Taranis Plus + Iris + = ????

[sledge57]

Anyone using a Taranis TX with their Iris+ ?

I decided to buy this TX mainly due to the fact I'm getting old and my memory stinks, so I figure a talking TX the can inform me which flight mode I'm in etc, could be a help.

Honestly during my last fight I was getting confused again which flight modes my switch was programmed for. Which ended without any sort of crash and was the highest I've ever flown btw...

Unless I program the Iris flight modes exactly the way 3DR did I can't recall what each position is for.

Enter the Taranis...

Now can anyone point me to a comprehensive guide or provide help setting the Iris + up with the Taranis plus?

Thanks...

 

[Bartman]

Doug, Honestly if I had the time I'd join you as I'd really like to learn the Taranis system but I'm swamped! Hopefully someone will point you in the right direction or walk you through it step by step here at MRF

 

[sledge57]

Haven't had a chance to watch these yet however I think a lot of my answers will be found on this YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Painless360

Lots of videos on Taranis and he's starting a series on Pixhawk as well as many other possibly useful stuff.
Naze 32 videos for instance, which is my next project. I just got all the parts for my brother and I to build a pair of 250 fpv racers[/MEDIA]

 

[sledge57]

He's doing a video series on Pixhawk now, this video is setting up Taranis Plus with Pixhawk.

EDIT<<<>>> After doing a little digging I'm not sure I want to go with his setup, his FW seems to be Open TX and on the Open Tx site it says Frsky has their own FW loaded on Taranis and isn't part of Open Tx. They also claim it's stable and works fine in most applications.

Not sure I want to load new FW and the whole can of worms that might come with it...

 

[Motopreserve]

I think that the frsky firmware should be fairly similar (it's a fork of the opentx firmware) - so most of the tips should apply, even without reinstalling firmware.

 

[cootertwo]

Extremely interested in this thread. Sledge, I have the same problems as you, trying to remember which switch does what. Especially when I have two Spektrum radios that I use for everything else I have flying. Also I made a post awhile back, got no response, but the power of the radios that come with the Iris+ does not match up to my Spektrums, according to my Immersion power meter. I don't remember the exact numbers, but definitely a weaker signal than either my DX7s or DX8. And like you, I dread trying to setup either one to the Iris+. HOWEVER, I do have three Iris+ at the moment, one still sealed in it's box. So maybe. I'll keep watch, and post if I try anything.

 

[sledge57]

I was going to try setting the Iris+ up with my T8FG but the speech function of the Taranis seems just what I need. So hopefully I'll get the Iris+ setup with it soon, then my FW 550. After that I might sell the Futaba

 

[sledge57]

I think that the frsky firmware should be fairly similar (it's a fork of the opentx firmware) - so most of the tips should apply, even without reinstalling firmware.

He uses Open Tx Companion to do his radio setup, not sure if it works with Frsky FW, if it does then this ought to be simple, yea right .......

 

[Motopreserve]

Yep. Same software to connect with computer.

 

[sledge57]

So last night I finally took my radio out of the case and charged it and turned it on, yes I'm slow and lame, it took me 3 months to unbox my Iris+

I bought the Taranis from a company called Helibatics, (bought it off of Ebay) very fast shipping, had it in 2 days. About $250 with the aluminum case. I recommend them...

Anyway after powering it up it seems they have already flashed it with Open Tx. Instead of "Welcome to Taranis" it says "Welcome to Open Tx" and has Helibatics logo on the splash screen, so I'll be downloading the companion SW and going from there.

There must be a way to see exactly what FW rev is loaded just through the radios menus but I haven't found it yet.

I have found more videos on programming and am continually surprised by what you can do with this radio. Ex: I saw how to pgm the trainer switch to announce via speech your on board battery voltage when pulling the switch. The guy did this because he flys fpv with no OSD and can't see his voltage with goggles on but now he can hear it, very cool stuff imo.....

I'll post more links to videos in a bit.

 

[Motopreserve]

I have the voice tell me when my voltage gets to a certain point, when I have burned through a certain amount of my total mAh, when I have been in the air a certain amount of time (programmed and changed for different batteries with a switch), as well as a few other things. The telemetry is one of the best parts of the Taranis/X8R setup, and it's affordable to boot.

 

[cootertwo]

I wonder if it's possible to make the radio that comes with the Iris+ "Talk" There are slots where the speaker would be, and sound selection in the programming, sooo ???????? I had one of mine apart, to install the back light, but didn't look around much, while I was inside. Guess it's time to operate again!

 

[Motopreserve]

Not sure about the stock radio, but you'd think that'd be a very 3DR thing to sneak in there. Then again it's so helpful, makes me wonder why they wouldn't have done it from the factory if it was capable.

For me the key is WHAT I'm hearing. This is another place the pixhawk would lend itself with the telemetry already available to it.

 

[sledge57]

So reading more and I've since learned that the Taranis Plus comes with Open TX 2.0.x.x

Mostly seeing setting it up with Naze 32, which is fine since I have just about acquired the parts to build a 250 fpv racer (no plans to race just learn fpv) that I have a Naze 32 going in.

Naze 32 is pretty impressive for what it can do and how cheap it is also.

 

[sledge57]

Finally got off my butt and set the Taranis up with the Iris. Following those videos it's not to hard to do and even starts to make sense after a while.

Well almost, the one thing that seems to be a problem is trying to figure out how 3DR got all that telemetry data to display on the Turnigy radio, not seeing a way to get it to the Taranis yet.

If anyone has a clue I'm all ears (eye balls actually )

Time to go try and do my first flight with this combo.

More later after I test it...

 

[sledge57]

Works GREAT!!

Had 1 small issue, elevator channel was reversed, I saw this in the video and thought I had it right but it was wrong. Landed quick, shutdown, went into menu and reversed elevator. Took off again, PERFECT! Very windy today (usually never fly in this much wind) but GPS mode was able to maintain position by about 3 feet or so. It'd get blown off position a few feet (3 or 4) by the wind but always came back. I'm really staring to trust it. Went up 100 ft or so and she stayed right on station. Happy today...

Flew Stabilize mode and Alt Hold mode also and no issues.

Talking radios rule It was nice to always know what mode I was in, a weird thing on the telemetry though. Some of the telemetry data is coming to the Tx I could see GPS coordinates but no altitude, battery info etc...

Time to research more.

Give it a try Bart I think you'll like it

 

[Bartman]

i went to a giant scale aero-tow soaring event this weekend and a couple of the guys were using Taranis systems. one in particular was using the speech feature hooked up to his hearing aides so he got telemetry directly into his ear via the bluetooth in his hearing aides.

very cool, maybe this winter i'll dig in and finally learn it.

 

[sledge57]

Hmmm Taranis and Bluetooth, interesting...

Got camera gimbal setup tonight, still looking for more telemetry info...

 

[Motopreserve]

What telemetry info you looking for?

 

[sledge57]

The Tx that comes with the Iris+ (Turnigy 9x with FrSky module basically) can display Sat info, voltage, current draw, alt, rssi and more. I know there must be some way to get all this to the Taranis, the Iris is already trying to send it. I just can't seem to find out how the original radio is displaying it.