FrSky has released Neuron series ESCs some time ago, featuring built in advanced and accurate telemetry sensors. (much better when compared to HW from my experience)
They come in 40 60 and 80A versions, so they fill the gap left by other manufacturers, as most of other 40-60A ESC don't support current sensing or mAh calculations.
Nenuron ESCs output the telemetry data via additional port using s.port protocol. I'd like to ask for the support of this input, like with other ESCs. This would allow to use those ESCs telemetry features by users of other brands RC systems, as well as enable telemetry parameter logging in Brain, and simplify wiring for FrSky f.port receivers users.
Now only FrSky users may make use of those ESCs and they are forced to use inverted s.bus+s.port hookup instead of f.port connection between Brain and Rx.
The F.Port protocol does not foresee the use as a data bus and therefore the possibility to connect other devices on the same wires. With F.Port only a master and a slave can be connected together.
What is different is the new F.Port2 (F.Bus) protocol, which works as a real bus to which other devices can be connected.
You should therefore write to FrSky if and when they plan to release a firmware for their ESCs using their new F.Port2 (F.Bus) protocol.
I second to that, I'd also like to make use of this feature of my Neuron ESC
The F.Port protocol does not foresee the use as a data bus and therefore the possibility to connect other devices on the same wires. With F.Port only a master and a slave can be connected together.
What is different is the new F.Port2 protocol, which works as a real bus to which other devices can be connected.
You should therefore write to FrSky if and when they plan to release a firmware for their ESCs using their new F.Port2 protocol.
I'm afraid you didn't understand my request.
Please look at my drawing, hopefully explaining it more clearly.
We have ordered an ESC Neuron80.
(We expected FrSky to be more competitively priced than other ESCs as they have it for transmitters).
Since for now the Neuron ESC formware does not yet provide an F.Port2 (F.Bus) output protocol, in the classic S.Bus+S.Port configuration we will implement the reading of the telemetry data of the Neuron ESCs connected to the S.Port bus (via "Y" cable) so that we can also log the ESC data together with the other data recorded in the Flight Logs (in real time or in flight).
Good news, but this still applies only to FrSky users.
Is there no way to read the s.port signal from the Neuron the same way as with all other ESCs? And then "translate" it in Brain and send to a receiver of choice (other than Frsky)?
As you surely know, differently from the protocols used by all the other ESCs, the Smart.Port protocol is bidirectional but it is also "inverted" both for transmitted and received signals. The only port that can handle an inverted bidirectional data flow is CH3.
However, this port is used to connect all models of serial receivers.
So it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to handle at the same time an inverted bidirectional data stream together with a normal or inverted bidirectional data stream (like the S.Bus2 one).
It is for this reason that since the beginning we talked about the possibility to release a Firmware version of these esc with F.Port or F.Port2 (F.Bus) protocols that can be managed also in "uninverted" version.
Anyway when we will receive the ordered ESC and we will have the time to start doing the necessary checks and tests, we will see if it will be possible to find a solution. Maybe the data flow starts also without a request and so it works in unidirectional way.
Hi. I am looking for solution to use FrSky Neuron II 80A with Brain2 and have logs from telemetry. I saw the option for Neuron telemetry in settings in Brain, but there is no info about wiring in Brain telemetry manual. As far as I know the new Neuron II is able to carry SPort, FPort and Fport2 (FBUS) through the same cable (yellow one), and also has second cable for PWM and SBUS (blue one).
How should I wire the ESC to Brain? I use ETHOS Tx with FBUS Rx.
The connection instructions are those set out in the FrSky Neuron II 80A ESC manual that we used for our tests and which we have included here for your convenience (there may be a more recent version of the manual on the FrSky website; we haven’t checked). For testing and verification, we used the F.Bus protocol because, compared to analogue PPM, it is digital and therefore more immune to interference, more stable, more precise and much more faster).
