12many

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Binding DX8 to model 9645 DSMX Receiver using GCS
« on: June 25, 2016, 12:04:03 am »
I'm trying to bind my Spektrum DX8 transmitter to a new (supposedly OEM) Spektrum model 9645 DSMX satellite receiver.

The receiver is connected to a Revolution flight controller on the Flexi port using the supplied DSM voltage adapter.  The FC Flexi port is set to 'DSM'.

  Following the instructions:

1. Use GCS connected to FC via USB, set System --> HwSettings / DSMxBind to 9, hit save.
2. Disconnect USB, connect FC to battery power.  FC boots and receiver light flashes fast (bind mode) as expected.
3. Power on transmitter while holding bind button.  Transmitter goes into bind mode as expected.

This is where things depart from expected behavior:

* Instead of the transmitter displaying 'DSMX' or 'DSM2' it says 'Transmitting' for a moment, then the main screen appears.
* Instead of the receiver light going on solid, it turns off.
* Setting DSMxBind back to 0 / save / disconnect USB / connect FC to battery power AND to USB, as far as I can tell the FC does not detect any signal from the receiver.  It appears not to be bound to the transmitter.  The receiver light is off.

* I've tried using DSMxBind values of 3 (1024-bit DSM2), 5 (2048 DSM2), 7 (1024 DSMX), and 9 (2048 DSMX) and all values produce exactly the same results.
* Transmitter frame rate is set to 11ms, Mode = DSMX, firmware v3.01

I don't have a Spektrum main receiver easily available (only the satellite) so I can't bind using the traditional binding-plug method.

Sorry for the noobish question, I assumed this would be the easy part...

What am I doing wrong?
« Last Edit: June 25, 2016, 01:21:01 am by 12many »

12many

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Re: Binding DX8 to model 9645 DSMX Receiver using GCS
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2016, 08:07:49 am »
Ok, I was able to bind the transmitter to the receiver, just not using the flight controller in the binding process.

The work-around was to disconnect the satellite receiver from the FC and plug it into the AR8000 main receiver I tore out of another vehicle and use the traditional binding plug method, then plug the satellite back into the Revo.  I was then able get thorough the transmitter wizard.

I think this indicates there is a problem with DSM binding in the LibrePilot flight controller and not user-error or a hardware problem.  I recall successfully accomplishing the same binding (different unit but same model receiver) a few years ago using OP firmware, so my guess is this is a bug that crept in at some point.

I'll try to see if I can track down the bug in the source, but it might be a little challenging since I'm fairly new to the code.  Is there a more experience developer out there who I could work with?  I should be able to reproduce the problem easily enough.