I wanted to teach my 11 years old son how to fly in Acro mode so I bought a Taranis X-Lite for him with the idea to connect it to my QX7 in trainer mode. The problem started when I realized (after buying it of course) that the X-Lite doesn’t have a trainer port ☹. One solution could be to add bluetooth modules to both transmitters and use the wireless trainer mode, but it is too complicated and I didn’t feel confident modifying the radios, particularly a brand new one. So I did some research and found a tutorial on instructables on how to use trainer mode with SBUS. The process is actually very simple and I thought that it could be interesting for others so I am sharing with you the process.
The idea is actually very simple: connect a small receiver in the pins of the module bay in the back of the QX7 and bind the receiver to the X-Lite.
Things needed
· 2 radios. In my case, a QX7 which will be the master radio, and a X-Lite as the slave radio.
· A SBUS receiver.
· 1 servo cable to connect the receiver to the QX7
Setting up trainer mode
The radios
I’ve been using a QX7 radio since I started in the hobby and I really love it, but it is kind of large for my son so I thought that a X-Lite would be a good choice for him. I didn’t know at the beginning that the X-Lite didn’t have a trainer port ☹
![[Image: KNgnlTgl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/KNgnlTgl.jpg)
The receiver
I had a XM+ lying around which lost one antenna in a crash but I don´t think it will affect its performance for this setup as the radios are going to be very close from each other
![[Image: VrUUSKEl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/VrUUSKEl.jpg)
The Cable
Any three pin servo cable would work
![[Image: dbmqHa3l.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/dbmqHa3l.jpg)
Setting the radios up
Setting up the slave radio is very straightforward, I just created a new model trying to match the channel order in my QX7 (although I failed on that as discussed later). You don’t need to bother on creating arming channels, only throttle, yaw, pitch and roll are needed
![[Image: 4vdHOUnl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/4vdHOUnl.jpg)
In the master radio you can use any model already created. The only change needed is to activate the “Master/SBUS” option. For the QX7:
· Press Menu Button
· Press Page button once to go to Setup page
· Scroll down to “Trainer Mode” Menu
· Press enter and Select MASTER / SBUS
![[Image: 8rbj0hJl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/8rbj0hJl.jpg)
Then you need to assign a switch in the master radio for changing the control from the Master to the Slave radio as needed. You can use a two position switch so that when it is in one position the control is assigned to the slave radio and when the teacher wants to get control back (i.e. to recover form a potential crash), the switch goes to the other position. A momentary switch might be the best choice but I use it for arming, so I selected a 3 position switch. To do this you need to create a special function and assign it to a switch. For the QX7:
· Press the menu button to go to the model setup
· Press the page button 8 times to go to the Special Functions menu
· Add “Trainer” as the special function and assign it to a switch. In my case, I assigned it to the SD switch in the middle position
![[Image: LHA7Zvml.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/LHA7Zvml.jpg)
Linking the radios
Once the radios are configured, the next step is to connect the receiver to the back of the QX7. The Taranis has 5 pins in the module bay. For this setup, we will need the three central pins, one for SBUS (the second one from top to bottom), one for VBAT (the one in the middle) and the last one for ground:
![[Image: 22f0387l.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/22f0387l.jpg)
I am using a XM+ which has also three pins and works from 3.7v to 10v. Be sure to check your receiver working voltage and the battery used in the transmitter as the middle pin is VBAT. I soldered a right angle three pin header to make the connection easier but you can also solder the wires directly to the receiver:
![[Image: cSnhvIDl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/cSnhvIDl.jpg)
The connection will look like this:
![[Image: 7Jw5jvil.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/7Jw5jvil.jpg)
Double-check the connections and turn the Master radio (QX7) on, the receiver should also turn on.
The next step would be to bind the receiver to the slave radio (X-Lite):
· Put the slave radio (X-Lite) in binding mode
· On the receiver (and with the master radio turned on), I disconnected the servo cable from it and, while pressing the binding button, I connected the servo cable again so the receiver enters in binding mode.
· Stop binding mode on the slave radio (X-Lite)
· Disconnect and connect again the servo cable on the receiver. You should see a green light on the receiver
![[Image: aT9bs2sl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/aT9bs2sl.jpg)
Checking the connection
Go to the channel monitor page in the master radio (QX7) and activate the switch assigned to the trainer mode. The channel bars should move following the movements in the slave radio (X-Lite) sticks and in the same order (i.e. throttle in the X-Lite should correspond with throttle in the QX7 and so on).