Using a splitter "Y" cable, the receiver’s F.Bus signal is connected not only to the ESC but also to the signal input of the flight controller’s receivers (CH3, as shown in the connection diagram that is displayed on panel 4 of the flight controller’s configuration wizard after selecting F.Bus protocol in precedent panel 3 of the configuration wizard).
In this way, the telemetry signals sent by the ESC go to the receiver, which transmits them to the transmitter on the ground, where they can be displayed and used to trigger sound, voice or vibration alarms in the event of problems (over-temperature, over-current, under-voltage, etc.). However, the telemetry signals are also sent via the same bus to the flight controller so that they can also be viewed via the DIAGNOSTIC section of the flight controller configuration software (Real Time) and/or recorded in the flight controller’s flight log memory.
There is no need to select Neuron telemetry in the flight controller.
The use of the F.Bus protocol also allows for the integration of the flight controller with the transmitter (menus displayed on the transmitter screen through which to view and/or modify the values of all flight controller parameters).
The telemetry parameters transmitted by the Neuron II 80A ESCs are:
ESC Battery Voltage: OK
ESC Battery Usage: OK
ESC Battery Ripple: OK
ESC Low Speed RPM: OK
Temperature 1: OK
ESC Bec voltage = Servo Voltage
ESC Power Output: NO!
ESC BEC Current: NO!
Temperature 2: NO!
The tests were carried out using: a Tandem X20 transmitter with Ethos version 1.5.3, an Archer RS (not Plus) with FW 2.1.10, a NEURON II 80 ESC with FW 11_5, and Brain2 FW 3.4.158.
OK, thank you for your reply. I wired ESC with Y-cable to CH3 parallel to Rx and I've got telemetry reading in Tx. But the problem is - ESC Neuron II do not have internal governor, so I need to use the flight controller gov. Brain is sending THR signal to ESC by CH1 in PWM. When I plug in the ESC PWM cable to CH3, the telemetry stop working. When I disconnect the PWM cable, telemetry is living, but THR signal is going to ESC directly from Tx FBUS. Did you tested Neuron with FBL governor?
Have a great start to the workweek.
If you want to use the Brain2 flight controller’s governor with the Neuron II 80A ESC alongside telemetry, then you cannot use the F.Bus protocol in the receiver; instead, you must use the Smart.Port telemetry serial protocol, which is separate from the S.Bus radio channel serial protocol.
The Neuron II 80A ESCs do not have the motor rotation pulse output required by external governors as a feedback signal; therefore, if you want to use the Brain2 flight controller’s governor, you must use one of the many external electric motor RPM sensor with real-time PPM output pulses to connect to the flight controller’s GOV port (the telemetric RPM signal is too slow (LS=Low speed) to inform the flight controller’s governor of RPM changes in real time).
NOTE: The S.Bus serial protocol used to update the radio channels is “slower” than the F.Bus protocol because the S.Bus serial signal has a baud rate of 100,000 bps instead of the 460,800 bps of the F.Bus serial protocol. The Smart. Port telemetry is slower than the F.Bus serial telemetry protocol because Smart.Port has a baud rate of 57,600 bps instead of the 460,800 bps of the F.Bus serial protocol.
By connecting the blue wire from the ESC to the signal pin of the CH1 connector on the Brain2 flight controller, when powered on, the ESC detects the presence of the Throttle PWM signal on the blue wire. Instead of being controlled directly by channel 3 in the radio channel frame, it is controlled by the PWM signal it receives on the blue wire.
Why, in the event that a PWM signal is present on the blue wire—even though the throttle signal is no longer read from the F.Bus radio channel frame—the telemetry signal is also no longer read from the F.Bus frame, is a mystery that only FrSky can answer and explain why they did not do so.
The same applies to the LUA configuration app, which does not work on ETHOS; in fact, it blocks the ESC’s telemetry and forces you to power cycle the ESC to reactivate the telemetry.
Even the EMBEDDED settings in ETHOS for Neuron II ESCs (Device config => ESC => Current / SBEC) not only are very limited to just two options, but they also do not work.