(05-Mar-2023, 05:50 AM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: You’re gonna hafta clarify what you mean by that.

Ground anything to ground/negative of cam should have continuity.
Ground to the positive connection or video connection of the camera should NOT have continuity.

Depending on what 5v pad the receiver is connected to, a battery will have to be connected to power up the receiver.

5v pads that are powered up when only connected via usb are usually labeled as 4.5v.

Can you please upload clear, well lit photos of your wiring?

It sounds like it'll have to be under battery power, maybe its not getting enough power to power up. I did check the voltage to while it was powered and it was only about 2.5v.

It's real hard to tell what's going on with your wiring, but, if this pic is correct:



Red line going from 5v pad on flight controller to 5v/positive/vcc connection on the fli14+ receiver.

Yellow line going from R1 on flight controller to the ibus connection on the fli14+ receiver.

Black line going from ground on the flight controller to gnd/ground connection on the fli14+ receiver.

Then your rx wiring is correct. I do need to say that your wiring is still dangerous, it has too much exposed wire. Ideally you should remove those wires, cut off half to 3/4 of the exposed wire, and solder them back in place. You don't really want any more exposed wire than is neccesarry to connect to a pad, but, as long as there is no chance of it bending/moving and touching another wire or pad, you'll be okay.

with this wiring your rx will not power up unless a battery is connected. Anytime a battery is connected, make sure you have a fan blowing over your vtx (video transmitter), and make sure that an antenna is connected to your vtx. Without either of these, your vtx *will* overheat and self destruct.

alright. so, your rx is connected to R1- that means it's connected to uart1.

When you connect to betaflight, you'll need to go to the "ports" tab. Enable "serial rx" on uart1. Don't enable it on anything else. Don't select anything from the dropdown menus. Just enable it and hit save.

Then go to the "Receiver" tab. Next to "receiver mode", select "Serial (via Uart)"
This is telling betaflight that you have a serial receiver connected. You have a serial receiver connected because you are connected to an rx pad (in other words, you are connected to a uart- in your case you are connected to uart1 because you are wired into R1- if you had a built in spi receiver, you wouldn't select this.)
Below that, you'll need to tell betaflight what receiver protocol it should expect. This is the "serial receiver provider" drop down menu. You need to select "IBUS", because you are using an IBUS receiver.
Make sure you hit save.

At this point, once you've bound your transmitter and receiver, if you go to the receiver tab in betaflight, you should see movement if you move your sticks.

If so, cool! all that is left is to set up your modes, set up your vtx, and set up your osd elements.
We'll get to those after you've confirmed that you have movement on the receiver tab.

I'm gonna need to see clear pics of your wiring to and from the flight controller and vtx, as well as a reminder of what vtx you are using to help you set up your vtx.

Hi Logan,

If you want to check continuity between the power rails without plugging in a battery,
just jumper the two sides of the XT30 power connector which will link the positive
and negative sides of the power rails. Then you can check continuity on any positive
(+) pad by connecting the meter between the pad and any negative pad.

You can make an XT30 jumper from a female XT30 connector (like that on a battery)
and a piece of wire. Solder the wire between the two leads on the XT30 {basically,
you are just shorting between them}. Just plug this little jumper into the power leads
as if it were a battery. Now, go check the continuity between GND (-) and any pad 
that supplies power whether it is 5+, 4.5+, or 3.3+.

I don't know what your soldering iron is set at, but I would suggest a temperature
of about 400 C degrees {mine is set at 425 C degrees}. 

Also, I like boards with those "C" or "U" shaped pads because they are very easy to
solder if the board is NOT mounted in the quad. Personally, I do all of the soldering
on the bench BEFORE mounting it on the quad. This is how I do it:

1) Put FC or ESC board on it's edge with motor pads on top. I use that blue tack
    putty to hold the board in place.
2) Touch the iron in the center of the "C" and the solder on the pad.
3) The solder will melt and fill up the "C" maybe about 3/4 of the way.
4) Strip only a small amount of insulation from the motor wires.
5) Tin the motor wires.
6) Hold a motor wire 90 degrees to the board.
7) Put the wire directly onto the solder in the pad with the insulation up to the board.
7) Gently press the wire with the tip of the soldering iron. 
8) When the solder melts, the wire will sink into the pad.
9) Remove the heat, but hold the wire until the solder cools.

