SunFounder SF250 User manual

Preface
About SunFounder
SunFounder is a technology company focused on Raspberry Pi and Arduino open source
community development. Committed to the promotion of open source culture, we strive to
bring the fun of electronics making to people all around the world and enable everyone to
be a maker. Our products include learning kits, development boards, robots, sensor
modules and development tools. In addition to high quality products, SunFounder also offers
video tutorials to help your own project. If you have interest in open source or making
something cool, welcome to join us! Visit www.sunfounder.com for more!
About the Kit
The Q250/SF250 quadcopter is tailored for the hobbyists for FPV flying. It runs the OpenPilot
firmware of the flight controller and the electronic speed controller. This kit is designed to
meet the hobbyists’higher requirement of flying the aircraft, featuring stability, flexibility and
agility. You can realize a stable flight in a small space or a rapid 3D flight based on your own
configuration and parameter setting.
In this book, we will show you how to configure the wizard of CC3D. In addition, we have
also provided the videos about how to assemble and fly the Q250 and SF250 quadcopters
for you. You can check them under VIDEO on our website.
Free Support
If you have any TECHNICAL questions, add a topic under FORUM section on our
website and we'll reply as soon as possible.
For NON-TECH questions like order and shipment issues, please send an email to
[e-mail]. You're also welcomed to share your projects on FORUM.
Copyright Notice
All contents including but not limited to texts, images, and code in this manual are owned
by the SunFounder Company. You should only use it for personal study, investigation,
enjoyment, or other non-commercial or nonprofit purposes, under the related regulations
and copyrights laws, without infringing the legal rights of the author and relevant right
holders. For any individual or organization that uses these for commercial profit without
permission, the Company reserves the right to take legal action.
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Contents
1. Overview......................................................................................................................................1
For Q250.......................................................................................................................................1
For SF250 ......................................................................................................................................2
For SF250 Assembled Kit (with Radio Transmitter) ..................................................................3
2. Connect the Receiver ...............................................................................................................4
CC3D Flight Controller ...............................................................................................................4
Connect to the Receiver ..........................................................................................................5
For PWM Mode:...................................................................................................................5
For PPM Mode: ....................................................................................................................6
For SBUS Mode:....................................................................................................................7
About the Radio Transmitter.....................................................................................................7
3. CC3D Software Debugging ....................................................................................................10
Installing the Ground Control Station (GCS).........................................................................10
Plug in the CC3D Flight Control..............................................................................................11
Configuring the Wizard of CC3D ...........................................................................................14
Calibrating the Motor Output.................................................................................................19
Configuring the Radio Transmitter .........................................................................................24
Modifying the RX Input Parameters .......................................................................................31
PWM Mode ........................................................................................................................32
PPM Mode..........................................................................................................................33
SBUS Mode .........................................................................................................................35
Check the Flight Mode............................................................................................................35
Calibrating the Aircraft............................................................................................................36
Setting Parameters Manually..................................................................................................38
PWM Mode ........................................................................................................................38
PPM Mode..........................................................................................................................41
SBUS Mode .........................................................................................................................45
Save the Settings ......................................................................................................................47
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1. Overview
This instruction manual applies to the aircraft kits including the Q250 kit, SF250 components
kit, and SF250 assembled kit (with radio transmitter).
Since the Q250 and SF250 kit are provided in components, you need to mount them yourself.
For different aircrafts, check the respective assembly tutorials below.
For Q250
Visit our website www.sunfounder.com, click VIDEO, scroll down to Aircraft Model and find
Q250. You can see 6 videos there on the page, including a basic introduction one and 5
detailed tutorials. The tutorial videos are marked with numbers in order. Aircraft assembly
requires great carefulness and patience, so please follow the steps in the video closely.
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For SF250
On our website, go to VIDEO -> Aircraft Model -> SF250. You can see 6 videos including a
basic introduction one and detailed tutorials which are marked with numbers in order.
Aircraft assembly is a task that requires carefulness and patience, so please follow the steps
in the video for operation.
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For SF250 Assembled Kit (with Radio Transmitter)
For the SF250 assembled kit, most of the components have been assembled except the
propellers and the battery before arriving at your doorstep. Please finish the assembly by
following the tutorial in www.sunfounder.com -> WIKI -> Drones/Model Aircrafts->CC3D ->
SunFounder 250+Radiolink T8FB Remote Controller(Assembled).
The receiver included is a PWM mode one with firmware burnt. If the firmware is missing due
to an aircraft collision or some other reasons, you need to reburn it; please refer to 3. CC3D
Software Debugging.
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2.Connect the Receiver
The wire connection for the PWM Mode is mentioned in the video, but the wiring differs for
various receivers in different modes, so you need to adapt it to the actual situation. First let's
check the pins of the CC3D flight controller.
CC3D Flight Controller
The pins of CC3D flight controller is as shown below. When wiring, you should be clear about
the pins’ name and connect them correctly, or a short circuit may happen.
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Connect to the Receiver
The CC3D flight controller supports three modes: PWM, PPM, and SBUS. Thus as long as your
receiver supports one of these modes, it works with this kit. The wiring for three modes is
described below.
For PWM Mode:
Prepare eight wires for a PWM mode receiver, and connect the receiver and the flight
controller as shown below. You can modify the corresponding channel in software
debugging part.
Flight Controller
Receiver
GND
GND
PWR
VCC
1
CH1
2
CH2
3
CH3
4
CH4
5
CH5
6
CH6
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For PPM Mode:
Flight Controller
Receiver
GND
GND
PWR
VCC
6
PPM
For PPM mode, since GND, PWR and CH1 are connected together, we need to connect
the 3pin cable to other position, and then connect CH6 to PPM(CH2).
