Good "Beginner" FPV System

[BigAl07]

Ok does anyone have the Cliff's Notes version of how to UNLOCK the VTX and set it to 200mW? I have the manual(s) (BNF and RTF version) but I'm hoping there is a more "idiot's version" available. I'm hoping that bumping the power up will allow me to fly all the way around my property and around my house without losing video feed.

I was doing the "Click the button during power up" to UNLOCK but then I realized that was the BIND button and either I was doing it wrong or it's the wrong button to push.

 

[Madhungarian]

Ok does anyone have the Cliff's Notes version of how to UNLOCK the VTX and set it to 200mW? I have the manual(s) (BNF and RTF version) but I'm hoping there is a more "idiot's version" available. I'm hoping that bumping the power up will allow me to fly all the way around my property and around my house without losing video feed.

I was doing the "Click the button during power up" to UNLOCK but then I realized that was the BIND button and either I was doing it wrong or it's the wrong button to push.

Turn on your goggles, quad and transmitter, through the goggles on your transmitter, tilt forward(right stick) and go up mid throttle(left stick) and yaw left at the same time, this should open up your osd menu on your screen, you can set it there.

 

[BigAl07]

Turn on your goggles, quad and transmitter, through the goggles on your transmitter, tilt forward(right stick) and go up mid throttle(left stick) and yaw left at the same time, this should open up your osd menu on your screen, you can set it there.

It's that easy? WOW!! Thank you!! I'll be doing that first thing this evening and getting back out into the yard. This is a BLAST!

THANK YOU!

 

[HighTechPauper]

The vTX will only go to the higher power or "locked" channels once it is unlocked, period. It may seem to change through the BF OSD setup, but it will not until the vTX has been unlocked. Unlocking should be done by holding the vTX button in while powering up in the EMAX stuff I believe. Which exact quad did you get? TH2, THFS?

 

[BigAl07]

The vTX will only go to the higher power or "locked" channels once it is unlocked, period. It may seem to change through the BF OSD setup, but it will not until the vTX has been unlocked. Unlocking should be done by holding the vTX button in while powering up in the EMAX stuff I believe. Which exact quad did you get? TH2, THFS?

THFS2 (FreeStyle 2).

 

[HighTechPauper]

I have the Tinyhawk freestyle 2 and you do not need to do this, all you need to do is just go into the osd menu and set it there. It might seem that it does not change if you save it and go back to check the setting, it will show 25mw however it is only because the vtx is in power saving mode, if you arm and disarm after saving at 200, you will see it set to 200. If you want to unlock other channels you might need to do what Hightechpauper is stating.

I stand corrected, only the locked channels will be locked out when the vTX is still locked, this is slightly different than other vTX's in the market. The vTX power can be set via BF OSD setup menu or through the CLI in the BF configurator.

 

[BigAl07]

Thank you ALL for your help and valuable info. It's a bit humbling being so vested in this hobby (40+ years now) and still starting at ground zero for this particular portion of the industry.

 

[HighTechPauper]

At the CLI command line in the configurator you can do the following...

set vtx_power = 3
save

That should set it. Also the displayed power may not change until the quad is armed if the "low power until armed" is set.

 

[HighTechPauper]

Thank you ALL for your help and valuable info. It's a bit humbling being so vested in this hobby (40+ years now) and still starting at ground zero for this particular portion of the industry.

You really aren't starting at ground zero, those that do usually have no experience with many of the pieces or concepts of what makes these quads work, you on the other hand have a ton of experience with the concepts so it is just a matter of rounding out your knowledge of some new tools and new ways of doing things. You will be an expert in no time!

 

[BigAl07]

You really aren't starting at ground zero, those that do usually have no experience with many of the pieces or concepts of what makes these quads work, you on the other hand have a ton of experience with the concepts so it is just a matter of rounding out your knowledge of some new tools and new ways of doing things. You will be an expert in no time!

Thank you for the VERY kind words. Let's hope I can get better and more comfortable with FPV.

I'm LOVING it so far I see now exactly WHY I have avoided it for so long LOL.

 

[BigAl07]

Turn on your goggles, quad and transmitter, through the goggles on your transmitter, tilt forward(right stick) and go up mid throttle(left stick) and yaw left at the same time, this should open up your osd menu on your screen, you can set it there.

