Auto-off after x minutes

voip4life · Post by **voip4life** » Fri May 04, 2012 11:59 pm

Where is the best place to request a feature for the 9x radio (if it's even possible). I've had several occasions where I forgot to turn off the Tx only to wake up in the morning with dead batteries. Does anyone know if it's possible to add some code into the Tx firmware (er9x or other) to auto turn off the radio after x number of minutes of no activity? Obviously you would never want the radio to turn itself off while in use, but is there a way for the radio to know that no switches or gimbals have moved within a certain timeframe (meaning it's extremely unlikely that the radio is in use).

Post by **Crucial** » Sat May 05, 2012 12:20 am

Just a guess but I think you would need to change the hardware to enable something like this. There is an inactivity alarm that you can set that should set off an alarm after a pre set amount of time.

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Post by **erazz** » Sat May 05, 2012 2:07 am

This is the best place to ask for features.

As Crucial answered, this would require a HW change, and not a simple one. I guess that there are a couple of ways to do that, maybe power the radio through a mosfet but it's risky, any problem and your radio shuts off without you being able to turn it off.

We actually discussed this a while back and decided against persuing that for that exact reason. If you are up to it maybe you can design some reliable electronics for it?

Malcurin · Post by **Malcurin** » Sat May 05, 2012 3:59 am

Maybe have it play a one direction or Justin beiber song instead of the alarm after the set amount of time, people would scramble to turn it off then hehehehehe

voip4life · Post by **voip4life** » Sat May 05, 2012 5:48 pm

Crucial wrote:There is an inactivity alarm that you can set that should set off an alarm after a pre set amount of time.

Is that a feature of the er9x firmware? I haven't flashed mine yet, still gathering information...

Post by **erazz** » Sat May 05, 2012 8:07 pm

Yes it is.

Post by **jhsa** » Sat May 05, 2012 10:52 pm

At my club airfield sometime the guys don't turn the radios and planes off.. they start chatting and forget it.. imagine a radio turning off with the model still on.. I know there are failsafes and the ESCs don't start the motor without signal etc, but the fact is that a few weeks ago a friend of mine forgot to turn both plane and motor glider off, and then realized that the tx was on and turned it off. the motor on the glider started immediatlly. lucky that the plane was standing on it's nose against the fence.. with the move to 2.4GHz people start to forget very basic rules..

Now do we really want a radio that can switch itself off while we're ready to fly but someone wants out attention for a few minutes and we forget about what we were doing? I know I don't want it..
The only request I have for the 9x is............ well I'm not going to say it again..

Just read at the bottom of my post the signature

Post by **Rob Thomson** » Sun May 06, 2012 7:35 am

I personally see no problem with the 'auto off' on one condition.

It should not be minutes. It should be based on voltage of the pack and only triggers to save the pack being trashed.

So.. you running Li-ion or Lipo. If the voltage goes low to the point that audio alarm has been playing for the past hour and no-one has done anything - tx pack voltage is shortly going to die anyway.. then power down to save the battery

Post by **jhsa** » Sun May 06, 2012 11:20 am

eerrrr and if the voltage drops when you're flying? a few seconds with some power (damaging the battery) to bring the model back is better than no power at all..
So you choose, MODEL OR BATTERY??

I know you may ask - "Who the heck will go to fly with low battery anyway?"

well many people take the risk of a little flight - " Oh, Hell, shoud be good for a couple minutes" and up we go..

AND MURPHY IS ALWAYS OUT THERE WAITING.....

gohsthb · Post by **gohsthb** » Sun May 06, 2012 12:55 pm

Isn't the 'save the battery' feature why people take the circuit out of the trust fire batteries. Batteries are cheap, I say save the model.
-gohst

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Post by **Rob Thomson** » Sun May 06, 2012 1:04 pm

But the power down could be safety checked to only do so if the audio alarm has been running for x time. That way would not occur in flight

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Post by **jhsa** » Sun May 06, 2012 1:14 pm

I still invoke Murphy's law....

