Thought maybe you tinkerers out there that have used the XHT module (or the old DHT for that matter) might appreciate this. It's not for RC..... It's for control line! I've been flying RC for many years but a few years ago I got the bug to fly control line models again as I had done before I flew RC. Electric is big now in control line and my buddies had been flying their control line planes by having a helper stand outside the circle with a RC transmitter to control the motor speed while the pilot flew the aircraft from the center of the circle. If you wanted to fly by yourself you were kind of stuck. Hard to hook a RC transmitter to your belt and control it while trying to fly an airplane with your other hand.
For those of you who've never seen it, a c/l airplane is controlled with a handle attached to two lines 50 to 60 feet long that lead to the inside of the aircraft (through the wing) where they are attached to a bellcrank. Moving the handle back and forth causes the bellcrank to move the elevator by a pushrod thus controlling the pitch of the aircraft as it circles around the pilot on the end of the lines. Sounds crazy but it's actually a lot of fun. Yeah, you get a little dizzy at first but almost everyone gets over that pretty quickly.
So I got the bright idea that we needed a small transmitter with minimal controls to allow the pilot to control the motor speed when flying the control line plane rather than the helper. It had to be small and light enough that it could be easily clipped to the belt and the controls be simple and intuitive. I found the DHT / XHT modules right here at Aloft and the result is the CLTX. The pics attached are for the fourth iteration where I went a bit overboard with bells and whistles. The basic controls are a three position switch where full down is motor off, full up is motor full speed, and center position allow the knob next to the switch set the motor "cruise" rpm. There's also a timer knob that lets you set a fixed flying time which is sometimes required in certain competitive events. The four-line display shows what the timer is set to on line one (or NO TIMER if it's turned off), the percent of full speed for the speed pot on line two, the battery voltage on line three, and the percent battery charge on line four. There's a beeper that sounds if there's a error. It also beeps out the elapsed time when you're flying.
The XHT module is under the main control board which is hand made. The controllers are Seeeduino XAIOs, a postage stamp size Arduino-compatible micro-controller with more horsepower than the standard Arduino Unos and Nanos. One unit drives the display and has all the control logic. The other unit is responsible for generating the ppm signal that goes to the XHT module. I made a custom daughter board for the XHT module so that I could bring the LEDs and binding button outside where they're easier to access. The whole thing is powered by a 1000mA 2S LiPo that fits inside the bottom of the case. It's good for 4 to 6 hours of use.
The aircraft is my electric Ringmaster (built from custom plans) that has over 200 flights on it and is still good as new.
For those of you who've never seen it, a c/l airplane is controlled with a handle attached to two lines 50 to 60 feet long that lead to the inside of the aircraft (through the wing) where they are attached to a bellcrank. Moving the handle back and forth causes the bellcrank to move the elevator by a pushrod thus controlling the pitch of the aircraft as it circles around the pilot on the end of the lines. Sounds crazy but it's actually a lot of fun. Yeah, you get a little dizzy at first but almost everyone gets over that pretty quickly.
So I got the bright idea that we needed a small transmitter with minimal controls to allow the pilot to control the motor speed when flying the control line plane rather than the helper. It had to be small and light enough that it could be easily clipped to the belt and the controls be simple and intuitive. I found the DHT / XHT modules right here at Aloft and the result is the CLTX. The pics attached are for the fourth iteration where I went a bit overboard with bells and whistles. The basic controls are a three position switch where full down is motor off, full up is motor full speed, and center position allow the knob next to the switch set the motor "cruise" rpm. There's also a timer knob that lets you set a fixed flying time which is sometimes required in certain competitive events. The four-line display shows what the timer is set to on line one (or NO TIMER if it's turned off), the percent of full speed for the speed pot on line two, the battery voltage on line three, and the percent battery charge on line four. There's a beeper that sounds if there's a error. It also beeps out the elapsed time when you're flying.
The XHT module is under the main control board which is hand made. The controllers are Seeeduino XAIOs, a postage stamp size Arduino-compatible micro-controller with more horsepower than the standard Arduino Unos and Nanos. One unit drives the display and has all the control logic. The other unit is responsible for generating the ppm signal that goes to the XHT module. I made a custom daughter board for the XHT module so that I could bring the LEDs and binding button outside where they're easier to access. The whole thing is powered by a 1000mA 2S LiPo that fits inside the bottom of the case. It's good for 4 to 6 hours of use.
The aircraft is my electric Ringmaster (built from custom plans) that has over 200 flights on it and is still good as new.
