Help! TinyHawk Freestyle II FRSky to DSMX?

["Corpse"]

I'm going to be doing this this weekend to my second Tinyhawk II Freestyle. My first TH II Freestyle went in the pond out back after a couple weeks when I was getting comfortable with acro but obviously not good enough It seemed to handle very well, I don't understand PIDs and such so I'd say out of the box the TH II Freestyle is well sorted for even a relative quad-acro noob.

I'm tired of using the cheap transmitter that came with it and I have a DX9 so I bought one of those NewBeeDrone nano DSMX Rx's which I think (hope) it has a bind button (picture looks like it does). I'm a little sketched since I don't solder much and these are small targets, so I also bought one of those magnifying light things to use so I can hopefully see what I'm doing. I did buy a new solder station (recommended by Oscar Liang) and some good leaded solder / flux and tips he recommended too so hopefully I'll get it right without damaging anything. My last soldering iron I had a hard time soldering big wires, these will be tiny! Any other pointers? Somewhere I saw you have to disable the other UART, there's only a few so I guess I can trial and error it if nobody has screenshots. I may try a direct PM to you Corpse if I get stuck since it seems like you've done this. A picture of what you did would be awesome and helpful, but that graphic was very helpful as well.

Thanks!

I'll see what I can do. I might make a video on this because LOTS of people are trying this.

 

[sprzout]

I'm going to be doing this this weekend to my second Tinyhawk II Freestyle. My first TH II Freestyle went in the pond out back after a couple weeks when I was getting comfortable with acro but obviously not good enough It seemed to handle very well, I don't understand PIDs and such so I'd say out of the box the TH II Freestyle is well sorted for even a relative quad-acro noob.

I'm tired of using the cheap transmitter that came with it and I have a DX9 so I bought one of those NewBeeDrone nano DSMX Rx's which I think (hope) it has a bind button (picture looks like it does). I'm a little sketched since I don't solder much and these are small targets, so I also bought one of those magnifying light things to use so I can hopefully see what I'm doing. I did buy a new solder station (recommended by Oscar Liang) and some good leaded solder / flux and tips he recommended too so hopefully I'll get it right without damaging anything. My last soldering iron I had a hard time soldering big wires, these will be tiny! Any other pointers? Somewhere I saw you have to disable the other UART, there's only a few so I guess I can trial and error it if nobody has screenshots. I may try a direct PM to you Corpse if I get stuck since it seems like you've done this. A picture of what you did would be awesome and helpful, but that graphic was very helpful as well.

Thanks!

Use the lowest possible heat you can use to melt the solder on your soldering station. Being that this is a tiny target, you don't want extra solder going all over the place and bridging the pads, or else you run the risk of shorting something out as soon as you apply power; the lower temps will help prevent the solder from running like crazy as well as preventing the circuit boards from being burned/overheated/damaged.

That Newbeedrone Beeceiver (if it's a v2; not sure about the v1, as I haven't messed with those) DOES have a bind button, so it should work for your needs.

 

[JBinFla]

So I'm looking at my board, see below for the DSMX section. I see the RX2 pad (it's the one with the tiny hole), and I see where the 3.3v and (-) is there is some sort of device (capacitor? resistor?). I checked and the NewBeeDrone receiver supports 3-10v, so I could theoretically use 3.3v (typical spektrum) or 5v which I see right there next to RX2.

If I read your diagram correct you said to put the red wire on the 3.3v pad below (which has that device on it), put the black on the RX1 pad below, and put the yellow (signal) on the RX2 tab. Is that correct? Does the presence of that "device" matter? Thanks.

 

[JBinFla]

So I found the below on youtube. There is a screen grab. He said newer versions have a capacitor like mine (what I called a "device"). He said to de-solder it and then wire up as shown below. The red is the (+), black is the (-) and white is the (s) signal wire. I may have to have an adult beverage to get me brave enough

 

[JBinFla]

Well I am unable to get the capacitor removed. My soldering iron doesn't appear to be doing anything to it. I did solder the wires to the NewBee Rx so I know it works. I was on maybe 40% power, I went up to 100% even and doesn't seem to want to melt the solder. Any tips?

