Setting up a basic plane model in ETHOS

In this video, we take a look at how to set up a basic plane model in ETHOS. We'll set up a standard plane with 2 aileron servos, plus elevator, rudder, and throttle. Well also add triple rates with the switched expo to the surfaces. Plus, the important throttle cut safety feature.
** In this video **
- FrSky Tandem X20S bit.ly/MrD_3x6n6JL
** Contents **
00:00 Introduction
01:19 Creating the base model using the ETHOS wizard
02:13 Binding the receiver
03:47 Channel order bug with version 1.0.7, and how to rearrange the channels with as little inconvenience as possible
06:42 Adding Expo
08:34 Adding Rates
09:28 Adding Differential
10:18 Adding the Throttle Cut
11:25 Conclusion
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Thank you for your time, and don't forget to fly it like you stole it!

[@bohan9957]

I really like your little demo plane. It's simply the best way to demonstrate which channel does what in a straightforward manner. Well done!

[@MrD]

Thank you. It’s something I had in mind for a long time, but took a while to get right. But I’m pleased it works. It should make demonstrations much easier, where it all fits on screen.

[@MrKenwillis]

@@MrD can you tell me where you purchased the blue knob covers. Thank you

[@sorebruiser]

Your Ethos videos are extremely helpful!

[@MrD]

Thank you very much. I’m glad the video was helpful 👍🏻

[@tonios2000]

Great and simple tutorial ;) Just thank you and we are waiting for the continuation ! Antoine from France

[@MrD]

Thank you. The S8R part will be coming soon.

[@ChunkyC_RC]

Another great video. I ordered my X20S. Cant wait to tinker around with it.

[@MrD]

Thanks Chris. They are good transmitters l, and ETHOS is getting better all the time.

[@glencowan3984]

Love your little ply demo plane. Brilliant idea. I'll have to make my own. Cheers mate

[@MrD]

It’s really handy. But the control horns are a pain. I’d probably print some if I did it again.

[@MarcSinclair3]

Thank you Darren. I'm relatively new to these digital programming formats and your simple to follow tutorials make it actually enjoyable to follow/work out and learn from. Love your spit setup plane...I would would buy one off you straight away if you sold them (Marketing/sales potential. Could even have a simple ply stand for it/Spit banking in flight kinda thing ;) ) . Thank a bunch for sharing your knowledge and skills. Cheers Marc

[@MrD]

Thanks Marc. I'm glad the videos are helping you get everything set up. I get quite a few compliments on the demo Spitfire. It really helps me in the videos. But it was a bit of a pain to get the control surfaces setup. Hope you have a great weekend.

[@Ex14th]

Hello Darren, I have been using OpenTX for years, and thought that the Ethos is actually not really helping me in setting up my planes. Anyway, having gone through the series of the very intuitive videos your presented us with, and relearned my rhinkinf, I am beginning to appreciate the Ethos programming dynamics. Thank you sincerely for enlightening the community with all your efforts, much appreciated. Alex Ontario, Canada

[@MrD]

You're welcome Alex. I'm glad I could help. Yes, some parts of ETHOS are pretty similar to OpenTX. Hardly surprising when they same guy wrote both. But other aspects are very different. It's like Bertrand is doing what he would do if he could write OpenTX from scratch, with all the lessons he learnt along the way. I can only see ETHOS going from strength to strength.

[@martinhyde4835]

Hi Darren, thanks for the great videos.

[@MrD]

You’re welcome Martin. Thanks for watching 👍🏻

[@spencerhayers3072]

Great tutorial Darren.

[@MrD]

Thanks Spence. I’ll be bringing it with me next time the patch is open for business 👍🏻

[@spencerhayers3072]

I have already bought one, feels much better in the hand than my X10s, and I'm liking Ethos.

[@MrD]

Haha, you couldn’t resist.

[@MarcSinclair3]

A donation for you and your channel m8. Thank you

[@MrD]

Thank you very much Marc. It's greatly appreciated.

