I had an R9 module and receivers purchased when they were cheap gathering dust, flashed ELRS and never looked back. Best decision ever. I can only encourage others to follow that path
Just wanted to let you know that I used this video as a foundation to convert all my R9 equipment to ELRS and........success. Thank you for taking the time to share this. 😎👍🇺🇲
Hi, you always come up with the best walkthroughs on reviving old equipment. Think this is one of the few on YT so thank you for going through the difficult process for R9M conversion 😊. I did get min Access R9M external module upgraded using the 868mhz firmware configured for both the module and receiver. But found my R9MX receiver would not bind to my external module. The only way it worked was to switch to FCC 915 firmware config, and turn off the bind phrase. Took me hours, but would be nice to get the 868mhz firmware working as I am also in the UK 😅
Done the resistor mod on my ACCST R9 sometime ago.. so this video showing how to flash it will be useful going forward... Great video as usual... Thank you.
Great Video love how you put everything and save the rest of us from second guessing problems . I have about 9 R9m receivers and I am looking forward to changing them over thanks to you . Take Care
Good luck - it's a lot of soldering to do on that many RX's, but I've done the flight tests now (video to follow) and I was happy with the results - so worth it IMO
Nice. A brief on Ghost would be nice as well if there aren't any conflicts of interests...dis-regard last..JBardwell covered what I needed to hear...back to you I assured ELRS is where I need to be
I have a Ghost system but I haven't used it on an actual model yet. It's probably had a bunch of firmware updates since, but keen to try it on a little wing conversion to see how it measures up
Hi Wayne. Long time no speak, sir. Good to see that you're still facing the same real-world 'repurposing/upgrading' dilemmas as the rest of us as drone technology improvements march on!! I've not flown much for the past year but i'm getting back into the hobby after picking up a pristine used set of DJI V2 Goggles and a cut-price Vista Nebula Pro combo, with a view to improving my flying by being able to see detailed digital images in my goggles rather than blurry analogue shapes ;) My intent was to quickly upgrade my trusty old Chameleon 5" rig with the Caddx Cam/VTX and simply go fly. If only it was that simple!! I faced much the same hurdles as yourself. I managed the Cam/VTX install without problems but I really wanted to get the WTF 'canvas' OSD overlay on the DJI goggles. However this needed BF 4.2x f/w to support ... but my donor quad was running a lowly BF 4.0.5 f/w. If I was upgrading to V4.2 then I figured I might as well go the whole hog and upgrade to V4.3.1 to get all of the presets and tuning improvements. However, this needed BF Configurator V10.8, which wouldn't run on the ancient 32-bit Win10 laptop that I use for all my quad work (and I have no other 64-bit laptops as I mainly use Macs :( Luckily my workhorse 2012 Macbook Pro is still on Catalina OS so supports BF Configurator V10.8; hence I was able to flash the latest V4.3.1 f/w to the quad. After successfully completing WTF OSD overlay install I read through Chris Rosser's tuning guide for V4.3.1 f/w, where he recommends using RPM filtering and 2.4GHz ELRS. This prompted a reflash of my BlHeli_S ESCs to bidirectional Bluejay f/w (all done and working), which just leaves the challenge of getting a 2.4GHz ELRS TX and RX combo installed and configured. Cue more research and my stumbling upon your video. I have 5 quads with R9MM/R9 Mini RX (including the Chameleon in question) and have the same R9M Tx module as yourself, so I'm considering my strategy for 'repurposing/upgrading' this Frsky hardware. Realistically I'll also have to upgrade my X9D to the latest Open Tx (better still, EdgeTX) to simplify ELRS configuration as much as possible. Sorry for such a long comment but I was PMSL so much when watching this video as the problems you encountered were sooo typical of those encountered by your average FPV hobbyist (particularly the RX/TX wiring). I just thought I let you know that you're in good company by sharing my tortuous upgrade journey ;) FYI - my strategy is to buy a Jumper T-Lite V2 with 2.4GHz internal ELRS TX (as it's not much more ££ than a module) and cheap 2.4GHz ELRS RX to replace the R9MM on my Chameleon. I know it's 100mW max but that's fine for a freestyle quad. I'll then convert the other 4 quads with R9MM/Mini RXs and the R9M TX to run ELRS at 900MHz like you did. For those that I can't convert due to H/W limitations I'll simply re-flash the R9M TX back to the original Frsky f/w (I saw a chap on UA-cam doing it; looks like a simple, quick get-out of jail option that can be done in the field). Thanks for making me smile today! All the best, Steve :)
You'll have no issues with 100mw on 2.4 - this is my most used power/rx combo at the moment and I can still go >1km with full signal, so pretty much anywhere you fly will be good.
@@CurryKitten Howdy Wayne. To avoid venturing out in the UK's 'big freeze' I've started to convert my resistor-modded 2018 R9M Tx and some of my R9MM/Mini Rxs to ELRS. All went swimmingly well with bootloaders & V3.1.1 firmware flashing for both Tx & the first Rx, however I just can't get the R9MM Rx to automatically bind with the R9M Tx. ELRS LUA script works fine for the R9M Tx but when powering up the R9MM Rx via FC USB I get solid red/green LEDs for a few seconds followed by a flashing red LED. If I hit the Rx bind button before connecting I get a solid red/green LED. I switched the max baud rate back from 115K to 400K on the Tx but no auto bind when I turn on the Tx. I've even tried downgrading both Tx/Rx to V3.0.1 and V2.5.1 but no joy. Wondering if I should reflash the 'no boot' bootloader to the R9MM Rx in case I have a dodgy bind button (although it seems to click/move as before and it worked fine with the original host quad). The downer is that I'll have to desolder the Rx, hook up the servo lead to reflash the BL via the JR module bay, then resolder back to the FC. A right royal PTA! My backup plan is to grab an ELRS or Crossfire Diversity Rx for this particular build ... an AOS 7 LR. Any ideas before I warm-up the soldering iron? Cheers, Steve
Great vid wayne i have the r9 on my qx7 works great and am waiting for the postman for my betafpv nano and receiver for my tlite looking forward to join the gang on elrs
At 4:03 ... Think you have bad battery (at least a cell). Would recommend removing to inspect. You could also test by discharging a monitoring the balance of cell voltages. Particularly for for charging, as cells could overheat.