NOTE: Be sure that the insulation on the wire is up against the board.
          If the wire is too long, trim it later with side cutters. 

(05-Mar-2023, 07:00 AM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: It's real hard to tell what's going on with your wiring, but, if this pic is correct:



Red line going from 5v pad on flight controller to 5v/positive/vcc connection on the fli14+ receiver.

Yellow line going from R1 on flight controller to the ibus connection on the fli14+ receiver.

Black line going from ground on the flight controller to gnd/ground connection on the fli14+ receiver.

Then your rx wiring is correct. I do need to say that your wiring is still dangerous, it has too much exposed wire. Ideally you should remove those wires, cut off half to 3/4 of the exposed wire, and solder them back in place. You don't really want any more exposed wire than is neccesarry to connect to a pad, but, as long as there is no chance of it bending/moving and touching another wire or pad, you'll be okay.

with this wiring your rx will not power up unless a battery is connected. Anytime a battery is connected, make sure you have a fan blowing over your vtx (video transmitter), and make sure that an antenna is connected to your vtx. Without either of these, your vtx *will* overheat and self destruct.

alright. so, your rx is connected to R1- that means it's connected to uart1.

When you connect to betaflight, you'll need to go to the "ports" tab. Enable "serial rx" on uart1. Don't enable it on anything else. Don't select anything from the dropdown menus. Just enable it and hit save.

Then go to the "Receiver" tab. Next to "receiver mode", select "Serial (via Uart)"
This is telling betaflight that you have a serial receiver connected. You have a serial receiver connected because you are connected to an rx pad (in other words, you are connected to a uart- in your case you are connected to uart1 because you are wired into R1- if you had a built in spi receiver, you wouldn't select this.)
Below that, you'll need to tell betaflight what receiver protocol it should expect. This is the "serial receiver provider" drop down menu. You need to select "IBUS", because you are using an IBUS receiver.
Make sure you hit save.

At this point, once you've bound your transmitter and receiver, if you go to the receiver tab in betaflight, you should see movement if you move your sticks.

If so, cool! all that is left is to set up your modes, set up your vtx, and set up your osd elements.
We'll get to those after you've confirmed that you have movement on the receiver tab.

I'm gonna need to see clear pics of your wiring to and from the flight controller and vtx, as well as a reminder of what vtx you are using to help you set up your vtx.

You're right, I'll shorten the cables on the receiver. I managed to keep the other connections shorter, but will be testing how IFlyRotors suggested to double check for shorts.

I did manage to get the IBUS channel setup in betaflight using this video already:


My VTX is the speedybee tx800 - I have setup the OSD in betaflight, although I welcome suggestions, as I just kind of just arranged things as they seemed important or that I'd want to see.

I'm going to shorten the wires to the FC from the receiver and then test with the multimeter again, then I think I'll charge a battery.

(05-Mar-2023, 01:33 PM)iFly4rotors Wrote: Hi Logan,

If you want to check continuity between the power rails without plugging in a battery,
just jumper the two sides of the XT30 power connector which will link the positive
and negative sides of the power rails. Then you can check continuity on any positive
(+) pad by connecting the meter between the pad and any negative pad.

You can make an XT30 jumper from a female XT30 connector (like that on a battery)
and a piece of wire. Solder the wire between the two leads on the XT30 {basically,
you are just shorting between them}. Just plug this little jumper into the power leads
as if it were a battery. Now, go check the continuity between GND (-) and any pad 
that supplies power whether it is 5+, 4.5+, or 3.3+.

I don't know what your soldering iron is set at, but I would suggest a temperature
of about 400 C degrees {mine is set at 425 C degrees}. 

Also, I like boards with those "C" or "U" shaped pads because they are very easy to
solder if the board is NOT mounted in the quad. Personally, I do all of the soldering
on the bench BEFORE mounting it on the quad. This is how I do it:

1) Put FC or ESC board on it's edge with motor pads on top. I use that blue tack
    putty to hold the board in place.
2) Touch the iron in the center of the "C" and the solder on the pad.
3) The solder will melt and fill up the "C" maybe about 3/4 of the way.
4) Strip only a small amount of insulation from the motor wires.
5) Tin the motor wires.
6) Hold a motor wire 90 degrees to the board.
7) Put the wire directly onto the solder in the pad with the insulation up to the board.
7) Gently press the wire with the tip of the soldering iron. 
8) When the solder melts, the wire will sink into the pad.
9) Remove the heat, but hold the wire until the solder cools.

