I'm going to give this another go but will need some help along the way...

[Jtrjr]

It is fantastic to see this place continuing to prosper! I've been out for a few years dealing with life but I' think I'm ready to get my toes wet again. It really is great to see some old friends still hanging around and it's equally pleasant to see some new (to me), knowledgeable and helpful folks participating. I'd have given up on this stuff after the first week if it hadn't been for the great people on this site! This is one of the few sites I've seen that seems to stay away from all the BS and is dedicated to welcoming, educating and helping newcomers.

I spent all day yesterday trying to remember how to charge batteries, struggling with com port issues to get the BF configurator going and slamming a couple of Micro's into walls. And now for some questions...

I have quite a few quads, 3S and 4S, many with Betaflight F3 or early F4 FC's, most I built myself. I'm using the Taranis X9D+ radio with an early TBS crossfire module installed.

1. I have the 10.4.1 version of the BF configurator and see that it's now at 10.6.something. Do I want to upgrade this initially and should I reflash my FC's?
2. Same question as number 1 for BLHeli?
3. Any new things I should know before getting too far down the road?

I'll start with that and see where it goes from here. I'm very grateful for any and all responses!

Jerry

 

[HighTechPauper]

Welcome back buddy, so great to see you around these parts!

1. Do not upgrade BFC until you are ready to flash upgraded BF to your quads, I would recommend, from my experience, to go no further than 3.5.7, the 4+ stuff is so fancy you can really have bad issues with it IMHO. There have been reports of quads arming and going full throttle as soon as battery is plugged in, and things like twitching and to the moon throttle all on it's own with 4+.

2. Check BLH to see if your DShot capable ESC's are at rev 16.7, if so, no need to change anything.

3. Before I did anything, I would fully test and fly your quads so that you have a reasonable expectation they were working before any upgrading occurred. If all seems well, I would get a cli dump off each one and upgrade to 3.5.7 BF and retest. The F3's I would leave there, and if I wanted to try BF4+ on any of the F4 boards, I would do one and see how it went before doing any others.

Randy

 

[HighTechPauper]

Oh, and you should update the Crossfire stuff, there is a new program out there called TBS Agent X that took the place of TBS Agent. Once the TX is updated, the RX's will update over the air, look for the LUA script to prompt you after the RX is rebound to the TX. Sometimes you need to actually press the button on the RX to get it to bind again, but usually just powering on the RX and doing a Bind on the LUA script will cause the RX to rebind after the TX is upgraded. Any questions or issues don't hesitate to reach out. I am assuming you may need to update the OpenTX on the radio too, if you do the LUA script wont be in the same place (SD Card, Radio Setup screen 2) it will be under screen 3 I think it is now.

 

[Jtrjr]

Before I did anything, I would fully test and fly your quads so that you have a reasonable expectation they were working before any upgrading occurred.

Randy,

Thanks for the reply, I knew I could count on you! Sounds like a good path although it'll be quite a while before I put any of the real quads in the air. I'm still having problems keeping the micros going, even in Horizon and Stabilized. Acro is out for in house flying right now. I'd guess the BF4 is more for the newer FC's and ESC's. I'm glad I asked before making the upgrade. I'll stick with the little I know for now. Thanks for the reply!

Jerry

 

[Jtrjr]

Oh, and you should update the Crossfire stuff, there is a new program out there called TBS Agent X that took the place of TBS Agent. Once the TX is updated, the RX's will update over the air, look for the LUA script to prompt you after the RX is rebound to the TX. Sometimes you need to actually press the button on the RX to get it to bind again, but usually just powering on the RX and doing a Bind on the LUA script will cause the RX to rebind after the TX is upgraded. Any questions or issues don't hesitate to reach out. I am assuming you may need to update the OpenTX on the radio too, if you do the LUA script wont be in the same place (SD Card, Radio Setup screen 2) it will be under screen 3 I think it is now.

The radidio is a whole separate matter! Don't remember a daing thing. Luckily, I remembered the Arm, Mode and Failsafe switches! And the Crossfire, I've only got it on one bird right now. I did just purchase a GEPRC CinePro 2" 4K F700 with the Crossfire on it. Suppose I'll have to dig into the radidio stuff soon to get it running. Figured I'd get a pre-built for now before I start building again. I've still got a tub full of NIB parts and frames to go through. I hope most of it isn't outdated. Thanks again for the replies!

