Hi, on the bench with the Spirit GT 3.7.2, FrSKY R-XSR with ACCESS firmware and using F-Port, I have had on 3 or 4 occasions now that the Spirit stops talking to the receiver and doesn't recover.

quite worrying that this could happen in flight.

I am close by, so chance of radio swamping, but it's Spirit <-> receiver that is lost.

My transmitter speaks "sensor lost", which means it has stopped receiving telemetry from Spirit (Hobbywing ESC thru spirit)
Telemetry on TX still shows RSSI, VFR etc, so tx<->rx still working, but servos stopped moving.

Spirit diagnostics shows 'Received frame was corrupted followed by 'Receiver connection lost'.

At the same time, I have the laptop connected to SYS port, if this makes any difference.

Diagnostics log attached.

Any ideas? bit worried it could happen mid flight.

thanks,
Carl

Hello,

can you share a photo or description of wiring please?
F-Port with R-XSR is working very well for years for us, but I am not sure regarding ACCESS version.
I think even now they consider support as BETA at FrSky with this receiver and swapped to F-BUS.

In any case - yes, it could be big difference if doing changes to the unit with PC software.

The receiver could report corrupted frames rarely.
But signal loss should never happen normally.
FrSky receivers have protection in case the signal/data are frequently invalid. Then it will disable this port. But without more details it is hard to tell more.

It could be RX/TX firmware incompatibility or some telemetry sensor. FPort cant be connected with a telem. sensors so anything else cant be connected at the bus.

_________________
Spirit System developer

Hello Tomas, thank you for the ideas.

Yes I have many (~6) R-XSR in use before with no problems, but it is the first time I have used ACCESS, and also the first time I have used F.Port.

I have ordered an Archer RS Plus so I can move to that, with FBus.

I think maybe it is most likely it's because of the laptop. The laptop was also charging from the wall at the same time (USB-C) and I guess this can introduce grounding problems perhaps.. just a guess from the noises introduced to my guitar playing sometimes when the laptop is put on to charge.

I tried to repeat it, and although I see the corrupt frame message from time to time, I can't make it happen. but it has happened 3 - 4 times in past few weeks always while sat on floor with laptop because I'm doing tuning of endpoints and limits etc.

I just wanted to check in case there was some other ideas too or a firmware thing in Spirit.

After the laptop, next most likely is as you say, perhaps ACCESS is not too well tested on R-XSR. But then neither is ACCST which is why there is UNI firmware now! I could request activation code for UNI but by the time that arrives I'll probably have received my Archer RS Plus.
What a pain to have receivers with known bugs / unfinished firmware though and a manufacturer (FrSky) who leave them there. Worrying (talking about how they seem to have abandoned non-Archer receivers and stuff, release bugfix firmware with new bugs and then forgotten).

Also interesting that the R-XSR feels hotter than I would expect, but then I am running at 8v so I suppose some regulator has more to dissipate.

Anyway here are my wiring pictures. I know it is unorthodox to have 3-pin connector in 5-pin socket but the connections are all firm, wire crimping is tight and there was no movement of the model when it went either. It was sat on the floor. I have pulled and jiggled and wiggled and all is firm. I know I have one of my connector-housings back-to-front but again don't think this matters.

I have some news I think.

I can confirm that, nothing to do with laptop charger. but if USB is connected to Spirit, there is 'received frame corrupted' quite frequently. Sometimes a lot, sometimes not as much, but always there.

but once PC is disconnected, it will go a long time without any corrupt frames. I will test for even longer, but see here in the attached log - every long-duration of no-problems, is when I have disconnected the PC. I have left it as long as 12 minutes and no corrupt frames.

So I am quite happy that it won't happen in flight, I think..

It is also possible that it is caused by the USB-C port-replicator/dock thing. I have lost my small USB-C <-> USB-A (OTG) adapter cable so this is all I have to hand. I have some suspicion of this dock because when I use my Sennheiser headset wireless-receiver with it, people complain they can't hear me well/garbled, but since I started putting that wireless receiver on a USB-C<->A adapter cable (the one I can't find right now.. well that one is at the office) it's all good.

log attached.

It's not the dock.

I found my USB C <-> A adapter and I see the same.

First 7 minutes of this log, the PC was not connected. Then after that I connected it with the direct adapter cable. You can see me wiggling sticks (rudder limit reached, cyclic ring activated), and corrupt frames. Also towards the end you see corrupt frames when I am not touching the sticks.

At least I know it is do to with laptop connection so should be nothing to worry about.

It's just done it on me again, while doing the Servo Travel Correction -> Pitch Adjustment.

and again, also while doing the servo travel correction again. I had just ticked 'pitch adjustment' and was about to move the collective.

Makes it a bit difficult to do the setup

I also had it a minute ago where the blue light had gone out on the Spirit. I removed and reconnected my SYS connection to the PC and it came back to life. When I opened the log, there was nothing untoward in there relating to that, and no interruption in the log.. odd.

I'll keep an eye on it.

I had a similar problem last weekend with a FrSky X8R with S.BUS / S.Port. In my case, the problem occurred in conjunction with the EdgeTX script. I landed twice briefly to adjust parameters and after the second time the heli no longer accepted any control inputs. I only regained control after disconnecting the battery and reinitializing the system. The log then showed the same entries as in the start post

Hello,

do you remember what was configured in the unit?
Normally you could "loose control" if a Subtrim tuning, Geometry or similar parameter is configured. In that case unit is switched to special mode where servos are locked.

_________________
Spirit System developer

I generally only fly in banks 1 and 2 and adjust the parameters there. Bank 0 always has a normal setup with a low head speed. I have only adjusted parameters such as flight style, turn rate, feed forward and gyro sensitivity.

A colleague of mine was also able to reproduce this on his setup. He also uses a FrSky receiver with S. BUS and S. Port in conjunction with the EdgeTX script. It is enough to call the script once or twice after initialization and adjust a few parameters. I have flashed back to 3.7.0r2, so far it has only occurred once when I adjusted positive/negative collective pitch on the workbench.