[@frankmax7349]

Congratulations for your tutorials, very clear and precise in explaining all the functions of this fantastic radio. I come from the world of OpenTx and Edge, with this new ETHOS system a new world has opened up to me thanks to you. I recently subscribed to your channel and I'm at a good level thanks to your published tutorials. I have a FrSky Tandem X18 and it is more or less similar to the X20. I would like to better understand how best to set in case of Failsafe, in the sense that if I do long range I would like to be warned of the radio signal that is about to lose the signal level by warning me with my voice. Did you happen to make a tutorial for this as well? Thank you in advance.😃

[@DarrenFollows]

Hi Darren, really like your channel and how you make it easy to use the x20, would it be possible to do an episode on how to set up head traking on the x20, I have some eachine ev 300o goggles and struggling g to get the inbuilt ht to work. I would be really grateful. Cheers

[@MrD]

Thank you. I’ve recently set this up on my FW-190 with pan, tilt, and lean. Unfortunately I’ve not flown with it yet as the VTx is complete garbage. But, I can go through the setup that I’ve used. Sorry, I thought I replied to this comment the other day.

[@Skavage]

@@MrD I'd love to see a video on this also!

[@captainslow946]

Very nice tutorial, how about one where you show how to setup the gyro function of the S8R or even better the SR6/SR8?

[@MrD]

Thanks. That will be coming. The S8R will be soon, as I’m setting that up for my SBach. But I do plan on getting an SR10 Pro in the future; so can show that then.

[@JJ-FPV]

@@MrD +1 for this. trying to set up ch9, 10 and 12 in mixes for those functions, however its not working at all on the X20 :(

[@MrD]

@@JJ-FPV The video for the S8R on the X20 will be ready on the 16th :)

[@greatgandalf5233]

I know it's hard but please Slow Down, but a great video!

[@spartan3299]

Nice and simple tutorial...Now let us look under the INFWG tab...huh?

[@MrD]

Thanks. Haha, we’ll see 😉

[@bearsolar]

Love your videos, my and my son who is 12 are starting this hobby. I love the idea of a demo plane, would you be kimd enough to tell we where to get the files so i can either laser cut or 3D print it.

[@tomgulizia113]

Hi. I love your demo plane! How do I hook up a lipo sensor in ethos. X20s

[@MrD]

Thanks Tom. You can get SPort or FBUS battery sensors, which attach to the balance lead of your battery.

[@scottkeasler9317]

Hi Darren, My x20S doesn't have the Model select icon. Is that a widget you added?

[@Calcano_HD]

Could you help me please to bin my Horus x10s ?

[@Skavage]

Hi Darren, I've been using your videos as my main "learning ETHOS tool" and they've been a huge help to me so far. One question with regards to throttle cut...Is it possible to set things up so that it takes two switches to be flipped before throttle will become armed? Sort of a "pre-arm" switch and a "final arm" switch. With FPV quads I always utilize a pre-arm and arm switch in Betaflight and would like to do the same in ETHOS to prevent any accidental "bump" of the transmitter causing an unsafe spin-up of the prop. Thank you!

[@MrD]

Sure. You would just need to use a logical switch. Make an AND switch, which is active when both your arm switches are in in the armed position. Then use the inverted logical switch to activate the throttle cut. Long press on the throttle cut switch to set it to inverted. You could use on of the momentary switches too. So that you would need to hold the momentary switch in, while moving the main arm switch. To do that, set up the momentary and arm switch in the AND logical switch. Then add a second, STICKY, logical switch. This should be activated by the AND logical switch, and deactivated by putting the main arm switch in the disarm position. Use the STICKY for the throttle cut, again inverted.

[@Skavage]

@@MrD Excellent, thanks so much Darren. Do you have a video on logical switches or is it easy enough to dive into the manual to figure out? (Sorry but I'm a total newbie with ETHOS and have never used Open TX either.) Thanks!

[@MrD]

@@Skavage I have a few videos on logical switches in OpenTX. In ETHOS, it is very similar.

[@MrD]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gobQZ2yur5KKgKc kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJOod4qtgrtpo8U kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIfbk56rfrN9i68

[@hangar88]

What's happenin Mr. D!? Have you been able to setup a trainer setup using the x20 on Ethos as the master and an X10 running OTX accst?

[@MrD]

I’ve done it the other way around. But switching the master and slave would cause no problem. It could even be easier with the ETHOS transmitter as the master.

[@greggkoeppen6276]

Can you bind other receivers flysky , futaba and so on ?

[@MrD]

No Gregg, it is for FrSky receivers only. Potentially you could using a multi protocol module. But, it would need to connect via ppm and be able to be setup on the module its self. I don’t know of any that can do that.

