HEEWING Ranger T-1 VTOL PNP: Updating Arduplane safely

[@Painless360]

BE AWARE: it appears that units bought now are being shipped with the 'V2' flight controller that shouldn't need this process. Check what yours is before starting down this updating bootloader road!

[@gammagonad1657]

How do know? does "V2" just show up in Ardupilot or something?? I honestly never noticed the board name, when I plugged it in. I do remember getting errors, when trying to add the new parameters...I got mine about a month ago.

[@LoudandclearRC]

Under the Messages tab in Mission Planner it will show up as HEEWING-F405v2 or possibly F-405 TE I believe if it's a V1. V1 and V2 look identical on the outside.@@gammagonad1657

[@CentennialJewelers]

I have the same question. Did you ever get an answered

[@LoudandclearRC]

In Mission Planner under messages tab, it will display which version you have.@@CentennialJewelers

[@antoinep.7420]

Got mine 2 weeks ago. On the device manager it is labeled as "HEEWING-F405v2". I haven't seen a "v2" somewhere else.@@gammagonad1657

[@craigrjrich]

Thank you for uploading this lee and for the time you have spent getting this one to fly good.

[@Painless360]

No problem 👍

[@MCsCreations]

Excellent tutorial, Lee! Thanks a bunch!!! 😃 It's a bit complex, but it's not difficult at all! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@chrisroddick3899]

Thank you very much Lee and Andy!! And thanks Lee for the original param file(I didn’t save one! Lol) Really enjoy all you bring to this hobby and being a beacon to this community!

[@illuminatorix]

Thank you for your help! I will perform the update now and this video is reeeeealy helpful!!!!!

[@rusydi85]

I just received my T-1 VTOL PNP which came with v2 FC recently. Updated to 4.4.4 and applied the params. But felt the loiter was weird, drifted. Loaded back factory and loiter was solid, FBWA flew beautiful. Going to experiment a few more times.

[@Painless360]

Well done for backing up the config... Happy flying!

[@rusydi85]

@@Painless360 Awesome work btw.You are doing a great service for the Ardupilot community. Been using the ecosystem for more than 10 yrs but there is always something new to learn :)

[@rudypoirier7793]

Hello Lee, like an everyone else has been saying I say it also,, a big thank you for all the work you have put into this flight controller along with Andy. Is there somewhere I can drop you some pictures of how I set up my receiver, GPS and the internal fuselage wiring. Now I’m good at tinkering with this stuff, but when it comes to plugging it into my Mac, well, that’s a different story. I was not able to get a response in Ardupilot. I will keep watching your videos. lol Rudy 👋🇨🇦

[@rudypoirier7793]

Found out that crossfire receiver is not compatible when plugged in to the Receiver 4 pin input on the F405 FC. I will be rewiring my RX to Uart2.

[@rudypoirier7793]

Well, that still didn’t work when plugged into Uart 1 or 2. I will attempt to connect on a Windows PC

[@Alexei2904]

Thank you for the effort of making this nice video series without it I would not be able to assemble mine. I have the Matek F405 VTOL board and saw that latest Arduplane available now is 4.5.3. I was wondering if there is a tune around for this ardupilot as they implemented new kalman filters and the 4.4.0 tune might not work at all.

[@Painless360]

I don't have one here. Best of luck!

[@shawnzfpv]

FWIW I recently got a PNP and can confirm the FC identifies itself as HEEWING-F405v2. My defaults most certainly did not match any of the setup videos as it was already setup for CRSF / alt board config etc. I did have to set the RSSI type. My issue is QLoiter doesn't seem to aim for Level at all. In manual it seems to work just fine with differential thrust on yaw etc but QLoiter definitely doesn't work and the plane seem to target 45 degrees nose down as 'level' which pretty much just makes the craft hurl itself forward. I plan to flash to firmware and apply the diffs linked and see how it goes.

[@clmb2225]

Thanks again and again for your helpful videos. Can you tell me how I can check the rudder setting? The ailerons and elevator are clear, but the rudder is not clear to me. Is there a little trick?

[@Painless360]

Best place for up to date information is the Ardupilot wiki. Rudder control is different in fixed wing and hovering modes... Best of luck

[@charliekg6600]

Thank you for your reply. Verified It's the v1.

