ok 2 things... being new and asking question is very good it means that you learn - keep it up!

now as for the config ...
1. check which switch you have selected on the radio for aux 1 - nice way, read the tx manual and die of old age, or go to receiver tab (where you moved the sticks) and move the switches. this will identify which one is currently set as AUX 1.
2. when you will know that go back to the modes and make the green part avaliable only for upper 1/3 of the range hit save


hehehehe seee you figured it out before i could type it in here
have fun with you son and remember this when it will have props on... is not your friend... don't try to catch it and tell it to your son "after battery is connected don't touch it" (ofc if he is like 5-6 years old )

congrats on the good job and keep learning

next step is find in the TX the swtch config so you can select to use the switches you preffer.

and SETUP failsafe in RX, in FC and on a switch... yes in all 3 places...

(09-Nov-2017, 11:25 PM)hoodedhorntail Wrote: IT WORKS!!!!! thanks so much!!!! I changed the modes to the following and rebooted the flight controller and it worked.... My son is going to be so chuffed. We have been working on this together. thanks again you have been a great help!!!

cheers

before you go flying check the rotation of the motors CW vs CCW and while mounting the props i did those mistakes all the time so you don't have to

also after you will want to make some changes you can decase the RX and unsolder 1/4 of the plate saving some weight... but for now... complete the build and either try to fly LOS (VEEEEERY carefully) or add the FPV gear and try then. by the look out of your window... you will not fly tonight... most likley

and be ready.. you will crash (both of you) and some parts will break.. so try to start slow ... arm, hover, land... then arm hover move forward hover land..
if you will get stuck post another quesiton on the forum someone will try to answer it

That's great advice and help. Thank you again. We have set up all the fail safes and safety will be our primary concern. :-)

Remember that Arm switch is the main switch that will save your props, get into the habit of flicking it BEFORE you hit the ground! Otherwise I hope you both have great fun, if you have any further questions, don't hesitate!

(10-Nov-2017, 03:03 AM)Tom BD Bad Wrote: Remember that Arm switch is the main switch that will save your props, get into the habit of flicking it BEFORE you hit the ground! Otherwise I hope you both have great fun, if you have any further questions, don't hesitate!

I have a feeling this thread may be our HERO!  

It sounds like the exact same problem my 11-year old Son and I have been having for months - we are total n00bs so thanks in advance for any help you can offer.  

We are very close to being ready to fly, I believe.  We bought and followed all instructions by ths nice gentleman:   

However, when we get to the BetaFlight / CleanFlight stage, and look at the RECEIVER tab, there is NO RESPONSE, the radio receiver is not working.  No color tabs showing up at all for Roll, Pitch, Yaw, Throttle.  Here is a 1-minute YouTube video I took to try and help illustrate our problem:  

We've tried a whole bunch of things, but no luck!  I read through this string and tried a few things, bug got a little lost.  (e.g. What is TX?")  

My Son and I would be grateful for the type of support awesome @Grisha0 providfed to @hoodedhorntail.  THANKS IN ADVANCE! 

For us to really help you, can you post how you wired your RX to FC. And a dump file.

(24-Mar-2018, 10:11 PM)voodoo614 Wrote: For us to really help you, can you post how you wired your RX to FC. And a dump file.

voodoo614, thank you for your quick response - you're awesome!  

RX & FC are FlySky 1a6 Radio Receiver combo – http://bit.ly/2gW8DZj.  

Regarding your question about HOW I connected my RX (receiver) to my FC (transmitter), I followed the instructions in the aforementioned video exactly, even went back and re-did it three times to make sure it is right; see the 13:30 mark, here it is again: 

  

DUMP file attached.  

Sincerely appreciate your time and effort to help my son and I get our racing drone into the air!

You are on an older firmware, and likely it is not working well with the newer configurator. Since you made a dump file already, go ahead and flash with the latest Betaflight. Your target firmware is SPRacingF3. After you flash, go to CLI and copy everything into the command line, hit enter, then type "save" and enter again.

Everything in the settings looks right. Hopefully you will see some movement afterward.

(25-Mar-2018, 02:00 AM)voodoo614 Wrote: You are on an older firmware, and likely it is not working well with the newer configurator. Since you made a dump file already, go ahead and flash with the latest Betaflight. Your target firmware is SPRacingF3. After you flash, go to CLI and copy everything into the command line, hit enter, then type "save" and enter again.

Everything in the settings looks right. Hopefully you will see some movement afterward.

Thank you!  Looks like I need to buy a "FlySky Firmware Update Data Cable USB Download Line" to do the firmware update, correct? The controller did not come with it (ugh).  

What do you mean by "flash with the latest Betaflight? Your target firmware is SPRacingF3."  Is there a workaround here where I don't need to purchase that cable?  (That would be amazing so we don't have to wait.)  

Could you also kindly share a little more instruction on "After you flash, go to CLI and copy everything into the command line, hit enter, then type "save" and enter again."?  

Getting there.  Really appreciate it, voodoo614!

voodoo614, I think i was mistaken, after some researching, I think what you are advising is at the 22:00 mark in this YT video:

Will try it later today. Thanks again.

