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Sometimes Betaflight needs more than defaults
#1
This is not quite a tutorial or a guide but instead some advice about some feedback I've seen given a few times:

One piece of feedback that I've received and seen others receive is that Betaflight defaults are already great and there isn't much that you should need to do to set it up. I've found this not to be the case at least on my first build. So I wanted to share a list of the things that I actually configured to show that there are a lot of things that a slightly less than new pilot, but first time builder could potentially want and/or need to configure.

So for a quick rundown of what I actually did have to configure in BFC. While an experienced pilot these basic set up things are likely to not be anything... To a first-timer they are not only things but they require understanding how. 

I read a propwashed (my second favorite blog after Oscar's) article to get me through most of this. Please note this is mostly to show that there are things to configure and not as much a walk through for others, especially those who are using different equipment. 

Setup screen: Just a quick backup to be safe. 
Ports: Needed to set up my Serial RX port (see my bumblebee build thread to see how I decided which one to use) and telemetry
Configuration (from top to bottom)
  • Set up ESCs to use DSHOT600
  • Board and Sensor Alignment: Yaw Degrees: Set it to 180. My FC is mounted backwords to give easy access to all-in-one ESC cable. 
  • Receiver: Serial Based, and SBUS 
  • System Configuration: turned Accelerometer off... leveling modes make me crash and have disrupted more than one take-off when I forgot to switch to acro
  • Misc: Craft Name: Bumble Bee
  • I think I changed one of the "Other Features"... possibly turned on telemetry if it wasn't enabled by default or something like that.
Failsafe: I set my Valid Pulse Range Settings minimum length to 895 because the propwashed article said to do it... I don't really know what for but I've tested it and failsafe seems to work fine on the bench. 
PID Tuning: I think this is where most folks say you don't need to do anything... although for me I've been flying well enough to know at a minimum I MUST speed up my rates. The default rates are way too slow for me. So I bump RC rate on pitch and roll up to 1.35 and Super Rate up to .75. This usually gets me to where I want to go (1080 deg/s or 1/3rd second rotations). I do leave yaw at default and you can tell in my videos that I am not a fast yaw spinner, but I don't mind :p RC Rate=1, Super Rate=.70 I wont touch PIDs until I get a chance to get her in the air. 
Receiver: I had to change the channel map to JR/Spectrum/Graupner... although now when I look back in there it's not mapped to that any more. I also used this screen to identify some problems on my yaw axis and was able to program the radio with 0.5 subtrim to keep the quad steady on that axis. 
Modes: This was one of the first screens that I became very comfortable with in BFC. My configuration might not be the same as others but I've got the following: 
  • Arm=Aux2, fully engaged (this is mapped to my SF switch on the taranis so there are only 2 values, full on and full off)
  • Air Mode=Aux1, fully engaged only. (this is because I'll likely be more able to take my time when turning airmode on than when disabling since I typically will want to disable when coming in for a landing and I figure I might forget sometimes and be like "oh no, let's do this really quick" at the last minute. On the other quad this works the same way but goes into horizon mode too so I stopped using it. I'll be re-configuring that one to not use leveling modes soon. 
  • Beeper=Aux3: While I don't have a beeper on this build, I've set this up in case I put one on later. 
So all this to show that not needing to configure anything in betaflight it not always the case. The good news is all of these settings are very basic stuff and there are some great articles out there on how to set all of this up. I've linked to the one I used above.
carl.vegas
Current Quads: Operational: Diatone GT2 200 In need of repair: Bumble Bee, tehStein,  Slightly modified Vortex 250 
[-] The following 4 users Like Carl.Vegas's post:
  • Tom BD Bad, fftunes, KonradS, sloscotty
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#2
One thing to add - filter defaults in betaflight are very conservative. If you are just building a quad from new parts, soft mount everything etc then it may be worthwile to try less filtering as per Boris suggestions here: https://github.com/betaflight/betaflight...mendations

Great that you started hat topic Carl!
Find me on Youtube and Instagram. I currently fly: DRC Aura, NOX5R, Minimalist 112 and drive a scrap RC car
[-] The following 1 user Likes KonradS's post:
  • Carl.Vegas
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#3
I might have to check that out. I haven't soft-mounted my FC although I may do something later. I've got standoffs with the rubber to do it I just didn't use them. For now I am using nylon standoffs.
carl.vegas
Current Quads: Operational: Diatone GT2 200 In need of repair: Bumble Bee, tehStein,  Slightly modified Vortex 250 
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