Building my own Quadcopter

Tammeo

Member
Hello,

I've just finished 3d printing, assembly and soldering my first quadcopter ever...
but I've some doubt about how to wire the receiver and the FPV to enable OSD ...
in addition I have no idea on how to manage audio signal...

I've attached a picture of my schematics... please could you provide some tips? am I doing something wrong?

thx

Tamm
 

Tammeo

Member
Ops.. I've forgot the attachment

1571044539256_Schematics.JPG
 

Tammeo

Member
Crazepony UK f3 flight controller acro clean flight.

I was asking about osd because beta flight let me use the osd configurator so I supposed my board has an osd chip on it... (not a content mandatory for me)

Is the receiver connected properly?
 

FDS

Elite member
I wouldn’t build anything with an F3 board these days, F4 is much better. Betaflight 4.0 and above doesn’t support F3 anymore AFAIK? You are going to only be able to use Cleanflight with that board.
If the receiver is Sbus it should just plug into the top left port.
The audio out on the VTX is Smartaudio, it uses a UART to allow you to control the VTX via your goggles.
 

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
The receiver doesn't seem to output IBUS or SBUS so unable to help you with that. The Flight Controller has no OSD so the video signal will go direct to the video transmitter. The video transmitter has an inbuilt microphone so sound will be automatically sent. You can change the video transmitter setting if you connect the smartaudio lead to a spare TX UART (assuming you have one)
 
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FDS

Elite member
That is also a large servo output receiver, you want a smaller SBUS only one if it’s a quad, saves space, weight and easier to connect.
The GR12 does output Sbus if you set it up, there’s a bit in the manual about it. Page 13 here.
 
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CarolineTyler

Legendary member
That is also a large servo output receiver, you want a smaller SBUS only one if it’s a quad, saves space, weight and easier to connect.
The GR12 does output Sbus if you set it up, there’s a bit in the manual about it. Page 13 here.
It does! That gem of info was missing from the spec sheet I was looking at for the receiver but yes, it's a hulking big receiver for a quad.
 

Tammeo

Member
m8s,

thanks for the tons of tips: I will use 'em for my next wishlist.

Nevertheless keep in mind this is my first attempt ever at building & flying a quad... I am not able to fly it in third person but I know that I must be able to build my own "machine" to avoid the "fear of crashes" this is the reason why I decided to 3d print and build my own
so, long story short, I am a real rookie in this "sport"and I bought things on my own to make it as cheap as possible trying to limiting the too many option that the sw provides. I can accept to use CleanFlight only or not to have OSD for now because I have yet to start and maybe it will not be the hobby that fits my needs.

back to my questions, thank to you so far I've got what follows:
  1. F3 flight controller do not support OSD so, given this HW the only config I can use is to wire the CAM video output to VTX video input.
  2. I should wire the VTX audio output to a Uart RX port if available (and then? how do I have to set up the port?)
  3. I already had a look at the Graupner receiver and I know i can use SUMD on Ch6 (on G12 version) , my doubt was how to wire it up to the F3 controller so, after some readings, I've guessed the configuration in my schematics.... is it correct?
could you please confirm that other than Audio and VTX video signal everything is set up correctly ?
this will help me finishing this first version and then I can start flying and thinking at my next project with a better HW

thank you for your support and don't mind my english .... as you guessed I'm not native english speaker.

PS: by the way I've got also Gr12-SH Graupner receiver which is much more compact than the G12 but I think it works the same (SUMD on channel 6 see pag.6 of the link)
 

FDS

Elite member
Being new is totally allowed, we are just trying to make your first effort successful.
1- Yes cam video to VTX in, no need to pass through the FC at all. You might be able to find a separate OSD board for the video, look around, these old boards were used a lot back a few years.
2- Smart audio could go on a spare UART, but you won’t be able to see any of the menus because there’s no OSD, I think?
3- I have no idea about the receiver, I would set it up to output Sbus and use the fixed Sbus plug on the board. You might have to find a Graupner users forum for answers to that, nobody flies them on quads. Very few Graupner users on here, from what I have seen.
I have no idea if your wiring set up will work, @ElectriSean or @Ihichi Bolls might have a better idea.
Your English is very good, no need to apologise for it.
 

