RCU Forums - View Single Post - Tank Battery Telemetry via Crossfire!
View Single Post
Old 03-27-2023, 01:09 PM
  #9  
Durahl
 
Durahl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Nearby, on an astronomical scale.
Posts: 168
Received 45 Likes on 35 Posts
Default 69

Nice to see such a lively Conversation about the need for Battery Telemetry =)

Thought I'd give some additional feedback after installing another Matek System Module - Now into a Tamiya #56016 M26 Pershing.

Already installed in the Tank was a TBS Crossfire 6CH PWM Nano RX ( required for Tamiya Models due to it having at least 4 PWM Outputs ) to which I then simply attached a CRSF to SBUS Module via 4 short Wires ( 5V, GND, Tx, Rx ) to keep it as small as possible. An issue I found doing it like that was the loss of the first two PWM Channels to the Crossfire Rx/Tx Channels as otherwise the Module wouldn't operate - Luckily the PWM Nano Rx has 6 Outputs so shifting them down by two from CH1-4 to CH3-6 Solved that issue.

Essentially:
Crossfire Rx
Crossfire Tx
CH1
CH2
CH3
CH4
.
.
.


If the Controller is capable of running off SBUS then you simply buy the even smaller TBS Crossfire Nano RX, get a 1x4 PIN Header and solder the Matek System Module directly to it as the Pinouts are in the same order and ( I'm fairly certain but untested ) of the same size and spacing. The resulting Sandwich will have the footprint of the Nano RX ( 11x18mm ) and will be like 5-6mm thick - You can hardly get any smaller than that.

If you have a Model like the Tamiya #56018 King Tiger which by default has no Lights and you've used the 5th and 6th Channel of the PWN Nano Rx for controlling these then you're kinda stuck between a Rock, a hard Place, and a Diamond of either not having Battery Telemetry, being unable to control such additions or having to buy the Matek System CRSF to PWM 6 Module instead of the CRSF to SBUS one ( as the smallest solution to getting Battery Telemetry ).

All that is then left to do is soldering the V+ and GND lines on the back of the Module to some Leads going to the Battery Cables and you're done Hardware wise.

In EdgeTX ( or OpenTX ) it is then just a matter of searching for new Sensors for RxBt to appear ( among others ), adding the Sensor to Widget and maybe a conditional Alert =)