[@anthonyjayakody3356]

Hi Darren. I had a bit of a tricky situation but I’m trying to back myself out of it. Still setting up the f14. It was going really well, shifted they gyro channels away from 9 and 10. But I think I accidentally entered the blue light mode. Right now I have really limited movement in surfaces possibly caused by this. How do I re enter this mode as I’ve read it’s a way to get full range of surfaces. I’ve tried setting Channel 12 to a 3ps and toggling multiple times but still no luck. Thanks for all your help.

[@MrD]

Hi Ant, First, you don’t move the gain and modes away from channels 9 and 10. You reassign the pins on the receiver to be other channels, such as 13 and 14. Channels 9 to 12 should be left for the stabilisation functions. The limited movement is likely from a self check with no stick movements, or while in low rates. For the self check not working, have you looked at that section in the video. The switch delay was what solved it for me.

[@anthonyjayakody3356]

@@MrD thanks a lot for all the info. Your vid fixed my calibration issue and now all surfaces are working well. I also realised that having two aileron channels, means that Channel 5 is aileron 2. I think the missing board causes some issues on the F14 as the tail is pretty much a aileron and elevator. The wing aileron are two separate channels so I have 3. I’ll work around it though and I appreciate it’s one of the more complex set ups. Setting up these receivers on other jets are a breeze thanks to your help so again, thank you.

[@MrD]

Yeah, the F14 is a strange setup. On the real thing, they hardly ever use the wing ailerons, only at slow speeds. Most of the time it uses the tailerons. Unfortunately basic stabilisers don’t have the ability to do complex mixing. But good luck and I hope you get it flying great.

[@randallpatrickc]

watched this and I can use the throttle cut when a physical switch is used as active condition. I’ve now made a logical switch that sticks on when a momentary switch and ele down are pulled. When I substitute this (LS 5) for the physical switch, and LS5 is off, the throttle still responds to the stick. Confused I am.

[@MrD]

Hi Randall. I saw this question on the discord channel. It will be easier to check out there.

[@FANIS1950]

Hello Mr Darren..thanks for your help. it is my first time I got such a TX (X20S) and I am very pleased to have it. (I had a futaba FF9 but after 18 years of good working it dies.) I follow your very simple and formative video (I made a little demo plane as yours)and every thing works O.K. with one exception the electrical motor does not work. I tried hard but does not work at all. Please I would be thankful if you will give me a solution. I am not young and very used to such a "computerise "TX but I really want to mess with the new tech. I use the ARCHER SR6 RX . Thanks in advance for helping me yours FANIS .

[@MrD]

Hi Fanis, thank you for you comments. Unfortunately it is difficult to work out what is wrong without seeing things such as the mixer. All I can suggest is to look at the mixer for the throttle. Go to the bottom of that screen. At the bottom you have bar for the channel output. Does this move if you move the throttle? If it does, the radio side is fine, and it could be the ESC side. If the bar does not move, look to the right and you see the curve display. If you move the throttle, does the red line stay diagonal from bottom left to top right, or does it move flat along the bottom? If it's flat along the bottom, you have a throttle cut set. You can change these settings higher up on the throttle mixer page. If the line is bottom left to top right, you may not have an output channel set up. Look at Output 1. If it is set to ---, you need to set it to the throttle channel. That would be Channel 3 if you are using AETR ordering. I hope this helps Fanis.

[@FANIS1950]

@@MrD Thank you so much for your quick replay and help. I think the problem is indeed in the ESC, because i checked all that you told me about in the Tx and it works. Maybe the ESC isn't compatible with the Tx or the receiver i don't know, i emailed FrSky for it. I hope they replay soon. Fanis

[@MrD]

No problem. It sounds like the throttle is being sent. You can double check on the outputs page. Have you tried calibrating the ESC?

[@FANIS1950]

@@MrD Hello Mr. D, at last I found the problem it was a damn faulty switch. Now everything is fine. Thank you so much for your replay and for your willingness to help. Your videos are really good and easy to understand. Keep on the good work!

[@MrD]

@@FANIS1950 I’m glad you got it sorted. Those switches can be a pain. Especially if they’re intermittent.

[@embededfabrication4482]

how do you reverse a channel? do you have to make a new curve? weights and rates go to -100% (minus)

[@MrD]

You can either go to the bottom of the mix and reverse where you select the channel. Or reverse the output on the outputs page.

