This tutorial shows you how to setup Betaflight firmware for the first time. You first need download the configurator, and connect the flight controller to a computer USB port. I will then go through each necessary setting with you for your first flight.
Betaflight is an excellent open source flight controller software, designed specially for mini quad (racing drones). Check out the FC Firmware Overview to learn more.
I will walk you through Betaflight configurator, and show you the simple steps to setup your quadcopter in Betaflight for your first flight.
In-depth Betaflight Tutorials
Once you have completed this tutorial, come back and check out the following tutorials to learn more about the advanced features in Betaflight:
- CLI Explained
- Setup RGB LED Strip
- Resource Remapping
- Setting up Failsafe
- Betaflight OSD
- VTX Control
- Softserial
- LUA Script
- ESC Telemetry
- Camera Control
- GPS Rescue Mode
- Filters
- What Looptime Should I use
- Moron Threshold
- Overclock Flight Controller to Run 32KHz
- Betaflight Airmode
- PID Tuning with Blackbox in Betaflight (Outdated)
Getting Started
To keep this guide as simple as possible I am assuming you are running this common hardware:
- Frsky RX, SBUS and SmartPort telemetry
- F3 or F4 flight controllers running Betaflight 3.2 or newer firmware
- ESC’s capable of DShot ESC protocol
Before we begin, please download Betaflight Configurator first. Here are the Steps (click to jump straight to that section):
- Update Firmware
- Setup Tab
- Ports
- Configuration
- Receiver
- Modes
- Motor
- OSD
- PID Tuning
- Disable Beeper for USB
Update Firmware
Your FC probably has come with Betaflight pre-installed. So you don’t really need to flash it unless you want to use the latest version which isn’t a bad idea.
This tutorial takes you through how to flash Betaflight step by step.
Setup Betaflight For The First Time
To avoid overcomplication, we will go through the basic settings in Betaflight you need to configure, just enough to get you in the air. You can then explore other settings later on to optimize your quad.
Important! Make sure all propellers are removed before configuring your quad on the bench to avoid accident.
Connect Micro USB Cable
Once you’ve connected the FC to your computer, your computer will power on the FC.
And a new COM Port should appear in the Configurator, choose this new COM Port, and click “Connect”. Note that in the example, we have COM11, but it could be different in your case. It can be a different number with different FC.
If you don’t find the COM port, or have trouble connecting, this might be a driver issue. Follow this guide to fix flight controller driver issues. Or maybe your FC is “bricked”, which can be easily fixed as explained in this article.
Setup Tab
Once you’ve successfully connected to the FC, you should see the Setup tab. Here you have access to the most basic functions and information about your quad.
- Back up settings first before changing any settings (How to Backup & Restore Settings)
- Put your quadcopter on a level surface, then press “Calibrate Accelerometer”
- Now hold the quad in your hand, and move it around. You should see the 3D model moves with the quad, make sure the movement is in the same direction
If the 3D model isn’t moving the same as your quad, it probably means your flight controller (FC) is installed facing the wrong direction (arrow on the FC is not pointing forward). You can either rotate the FC until it’s right, or you can set YAW offset in the configuration tab, board sensor alignment, to fix it (usually 90/180/270 degree).
Ports
In the Ports tab, you can configure your peripherals – external devices connected to the flight controller via UART.
1. If you are using SBUS or IBUS receiver, you need to enable “Serial RX” on the UART the RX is connected to.
2. If you are using SmartPort, select “SmartPort” under Telemetry Output, if not just leave it at default.
Configuration
The Configuration tab contains many basic settings related to your drone’s flight performance.
1. ESC/Motor Features
ESC Protocol – check your ESC spec to find out which protocols they support. DShot is recommended. Generally speaking BLHeli_S ESC can do DShot300 or DShot600, while BLHeli_32 ESC’s can do DShot1200.
Further Reading: ESC Protocols and Firmware Overview
We recommend you to always keep “MOTOR_STOP” option disabled, otherwise you won’t be able to tell if your quad is armed.
The rest you can just leave them at default.
2. System Configuration
Looptime – it depends on what your FC is capable of, I personally prefer using lower looptime e.g. 2KHz on noisy builds and higher looptime 8KHz is higher quality builds. Anyway 2KHz should be fine on every quad out there.
Gyro Sampling Rate – usually this should match your looptime, some people prefer to have double the frequency as looptime. Set it to 4KHz and Looptime at 2KHz if you are not sure.
