Blade 350 QX3 with Devo8S

Hi,
Is anyone try and succeeds in setting the model.ini file for the Blade 350 QX3 on devo 8s? Thank you for your ideas.

Tom Z posted a 350QX version that will work on pretty much all the Tx's a long while back. The only difference for the V2 & V3 firmware is the flight modes: the V2 firmware has four flight modes, so you can either just use three (my choice - I can't stand the idiot savant "smart" mode), though I believe there are people who have posted model that get all 4. There are also some with stagility mode.

The V3 firmware on the QX3 changes that yet again - they moved the RTH mode to the same channel as flight mode. Moving RTH channel mixer to the last mixer for flight mode and adjusting the output values should be all that's required for the V3 firmware.

A bug in HH's desktop software keeps me from updating my 350 to V3, so I haven't verified this yet, but I really want that mod - I'd love another channel for my gimbal! If none of the ones in the 350 QX thread are suitable, or you don't want to try tweaking it yourself, and nobody shows up with one, I can try and create one for you but won't be able to test it.

If you've got the AP version or want it set up for a gimbal, that's a whole 'nother issue.

Thank you for your answer,
If I understand correctly, for example : mod0: smart, mod1: AP and mod2 RTH ? And where to put the other mod on devo 8s ?
If you can make the change of the .ini file, I want to test it. But I have not yet gimbal.
What is your bug to update the V3 ? What files do you use ? normally it should work.

On the v1 firmware, FMOD0 was Smart, FMOD1 was stable, and FMOD2 was agile. The V2 software added AP mode to the same channel, and the default behavior didn't have agile mode. I personally set it up so I got AP mode instead of smart mode, and there' s no way to get smart mode on my controller - which as far as I'm concerned is the way it should be. Others have set it up to get all four modes.

As I said, with the V3 firmware, they've moved RTH from a channel of it's own to share the flight mode channel. Without knowing what the ranges are for the the various flight modes, I can't really say what any existing model files FMOD switch will do. But tweaking it so that the gear switch gives you RTH is an easy fix. Adjusting the FMOD values at the same time to do whatever you want isn't any harder.

I don't have any free switches on my 10 (it's set up for a stella gimbal), so I'd probably do something like set FMOD0 so AIL DR switched between AP and Smart mode, and either lose the dual rates it does now, or make it do dual rates in the other flight modes. But like I said, I was glad to lose Smart mode - the closest I've come to having it fly away was because I fat-thumbed the switch from agile to smart mode instead of stable mode. So I'd recommend searching the 350QX model thread to see what others have done.

The PC software that you use to flash the v3 firmware doesn't recognize my 350. I called HH, and they said it was a known bug, and they were working on it. I think I'll download again and give it a try, in case they fixed it without changing the size. And if it fails, call them and see if I can use the old firmware flash tool.

Flashing the v3 firmware with the v2 update tool worked like a charm. The PC UI is working - except I need to convince it I'm not in greenland. You wouldn't know about that, would you?

Anyway, here's a first crack at a v3 model.ini. It really needs to be cleaned up some. No stagility mode, though the appropriate virtual mixer is still there. channel 6 & 7 are still in place for the stella gimbal, and those use the mix switch.

This was tested (but not flown yet) on my 350QXv3 & Devo 10 to verify mode changes. I checked the ini file on the Devo8 emulator to verify that Channel5 was doing the right things as well..

Init: RUD DR0 -> RUD DR1.
Throttle hold: RUD DR in 0 position and throttle full down.

FMODE: 0 -> AP, 1 -> Stability, 2 -> Agility

RTH: GEAR1

AIL DR1 turns on low rates for cyclic should you want it.

ELE DR1 resets the countdown timer (timer 1)

Thank you for the ini file: I tested it and it works well. ( FMod Ap and stability )
Like you I think the smart mod not used much: so it's okay missing.
I did like you, I did the upgrade V3 with the old firmware flash tool !
For Greenland it is a problem especially for the RTH !! I hope that you have a good battery !!!
On the PC tool have you waited for the green sattelites are well before looking at maps ? It's really strange the functioning of your GPS.
Now i want to find a gimbal to test the operation there of.

Hey guys,

Great one, working here as well. Indeed, Smart mode is boring to tears.

Just a weird behaviour with the 'init' magic, RUD DR 1 doesn't start the motors. (it plays a 3 notes sound and then plays that same sound the other way round) Any clue why ?

Scale/offset maybe ?

thanks !
Joe

Hi,

Is the led is fixed, which means that the GPS is OK ?

"Try to lower the safety value of the throttle channel to -125 or lower..."

Early in 350 posts, 2013yr, RUDD D/R didn't always work. Recall was from FDR, above, seemed to work in cases (on mine it did). The later model 2014yr file has the safety value at -100, so perhaps similar issue again.

FW 3.0 (QX3 comes with it by default) brings some new values and new init sequence. I just posted my new config in 350 QX thread.

Regardless, FW 3.0 has this settings:

Ch1 THR -130 stop motors.

Ch5 controls flight modes like this:

+140 - Agility - Red
+125 - Stability - Blue
+100 - Smart - Green
0 - AP - Purple
-100 - RTH - (flash red)

Ch6 controls gimbal input (useless with Devo)
+140 - Ch7 control gimball
-120 - Ch1 (THR) control gimbal

Ch 7 -100/+100 range controls gimbal if Ch6 is at +140.

Why is the ch6 gimbal control useless with Devo? I can see that it's useless unless you have the gimbal, but the Devo ought to be able to output those values.

I mean useless in a good way! It need to be set to +140 permanently and it is default value.

Why would you want to control gimbal with throttle if you have Devo and can setup Ch7 to do it based on MIX or trims for example? =))

Ah, gotcha. Are they' working around the limitations of the RTF Tx that comes with the V3?

I want the V3 firmware for my QX1 to free up channel 6. I'm using a LemonRX to control the gimbal, and the QX1 Rx is one of the ones that Devo has problems with if bound with more than 7 channels. So another channel is a good thing!

Do you know if the QX3 works properly if bound with 8 channels?