Flight Controllers Betaflight

sneezy007

Active Member
Hey guys,

I bought a used ZMR250 many moons ago and finally had to time to install the Spektrum receiver today and go through the bind process. The fellow I bought the quad from said it was flashed using Betaflight. He sent me a bunch of screen grabs for the current settings in betaflight but he uses a Taranis radio. He said the PID settings should be fine but he did say I will have to update the ports & configuration pages.

This is all new to me, has anyone used Betaflight and do you know what settings I need for my Spektrum receiver? I have a DX18 radio.

Thanks guys.
 

Tony

Staff member
If you are just starting out, my suggestion would be to install cleanflight on it and set it up from scratch so you know how it is going to fly. The video below should walk you though how to set it up. If not, just let me know what you need help with and I will do the best I can

 

Tony

Staff member
The reason I suggest cleanflight over betaflight is because cleanflight firmware's are known to be good. Betaflight is still, well, in beta with people testing them. Just starting out, there is no need in the headache that is betaflight lol.
 

sneezy007

Active Member
Starting watching the video Tony. Is cleanflight and betaflight different? Does it matter which one you use?
 

Tony

Staff member
As stated, cleanflight is proven firmware that is known to work good. Betaflight is beta firmware and could have bugs in it. Starting out, I would just use cleanflight. It's easier IMO.
 

sneezy007

Active Member
Great video Tony, I just checked cleanflight and unfortunately I'm going to have to use betaflight as cleanflight doesn't have my flight controller in the list.
 

Tony

Staff member
I guess it's betaflight then. Never even heard of that board, but it is based off of an F3 FC.
 

sneezy007

Active Member
Hey Tony,

I'm trying to program the flight controller. In the ports page, is this correct for a spektrum receiver? This is using betaflight.
upload_2017-4-12_9-59-12.png
 

Tony

Staff member
Failed to open port? Com port or uart port? And you will turn on whatever uart port your satellite Rx is connected to. If you are on uart 3, than you are correct. It varies from each board and where people install them. YOu also need to go into the configuration tab and select spectrum from the dropdown menu.
 

sneezy007

Active Member
Yup it says failed to open port in the first screen in betaflight in the upper left hand corner. I was doing some research and it appears I've done something called bricking the flight controller. I think I turned off something I wasn't supposed to turn off. Now I have to take the quad apart and manual put the flight controller into the boot mode by pushing a button. Honestly sometimes I think I'm not really cut out for this hobby, so frustrating.
 

Tony

Staff member
Don't stress over it Dino, we have all done that. The USB VCP, the MSP needs to be turned on. That is your USB port. You have not bricked the board, it's quite hard actually to brick these boards. Out of all of the ones that I have, only one has bricked and it was something wrong with the board, not something that i have done.

Worst case is, you will need an FTDI adapter to manually flash the board through one of the UART's. They are a pain to learn in the beginning, but you will get it, trust me. I was right where you are now when I started in these things.
 

sneezy007

Active Member
I know Tony but it's still very frustrating making these mistakes when you're learning. In the first picture I sent you, I have UART3 turned on and the other two turned off. Do I need to short the boot pins to get into the boot mode? If yes then I will have to disassemble the quad to get to the flight controller. Thanks Tony.
 

Tony

Staff member
The first picture, the UART is correct as long as that is where you have the satellite plugged in at. But also turn on the first one as well so your USB works. But yes, I do believe you are going to have to jump the boot pins and put the board in DFU mode and upload a fresh firmware to it and start the setup over again. Because right now, there is no way for the board to connect to the computer other than through UART3 which is the only port turned on.
 
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