Startup, Idle & Display mode
Make your droid look alive when nobody's driving: a startup show, idle chatter, and a display mode for when it's parked on a stand.
What it’s for
Section titled “What it’s for”Two sections of Droid Config set what your droid does on its own: Startup, each time it powers on, and Idle, after a while with nobody driving. Idle also holds Display mode, for a droid on show with its transmitter off.
Quick start: idle chatter
Section titled “Quick start: idle chatter”next chatter 22 s
- Tick Go idle when nobody is driving.
- Set Go idle after: 30 seconds to 2 hours.
- Choose its lights and sequences: up to 4 of each.
- Set Chatter: a range of tracks, random or in order, and how often.
- Save, then Go idle now to see it straight away.
Startup
Section titled “Startup”Startup sets what the droid does each time it powers on: a sound, and lights and servo moves.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Track | Plays once per power-on, when the sound module is first found (skipped if that takes more than a minute). 0 means no startup sound. |
| Delay (ms) | How long after the sound module is found to play it. |
| LED actions | Up to 4, each a light and one of its presets. |
| Sequences | Up to 4, each optionally looping. |
| Start after | How long to wait after the radio connects before the lights and servos begin, up to 60 s. |
| Run for | How long they keep going, up to an hour. 0 keeps them going until Stop all. |
The lights and servos wait for the radio. They start once the transmitter connects after power-on (or when Bench mode is turned on, if that comes first), never at power-on itself, so a servo never moves without a transmitter in control. They run once per power-on. The sound is different: it plays when the sound module is found.
While they run they behave like a button that’s on: the master switch still gates the lights, Stop all or losing the radio stops them, and a button using the same light takes it over, then hands it back. When Run for ends, lights go back to Always On (or off) and servos stop where they are.
The section shows what startup is doing right now (waiting for the radio, running, done), and Test now runs the saved actions straight away while the radio is connected.
After the time you set with nobody driving, the droid runs its idle lights and servo moves and plays chatter: random sounds from a range of tracks, with a random gap between two times you choose. Each chatter waits until nothing else is playing, and never talks over a button’s sound. Idle needs the radio connected (or Bench mode on), except in Display mode.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Go idle after | 30 seconds to 2 hours with no activity. |
| Lights & servos | Up to 4 lights and 4 sequences. A button using the same light takes it over while it’s on; Always On lights come back when the droid wakes. |
| Chatter | A track range, random or in order, and how often. |
| Wake on movement | Tick the channels you drive with: moving those sticks keeps the droid awake. The threshold is how far a stick must move. |
What wakes it: any button, from the transmitter or the web; Stop all; a ticked stick moving; the radio coming back; a live message, Identify, an on-device preview or a servo test. The section shows the countdown (“Idle in 3:12”), how long it’s been idle and when the next chatter is due, with Go idle now and Wake.
Display mode
Section titled “Display mode”Display mode is for a droid parked on display with its transmitter off. Turn it on and set how long to wait. Once there’s been no radio for that long (including when it starts up with the transmitter already off), the droid runs its idle lights, every Always On light and chatter, as if the master switch were on. The status badge reads Display mode instead of “No SBUS Signal”.
Lights, On or Off, picks whether Display mode lights the droid at all. With Off, the lights stay dark while chatter and the sound of idle sequences still play.
It ends when the radio comes back, when Bench mode is turned on, or with Wake or Stop all, and then stays off until the radio has come back and gone again, or the board restarts. Chatter needs the sound module powered: if yours runs from the receiver, keep the receiver on.
Trouble?
Section titled “Trouble?”- Idle never starts: idle needs the radio connected or Bench mode on, and any activity resets the countdown, including a ticked stick drifting past its threshold. Raise the threshold.
- Lights stay dark in Display mode: check its Lights setting is On.