I had done at this point. Both cells tested fine, I also tried swapping these cells into a different radio - also fine, and using known other good cells in this radio - voltage dropped... so something is adrift in the way that this radio is getting powered... I also tried bypassing the battery connect completely and went in direct with a balance lead from a battery - still same issue.
@@CurryKitten Seems odd. That radio is powering up indicates digital circuits working ok. Maybe bad voltage regulator, or in power management circuit? Could try measuring voltage, (or resistance with power removed), just to rule out. Otherwise, your issue is more complicated.
I'd like to do this as like most I to got the deal and it's sat in the box. My trouble is my brain can't cope with doing the electronic stuff and in the after week's of trying I give up. But great video as always Wayne 👍
Where did you get stuck - I just had to spend the first 15 minutes of LDO this week defending my awful soldering on that resistor... surely it can't be worse than mine !
I guess FrSky is only surviving by the legacy customers that stay with them and buy bits and part or receivers from time to time. I went away when the R9M did not work out for me as they had promised and I became aware of the banning of Jumper radios in summer 2019 or so. That day I sold all my FrSky radios and receiver and finally got Jumper T16 first and then Radiomaster TX 16S und Jumper lite insted of the x-lite and a big taranis . Saved 150€ that way and got not lost in the accsst firmware lock or trap. I like that video even though i do not know if I have that R9M module, but I guess mine is a 2018 one or so, not the latest. And I had that X9D too before I had solld the FrySky stuff.
It's quite amazing where a company can fall so far because it choose to ignore the wishes of the majority of it's customers. "Customers come first" is the mantra of many businesses, perhaps FrSky should have gone with that as well. I think we are at least in a much healthier position with several good manufacturers, a few OS"s to run on the radios, and lots of module options out there.
Thank you for doing this. You did nice job of covering some of the hardware aspects much better than I'd seen in other videos. Strangely enough I'd missed, or didn't receive a notification when the video published a few days ago. Found it in doing a search on UA-cam. Was looking to see if any videos on converting my FrSky R9 Lite module (non-Pro) to ExpressLRS. There doesn't seem to be any videos (yet), and sounds like need USB to ST adapter. Documentation is a bit vague in how the R9 Lite TX module connect to ST-Link. They do show nice photos of the connection and wiring needed on R9 Lite and R9 Lite Pro modules. See you also have R9 Lite Module. If you do convert that one two (for example to use with your Zorro), please share a link if you find a more clear reference? Doing some searching and learning about ST-Link now. Sounds like cable/adapter needs to be purchased. EDIT: This might just mean needing a "USB To TTL Serial Converter Adapter Module" which would be ~$3-$4 (US).
I think I may have misread the stuff on the R9 Lite, as when I revisited the documentation, you didn't seem to need to use the STlink, so it should be pretty easy. I'll be aiming to convert both my R9 Lite modules over anyway in a future video
@@CurryKitten Great. Look forward to seeing. (no rush) My motivation is to see how range compares with 100mW ELRS on 900MHz vs 2.4GHz and to Crossfire. It's hardware I have, unused. A bonus win if becomes usable. :)
Great detailed video Wayne, pity.....i was following your video till i got to ExpressLRS Configurator 1.3.2, its only for windows 8,10,11 🤔 you guess it 🤭 i still using windows7 😧 oh well back to the drawing board...lol keep up with your Great videos 😉, cheers...
Good old Windows 7. If it helps, I think Win 10 is much more akin to it that the awfulness that Windows 8 was. That said, I'm on a Mac! You could always run a Virtual machine with a guest OS, or one of those Linux on a USB stick style distros and do it that way (although I can see that's also lots of hassle)
Great video, it seems the TX Module is simple enough to do...I got my R9 working on Flex but I never really trusted it TBH..Now I have CRSF on 868mhz so converting the R9 seems pointless. I fully expect Crossfire RXs to become cheaper in light of the huge competition..?...🤔🤔😀🇬🇧
There's certainly a case for being invested past a certain point in radio systems, where it makes more sense to carry on as you were. Crossfire is excellent - I hope the RX prices come down for you
I like the way you left your mistake in the video 😊 it’s the same sort of mistake I would make! I have a Taranis 2018 X9D Plus ACCST with a FrySky R9M 868MHz Tx module ACCST (the original). The R9M is using the last Flex firmware version, the only issue they never fixed was the jitter Issue, for me this only happened when on auto 1W, any fixed value below this and its does not occur. The R9MM uses FPORT, works really well, never had a fail safe and the RSSI output works as it should (I think the original fix was to do with scaling?) The only reason I have not swapped to ELRS is the reported issues with the Taranis X9D plus and slow inverter circuit? I also use 14 channels.
I did like F.Port on R9 (although it was available on other receivers as well) can't beat a single wire for control and telemetry can you. I still found that the RSSI was a little up and down, it certainly got better, but I'd still have odd drops here and there that I couldn't explain - but it was always hard to tell with flex as it might have just been going down before it boosted the power back up. I think ELRS's possible weakness is the inflexibility in it's approach to latency. They won't support SBUS because it's "legacy" and they only want to do 4 channels of full range. I think many pilots would trade off latency in order to support more channels, more full range channels, other options in protocols etc. But it's still fairly new, so I'm sure many changes will come in time.
Obviously for quads ELRS is awesome for low latency and range, but it sacrifices full resolution aux channels for the bandwidth it needs. I wonder how well the 64 or 128 position channels work for pan and tilt etc. I guess you could program the radio to smooth it out.
Yes indeed. Complex fixed wing models will often have a need for 8+ full range channels. ELRS started from a group of people who were into racing and wanted low latency above everything else - I hope they will take on board all the requests for more channels, they've been shooting down requests to have, for example, SBUS as an option. i would like to see it all if possible - but it's a lot to ask of a project that's doing things for free. For general quad flying though, it's hard to beat, especially at the price point
Hi CK I have been trying to flash my R9 mini rx to ELRS for two days now, wiring and betaflight settings seem correct. After connecting battery when it goes through the retry attempts is says bootloader version found and bootloader type found but then I get [FAILED] Unable to communicate with bootloader... [upload] Error -1... Frsky_RX_R9MM_R9MINI_via_BetaflightPassthrough FAILED 00:00:32.248 ==================== 1 failed, 0 succeeded in 00:00:32.248 ==================== Do you have any idea what I could be doing wrong ? Im pulling my hair out over this :), any help would be much appreciated , Many thanks.
