HobbyZone X Port Hack

Many HobbyZone RC aircraft come with the X Port which is a port that allows you to attach various devices that can be controlled by a simple momentary switch on the flight controller. The selection of X Port devices is rather limited so I decided to figure out how the X Port works and make a few devices of my own.

This page is currently under construction as I just got the aircraft a few days ago, expect updates soon.

For those of you who can't wait:
Pin 1: Ground
Pin 2: Demodulated Rx Output
Pin3: PWM Throttle Control
Pin4: +V Battery

Pin 3 can be grounded to kill the thottle signal.
Pin 2 is where you will see the normal controller output and the X Port signal. The X Port signal is totally different from the normal flight control wave form. This is why you cannot control your aircraft while the X Port button is pressed.

More projects can be found at http://www.pasqualy.com

 

Images and Video

This is the the X Port wave form.

Here is a quick circuit I created for my first X Port device, a model rocket launcher. The PIC simply watches for a few 160us pulses in a row and then activates a relay that ignites the rocket motor.

Missle racks completed. They mount on the same plastic tab as normal X Port devices and are removable.
First test launch. I don't have enough free space in the neighborhood to be launching rockets vertically much less vertically from a flying aircraft, so this was just a ground launch.
Testing the X Port igintion circuit. You can tell I didn't tell the camerawoman (my wife) about the firecracker because she jumps a good bit.

First rocket test from the ground.
The circuit fires one rocket per keypress so you will see a delay in the video because the rocket is loaded on the #2 rail.
The circuit also cuts the engine for the one second time interval that the igniter is energized to make sure there is ample current available to set off the fuse.