FrSky has two versions of firmware for its receivers one for the EU and one for the rest of the World. Depending on how old your Taranis is, you may need to change the firmware on your receiver for them to work together. It’s pretty simple to do once you know how, so give me five minutes of your time and you will.
The good news is the firmware is easy to get hold of from the FrSky website and you don’t need any special hardware like USB programmers or FTDI adapters. You have everything you need in your Taranis.
Let’s take the new XSR receiver as an example. Here’s how you install the firmware of your choice.
Get the firmware:
Download the XSR firmware from the FrSky download pages It contains both versions of the firmware EU-LBT and the rest of the world version.
Copy the firmware onto your Taranis’s SD card
You can either pop the card out and use it in a card reader or you can pinch the yaw and roll trim switches towards the middle and turn your radio on in bootloader mode and connect a USB cable.
Either way, the SD card will show up in your computer's file browser. Extract the file you downloaded and you’ll have the two .frk files - LBT and Non-EU - Drag the one you want to install into the Firmwares folder on the SD card.
Make the cable:
The XSR comes with a 5 way cable with bare ends.The three we are interesting in are red (power), black (ground) and yellow (signal). We need to connect these to the bottom there pins in the module bay on the back of the Taranis.
I just soldered them on to a standard servo lead but bear in mind power and ground need to be reversed - I just switched the pins around.
Just to be clear, the order of pins, from the bottom of the module bay upwards is signal, ground, power.
Flashing:
Turn your radio on, then long-press Menu then press Page on enter the SD card file browser.
Go into the Firmwares folder, highlight the file , tap Enter then chose Flash External Device. A progress bar will chug along the red and green LEDs on the XSR will flash.
Once done you can turn off your Taranis and unplug your receiver - you’re done.
As always, if you have any questions, ask away.
Simon
6 comments
following everything correctly, but x4rs wont power on? wiring seems correct. any input would be wonderful.
Thanks man!
To do this on the taranis q x7 you must use the 3pin connector just left of the sd card slot.
Pinout is Gnd left, 5v middle and signal at right.
If you are using Q x7 and get an error like “no reponse from bottom pin”
you need to plug in servo cable to bottom s.port (under rubber cover next to sd card.
Pinout is standard and goes from left to sd card: Gng – 5V – Signal (s.port).
Thanks for writing this guide, worked first time!