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9x Solderless Programmer Board Rev 2.4

9x Solderless Programmer Board Rev 2.4

Product Discontinued.

This bolt-on programmer board gives you an easy and solderless method for flashing your 9X with custom firmware.


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  • Description
  • Installation Instructions
  • Troubleshooting Tips
Product Discontined: The functionality of this product has been replaced with our 9Xtreme and SP Basic products.

This add-on board was designed for the Flysky 2.4Ghz 9-channel radio transmitter model number FS-TH9B, commonly referred to as the "9x".  It is also sold under various other re-branded model names and numbers, including (but not limited to): Flysky FS-TH9X, Eurgle 2.4Ghz, iMax 9x, and Turnigy 9x.

The 9x is an amazing value in the r/c aircraft world.  You won't find a radio that costs so little that can do so much!  However, it is not without its limitations.  The primary complaint with the 9x radio is that the stock firmware is quite poor.  Thankfully, some very clever people have written entirely new firmware that makes this cheap radio so powerful and flexible that it does things that units costing several hundreds of dollars more can't even dream of doing!  Our add-on board lets you load that new firmware onto your radio easily... with no soldering, no cutting, and no specialized tools or skills are required!  As a bonus, our kit also provides advanced support for the popular Hobby King 9x LED backlight system (some soldering required for this optional feature).

Built-in Programmer

The primary feature of our board is that it gives you a full-time programmer installed in your radio that allows you to "flash" new improved firmware onto your radio whenever you want, just by plugging it into your PC via a common miniUSB cable (not included).  If you get a generic programmer off eBay (or wherever), you have to solder 6 wires onto tiny pads on your radio's circuit board.  While many people have done this successfully, there is a lot that can and does go wrong:  incompatible programmer; soldering mistakes damaging the radio; frustrating trial and error; unsightly holes cut into your radio's case to make room for the clunky connector... and then you have to plug and unplug the programmer each time you want to update the radio!  Our programmer stays in your radio and you simply use a familiar mini-USB cable to connect it to your computer.  No soldering and no cutting whatsoever!  And it is designed specifically for the 9x radio.

Advanced LED Backlight Support

The second feature of our board is the integrated LED backlight driver, which provides support circuitry for the popular - and inexpensive - HobbyKing LED backlight (not included).  The circuitry adds the ability (once appropriate firmware has been flashed) to turn the backlight on and off by a variety of methods, and also provides full control over brightness (further firmware development required for brightness control).  Without our circuit, the HobbyKing LED backlight is on full time and at full brightness only.  As well, our constant-current driver provides steady power to the backlight over the full life of the battery so the light doesn't get progressively more dim as the battery drains, and it also ensures a longer life from the LEDs.  You can puchase the backlight from HobbyKing in white, blue, and green.  The use of the backlight with our board does require some modification to the backlight and also some soldering is involved for this feature.  As of Revision 2.3, we now include a cable with a connector for making the LED connection a little easier.

Some important notes:

  • There have been two generations of the 9x radio transmitter.  They look the same from the outside, but the internal circuit board is very slightly different.  This is important, as our board will not be compatible with first generation radios without some soldering.  See this page for identifying your radio's generation as well as instructions on using our board with a first generation unit.  The marketing by various stores can be confusing.  For example, Turnigy sells their latest ones as "V2" while Eurgle boasts "third generation"... but the fact is that they are referring to their included firmware, not the hardware.  While any recent purchase *should* be a second generation board, there are reports of people getting first generation hardware even when buying "V2" or similar from the store.  The only way to know for sure what generation you have is to open up the case and look at the circuit board.  
  • Our programmer gives you the tool to install custom firmware on your 9x radio, but we do not have any involvement with the firmware development itself.  We do not provide the custom firmware with the product, nor is it downloadable from our site, but you can get it freely from the Internet.  There are so many options available now that it wouldn't be fair to try to list them here.  Please visit openrcforums.com for all your firmware needs!
  • Similarly, we do not provide the software you will need to make use of the programmer, but again there are options available freely from the Internet.  The software you choose will depend on your type of computer and which Firmware you're going to use.  Each of the firmware projects have their own software packages.  Highly recommended are OpenTX and ER9X.
  • Installation of the board itself is quite straight forward.  The steps are described on this page.

 

 

Revision History

Rev 1:  Green board.  First prototype.  Had primary power issue that had to be resolved to function (click here for fix).  Had backlight power issue that resulted in too much power drawn from radio's CPU (click here for fix).

Rev 2:  White board.  Both Rev 1 issues resolved.  Introduced possibility of radio rebooting when light turned off (click here for fix).  No new features.  Slight efficiency improvement with backlight.  Some layout changes.

Rev 2.1:  White board.  Rev 2 issue resolved.  No new features.  Some layout changes.  Different USB and EL connectors used (not compatible with previous revisions).

Rev 2.2:  White board.  EL backlight panel and circuit discontinued and replaced with support for LED backlight.  Complete layout changes.  Programmer power is now independent of radio power, therefore the radio must be powered on during programming.

Rev 2.3:  White board.  Now includes header and plug/wires for LED connection.  Header for possible future use with TelemetrEZ added.

Rev 2.4[A]:  White board.   Shape of board changed to a rectangle.  Board now uses 3 screws and 1 nylon support rather than 4 screws.  Custom ISP programming cable included so the SP board can now be used as a generic USBasp for programming other devices.  The main intent of this feature is to be able to update TelemetrEZ without having to open the case (but it can also be used as a programming interface with any AVR device's standard 10 pin ISP header).  2.4 is expected to be the final release. Some batches may be marked "2.4A".  It is functionally identical to Rev 2.4.  It is not to be considered newer or better.  It just uses a slightly different LED backlight driver circuit due to component availability.

Installation instructions for this product are located here.

Troubleshooting tips for this product are located here.