Post by **MikeB** » Sun May 06, 2012 2:12 pm

I'm not sure this is a good idea, it's not possible on the ersky9x board, it has processor controlled power, but the power switch overrides that so if switch is ON, Tx os ON.
It would probabloy be OK, only auto off if the battery is low enough, and the inactivity alarm has been sounding for a time. If the inactivity alarm is sounding, then you are NOT moving the sticks, and haven't been for some time, so you are not flying.
I agree with save the model, not save the batteries, so probably not worth the hardware and software changes needed to implement it.

Mike.

Post by **ShowMaster** » Sun May 06, 2012 2:25 pm

I use the added no activity alarm and it's one of the best features. I set it for 10 min and it's saved me several times now. It just starts sounding an alarm after no stick usage for 10 min and I shut the tx off or wiggle a stick.
My dx7 fiends envy that feature when they show up at the field with a dead tx left on. I agree, the tx should never power down automatically.
My life battery is worth less than $10, my planes cost much more.
SM

Post by **jhsa** » Sun May 06, 2012 2:40 pm

We could have some nice, powerfull and "funny" inactivity alarms with the eerrrrrr... audio mod??

and the volume would depend on what kind of amp you build for the er9x radio??
HHmmmm, I'll drink to the thought of it..

Beer anyone??

Post by **ShowMaster** » Sun May 06, 2012 3:08 pm

I used the siren alarm for low motor battery on my sky board and everyone thought it was a police raid on the flying line. No way could that sound and not make me want to turn it off. Allowing a loud and penetrating tx left on alarm to sound will make you want to turn it off even in your car or garage. Again, best new option to ever be in a tx, a no activity alarm!
Many years ago I built a 555 ic version that was hard coded and set with tx power on, and required a reset push button. Many liked it but didn't want to modify their tx for it. The PB hole for one thing. Had I been smarter at the time I would have sampled stick movement for reset. Then again, radios were very expensive, all planes were built up kits, arf's were not too good or cheep from china, and no one would be caught at the field flying an arf except new flyers maybe. So any mods to a radio system that could cause it I crash a kit plane would be very risky and unpopular. So here we are in 2012 with a radio system for $100 or less with the power to do anything the code writers and we can think of, many things without soldering required(SP board), amazing?
And yes, even a "tx switch left on" warning option. What's next, a talking tx, wait I think it's almost here now he he.
I want a sexy voice greeting me when I turn my tx on and telling me how great I was/am when I turn it off.
SM

Post by **jhsa** » Sun May 06, 2012 3:46 pm

Me too, but my wife might not like that

Can you imagine me programming a new model, turning the tx on and a sexy voice sayin' -"Hello hunny, ready for some fun today??"
I would be dead in less time than it takes to blink an eye..

Westy · Post by **Westy** » Sun May 06, 2012 3:50 pm

Why not just get it to send you a txt when it has not been used and has been left on!

you like "Hey I am not gettin da luv ..... need to get to power soon

..... or

"bye bye you just fizzed your batteries"

voip4life · Post by **voip4life** » Fri May 11, 2012 7:04 pm

jhsa wrote:At my club airfield sometime the guys don't turn the radios and planes off.. they start chatting and forget it.. imagine a radio turning off with the model still on.. I know there are failsafes and the ESCs don't start the motor without signal etc, but the fact is that a few weeks ago a friend of mine forgot to turn both plane and motor glider off, and then realized that the tx was on and turned it off. the motor on the glider started immediatlly. lucky that the plane was standing on it's nose against the fence.. with the move to 2.4GHz people start to forget very basic rules..

Now do we really want a radio that can switch itself off while we're ready to fly but someone wants out attention for a few minutes and we forget about what we were doing? I know I don't want it..
:

It's sometimes those club people who get more careless

I'll have to share some stories sometime about some IPSC matches I've been to in the past (youtube it or look it up for some great shooting fun http://www.ipsc.org), I've always felt safe around most sport shooters, the only ones who had accidental discharges (AD's) were Cops, those who get too comfortable around their guns.

