PB Core/Swiwin 60/VSpeak/Pioneer setup tutorial
 

In order to take advantage of the telemetry capabilities of my PB Core I contacted AeroPanda and ordered A VSpeak turbine telemetry adapter.

This took me a little tinkering to get setup due to lack of detailed instructions and some assumptions on the part of those doing documentation and videos. I hope this saves you some time and frustration if you're a first timer, once you do this once you will be a pro (I'm not a pro but I figured it out!)

Here's the setup.
Rebel Hot with a Swiwin 60B turbine and a VSpeak telemetry adapter.
The airborne system is a Powerbox Core with a Pioneer and 2x 26D PBR receivers and an iSat iGyro sensor.

The iSat gyro plugs into the Pioneer in the center port on the power side labeled FAST Track
The 26D receivers plug into the RX1 and RX2 ports using the P2Bus ports

The blue plug for the VSpeak plugs into the telemetry port of the Swiwin ECU
Now, you need a Y-Harness, disconnect RX1 at the receiver end and connect the Y so that the male coming from the Pioneer is plugged into a female on the Y, the male coming from the VSpeak is plugged into the other female on the Y, and the male from the Y plugged into the P2Bus port on the receiver.
Power up and add a telemetry widget for RX1 status.
Set the DATA OUT to P2Bus Out (that's not the default!) (Photo 1)
On the VSpeak follow page 6 of the manual using the button to setup the VSpeak to output PB protocol (this was an annoying step!)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p0_...UGdEeaPQD/view link to the VSpeak detailed manual, not that 2 page quick start that comes with the unit.
Bring up your RX1 widget and click RESCAN SENSORS (Photo 2)
Now when you click MENU in the telemetry widget, you will see in addition to the RX, Pioneer, and CORE, a new entry called TURBINE (Photo 3)
Add a widget from the turbine menu, it doesn't matter but the in the upper left I added a medium size TURBINE STATUS widget.
Hold the turbine status widget till it wiggles then tap it.
Tap the bars under MENU
That brings up the selection screens for the VSpeak. From there you can set your fuel tank size, throttle channel etc. (Photo 4 and Photo 5)
You can now add your widgets supported by the ECU. I hold down on the main screen till the display shimmers then tap the +P to add a new blank page. Scroll to that page and add the widgets you want from the TURBINE menu, status, voltage, fuel flow, etc.. (Photo 6)

Once you get your turbine screen and widgets configured you can start setting up alarms.

Photo1

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...9c56a83680.jpg

Photo 2
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...fe756f041c.jpg

Photo 3
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...62a344288b.jpg

Photo 4
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...1d01bcbd7b.jpg

Photo 5
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...b559515a97.jpg

Photo 6
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...bb44c4319f.jpg

Lessons Learned:
1. As mentioned above setting VSpeak output protocol is annoying, the lights flash fast.
2. The receiver wasn't set to P2Bus Out out of the box on the Data Out port. This caused some head scratching.
3. I had everything setup and what I thought was working, I was getting data to the Core but had no throttle control, and trim would no longer arm the ECU, Hmm....disconnect the VSpeak and it works. (insert some Klingon cuss words)
I went back into the configuration screens for the VSpeak and found throttle channel defaults to 1 but I was using servo 5 on the Core. Reset that in the VSpeak config to 5 and hooked it all back up and voila!

I can only recommend that V-Speak questions should be directed at Volker at V-Speak if there are any doubts. I have used and setup 9 turbine models so far using V-Speak and PB CORE in combination with AMT, JetCat and KingTech. His assistance has been up with the best I have ever come across. The V-Speak telemetry units have performed flawlessly and I absolutely love the fact that I can get all the turbine information I need, in the format I want and with alarms on the CORE for every instance required.

JanR

Much appreciated!

They are very good units, using one with a Jakadofsky LE shaft turbine and it is very impressive.

Regards,

Thanks for the write up and the screen shots--can you screen shot all the alarms you set up?

Sure, probably be tomorrow though

No rush! I appreicate you.

Wiring

So just to confirm, the single wire goes to the gsu port on the ecu, and the 3 pin wire y leads in to p2b?

Single wire does nothing on my setup

Mine only has a 3 pin plug and a 1 pin plug?

Can you post a link to your product? Mine has a blue male 3 wire that goes to the telemetry port on the ECU and another 3 pin that goes to the y harness on the 26d and a single pin white wire that I don't use.

Rcu won't let me... but its available at nexus models in the UK... vspeak kingteck powerbox core ecu converter

2 more posts, and you can post pix. 10 is the threshold...

they do not have to relevant post.....

Ok, so the white goes to P2bus y harness with the wire on the signal wire (usually white or light colored depending on your particular wire) and the 3 wire plugs into GSU on the ECU

Your KT version is different than the SW version

Every V-Speak ECU converter has a manual which can be downloaded from the V-Speak website. In the manual everything is clearly explained. Otherwise just shoot Volker an email and he will answer all your questions.

JanR

Thanks for the help guys

So I got it set up, just as easy as the VSpeak I did on my Jet Central.

Cuda if you get a chance to screen shot some alarms I would appreciate it. Not needed for a few weeks so no rush.... thanks

I used the VSpeak/Core setup as well. Works as advertised. However I have yet to find a good way to setup a flameout alarm. Have you tried that?

I have to think a below RPM warning set to a threshold below idle RPM is the way to go. Previously I've been using the puff of smoke from the tail pipe :)

Agree Andy.

I like that, but it seems like I have done something amiss because I have the yellow "!" with a triangle no matter what.... I have to play with it more.

That can work, but have two issues a) you get the alarm immediately when the system is turn on as the turbine is not started yet. b) if the alarm can be reset after turning the turbine on, you still have to wait for the RPM to decay below idle in case of flameout. That's some seconds lost

Prior to Core I was using Jeti which allowed me to create a telemetry control that will be activated once the turbine is on (exhaust temp > 200 degrees). This control will enable an alarm based on pump voltage. So in a flameout the pump voltage goes immediately to zero which activates the alarm. Worked great.

I requested the telemetry control functionality in the Powerbox forum more than a year ago. Response is that they will get to it sometime. Looking for plan B....

I have no tried recently, but if the alarm can be reset after turning the turbine on, then thinking I could do a simple alarm using the pump voltage (voltage < 0.1 equals shutdown).

Yes, you're right Edgar - never thought of that. Like Andy I've been relying on the 'puff' sound too. From memory there is a value reset on the widgets but I have not used it yet and will have to have another look again. Of course if that can be used then we'll have to do the reset after the turbine is running. This would be the case for the RPM and/or the pump voltage alarms.

JanR

Yea, I was talking about this to Greg at Boomerang and he uses pump voltage.

Might be in the same boat about having to reset it after startup though.