Can you mount a FC upsidedown?

LostQuad

Junior Member
I'm building a tricopter with a vibration dampened top plate. I'd like my flight controller to be on the vibration dampened plate but I also would like it to have some protection so I'm thinking of mounting it on the underside of the plate rather than the top.
Anyone have any experience with using a flight controller mounted upside down?
 

mpbiv

New member
Which Flight Controller are you going to use? Not all flight controllers are created equally.

Pretty sure any of the controllers using Baseflight/Cleanflight or Tau Labs GCS can be configured to be mounted upside down.
 

Stradawhovious

"That guy"
not always true.. on the CC3D i have the ESC plastic plugs would be sticking up at least a half inch.

chris.

The boards takes up exactly the same amount of space in either orientation. Use a standoff. Problem solved.

ETA... it was designed to work mounted right side up. I would think that you would just be inviting programming nightmares by asking it to do the complete opposite. Can it be done? Sure. (depending on the board) But why tempt fate?
 
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jipp

Senior Member
but using a stand off is not a option if you are minimum on space. so the logic fails.. but its all good. im assuming that is why he would want to go upside down anyhow, space.. and if you had room for st and offs you wold have room for it up right. i guess he will just have to find a better location to place it.

so i do not see how that logic works.. but yeah i agree if the board is desighn to be used one direction that is the way it should go.

chris.

p.s


anyone else hate taking logic in college? that class screwed with my head so bad.. and i had to take several classes of it just for a programming degree. blah.
 
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jipp

Senior Member
So the board is actually bigger rightside up than it is upside down? That's some serious Dr. Who stuff right there!

Enjoy your degree.

its only bigger because of thye ESC plastic jacks. they stick up.

if you could mount them to the bottom, then it would fit yeah in any direction.

my degree is worthless. im a crippled, and do not code anymore.. i did not mean any hostility by the mention the class, just wondering if anyone else had to take that class it messes with your head ( or at least mine ).. ill shut up man. sorry i said anything.

well i guess you could solder them on, then it would work if the FC would work upside down in the first place, not sure.. anyhow.. take care.

chris.
 
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Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
We're still back to the "which flight controller".

You sometimes want to mount it other than the default orientation. Why? Because reasons!

Some boards can, some can't. If it can't the board will insta-flip the airframe. If it can, you tell it how it's mounted and it makes all the corrections inside . . .

So we're back to the mbiv's reply to the OP -- which board do you want to mount upside down?
 

Stradawhovious

"That guy"
its only bigger because of thye ESC plastic jacks. they stick up.

if you could mount them to the bottom, then it would fit yeah in any direction.

my degree is worthless. im a crippled, and do not code anymore.. i did not mean any hostility by the mention the class, just wondering if anyone else had to take that class it messes with your head ( or at least mine ).. ill shut up man. sorry i said anything.

well i guess you could solder them on, then it would work if the FC would work upside down in the first place, not sure.. anyhow.. take care.

chris.

No hostility taken. I really don't let much on the interwebz ruffle my feathers so no worries. I'm just having some fun.

My only point was that even taking into consideration the ESC plugs, outputs etc, the completely installed board occupies exactly the same amount of space regardless of what orientation you put it. The ESCs have to be plugged in if it's mounted upside down too, right? One cubic inch is one cubic inch. If that cubic inch fits inside a space one way, if you turn it 180 degrees, it will fit inside that same space. It has to.
 

jipp

Senior Member
No hostility taken. I really don't let much on the interwebz ruffle my feathers so no worries. I'm just having some fun.

My only point was that even taking into consideration the ESC plugs, outputs etc, the completely installed board occupies exactly the same amount of space regardless of what orientation you put it. The ESCs have to be plugged in if it's mounted upside down too, right? One cubic inch is one cubic inch. If that cubic inch fits inside a space one way, if you turn it 180 degrees, it will fit inside that same space. It has to.

yeah i was thinking of a odd shape, or space that allowed for them to fit, why else would you try to mount it upside down.. i assumed to much.. but you are correct.

chris.
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
Mounting upside down is the better solution in some circumstances. For those who don't have any standoffs handy, it is easier to spend a few minutes in the code rather than ordering more parts. It will also be slightly easier to remove and add any wiring to the FC if the pins are exposed downward (assuming vertical pins) rather than sandwiched between the board and vibration isolation plate.
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
Naze 32 Acro.