 

[sprzout]

Well I am unable to get the capacitor removed. My soldering iron doesn't appear to be doing anything to it. I did solder the wires to the NewBee Rx so I know it works. I was on maybe 40% power, I went up to 100% even and doesn't seem to want to melt the solder. Any tips?

What soldering station do you have? i'm wondering if it gets hot enough to melt the solder on the capacitor.

 

[JBinFla]

AOYUE 469 - it was recommended by Oscar Liang, not sure if he is anyone but he has a good site with some good reviews and info.

Not an expensive one, but it was hot enough to melt solder on level 3 (of 8). I tried on level 8 no dice. Melted my solder well. I'm wondering if it's because I could only melt one side of the capacitor at a time, though not really sure if I melted it. For now I'm binding it to the cheap Tx my other one came with. The RaceDayQuads kit I bought the first time was great, when I bound this it's all wonky have to configure, thresholds aren't same, blah blah. Hope I can get it to work well.

 

[JBinFla]

After nearly an hour of youtube videos I guess I need a soldering station with a hot air gun and a bunch of flux.

 

[JBinFla]

So I put everything together and bound to the cheap transmitter that came with my first eMax RTF package. Seemed to bind, and seems to fly well. But. My vtx doesn't work. The VTX plug is on the opposite side of the DSMX pads I was messing with, I'm guessing I goofed something up. So disheartening! I ordered a solder station with hot air, so next week I will pick up where I left off.

 

[pkm_heliman]

You're all good except the ground wire. that needs to go to the one right beside where you have it already. I drew a little dot on the pad that you need to solder.
View attachment 171434

I tried this, HOWEVER, the black wire is in the correct position, as there's only 3 pads there. (+)(-)(S), if the black wire is placed on the dot, it would be on the signal pad. If that's where it's supposed to go then maybe that's why mine doesn't work, but my rx is bound to my DX9 and the light on the rx is steady on wired as shown above, with the wires. I'm not seeing any movement in betaflight in receiver section, with or without the battery plugged in, I have also gone online and registered my SERIAL rx, and updated the software and I STILL can't get this little thing to work with my radio. I even tried to solder the signal wire from the serial rx to the RX1 pad...no dice, also tried to solder it on the pad after I removed the cap on the 2 pads. Still, no dice. I went into config on BF and it is set to Spektrum, then SPEKTRUM serial. Still NO DICE :-@ I'm about to give up and send these little things back. I wish I could get them running because they look like they would tear up the sky.


EDIT:

I could never get the SPM4650 serial race rx to work, no matter what rx port/UART/Spektrum stting I used. I had just a regular SPM9745 and it worked like a charm! Now I just have to return these two serial race rx and get more SPM9745 satellite rx!

 

["Corpse"]

I tried this, HOWEVER, the black wire is in the correct position, as there's only 3 pads there. (+)(-)(S), if the black wire is placed on the dot, it would be on the signal pad. If that's where it's supposed to go then maybe that's why mine doesn't work, but my rx is bound to my DX9 and the light on the rx is steady on wired as shown above, with the wires. I'm not seeing any movement in betaflight in receiver section, with or without the battery plugged in, I have also gone online and registered my SERIAL rx, and updated the software and I STILL can't get this little thing to work with my radio. I even tried to solder the signal wire from the serial rx to the RX1 pad...no dice, also tried to solder it on the pad after I removed the cap on the 2 pads. Still, no dice. I went into config on BF and it is set to Spektrum, then SPEKTRUM serial. Still NO DICE :-@ I'm about to give up and send these little things back. I wish I could get them running because they look like they would tear up the sky.

Are your UARTS configured? If you solder the signal to rx3, you have to enable serial rx on UART 3.