Just experiment and see what looptime works best for you, there is no set-rule what you should be using.
When changing these two values and other features, pay attention to “CPU load” at the bottom of the window, try to keep it under 30%. Any higher than that could cause instability to the flight controller.
Accelerometer – you can disable it, this will free up some processing power, but you won’t be able to use Angle mode or Horizon mode, and the 3D model in the setup tab will also stop moving. Another reason you want it disabled is to avoid problem arming the quad when it’s tilted too much.
Just disable both Barometer and Magnetometer since we are running a acro mini quad.
3. Personalization
Craft name – This will be displayed in the Betaflight OSD.
4 – Receiver
If you are using SBUS, IBUS or a Spektrum Satellite RX, pick “Serial-based receiver” in Receiver Mode. In Serial Receiver Provider, pick SBUS if you are using Frsky RX.
If you are connecting via PPM, use “PPM RX Input” in Receiver Mode.
5. Other Features
These are the features I normally enable in Betaflight. If you are not sure, you can just leave these at default, that will still get you in the air without any problems.
- Anti-Gravity
- Dynamic Filter
- Telemetry (for SmartPort)
- OSD (if Betaflight OSD is available on your FC)
Click Save & Reboot.
Receiver
In this tab you can check if your receiver is working correctly.
Power on your TX and RX, and move your sticks one at a time to see if the corresponding channel is moving. You might need to change the “Channel Map” if the channels are in the wrong order.
Further Reading: What’s Channel Map and How to configure it properly?
If none of the channels are responding, troubleshoot:
- is the RX bound to the TX? (do you see solid green light on the RX?)
- is the RX soldered on the FC correctly?
- have you enabled serial RX in the correct UART?
- have you selected the correct RX protocol?
After making sure the channels are working correctly, now check the mid points and end points of the first 4 channels (Pitch, Roll, Yaw, Throttle). These channels should centre at 1500, and have end points of 1000 and 2000.
If you are not getting these please see my tutorial on how to fix mid point and end points.
Modes
Setup modes to be activated by AUX channels (switches on your TX), such as:
- Arming
- Airmode
- Angle mode
- Beeper
I prefer to setup Airmode on the same switch as Arming, rather than having it enabled as a feature, but either way should work just fine.
I try to explain the different modes in Betaflight in this article.
Motor
Check motor order
- motor 1 at rear right
- motor 2 at front right
- motor 3 at rear left
- motor 4 at front left
If the order is wrong, you can fix it using resource remapping
In-depth Tutorial: Betaflight Resource Remapping
Now, check motor spin direction, if wrong, you can reverse spin direction in BLHeliSuite
Tutorial: How to connect to BLHeliSuite (ESC configurator) via FC
OSD
Please see my tutorial on how to setup Betaflight OSD for more detail.
PID Tuning
You don’t really have to change anything here in order to fly, default values generally work just fine for most models. As you gain more experience with mini quad, you can try PID tuning.
PID is basically 3 parameters you need to set for each axis, roll, pitch and yaw. PID tuning involves some understanding of what each term can do to flight performance.
Take a look at my PID tuning guide
However, you do need to adjust rates and expo to suit your flying style. This simple change can help you fly much better. Rate, Super Rate and Expo affect the sensitivity of the sticks, how the quad reacts to your stick movement.
Take a look at this guide on Rate / Super Rate and Expo.
Stop Beeping on the Bench
If you connected the buzzer to your FC, it might start beeping when you connect the USB while your radio is powered off. An easy fix is to disable “USB” option under Beeper Configuration in the Configuration tab.
Some FC cannot tell if the USB is connected, but this should work on most FC out there.
Conclusion
That’s all to the basic setup in Betaflight.
Edit History
- Dec 2017 – Article created
- July 2018 – Updated instructions
- Sep 2018 – Added “how to update”, and links to a few more new tutorials
I keep hearing about different versions of betaflight like 4.1.0 and 4.2.0. The only thing I see anywhere is configurator 10.6.0. Now I hear there is 10.7.0.
How do you determine what betaflight version you have? I’ve looked all over betaflight trying to find which version I have but I don’t see anything anywhere where it says which version I’m running.
4.1.0 or 4.2.0 these are the different version of the firmware.
While 10.6.0 and 10.7.0 are the configurator, the program on your computer to setup the firmware.
