Anyone in Central California have a Jive? Or Progdisc?

[BKF]

(See below for original issue)


EDIT: I'm at the point now where I need to ship it off to Kontronik or someone affiliated to check the Progdisc and/or the Kosmik out.

Instead of doing that just yet, I was hoping to find maybe someone between Fresno and Modesto who has either a Heli Jive or a Progdisc.


If you have a Jive, I'd like to drive down and try connecting my Progdisc to see if I can access the settings using the Jive menu. If it doesn't work, then it's a fair bet there's something up with the Progdisc.


If you have a Progdisc, I'd like to drive down and have you connect it to my Kosmik, and see if you can see the menu that's supposed to show up (that mine doesn't do). You'll need v1.07 firmware from the Kontronik webpage.


Anyone available this weekend?


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Ok, I've finally put together everything else I need to get this build completed. I've gone ahead and done the Mode 1 and Mode 4 setup with the stick movement. I've got everything plugged into my HC3SX FBL unit, which has my HV servos connected. In the FBL setup, it's to the part where it needs to move the servos, but they don't seem to move... So I'm assuming it's because they need higher than 5.5v the BEC is putting out.

So I figured I'd hook the Progdisc up and bump up the BEC on the Kosmik to 7.4v. The problem is, I can't seem to get the Kosmik menu.

I power off, and pull the throttle wire (from the FBL's throttle output port), and plug it into the female servo lead on the Progdisc. Then I plug the male end into the throttle channel.

I plug the battery in, but the Kosmik doesn't seem to do the normal startup tones. I then press the button on the Kosmik, and it powers up, but shows me the ProgCard1, Progcard2, Heli Jive, etc menu. I've read that there's supposed to be a Kosmik menu that comes up instead, but it's not working.

I checked the firmware by downloading the latest firmware on the Kontronik site, and it shows v1.07 as the existing firmware version.

So what am I doing wrong? I've tried holding in the power button for 5 seconds and releasing to power off... then waiting a few seconds and powering it on again. No change.

Also, for what it's worth, when I'm not using the Progcard, the Kosmik powers on with 3 ascending tones, and then three short beeps. I currently have 2 6s 5100 mAh LiPos in series connected.

[Dr.Ben]

OK,

This is one way to do it that works, and I just checked it again on mine to make sure.

1. ProgDisk has a female lead on it. Take a male<->male extenstion like comes with the Kosmik and use that to hook that female lead into the MASTER port on the Kosmik. Make sure you pay attention and plug into the Kosmik in the right direction. The Progdisk will turn on either way but will not see the ESC if plugged in backwards.

2. Hook up the motor batteries to the ESC.

3. Press the button on the ProgDisk. It should now allow you to program the ESC.

Ben Minor

[jamin_00]

As above but you also pull the slave out if used

[BKF]

OK, just got home. I unplugged both ESC cables from the FBL unit, and completely removed the wire from the Slave port. I left the motor wires plugged into the motor. I took The "Master" ESC wire and left one end plugged into the Master port and plugged the other end into the Progdisc's female connector. I hooked up the series battery connector to my two 6s 5100 lipos, providing power to the ESC (no lights or tones happen, though). I then pressed the button on the Progdisc. Still no Kosmik menu. It just comes up with the standard Progcard 1, 2, etc, menu. The Master ESC port is keyed (beveled edge), as is the female Progdisc port, so there's no way to connect the wires incorrectly.

What else can I try?

[jamin_00]

Have you updated the Progdisc?

http://www.kontronik.com/index.php?o...id=179&lang=en

[BKF]

I did. I downloaded the 1.07.1 update and flashed the Progdisc and the upgrade went like it should. It still doesn't see the Kosmik, though.

[Wh1teAfr1can]

I am a little concerned that your servos arent moving. HV servos should still move even at 5.6v they wont move fast but they will work. so the issue may be deeper. try doing a mode 1 again just to try and then plug the prog disk in.

[BKF]

I'll check again. Maybe they were moving so slow I didn't see them move. It was a software subtrim setup in the Helicommand wizard setup. They didn't center, though so, like I think they're supposed to in that step, so they probably weren't moving.

I took a multimeter and checked voltage from the 2nd BEC connection on the Kosmik and got 5.56v.

The BEC is supplying the 5.6v to the Hc3SX, connected to two JR DSMX sats, and I can raise the throttle and it spools up the motor. So the BEC is supplying enough voltage to provide a radio link to my DX8 and a signal/voltage from the HC3SX back to the ESC for throttle.

EDIT: Servos definately are not moving. However, I connected a 2S LiPo directly to the battery input on the FBL controller and got servo movement. So either the Kosmik BEC isn't putting out enough voltage and/or amperage at 5.5v to drive the HV servos, or the 8917HV servos need the 7.4v to actually run and just stay dead until it reaches a minimum voltage.... So I'm still needing to get the Progdisc to talk to the Kosmik to raise the BEC voltage to verify that's all it is, but still no luck on that front. Justin sent me a PM offering help, and if I get some free time tomorrow night, I'm going to take him up on it! In the meantime, I wanted to gather more info. So this is what I know:

