Originally Posted by PropsnWings

Call the wahmbulance....

Bah Hah Hah Hah

Never heard that one before!!!!

As for the cap sensor, every heli-pilot I know wants one. And they want single cell monitoring. I think Spektrum is too much plane-oriented. And maybe also nitro-oriented. I don't know how many nitros are used in US, but in europe, most models are electric. Even more helis.
I have what I want. I have speech, I have a cap sensor, and I think I will have a single cell monitor soon. But most of this is diy. There is also an interesting project using a Graupner electric air module on a Spektrum radio. A lot to come

Originally Posted by AndyKunz

The unit we showed at Nuremberg has only ever been intended to monitor power into low-current applications such as a PowerSafe receiver. That' has been clearly pointed out numerous times on this forum.

Andy

Are you talking about this one? Because it looks the same too me?? And this is the one i'm talking about that I posted almost a year ago!

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...ostcount=13641

That's the AMMETER. It tells you AMPS.

You're asking for CAPACITY. Those units are mAh.

Here's the link to our web page for it: http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...ensor-SPMA9590

Andy

Originally Posted by AndyKunz

That's the AMMETER. It tells you AMPS.

You're asking for CAPACITY. Those units are mAh.

Here's the link to our web page for it: http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...ensor-SPMA9590

Andy

I understand that, and when I asked you a year ago, you said I can not confirm or deny if it will measure mAh... Which I understand.. So it was only hope (and common sense that it might)
So obviously a year later and tech has moved on, that I was hoping it would have done this and just disappointed that it has been released and it doesn't...

I'm sure there must be a valid reason for it not doing this feature as well, the question is are you allowed to say for what reason it wasn't added??

I can never tell you the "why" about anything, sorry.

Andy

Originally Posted by davidmc36

How would it be such a big hardware addition? The current sensor is there and there has to be a clock pulse somewhere in the telemetry module already. Current vs time= accumulated mah. I am really missing something here??? Shouldn't make the sensor any more expensive.

Based on a few people in a forum who actually say something about it would lead me to believe there are a lot of people who want it but just are not on the forums.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to come out with such a sensor. Andy responded to many ideas/requests for additional features in the DX18 that they were in the database for consideration and six months in now and their have been few additions that I can see.

New Features & Improvements
• Enabled telemetry sensor for GPS, JetCat, and High Current (Amps).
• Enabled up to 32-pole motors for the Brushless RPM sensor.
• Enabled access to more switches as telemetry log starters.
• Enabled French and Italian languages. Note that these are two separate
downloads (English/German/French or English/Italian).
• Improved interchange with DX10t-created SPM files.

Some may argue some of those should have been there in the first place.

Never said it was a BIG addition, just that additional hardware was most likely required. You are correct, current vs time gives accumulated milli-amps. Unfortunately that calculation doesn't happen by magic, there needs to be something (hardware) in there to perform that calculation. As for doing the calculation in the transmitter, the information simply doesn't get sent to the transmitter often enough and sometimes it fails to be received at all. As a result. the transmitter really can't perform this calculation with and kind of useful results. Again, all of this can be done, it isn't rocket science, and again, none of it comes for free or with a ten minute software hack. Product development takes time and people to work on the product. I'm sure Spektrum would love nothing better than to be able quickly bring to market any kind of useful product that we can think up. Unfortunately, reality dictates that they spend their resources wisely and develop the products that they think will be the most profitable first.

Originally Posted by wfield0455

....there needs to be something (hardware) in there to perform that calculation.......As for doing the calculation in the transmitter, the information simply doesn't get sent to the transmitter often enough and sometimes it fails to be received at all.....

Hardware? The sensor is already there. There must be some kind of processor in the TLM module. If there is a processor then there is a clock pulse. All software from there.

Yeah, not practical to do in transmitter, we've pretty much covered that before.

It certainly is not that hard to do, hackers have done it. Just shortsighted to not include it in the first place.

