Rotor Riot finally released their first flight controller, the Riot Control FC! In this review we will check out the board layout, build quality, strength and weakness.
Buy the Rotor Riot Control Flight Controller from:
- GetFPV: http://bit.ly/2L9szux
- RaceDayQuads: http://bit.ly/2NRs1rM
Learn about how to choose flight controllers for mini quad.
Specifications of Riot Control Flight Controller
Here is the basic spec of the FC:
- F405 MCU
- MPU6000 Gyro
- 2S – 6S input voltage
- Betaflight OSD
- Built-in Current Sensor
- 8MB Flash Memory for Blackbox
- 3 UART’s
- BEC: 3.3V, 5V, 9V
The Riot Control FC comes with:
- XT60 pigtail (10cm)
- mini buzzer
- rubber gummies
- nylon screws and standoffs
- 4in1 ESC cables
Closer Look at the Riot Control FC
Doesn’t it look familiar?
Yes, the Riot Control FC is based on the DYS F4 Pro V2 FC, with a few tweaks by Rotor Riot. That’s why the layout and physical appearance look similar. The Riot Control FC is also manufactured by DYS.
The gyro is soft mounted and protected in a plastic case. The mounting holes are enlarged to fit vibration damping grommets (gummies). Does the “double-stage vibration damping” make it better or worse? We will find out soon from testing.
I wish they offer ICM20689 gyro option to allow for 32K/32K gyro sampling rate and looptime. This could take full advantage of the extra filtering.
UART’s, Layout and Soldering Pads
There are only 3 UART’s, including the one for SBUS. Perhaps not enough for some people, think about the stuff we use: SmartPort, VTX Control, ESC Telemetry, Runcam Split, Camera Control, Serial Receiver….. That’s why some FC’s these days provide 5 UART’s.
UART 1 is for serial receivers, there is a jumper pad you can solder to choose between SBUS or other non-inverted receiver signal.
The soldering pads are well sized and easy to work with. The very same pads are available on both sides of the board.
The Removable, Soft-Mounted Gyro
The Gyro protective case is mounted on the board with 4 screws. These screws are located on the bottom you can easily remove.
The gyro sensor is fully encased in a thick protective plastic housing, surrounded in vibration dampening gel. This makes it impossible for the gyro to come loose or wiggle free.
Image Credit: Drew Camden
They Gyro connects to the flight controller via a ribbon cable. It goes through the slot in the FC to the other side of the board. The ribbon cable shouldn’t be too long to cause problem.
The gyro ribbon cable connector is located on the back of the FC. You can disconnect the gyro and ribbon cable by lifting the connector by hand. This is useful if you want to swap out the gyro for whatever reason.
Conclusion
I will soon put this FC on a quad and test out the performance, and I will come back and update with more info. For now here is my thoughts:
Pros
- Great pad layout and build quality – easy to work with
- Double soft-mounting – Gyro and Gummies
- Pads are available on both sides of the board
- 4in1 ESC connector
- 5V and 9V BEC
- Gyro swapable
Cons
- Doesn’t come with low ESR capacitor
- No dedicated ESC telemetry pads
- Only 2 UART’s (not counting the one for SBUS)
- Gyro option limits looptime to 8K/8K
9 comments
Good morning, I have this controller and it does not let me control the individual motors connected directly to it in betaflight, but it does let me connect a 4-in-1 ESC. The sounds are not completed, and I have the OMNIBUSF4 as firmware. I would like to know if this is the correct firmware or if I have to activate something so that it controls the individual ESCs for me. Thank you
I’m confused about which target I need if I want to update this fc. The manual says target is OMNIBUSF4 but the cli prompts to the “version” input that it has a dysf4prov2 target?! Could someone help me out?
Tanks a lot.
follow the manual, if there is a problem contact RR support, you paid for the customer service :)
I recently purchased and installed this fc on a build that had the dys pro v2 on it. After 1 weak crash in tall grass it stopped working. The exact same thing happened to the dys pro v2 fc. One crash for each flight controller, both broken now. Not sure what the issue is. I get initial startup tones but the sequence never finishes. Only a red light on the fc. No busy light and it won’t connect to betaflight, either of them. I noticed the similarity in appearance between the two, but didn’t realize they were both from dys. If anyone knows of a way to fix this, please let me know. As for now, I can not give this fc a good rating.
maybe try typing status in CLI and see what flag you get, this might give you a hint what’s wrong.
Same here, two in a row just die mid air and give a red light, no way to connect it to BF because it won’t respond to USB.
i have same problem but the red light came after soldering a sensor wire…..it cant be that bad, can it?
What 4 in 1 plugs straight to this. I have the dys 30a 4n1 but I think the cable is different. Just wondering. I do have this fc and it does look great tho. Can’t wait to try it out. Just looking at my esc options. I know any separate esc will work I just don’t have any at the moment but I do have the dys 30a, a dalrc engine and a cheapo racerstar 20a and a 35a.
You can probably swap in the airbot gyro and get 32k/32k just need custom hex.