warning
R/C helicopters are not toys. R/C helicopter utilize various high-tech products and technologies to provide superior performance.Improper use of this product can result in serious injury or even death. Please read this manual carefully before using and make sure to be conscious of your own personal safety and the safety of others and your environment when operating all RC Helicopter products. I assume no liability for the operation or the use of this product. Intended for use only by adults with experience flying remote control helicopters at a legal flying field.
tip
Safety is paramount. Always follow safety guidelines, such as not flying near people, animals, or obstacles. Maintain a safe distance from other RC enthusiasts. Wear safety glasses to protect your eyes from debris.
tip
I translated the Rotorfligh configurator to French, took me 30h to complete. https://github.com/rotorflight/rotorflight-configurator/pull/82
First step
- Download latest rotorflight configuration for stable (Rotorflight RF1) or Beta (Rotorflight RF2)
- Connect the Flight controller DragonFly to USB-C to your computer
- Launch and do a backup in the CLI, by typing
dump alland saving to a file, just for your reference. - Disconnect
Installing Rotorflight on the Flydragon F722
Rotorflight 2 | FULL SETUP from Flash to First Flight w/ Filters
Rotorflight 2 | SETUP SPEEDRUN | Flash to Flight in 14 Minutes!
- Connect the Flight controller DragonFly to USB-C to your computer
- Click the button “Update Firmware”
- Select “All release and snapshots”
- Select the board “FLYDRAGONF722_V2”
warning
flydragonf722M_v2 and flydragonf722_v2?? The M is for the motorised tail (2 motors, servos) while the other is for variable tail (1 motor, 4 servos).
- Click “Load Firmware [Online]” button at the bottom of the screen
- Click now “Flash Firmware” You’re done, safe default for the board have been applied.
Installing Rotorflight on the remote controller
Copy the LUA scripts on the SDCard https://github.com/rotorflight/rotorflight-lua-scripts
warning
Attention: the version of the LUA has to match the version of rotorflight, this is especially true for the snapshots. Check the date in the firmware name and use that same date in the filename of the lua scripts zip file.
e.g. “Rotorflight LUA Scripts Snapshot 2.0.0-20240128” match “Rotorflight Snapshot 2.0.0-20240128” firmware
Wiring the controller
Following the official documentation
With my YGE Saphir 155 ESC, there is some stuff to do
- YGE Throttle -> ESC on FlyDragon
- YGE RPM -> RPM-E on FlyDragon
- YGE Telemetry -> SBUS on FlyDragon, set UART 2 to “ESC Telemetry in Rotorflight” and protocol to BLHeli32
- Flash the YGE with latest Beta firmware so it support BLHeli32
warning
Attention: I did split the plug to remove the ground from the telemetry plug. This is a bad idea, as this plug is used in the USB dongle to update the ESC. Don’t do it!
Installing the controller
Depending how you mount physically the controller on the heli, you may have to adjust the yaw of the sensors.
Heli Seen from the back, tail view
| Default | Rotated |
|---|---|
 |  |
| Under “Board and Sensor Alignment” keep Yaw = 0 | Under “Board and Sensor Alignment” set Yaw = 180 |
| Please level the helicopter and calibrate it once. Hit the button “Save and Reboot” | After setting 180 degrees, please level the helicopter and calibrate it once. Hit the button “Save and Reboot” |
Use 3M gray tape tha has NO foam at all
Verify proper operations in the status widget, that the sensor properly tilt the helicopter in the preview windows
Installing FlyDragon ELRS antenna
I used with great success the mount at https://makerworld.com/en/models/88556 printed in PLA, put TPU, PETG is also OK
Check the swashplate compensation is in the right direction
if you move you heli, say left and right, the swash should move level itself to the horizon, as if it is trying to balance a cup of water in the middle and preventing it from spilling if the swash moves in the same direction as you are moving you heli and making the swash angle EVEN STEEPER, thats a wrong direction.
Check that the tail compensation is in the right direction
Check your tail to see such that if you put the heli to right side facing you, and that you are looking at the tail rotor head at the hub, when you move the tail towards you, the servo should compensate such that it makes the blades angles push air at you.
ELRS
ELRS Channel resolution setting
ELRS has different switch modes for different channel resolutions. We want to have at least 5 channels with full resolution. The Hybrid und Wide switch modes are not sufficient for Helicopter use as they offer only 4 channels with full resolution. We need to use the “8 channel full resolution mode“
ELRS Transmit power
It is important to not enable Dynamic TX power. This is because of a weird logic tied to channel 5. Please keep The TX Power set to fixed. 25mW should be more then sufficient for line of sight flying for model helicopters.
Telemetry
Adding sensors not supported by the CSRF protocol, see https://www.rotorflight.org/docs/Tutorial-Walkthroughs/ELRS-telemetry-reuse
Updating the ELRS internal module
Bind process
3 methods are available
ELRS Wifi access point
The Flydragon F722 disable wifi out of the box due to aluminium casing, you need to flash a custom firmware to enable it. From the ELRS web GUI, you can set your binding phrase. read more in ELRS manual
Boot button
Power the FlyDargon F722 and press the boot button once. The receiver LED would turn off and then turn back on. Continue pressing the button 2 more times. Make sure the receiver LED doing quick double-blink. Which indicates ELRS binding mode. In edgeTx select bind using ELRS Lua script.
Using betaflight passthrough
While the transmitter is disconnected, power the FC and hold the boot button until the receiver LED stays on. This enables the receiver firmware update mode.
ELRS companion
Not supported by the FlyDragon F722 :-(