1) The Kosmik allowed me to perform the setup functions with high stick at mode one (then disconnect the batteries and reconnect, using the PRESS button each time to enter config mode), and then high stick again on Mode 4 for heli. When I throttle up, the motor spins up slowly, as it should.
2) A multimeter shows 5.56v on the both BEC cables
3) The voltage from the BEC is enough to power my Helicommand HC3SX with 2 JR DSMX satellites
4) I can program the HC3SX under the Kosmik's BEC power
5) When I get to the servo configuration where movement is needed, the HV servos don't work at 5.5v
6) I unhooked a digital servo from my Blade 450x and plugged that in as the only servo into my FBL controller, and it also didn't move when powered by the Kosmik BEC at 5.5v. Since I know the servo is capable of running at 5v, the only conclusion is the Kosmik BEC is doing something weird, or the HC3SX needs at least 6v in order to move servos, even though it says 5.5v is minimum. Since I was able to directly power the FBL controller with 7.4v (2S LiPo) and have the HV servo move, I'm optimistic that it's just a voltage thing.

[NRPY]

Where exactly in Central Cali are you? I have a butt load of PowerJives. No Kosmik though. I'm in Modesto.

[Greg Alderman]

BKF...do you have Skype with video on your computer? If you contact me at my work email in my signature below we can go over the Kosmik/ Progdisc set up via video chat. We should be able to conclude if the issue is a problem with the Kosmik, the Progdisc, or operator error.

Give me a shout via email please...as I have PM function turned off.

We certainly want to figure this out, as the next time any Kosmiks are available is sometime in January.

Best,

[BKF]

Thanks for the offer. After talking with Kontronik tech support, they asked me to get a BEC cable with switched pins because the first batch of Kosmik units had the ports installed incorrectly (backwards). They're keyed to only allow the BEC cable to fit one way, as is the female Progdisc, which is why it wouldn't work. Once I pulled the pins from one side of the connector, switched them around and put them back in the connector, and tried it, it worked. I got the proper menu and was able to bump up the BEC to 7.4v like I wanted.

Not sure what to do now, though. I've asked Kontronik what can be done now and if there's anything else I should know.

[jamin_00]

Just leave it now you know.

I got an early one and just plug my cables in upside down. They fit fine and hold fine too.

Have fun

[BKF]

There's no other issues? Just the plug is backwards?

[jamin_00]

Nope, there were a few posts on this when they came out. Some reversed the pins in the plugs and others just did what I said and do

You will be fine

[BKF]

Just ran into another issue with the Kosmik... I need the BEC set at 7.4v for HV servos. I finally got the Progdisc talking to the Kosmik, and set the BEC volts to 7.4. The Progdisc reports that the settings are saved correctly, but if I check the BEC leads with a multimeter, they read 5.6v. I pull power, and re-apply power and check again, and same thing.

Am I supposed to be doing something after I set the BEC voltage? If I go back to look at the BEC voltage with the Progdisc, it reports the correct saved voltage... but the BEC isn't actually putting that voltage out.

[Magneto]

The kosmik has to be initialized for the voltage selected, It defaults to 5.6 until it boots up.

[BKF]

Originally Posted by Magneto

The kosmik has to be initialized for the voltage selected, It defaults to 5.6 until it boots up.

Ya, I just found that out with a multimeter. Unfortunately that makes it incompatible with the Captron Helicommand HC3SX FBL controller when using HV servos and Spektrum/JR DSM satellites.

The FBL controller requires a minimum of 5.5v to operate when using remote satellites (like I am). When the FBL initializes, it naturally tries to move the HV servos to their default/stick position. This drops the voltage to 5.3v or so, which reboots the FBL controller. So the controller can never arm, because it's not being fed the proper voltage. The only way to let it arm is pull one or two servo leads, which minimizes the voltage sag, so it gets through the arming sequence. Then plug the servos back in.

Obviously plugging and unplugging servos isn't really an ongoing solution, as it's typical to glue or fasten the connecters down so they don't get loose and vibrate/slide out of the receiver or FBL controller.

Is there someone I can contact about possibly making a firmware update to have the voltage start at the user setpoint?

[Magneto]

You could use a small 2s lipo buffer pack on a switch , Switched on first then plug in your packs, This would solve your problem, and give you a redundant power source, BEC set to 8v for a lipo Or 7v with a life pack.

[Seasick78]

Well... Now its my turn I guess.

I just got my new Kosmik 200 in the mail yesterday. Installed it today, programmed everything, all was good.

Then I went to make sure I had the latest firmware... Big mistake. Froze up on the coomputer even though the status bar looked complete. Computer said "program not responding" so after waiting for quite a while the only option I had was to disconnect it.

I hooked up the prog disc to see if anything looked goofy. All I get is a message that says to "esc connected, press enter." Of course pressing enter does nothing. Tried to reflash the update and it wont even recognize the unit.

I looked at every thread I could find and tried all of the tricks mentioned, to include swapping BEC lead pins etc., nothing.

So - My saga started with a brand new prog disc screen that shakes around in the case and gets sideways... To a brand new K-200 which has never seen flight that apparently has to go back to Germany now? I guess I'll save in shipping both the prog disc and 200 together, eh?

Funfly this weekend isn't looking so good...

Suggestions? Or am I relegated to shipping it?

[BKF]

The only thing I can potentially offer is I remember reading that Kontronik USA says you can ship the items to them, and they have periodic shipments to Germany. It'll save you a few bucks in shipping (at the cost of time).

I'm assuming you tried resetting Mode 1 and setting Mode 4?

Any LEDs lit?