Welcome to FPVDronePilots!
Join our free FPV drone community today!
Sign up

My new VTX won't hold settings...

graywoulf

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 30, 2017
Messages
304
Reaction score
278
Hey guys,

I just installed an AKK FX2 VTX on my Wizard x220 and if I use the button on it to set the parameters, it reverts back to the default settings if I disconnect the battery. I have tried the procedure just like it states in the manual but nothing is working. I also tried using the Smart Audio setup and when I access the settings from my TX, I do not see the channel, band or power settings in the list. Any help would be most appreciated as I am still learning Betaflight. Thanks!
 
If it is resetting on power up it is likely the Smart Audio that is doing it. Try turning off the SA setup in the ports tab and then see if it holds the settings after a power cycle. Got a pic of your TX display that is missing channel/band/power readings?
 
Hey buddy! Glad you are here. I turned off the SA like you said and it is keeping the settings. Strange. Here is a screenshot of the OSD from the vTX but it looks like settings for the FC to me. I know you said that Betaflight 3.5.7 was the best but I am tempted to update to the new 4.2. Do you think that is a good idea?

AKK VTX OSD.jpg
 
First off, I do not think upgrading is a good idea, but do a CLI dump from 3.5.7 and save it, then upgrade, and if it goes badly then reflash to 3.5.7 and put the dump in to get back to where you were.

On the SA part, it isn't strange at all that it worked like that, when SA is working, at power up the FC tells the vTX to go to the settings the FC has, and it did, nothing strange there since it is doing what it is supposed to, it's just that the FC doesn't have YOUR settings.

The screen shot above is the correct place to start but you need to go into Profiles, then into vTX SA, and there you should see your vTX settings and be able to change them. 2 things, first you need to re-enable SA in the Ports tab, and you MUST do a "Set" in the vTX SA menu to have it take effect.
 
Sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees. :rolleyes: Thanks for the instructions and information. I'm still learning as you can tell but I'm getting there one step at a time. I have never
used the SA feature before although I knew it existed. I just had to meander through the settings to find the vTX settings and make the changes there which did the job.

I saved my 3.5.7 settings in a file dump as you instructed. Now, once I have installed BF 4.2, I'm going to need to re-flash my FC to the updated version... am I right on that?
I saw a video by "Drainman" on that and I'm sure that JB has one as well so I should be able to figure that one out as well. And I will need to do the same to my other quads
as well. And I know better than to try my old 3.5.7 settings in BF 4.2 so you know.

Another question for you. Seems that I heard JB say that in the new BF version that there is a setting for some sort of flight adjustments for having a GoPro flight cam onboard. I never even considered that to be an issue but I guess that it is. Can you enlighten me a bit on that please? And a FYI for you. Since we did the TeamViewer session a while back,
I upgraded my desktop PC to 12gb of RAM and updated it to Windows 10 Pro. BIG difference in performance for sure.

Thanks again for your help!!!?
 
Do NOT update your other quads yet, worry about this one first, all of your quads don’t need to be on the same rev. Updating the BF is an easy thing to START, but carries risk, before you start you have a quad that is flying good, and right after you flash it you have a quad that does not fly at all. YOU must configure by hand again, and there are new features and unforeseen issues that could cause you real problems getting back to a good flying quad. Don’t underestimate the job ahead updating, configuring properly, and fully testing everything (failsafes and every other switch or function) before it is safe and reliable to fly.

"once I have installed BF 4.2, I'm going to need to re-flash my FC to the updated version... am I right on that?"

There is no second step in updating to BF4.2, the only step is using the latest Betaflight Configurator and the Firmware Flasher in it to update the Flight Control "program" to a later revision. You will want to make sure you are updated to 10.7 of the BF Configurator.

"Seems that I heard JB say that in the new BF version that there is a setting for some sort of flight adjustments for having a GoPro flight cam onboard. I never even considered that to be an issue but I guess that it is."

I have not seen any of these videos to know what aspects they are referring to, but they may be making recommendations to counter weight and center of gravity changes possibly? If you have some links to the vids I would be interested, now I'm curious.
 
  • Like
Reactions: graywoulf
I did successfully install BF 4.2 yesterday. Following instructions I found, I flashed my SpeedyBee F4 AIO FC successfully and all seemed well except now BF does not see any input from my QX7 although RX and the QX7 are bound. I also checked the quad with BLheli and it does not see the ESC's at all. I ceased messing with it at that point for the day.

The BF setting that JB was/is referring to is called the "Feed Forward Smoothing" that apparently compensates for the camera forward weight. Here is the link to the video I got this information from.

I know I still have a lot to learn about Betaflight. I just wish that there was some kind of basic checklist to go by in setting up a quad. I'll figure it out someday.

Thanks again for your help and guidance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HighTechPauper
Basic is easy...
Ports
Config
Modes
Test and fly.

Every single permutation of what to do, what could go wrong or be broken, how to test and prove what's going on, not to mentions the 1000 things that are not really "critical", it gets hard to know it all, even JB doesn't know it all.

Feed Forward is just one of many "magic" additions to BF in these latest revs, but make no mistake, this is a MAJOR change in the basics of BF itself, and therefore is not well understood when applied to a given build. I started playing with BF4+ a few times and had soooo many weird (and sometimes dangerous) problems/issues, I gave up until at least winter when I can focus on it and it has some time to mature.

IMHO
 
  • Like
Reactions: graywoulf and tevek
Well, I did solve the receiver problem. My QX7 is now set up and working properly but I still cannot get BLHeli to see the ESC's. I know that while flashing the FC with BF 4.2 a popup window stated that it was installing the default settings but I don't think that it did a good job. The TX problem was not set up correctly and I got that fixed but I don't know how it may have affected the ESC's on the SpeedyBee F4 AIO FC. I'll keep plugging away at it. I'm sure that I will figure it out.
 
Absolutely nothing you did with BF or the TX or anything else even touched the ESC's, that message about 'defaults' is about the BF and it has nothing to do with it doing 'a good job' or not, it did the job whether it was the best thing for your FC or not is something I can't answer, I can explain this stuff to you and have a look at the ESC's with you if you want.
 
I would like very much to have you take a look at ESC's and give me some more education. Can we do this later this afternoon or this evening? I have to go pick
my car up at the body shop and pick up a few things this afternoon. Thanks!
 
@HighTechPauper, Thank you ever so much for getting me set straight on BLHeli as well as other things yesterday. You have been a tremendous help to me as well as my Wizard x220.

I also appreciate how you have boosted my confidence towards flying and not dwelling so much on the details that were holding me back.

You have also taught me so much about using Betaflight. I am looking forward to getting outside and flying my quad now. I mentioned to you how much using the simulators has helped me learn to fly in acro/air mode so here is a link to a simulator session that I flew a couple of weeks ago.

 
  • Like
Reactions: HighTechPauper
Well, the test flight didn't sound too good. The clicking noise can be heard before takeoff and during the short flight, it sounds like a rattling noise. I also did not have any OSD information but that's another issue. I'm going back for a hover test for the motors as I forgot to check them when it landed. You do get to see the tower I was talking about though. Here is the GoPro raw footage for you to watch and analyze.

 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
6,012
Messages
44,355
Members
5,308
Latest member
darshan rajput