NOTE: Be sure that the insulation on the wire is up against the board.
          If the wire is too long, trim it later with side cutters. 

When I'm testing continuity, what does it mean if the numbers change from 1 on the display, but it doesn't beep? I watched the video you shared and checked manual on my multimeter, but I couldn't find anything about it yet.

(05-Mar-2023, 06:36 PM)LoganFPV Wrote: When I'm testing continuity, what does it mean if the numbers change from 1 on the display, but it doesn't beep? I watched the video you shared and checked manual on my multimeter, but I couldn't find anything about it yet.

Depending on your multimeter, it could be showing you resistance, or voltage if you’re in diode test mode.

Some multimeters (like mine) require you to hit an additional button to make it beep rather than just showing me resistance.

https://learn.adafruit.com/multimeters/continuity

What were you probing?

(06-Mar-2023, 07:57 AM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: Depending on your multimeter, it could be showing you resistance, or voltage if you’re in diode test mode.

Some multimeters (like mine) require you to hit an additional button to make it beep rather than just showing me resistance.

https://learn.adafruit.com/multimeters/continuity

What were you probing?

The only place I could recreate it going back over was between the positive and the negative, which didn't beep, just shows about an increasing number before it stops and returns to 1. I had read/watched something about this being related to the capacitor, but not sure its the same.

(07-Mar-2023, 02:47 AM)LoganFPV Wrote: The only place I could recreate it going back over was between the positive and the negative, which didn't beep, just shows about an increasing number before it stops and returns to 1. I had read/watched something about this being related to the capacitor, but not sure its the same.

Yup, that is just the capacitor being charged up by the very small amount of voltage that your multimeter is applying to check continuity.

With a smaller capacitor, you may hear a very short beep initially, and then no beep while it’s charging that capacitor.

Capacitors are kinda like mini batteries in the sense that they store power- but they can also dump it immediately as needed. If you ever take the skills that you’re learning here and apply them to much larger electronic equipment (like audio amps and whatnot), this is why you always want to make sure to drain large capacitors with a high watt low ohm resistor [or a screwdriver if you’re the more daring type of person] prior to going hands on in the circuit- large caps can store a dangerous amount of power even when the thing is unplugged.

Back when I was a kid and still taking things apart to try to learn how they worked, I had a hell of a lot of fun with the bits from a disposable film camera. I realized I could take the flash bulb section of the circuit out, press it against someone and hit the shutter button, and give them a hell of a shock.
The onboard battery would charge up the capacitor, and then it would dump it all into the flash bulb (or my sibling if her skin was completing the circuit where the flash bulb should have been) at once.

Anyhow. You don’t need to worry about that reading.
You should be good to plug in a battery, but for the first power up I’d still suggest using a smoke stopper in case you missed a short. Smoke stoppers aren’t 100%, they trip after a certain amount of amperage, and things can still blow below or in the time they take to trip, but, this is why you took the time to do those continuity tests with your multimeter.

Keep in mind that smoke stoppers do limit current, so, while they are good for safety on initial battery plug in and potentially arming, if you try to throttle up at all it will trigger the smoke stopper. If you even try to arm on a larger quad, it could pull enough amperage to trip the smoke stopper.

I checked all my connections again, closed up the top cover, and connected the smoke stopper - I have a 4s battery that's brand new out of the box with about 46% charge in it, at least so my charger says. If I haven't failed catastrophically, I should be able to connect the battery now, right?

Yes.

If all goes well and nothing smells funny, charge up that battery fully and plug it in with no smoke stopper, and try arming.

Arm it safely away from you or anyone or anything valuable.

I’ve been known to hide behind my shelving while arming something for the first time (mainly on questionable or experimental builds, but, I’d say that someone’s first build qualifies as both of those.)

My safe place, with the quad on the exercise mat in front of the shelving I’m behind:

(07-Mar-2023, 03:45 AM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: Yup, that is just the capacitor being charged up by the very small amount of voltage that your multimeter is applying to check continuity.

With a smaller capacitor, you may hear a very short beep initially, and then no beep while it’s charging that capacitor.

Capacitors are kinda like mini batteries in the sense that they store power- but they can also dump it immediately as needed. If you ever take the skills that you’re learning here and apply them to much larger electronic equipment (like audio amps and whatnot), this is why you always want to make sure to drain large capacitors with a high watt low ohm resistor [or a screwdriver if you’re the more daring type of person] prior to going hands on in the circuit- large caps can store a dangerous amount of power even when the thing is unplugged.

