New here from Seattle

[Biker]

Hi all,

I know there are some scratch build gurus in here and if you are one of them, perhaps you could possibly help this total noob out here, after all these years messing with fixed wing aircraft, I decided to try my luck at a scratch build drone in order to learn more about them, I've also been dabbling a bit with FPV and would be interested in any information I can get in terms of learning that as well, I'm not that great a flying them but do pretty well with fixed wing, even though drones fly almost the same direction-wise, I suppose it's the size and orientation that throws me off, I'm actually trying to learn to fly drones without the use of FPV for now, or is it better to use FPV glasses and learn that way?

In regard to the scratch build I mentioned, everything went ok until I reached the point of connecting a Rx (DS2500 Receiver, not sure of the brand) to an X-Racer F303 V3.1 Flight Controller, that is where I'm a bit confused. I've enclosed a few photos of the parts in question, I would appreciate very much if someone could shed some light on this, maybe "connect the dots" ?

Many thanks in advance

Biker

 

[GMK]

Hi all,

I know there are some scratch build gurus in here and if you are one of them, perhaps you could possibly help this total noob out here, after all these years messing with fixed wing aircraft, I decided to try my luck at a scratch build drone in order to learn more about them, I've also been dabbling a bit with FPV and would be interested in any information I can get in terms of learning that as well, I'm not that great a flying them but do pretty well with fixed wing, even though drones fly almost the same direction-wise, I suppose it's the size and orientation that throws me off, I'm actually trying to learn to fly drones without the use of FPV for now, or is it better to use FPV glasses and learn that way?

In regard to the scratch build I mentioned, everything went ok until I reached the point of connecting a Rx (DS2500 Receiver, not sure of the brand) to an X-Racer F303 V3.1 Flight Controller, that is where I'm a bit confused. I've enclosed a few photos of the parts in question, I would appreciate very much if someone could shed some light on this, maybe "connect the dots" ?

Many thanks in advance

Biker

Welcome to the forum.
Sorry can't help, but enjoy when you're sorted.

 

[Dan]

You will need to know the pinout diagram & the protocol for the DS2500 and most likely have to remove the servo pins unless they match the UART sequence & spacing on the Flight Controller (FC). Power goes to any 5v pad, & ground goes to any GND pad, One of other two "channels" has to be a UART RX which goes to a TX pad on the FC and the other one has to be an RX which goes to the TX pad on the FC. UARTs 1 & 2 are labeled thusly on your FC and either will do when that UART is selected appropriately in the Ports tab of the BetaFlight configurator and the correct protocol is entered on the receiver tab.

 

[Biker]

Hi Dan,

I was just thinking that the channels 1-4 were just the same as a normal Rx, here's some of the specs on it that I was able to track down.

Item Name: 2.4G mini receiver
Channel: 4CH
Weight: 2.2g
Resolution: 1024
PWM Output: Yes
Operating Voltage: 3.5-10V
Current: 50MA

Would it be better to just install a tiny Rx from say "HItec" or "Spektrum"??

Thanks Dan

~Biker

 

[Kilrah]

I was just thinking that the channels 1-4 were just the same as a normal Rx

They are. Just connect them to the first 4 inputs of the FC.

 

[Dan]

BetaFlight communicates with the Rx via any of the unused UART (Universal Asynchronous Receive Transmit) ports and I don't see any "first 4 inputs" on your F303. UART 1 & UART 2 are there & labeled on the right side and unless you can correctly identify the receive and transmit pads on the RX it unlikely to work correctly.

 

[Biker]

BetaFlight communicates with the Rx via any of the unused UART (Universal Asynchronous Receive Transmit) ports and I don't see any "first 4 inputs" on your F303. UART 1 & UART 2 are there & labeled on the right side and unless you can correctly identify the receive and transmit pads on the RX it unlikely to work correctly.

Hi Dan,

Ok, I'm trying to understand this, "uart 1 and 2", AKA Rx1 and Rx2"??