Hi . ive tried downloding the latest betaflight app but when i extract it i then cannot open it . what do i open it with ?? .
Try this trick: Fix: BLHeliSuite Doesn’t Response / Won’t Run
On my babyhawk 2″ with f3 fc. I can turn it on hear the tones. It will arm but doesn’t respond to throttle input. Can you give me any suggestions or advice on how to fix this. Btw it’s using magnum mini that comes with the drone all is stock except frame. Transferred components to a Tomoquads 2″ X Fighter. I did manage one good flight with no issues. Second flight is when it wouldn’t respond to throttle input. Can you please help me? Thank you and Hafa Adai from Guam
Please join forum for discussion and help: http://www.intofpv.com
I’m a total newbie and just got a Happy Model Mantis, Should I upgrade the firmware for the Flight Controller? It’s a F4 flight controller with Betaflight 3.1.7. I downloaded the most recent Betaflight already.
Thanks in advance,
Kellie
Hi Oscar,
For connecting my Holybro Kakute F4 v2, a normal phone charging usb2.0 cable will be fine, right?
Hi I have a omnibus f4 v5 from airbot. I have 3 successful buzzer set ups with a matek buzzer using B- on fc and 5v and neg from board . this buzzer wont shut off 2, 3 minuts after powering the quad . as i said my other quads work perfect. fc light indicates that i can switch it on or off with tx. just cant shut it off after it turns on . Quad hovers fine.
thanks Dan
I very much like the step by step process above. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks straight-forward enough. One question which I believe will be silly once I get the answer: My controller has an SUB jack on it. I’m guessing you connect this to your computer? Is there mention of this in your step-by-step above? Again, seems obvious, but a critical step. Also, is controller power up or not during the configuration?
Hi Oscar! I got a problem with my naze 32 on tarot 130, I need the 3.0.1 configurator version to flash it, now i’ve the latest version (because the system upgraded it automatically) and i don’t found anymore the old one… where can i download it?
Hello,
I am setting up betaflight for my quad. However, when I click on the receiver tab, the bars for the inputs do not move when I use the sticks. Under configuration, I made sure that I put in a serial based receiver and SBUS. I am using the R-XSR. I have bound the receiver with the transmitter (X9D) and the tx shows that it is connected with the receiver. Do you have any ideas on how to fix this?
Thank you,
Jason
did you setup the port for serial RX?
is it bind correctly? Does the same RX work on a different FC? Check signal connection/soldering.
I am having this exact issue. We’re you able to solve it?
Same problem here, except I am using FlySky IBUS. I have some problem on two FCs.
Hi Oscar
I just flashed 3.1.7 to Naze32 Rev6 and now I can’t connect to BLHeli config. When I try to calibrate ESCs, upon pulling down the motor slider (after connecting battery) the orange motor bars stay at 100% and the ESCs beep twice. Then they spool up on zero throttle. Looks like they’re busted?
try a older version of Betaflight?
BF and CF are giving up support to F1 flight controllers, so it’s normal you are picking up bugs.
Time to get a F3/F4 FC.
Hi,
I also want to use a Naze32 R6b, can you tell me what is the latest CF/BF Version that is working fine with this “old” FC? Or which settings have to be changed to save cpu load and get the Naze32 working.
Thanks :-)
*great articles on your site!
CF and BF are still supporting Naze32. Just get the most recent stabe release.
To save CPU load, turn off features that you don’t use, and disable accelerometer if you don’t use self level.
Graph smoothness is highly dependent on sampling rate and graphing algorithm (which in most cases is spline based and have significant smoothing effect). There are also no x and y scales, so it is hard to verify if the different is real.
can I flash betaflight on my vortex 250 and if yes then how?
Oscar, I’m running a rev 5 naze with rotorgeeks rg20. After flashing 14.6 to the esc my quad will not arm or respond. Rc inuts are present in betaflight and oneshot125 will not enable even in cli. Any advice would be awe some
Hi Oscar,
The time scale is missing from your graphs. its at 100%? So a screen full represents about a second? you were getting ~100hz oscillations before roughly?
I seem to see 20hz on my quad.
both graph should be same time scale.. 20Hz indicate vibrations from motor and props… which means you want to balance those first… and check for loose bolts in the frame… and make sure frame arms are stiff enough.