I always turn Rx's off immediately...the Transmitter on the other hand is of very little concern. But what I'm getting at, is when you leave your 2.4 Tx on, it's putty out noise, using RF and wasting power. I'm just getting back into the hobby after many years and have been messing with these Frequency Hopping radios and my spectrum analyzer. I haven't modded my batteries yet (HK cant keep the one I want in stock so I'm playing the waiting game) so in a couple of weeks I've put about $25 into batteries for both my Tx and son's Tx, not just from leaving it on accidently, but just from lots of use. That's fine too, I'm just asking, it's a very basic (and safe) procedure to turn off or put a radio to sleep when there's absolutely no activity on the radio, at least the RF/screen could sleep, putting very little drain on the battery, it could immediately power back up when a stick is moved. I'm talking about something never less than 30 minutes or so as a minimum, it you're standing there chatting with your buddies chances are your sticks are getting bumped anyway, that's another 20-30 minutes right there, if your plane is still on that whole time then your planes batteries are dying anyway and that probably means you're having just as much fun with your friends as you are flyin.

If there is a built-in timer that can activate a buzzer, I bet the hardware is sufficient to power down RF after no activity.

Caring for, and having good strong batteries are everything to this hobby.

Post by **Kilrah** » Fri May 11, 2012 7:34 pm

The high-end Futabas have by default an auto shutdown of 30mins if nothing moves. And of course, it beeps at you like crazy for 2 minutes before powering down. Never seen a problem with that.

Post by **jhsa** » Fri May 11, 2012 11:01 pm

just one more thing to fail..

I would prefer to have the radio screaming at me calling me names.. then I would run to turn it off

Post by **Rob Thomson** » Sat May 12, 2012 7:03 am

And if you where not there?

I have killed batteries by walking out the shed at night - leaving the radio on by mistake.

Auto off would have saved my lipo!

Post by **jhsa** » Sat May 12, 2012 8:37 am

I guess that will be an hardware option.. That's why I like open source. You don't have to use a feature if you don't want it.. I certainly won't have anything powering my radio apart from the switch.. I just have to make sure I always power the radio off as I did till now..

Reacher10 · Post by **Reacher10** » Sat May 12, 2012 5:25 pm

The inactivity alarm works perfectly. I do not want my radio shutting itself off, I can buy new batteries.

I have drained my Trustfire lion batteries and all you need to do is charge them at .3 amps on the nicad setting
untill the voltage comes back to 3v per cell and then charge normally. The battery is not destroyed because it drained.

Oh, how did they get drained....left the radio on and left the house or I left it on and put it in my truck for the next days flying.

voip4life · Post by **voip4life** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:05 am

Alright, I've loaded up the er9x f/w and am loving the inactivity alarm, that will do for now (until someone figures out a better way to conserve power). I'm pretty sure my radio sitting on my desk plugged into my usb is messing around with my wireless keyboard and mouse (would be nice to be able to turn off RF when inactive or not flying), but I don't want to start a flame war over it either...I love how opensource is full of tons of crazy stuff that no one will ever use, but when someone asks for something 'special' everyone gets bent out of shape

Post by **jhsa** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:42 am

There's only one very good reason why people wouldn't want it.. IT'S DANGEROUS..

Post by **MikeB** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:31 pm

If you have a plug in module, you just unplug the module!!

Mike.

gohsthb · Post by **gohsthb** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 6:29 pm

Plugged in to usb power with the main switch off, then the RF module is off anyway. Other wise just get a headphone plug with no wires attached and plug that in to the trainer port. Because the 9x will be in student mode, again the RF module will remain off.
-Gohst

voip4life · Post by **voip4life** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 3:32 am

OK, that's all good to know, thanks for the info. I feel better about this...and the inactivity alarm has already saved my butt just today! I turned on the Tx to test something, then got side tracked messing with a frsky voltage sensor (which has little to no documentation) and 10 minutes later the beeper goes off and saves my batteries.

Like others have posted, this takes care of 60% of the times when you are near your Tx to hear it and turn it off, I guess the rest of the time, you're SOL.

acklenx · Post by **acklenx** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 5:57 am

I just lost a battery today. What about auto off after critical voltage and inactivity when the power button is in the OFF position? I was using my 9x on a simulator via the trainer port and left the kids flying. In spite of my warning to unplug the trainer cable they just turned off the computer when they left. I'm sure the inactivity timer made some noise before it puffed my battery, but no one was there to hear it.

Is this situation that anyone ( besides me ) would be comfortable with auto power off?

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