Number of Rx channels for Tricopter with FPV & Headtracking?

GliderGuider

Junior Member
Hello everyone,

Yep, another newbie question. I'm thinking about building a Tri and might eventually try FPV. Simply want to clarify how many rx channels I'll need for a tricopter with FPV headtracking?

Thanks in advance.
 

ZoomNBoom

Senior Member
You need at the very least 4 channels for any multirotor, just for control (pitch/roll/yaw/throttle). Realistically you want at least an additional channel for flight mode (acro/angle/horizon) and you may want one or two more if you want things like beeper, altitude hold or GPS hold/RTH.

As for headtracking, if you are going to control a camera with tilt control, thats one more channel, if it also does panning, thats another channel.
 

GliderGuider

Junior Member
Thank-you both; it confirms what I understood to be the case.

I'd been getting confused from reading other forum posts where people have described their setups, and listed a 4 channel rx, but then also mentioned they used Fatshark Trinity-equipped goggles (for their pan and tilt or gimbal). This must mean they're using a separate rx for their FPV gear, or do some gimbal systems incorporate their own rx? Or maybe I've just completely misunderstood those posts....
 

ZoomNBoom

Senior Member
That "4 channel" rx is probably a frsky D4R, X4R or similar. It has just 4 servo connections, but if you use CPPM or SBUS (single wire to a flight controller that supports it) it does 8 channels. Or even 16 for sbus if Im not mistaken.
 

GliderGuider

Junior Member
In fact, ZoomNBoom, at least one of those posts did indeed mention the FrSky D4R. Considering that I use FrSky myself, you'd think that this might have occurred to me (duh-oh!). ;)