Jerry

 

[HighTechPauper]

If it will fly, then it isn't too outdated, I have a ton of parts that when assembled will no longer be state of the art, but they should fly just fine! Any questions, we are here, and you got my number.

R

 

[Jtrjr]

Thanks, Randy!

 

[Jtrjr]

1. Do not upgrade BFC until you are ready to flash upgraded BF to your quads, I would recommend, from my experience, to go no further than 3.5.7, the 4+ stuff is so fancy you can really have bad issues with it IMHO.

Randy,

What about the BF Configurator? I'm on 10.4.1 and it wants me to upgrade to 10.6.0, will it make any difference if I upgrade the BF Configurator? Also, the BLHeli Configurator I've got loaded is 1.1.0 and I see a 1.2.0 on GitHub, should I update the BLHeli Configurator?

Jerry

 

[HighTechPauper]

The configurator is closely tied to the BF revision, strange things happen when the new configurator connects to old BF. Often, to work effectively on old BF you need an old configurator, for that reason I wouldn’t update until needed, and when you do upgrade, keep the old one to install when needed so you can work on your older BF revisions without issue. It would be great if the configurator was always 100% backwards compatible, but it isn’t, so you are best to keep 10.4, and 10.5.1 available for when you need to install and use them.

 

[HighTechPauper]

Sorry Jerry, I missed the part about BLHeli. There is much less going on in BLH, so you are ok to upgrade it since I haven’t seen or heard any issues with comparability there. Just keep your old BFC install files so you can use what is appropriate, but until you go to BF 4 and above, a 10.4 or 10.5 rev should work fine.

 

[Jtrjr]

Sorry Jerry, I missed the part about BLHeli. There is much less going on in BLH, so you are ok to upgrade it since I haven’t seen or heard any issues with comparability there. Just keep your old BFC install files so you can use what is appropriate, but until you go to BF 4 and above, a 10.4 or 10.5 rev should work fine.

Thanks, Randy!

Jerry

 

[Wayno52]

Welcome back buddy,I see Randy has you in good stead and I can't wait to see a vid or two coming through in the not too distant future.
Oh how time flies, I didn't realise it had been that long.
Great to have you back buddy.
Chat soon.

 

[Jtrjr]

Chat soon.

Wayno,

Good to see you still here too! Yeah, the roles have reversed, Randy's the "Master" now! I couldn't be more grateful to have his help. I'm sure you'll be able to throw me a few bones as well! "Grasshopper" out!

Jerry

 

[Wayno52]

Haha, lol mate. I have him on speed dial and use it regularly.
Not sure how he puts up with me to be honest. He is a great man and a wealth of knowledge.
Glad to see you whoopin around too.
Are you still in the same place?
Man what a spot to fly.

 

[Jtrjr]

Things wouldn't be the same without one of my cheezy video's!

Jerry

King Kong Outdoor

 

[HighTechPauper]

I have one question... and one statement.
Are you flying angle, horizon, or acro in that video?
You may call it cheezy, but you always have the best music in your vids!
Nice Jerry!

 

[Jtrjr]

I have one question... and one statement.
Are you flying angle, horizon, or acro in that video?

Angle, maybe take a shot at acro tomorrow! I need to dust off some cobwebs to even get started again.

 

[Wayno52]

I was just about to say, now let's get you out of self leveling mode.
Looks to me like you will just slot straight back in buddy.
And yeah, you and JJ always have great music.
Nice one Jerry.

 

[Jtrjr]

I was just about to say, now let's get you out of self leveling mode.

Jeez Wayno, give me a few days of fun! The first 4-5 days were trying to remember how to charge batteries, install, open and connect to BF and BLHeli. Try to remember how this dainged radidio works. Find out that half of my $batteries$ don't work, the stuff's on it's way. Figure out the goggles again and get the Furious FPV True-D system calibrated. Check all of the nut's, bolts, screws and props on two micro quads. Then start crashing! We start to forget that we're "supposed" to be having "fun"! Anybody that doesn't fly these things would never understand what we have to know and do to put these little things in the air! My hat is off to you guys!

So, for a week or two, I'm just going to try to have some fun!

Jerry

 

[Wayno52]

Haha Buddy, you know we are all here for you no matter what. After 2 years out of it I will cut you a break.
Man seriously it is so great to have you back I'm just seriously pumped as I thought we would never see your amazing personality around here again.
You are a great man and there are some of us who have been here long enough to be extremely pleased to see you back.
Take all the time you need buddy.