Hello - sorry for the delay, I've been off on holiday! Right, so you've obviously managed to flash the bootloader over ok and have connected up to the FC and attempted to flash in passthrough. When I looked at these error messages in the ELRS discord - there wasn't a real "yes this is the issue" but if you have another UART available on your FC, trying that would be the best idea
@@CurryKitten Hi again, I went back to the drawing board and started again and it would seem I missed the open tx and firmware update for my x9d+, after this all worked great. thanks for your input.
Yes - when I connected to the quad at around 10 minutes in, that was using a regular ELRS rx from BataFPV. Obviously you will need to use 868/915 receivers (instead of 2.4) but any ELRS should work with the converted module
Thanks for the tutorial however after successfully flashing the R9M module with the erls_bl.frk bootloader I can't seem to get the Activation beep tone/ Green LED at the back of the module.. Does the Taranis have to be using openTX ? I'm currently on EdgeTX, I think this may be the issue ..
If it's all working great for you, then you don't - carry on and enjoy :) I never liked the RSSI in R9 - I found it a bit flakey, and I don't like the fact that development for it appeared to have died several years ago.
Thank you. I have to find my Rx, but this is my plan to setup the Long range Reckon 5 I just purchased. This is the exact video I needed. (that and more Liftoff time) Barely related: Do you think is possible to eventually have ELRS range extension and latency reduction for 5.8 fpv signal ?
ELRS range extension - in what way, people are flying 40km on 10w on 915mhz.. how far are you looking to go! 5.8 wise, are you talking about using the same idea ELRS use on a control signal to reduce latency on the video signal? If so, the video signal, I think is pretty good - the other problem is that ELRS reduce their latency in part by reducing what is actually sent, which is why they've only got 4 fully range channels as the switches do a lot less, so I don't think that approach is practical for video as you'd be chucking some of the info away and making the visuals worse.
I have an older Flysky Turnigy 9x flashed with er9x and it works like a charm.. I am wondering ain't using serialpasstrough with beta flight gonna be easier 😅 I used this method to flash the flex firmware.. But I just want to ask is it mandatory to use the LUA scrypt for using elrs? If I manage to find a way to make it work with elrs it is gonna be Great cuz finding the old ACCST R9 recievers is extremely hard for me 😞 So the digging beginz 😅
That's good news. I guess they had a few more versions of ER9X then if it can support CRSF. I still have my old (x kicking about with ER9X on it, but it's just a museum piece now :) You'll pretty much need the LUA script to change anything in terms of power, packet rate, telemetry etc etc as there's no other way of setting it on the old R9 modules. The 900mhz ELRS RX's should work fine now you've converted it though - no need to think about finding those old R9 rx's
When you say "data" what sort of thing are you wanting to send? Obviously the radio will essentially do a similar thing albeit just on the set control protocol - but that's stm32 based (IIRC)
As your using the R9 module in your Taranis X9d (not plus) it appears that it's not necessary to do the resistor mod on the 2018 ACCST R9. I am using the same radio and modul as you and as yet found no problem having carried out this mod even though its unnecessary for the X9D Wether after a long period of use this resistor causes a problem remains to be seen.
@@CurryKitten It is mentioned in the notes section of the ELRS Configurator as the only TX that dosn't require it. We both missed it... Hopefully it won't start causing issues at some point... But should be first "port of call" if problems arrive.
There's a range of 300-1000ohms, so I used a 1k resistor as I had a whole bunch of them laying around. The mini and the mm uses slightly different pins - check this link for the pic www.expresslrs.org/2.0/quick-start/receivers/rx-r9receivers/
Yep - it seemed ok - although a limited test, after installing the mod I checked that I could still connect to an R9 receiver and that all the channels worked
Back now and think im going to go for it, i went over to crossfire and its amazing. I just have the R9M access and R9 receivers which are also OTA, would that function make it easier to flash the firmware? It looks worth it and id be able to get two receivers back which are usable.
I thought OTA would mean I could flash them wirelessly, but sadly not. Rather than use something that could use wifi, they are using their own strange and interesting protocol which ELRS can't use. So there's still the pain of that initial flash, but at least afterwards you can use Betaflight passthrough to do it
So once you have it flashed the first time (via the soldering and things) if you need to update of change ELRS you can plug the quad into betaflight and then in the ELRS configurator flash the RX via it's betaflight connection (hence Betaflight pass through)
You don't need to no to flash it, but I found it more useful to. Basically if I went through the process of doing the flash, and then messed up the soldering and broke it I'd be more annoyed that if I started with breaking it without all the other effort
Ok I did Flash the modul sd card on the TX16s works good butt I think I need to solder on the resistor to have the full telementry on the modul is that correct if I'm going to have full telemetry on it run 400k crsf baud rate how high can I run it on power out mw
Hi Wayne, i'm a bit confused..lol i was looking at doing this mod to my red ACCST frsky r9m 2019 module, on the front sticker it says eu lbt on the back it says r9m FCC ID XYFR9M09T, the PCB in side is nothing like your lay-out...lol, on this board is 94V-0 ML1. 1920. 02. E464601, i see on your's is ML1, 1832 E464601, i looked on ExpressLRS :- R9M inverter Mod:- Transmitter Notes:- QX7 allows configuration of the bitrate in the OpenTX hardware menu. ELRS will work fine using 115200 bit/s but the modification is required for 400 kbit/s??? any help would be much apprenticed, cheers Keith...
Howdy. Right, one of the things there is a weird mix up in the way of representing values. 115200 bit/s is 115 kbit/s, so hence why 400 kbit/s is a higher speed. I've not heard of a different board layout - I didn't think they had revised it (aside from when they went ACCESS) My advice here would be to ask the very helpful guys on the ELRS discord (specifically the help-and-support room) I'd happily ask myself, but odds on that if it's a new issue, then they'd be after a picture of the board to figure out what needs to be connected where.
