RC Tanks Australia Forum

Hey All
I promised a video for Rad on how to add more 3-pos switches using the instructions given earlier by Mike B. however, that would be overkill when several images would suffice. Mike's instructions above are good and anyone could follow them so her they are in pictures.

First up to add another 3-pos switch you need more inputs. Mike has identified these on the Expansion Bus which looks like below. You can add more switches by connecting to D2,D6 and D7. There are more inputs available but these are easiest and there are 3 of them.



So lets connect to D2 and convert the GEAR switch to a 3 position one. Get some wire and solder it to the connection at D2.



On the other end as Mike says place inline a 4K7 resistor. I've added some shrink tube for extra protection.



Now solder the resistor to an outer terminal of your new 3-position switch



Shrink the shrink tube.....



Remove the existing GEAR switch. You will see it has only 2 connections the green signal wire and the black ground wire. Also the GEAR switch has that black cap that you also must remove. With your soldering iron remove the wires from your gear switch.



Now solder the wires from the old GEAR switch to your new 3-position switch. The black ground wire to the middle terminal and the green signal to the remaining outer terminal. Refit the black cap onto the new GEAR switch and refit your new 3-position GEAR switch.



To setup your new switch you need to access the HARDWARE menu which is in radio setup. In the latest releases of ersky9x the HARDWARE menu is disabled by default. Clearly to stop the "what does this button do brigade". To access the Hardware menu - turn ON your radio while holding the left horizontal trim left. The go back in via radio setup. Once there simply let ersky9x know that you have been a clever boy or girl and connected up a switch to LCD2.



Once here - jobs DONE. Enjoy a beer or better yet shout Mike B. a beer by donating to ersk9x. Especially since he takes time out to visit this very forum and help out us tankers specifically.



Cheers
KG

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As usual, thanks for taking your time, Kevin.

And thank you for Mike too for the impressive job he is doing for the 9x. Im testing the new 9xpro software and all the news are a very good add, like the new keyboard or the capability of changing the switches names easily... I can imagine this leads to the end of tanker9x, but I will keep it on my heart foverer, lol.


About the tutorial, its very clear, so yeah, no need for a video, just a couple of questions: Here you soldered the wire to the D2 port and we still have the D6 and D7 port free, thats ok, so:

Could I do, for example, install three 3-pos switches following your video tutorial, and install one or two like this new tutorial? I would end with five 3 pos switches (I was planning to convert the 2 machine gun switch to a 3 positions one, due to ASP has 2 machine guns and I think it makes sense to have both in the same switch)

And also, is there any way to conect the wire to one of that D expansion ports without soldering? Im not very good at it and Im a bit afraid of ruining the board.

Again thanks for your tutorial, I will try to install the switches once you finish your investigations about the 6 positions switch and when I find a screwdiver for removing the front bolts.

Yes you can solder a wire to D6 or D7 and do the same for the THR switch giving you a 3 pos switch in that position as well. No I do not know of an easier method to connect to the expansion port.

If you change the THR switch to a 3-pos one then you should note that the default Asp settings has MG2 on the RUD switch and Cannon 2 is on the GEAR switch. So you would need to re-program MG2 to the new THR position.

AS for the 6-pos switch that too is all sorted. You can use the switch that is being sold by Hobby King and use a 9 point curve to adjust the settings. Mike is adding extra curves to ersky9x specifically for custom adjustment of these switches. I will do a demo for the install of the 6-pos switch soon as well (it is also quite easy). At present you use the 6 -pos switch to select which one of the 6 sound banks on Asp you want to trigger and then throw the ELE switch to play it.

Cheers
KG

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rctanksaustralia.com

Well, today I received the torch 10 screwdiver so I started installing the switches, but I just noticed I have a problem... I bought the switches in the link that you showed us and I received this ones:



They look very similar but they are just a bit bigger, so I need to enlarge the holes in the radios. Do you think I can use them without risk to breaking something? I mean if I need to install a different resistor or something like that.

