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« Last post by LukeZ on July 05, 2026, 10:42:08 AM »
Glad to hear it, thanks for letting us know.
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« Last post by Tom on July 02, 2026, 12:50:07 PM »
It was settings on the radio. I little tricky to flash the right(older version) firmware on the x8r but now all works.
I had a feeling it wasn't an issue with the TCB as half the triggers were working.
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« Last post by Tom on June 30, 2026, 03:46:39 PM »
Slight correction, I read the radio again and "Both sticks" trigger just can't test the right stick unless engine is on.
Flipped all the other switches and nothing reads. So, I reached out to Ben to see if he has any other ideas.
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« Last post by Tom on June 30, 2026, 03:23:13 PM »
Thanks Luke. On read radio the only triggers that show working are left stick. So for instance the turret moves and sound triggers. So it sounds like something going on with the transmitter/receiver. It is bound but not fully working all the triggers as the X4R is. I can try to reach out to Ben but I am not sure at this point he knows what the problem could be. Thanks though 
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« Last post by LukeZ on June 29, 2026, 12:42:31 PM »
Hi Tom, the X8R has been used by quite a few other users on this forum with success, so we know it is possible. There are however as you have found discrepancies between the different firmware versions that FrSky uses and there are multiple posts of people having issues getting that all straightened out, which I suspect is the case here as well.
The first thing you should do when there are radio problems is to run through Radio Setup once again. It could be that channel orders have been changed under the new firmware, or something like that. But at any rate, Radio Setup will show you visually and immediately which channels are being read by the TCB and which are not. If it's simply a channel order problem, then you can re-arrange them.
If some channels are not appearing at all, then I think the issue is likely between the transmitter and the receiver, or with the setup on your transmitter, and that I can't help you with, but perhaps your contact at FrSky can (who I see is also a member on this forum, so perhaps he will chime in).
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« Last post by Tom on June 28, 2026, 07:54:08 PM »
Ben (member who works for Frysky) thought it may be a setting on the TCB. It's not critical as I can swap the two x4r receivers from the other tanks or buy a used xr4 though they are overpriced on eBay. But it would be interesting to see if the x8r that's bound and hooked up on the SBUS can work.
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« Last post by Tom on June 28, 2026, 06:30:45 PM »
Hi Luke,
I have two frysky x4r receivers bound to two tanks. The x4r is no longer produced so I purchased a x8r. But to use my current radio taranis q7 without downloading any updates, I needed to flash the older version to the x8r. A member who works for frysky was kind enough to send me the proper version. I downloaded it the the x8r and bound it to the receiver. Oddly the only things that trigger on the TCB are the left sticks. So the turret moves along with sound as well as elevation. But nothing else? Not sure if any ideas.
The frysky guy wasn't sure what could be wrong and suggested I update the radio and flash the current receivers. At this point I found a x4r and when it comes hopefully it will work along with the other two. A may have to go that route but curious if any ideas with the current set up.
Thanks,
Tom
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« Last post by LukeZ on June 11, 2026, 11:06:43 AM »
Hi Fox, you summary of the limitations (and inconsistencies) of the Motor Serial port is accurate, and you are discovering that certain pins were allocated a time long before I had a clear idea in mind of their ultimate potential uses. The current layout was arranged when my only idea was the connection of a single ESC (at the time the Scout hadn't even been considered, but I was thinking of the Sabertooth). Later I discovered that Pololu had a very small serial ESC that I thought might be useful for turret functions on larger models. Pololu later discontinued that, but that put the idea in mind that maybe it would be nice to control more than one ESC on the same port, regardless of brand. The sound card came much later, and was tacked on to the same port.
The only reason in those early days that I could see for communication from the ESC to the TCB, was perhaps to report telemetry information (current, temperature, etc) for passing on to a custom screen on the transmitter, but these ideas were never brought to completion. By the time I decided to add multiple devices to the same port, I had dropped the idea of bi-directional communication altogether, and so now as you find that Rx pin on the TCB is just floating there, without any use.
However your proposal would correct that oversight, and as you say, leave the path open to further possibilities - if someone has the will, time, and reason to develop them. But it is always good practice to leave room for such things, and then if a bright idea comes along, the hardware is there ready to serve. I think your suggestion is a good one.
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« Last post by Foxhood on June 10, 2026, 11:45:48 AM »
So while the hardware files go by V1 Filenames, its actually a MK-I. Alright. Then i will adopt "MK-II" :3
Migration, Board and OPSC are going slow, but steady atm. Got some of the more annoying things done like IR Output code. Looking into changing some things on the electronics and improving the ability to shrug of potential mis-wirings
One thing that has been on my mind is the Motor Serial Bus. It doesn't quite make sense. Its a full-duplex UART bus servicing up to three devices. One is sound that only listens to the TX (ok) and the others are up to two ESCs. which are wired to be able to send back on the RX. But if any ESC would actually try to do so while another is also hooked up: they would end up trying to kill each-other as both are actively driving the pin. So you can't actually do anything in that setup, leaving the RX Line as useless. We also ain't actually using it for anything as all existing devices are Receive-Only.
So i had this idea to salvage the bus a bit: The new AVR chip can reconfigure its USART system to have its transmitter work Open-Drain and internally connect TX & RX together. Turning the peripheral into a Half-duplex "One-wire" bus. This would render the pin able to actually work as more of a shared buss that multiple devices can connect and communicate in-between, without breaking compatibility with existing devices that only listen. The result is that the MK-II gets a bus that can be used for more than just Outputting commands. Instead of a awkward, not so well-named "Motor Serial".
Main motivation is that presently the OpenPanzer is kind of limited on its ability to expand in anything outside of more outputs in the future. Which sucks for exotic models that may need very specific inputs and outputs or would prefer like a secondary board hidden in the turret taking over some tasks (e.g. AA vehicles such as Gepard). One-Wire UART seems to be the best compromise and would allow for some fun tricks with other boards without needing to actually change much right now.
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« Last post by LukeZ on June 08, 2026, 03:02:08 PM »
That's fine, no apology needed. I'll just be a bit slower moving forward.
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