Solder the pins the way you want (up, down and/or sideways in or out), rotate the board however you need, and worry no more. :)
 

jipp

Senior Member
Naze 32 Acro.

Solder the pins the way you want (up, down and/or sideways in or out), rotate the board however you need, and worry no more. :)

shhh, i have to over think these things.. doh!

i do not think you can do that with the CC3D that would explain why its popular too.
in another thread i ponder that question.
chris.
 

jhitesma

Some guy in the desert
Mentor
shhh, i have to over think these things.. doh!

i do not think you can do that with the CC3D that would explain why its popular too.
in another thread i ponder that question.
chris.

Should be able to do it with OP. You'll still have to change the sensor orientation. On Tau this would be on the stabilization page in GCS at the top there are fields for Yaw/Pitch/Roll. So if I mount my board rotated 90CW I just put in 90 For Yaw. OP should have something similar in a similar location.

In CF it's on one of the first 2-3 tabs - basic configuration where you can input offsets for R/P/Y In MW it's in the main config file.

Though dealing with things like mounting the board upside down it really gets confusing fast trying to get all the orientation changes correct on any setup.
 

jipp

Senior Member
yeah, unfortunately i really dis like how GSC deals with it help file.. send to some webpage.. blah. give me a help file in the program.
i really have no idea what any of it does.. as the help sucks.
chris.
 

zenguerilla

Senior Member
I'm building a tricopter with a vibration dampened top plate. I'd like my flight controller to be on the vibration dampened plate but I also would like it to have some protection so I'm thinking of mounting it on the underside of the plate rather than the top.
Anyone have any experience with using a flight controller mounted upside down?


Two parts, by estimation:



One, I am substantially neophytic but it appears that almost any generally current flight controller can be mounted in nearly any orientation with appropriate offset values, (meaning turn the board 90° to the right, enter appropriate 90° offset in yaw, etc.).

The two greatest in question that I think of would be Naza or KK(2.1), which in both cases appears would almost entirely be limited by the firmware/OS/software it's self. It does appear to be indicated that the OpenAero software for KK2.1 may include these settings or in a more complete manner than Steveis or RC911. The Naza I do not know of.

The least seems to be known about whether there is or would be any effect on the dynamic performance of any flight board fixed in something other than the default flat, arrow forward orientation, or yawed at most (which most people seem to agree is okay).

Upside down, (180° roll or pitch) next to yaw, does seem to be one of the more common re/orientations.



Two, as a guess, if a board were on the bottom of a v-dampened plate and an impact would cause clearance issues with the underneath, then mounting it that way would not seem to help it a lot.

For just board protection any bump-worthy material could be formed into a rectangle at one or either end of the board and attached with hot glue, double side tape, or even velcro or regular tape. Or, as mentioned, hardware, plate, case, etc.

Sorry to force the reading of all these useless words, as there are clearly far too many.



In summary, though it was not technically, literally asked "Can this be done?" it appears the short answer with almost any flight board is "Yes."
 

zenguerilla

Senior Member
yeah, unfortunately i really dis like how GSC deals with it help file.. send to some webpage.. blah. give me a help file in the program.
i really have no idea what any of it does.. as the help sucks.
chris.

This is the page for adjusting virtual board orientation on the Attitude tab in GCS: https://wiki.openpilot.org/display/WIKI/Attitude

It has three values at the top of that tab, roll, pitch, and yaw.

From flat forward, if you roll the board 90°, then enter a +/- 90 in the roll value setting until the orientation looks correct on the Flight data tab where you can see a virtual of the board and movement in real time.


The same is true in Cleanflight on Configuration / Board Alignment for adjustment, then Setup for visual.