[@dronesluveco386]

Can you do a tutorial for the new VTOL feature in INAV?

[@Painless360]

I will do, then it is out.

[@daniel_li]

I have got T1 range VTOL frame, but a little bit confused about aileron control. Since there is no rudder, from my perspective, it should be left/right aileron to trun the plane right or left. So I think there should be 8 PWM pin be used, just as follows. 1. left tilt servo 2. right tilt servo 3. left motor 4. right motor 5. left aileron 6. right aileron 7. elevator 8. tail motor I do noticed that you have 9 configured connections: 1 = Motor2 2 = Motor1 3 = Tiltmotorfrontleft 4 = Tiltmotorfrontright 5 = Motor4 7 = Aileron 8 = Elevator 9 = The cable that was in outputs 3 (THR) originally So how about the real connections on those servos?

[@daniel_li]

I have got an other video about FC diagram. It's quite understandable. Still a question: Can I use S4 for servo?

[@Painless360]

Ailerons are on one connection. Best of luck

[@daniel_li]

There is no rudder. So how to turn left and right with ailerons on one connection(PWM)?😇

[@Painless360]

Bank and yank.... bank and yank. Same as flying wings..

[@crosswindjones]

Have you seen anyone trying to run the new iNav vtol on the FX 405 fc that heewing ships in these? I bought the full version cause it was only a small amount more but ultimately will replace the stock FC with iNav for and probably play with that.

[@Painless360]

I don't think I've seen that INAV supports the HEEWING F405 V2 boards that come in this model... Best of luck!

[@crosswindjones]

@@Painless360 Yeah, I was looking over the targets and didn't see it but figure its based on something more mainstream... maybe not though.

[@bibiefrat]

how do i know if i have v2 or v1 FC? thanks

[@Painless360]

See the reported board type as shown.. If it appears as a 'MATEK F405-TE' then it is a V1, if it appears as a HEEWING V405 V2, then it's a V2..

[@gammagonad1657]

So I bought this model when it first came out. Still haven’t flown it because I wanted it to be right. Saw this video back then and started the process. I remember having issues, and getting frustrated. Anyways I decided to give it another go. I get to the point where I’m trying to upload the transitional firmware, but it gets stuck on “COM3 Identify” and then after maybe 30sec. and then straight to “ERROR: No Response from board” every time. It will actually connect to Mission Planner, but won’t flash anything. I’ve tried this with two different PCs and multiple data cables. I’m about to use this stupid FC for target practice. Any ideas of what it could be? Thanks for all you contribute to the community!

[@Painless360]

I'd try and flash it with something like INAV or betaflight to see if that works... Best of luck

[@gammagonad1657]

@ I know BF and INAV well as Ive been in the hobby since 2018, but this is my first Ardupilot craft. Don’t know all of its quirks yet. Thanks so much, may give that a try

[@Painless360]

If it flashes with INAV or BF then you know the PC, cable and FC are good.. Best of luck!

[@robsonalves400]

What does version 4.5.7 look like? Can I also update and use the parameters from your colleague? Cheers Robson alves

[@Painless360]

Probably not. This is part of the challenges with VTOL... Happy flying

[@robsonalves400]

@ ok thank you. 😉👌

[@rockyking7175]

i completed this including swapping connectors, now my rx doesnt respond to inputs even though it is connected. flight controller responds correct surfaces but the rc inputs are jacked.

[@Painless360]

See note in description. Rc inputs will need resetting. Best of luck

[@charliekg6600]

Respectfully, I need help. After confirming the Heewing fc board IDs as Matek F405, I loaded the transitional firmware using "Load custom firmware". This causes Mission Planner to give error: "Firmware not suitable for this board fw". MP then times out with "No heartbeat packets received". Yikes! Not sure what to do now.

[@Painless360]

The process and way it worked for me is shown in the video. As mine went as planned, I didn't encounter any issues but did add the protips from the developers in the video... make sure that you need to do the transitional firmware. The newer V2 FC has been shipping for a while.

[@charliekg6600]

@@Painless360 I will go back and re-flash the original 4.3.5 firmware and start over.

[@ferdivaneeden7619]

I got the same error so I just flashed it with the newest Plane V4.4.3 and it picked up Heewing F405-V2. All seems fine now. Thank you Lee.

