Futaba T9CHP (Computer Controlled Transmission)

[thibs73]

Hey everybody,

I am undertaking a UAV heli project, and I am just trying to get some info (I am pretty new to the RC world). We have a Futaba T9CHP RC transmitter for our heli, and we would like to connect a computer to the T9CHP using the 6-pin connector on the back. The computer is performing all of the control calculations to determine the desired signals that should be sent to the heli, but we would obviously like to use the T9CHP to do the transmission.

I have seen some discussion about using a buddy box connector, but I just wanted to get confirmation that this kind of setup with the computer (the slave) sending signals through a buddy box connector to the T9CHP (the master) would work.
The computer side of the connection will be serial.

I appreciate all the help I get, and please feel free to recommend a specific serial to buddy box connector if you know of one that will work.

Thanks

[vespa]

There are many USB-to-Futaba adapters on the market for use with r/c flight simulators but they run the transmitter as a slave. I have seen a few small UAV's with ground-based autopilots sending all control commands through the trainer cord and they seem to work well enough. The University of Florida has used this type of setup and may have some helpful info on their site: http://www.mil.ufl.edu/~nechyba/mav/

[whyter]

It's not real difficult to make one, and I've been trying to free up some time to get one done, then JUST today I stumble upon this http://endurance-rc.com/ and ordered one.

Rob

[LukeZ]

Here's another one - Tom's RC SC-8000 (http://www.tti-us.com/rc/index.htm). It looks pretty nice but I have not heard anyone review it on this forum yet.


Luke

[thibs73]

Thx whyter, that is pretty much what I am looking for. I think I would be most interested in the same thing with a serial interface instead of usb, but I may just have to get usb if necessary.

Keep it coming people, especially if you know of one with a serial interface that does work with the 9CHP.

Thanks

[vespa]

Trying to do something like this with a serial port would be an absolute nightmare of wiring, batteries, voltage regulators, etc. If you were connecting directly to a primitive microcontroller I could understand the preference but for a regular computer USB is pretty compelling. Chances are, these devices use serial internally anyway, so you could probably cut one open and hack a level shifter and power supply onto it if you absolutely had to but it would sure be a major project.

[whyter]

What are your reasons for wanting serial? I'm just wondering since personally if I had the choice between the two I would always opt for USB. Serial ports are becoming hard to find on newer computers, and writing the code to drive either one is almost exactly the same.

Rob.

Thx whyter, that is pretty much what I am looking for. I think I would be most interested in the same thing with a serial interface instead of usb, but I may just have to get usb if necessary.

Keep it coming people, especially if you know of one with a serial interface that does work with the 9CHP.

Thanks

[thibs73]

I am interested in using serial for a few reasons. First, I can test it via my laptop still, I do have a serial port. Still, the actual flying of the robot in the field will come from a portable PC/104 computing platform which already has the serial connectivity I need, but I believe it can handle usb also. Lastly, we may try to fly it from a small 40-pin Atmel package microprocessor that only handles serial; therefore, serial is my first choice.

Thanks whyter for the input.