Hi Oscar
I have a Naze32 Rev5 + Betaflight + ppm Rx + DX9 Tx … For 3 days now been trying to config all of them too operate on a Fixed Wing Aircraft, using the Passthru Mode to prevent FC interaction.
I’ve been stumble-bumming around trying to config the PWM outputs at the servo pins using the Servo Tab Matrix ( is that the terminology !? ) – methinks the servo outputs sequence to be – chan 1 to 6 – Ail Elv; Thr; Rud; Gea;r Aux 1; and I monitor these outputs via the Servo Tab graphics.
The other strange thing is the DX9 mapping is TAER123 but the BetaFlight Receiver Tab Mapping is required to be AETR123 for the receiver input gaphics to sync
I just cannot get the correct servo outputs to agree with stick input….please help…Joe
I believe you can either change RX mapping in cleanflight, or on your TX..
in Cleanflight, under Receiver tab, you should be able to change to TAER123 from the drop down menu?
I haven’t used the DX9 TX, but i know on the Taranis you can change input channels order as well in the settings… maybe give that a google as well..
look here: https://github.com/cleanflight/cleanflight/blob/master/docs/Mixer.md
that’s how i made it work. took days of programming and reprogramming to get it
this may get you close:
# mixer
mixer CUSTOMAIRPLANE
mmix reset
mmix 0 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
smix reset
smix 0 6 5 100 0 0 100 0
smix 1 6 1 100 0 0 100 0
smix 2 3 0 100 0 0 100 0
smix 3 4 0 100 0 0 100 0
smix 4 3 4 100 0 0 100 0
smix 5 4 4 100 0 0 100 0
smix 6 2 10 100 0 0 100 0
smix 7 5 11 100 0 0 100 0
(that’s a CLI dump off my big plane, I’m programming the small one today and tomorrow)
Here’s an example:
mmix 0 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 ( this sets pin 0 to motor, 1.000 is thrust authority and the next 3 zeros are roll pitch and yaw authority.
smix 0 6 5 100 0 0 100 0 ( this sets smix rule 0 for servo 6 ( with source 5 which is RC PITCH , off the website at the top,) rate 100 min 0 and max 100 box is 0
# Rule Servo Source Rate Speed Min Max Box
smix 1 6 1 100 0 0 100 0
this is rule 1, servo 6 input rule 1 (Stabilised PITCH) then rate 100, 0 min 100 max and box 0
So on my plane this makes the elevator servo work both with RC input (source 5) and stabilized, FC controlled, Rule 1.
if the servo goes the wrong way use smix reverse
this is the example off the above web page:
smix reverse 5 2 r
i.e. when mixing rudder servo slot (5) using Stabilised YAW input source (2) reverse the direction (r)
so if you reverse the stabilized yaw, you also would have to reverse the RC Yaw as well
which would be smix reverse 5 6 r
use the above web page and you will get there. it took me weeks to get my big plane up in the air. not a lot of people flying Quad Chips on planes, but it works and is fun when it does.
just make sure you test your RTH and stabilized modes with plenty of elevation. the first time I flipped on the Horizon mode the plane was almost uncontrollable. That was a white knuckle landing. had my goggles on and kept hitting the wrong switch to try to turn it off…
best of luck to you, Steve
Hi Oscar,
I recently built a quad with the motolab fc and littlebees which were ordered across the pond in Australia. The build resulted in 3 motors spinning. I have the signal wire (white) connected to the board and I removed the ground. I have the latest clean flight and the latest beta flight installed. Presuming the esc have at least 14.0 installed. I moved arms around with motors and esc attached to make sure the board was working on that leg and it was. So I’m thinking I likely have a bad esc. I had a spare kiss esc and motor that I connected but it wouldn’t spin either. Is this due to the fc firmware or something software related. Also, should I be able to program the esc’s though the fc because I tried and I can get connected, but I get an error 31 and it doesn’t recognize any of the esc’s. I’ve read somewhere that I need a serial cable connected to UART 1, but I don’t have a serial cable. Furthermore, I removed the black ground wire and cut the white signal to solder to the fc thinking I should be able to perform upgrades through the fc, but I can’t. Any wisdom you can part with would be gladly apprciated! Thanks for your time.
