Devo 6 software upgrade

[shastamike]

Has anyone been able to upgrade the software in Devo 6 using the downloads from Walkera? When I updated and rebooted the screen was jumbled and the only text was in Chinese. I went back to ver. 1 library and ver. 2 firmware and things were fine.
Mike

[Nytflyer]

Originally Posted by shastamike

Has anyone been able to upgrade the software in Devo 6 using the downloads from Walkera? When I updated and rebooted the screen was jumbled and the only text was in Chinese. I went back to ver. 1 library and ver. 2 firmware and things were fine.
Mike

Yup mine worked fine. Maybe your download was corrupt? Try downloading again and doing the upgrade over.

Sorry you are having problems.

Good luck

[shastamike]

Thanks for the reply. There hasn't been much interest in the update. Now that I"m in "waiting for parts limbo" I have nothing to do but try to upgrade the software. I tried again for two hours last night. Can't tell what I'm missing. I've watched Bob's video twice, printed out the instructions on the devention DfuSe upgrade tool and followed them step by step three times. The library says "update sucessful" but no chage in the version number in the "about" screen on Tx. When I try to update the firmware I still get jumbled Chinese. I tried downloading the software files again and loading them in different order, no luck. Today I'm going to try the Devo 8 upgrade files and watching Bob do it for the third time.
Have you confirmed the update by checking the "about" screen on the TX? You're at ver3 software and ver2 library?

[DocD]

Originally Posted by shastamike

Thanks for the reply. There hasn't been much interest in the update. Now that I"m in "waiting for parts limbo" I have nothing to do but try to upgrade the software. I tried again for two hours last night. Can't tell what I'm missing. I've watched Bob's video twice, printed out the instructions on the devention DfuSe upgrade tool and followed them step by step three times. The library says "update sucessful" but no chage in the version number in the "about" screen on Tx. When I try to update the firmware I still get jumbled Chinese. I tried downloading the software files again and loading them in different order, no luck. Today I'm going to try the Devo 8 upgrade files and watching Bob do it for the third time.
Have you confirmed the update by checking the "about" screen on the TX? You're at ver3 software and ver2 library?

I doubt the Devo 8 will work on the devo 6 and would advise against it, may be worth trying the 10mW version of the 6 software.

Regards David

[Nytflyer]

Originally Posted by shastamike

Thanks for the reply. There hasn't been much interest in the update. Now that I"m in "waiting for parts limbo" I have nothing to do but try to upgrade the software. I tried again for two hours last night. Can't tell what I'm missing. I've watched Bob's video twice, printed out the instructions on the devention DfuSe upgrade tool and followed them step by step three times. The library says "update sucessful" but no chage in the version number in the "about" screen on Tx. When I try to update the firmware I still get jumbled Chinese. I tried downloading the software files again and loading them in different order, no luck. Today I'm going to try the Devo 8 upgrade files and watching Bob do it for the third time.
Have you confirmed the update by checking the "about" screen on the TX? You're at ver3 software and ver2 library?

Man that stinks. I just watched bobs video on it and did what he did. It worked without a hitch and I did verify afterwards on the about page. I also poked around and didn't notice anything new except for the added languages that were reported. I can understand trying it out of boredom but really you are not missing anything. I would not try the devo 8 files either like david said maybe try the 10mw file if u insist on making it work. If not just leave it you don't need it and maybe the next released update will work better for you. Good luck!

[shastamike]

Ya...well the Devo 8 firmware didn't work so well. Tried the 10mW version softfile same results. Everything has been tried and it just doesn't update so I guess I'm giving up. I just don't get why it won't work. I went as far as disabling my AV program, re-installing the update tool. Checking drivers. Perhaps the next version will work for me. I wrote Walkera but don't expect much from that. Thanks for the replies.

[Finless]

Some folks are having trouble upgrading the Devo6 to 0.3A and Lib 0.2. I did another video to show the exact process for doing this upgrade. The other video did not upgrade the Lib so it is important for this upgrade to do things in the right way.

VIDEO -> Devo 6 Ver 0.3a / Lib 0.2 S/W Upgrade (17 Megs)


Bob

[shastamike]

Originally Posted by Finless

Some folks are having trouble upgrading the Devo6 to 0.3A and Lib 0.2. I did another video to show the exact process for doing this upgrade. The other video did not upgrade the Lib so it is important for this upgrade to do things in the right way.

VIDEO -> Devo 6 Ver 0.3a / Lib 0.2 S/W Upgrade (17 Megs)


Bob

Thanks for the video bob. I'm downloading right now. I've been beating my head on my computer tower trying to update. I'm up to 10 trys now. Sheila from Walkera has even emailed me an offered to help, but no use. I'm supposed to send her some screen shots. She said they've done the upgrade bunches of times, no problem. We'll see if your video helps.
While I have you here I would like to say that your flight videos are very inspirational. I like your style. Thanks for sharing with us.
Mike

[shastamike]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Finless
Some folks are having trouble upgrading the Devo6 to 0.3A and Lib 0.2. I did another video to show the exact process for doing this upgrade. The other video did not upgrade the Lib so it is important for this upgrade to do things in the right way.

VIDEO -> Devo 6 Ver 0.3a / Lib 0.2 S/W Upgrade (17 Megs)


Bob

SO...finally I was able to upgrade the firmware and library on my Devo 6. The video above did trick. I had followed all the steps in Bob's upgrade video (ver1) but in the second video I noticed he disconnected the TX by turning it off instead of using the "leave DFU mode" button on the upgrade tool interface. That made all the difference for me. Odd but true. I was almost astonished when I saw that the Devo had upgraded versions on the TX's "about" screen!
OH ya...and just cause I was out of ideas I used a different computer. Same OS and AV software. SO..not sure if it was the TX disconnect sequrnce or the different computer, but it worked.
Happy Mike

[Finless]

Odd that the leave DFU mode button would cause the radio to not update properly. I would not have expected that. But if it worked by powering off awesome!