 

[pkm_heliman]

Are your UARTS configured? If you solder the signal to rx3, you have to enable serial rx on UART 3.

Not connected to rx3. There's 3 pads at the location shown in your photo. I have wondered to rx1, tx1 (using a belt updated serial rx), rx2, tx2 and configured UARTS correctly for each test... it never worked... but check out my edit above! I got it working with a different receiver!

 

["Corpse"]

Not connected to rx3. There's 3 pads at the location shown in your photo. I have wondered to rx1, tx1 (using a belt updated serial rx), rx2, tx2 and configured UARTS correctly for each test... it never worked... but check out my edit above! I got it working with a different receiver!

Awesome! Get Flying!

 

[kuhlrunner]

Not connected to rx3. There's 3 pads at the location shown in your photo. I have wondered to rx1, tx1 (using a belt updated serial rx), rx2, tx2 and configured UARTS correctly for each test... it never worked... but check out my edit above! I got it working with a different receiver!

@pkm_heliman Hey, nice! I'm struggling over here; I've been trying for about a month to get the 4650 to work and no dice. I even ordered another one to see if the receiver was faulty; I can get it to bind but the receiver isn't giving input to the FC as far as I can tell in Betaflight. What problems were you having with your first receiver? And once you got it, what was your process for attaching and configuring the 9745? Could you post pictures? I'm desparate!

I contacted EMAX support and these are the pads I was told to solder to, just for reference.

 

[JBinFla]

Okay update on my delima...

I was completely tore up thinking I bricked a brand new quad, really kinda bummed me out. So, I put it away for a bit and today got to thinking about that vtx button and did some more sleuthing. Turns out I had to unlock the VTX by holding the vtx button and installing the batteries while it's held in (hard since there's TWO). It does not work when plugged into USB, have to do it with batteries. SO, I'm back in the game. I hope you all can appreciate how happy this makes me, I'm not one to "throw away $100"!!!

Now on to the question at hand glad to hear someone else got it. Can you confirm what schematic you used. Did you use the original with the red on the 3.3v DSMX pad, black on the - DSMX pad and brown on the S DSMX pad. OR did you use the one with the "black dot" on the S DSMX pad and the singal on the RX2 pad? Or the one below where the red goes on 5v pad, black on the - DSMX pad and brown on the TX2 pad? I would be very interested in seeing a close-up photo of your finished solder, as well as a picture of the betaflight UART page to see what you set and how.

Thanks!

 

[JBinFla]

It works!

I'm so happy this got sorted out. My first TH I bought from RaceDayQuads and I think they set it up and unlocked the VTX for me. So once I unlocked and realized I didn't fry it I went ahead and installed the NewBeeDrone.com receiver. I used the three DSMX pads, the (S)(-)(3.3v) ones directly under the camera plug (on the bottom side of the FC). Then I went into Betaflight and set UART2 SerialRX to on. That was it. I did have to do some channel reversing, set my end points and assign the AUX channels to be able to arm, change flight modes, etc. But, it works. I'm going to setup a switch for dual rates, or three rates I usually do one with super soft, one somewhere in the middle and one full on and after flying see which one is best to start from to start honing my preferences. So, I guess that's next.

I do have a question though. In betaflight it looks like there is already some expo added. I guess I should just read the WIKI, and I will, but does anyone have any info on why I might not want to move this to my DX9 and have it linear on the FC? Does having it on the FC make the flight characteristics different whereas on the controller no? Just curious. I'll make a backup first.

Again for anyone referencing this, with the NewBeeDrone micro (or is it nano?) receiver I used the (S)(-)(3.3v) pads, NOT the layout in the pic with the RX2 or whatever dot. That may work, and if you have one of the new SRXL receivers that may be what is necessary, but for the receiver I used the three obvious pads worked, and then just enable SerialRX on UART2.

 

[PsyBorg]

It works!