@@CurryKitten ok Wayne👨🏫 thank you very much for replying to me, when i open my r9m module i thought wt- is something missing here...lol anyway Wayne cheers, i'll get my camera going and see if they can help, cheers 👌🤝🙏 P.S how his your knee holding up after your Op' 🤔 all ok we hope 👍
If you are flying happily on R9 and nothing is troubling you, then you might want to stay as you are. Obviously, R9 doesn't seem to have been touched in years, but R9 is constantly under development and is making a lot of releases, so it was a no brainer for me. Once you convert the module, you'll have to convert your RX's as well, it won't work on R9 any longer. The rx's are more hassle to do, given you have to physically wire them up to flash them
@@CurryKitten I see. Currently working okay with my drone but not the best range. I think I just need to try different firmwares. My OSD rssi doesn't show so that's weird too :(
Can any one help? I have flashed the elrs bootloader, latest firmware to a frsky r9m access module. I have downloaded the lua script to my Qx7 access. It all seems to be working. I am trying to bind to the new tiny hawk 3. This has an spi based reciver. This has betaflight 4.4 flashed. I have put in my binding phrase, it didn't bind, tried bind_rx, it didn't bind. Tried 50hz still no good! I've tried everything I can think of! Someone please help it's driving me mad! Thanks
The problem here is that you are trying to bind an 868/915Mhz module with a 2.4Ghz receiver. SPI based rx's only work on 2.4 and the converted module only works on 868 or 915
@CurryKitten Merry Xmas. Thought I would give an update. Treated my self to the Emax Aries link 2.4Ghz module. After a little playing about all bound and working on my tiny whoop. Great tech, will be sticking to Express Lrs for new builds. Thanks for all the great content and wisdom. All the best for 2024, thanks again. 😊👍
@@CurryKitten if the R9M could do dual boot firmware then id try it but having multiple things with R9 Slim+ Rx's buried and running yappu telemetry, im apprehensive about making the move because of all the work an learning about a new system which would have to be flashed to everything and i dont know what id really gain as stock it has enough range for me. I have the 2019 model so at least no mods are required but not sure i can be bothered with messing with multiple craft that already work fine :/
I wish you said that R9m Lite max power after expressLRS conversion will be 50mW while stock R9 Lite has 100mW... As stock R9 has 100mW I assumed I would get 100mW with ELRS which can get one really quite far. Not so. Only 50mW. I spoke with people on the ELRS discord and they said because elrs uses much higher duty cycle one has to use lower TX power. So basically for really long range stuff R9 Lite is still a bad choice :-( pity I found out only after buying it.
Sorry - I would have done, but I hadn't checked the R9m Lite out much as I didn't convert mine (yet). I will certainly address this when I come to do it
@@CurryKitten thanks for the reply. Yes, 50mW is max and nothing short of hacking the source code can be done about it. I even went down that path, but then one of elrs devs sent me a datasheet for the rf chip they use in R9 lite and indeed it says 100mW is only for "1% duty cycle" while elrs runs at close to 75% duty cycle. So perhaps if I was making that decision I too would limit the power to 50mW for "normal people" that don't plan to add extra cooling. Still, with those 50mW I do get double the range of stock R9 running at 100mW thanks to better protocol. Anyway, I bought R9 lite Pro which goes up to 500mW (1W with extra cooling) and I'll be returning the normal R9 lite. The greatest thing about this upgrade is that it is reversible (for R9 lite, not Pro) so one can flash the original fw and return the module if one wants.
@@CurryKitten I like my R9 system, it works for me, its not broken so I don't want to fix it, thats all. I am keeping an eye on the technology though.... cheers Wayne for your quality content!!! :)
I didn't give a specific link did I? It looks like they R9 stuff hasn't been brought forwards into the docs for v2/v3, so you can get it here www.expresslrs.org/1.0/quick-start/tx-r9m/
@@CurryKitten Hello Sir. I have flashed my R9M module and now want bind it with RX24T 2.4.g RX but it just not binding please please help me to resolve this issue
@@amritafagna130 That particular issue isn't easily resolvable. The R9 system works on 868/915Mhz, not 2.4Ghz. Flashing the R9 module with ELRS will let you connect to any 868/915Mhz ELRS rx (or a converted R9 one) but it can't change frequencies to 2.4
I had an R9 module and receivers purchased when they were cheap gathering dust, flashed ELRS and never looked back. Best decision ever. I can only encourage others to follow that path
Who's videos are the best for walking me through the process?
Its been 2 years since this video was made and its still very useful, much thanks 👍
Great to hear!
Just wanted to let you know that I used this video as a foundation to convert all my R9 equipment to ELRS and........success.
Thank you for taking the time to share this.
😎👍🇺🇲
Great work - glad I could help you along
Hi, you always come up with the best walkthroughs on reviving old equipment. Think this is one of the few on YT so thank you for going through the difficult process for R9M conversion 😊. I did get min Access R9M external module upgraded using the 868mhz firmware configured for both the module and receiver. But found my R9MX receiver would not bind to my external module. The only way it worked was to switch to FCC 915 firmware config, and turn off the bind phrase. Took me hours, but would be nice to get the 868mhz firmware working as I am also in the UK 😅
please do a video on the R9M Lite Pro! Great video and packed with useful knowledge as usual.
I'll attempt to schedule something in on the Lite versions as that's 2 requests for it :)
@@CurryKitten that would be excellent! looking forward to that video!
Done the resistor mod on my ACCST R9 sometime ago.. so this video showing how to flash it will be useful going forward... Great video as usual... Thank you.
The fiddly bit for you is done!
Great Video love how you put everything and save the rest of us from second guessing problems . I have about 9 R9m receivers and I am looking forward to changing them over thanks to you .
Take Care
Good luck - it's a lot of soldering to do on that many RX's, but I've done the flight tests now (video to follow) and I was happy with the results - so worth it IMO
Despite watching the video.. I made the exact same Tx Rx mistake myself :D Anyway, thanks for the video, Wayne. It's been very helpful.
Super video I have an R9m receiver and a taranis x9d plus so I am very interested in continuing this video
I've been using my R9 gear with ELRS for quite some time and works great!
Agreed - I did the test flying today
Nice!, I have been looking at elrs and have a new R9 gathering dust!, winner, cheers fella, good shout!
Cool - it'll be nice to get some use out of it
@@CurryKitten indeed, and instead save the money towards a new whoop!!😎
Excellent Video. I really enjoy your ability to explain in detail and I’m equally impressed with your knowledge. Very good job
Awesome, thank you!