Hi Robert, I assume when you move arms, you did change the motor pin as well?
if by changing motor pins, and same ESC/motor still doesn’t work, try swapping the motor…. just to rule out motor or ESC.
but it’s more likely to be the ESC I think…
by the way, I recommend joining this forum, it’s very useful and there are lots of helpful people there. I am a daily user too :) http://intoFPV.com
Hi Oscar,
Are there any known issues with flashing on the CC3D? I’m having a heck of a time trying to figure out why one of my motors goes crazy as soon as I arm.
youtube.com/watch?v=TtmhrIwMB-k
Hi,
I Might flashed the wrong hex file to my Vortex 250. used naze.hex for the Fusion v2 Board. Is there a Chance to rescue the fc? Can not Flash again. Bootloader has no answer.
Thank you,
Dominik
Hi Dominik,
You probably need to short the bootloader pins on the board. I’m guessing they’re the ones labeled “BL”.
They need to be jumpered while you apply power. You should be able to flash at that point.
Hello Oscar, You mind posting up a cli dump of a average 250 size quad of yours? Im just wondering what cli commands you use with betaflight. The thread on RCG is SO massive its hard to pick through it and find the relevant info. Thanks
Hi Oscar can you PLEASE HELP Hi im having a problem with boris hex on cleanflight when i flash the naze32 i cant calibrate the esc or start the motors even with the master tab.
But when I roll back to cleanflight stable version everything works fine. I have been working on this for 5 weeks now.
PS Im new to naze and cleanflight but ive learnt loads like how to map and rxrange in cli. I was using cc3d before
What ESC are you using? do they support oneshot?
did you enable oneshot in Cleanflight?
hi mark rankin
your escs doesnt support the 1000 looptime
like the emax speedcontrollers will not work with this firmware
Do you know if the luminere 20a mini with simonk is supported? When I push the throttler it goes wild. I’ve been flying fine with cleanflight.
Hi Oscar,
I have just flashed my QAV210 clone (naxe32) with the latest version of Boris B, when i arm the quad i only get motors 3 and 4 arming? any ideas why?
I have set up identical programming on a 180 and it works fine.
I have tried rolling back to Naze fw. and it all works correctly.. weird.
Check your BLHeli ESC settings? make sure PWM input is disabled?
Cc3d users…..luxfloat or rewrite which one is better for the cc3d?
Hi oscar
i am running a cc3d on my zmr ,looking to flash from open pilot to beta fligh can you tell me the requirements and step to do so ? Thanks
Hi Oscar
i have flashed flip32 10dof, betaflight 2.1.3 latest,
before i can figure out gps settings and can be enable it,
but now ican not to be able to activate gps , gps mope or, gps type, clı commands doesnt work.
i think GPS features are disabled in Betaflight to free up resources.
thank you,
i think so
Hi Oscar
Just flashed Boris B.’s Betaflight to my ZMR. I was able to configurate everything as I wanted it, restored settings from a backup. The board seems to work, but the moment I arm it when everything is plugged in, it kind of freezes. The buzzer sound freezes aswell and just stays constantly on. It just feels like it feels when a computer freezes.
I am afraid it must be some old setup coming with the restored settings, such as looptime essentially.
If so, how do I reset that setting? Or is a complete reset/restart of all settings required? (I guess it is recommended though).
I hope you can help me. I already reconfigured everything without restoring a backup, but still, it freezes. Betaflight says “Packet Error: 2” down left, is that a hint?
nik
Setup:
frame: ZMR250, carbon composite
pdb: Overcraft PDB
Flight controller: Seriously Pro Racing F3
Receiver: FrSky D4R-II
ESCs: KISS 18A v1.1
Motors: DYS 1806 2300 KV
Props: Gemfan 5×4 Carbon Nylon
Battery: nanotech 3S 1500mAh 35-70C
Cleanflight version: Boris B.’s Betaflight 2.1.2a
maybe flash it again , with the option, erase all settings checked?
Hi Oscar
Thanks for your replay and sorry for my very late answer:
I tried to find the mistake and started deactivating features and then I was pretty sure the problem was my frsky telemetry. It did not freeze when not using telemetry. Then I reflashed CF1.10.0, worked fine, even with Telemetry. Flashed Betaflight again, everything working, tried oud telemetry and it worked suddenly. There were definetly NO hardware changes, and definetly NO software changes. I compared both CLI dumps and there were no differences. So I cannot explain this issue at all. I used full chip erase all the time. At least it works now and I love Betaflight! It is really feeling better when flying fpv. I think I will stick to it. Thank you Oscar!