Well, another big problem. I tried to solder the R22, and it was impossible and I think I ended burning it. For some reason the solder wire just did no stick to the board. It was like the board had some king of pastic protection over it when I approach the soldering iron it kind of melts into a dark oil.

Finally I ended dropping a big drop of soldering pot to R22 (I did not want to) Is there any way of checking if my board works correctly before I install the 3 pos switches?

HI Rad

Was there something already there in R22? How old is your radio. If it is from 2016 then all the radios I've got from HK now have a bridge soldered in R22 so there is no need for this step.

That blob is too big. And yes there is a protective covering over the pcb but usually not over the pads. DId you snip a tiny bit of wire to bridge the pads? Although if you put enough solder on you can bridge the pad like you have done but normally you need to put a small wire bridge there so you don't get Mt. Solder like you have.

The black bit should be ok get some Isopropyl alcohol on a cotton bud and it should clean off. But you should reduce/remove that blob as it looks like it is covering the adjacent traces. You do that using desoldering wick - a fine copper braid that the solder will be drawn into by capillary action when the solder is melted and the braid hot enough also.

Snip a small bit of wire and place over the two pads and solder that in place.

As for the switches I don't know if that supplier has changed the switches. I've been getting switches from there for years. Always a potential problem when no brand or model numbers are given. If they are bigger that is more of a problem and you may not be able to use them as for some of the switches there is a plastic cap that must fit them. I forget which ones use the plastic cap but i would see if they fit the plastic cap first. If they don't I would be hesitant to use them

Cheers
KG

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rctanksaustralia.com

Hi. There was nothing in R22. My radio has less than two months (I bought it for your ASP, lol)

Im afraid that I had that protective cover over all the damn board, so thats why I was unable to solder over it. I did not put any wire over the pads, I just tried to put just some soldering iron pot over it.

Anyway, I tried to install just the AIL Switch, and it works. I asked the ebay seller to send me switches like the ones on your videos, and once I have them I will install the rest and see if it works.

So if it works, I wont touch that big bubble that I made, if not, I hope I find a way to fix it or maybe hobbyking sells spareboards, but dont think so.
Anyway I did not know the existence of that soldering wick, so I will buy some, that looks very usefull.

And, ah!, the software has changed. (Im using Rev218) There is no more 2pos or 3 pos switch menu. I selected DAC1 or something similar, so that might be usefull if somebody takes a look to your tutorial.

Small update here. I contacted the seller you suggested us about my switches problem and they said they just sent me some new ones for free. So thats great.

I also bought a 9xtreme for my flysky and surprisingly the 3 post swtiches I received fit perfectly in the radio, so the holes and the switches in the 9xr pro are 5.9cm wide, and the switches in the flysky are 5.9 too, but the holes are 6mms. That might come usefull for somebody.

Im then going to install a 3 pos switch in the THR (Where the machine gun is) to have two MGs there. Dont worry, I know how to program the 9x.

That will be 5, 3 pos switch for controlling your ASP.

Another update here. I received the new switches from the seller (top seller, he sent me the new switches fast and after receiving good feedback), and they fit propperly, so I replaced the 4 switches in the Flysky with the 9xtreme that was really easy and fast, as you told us, and also I replaced the 4 switches in the Pro.

In the 9xtreme I had no problem, but in the 9xr Pro Im having a problem with one of the switches, the first one with the 1K resistor. I think when I went to the shop and asked for the resistor they did not understood me or gave me a wrong one. My resistor is tan, with Brown, Black, Red and Gold stripes and yours in the video looks different.

What it does now, when its UP I have the Up arrow. Middle point I have the down arrow and down point I have the up arrow.

Hi Rad

There is a resistor color code calculator here:
http://www.digikey.com.au/en/resources/ ... ode-4-band

Brown, Black, Red, Gold is 1K - no problems with the resistor

Your issue could be anything - wired wrong, faulty switch, bad connection, incorrect settings in firmware. Unfortunately you will just have to check everything and try again

Cheers
KG

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