got a pretty bad press from the users. Enter a relatively small Danish software company, who developed a system which was so simple to use that there was really no need for a user handbook. I talked to a lot of very senior people about both. Some liked the complex systems because it made them feel grown up (but privately recognised how much effort was required to make them work). One Middle East country almost rejected the Danish system because it was thought to be too simple to use because it had no thick user manual and was therefore thought to lack capability. Nothing could have been further from the truth. A truly powerful system is one that doesn't put off the user and hides its power under the hood. With the learning resources now available on the inter net, OpenTx could be that system.

It's no surprise that the Taranis X9D Plus is the new default radio for Armortek.

Wish I'd known more about this before advising my Dad to buy a Spektrum and buying all the bits for my Raspberry Pi based remote

Think I'll plough on though, I have to be pragmatic at work so nice to be silly for my hobby.

Cheers

Sam

I would also advise you to do your homework. Armortek have suggested the Taranis radio, which has been out for a while and has a good following. FrSky have taken on board various customer criticisms of their products and improved them accordingly.

As always, there are cheaper radios out there which appear to offer the same features. However, just because they are also running OpenTX does not mean they have the same overall build quality, radio performance, ergonomics etc. If you want to go in a different direction, I would advise you to look at the YouTube channels such as Painless360, Joshua Bardwell and RCModelReviews, who not only provide programming advice etc but also regularly review new models to the market, and don't tend to pull their punches if they don't like something

Adrian.

Sam Hough wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:45 pm

I have to be pragmatic at work so nice to be silly for my hobby.

That sums it up very well! May I use that statement?

Stephen White wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 20, 2021 6:52 am

Jerry, great to see. Maybe try some Sub- Trim on the Outputs for CH3? Interesting that you're using an XJT module. For most users, I wouldn't think range is ever likely to be an issue with the internal module. Sounds like your model has a state of the art setup, with Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and OpenTx radio.

Stephen

Just getting back to this setup. I've tried different mix ratios and was about to look into a lua script to control the motors when I thought: let's try simpler first! What a concept. I defined a second model for the M3 and set it up to be a one motor one stick affair.

Same behavior: at neutral one motor insists on running. Swapped motors from right to left and behavior remained consistent- the one motor
continued to run. All other controls seemed good.

I am able to use a trim tab to adjust out the neutral running so I'm assuming that I could modify the mixes or outputs to accommodate this bahavior on that channel but it isn't a trivial amount of adjustment which is what concerns- the trim tab is substantially off center. The open question I have is this: is this often the case and everyone just knows to adjust trims ( especially programmatically) to eliminate this? This being my first setup using these modules I just want to know. Is there any other adjustments that I'm overlooking? I tried do a search on motor neutral settings but none came to hand.

My alternative is to try a Spektrum I have but I'd prefer to find a solution for this system. My gut tells me it isn't the transmitter- receiver that's causing this but of course I only have the one point of reference.

Thoughts ?

Jerry

Sorry to report the tests I did with a Spektrum D6x system provided identical results. The same motor output
refuses to align to no power when the associated channel is centered.

I'm assuming I've either overlooked something or flat out doing something wrong but so far I can't see it.. At least it gives
my Taranis system a temporary reprieve from being labeled the culprit....

Jerry

Adrian mentioned some of the best YouTube Channels for learning OpenTx, including Joshua Bardwell and Painless360. I use them a lot but it's not always easy to translate from their principle focus on racing quads to what we need. In addition to those, I've found myself relying a lot on this channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/RCVideoReviews/playlists

John Hopke is brilliant. He has basic and intermediate topics, his explanations are very clear, logical, simple and well presented. I would suggest he's a very good starting point for anyone wanting to understand radios such as the Taranis and the OpenTx software.

Jerry, had you not tested with two radios, I'd have suggested performing a re-calibration of your transmitters. You can check that the stick and slider calibration is accurate in OpenTx by selecting the Hardware Page. After performing a re-calibration, scroll down to Debug at the bottom. Select Analogues and move the sticks to their full travel. You should see -100/100 in the right column. If not, your calibration is out. It would be unusual though for two transmitters to be exhibiting the same issue, so it suggests a system fault in the motion pack setup.