I have not upgraded my other Devo6 but I may try the DFU button and see what I get.

When did you use it? After you update BOTH the firmware and the lib? Or in-between?

Bob

[DocD]

Originally Posted by shastamike

Quote:
Originally Posted by Finless
Some folks are having trouble upgrading the Devo6 to 0.3A and Lib 0.2. I did another video to show the exact process for doing this upgrade. The other video did not upgrade the Lib so it is important for this upgrade to do things in the right way.

VIDEO -> Devo 6 Ver 0.3a / Lib 0.2 S/W Upgrade (17 Megs)


Bob

SO...finally I was able to upgrade the firmware and library on my Devo 6. The video above did trick. I had followed all the steps in Bob's upgrade video (ver1) but in the second video I noticed he disconnected the TX by turning it off instead of using the "leave DFU mode" button on the upgrade tool interface. That made all the difference for me. Odd but true. I was almost astonished when I saw that the Devo had upgraded versions on the TX's "about" screen!
OH ya...and just cause I was out of ideas I used a different computer. Same OS and AV software. SO..not sure if it was the TX disconnect sequrnce or the different computer, but it worked.
Happy Mike

Maybe the different computer, could be something on the old computer interfering with the update, I cannot see it being the leave DFU mode button causing it, when you have finished the update is the time you leave DFU so the update should be on the radio at that point.

Key thing is its now sorted so you know for the future updates you have a technique that works

Regards David

[shastamike]

deleted post

[shastamike]

Originally Posted by Finless

Odd that the leave DFU mode button would cause the radio to not update properly. I would not have expected that. But if it worked by powering off awesome!

I have not upgraded my other Devo6 but I may try the DFU button and see what I get.

When did you use it? After you update BOTH the firmware and the lib? Or in-between?

Bob

When I was having trouble with updates I would update the firmware first and then library just as in the video. after library verify I would hit the "leave Dfu mode" button. On many other tries I would try updating in different orders and with the 10mW files, different extraction methods to un-zip the soft files, Anti-Virus off and so on. Never just turned the radio off. The "leave Dfu mode button would disconnect the radio and reboot it to the on mode. Turning the radio off with it's switch is what finally did it for me. I"m pretty sure that in your first video you used the "leave Dfu mode" button. I'll have to go back and look.
BTW...another possibility is that I changed computers. Same OS and AV. Wish I had gotten these results on my regular computer as now I don't know if it was the turning off manually of the radio or it being done on a different computer.
Anyway the update is a bit better with the timer beeper beeping every 3 secs after counting down to zero. Now if they would only tie the timer to the throttle or add some more models.
Mike
Mike

[fetch]

What is the difference between the 10mw and 100mw??

[DocD]

Originally Posted by fetch

What is the difference between the 10mw and 100mw??

Output power, in some countries there are restrictions on output power to 10mW so walkera do the 10mW software version to allow for this, you will note on the top of the page walkera post a disclaimer.

Warning:obey the local law and regulations to get the upgrade. Walkera is no liability for any personal activities which violate the local law and regulations.

Regards David

[fetch]

Originally Posted by DocD

Output power, in some countries there are restrictions on output power to 10mW so walkera do the 10mW software version to allow for this, you will note on the top of the page walkera post a disclaimer.

Warning:obey the local law and regulations to get the upgrade. Walkera is no liability for any personal activities which violate the local law and regulations.

Regards David

What is the benefit of having a higher output power?
Does it eat up the TX's battery more with higher output power?

[sebo]

Originally Posted by fetch

What is the benefit of having a higher output power?
Does it eat up the TX's battery more with higher output power?

uh range? like anything else wireless, increasing transmit power means increased power usage, so yes your battery will drain faster.

[shastamike]

Originally Posted by fetch

What is the benefit of having a higher output power?
Does it eat up the TX's battery more with higher output power?

I fly indoors with the power setting at -5dB to save power. Outside +5dB does fine. Once I turned it up all the way to 20dB and the batteries went a lot faster.

[Jazzjohn]

I just took some current measurements on the Devo 6 and found out a couple of interesting things.

With a 6 volt power source (I used a supply instead of the batteries), the most interesting fact is that the Devo 6 draws 4 mA when powered off. This means if it is powered by 4 standard 1.5V AA alkaline cells, they will be at the end of service in about 20 days according to rough calculations. This strengthens the case for using a rechargeable pack. 4 mA is rather large for a small battery-operated device in "off" mode.

With the backlight brightness set at 4/10, below are the currents measured for the various power levels. The first number is measured current when the backlight is bright and the second is current in the dim state after the time-out.

-5 dbm, 0 dbm 0.16 A 0.11 A
5 dbm 0.17 A 0.11 A
10 dbm 0.17 A 0.12 A
15 dbm 0.19 A 0.14 A
20 dbm 0.21 A 0.16 A

Measurements were taken with only 2 digits of accuracy and that's why some readings are the same for different power levels.

Also, not documented but observed, was that when a change was made on the power changing screen, the current would sometimes go much higher than normal, and would persist even after returning to the home screen. It would go to normal after power-cycling the transmitter.

[bytemuncher]

Interesting. Why does it need that 4 mA power draw while powered off?