I am switching from my FrSky Taranis to a Boxer ELRS with a Crossfire module. I already bought a few ELRS and Crossfire Rx to switch them over. Easy enough right? But I recently built a new quad from 4 year old plus components and it was anything but easy for me. I'm not sure if that was my ineptitude or because old components are harder to work with.
So, one option is just swap the Rx and see how it goes. The other is swap the Rx plus install new FC's. And option 3 would be replace the FC and 4 in 1 ESC in each quad with an AIO stack. It's two 3" quads and one 5" quad. They are all 30mm mounting. I don't fly or crash a lot so they are all in great shape so I'd like to keep the frame, motors and video stuff they already have. Even with an AOI I figure I could do them for around $100 each. So, yeah, how would you guys go about this?

30x30mm aios are rare. an aio is allways a bit worse from some focus next to the compact size.

i would suggest to list your fcs inhere and get some suggestions.
for old f3 fcs, there would be emuflight or betaflight performance edition for f3.
to get ready for the latest bf version amd all its features, it would require at least an f4 chip on the fc, would work best and with all features on a f7 or h7 fc.

OK, I am starting to get the picture. I started another thread: Can I bring my old quads up to date? Which is much more specific. And difficult for me to follow, LOL. This was thread intended to be a very general question. But it seems like I should take each quad separately, starting with the easiest (most current) hardware wise, and get them flying with my new Boxer one at a time, using the least amount of new components necessary. It sounds like if I replace anything it will only be the FC.

@hugnosed_bat you said:

"for old f3 fcs, there would be emuflight or betaflight performance edition for f3"

For me the "Tunes" in Betaflight 4.4.2 is a big deal. Do Emuflight or Betaflight performance addition for F3 have that feature?

(07-Nov-2023, 05:08 PM)husafreak Wrote: For me the "Tunes" in Betaflight 4.4.2 is a big deal. Do Emuflight or Betaflight performance addition for F3 have that feature?

No. Presets only surfaced in Betaflight Configurator 10.8.0 and they only support Betaflight firmware from 4.2.x.onwards. Emuflight doesn't support Presets at all.

If you retain any F3 FC's you will be stuck with the old manual way of tuning the quad, or hope that the default Betaflight tune is good enough, which it usually is for 5" quads.

(07-Nov-2023, 03:19 AM)husafreak Wrote: I am switching from my FrSky Taranis to a Boxer ELRS with a Crossfire module. I already bought a few ELRS and Crossfire Rx to switch them over. Easy enough right? But I recently built a new quad from 4 year old plus components and it was anything but easy for me. I'm not sure if that was my ineptitude or because old components are harder to work with.
So, one option is just swap the Rx and see how it goes. The other is swap the Rx plus install new FC's. And option 3 would be replace the FC and 4 in 1 ESC in each quad with an AIO stack. It's two 3" quads and one 5" quad. They are all 30mm mounting. I don't fly or crash a lot so they are all in great shape so I'd like to keep the frame, motors and video stuff they already have. Even with an AOI I figure I could do them for around $100 each. So, yeah, how would you guys go about this?

Quads come in various frustration level versions!  So, you had issues last time, no telling, it may be much worse or much better next time, no way to tell really!

My take NOW is that any FC before F4 is either fly it as it is (and I do have a couple left), or replace all the main electronics.  I think trying to update firmware around old hardware is a complete waste of effort and time. I know others do, just like I know others replace chips on boards.  I don't have enough life left for that!

Having said that, my first "250" quad ever (5" with then considered large 1806's!) and my second one, a  "200" were both changed to F4 from F1 by fitting the then cheap Matek F405-STD flight controller a while ago and that proved easy enough using FrSky and SBus.  Would I try with ELRS/Crossfire now?  Likely no.


There is a small converter board available to switch UART receivers to SBus, have one here, never used it!

If you are careful the ESC board or individual ESCs are re-usable provided they are DShot capable and run BLHeli or BLHeli32. Anything before, forget it in update terms.

If they flew and still fly OK ish as they are, fly on and plan to build ground up with new more capable product.

Bluntly, it all hangs on your willingness to play around and try, which is a matter for your nerves!

Good Luck...............  

(07-Nov-2023, 09:04 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: No. Presets only surfaced in Betaflight Configurator 10.8.0 and they only support Betaflight firmware from 4.2.x.onwards. Emuflight doesn't support Presets at all.

If you retain any F3 FC's you will be stuck with the old manual way of tuning the quad, or hope that the default Betaflight tune is good enough, which it usually is for 5" quads.

the presets was invented by emuflight, they have tuning presets.
it was copied by betaflight and improofed by additional sort of presets like rclink and vtx tables...