I'm so happy this got sorted out. My first TH I bought from RaceDayQuads and I think they set it up and unlocked the VTX for me. So once I unlocked and realized I didn't fry it I went ahead and installed the NewBeeDrone.com receiver. I used the three DSMX pads, the (S)(-)(3.3v) ones directly under the camera plug (on the bottom side of the FC). Then I went into Betaflight and set UART2 SerialRX to on. That was it. I did have to do some channel reversing, set my end points and assign the AUX channels to be able to arm, change flight modes, etc. But, it works. I'm going to setup a switch for dual rates, or three rates I usually do one with super soft, one somewhere in the middle and one full on and after flying see which one is best to start from to start honing my preferences. So, I guess that's next.

I do have a question though. In betaflight it looks like there is already some expo added. I guess I should just read the WIKI, and I will, but does anyone have any info on why I might not want to move this to my DX9 and have it linear on the FC? Does having it on the FC make the flight characteristics different whereas on the controller no? Just curious. I'll make a backup first.

Again for anyone referencing this, with the NewBeeDrone micro (or is it nano?) receiver I used the (S)(-)(3.3v) pads, NOT the layout in the pic with the RX2 or whatever dot. That may work, and if you have one of the new SRXL receivers that may be what is necessary, but for the receiver I used the three obvious pads worked, and then just enable SerialRX on UART2.

You dont use expo on quads EVER. You manipulate Super Rate in betaflight to get the curves you desire. What happens is RC Rate without Super Rate can be insane the entire range of the sticks. Super Rate mellows that out a bit differently then EXPO does. If you add expo to all that your center stick gets deceptively mushy and the outer parts get insane. Find your curve with Super Rate. Also keep in mind you will need to lower RC rate a touch so you dont end up in the 1200 dps range.

Keep in mind (maybe not so important on tiny quads) you set your rates up first THEN tune your quad and yes contrary to you tube wisdom.. betaflight stock tune is lame. Its extremely gimped so people dont fry their crappy bang good gear as soon as they arm. To an experienced pilot betaflight stock tune is akin to flying a wet noodle. The pros hype it up because they get something in return for doing so. With that in mind a separate tune for each of the three rate settings you can put on a switch will be better for the longevity of your gear. For now sort out your rates and switches then you can work into tuning so its not so overwhelming.

 

[JBinFla]

I was typing my response as you posted, glad I read it first. Was going to say that with anything less than 100% rates, and anything more than 0% expo, it was a bit soft then too much. I ended up on the 100% rates and 0% expo on the transmitter. So, it sounds like I need to learn to setup multiple rates in betaflight, and used the same switch to control a channel that will switch between these rate/expo settings. Makes sense, that was kind of my question sounds like the rate info is used by the FC and if I offload it to my TX then the FC will not act right.

Thanks for everyones helps. I've built a lot of RC over the years, planes, vehicles, but quads and their "computerization" is something new. I kind of like it, so much so I bought a Pixhawk 4 Mini to mess with on a 250-sized quad. Hope it gets here soon.

 

[PsyBorg]

Your radio will always be set up with correct channel maps, switch assignments and end points of 1000us - 2000us. with center points of 1500us. If your radio allows disable trims. Other then that NOTHING in the radio is changed after initial set up all is done on the flight controller.

 

[JBinFla]

...Well...
I'm guessing the NewBeeDrone nano RX is not a full range RX. Was flying around all is well went up and out a bit and suddenly lost signal. Dropped out of sky, into same pond as last one (best spot to fly is over my pond out back, only open area). In several years I've lost one plane out there, only because I flew too close to the wetland and stuck it in a tree. This now is two tinyhawks down, 1st was all me, this one was signal loss. It even said "RX LOST" or whatever on my screen, had good video reception.

I'm not buying another, it was fun, but this was a couple flights and done. I'm not sure if that nano RX was full range, I thought so, it had two antennas, but who knows. Maybe my solder job wasn't great, but it looked good to me. Ugh.

/kicks sand with head down