[@racem558]

Hi Darren, I have a query I know you will be able to help me with!! During set up , if I go to say aileron1 below the Centre/subtrim there is PPM Centre ------ 1500us. I have found if I click on this I could set servo centre . Is this good or bad rather than setting Centre/Subtrim because I don't know !!!!! Ali. PS,I really like your instruction using ETHOS !!

[@MrD]

Hi Ali. The two functions are similar, but work in different ways. If you use the centre/subtrim. This will move the central point. But it will keep the servo movement within the set range (-988us to 2012us by default). The trim buttons move the centre/subtrim. On the other hand, adjusting the servo centre shifts the entire pulse width of the servo. For example, if we set the servo centre to 1550us. This also moves the minimum and maximum pulses up by 50. So 1038us to 2062us respectively. In most cases, you're better off just using the cerntre/subtrim.

[@racem558]

Darren thanks for your understandable reply ! I see the error of my ways !!!!!

[@rondekruijff2191]

Hi Darren. Bound the SR8 PRO previously for my model according you illustrative video and al worked fine. Somehow, after a problem with the X20 transmitter (I shut down transmitter, while receiver was still on (override)). Thereafter, upon restart the transmitter and switch on battery for receiver, the receiver was not binded anymore. Followed your binding instruction again and again, but no success. The receiver led stays red and no binding. Thus did I blew it all up, or something else ? Hope you recognize this problem. Greets, Ron

[@MrD]

Something sounds strange here Ron. What happened on the transmitter? I’ve used the shut down override many times and not had any problems.

[@rondekruijff2191]

Maybe an error on the standard SD card which came with the transmitter. I' ve read that better quality SD cards are recommended. After the override and booting up the transmitter I got the error message Invalid model data. I had only one model in my transmitter. HoweverI think I will create a new model for my plane and see what happens then.

[@MrD]

It may be worthwhile opening an issue on the ETHOS GitHub. It sounds like something has possibly corrupted on the model file. The developers can take a look at the file and learn from it. Yes, it would probably be worth replacing the standard MicroSD card. I’ve put a Samsung Evo Pro Endurance in mine, and it’s been great. It even seems faster connecting to windows than the old MicroSD card.

[@rondekruijff2191]

@@MrD Thanks Darren, I will order new SD. Today tried it all over again. Deleted my models, setup a new one, registered/bind the SR8 Pro again. Calibrated, set all stabilisation mixers, connected the servos and it worked.... for a while. All of a sudden I had no servo outputs, only a small out put on the rudder servo. The others were dead. No error messages now. Frustrated did it all over again, no result. It looks like my transmitter is failing. I am loosing my trust on the X20 now. Will file a support ticket indeed to see if it it the software (hope it's not the hardware)

[@MrD]

Don’t loose faith. Unfortunately sometimes equipment is bad, especially when it is mass produces. Even Ferraris can have problems. Try the new SD card. Also, make sure that the RF firmware is the latest on the transmitter and receive. If there is a hardware problem, I’m sure it can be resolved through your vendor and support that way. Do you have any other receivers. That way it could at least be narrowed down to a transmitter or receiver issue.

[@kitchenstrand]

Darre' whdo you not use clone ad make the more adjustment?

[@MrD]

With similar models, sure. But the idea was to show the setup process. You need to have a model before you can clone it.

[@kitchenstrand]

@@MrD checking as you never see someone use the clone and once i was told it was bad to do... thanks!

[@MrD]

@@kitchenstrand I use it all the time on my FPV models. They are a lot more complex setups than my LOS planes. So it's much easier to clone them and update what I need to.

[@angelricords]

Hi I have freewings 3 ways throttle ail ele and don t arrive setting it on my x20 and sr6 ?

[@MrD]

Sorry, I don't follow the question?

[@angelricords]

@@MrD i have only 3 channel for 2 servo. Each servo control aile and elevator same time

[@MrD]

So they are elevons. If you check out my latest video. I show how to set up elevons on the SR6. This is only the mixer and stabilisation part. The modes, gain, and self check are in another video with the links in the description. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYLYl2Ougsl4q80

[@angelricords]

@@MrD i saw butt not the same configuration : elevon and aile have same single servo for right and left

[@MrD]

Can you provide a link to the model in question?

[@scottkeasler9317]

Never mind, sorry I found it under the airplane icon.

[@MrD]

No worries Scott. Glad you found it.