Hey Captainenergy, Just a few things to clear up for you
TX - is your radio transmitter / controller
FC - is Flight Controller
RX - is the receiver that your TX uses to communicate with your FC.
VTX - is the video transmitter for your FPV video feed.
FW - FirmWare.
BF - BetaFlight, firmware for your FC
BFC - BetaFlight Configurator, the pc program to configure your FC

OK, you shouldn't need to update the FW on your TX to get flying, but there are some good reasons to do so in future... Remember if you are ordering a FW update cable for the TX, this is not the same cable that you need if you want to use your TX for controlling 'drone' simulators. If you want to use a sim (which is highly recommended for practice) I advise getting the Sim cable at the same time as the FW update cable. The FW that needs updating now is what is running on your FC...

So Your Flight Controller uses BetaFlight FirmWare, the Betaflight configurator and the Betaflight firmware need to be operating on the same "version" (for want of a better term) to be able to communicate with each other properly. So when you start BetaFlight configurator it might tell you that there is a newer version available.
When you download the newer version BFC, you will need to update the FirmWare that is used by your FC.
To update the FC firmware - open BFC, on the left of the main screen you will see 3 options the bottom one is the 'FirmWare flasher' which allows you to flash new FW to your FC. Make sure "auto-connect" is deselected and connect the FC to your PC.

Your PC should 'ping' to confirm the FC is connected to a USB, and in "devices and Printers" it should show under the "unspecified" heading, and in brackets the COM port that the FC is connected through.

In BFC, the top Dropdown (on the screen after selecting the FirmWare flasher) will show you different FC's, select SPRacingF3. Below this is the dropdown box which shows available FW options for the selected FC, generally you want the newest (stable) version.

Beneath this are a few more options - No reboot sequence - Flash on connect - Full chip erase - Manual Baud rate - Show unstable releases.
There is a brief explanation of what each options does/requires. Generally I always leave "flash on connect" and "show unstable releases" unchecked.


Some more experienced members might correct me on some of the following, but this info should help


Generally I try to flash with "No reboot sequence" deselected unless there is a problem with flashing that requires manually putting the FC into 'boot' mode by either shorting the boot pins or pressing the boot button (depending on the board). Someone more clued up might 

I usually select full chip erase, which should be fine for you as well, as you have already taken a dump, haha! This might actually be a necessity when updating to a much newer FW version than is currently loaded on your FC. 

There should be information on what "Baud Rate" your FC requires, otherwise leave it unchecked.

You should now be ready to flash the FW to the FC, so make sure you have an internet connection and click "load firmware online" in the bottom right. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for the status bar, once the FW is loaded hit "flash firmware" and it should complete in under a minute.

Now, you shouldn't need to, but I have had it where I needed to disconnect the FC and reconnect before I could "connect" to BFC. If you are having difficulty, at this stage you can turn "Auto-connect" back on, physically disconnect and reconnect the FC and the BFC screen should change to the FC configurator page, on the default "setup" tab.

I am guessing with stock Firmware on the FS-I6 TX that you will be using either PWM or PPM, can you confirm how many wires are running from your RX to the FC, just 3 (positive, negative and signal) or is there more (1 wire per channel plus + & -)?
If you have more than 1 wire for signal from your TX you are using PWM protocol, if you are only using 1 wire you will be using PPM. (As long as your TX is an I6 not an I6X!) 

Click 'configuration' on the left of the BFC screen scoll down in this page and you will see a box marked "receiver" click the dropdown box and select either PWM or PPM (depending). Then click "save and reboot".

Now check the receiver page of BFC and see if you are getting movement. 


You might also need to check your TX too, I have the I6X TX, so the menu's might not be exactly the same...

Make sure that the main screen shows "AFHDS 2A" at the top, if it's just AFHDS, hold ok to enter the menu, go to "System Setup" -> "RX Setup" -> "RF Standard".  To check the TX protocol go to "System Setup" -> "RX Setup" -> "Output Mode" and again select the corresponding PWM or PPM option. You may need to activate your switches as well, do this in "System Setup" -> "Aux. Switches". 
Assign the switches to Aux channels in "Functions Setup" -> Aux. Channels.

In BFC you can now set switches to "Arm" and change flight modes, "Angle" mode is fully stabilized, "Horizon" is stabilized but will allow you to do flips, with neither of these 2 selected you will be in "Acro mode" which has no stabilization, and is the only way to fly!

Thanks so much, Tom BD Bad! Super helpful to have this info and will review it carefully soon. The good news is I appear good to go! After I followed the video above, re: updating/flashing my firmware, I have connected the TX to BF and able to arm the motors! I just need prop nuts (CW and CCW) as I either lost them or they did not come w/ my bird, and we'll be in the air. Thanks again, voodoo614 and Tom BD Bad! This message board site is fantastic.

Cool, time to take to the sky! Let us know how the flight goes, if you have video we always love to watch people flying. Any other questions or problems, just ask!

Tom, excellent write up. I would save that for the next guy.