SoftRF version MB162

[Moshe Braner]

Posted now.  https://github.com/moshe-braner/SoftRF

Changes include:

* when logging to flash memory in compressed format (within T-Beam or T-Echo) overwrite oldest flight log if space tight.

* switched to 12.5 KHz deviation for PilotAware

Note: the most recent past flight log file is never deleted.  Enough other files are deleted to start logging with enough space for logging 3 hours.  If not possible, logging to flash memory is not done.  To ensure maximum logging space clear the space manually.

[Moshe Braner]

Additional recent changes:

* Reduced the maximum transmission power slightly to protect the hardware.

* Removed the extra comma at end of PFLAU sentences when there is no traffic.

* Added "charge mode" message to USB-serial in addition to OLED.

[Antoine Megens]

Hi Moshe,

I've installed this version on my T-Beam MKII, but now the blue LED doesn't go out anymore when I keep the power button pressed for 6 seconds.

Any idea?

TIA,

Antoine

Op maandag 14 juli 2025 om 19:36:52 UTC+2 schreef Moshe Braner:

[Moshe Braner]

Antoine: which version were you running before 162?  Is it connected to USB power and also has a battery inside?  If yes, the blue LED stays on to show it is charging the battery.  Do you have a piezo buzzer added?  If yes, you should hear a descending-pitch two-tone sound when it starts the normal shutdown, do you hear that?

[Antoine Megens]

I had an older 1.51 SoftRF running before. And yes, I have a battery installed.

I had power_ext set to 1 in Advanced Settings, and probably misunderstood what it does.

I've now changed it to 0 (the default) and rebooted. 

Now when I long press to switch it off, I see the blue LED starting to flash real fast.

Then, when I plug in USB power, the fast flashing stops and I suppose it shows battery charging?

When I then disconnect USB power, the blue LED (finally) goes off.

 Is this the expected behavior? If yes, I don't like it. I expect the blue LED to go off when I long press.

The piezo buzzer is ordered, but is not yet installed.

In general I like your version better than the "official" one because of the text based setttings.

Regards,

Antoine

Op maandag 21 juli 2025 om 14:29:32 UTC+2 schreef Moshe Braner:

[Moshe Braner]

The fast flashing of the blue LED is (supposed to be) when it is running, but does not have a GNSS fix.  Once it has a fix, the blue LED stays on, if it is transmitting.  Do you have an OLED display on it?  In the recent versions, if you turn it off, and then plug into USB power (and there is a battery in it) then instead of booting up normally, it shows "CHARGE MODE" on the OLED for a second and then turns itself off but the blue LED stays on while it charges.  In any case, if USB power is not connected (or even if it is) and you press and hold the button (the one closest to the USB jack) until it says "OFF" on the OLED display (and then stop holding the button) then it should turn off completely.  Maybe you keep holding the button too long, so it starts up again?

If power_ext is set to 1 in Advanced Settings then the "charge mode" does not happen.  And it turns itself off if all the following conditions are met: the device was running for at least an hour, the aircraft is not airborne, the external (USB) power was on and has been turned off, and the battery voltage has decreased to under 3.9 volts (which may take a long time).  This setting is intended for installation in an aircraft with both an internal battery and USB power from the aircraft.  But even with that setting, you should be able to turn it off via the button.

By the way, which exact model of the T-Beam do you have?  In the early models (version 0.7) there was a real slide switch to disconnect power. In versions 1.0 and 1.1 of the hardware, there was an AXP192 Power Management Unit and that first pushbutton actually talks to the PMU not the ESP32.  In version 1.2 they switched to an AXP2101 PMU.  SoftRF works OK with either PMU type.

[Antoine Megens]

Hi Moshe,

No, I don't have an OLED display. This is a Mark II T-Beam, I don't know what version, I suspect a 1.0 or 1.1 because it doesn't have a slide switch.

I've disabled power_ext now, since I don't want the reported behavior. For instance, the device has not been running for an hour. 

I'm not sure if I hold the power button for too long. It certainly doesn't result in the device powering on again.

There's also this "user button" in the middle. Is that used in any way in your firmware?

Op maandag 21 juli 2025 om 15:52:00 UTC+2 schreef Moshe Braner:

[Moshe Braner]

With no OLED and no buzzer, it is hard to know how long to press that button for shutdown.  It is about 3 seconds, but you said "6 seconds" which is too long.  If you can connect to a USB-serial terminal maybe you will see something there when the shutdown process starts.  Perhaps I should add some other hint, something with the LEDs?  But I do recommend adding the OLED, is not useful in flight (too small and dim) but quite useful when testing and configuring.  It is easy to add, costs little, and shows useful info such as the main settings, whether there is a GNSS fix, whether receiving signals, IP address for the WiFi connection, etc.

The version number of the T-Beam (e.g., "1.1") is written on the board, look carefully.

The middle button is rarely needed, but it does do some things, search my documentation file for "middle button".

https://github.com/moshe-braner/SoftRF/blob/master/software/firmware/documentation/SoftRF_MB_user_guide.txt

[Antoine Megens]

Ok, my board is marked T22_V1.1 20191212

And you're right, 6 seconds is too long. When I press for 3 seconds and release the unit switches off after a few seconds.

I used 6 seconds because that's how long it takes for the red LED to switch off, but with a shorter ~3 sec. push the unit switches off as expected.

I don't know how to wire the oled to the board, since I've already added the BMP280 sensor on the secondary I2C pins 21 (SDA) and 22 (SCL). I might add one in the future.

I must have missed the middle button in your documentation, maybe instead of having a text file that is poorly formatted, use a wiki page where you can use markup syntax?

Thanks for bearing with me, case closed.

Regards,

Antoine

Op di 22 jul 2025 om 14:48 schreef Moshe Braner <moshe....@gmail.com>:

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[Moshe Braner]

Glad it is working for you now!  In the next version I'll try and have it switch off the blue LED as soon as the button-hold is long enough to start the shutdown procedure, that should help one to know when to let go of the button.

You can have both the BMP280 and the OLED on the same I2C pins.  The PMU is also connected to the ESP32 via those same pins. The I2C bus protocol identifies each device with its own ID.  Optionally you can use pins 2 and 13 for the BMP and/or for the OLED, but be aware that if something goes wrong and you need to re-flash the board via USB, you will have to disconnect everything from pin 2, so arrange the wire to make that easy to do.

My documentation file is plain text for a number of reasons.  The main one is that it is easy for me to edit, so I don't put it off.  It being up to date is more important that it being pretty.  Also, you can easily search through a single file.  Searching through a wiki is very different.  You can also take that text file with you to where there is no internet connection and view it on any device (or print it on paper).

[Moshe Braner]

This change in the blue LED behavior is in version mb163 now posted.