Finding your Tiny Whoop a little on the slow side? Well Makerfire are back with two brushless Tiny-Whoop style quadcopters and these things are fast! The new drones offer incredible performance but are less accessible to FPV racing beginners. As such we have put together this bind and fly guide for the two brushless tiny whoops, the Armor67 and Armor90 to get you in the air in no time.
This guide will show you how to get your Armor67 or Armor90 up in the air using a Spektrum transmitter. It also explains how the drone can be flown with FrSky transmitters such as the Taranis X9D after swapping out the receiver.
You will need (Hardware Requirements)
- Armor67 OR Armor90 drone
- Small cross-head screwdriver
- A micro USB cable
- Betaflight (in our case running on a laptop through Chrome)
Out of the box support Spektrum and are DSM2 compatible. If you wish to bind to a FrSky Taranis X9D, X12S and X9E you will also need the AC800 receiver. To install said receiver you will also require small wire cutters, a soldering iron and some basic soldering skills.
Binding to Spektrum (DSM2 compatible transmitters)
The Makerfire drones ship with a DSM2 compatible receiver on-board, making the binding a straight-forward process.
Before starting, ensure the battery is fully charged as the batteries arrive with a ‘storage charge’ level.
For the Armor67
Remove the top deck using the screwdriver, being careful not to disconnect the camera wires.
You will also need to clear access for the micro usb cable so its worth doing this now. Remove the rear top deck stand mount circled red in the photo below.
This will give access to the receiver board, the tiny circuit shown below. On this board there is a tiny push button (circled in red), press and hold this whilst attaching the craft battery.
For the Armor90
Using a small crosshead screwdriver, remove the camera case lid by undoing the four screws from below and lift the lid clear.
This will give access to the board, the tiny circuit on three wires with a bare antenna wire
On this board there is a tiny push button circled in red below, press and hold this whilst attaching the craft battery.
Continuation for both drones
This process places the receiver into a bind state and will flash the on-board LED rapidly. Turn on the remote controller whilst holding down the bind button/switch (trainer switch on our DX6i).
The LED on the receiver board should now stop flashing and changed to a solid orange light. This indicates the craft is successful bound. Turn the drone off by removing the battery before continuing.
Configuring Betaflight for Spektrum
With betaflight open, insert the micro usb cable into the drone to connect it to the computer. No battery is required in the drone during this process, the flight controller powering itself from the USB cable. If it doesn’t work at first try reconnecting the drone before pressing connect. Otherwise consult betaflight documentation for the correct driver.
After ensuring the drone is flat and level, press Calibrate Accelerator and confirm that the calibration is finished in the top status bar; This will give the craft a reference point.
Select Configuration from the left hand menu (widen the window if your grey left-hand men
Change the serial receiver provider to Spektrum 2048 as shown in the screenshot below. Then press save and reboot (important for committing your changes before changing tabs/screens).
With the craft reconnected, select Receiver from the left hand menu.
At this point you should be able to interact with the sticks on the transmitter and see the values change on screen, confirming that the receiver is indeed bound to the transmitter; If not, repeat the steps to bind.
Next you need to setup an Arm switch, (think of it as the ignition key in a car that must be turned to a certain place for the electronics to start).
Select Modes from the left hand menu
Press Add Range on the ARM setting box. Decide on what aux channel you wish to use to arm the craft (we opted for Aux 1) and select it from the dropdown as seen below.
Flip the switch back and forth and note the signal position block under the bar, its the yellow marker that will dance as you throw the switch. You need to configure the slider range to safely cover one of the positions of the signal position block in the switch position that you want the craft to arm in.
We recommend setting up different mode triggers to suit your flying style at this time. Horizon mode is ideal for beginner pilots.
Ensure you press save to write the data.
The drone is now bound and configured to match your transmitter in the most basic sense. It is ready to fly with the default flight controller program.
Disconnect the micro USB from the craft. Attach the battery, flick the arm switch to make the craft hot and you are ready to fly!