[@charliekg6600]

@@ferdivaneeden7619 Same here after several attempts. Thanks guys!

[@pauladiti2820]

Lee, Excuse my ignorance but.... I have followed the instructions in this video to the lettre but nothing is reacting as one would expect. Also, In the comparison charts for the servo output check in your setup there are two times "tilt motor front right" and two times "motor 4"?? last point, The FC has only 9 outputs, what to do with 'position 11, motor 7/tail tilt motor' ? I hope you can explain to me what to do or point me to another pace/video where I can find the answers. thanks in advance.

[@Painless360]

Please see the note in the description... Best of luck

[@LoudandclearRC]

Did you manage to get it sorted out?

[@pauladiti2820]

@@LoudandclearRC No, no luck so far. Seems to be something between the radio and the receiver because when I set-up channel 6 for Flightmode nothing happens and I also cannot arm the plane with 4 sec full right rudder. If I disable arming check in mission planner nothing changes in behaviour of the plane, mission planner does accept the command change and answers with "armed" but that is all. All servo's and motors do react if I connect them directly to a servo tester so only things that remain are the receiver and its connection to the F405. I am using the set-up that Lee proposed in another video as a template. Spend a couple of loooong afternoons now but I get no result. Kind of lost of what to try next.

[@LoudandclearRC]

I believe that flight mode is set to channel 5 in the provided parameters. Assign your mode switch to CH 5 on your radio. Hope it helps!@@pauladiti2820

[@daniel_li]

Should I upgrade BLS FX 25A to bluejay, supporing bidirectional-dshot?

[@Painless360]

Ideally, but it will fly without

[@robsonalves400]

Hello, thank you very much for your video. I got my vtol t1 Ranger pep kit, put everything together but it fails when connecting to pc. When I plug in the USB it flashes green first and then red. but nothing happens. I don't even get a COM display. It sounds like my PC doesn't recognize it. what can I do there? do you have an idea? I've already tried the Ardupilot drivers but nothing happens.

[@Painless360]

Try another usb data cable?

[@robsonalves400]

@ I have already tried 7 different cables

[@Painless360]

Then please cover what other troubleshooting you've tried, so time isn't wasted covering stuff you've done already...

[@robsonalves400]

@@Painless360 Tried mission planner version 1.3 to latest. No success. Mac mini 1m Macpro m2 Windows 11 Windows 10 Windows XP. No success. Reinstalled direct x from ardupilot. No success. Tried 7 different cables.

[@robsonalves400]

@@Painless360 My t1 is new and should have firmware pre-installed according to heewing.

[@donnewei9611]

wanna INAV VTOL tutorial video, thanks

[@Painless360]

Coming when v7.0 is out.

[@donnewei9611]

@@Painless360you mean the stable version v7.0?

[@Painless360]

Yes, when it is released (i.e. not a release candidate ;) )

[@Dr_Disintegrator]

Does anyone know if you can run INAV 7.x VTOL on this FC?

[@Painless360]

Check out the supported targets. No HEEWING listed at the moment...

[@craigrjrich]

In the process of swapping wires around. I have noticed there is 2x tiltmotorfrontright in the new outputs? Also which was is throttle and rudder? In the new outputs?

[@Painless360]

See note in description.. Best of luck.

[@craigrjrich]

​@Painless360 Would you know why my elevator and ailerons no long respond?

[@Painless360]

What troubleshooting have you done already?

[@craigrjrich]

@Painless360 I did revert back to my original parameters file to make sure it wasn't the servos acting up. Just the standard stuff making sure the wires are in the correct way etc. Being fairly new to ardupilot I'm not sure what else to do.

[@craigrjrich]

​@Painless360 I have played around swapping servo outputs and ailerons will work all channels upto 6 but nothing after that. I am using elrs just incase.

[@gizzmomambo]

Is this the same process for the matek vtol fc

[@Painless360]

The same but we've not finished the F405-VTOL FC param file yet.

[@Dashone93]

Can u change the output to be the same as old output and not move wires why are there two motor 4

[@Painless360]

Unless you fully understand how the outputs are grouped to maximise the timers, I wouldn't. Best of luck

[@Dashone93]

Thanks for showing us non patriot on how to fully get flying