Switch off with a bag

Some of you may know that my Taranis X9E transmitter has an intermittent fault whereby it switches itself off when I lean down to pick up my model. I was not able to (reliably) recreate the problem until now. This 2.30 minute video shows the transmitter switching itself off 4 times when a 'charged' plastic bag is held near. I think this confirms that the radio was switching itself off after a flight once I'd let go of the transmitter and lent forward to pick up the model. It would not switch off whilst flying because the transmitter was being held, but once it was left to swing on my harness there would (sometimes) be a static discharge and this was causing the failure. My fear now is that it will happen one day in flight, so this transmitter is not going to be used again.

What a strange behaviour? Have you posted on the Frsky developer wiki? It is possible that there is enough charge to knock out a chip. But why the plastic bag or are you suggesting that the TX bag with it's plastic/nylon materials are causing this to happen?

Does the Tx use a hardware switch or is it "soft' switching via the panel ?

I would pass the info to Mike our the software developer who might know the correct people in the factory. Even if you dont use the tx again, the makers should be informed

I saw this with my own eyes on Monday, wearing one coat it would be fine, wearing another coat it would turn off with alarming regularity, so Mike was thinking it must be some sort of static from one of his coats (Hence the charged plastic bag test, I assume)

I really didnt believe what I was seeing, but I definitely saw it happen !!

Chris73 wrote: I saw this with my own eyes on Monday, wearing one coat it would be fine, wearing another coat it would turn off with alarming regularity, so Mike was thinking it must be some sort of static from one of his coats (Hence the charged plastic bag test, I assume)

Back home I wore the grey coat and started tidying the workshop with the transmitter one my harness. Within minutes I was regularly seeing the transmitter switch off. Changed to the black coat and although it did not switch off as often, it did switch off a couple of times. When I picked up a plastic bag to clear some rubbish the radio switched off straight away. Charging the bag by rubbing it on my jumper created the most repeatable failures so this is how I documented it on video.

FrSky are being made aware of the problem.

Mike, maybe time to buy pure cotton/wool clothing and no manmade textile mixes. :lol:

Just experimented using Grommits transmitter. Bottom line, it's my transmitter alone that has the fault.

Does the X9E auto switch-off when the receiver is still switched on?

Yes

Looking at this picture I would guess that the power for this unit is controlled from the momentary action microswitch in the middle of the board. I would further hazard a guess that the line from this momentary switch to the real (silicon) power switch is floating (i.e. it should be tied to to a power rail by a resister to avoid triggering by electrical noise, but isn't). Normally there would also be de-bouncing circuitry to ensure accidental knocks and vibrations and static electricity inputs are ignored, if this is not working either I would suspect that there is either a missing or loose resistor or a dry joint or broken track in this area.