I can easily remove pins on the DS2500, but I'm at a loss in terms of which channel to use on the Rx to go to the FC, I already have a set of pins on the FC for the ESC outputs (Ch1 - Ch4). I'm a bit confused

 

[Dan]

I find the use of the word "channels" in this context confusing as well. The "channels" are elevator/pitch, usually CH1, aileron/roll, usually ch2, throttle, usuall CH3 & yaw, usually CH4 corresponding to the radio's sticks. Beta flight will require a 5th "channel" for arming and disarming..6 or more channels for any other features such as pre-arm, flip after crash, GPS Rescue etc. All of that data traffics through the UART pads. Rx on the receiver goes to the Tx pad on the FC and Tx on the receiver goes to the Rx pad on the FC. I know nothing about the DS2500, but if you know which is power and which is ground I would simply connect the other two to say the RX1 & Tx1 pads, port that UART to Serial in the BetaFlight Ports tab and if that doesn't work, swap them. If that still doesn't work I would use a different Receiver.

 

[Biker]

I find the use of the word "channels" in this context confusing as well. The "channels" are elevator/pitch, usually CH1, aileron/roll, usually ch2, throttle, usuall CH3 & yaw, usually CH4 corresponding to the radio's sticks. Beta flight will require a 5th "channel" for arming and disarming..6 or more channels for any other features such as pre-arm, flip after crash, GPS Rescue etc. All of that data traffics through the UART pads. Rx on the receiver goes to the Tx pad on the FC and Tx on the receiver goes to the Rx pad on the FC. I know nothing about the DS2500, but if you know which is power and which is ground I would simply connect the other two to say the RX1 & Tx1 pads, port that UART to Serial in the BetaFlight Ports tab and if that doesn't work, swap them. If that still doesn't work I would use a different Receiver.

Ugh,

Sounds a bit complicated to me, I'm leaning more and more toward another micro Rx, any suggestions for that?, say something that will be sufficient for the FC that I'm using and compatible with a Spektrum TX...

Thank you for all your help Dan

~Biker

 

[Dan]

If you're using a spektrum transmitter so far as I know you will need a spektrum receiver as those binding protocols are proprietary. Whether spektrum has a receiver with UART pads I don't know. I have used FrSky in the pase but moved to TBS Crossfire. for the additional range it offers.

 

[Biker]

If you're using a spektrum transmitter so far as I know you will need a spektrum receiver as those binding protocols are proprietary. Whether spektrum has a receiver with UART pads I don't know. I have used FrSky in the pase but moved to TBS Crossfire. for the additional range it offers.

Hi Dan,

Ok, then I think in order to avoid any more confusion, that's most likely what I'll do, so am I correct in assuming that I'll need an extra channel for "arming" or is that something that's located on the Tx side of the system?, I'm so used to fixed wing that "channel" is English and "UART" is totally Greek....lol

Thanks again for your help with this

~Biker

 

[Biker]

Hi Dan,

Ok, then I think in order to avoid any more confusion, that's most likely what I'll do, so am I correct in assuming that I'll need an extra channel for "arming" or is that something that's located on the Tx side of the system?, I'm so used to fixed wing that "channel" is English and "UART" is totally Greek....lol

Thanks again for your help with this

~Biker

If you're using a spektrum transmitter so far as I know you will need a spektrum receiver as those binding protocols are proprietary. Whether spektrum has a receiver with UART pads I don't know. I have used FrSky in the pase but moved to TBS Crossfire. for the additional range it offers.

how bout this one?

Spektrum SRXL2 DSMX Serial Micro Receiver, SPM4650​

 

[Dan]

how bout this one?
Again I don't really know from spektrum. Quad copters, unlike airplanes don't make use of servos and so anything designed essentially to control servos is not going to work well if at all.
I suggest this YouTuber to get you started.

 

[Biker]

No worries Dan,

I thank you for your help

~Biker