Best greetings from Brunswick,
nik
“Hi Oscar” I wanted to make sure that I can flash boris B with open pilot I currently have cleanflight on my cc3d now Thanks for all of your hard work!!! Scott
Hi Oscar
Just upgraded my naze32 to Betaflight – perfect , what can I say , even with the default PID
its much more locked in then ever before. Keep the updated rolling , its greatly appreciated ;-))
The Dropbox-link to betaflight .hex-files does not work. Hex from github does not work with cleanflight – says “HEX file appears to be corrupted”. Any alternative link for download?
Hi Oscar! Found an answer to my previous question. I’m a n00b and didn’t know I had to click the HEX-file in github and then right click on “RAW” to be able to download te file in correct format. I now have betaflight installed on my Naze32 :D
Many thanks for your awsome blog! Keep up the good work! Cheers
Thank you for the awesome posting.
Is it okay in betaflight with disable ACC? or just use Acc hardware?
I don’t use ACC anymore one month ago after mention of some your tweak(dead band, disable hardware ACC, etc)
Which is better you think?
Thank you very much.
yes it’s okay to disable ACC (i have it disabled on mine)
It doesn’t make any difference now with Betaflight, so it’s entirely up to you. :)
It works great!!
Yes, I have it disabled.
Thanks a lot Oscar.
Hi Oscar
Thanks for the post. With regards to BLHeli 14.1, will BLHeli 14.0 be sufficient? I haven’t got an ESC programmer yet and I believe my ZTW 18A esc’s came with BLHeli 14.0. Is it safe to use with beta flight or should I rather wait until I can update them?
Thanks
Hi Ari,
14.0 should be fine.
Do you know you can now flash ESC via the flight controller? no programmer needed anymore! i might make a post how to do this just in case it’s not well known yet.
Thanks Oscar! And while I’m on the subject of thanks, thank you for all the articles which you put into layman terms. Really helpful for newcomers to the hobby such as me.
That article would be great thanks! I didn’t know that was possible.
Many thanks
I still wait for my arduino to flash my ZTW 20a simonk to BLheli… Bunt can’t wait.. can I use betaflight with simonk?
Best Johnny
I haven’t tried it myself, nor seen anyone who tried… It does suggest to use the latest BLHeli firmware though from what I have been told.
Hi Oscar. Did you ever make this article? It would be useful to know how to flash ESCs via the FC. Thanks.
Great site BTW. You’ve helped me loads with my builds.
Yes I did, flash esc via fc
hi Ari,
no problem you can download betafligth and it will work awesome but you have to remove oneshot cause else the motors wont arm, ive got the 13.1 blheli and its awsommmmmee !
“Hi Oscar”
Since trying beta found my p setting are at 3.1 pitch 2.4 role.Tbh i feel its not enough but wont let me go higher or i get the shakes.flys great but now awsome.Also found it needs loads of d term to rid the bounce.Im running 75c 4cell,littlebees esc 1900kv emax motors hq 6×4.5 props.cheers lee
Oscar, I think you should also include that there is a dropbox link that allows you to directly download al the .hex files. I had to do this after not being able to successfully download the .hex using your instructions. Im not saying you are wrong or incorrect, as others have had success this way, but I did not. I suspect this might help others like me who know little about computer magic be able to use Betaflight. dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31537757/cleanflight/betaflight/betaflight.zip
good point, i think it’s mainly Mac users that have problems. i will add a dropbox link now.
Hi Oscar! Great review, love your work. I wanted to know if beta flight works with the new naza32 rev6 board? I’m about to make the swith from multiwii to naza32 on one of my racing quads and I’m looking for a marked improvement.
Sadly it doesn’t. They are looking at end of the month or so before it’s supported, as it has to be done by the Cleanflight team and then merged into the Betaflight code. Boris doesn’t have a Naze32 (actually doesn’t use them anymore, uses F3 based boards)
I think betaflight works on the Rev6, but Gyro sync isn’t, the last time i checked, someone mentioned looptime cannot go below 1100?
As for Cleanflight, it’s still in beta, 1.11 i think..
Hi Oscar,
Just to note, CC3D can be flashed via OpenPilot GCS firmware page,
it’s easy and gives new life to my old board with this amazing version.
Thanks!