Nice. A brief on Ghost would be nice as well if there aren't any conflicts of interests...dis-regard last..JBardwell covered what I needed to hear...back to you I assured ELRS is where I need to be
I have a Ghost system but I haven't used it on an actual model yet. It's probably had a bunch of firmware updates since, but keen to try it on a little wing conversion to see how it measures up
@@CurryKitten Copy that!
Nice, great use of R9 stuff.
Hi Wayne. Long time no speak, sir. Good to see that you're still facing the same real-world 'repurposing/upgrading' dilemmas as the rest of us as drone technology improvements march on!! I've not flown much for the past year but i'm getting back into the hobby after picking up a pristine used set of DJI V2 Goggles and a cut-price Vista Nebula Pro combo, with a view to improving my flying by being able to see detailed digital images in my goggles rather than blurry analogue shapes ;) My intent was to quickly upgrade my trusty old Chameleon 5" rig with the Caddx Cam/VTX and simply go fly. If only it was that simple!! I faced much the same hurdles as yourself. I managed the Cam/VTX install without problems but I really wanted to get the WTF 'canvas' OSD overlay on the DJI goggles. However this needed BF 4.2x f/w to support ... but my donor quad was running a lowly BF 4.0.5 f/w. If I was upgrading to V4.2 then I figured I might as well go the whole hog and upgrade to V4.3.1 to get all of the presets and tuning improvements. However, this needed BF Configurator V10.8, which wouldn't run on the ancient 32-bit Win10 laptop that I use for all my quad work (and I have no other 64-bit laptops as I mainly use Macs :( Luckily my workhorse 2012 Macbook Pro is still on Catalina OS so supports BF Configurator V10.8; hence I was able to flash the latest V4.3.1 f/w to the quad.
After successfully completing WTF OSD overlay install I read through Chris Rosser's tuning guide for V4.3.1 f/w, where he recommends using RPM filtering and 2.4GHz ELRS. This prompted a reflash of my BlHeli_S ESCs to bidirectional Bluejay f/w (all done and working), which just leaves the challenge of getting a 2.4GHz ELRS TX and RX combo installed and configured. Cue more research and my stumbling upon your video. I have 5 quads with R9MM/R9 Mini RX (including the Chameleon in question) and have the same R9M Tx module as yourself, so I'm considering my strategy for 'repurposing/upgrading' this Frsky hardware. Realistically I'll also have to upgrade my X9D to the latest Open Tx (better still, EdgeTX) to simplify ELRS configuration as much as possible.
Sorry for such a long comment but I was PMSL so much when watching this video as the problems you encountered were sooo typical of those encountered by your average FPV hobbyist (particularly the RX/TX wiring). I just thought I let you know that you're in good company by sharing my tortuous upgrade journey ;)
FYI - my strategy is to buy a Jumper T-Lite V2 with 2.4GHz internal ELRS TX (as it's not much more ££ than a module) and cheap 2.4GHz ELRS RX to replace the R9MM on my Chameleon. I know it's 100mW max but that's fine for a freestyle quad. I'll then convert the other 4 quads with R9MM/Mini RXs and the R9M TX to run ELRS at 900MHz like you did. For those that I can't convert due to H/W limitations I'll simply re-flash the R9M TX back to the original Frsky f/w (I saw a chap on UA-cam doing it; looks like a simple, quick get-out of jail option that can be done in the field).
Thanks for making me smile today! All the best, Steve :)
You'll have no issues with 100mw on 2.4 - this is my most used power/rx combo at the moment and I can still go >1km with full signal, so pretty much anywhere you fly will be good.
@@CurryKitten Good to know sir! Appreciate the recommendation 👍
@@CurryKitten Howdy Wayne. To avoid venturing out in the UK's 'big freeze' I've started to convert my resistor-modded 2018 R9M Tx and some of my R9MM/Mini Rxs to ELRS. All went swimmingly well with bootloaders & V3.1.1 firmware flashing for both Tx & the first Rx, however I just can't get the R9MM Rx to automatically bind with the R9M Tx.
ELRS LUA script works fine for the R9M Tx but when powering up the R9MM Rx via FC USB I get solid red/green LEDs for a few seconds followed by a flashing red LED. If I hit the Rx bind button before connecting I get a solid red/green LED. I switched the max baud rate back from 115K to 400K on the Tx but no auto bind when I turn on the Tx. I've even tried downgrading both Tx/Rx to V3.0.1 and V2.5.1 but no joy.
Wondering if I should reflash the 'no boot' bootloader to the R9MM Rx in case I have a dodgy bind button (although it seems to click/move as before and it worked fine with the original host quad). The downer is that I'll have to desolder the Rx, hook up the servo lead to reflash the BL via the JR module bay, then resolder back to the FC. A right royal PTA!
My backup plan is to grab an ELRS or Crossfire Diversity Rx for this particular build ... an AOS 7 LR. Any ideas before I warm-up the soldering iron? Cheers, Steve
Perfect, just what I needed. Thanks!
Glad it helped!
Great vid wayne i have the r9 on my qx7 works great and am waiting for the postman for my betafpv nano and receiver for my tlite looking forward to join the gang on elrs
Welcome to the gang!
Yes, it was definitely helpful. Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
@@CurryKitten I think I'm finally going to get the box of R9 stuff out and do it.
At 4:03 ... Think you have bad battery (at least a cell). Would recommend removing to inspect. You could also test by discharging a monitoring the balance of cell voltages. Particularly for for charging, as cells could overheat.
I had done at this point. Both cells tested fine, I also tried swapping these cells into a different radio - also fine, and using known other good cells in this radio - voltage dropped... so something is adrift in the way that this radio is getting powered... I also tried bypassing the battery connect completely and went in direct with a balance lead from a battery - still same issue.
@@CurryKitten Seems odd. That radio is powering up indicates digital circuits working ok.
Maybe bad voltage regulator, or in power management circuit? Could try measuring voltage, (or resistance with power removed), just to rule out.
Otherwise, your issue is more complicated.
I'd like to do this as like most I to got the deal and it's sat in the box.
My trouble is my brain can't cope with doing the electronic stuff and in the after week's of trying I give up.
But great video as always Wayne 👍
Where did you get stuck - I just had to spend the first 15 minutes of LDO this week defending my awful soldering on that resistor... surely it can't be worse than mine !
Hello Mines error out when I try to build on the express app, can't seem to get past this point, on both the R9M and R9MM
Very easy way to flash the r9 accst and R9mm! Thank you gay!!!