![[Image: CL0m7oVl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/CL0m7oVl.jpg)
If for some reason the channel order doesn’t match in both radios, like in my case, you can change them in the Trainer menu. On the Master radio (QX7):
· Long press menu button in the master radio
· Press page button 3 times in the master radio to go to the trainer menu
· Move the X-Lite sticks. The values at the button of the QX7 display should change following the stick movements
· Assign channels accordingly. Left column corresponds to the Master Radio and Right column to the slave inputs. In my case, the X-Lite channel order was Throttle, Roll, Pitch and Yaw, so I had to adjust all of them to match those in my QX7:
![[Image: ZzPBXXNl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/ZzPBXXNl.jpg)
While being on the trainer menu, center the sticks on the slave radio (X-Lite), navigate to CAL and press enter. The input values in the bottom of the display should be 0.
That would be it. In the following video you can see it working (sorry for the bad video quality).
The idea is actually very simple: connect a small receiver in the pins of the module bay in the back of the QX7 and bind the receiver to the X-Lite.
Things needed
· 2 radios. In my case, a QX7 which will be the master radio, and a X-Lite as the slave radio.
· A SBUS receiver.
· 1 servo cable to connect the receiver to the QX7
Setting up trainer mode
The radios
I’ve been using a QX7 radio since I started in the hobby and I really love it, but it is kind of large for my son so I thought that a X-Lite would be a good choice for him. I didn’t know at the beginning that the X-Lite didn’t have a trainer port ☹
The receiver
I had a XM+ lying around which lost one antenna in a crash but I don´t think it will affect its performance for this setup as the radios are going to be very close from each other
The Cable
Any three pin servo cable would work
Setting the radios up
Setting up the slave radio is very straightforward, I just created a new model trying to match the channel order in my QX7 (although I failed on that as discussed later). You don’t need to bother on creating arming channels, only throttle, yaw, pitch and roll are needed
In the master radio you can use any model already created. The only change needed is to activate the “Master/SBUS” option. For the QX7:
· Press Menu Button
· Press Page button once to go to Setup page
· Scroll down to “Trainer Mode” Menu
· Press enter and Select MASTER / SBUS
Then you need to assign a switch in the master radio for changing the control from the Master to the Slave radio as needed. You can use a two position switch so that when it is in one position the control is assigned to the slave radio and when the teacher wants to get control back (i.e. to recover form a potential crash), the switch goes to the other position. A momentary switch might be the best choice but I use it for arming, so I selected a 3 position switch. To do this you need to create a special function and assign it to a switch. For the QX7:
· Press the menu button to go to the model setup
· Press the page button 8 times to go to the Special Functions menu
· Add “Trainer” as the special function and assign it to a switch. In my case, I assigned it to the SD switch in the middle position
Linking the radios
Once the radios are configured, the next step is to connect the receiver to the back of the QX7. The Taranis has 5 pins in the module bay. For this setup, we will need the three central pins, one for SBUS (the second one from top to bottom), one for VBAT (the one in the middle) and the last one for ground:
I am using a XM+ which has also three pins and works from 3.7v to 10v. Be sure to check your receiver working voltage and the battery used in the transmitter as the middle pin is VBAT. I soldered a right angle three pin header to make the connection easier but you can also solder the wires directly to the receiver:
The connection will look like this:
Double-check the connections and turn the Master radio (QX7) on, the receiver should also turn on.
The next step would be to bind the receiver to the slave radio (X-Lite):
· Put the slave radio (X-Lite) in binding mode
· On the receiver (and with the master radio turned on), I disconnected the servo cable from it and, while pressing the binding button, I connected the servo cable again so the receiver enters in binding mode.
· Stop binding mode on the slave radio (X-Lite)
· Disconnect and connect again the servo cable on the receiver. You should see a green light on the receiver
Checking the connection
Go to the channel monitor page in the master radio (QX7) and activate the switch assigned to the trainer mode. The channel bars should move following the movements in the slave radio (X-Lite) sticks and in the same order (i.e. throttle in the X-Lite should correspond with throttle in the QX7 and so on).
If for some reason the channel order doesn’t match in both radios, like in my case, you can change them in the Trainer menu. On the Master radio (QX7):
· Long press menu button in the master radio
· Press page button 3 times in the master radio to go to the trainer menu
· Move the X-Lite sticks. The values at the button of the QX7 display should change following the stick movements
· Assign channels accordingly. Left column corresponds to the Master Radio and Right column to the slave inputs. In my case, the X-Lite channel order was Throttle, Roll, Pitch and Yaw, so I had to adjust all of them to match those in my QX7:
While being on the trainer menu, center the sticks on the slave radio (X-Lite), navigate to CAL and press enter. The input values in the bottom of the display should be 0.
That would be it. In the following video you can see it working (sorry for the bad video quality).
![[-]](https://intofpv.com/images/collapse.png)