Thanks Rubi, I heard CC3D actually performs very well with betaflight (better than Naze) due to the built-in SBUS inverter, and SPI protocol Gyro :)
Hi Oscar
This is true, CC3D is the better hardware and also open source, I am an EE and design of CC3D is elegant and skillful, Naze is only factor of price and many revisions to stop clones and make more money. Of course some poor clones of CC3D as it is open, this is problem but good clones that are like original version, best acro board.
CC3D flies better with Cleanflight also, always has and honest people know this for long time. So much hype for Naze makes issue cloudy this is sad as people by wrong hardware for more money. Betaflight shows this more as it takes advantage of better CC3D more than Cleanflight can.
Betaflight shows what many skilled people said for long time, Cleanflight is not so great and has many issues with control routines and timings but when bringing up such issues I got shouted down despite being turthful, now everyone can see what programmers knew for long time, Cleanflight has some big issues.
Betaflight is nice step in good direction but only temporary solution still architecture is poor from cleanflight which took from baseflight, very old fashioned development and maybe never fixed as large rewrite required.
SBUS inverter is also added to NAZE32 rev.6 boards…
Hi Rubi,
Could you please tell me step by step how to flash CC3D with Betaflight?
I was doing this with Cleanflight via OpenPilot GCS many times but with Betalight it doesn’t work :(
I am dowloading betaflight_CC3D.bin from
github.com/borisbstyle/cleanflight/tree/5c0bcd4d28f29b48744212661775ef25dbcfd594/obj
and usind option Rescue in OpenPilot but this way don’t work…
Thank you in advance.
Hi Eligiusz : I installed betaflight on my cc3d with OpenPilot GCS also (without the FTDI+shorting pins thing mentionned). It didn’t work until I reaffected the ports correctly (UART and this kind of stuff) : it should match how you intend to use the ports of your CC3D.
Eligiusz after flash betaflight, disconnect usb. plug in a 5v power source for Cc3d. load cleanflight app. then connect the USB
ps everytime u rebooting the CC3D FC do the same thing.1st. 5V power source, 2nd USB, Then connect cleanflight App. works on Mac and PC.
if you want to fix it issue forever. load cleanflight bootloader on CC3D.
Hi rubi
Can you send the link on the ftdi adapter you use to flash the cc3d board
Hi Oscar, I’m not sure about the part on PWM but I have a PWM receiver and a set of normal (non-Oneshot) ESCS; will my setup work with Betaflight? :)
Yes that should work :) the PWM part, i was referring to the signal from FC to ESC, not the RX :)
Hi Oscar,
Quick question – when you flashed from Cleanflight, did you opt to do the full chip erase?
Hi Chad
If you want to erase all the settings on the board you should check the Full Chip Erase button. I think it’s a good idea to check it since Betaflight is a different firmware.
Hi Oscar,
You are a God sent! Last July 2014, I traded a brand new 50cc Yak 54 airplane rtf, a .40 size extra rtf , and a brand new .40 size electric Cessna rtf for 1 mint condition Dji Phantom 2. Then I acquired quadcopters with Kk2 fc. When I stumbled into your blog about naze32 calibration because I kept breaking props on a mini tricopter build. I ended up retiring 6 KK2 boards and got hooked tothe naze32s. You are a “Quadcopter Newbies Guro”. Keep up the good work Sir. It is very well appreciated from a guy like me.
Thank you Alfonso :D I am happy that i can help!
Hi Oscar,
Just wanted to say how much your work is appreciated, if i have a question that I cannot solve you usually have the answer and in nice simple terms to understand, I can tackle most stuff but the programming/flashing, understanding Hex files etc etc is not my strong point but with your help its becoming much easier
Thanks again and happy flying, i’m now gonna flash Boris’s new betaflight on my naze and hopefully reap the benifits :)
Thanks for the kind words Phill! Happy flying :)
Hi Oscar,
Love your work. I just updated to Betaflight and had a few challenges along the way>happy to say I got there in the end and documented them here – fangin.com/blog/2015/10/05/betaflight-update-to-afroflight-naze32/
It stopped raining. :) I cannot compare to cleanflight because i switched from a kk 2.1.5 straight to an afro naze32 with this firmware but boy is this good. I changed no PIDs at all just yet and i flies so nice and responsive. I did not know my quad (250 4S 2206 1950kv) could do such sharp yet smooth turns. It’s a whole new flying experience!
very good news Thoemse! Glad you enjoy it! :)
Hi Oscar
Thanks for this guide. Just flashed this firmware. Now if itwould only stop
raining!