Recommendation on TX system for a crane

[Lord_Fabricator]

I am currently building a (completely custom) 10x10 MMRS Demonstrator crane, and I need an RX/TX system to control it.

Throttle (+ smoke, hydraulic pump Arduino controlled)
Steering (+ rear-steer Arduino controlled)
Headlights/Highbeams
4 Outriggers (Independent positioning)
Turntable
Boom angle
Boom extension
Left winch
Right winch
Self-recovery front winch

for a total of 13 channels I need to control directly. The majority are going to be hydraulic valves, so with the exception of the throttle and steering, it does not need proportional control, just 3 position.

A stick remote is an option, if there is one with at least 13 channels. Cost is not an issue, as the RX/TX will probably not be purchased for at least a couple of years (Still have to finish building the truck)

[jack van]

i hear there is dx 20 channel radio by spectrum i have he dx 18 and am very happy with it never had any problems with it

[Lord_Fabricator]

I've looked into spectrum. Unfortunately it appears that they have discontinued their 12+ channel remotes. And I'm not sure I want to deal with a used remote.

[Wombii]

I'm a fan of my frsky Taranis radio. If money was no object I'd probably have gone with an frsky horus for extra scripting options. Fun radios to program, especially if you're already including Arduinos in your build. Having sbus output from the receiver and telemetry is a nice bonus to help with the Arduino stuff.

[bigdogrod]

the frsky qx7 says it can handle 32 channels, i have one and i think only 12 are practical. for complicated movements, you might want something with 3d sticks. your outriggers could take 2 channels each if you want independent control of in/out and up/down x 4

[Lord_Fabricator]

Qx7 or taranis, or for a bit more, Horus? Are all three of these stick radios?

And what is a 3d stick?

Bigdogrod, 12 at a time is plenty. I need a set of 5 for the crane itself, 4 (maybe 5 if I do independent up/down, because they will all extend out fully anyway), and 4 for the driveline. Arduino will self regulate the other stuff (self-centering steering hydraulics, pump throttle, cooling pump throttle and fan, sound board, and smoke pump.)

[Wombii]

A 3D stick can rotate in addition to up/down/left/right. They often have a button on top as well. There is a thread somewhere about someone who added them to an frsky radio, but I can't find it at the moment.

The Taranis Q X7 is a stick radio that can output 16 channels, but only have enough switches for 12. You can program a mode switch that changes channel assignments for the switches or sticks on the fly or even do some programming trickery to use the trim buttons to control the rest of the channels. I'll be using both of these methods in my own build. I'm also using an Arduino mega with an frsky SBUS receiver.

The Taranis X9E / X9D have more inputs. The Horus adds a color display and some extra scripting functionality.

[Lord_Fabricator]

Yeah, I'll definitely be using an Arduino of my own. I'm not exactly sure how to do that though. The switching four channels on the fly would be great for flipping the sticks from crane to truck modes. I think, if I can get an Arduino to do most of the work, I can cut the channel count down to 12...

I'll need to make the Arduino read 13 different sensors, and output 21 PWM signals, and 4 toggle relays...

[Wombii]

The Frsky radios run the OpenTX operating system, so you can go to the following link to download OpenTX companion to simulate and test the programming options of the radios. https://www.open-tx.org/2019/01/06/opentx-2.2.3

I thought the 32 channels were only for advanced mixing, but I just learned that apparently these radios can actually transmit all 32 channels if you install an extra transmitter module and run two receivers. Might be worth looking into.

My plan is to use a switch to flip the sticks between driving and fire fighting mode. Sounds like you'll need to step up to an Arduino Mega too. Mine is currently doing fine running 6 servo channels, reading 11 switches and controlling lights on close to 50 pins. With an Arduino in the vehicle you can also potentially do stuff like clicking a switch multiple times to select different functions in the arduino, to combine simple on/off functions on a single transmitter channel.

I'm not saying the frsky radios are definitely the best option, it's just the only ones that could do what I needed within my budget. Futaba makes some great reliable but expensive radios. Scaleart has a VERY nice radio if you have an unlimited budget: https://scaleart-shop.de/en/Remote-control/Commander/

[Lord_Fabricator]

I think that the Commander is excessive, the Taranis is probably more than enough. A dual reciever would also probably allow me to split the arduino load to 2 separate arduinos.

[bigdogrod]

i'm running 3 rx's off of 1 tx, but i only need like 4 proportional channels, the rest of the channels and switching are handled by my beier sound units.

but what I've done before with multiple rx's is to have 1 servo on the same channel for each rx that turns on or off the signal input wire, so you would have constant battery input, and channels 1,2,3,4 would be truck mode, and 5,6,7,8 could be crane mode, or if you need 1 channel to be both crane mode and truck mode, that's where the switch comes in. it only activates the rx when you need it. i ran 3 position switches so that i could have rx 1, rx 2 or both.