I guess FrSky is only surviving by the legacy customers that stay with them and buy bits and part or receivers from time to time.
I went away when the R9M did not work out for me as they had promised and I became aware of the banning of Jumper radios in summer 2019 or so. That day I sold all my FrSky radios and receiver and finally got Jumper T16 first and then Radiomaster TX 16S und Jumper lite insted of the x-lite and a big taranis . Saved 150€ that way and got not lost in the accsst firmware lock or trap.
I like that video even though i do not know if I have that R9M module, but I guess mine is a 2018 one or so, not the latest.
And I had that X9D too before I had solld the FrySky stuff.
It's quite amazing where a company can fall so far because it choose to ignore the wishes of the majority of it's customers. "Customers come first" is the mantra of many businesses, perhaps FrSky should have gone with that as well. I think we are at least in a much healthier position with several good manufacturers, a few OS"s to run on the radios, and lots of module options out there.
Thanks CurryKitten, can you please make a video on the R9M lite pro?
I'll try and schedule it in as you are request number 2... and it doesn't take that much to sway me :)
@@CurryKitten Thank you so much
@@CurryKitten No 3 Wayne
Thank you for doing this. You did nice job of covering some of the hardware aspects much better than I'd seen in other videos.
Strangely enough I'd missed, or didn't receive a notification when the video published a few days ago. Found it in doing a search on UA-cam.
Was looking to see if any videos on converting my FrSky R9 Lite module (non-Pro) to ExpressLRS. There doesn't seem to be any videos (yet), and sounds like need USB to ST adapter. Documentation is a bit vague in how the R9 Lite TX module connect to ST-Link. They do show nice photos of the connection and wiring needed on R9 Lite and R9 Lite Pro modules.
See you also have R9 Lite Module. If you do convert that one two (for example to use with your Zorro), please share a link if you find a more clear reference?
Doing some searching and learning about ST-Link now. Sounds like cable/adapter needs to be purchased.
EDIT: This might just mean needing a "USB To TTL Serial Converter Adapter Module" which would be ~$3-$4 (US).
I think I may have misread the stuff on the R9 Lite, as when I revisited the documentation, you didn't seem to need to use the STlink, so it should be pretty easy. I'll be aiming to convert both my R9 Lite modules over anyway in a future video
@@CurryKitten Great. Look forward to seeing. (no rush)
My motivation is to see how range compares with 100mW ELRS on 900MHz vs 2.4GHz and to Crossfire.
It's hardware I have, unused. A bonus win if becomes usable. :)
Great video on converting to elrs. Is it safe to convert the Access version of the R9M module inside jr bay of a radiomaster boxer on EdgeTX?
Great detailed video Wayne, pity.....i was following your video till i got to ExpressLRS Configurator 1.3.2, its only for windows 8,10,11 🤔 you guess it 🤭 i still using windows7 😧 oh well back to the drawing board...lol keep up with your Great videos 😉, cheers...
Good old Windows 7. If it helps, I think Win 10 is much more akin to it that the awfulness that Windows 8 was. That said, I'm on a Mac! You could always run a Virtual machine with a guest OS, or one of those Linux on a USB stick style distros and do it that way (although I can see that's also lots of hassle)
Conseguir....Gracias por información y muy claro... 👍
Thanks a lot for the tutorial, Wayne! 😃
I have the ACCST R9 and I'm going to do exactly that!
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Seems silly not to convert really doesn't it!
@@CurryKitten Absolutely!
would adding extra ground on module antenna ? has spot like it was for a mmcx or ufl?
Great video, it seems the TX Module is simple enough to do...I got my R9 working on Flex but I never really trusted it TBH..Now I have CRSF on 868mhz so converting the R9 seems pointless. I fully expect Crossfire RXs to become cheaper in light of the huge competition..?...🤔🤔😀🇬🇧
There's certainly a case for being invested past a certain point in radio systems, where it makes more sense to carry on as you were. Crossfire is excellent - I hope the RX prices come down for you
I like the way you left your mistake in the video 😊 it’s the same sort of mistake I would make!
I have a Taranis 2018 X9D Plus ACCST with a FrySky R9M 868MHz Tx module ACCST (the original).
The R9M is using the last Flex firmware version, the only issue they never fixed was the jitter
Issue, for me this only happened when on auto 1W, any fixed value below this and its does not occur. The R9MM uses FPORT,
works really well, never had a fail safe and the RSSI output works as it should (I think the original fix was to do with scaling?)
The only reason I have not swapped to ELRS is the reported issues with the Taranis X9D plus and
slow inverter circuit? I also use 14 channels.
I did like F.Port on R9 (although it was available on other receivers as well) can't beat a single wire for control and telemetry can you. I still found that the RSSI was a little up and down, it certainly got better, but I'd still have odd drops here and there that I couldn't explain - but it was always hard to tell with flex as it might have just been going down before it boosted the power back up. I think ELRS's possible weakness is the inflexibility in it's approach to latency. They won't support SBUS because it's "legacy" and they only want to do 4 channels of full range. I think many pilots would trade off latency in order to support more channels, more full range channels, other options in protocols etc. But it's still fairly new, so I'm sure many changes will come in time.
Is the conversion operation from R9 modules to ELRS reversible?
Obviously for quads ELRS is awesome for low latency and range, but it sacrifices full resolution aux channels for the bandwidth it needs. I wonder how well the 64 or 128 position channels work for pan and tilt etc. I guess you could program the radio to smooth it out.
Yes indeed. Complex fixed wing models will often have a need for 8+ full range channels. ELRS started from a group of people who were into racing and wanted low latency above everything else - I hope they will take on board all the requests for more channels, they've been shooting down requests to have, for example, SBUS as an option. i would like to see it all if possible - but it's a lot to ask of a project that's doing things for free. For general quad flying though, it's hard to beat, especially at the price point
I must send you some nice flux to try and The old TX-TX and RX-RX is a classic need for a sanity check
I checked it 20 times, but each time I misread the info on the page because of the ordering!
@@CurryKitten happens to the best of us!