That worked like a charm. I've got it set but didn't get home before dark so I'll test (hopefully) right after work tomorrow. THANK YOU!

 

[BigAl07]

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Well I lost it again yesterday but this time was "partially" not my fault... well kind of LOL!

I was flying through the neighbors trees and I had the Low Battery warning in the goggles. I thought I could get a little more out of them (goggles battery not aircraft) and was zooming around then they went BLANK!! I was around the side of the house where I couldn't look directly at the aircraft so I disarmed (It was in fast forward flight) and took off like Usain Bolt (only I'm faster LOL... I'm not a running... big, old, and "thick") to where I thought it would be. After 30 minutes of looking I finally gave in and "invited" my wife to come help look. Of course she found it in under 2 minutes because it was fairly close to where I had been sitting LOL. Apparently it was traveling quicker than I thought and covered more ground than I had anticipated. It's momentum carried it further than I would have bet was even possible LOL

Anyway... in an effort to not lose this thing "for good" I'm going to attach a beeper very similar to the one @okw posted above but it's wireless. I'll need to figure a way to mount it on the bird most likely with some type of pedestal/bracket putting it just above the batteries.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions . . . .

Allen

 

[mrmund]

Put it in the bottom, less effect on cog then on top of the batteries.

 

[okw]

I had forgotten that I'd watched that video before about the wireless version. There were a couple things that I didn't like about it that led me to buy the one that I did. First, the fact that you had to charge the battery "manually", rather than it charging off of the quad's battery while it's flying. Charging while flying doesn't have any noticeable affect on the flight times that I can see on my 4S quad batteries. It might be more of a concern with smaller batteries.

And second (and more importantly for someone with CRS like me), you have to remember to turn it on each time you fly. In the video, he said that you could land to change the battery between flights without turning the buzzer off. That way you only have to turn it on once at the beginning of each flying session. I liked the one I got because it automatically turns on when you plug the quad battery in.

As for mounting, I ended up 3D printing a part with a pocket in it to mount the buzzer. It attaches to the quad on two of the standoffs and I put a zip tie around it to make sure the buzzer doesn't fall out of it. Mainly, you just want to make sure that you don't cover the buzzer outlet, the LED, or the button.

 

[droneguy]

@BigAl07 One simple way to address your issue is to enable two things in Betaflight.

1. Go to the configuration tab, and make sure RX_LOST and RX_SET are enabled under the Dshot Beacon cofiguration. This uses Dshot to make the motors beep without needing a external beeper. Ideally on a different radio with more channels, you would use a separate switch so you could turn the beeping on and off, but in your case, you only have to AUX switches so this may be the est option.
2. Go to the modes tab and add a link for the BEEPER mode and set it to be active when you are not armed. link it to the same aux channel as your ARM mode but at the opposite end of the scale.

This will cause the quad to beep whenever you are not in "armed" mode ( basically when you are disarmed) with the batteries attached. So when you crash and disarm, your quad will start beeping immediately. Once you arm, it will stop beeping.

I wouldn't add an external beeper as the weight will not be desirable and the quad is pretty tight on space to begin with.

 

[HighTechPauper]

Be careful of using DShot ESC protocol to make the quad beep through the motors, doing it for too long, and/or too loud, can fry a motor or ESC.

 

[droneguy]

Be careful of using DShot ESC protocol to make the quad beep through the motors, doing it for too long, and/or too loud, can fry a motor or ESC.

That is true, but RX_LOST has pretty slow beeps and from my experience on the 1103 motors, it has little effect and motors don't get hot very quickly. Ideally with a different radio, you could use another switch and only activate it once you get co the crash site but with the E6 bundled radio in the RTF kit there are only two AUX channels already assigned to rate profiles and arm switch. I definitely would caution against this approach on larger motors.

 

[droneguy]

Emax actually shows the RTF kit with the beeper on AUX2 in the middle position so you can use the switch to turn it on or off.

E6 (RTF) Radio Transmitter - Arming/Controls/Binding Issues

When using the E6 transmitter (e.g. radio controller from a TinyHawk RTF bundle), you may encounter issues with binding/arming/controlling a BNF drone. To resolve these issues, you will need to follow the steps below to make certain changes in Be...

emaxusa2.freshdesk.com