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For SBUS Mode:
Flight Controller (Main Port)
Receiver
GND
GND
VCC
VCC
TX
N/A
RX
SBUS
About the Radio Transmitter
Since a radio transmitter will be used in software debugging, let’s first learn something about it now.
For more details, please refer to the transmitter’s user manual.
Talking of radio transmitter control, here a term is involved: "channel", meaning how many
types of movement the copter can make by the radio transmitter control. For example, up
and down can be counted one channel. If the radio transmitter control can only control
the copter to fly up and down, it's called one channel.
For a quadcopter, at least four channels are needed, namely, up-down, right-left, forward-
backward, and clockwise-counterclockwise rotation. The corresponding channels are
throttle (up-down), roll (right-left), pitch (front-back) and yaw (clockwise-counterclockwise
rotation). If you want more functions, more channels are required.
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Before applying the radio transmitter, you need to know there are two different types of
radio transmitter. They are different in the position of throttle –left (what we provided in this
kit) and right. The throttle controls the motor speed. The higher you push it, the motor rotates
faster, and the quadcopter flies higher, and vice versa. It is quite easy to tell the throttle. Try
to pull the two rocker arms. The one that will not restore to the middle is the throttle rocker.
Radio Transmitter (left hand throttle)
Radio Transmitter (right hand throttle)
See the figure below for the throttle type.
Mode 1 (Throttle left) Mode 2 (Throttle right)
The four rocker channels are Throttle, Rudder, Elevator, and Aileron, which are Throttle, Yaw,
Pitch, and Roll respectively in the software. The mapping relationship is as shown below:
Throttle
Throttle
Rudder
Yaw
Elevator
Pitch
Aileron
Roll
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Next, let’s move on to software debugging.
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3.CC3D Software Debugging
Pay attention NOT to install the propellers at this time for the sake of your safety.
Installing the Ground Control Station (GCS)
Go to WIKI on our website sunfounder.com -> Drones/Model Aircrafts -> CC3D ->
SunFounder 250 or Q250 or SunFounder 250+Radiolink T8FB Remote Controller(Assembled),
Find Related links at the bottom of the page.
Here we take OpenPilot as an example, but you can also use LibrePilot instead. Check the
installation steps below:
Open the GCS installer file downloaded and take these steps:
1. Choose a language from the drop-down list on the first page, then click OK. (You can
cancel installation at any point by clicking Cancel.)
2. The OpenPilot Welcome screen appears. Click Next.
3. Review the conditions of the license agreement and then click I Agree to accept the
terms.
4. You can select which components to install in the Choose Components dialog box. Click
Next to accept the default selections.
5. Click finish to complete the installation
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Plug in the CC3D Flight Control
Connect the CC3D flight controller to computer with the Micro USB Cable included, and
you can see the Power LED lights up and stay brighten constantly, while the Status LED blinks.
The driver installation will take some minutes; a reminder of failing to install may pop up as
shown below, and you can just ignore it - the installation result in Device Manager shall
prevail.
Open Device Manager. If you see CopterControl Virtual COM Port (COMxx) (the number
depends on your actual situation), it indicates the flight controller has been recognized by
the computer.
If you see the CopterControl with a yellow exclamation mark！in Other devices:
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There are two possibilities:
1) OpenPilot or LibrePilot GCS is not installed yet;
2) The driver failed to install.
Right-click CopterControl, and click Update Driver Software…
Select Browse my computer for driver software.
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Click Browse to enter the installation path of OpenPilot (or LibrePilot), and select the driver
folder, then click Next.
When the installation is all done, click close to exit. Then you can see the flight controller has
been recognized by the computer.
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Later during the application, sometimes it may happen that the device cannot be
recognized. Don’t worry, just try to replug the USB cable, or reburn the firmware.
Configuring the Wizard of CC3D
Ensure the CC3D flight controller is kept connected to the computer, and double-click to
open the GCS just installed. The TX and RX data at bottom indicates the flight controller’s
connecting status. If they are both in grey, it means the flight controller is not connected.
Just replug to try.
Click Vehicle Setup Wizard and enter the interface of configuring the wizard as shown
below:
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On the interface of configuring the wizard, there is a red mark reminding you to disassemble
the propeller blades before configuring the wizard in case of any accidents. Then click Next
to enter the interface of firmware upgrading.
It will prompt you that the version of the firmware should be consistent with that of the GCS.
For the first time of configuring, you're suggested to upgrade the firmware. Take the
following steps:
Unplug the battery and USB cable from OpenPilot to ensure the CC3D flight control board
is powered down and no LED is on.
Click Upgrade
Plug the USB cable when the bar starts running. Then the GCS will automatically write the
latest firmware onto the board.
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After writing is done, then click Next to configure the receiver of the remote-control system.
Select the corresponding mode according to your receiver’s wiring. Here we take PWM
mode as an example.
Click Next. Choose the type of vehicle the OpenPilot controller board is going to be used
with. Choose Multirotor among the four types of vehicles - Multirotor, Helicopter, Fixed wing
and Surface.
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Then, choose the multirotor type. There are several choices provided on the drop-down list
of the multirotor type. Choose Quadcopter X.
Click Next. Choose Rapid ESC.
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Now you can see all the settings you just completed displayed on the interface.
Click Next to go to the interface of calibrating the sensor. Be careful to ensure that the
vehicle is really level before calibration to avoid any error.
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