Hi CK I have been trying to flash my R9 mini rx to ELRS for two days now, wiring and betaflight settings seem correct. After connecting battery when it goes through the retry attempts is says bootloader version found and bootloader type found but then I get [FAILED] Unable to communicate with bootloader... [upload] Error -1... Frsky_RX_R9MM_R9MINI_via_BetaflightPassthrough FAILED 00:00:32.248
==================== 1 failed, 0 succeeded in 00:00:32.248 ==================== Do you have any idea what I could be doing wrong ? Im pulling my hair out over this :), any help would be much appreciated ,
Many thanks.
Hello - sorry for the delay, I've been off on holiday! Right, so you've obviously managed to flash the bootloader over ok and have connected up to the FC and attempted to flash in passthrough. When I looked at these error messages in the ELRS discord - there wasn't a real "yes this is the issue" but if you have another UART available on your FC, trying that would be the best idea
@@CurryKitten Hi again, I went back to the drawing board and started again and it would seem I missed the open tx and firmware update for my x9d+, after this all worked great. thanks for your input.
I wanna know if I flash r9m to elrs can turn be able bind elrs receivers instead of keep buying r9 receiver and flash them to elrs?🤔
Yes - when I connected to the quad at around 10 minutes in, that was using a regular ELRS rx from BataFPV. Obviously you will need to use 868/915 receivers (instead of 2.4) but any ELRS should work with the converted module
Thanks for the tutorial however after successfully flashing the R9M module with the erls_bl.frk bootloader I can't seem to get the Activation beep tone/ Green LED at the back of the module.. Does the Taranis have to be using openTX ? I'm currently on EdgeTX, I think this may be the issue ..
No I use radios on Edge with mine as well
My original R9 Accst works great on all my 10 models, why would I flash It to ELRS?
If it's all working great for you, then you don't - carry on and enjoy :) I never liked the RSSI in R9 - I found it a bit flakey, and I don't like the fact that development for it appeared to have died several years ago.
Thank you. I have to find my Rx, but this is my plan to setup the Long range Reckon 5 I just purchased. This is the exact video I needed. (that and more Liftoff time)
Barely related:
Do you think is possible to eventually have ELRS range extension and latency reduction for 5.8 fpv signal ?
ELRS range extension - in what way, people are flying 40km on 10w on 915mhz.. how far are you looking to go! 5.8 wise, are you talking about using the same idea ELRS use on a control signal to reduce latency on the video signal? If so, the video signal, I think is pretty good - the other problem is that ELRS reduce their latency in part by reducing what is actually sent, which is why they've only got 4 fully range channels as the switches do a lot less, so I don't think that approach is practical for video as you'd be chucking some of the info away and making the visuals worse.
It's pretty
I have an older Flysky Turnigy 9x flashed with er9x and it works like a charm.. I am wondering ain't using serialpasstrough with beta flight gonna be easier 😅 I used this method to flash the flex firmware..
But I just want to ask is it mandatory to use the LUA scrypt for using elrs? If I manage to find a way to make it work with elrs it is gonna be Great cuz finding the old ACCST R9 recievers is extremely hard for me 😞
So the digging beginz 😅
That's good news. I guess they had a few more versions of ER9X then if it can support CRSF. I still have my old (x kicking about with ER9X on it, but it's just a museum piece now :) You'll pretty much need the LUA script to change anything in terms of power, packet rate, telemetry etc etc as there's no other way of setting it on the old R9 modules. The 900mhz ELRS RX's should work fine now you've converted it though - no need to think about finding those old R9 rx's
Its possible to send data from arduino (tx and rx pins) using FrSky R9M 2019 900 MHz to a drone with Mini-OTA R9 module??
When you say "data" what sort of thing are you wanting to send? Obviously the radio will essentially do a similar thing albeit just on the set control protocol - but that's stm32 based (IIRC)
As your using the R9 module in your Taranis X9d (not plus) it appears that it's not necessary to do the resistor mod on the 2018 ACCST R9. I am using the same radio and modul as you and as yet found no problem having carried out this mod even though its unnecessary for the X9D
Wether after a long period of use this resistor causes a problem remains to be seen.
I just followed the instructions. Perhaps there's so few of us with non-plus versions of the X9D, that it wasn't considered.
@@CurryKitten It is mentioned in the notes section of the ELRS Configurator as the only TX that dosn't require it. We both missed it... Hopefully it won't start causing issues at some point... But should be first "port of call" if problems arrive.
Hi! What does the transition from R9 to ELRS give? Is it more stable, more range or whatever? Or is it just something new and you just have to try it?
Once it's flashed to elrs can it be used on non-frsky transmitters?
You are talking about the RX's? In which case yes. In one of the videos you commented on I'm sure I show them being used with other ELRS modules
What resistor do I need to convert my ACCST r9m? I have 5 rxs too, minis and R9mms, is conversion the same for them?
There's a range of 300-1000ohms, so I used a 1k resistor as I had a whole bunch of them laying around. The mini and the mm uses slightly different pins - check this link for the pic www.expresslrs.org/2.0/quick-start/receivers/rx-r9receivers/
Im curious whether the R9 firmware will work with the resistor mod. Just in case i need to switch back.
Yep - it seemed ok - although a limited test, after installing the mod I checked that I could still connect to an R9 receiver and that all the channels worked
@@CurryKitten I did the resistor mod and it works fine. Still haven't gone to ELRS yet.
Back now and think im going to go for it, i went over to crossfire and its amazing. I just have the R9M access and R9 receivers which are also OTA, would that function make it easier to flash the firmware? It looks worth it and id be able to get two receivers back which are usable.
I thought OTA would mean I could flash them wirelessly, but sadly not. Rather than use something that could use wifi, they are using their own strange and interesting protocol which ELRS can't use. So there's still the pain of that initial flash, but at least afterwards you can use Betaflight passthrough to do it
@CurryKitten ah that's a shame but will be worth it. What is betaflight pass through?
