DIY upgrade 4-channel radio to 6-channel

[sinclair]

I have a 4-channel stimulator USB radio from E-sky. Any solution to add a two position switch and a 3-position switch, kind of like an upgrade ?

[shuttercat]

I've got one too, and I've been unable to find any way to just solder in new switches.
I'm looking at a couple of ways to upgrade.
The first, and easiest, is to cannibalize an xbox controller. The xbox controller connection is plain ol' USB, and googling "XBCD" will find you an xbox windows driver that blows the esky controller configuration out of the water.
From there, it's as easy as desoldering the SMD joysticks from the xbox controller board and soldering on wires to the esky joysticks (might be a good time to upgrade the pots, too). Then just find an appealing way to get the xbox buttons to the surface of your esky controller.

The hard way involves AVR programming. http://www.mictronics.de/?page=avr_usb_joystick *edit* There are commercial products out there that are pretty much the same as this, but can be pretty expensive.

Either way, you're looking at more a lot more work than buying a nice radio and using a trainer cord. Why would you do it? So that the controller is exactly the way you want it. It's _yours_.

[shuttercat]

Ah! This could be easier than I thought!
The page linked in my last post has a link to download Gerber files for the PCB. Sparkfun Electronics runs a service called "batchPCB," a PCB prototyping/pooling service that lets you trade patience for not having to order a pile of boards of your design when you only want one.
Currently, the boards cost ~$11, +5(shipping), +10(setup, per order)

You can get the chip on ebay. The ATmega8-16AU in the auction is the ROHS version of the ATmega8-16AI in the parts list. http://tinyurl.com/ATmega8-16AU-Micro

You can solder SMD, right?

Should I try to get a group buy going to spread out the setup cost?

Edit: I've asked the designer of that board, and the plans are open for anyone to get a PCB made.

[sinclair]

actually i'm trying to be DIY person.

Wanted to have a nice radio for long. But for the time being, getting to have an idea of what's behind the radio would further made me more appreciate of what a real radio is.

Initially i thought adding in those switches is a matter of mixing those channels. Okay, frankly, i can google for SMD soldering technique.

"it's as easy as desoldering the SMD joysticks from the xbox controller board and soldering on wires to the esky joysticks (might be a good time to upgrade the pots, too)"
I can do de-soldering but appreciate elaborate on how to upgrade the pots so that the xbox controller board wire can be attached into.

i could learn proper way to solder SMD online, but where's the chip is going to be placed- replace the one in xbox controller board or PCB in esky ?

Thanks.

[MoFl]

You can buy for less than $10 (shipping included) one of these dualshock style USB game controllers (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.618~r.12268550), and fit the PCB inside your Esky simulator.

It has 4 analog channels, and 16 buttons (4 of them act as POV-collie hat). You can substitute the "mushroom type joysticks with your simulator joystick's pots, and connect normal switches to the connections of the pad's buttons. And you can even use the vibration feedback motors if they fit in the case.

In fact, I bought this one to replace the electronics of a non-USB non-WXP compatible digital gameport joystick.

The main board is 125 mm long.

[shuttercat]

If the dualshock-clone enumerates as an ordinary HID joystick or gamepad, then it's similar to the AVR-USB solution (the AVR I linked supports 8 analog axes and 28 buttons - a few more than the dualshock-clone's 4 and 16 or an xbox controller's 6 and 14).

The advantage to cannibalizing an xbox controller over a dualshock is the quality of the driver that's available. You can get any offbrand xbox controller (I got a broken pelican mini controller off ebay), and wire it to a usb connector.
Overview and links at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBCD

edit: nice cheap controller though. dealextreme's great.

[sinclair]

Woh, that's great !

Initially, i was thinking to only add 3-4 buttons.

Cannibalizing any controller seems an good idea to adapt. I have never seen the PCB of the xbox controller though. But i think i'll basically look similar to the one showed by MoFl.

To get the idea right, all i need to do is to replace the PCB in ESKY with the "new" PCB. The challenge will be to match the four channel-rudder, elevator, throttle, and alienon. Any advise on this ?

[shuttercat]

You can generally configure the axes and their orientation in software. I would just match the position of the axes to their original position on the controller for simplicity ( e.g. left x axis on dualshock to left x axis on esky), but since you're putting it together, you can do it however you want. .

[MoFl]

If the dualshock-clone enumerates as an ordinary HID joystick or gamepad, then it's similar to the AVR-USB solution (the AVR I linked supports 8 analog axes and 28 buttons - a few more than the dualshock-clone's 4 and 16 or an xbox controller's 6 and 14).


Yes, it does. It shows in the control panel like a standard HID gamepad.

[MinMN]

It appears that you wish to add 2 Channels to your 4 CH Esky TX. If your TX is like mine (a unit that came with a Lama V4), or similar to it, you should be able to simply solder in additional switches because the TX comes equipped with 6 CH capability. The RX is likewise equipped- CH 5 is the 5th set of prongs from the top (including CH 3 and 4, which stick out the back of the RX to interface with the Gyro/mixer/motor controller), CH 6 is the 6th, and the 7th set is an auxiliary power input.

Follow the instructions in this link to add a 5th CH.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=848775

For 6 CH operation, you will need to take additional steps.

[noyz]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1071596

[Janusz]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=729269