Tammeo

Member
I feel stupid asking that.... but I cannot understand the Flight Controller Manual I am reading:

it says:

IO_2 connector - Serial RX / PWM RX / GPIO / UART3
When using a PWM receiver connect CH3/4/7/8 to PWM RX.
When using a 3.3v Serial RX receiver (S.Bus, SUMD/H, etc.) use GND/VCC/CH3 (UART3 RX)


which means to me I have 2 options :
  1. to use the 1st three pin of the port IO_2 labelled as "6" on the baloon in the drawing. (respectively GND, Vcc, Ch3), @FDS is that the configuration you were referring to speaking of "Sbus plug"?
  2. looking at balloon "4" it says UART 3 and it has an RX pad so I can solder wires to GND, Vcc, RX as depicted on my scheme
am I getting it right? are they both equivalent?
 

FDS

Elite member
If the manual says it takes the connection from the RX there then use that. You can easily test it in Cleanflight, in the receivers tab. If you set the UARTs and it’s bound to the TX then you should see movement in the bars on the receiver tab.
When you set up the UARTs be sure to pick the right one and the required option in the drop down menu, it’s in the ports tab.
As long as the input voltage and polarity are correct for the receiver you cannot damage it by wiring it wrong.
 

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
Being new is totally allowed, we are just trying to make your first effort successful.
1- Yes cam video to VTX in, no need to pass through the FC at all. You might be able to find a separate OSD board for the video, look around, these old boards were used a lot back a few years.
2- Smart audio could go on a spare UART, but you won’t be able to see any of the menus because there’s no OSD, I think?
3- I have no idea about the receiver, I would set it up to output Sbus and use the fixed Sbus plug on the board. You might have to find a Graupner users forum for answers to that, nobody flies them on quads. Very few Graupner users on here, from what I have seen.
I have no idea if your wiring set up will work, @ElectriSean or @Ihichi Bolls might have a better idea.
Your English is very good, no need to apologise for it.
2. - Sorry I was being dumb. No point in connecting this, no OSD!! :) :)
 
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Ihichi Bolls

Well-known member
You should be able to use betaflight on that board. You just need to pull an older gui off github. The target .hex files for the fc are there in all versions but not being uodated anylonger.
 
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Tammeo

Member
hem... sorry to interrupt you but currently I have tested my setup via micro USB and I can confirm I am able to run Beta Flight & BLHeli32 suite.

in fact I already used them to re arrange the motor "order" and to aldjust the gyro yaw offset because (unaware of everything) I've soldered the engines and i've installed the flight controller in a complete random configuration compared to the standard...

the only thing I am missing is to install VTX and Receiver because I wasn't able to find a tutorial with the same HW I have available. (Graupner and Rush Tank)
 

ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
Because your FC doesn't have an OSD, you will connect the signal wire from the camera a directly to the signal input of the VTx. Connect the power wires from the VTx to the FC as in your diagram. Ignore the smart audio wire on the VTx and any cam control wires on the camera.

For the Rx, connect the signal wire to pin 3 of the IO2 connector, ground and power to pins 1 & 2. In BF/CF in the ports tab enable SerialRX on UART3. Set your receiver type to serial and your serial provider to SUMD.
 

Tammeo

Member
Guys...
Thank you so much for all the tips and hints... Everything was perfect... I had only to set the receiver ch6 to sumd and following ur advice I was able to control the quad with my graupner transmitter.

Thank you so much again for the support. :)

Next steps will be to set the flight mode and tune the pid... And then of course try the 1st hoovering..

Here the Pic of my Lil beast :) (already printing some spares :))

IMG_20191014_203844.jpg
 

Ihichi Bolls

Well-known member
Dont mess with ANY tuning or filters until you have test flown it.

Too many people see Bardwell or other "pro" pilots make videos telling people their settings and cookie cutter them only to come here asking why their quad flys like crap or they flat out smoked their gear.

Unless you are using the exact same parts your quad will never be good on someone elses settings. It may work but more then likely it will stress your gear and shorten the lifespan.