Back when I was a kid and still taking things apart to try to learn how they worked, I had a hell of a lot of fun with the bits from a disposable film camera. I realized I could take the flash bulb section of the circuit out, press it against someone and hit the shutter button, and give them a hell of a shock.
The onboard battery would charge up the capacitor, and then it would dump it all into the flash bulb (or my sibling her skin was completing the circuit where the flash bulb should have been) at once.

Anyhow. You don’t need to worry about that reading.
You should be good to plug in a battery, but for the first power up I’d still suggest using a smoke stopper in case you missed a short. Smoke stoppers aren’t 100%, they trip after a certain amount of amperage, and things can still blow below or in the time they take to trip, but, this is why you took the time to do those continuity tests with your multimeter.

Keep in mind that smoke stoppers do limit current, so, while they are good for safety on initial battery plug in and potentially arming, if you try to throttle up at all it will trigger the smoke stopper. If you even try to arm on a larger quad, it could pull enough amperage to trip the smoke stopper.

Haha, I did the same thing with the dispo cameras! I hadn't seen your post yet before I had posted another, but I'll apply power here shortly and see how things go. I'll do it first with the smoke stopper, then again without if all appears well. Thank you a ton for your help!

If it arms okay, the next step is to try turning off your transmitter while it is armed.

This is a failsafe test, and it makes sure that if you lose your control link, your quad will drop rather than flying away.

If after turning off your transmitter while armed the motors stop spinning- hell yeah, dude, you’re ready for a hover test.

Try arming it (keep it in a self leveling mode- horizon or angle), give it enough throttle to hover.

Are you hovering? If so, yes! Try pitching forward and back, yaw left and right. You can also try rolling a bit, but depending on your flight test area this can be more difficult.

Anyhow, if everything is responding as it should- put your goggles on and take it for a proper maiden flight.

(07-Mar-2023, 03:59 AM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: If it arms okay, the next step is to try turning off your transmitter while it is armed.

This is a failsafe test, and it makes sure that if you lose your control link, your quad will drop rather than flying away.

If after turning off your transmitter while armed the motors stop spinning- hell yeah, dude, you’re ready for a hover test.

Try arming it (keep it in a self leveling mode- horizon or angle), give it enough throttle to hover.

Are you hovering? If so, yes! Try pitching forward and back, yaw left and right. You can also try rolling a bit, but depending on your flight test area this can be more difficult.

Anyhow, if everything is responding as it should- put your goggles on and take it for a proper maiden flight.

I've gotta make some dinner for my kids but wanted to come back to report a successful power up, no warnings from the smoke stopper, and receiver light powered up. I'll be testing some more in a bit but YAY!

(07-Mar-2023, 04:02 AM)LoganFPV Wrote: I've gotta make some dinner for my kids but wanted to come back to report a successful power up, no warnings from the smoke stopper, and receiver light powered up. I'll be testing some more in a bit but YAY!

Yes! Dude, congratulations!
Charge up that battery, get rid of the smoke stopper, and do a failsafe test, and if all goes well, do a hover test. Then take that bird out for its maiden flight!

One more thing to note- if you arm it and try to throttle up *without* props attached, you’re going to find that the motors start spinning up faster and faster and don’t respond to you lowering your throttle. This is normal with props off- your flight controller and pids are expecting a certain movement with a raise in throttle- they expect the quad to lift up. If it doesn’t lift up (because you have no props on so it is creating no thrust), it will just keep trying harder and harder until the motors are full throttle (or in some cases just do really bizarre motor speeds that also don’t respond to your throttle stick).

Disarm/failsafe and hover test should be done with props attached.

If on hover test it flips out or spins around, then it is an issue with one or more motor direction, prop direction, or, you told betaflight that you are running props in when you are running props out or vice versa.

Betaflight defaults to props in- this means leading edge (higher point on the props) spinning in towards your cam in the front, and in towards the tail in the back. I tend to run props out because I’ve found it helps to minimize prop wash, but that might be a bit beyond just getting the bird to hover and fly. We can discuss this after a first successful flight.

If you’re running betaflight 4.3+, motor direction can be changed in betaflight on the motors tab. Earlier versions of betaflight will require you to use an esc configurator to change motor direction.