Unfortunately EmuFlight seems to have been abandoned just like Butterflight was. The last proper release (0.4.1) was back in July 2022 with a minor bugfix release in May this year for Helio Spring FC's. There has been no active development work done on EmuFlight for well over a year and while it will still work for FCs that already have an EmuFlighr target built for them, it looks unlikely that there will be any new features coming to EmuFlight, and any newer FC's that were released after July last year are going to be unsupported unless the devs come back to life and produce some new releases which include firmware targets for those newer FC's. I would therefore consider EmuFlight to be end-of-life as it stands right now.

yes, sadly there wont come anything from emuflight again.

betaflight did stop their support way befor emuflight. i believe emuflight 4 and higher doesnt support f3 targets either. it would need an emuflight 3.x version, but they are decent :-) for f3 targets its still the most new and featured software. f3 targets are as much end-of-life, as emuflight.

there are still some nightly versions which provide support for hd osd, community didnt gave up so far xD

Since this thread title is hardware biased, I guess I'll ask here, whether you guys would go for a Mamba or Speedybee stack? Specifically the Mamba stack with F7 and BLHeli_32 could be 45, 55, or 65A. I'm not sure what a 1750 kv motor pulls on a 4s 6" or 6s 5" quad. This quad can do either but I primarily fly it on 4s. The new 55A Speedybee is an F4 with BLHeli_S. I doubt I could tell the difference in FC processors but I think BL_Heli32 is preferred? The gyros are the same. The price difference is huge, LOL. Both can do Blue Tooth. I don't care about a lot of the other features. But I can tell when my quad flies nice! Which would you recommend?

45a is more than needed on 1750kv and 4s or 6s, that would match. a decent 35a esc would be enough.

as you bought quality stuff in the past, might still work great even old, i would suggest to stay that route. speedybee and mamba is okish but i thrust in hobbywing, aikon...
i would suggest a decent stack by hobbywing, a 30x30mm 60a for everything from 5-9inch or better a small 20x20mm 40a for 5-7inch builds :-)

blheli 32, has fast processing speed at 32bit. its not opensource, its more expensive.
blheli s escs does work well either, value for money ia better.
i dont care alot about it, i am limited to blheli s on so many micros. im familiar with it :-) while blheli32 is better, there arent much benefits for practice - for me.
blheli 32 can be a sign for more quality, blheli s can be a sign for cheapish manufacturing - it doesnt need to be like that but it can.

Thanks for your good advice, as always. Hobbywing is well known in helicopter circles for good products. I'm a "sport" flyer who likes a variety of quads.
It is crazy the price differences. But I can't really tell if it's material quality differences, flying qualities, features, eh. In the past I just bought what Mike from Flight Club recommended for his frames. I guess he had good taste. Not much thought on my part But I knew I was getting the good stuff and now running old platforms I thought there must be much better, maybe not in every case though.

no lifetime warranty on flightclub frames anymore xD times changed, but good and bad things ;-)

(07-Nov-2023, 03:19 AM)husafreak Wrote: ...

So, one option is just swap the Rx and see how it goes.

   If the quad is still flying good, this would be the most cost effective, however,
   I don't know how difficult it would be to reconfigure the receiver in the firmware.


The other is swap the Rx plus install new FC's.

    Well, a new FC would also resolve firmware issues as it would have a pretty new
    version. If you mean just the FC and keep your ESC, well, that should work as
    long as you get the two boards pinned together correctly. The bonus here is that
    you can probably leave the motors soldered to the ESC. The thing to watch for
    is the ESC firmware and configuration. 
     

And option 3 would be replace the FC and 4 in 1 ESC in each quad with an AIO stack.

    This is likely the best option. Even though it is the most costly of the 3 options,
    you end up with all new electronics both FC and ESC. Yeah, all new firmware
    as well. Although this is pretty much a full tear down of the electronics with all
    of the soldering that goes with that, it might be worth it in the long run 

...

Hi Husafreak,

Consider trying it in stages:

First, option 1 where you just replace the Rx receiver and see how it goes. 
If it all works out, then maybe that is enough.

    NOTE: This is always a good place to start if you want to try to salvage
              any of the old hardware. 

If you want more, then maybe move on to the next option. If the ESC board is fine 
just like it is, then maybe just swapping out the FC and Rx receiver will be fine.

Overall, the third option is likely the best and will surely work since all of the 
electronics and firmware will be new.


Later, iFly  

Thanks for your advice. Since starting this thread I have built one quad from old parts and updated another. I have installed two Crossfire receivers in quads that had FrSky previously. I did them all with their old FC's and ESC's and a lot of help from the forum! What I would tell myself now is you would be surprised what is possible without spending very much! I would also say that it is probably worth replacing any electronics that cannot be used with current platforms. Right now when I grab a quad I have to remember whether it is on new Betaflight or old Betaflight or Emuflight or even Quicksilver (but that is a new acquisition whoop). Or BLheli S or 32. I made a logbook of sorts to keep track because they are all different now. Also anything pre OSD is pretty lame. So ultimately I will probably buy at least one new FC, or a stack, for a 5" quad that is an F3 pre OSD and requires old Betaflight.