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1. Installation

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Jesper Frickmann edited this page Feb 22, 2021 · 29 revisions

All FrSky Taranis models, and Jumper T12 transmitters are currently supported. Unfortunately, FrSky Horus models and Jumper T16 cannot currently be supported. Your transmitter must run OpenTX version 2.3.x to use the current version.

The current SoarOTX version requires OpenTX 2.3. You can find an old version for OpenTX 2.2 under release Notes. WARNING: OpenTX 2.3.5 and 2.3.10 have known bugs affecting SoarOTX. So if you have either of these on your radio, please upgrade to the current version 2.3!
Download the most recent OpenTX Companion 2.3.x here.

After installing Companion on your computer:

  • Create a radio profile matching your radio.
  • Click Download and Check for Updates. Download the firmware and the SD card files.
  • To connect your radio to the computer, press the rudder and aileron trim buttons together towards the middle, and turn on the radio. Then connect it with a mini-USB B cable.
  • First, take some backups:
    • Click Backup Radio to File.
    • Click Read models and settings from radio, and save the .otx file.
    • Make a backup copy of the files on your SD card.
  • Then click Write Firmware to Radio and select the newly downloaded firmware.
  • Finally, unzip the SD card files for OpenTX that you downloaded with the firmware, format your SD card, and copy the fresh card content over.

Install SoarOTX models and SD card files on your radio

Download a ZIP archive with the SoarOTX program files and the SD card files for SoarOTX from here.

Copy the content from SD-CARD over to your transmitter's SD card.

  • If you have an earlier version of SoarOTX already, then it is a good idea to delete the existing script files in /SCRIPTS/TELEMETRY first, to avoid conflicts.
  • Always copy directly from the SoarOTX Zip archive; not files that may have been used by Companion on your computer.
  • Copy the /SCRIPTS and /IMAGES folders on top of the existing ones, so files will merge to the right places.

Next, copy the models over to your radio:

  • Open the SoarOTX radio file.
    • If you have a basic FrSky Xlite radio, open the Xlite.otx file. Due to the limited number of switches on the basic Xlite, I have only copied the F3K models to the file. But the radio can also run the other models from the X9D+.otx file, however, I will leave it up to you to assign the limited number of switches the way you want it!
    • If you any other radio, open the X9D+.otx file. Companion can convert the file to your transmitter model, and it will report if there are cases where it cannot find a matching switch assignment on your radio. In any case, you should follow the instructions for switch assignment in Model configuration.
  • Read models and settings from your own radio.
  • Drag the model templates over to your own radio’s file.
  • Write models and settings to the radio from your own radio's file.

Now you should be ready to setup your first model from a SoarOTX template.

Troubleshooting

If your transmitter sounds an annoying alarm and shakes every time you go to Launch mode, then discover sensors so you have receiver voltage monitoring. The sound is warning you that your plane is not on, because the receiver reads 0 V.

If Companion crashes when you load the SoarOTX file, then check that you are using Companion 2.3.x. Since the files were created with Companion 2.3.7, they will crash Companion 2.2.x.

If it says "No telemetry screens", then check that you have copied the lua script files to the right place on your SD card. Verify that you have e.g. the following files: /SCRIPTS/FUNCTIONS/JFutil.lua, /SCRIPTS/TELEMETRY/JF3Ksk.lua and /SCRIPTS/TELEMETRY/JF/CHANNELS.lua.

If your script crashes, then:

  • Sometimes, the telemetry menus crash the first time they are opened. Just cycle power on your radio, and it should work then. Lua errors do not affect control of the plane. Otherwise proceed:

  • Make sure that you do not have old scripts from previous versions mixed in with the current version. If you do not have scripts from other parties, then just delete /SCRIPTS/TELEMETRY/ and /SCRIPTS/FUNCTIONS/ on your SD card, and copy a fresh set of files over.

  • Make sure that your model templates are also from the current version. You cannot mix the current and past versions.

  • Delete all *.luac files from your SD card, in case you copied them over from your computer. *.luac files are generated the first time that a script is run, and the ones generated by your computer, if you run Companion, are not compatible with the ones generated by your transmitter.

  • Maybe your SD card is corrupted - that has happened to me, and many others. Take a backup of anything on the SD card that you want to keep, then do a full format (not quick). Finally, copy fresh SD card files matching your version of OpenTX, and fresh SoarOTX files over. Your models are stored in the transmitter's internal flash memory, and will not be deleted by this procedure. Model backups are stored in the SD card's MODELS folder, and you may want to save these before formatting.

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