The Beier modules are hugely capable becoming used more widely. They differ from other modules out there in that they are hugely flexible and programable.

The programable bit worries people but I am writing a series of articles to help with that. The programming is mostly clicking buttons and selecting files but of course to do that you need an application. The three main modules are the UFR1230, The USM-RC-2 and the SFR1. The UFR1230 has an application called drive teacher and the USM-RC-2 and the SFR1 have their own versions of sound teacher. The application is supplied on CD together with a large number of starter projects and over 700 sounds, an application to download Youtube videos and extract the sound, a program to work with sound files and convert them for use with the modules and a driver for the usb programmer.

RADIO

The radio that you use is up to you but there are some minimum requirements.

The UFR1230 requires 3 channels ( Throttle, Steering and control) The UFR1230D is a dual version of the UFR1230 and has an Extra throttle channel ( ideal for tamks and skid steers).

The USM-RC-2 requires 4 or 5 channels 4 channels if you pass the steering through and 5 if you use 3 control channels. The USM-RC-2 only requires 4 channels the fifth being for the steering.

The SFR1 requires 6 channels Throttle, steering and four control channels ( of course you dont have to use them all but that will limit what you can do a little).

Whichever Radio you use, the control channels channel needs to be able to go to 5 positions in order to get the best from the unit. YOU CANNOT USE A CHANNEL WITH A TWO WAY SWITCH. The required positions are neutral half stick and full stick  see the picture. The block on the left shows the default positions of each. These are basically 50 and 100% of the channel output. You either need to program your transmitter to use a dual rate or mix function to give these outputs based on the position of a switch and the channel (stick or switch) OR adjust the switch positions in the unit andand use trims.

If you do not have a programable transmitter then it may still be possible to use it by adjusting the ABCD positions using a combination of full stick and trim. The USM has the capability to tell you what the stick positions are so don't panic. Details of this are in the advanced functions article.

Each Control channel that gives up to 8 choices af action, two for each position. A short time in position (50 ms)  or a long time (1500 ms   or 1.5 seconds) these ar adjustable on the proportional channels tab Bottom right - activation delay. My view is that 1.5 seconds sometimes seems like a life time!  There is a third option of in position and if that is chosen then the action occurs whilst the channel is in that position (e.g. some of the supplied horn sounds).

 

PROGRAMMING

 

So what do we need to run it all? Well you need a PC with windows OR a PC emulator (e.g. winebottler on MAC) and have the teacher program installed( drive teacher for UFR1230, USM-RC-2 soundteacher for USM-RC-2 and SFR1 Soundteacher for SFR1) .  Unfortunately there is nothing for android phones or pads. You will also need a DVD drive and some disk space. If you do not have a dvd drive on your platform then please give us a call and I'll ask what alternatives there are.

You need to install the programs and files that you want to use. If you have autorun set then the installer will start up automatically when you insert the DVD otherwise you will have to start the program manually by navigating to the DVD and run the xxx-installer.exe thats there. A menu box should display as below.

This is the SFR1 version but the others are similar. Click the SFR-1 sound teacher installieren to install the SFR1 soundteacher program. once done, if you are using the USB program cable then install the K-USB-2 driver. Audacity is the program for chopping up and exporting sounds and the last item is the you tube converter.

N.B. my antivirus will not allow me to run the youtube converter supplied on the DVD so I use YTD downloader instead.

 I also copy all the sound files to my hard disk. SFR-1 sounds folder has all the base projects in it, and the sounds folder has a lot of other sounds in it.

Now you are set to start on the module! I suggest that you run the appropriate teacher program and take a look around. For the USM-RC-2 I have loaded the Truck - Scania V8_1 file as this is the standard project that comes with the unit on the SD card, but any of the others will do, they are all basic and fairly simple.

The project will open as in the above picture. If the firs column is in german you can change it by clicking Spache on the top line and selecting english. You can find the manual under help. The sound files are named in german because they are on the disk in the project folder in german. You can re-name them in the folder and reload if you wish.

Check the additional sounds tab to see what is there. There are usually no random sounds loaded so skip that, similarly the wav player will be empty.

 Go to configuration and make sure that digital mode is selected in the general tab.

Check the engine sounds tab - its simple and probably does not need changing. Skip the random sounds and go to proportional channels. you can see that they are all allocated in some way. The outputs tab shows how the lights have been allocated.   

This is a starting point and not set in concrete, you will need to allocate the lights better and I suggest that you use the pre-named ones and lights + and lights - functions ( see later articles).

Take you microsd card and put it in the holder and insert in your pc. It may well be blank if it is you need to format it. click sd card on the top line and click formating. Once it is done you can copy the configuration to it by clicking the grey SD box on the second line. once its doe take the sd card out and you have a working project to use going forwards. I bet you forgot what was set up! Thats not a problem click file then the fifth selection in the drop down "print function assignment"

Now you have a print you have something you can write on so you can change things in a controlled way.