So once you have it flashed the first time (via the soldering and things) if you need to update of change ELRS you can plug the quad into betaflight and then in the ELRS configurator flash the RX via it's betaflight connection (hence Betaflight pass through)
@CurryKitten oh sweet that sounds useful. Once I get the hang of it it'll be good to be using elrs
Hi I have r9m accst do I need to solder on the resistor before I flash the module
You don't need to no to flash it, but I found it more useful to. Basically if I went through the process of doing the flash, and then messed up the soldering and broke it I'd be more annoyed that if I started with breaking it without all the other effort
Ok I did Flash the modul sd card on the TX16s works good butt I think I need to solder on the resistor to have the full telementry on the modul is that correct if I'm going to have full telemetry on it run 400k crsf baud rate how high can I run it on power out mw
Hi Wayne, i'm a bit confused..lol i was looking at doing this mod to my red ACCST frsky r9m 2019 module, on the front sticker it says eu lbt on the back it says r9m FCC ID XYFR9M09T, the PCB in side is nothing like your lay-out...lol, on this board is 94V-0 ML1. 1920. 02. E464601, i see on your's is ML1, 1832 E464601, i looked on ExpressLRS :- R9M inverter Mod:- Transmitter Notes:- QX7 allows configuration of the bitrate in the OpenTX hardware menu. ELRS will work fine using 115200 bit/s but the modification is required for 400 kbit/s??? any help would be much apprenticed, cheers Keith...
Howdy. Right, one of the things there is a weird mix up in the way of representing values. 115200 bit/s is 115 kbit/s, so hence why 400 kbit/s is a higher speed. I've not heard of a different board layout - I didn't think they had revised it (aside from when they went ACCESS) My advice here would be to ask the very helpful guys on the ELRS discord (specifically the help-and-support room) I'd happily ask myself, but odds on that if it's a new issue, then they'd be after a picture of the board to figure out what needs to be connected where.
@@CurryKitten ok Wayne👨🏫 thank you very much for replying to me, when i open my r9m module i thought wt- is something missing here...lol anyway Wayne cheers, i'll get my camera going and see if they can help, cheers 👌🤝🙏 P.S how his your knee holding up after your Op' 🤔 all ok we hope 👍
Might do this on my R9M access. Is it easy and worth it? Will it still work with my current R9 receivers
If you are flying happily on R9 and nothing is troubling you, then you might want to stay as you are. Obviously, R9 doesn't seem to have been touched in years, but R9 is constantly under development and is making a lot of releases, so it was a no brainer for me. Once you convert the module, you'll have to convert your RX's as well, it won't work on R9 any longer. The rx's are more hassle to do, given you have to physically wire them up to flash them
@@CurryKitten I see. Currently working okay with my drone but not the best range. I think I just need to try different firmwares. My OSD rssi doesn't show so that's weird too :(
Can any one help? I have flashed the elrs bootloader, latest firmware to a frsky r9m access module. I have downloaded the lua script to my Qx7 access. It all seems to be working. I am trying to bind to the new tiny hawk 3. This has an spi based reciver. This has betaflight 4.4 flashed. I have put in my binding phrase, it didn't bind, tried bind_rx, it didn't bind. Tried 50hz still no good! I've tried everything I can think of!
Someone please help it's driving me mad! Thanks
The problem here is that you are trying to bind an 868/915Mhz module with a 2.4Ghz receiver. SPI based rx's only work on 2.4 and the converted module only works on 868 or 915
@@CurryKitten thanks so much! Now pointed out it's blindingly obvious. Still a new comer to the hobby. Every day is a school day.
@CurryKitten Merry Xmas. Thought I would give an update. Treated my self to the Emax Aries link 2.4Ghz module. After a little playing about all bound and working on my tiny whoop. Great tech, will be sticking to Express Lrs for new builds. Thanks for all the great content and wisdom. All the best for 2024, thanks again. 😊👍
Please do the video for the r9 lite pro
It's in plan - I just need to find the time to do it
Yep, I've known about R9 Elrs for ages but been too lazy to flash everything lol.
To be fair it's a reasonable amount of work - especially on the RX side!
@@CurryKitten if the R9M could do dual boot firmware then id try it but having multiple things with R9 Slim+ Rx's buried and running yappu telemetry, im apprehensive about making the move because of all the work an learning about a new system which would have to be flashed to everything and i dont know what id really gain as stock it has enough range for me. I have the 2019 model so at least no mods are required but not sure i can be bothered with messing with multiple craft that already work fine :/
I wish you said that R9m Lite max power after expressLRS conversion will be 50mW while stock R9 Lite has 100mW... As stock R9 has 100mW I assumed I would get 100mW with ELRS which can get one really quite far. Not so. Only 50mW. I spoke with people on the ELRS discord and they said because elrs uses much higher duty cycle one has to use lower TX power. So basically for really long range stuff R9 Lite is still a bad choice :-( pity I found out only after buying it.
Sorry - I would have done, but I hadn't checked the R9m Lite out much as I didn't convert mine (yet). I will certainly address this when I come to do it
@@CurryKitten thanks for the reply. Yes, 50mW is max and nothing short of hacking the source code can be done about it. I even went down that path, but then one of elrs devs sent me a datasheet for the rf chip they use in R9 lite and indeed it says 100mW is only for "1% duty cycle" while elrs runs at close to 75% duty cycle. So perhaps if I was making that decision I too would limit the power to 50mW for "normal people" that don't plan to add extra cooling. Still, with those 50mW I do get double the range of stock R9 running at 100mW thanks to better protocol. Anyway, I bought R9 lite Pro which goes up to 500mW (1W with extra cooling) and I'll be returning the normal R9 lite. The greatest thing about this upgrade is that it is reversible (for R9 lite, not Pro) so one can flash the original fw and return the module if one wants.
Good work here!!! Don't get left behind = P r o m o s m !!!
Dont work!! Bug signal critical
Try removing all the sensors and then rediscover them
Noooooooooo :(
No, why so?
@@CurryKitten I like my R9 system, it works for me, its not broken so I don't want to fix it, thats all. I am keeping an eye on the technology though.... cheers Wayne for your quality content!!! :)
Link of the file is expired please can you provide the file needed very urgent
r9m_elrs_bl.frk
I didn't give a specific link did I? It looks like they R9 stuff hasn't been brought forwards into the docs for v2/v3, so you can get it here www.expresslrs.org/1.0/quick-start/tx-r9m/
@@CurryKitten thanks for quick reply
@@CurryKitten Hello Sir. I have flashed my R9M module and now want bind it with RX24T 2.4.g RX but it just not binding please please help me to resolve this issue
@@amritafagna130 That particular issue isn't easily resolvable. The R9 system works on 868/915Mhz, not 2.4Ghz. Flashing the R9 module with ELRS will let you connect to any 868/915Mhz ELRS rx (or a converted R9 one) but it can't change frequencies to 2.4