When I go to assign the R or L trim switches, it asks for RtrA or RtrD, same on the L Trim. Which one do I use "A" or "D"?
Thanks

Originally Posted by bcovish

When I go to assign the R or L trim switches, it asks for RtrA or RtrD, same on the L Trim. Which one do I use "A" or "D"?
Thanks

If you chose "A" the channel moves much farther, +100. If you chose "D" only +29

Originally Posted by davidmc36

Hardware? The sensor is already there. There must be some kind of processor in the TLM module. If there is a processor then there is a clock pulse. All software from there.

Yeah, not practical to do in transmitter, we've pretty much covered that before.

It certainly is not that hard to do, hackers have done it. Just shortsighted to not include it in the first place.

Being a sw dude for a living(20+ yrs), I can speculate a little... the happy path is easy...

Its the exceptions and other things(requirements) make it harder... E.g. When do you reset the capacity count? How do you? What happens for example if the TLM loses power, should it store the capacity or reset to zero? What accuracy do you want(I am sure this has practical, marketing and legal answers) over what measure(time/capacity)?

So I do think it is a potentially non trivial problem for a company to solve.

Also remember we have other ways we can use to work out how much capacity is left:
- flight timer (triggered by throttle out?) - in conjunction with previous experience.
- pack voltage - you can tell how much (roughly) is left by the Pack Voltage.

Finally I would like to add in that I would love something that did measure the capacity used... I would buy one... But I will live without it.

Cheers,
AP.
P.S. disclaimer: I know nothing of the spektrum development, roadmaps etc, and I don't have any commercial relationship(I am just a customer) with them.

Originally Posted by powella

.... When do you reset the capacity count? How do you? What happens for example if the TLM loses power, should it store the capacity or reset to zero?

Easy answer to both. Reset to zero on power cycle. What else would you want? New power cycle=new battery.

Originally Posted by powella

What accuracy do you want

The sensor has one amp resolution. If you draw 1 amp for one minute that would be 16 2/3 mah. 30 amps for one minute would be 500 mah. 30 amps for 5 seconds would yield 41 2/3 mah. Plenty of resolution there for 1mah resolution on the reading.

Actually, the sensor has a resolution of about 0.2A, it is only displayed in 1A steps. Also, the hardware is there. It is a cypress microcontroller, which calculates the current (actually, it is only transmitting the value of the ADC to the radio to maybe make the sensor programming more simple). There is enough calculating "power" to do more stuff.
If the TM loses power, then your bird will crash. Because then also your RX loses power.
And the capacity counter starts when you connect the battery. It is your repsonsibility to set the alarm correct.
But it's no use talking about could, would.
You could also calculate the used capacity in the radio. Volker does it in his VSeak module, using the normal current sensor. Of course it can only work if the TM link is reliable, and I think that is the reason why Spek is not doing it in the radio, because it is prone to false readings, and this could be a problem when guys sue Spektrum because his 100000$ plane crashed due to the wrong cap displayed...
Maybe this is also a reason for some things.

Sometimes I get really jealous. Have a look at Graupners Electric Air Module. It has 14cells monitoring, 150A amps and capacity, and height/vario. Voltage up to 80V. In one module, which is about 65€....

Originally Posted by davidmc36

Every day my finger gets closer to the buy button for the Graupner.

You might want to wait with that for a little while. Graupner is in a pretty severe financial situation, they're in some sort of 'chapter 11'.
I had my eye fixed on a Graupner MC-20, which is in my opinion nicer than the DX18 in some respects (nicer telemetry, speach output, internal antenna, wireless student connection), but I don't want to end up with a beautiful transmitter and no ability to get receivers in the near future. I'm not saying this WILL happen in the near future, but there's a good chance of it.

Now I'm also looking at the DX18. Advantage of the DX18 for me: I don't have to buy new receivers, I'm already using Spektrum on my Graupner MX-22 transmitter.

Speech coming soon, I have the prototype of vspeak running on my DX18. Easy to install, works very nice. Currently we are bugfixing, but the biggest are sorted out. So hold on a couple of weeks, then it will be available. Maybe this makes your decision easier.