extra gimbal through trainer port

[spoolup]

hi guys,
i'd like to use a gimbal with its pots hooked to the trainer port of my t7c.
is it doable? if it is, how could i wire the pots in the square plug?
thanks

[AndyKunz]

Buy a buddy box. They're pretty cheap.

Andy

[Tomapowa]

Not exactly sure what you are trying to do but to use the trainer port as an input, all local controls are inoperable (i.e. when you pull back on the trainer momentary toggle switch on top left).

In any case, to interact with this trainer plug, you need to understand the signal is probably is a PPM signal that indicates all transmitter channel positions (i.e. spacing)... something that resembles this:

http://autopilot.sourceforge.net/images/ppm.jpg

Generating this with a PIC is fairly straight forward, after interfacing with the pots on your new joystick/gimbal via A-to-D conversion.

Here's some good info on PPM....
http://www.omegaco.demon.co.uk/mectnpdf/mectn004.pdf

[EloyM]

Bet you are confused, huh? The answer is that no, you can not just connect a gimbal to the trainer port and have it function as does a trainer transmitter.
A transmitter is basically two parts, an encoder that translates the stick position into electronic pulses, and an RF (Radio Frequency) circuit that then transmits the info. When using a trainer system, the encoder in the main transmitter is disabled, and the output from the trainer is fed to the main transmitter. The entire encoder is used - you can not do the same with a simple gimbal.