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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)

Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding requirements 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Spektrum 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 67 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Amor 67 receiver 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Amor 67 receiver bind button

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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 90-remove camera canopy This will give access to the board, the tiny circuit on three wires with a bare antenna wire Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 90 reveal receiver On this board there is a tiny push button circled in red below, press and hold this whilst attaching the craft battery. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 90 receiver bind switch

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). Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Spektrum Bind Mode 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor-67-Betaflight laptop usb connected 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding betaflight calibrate accelerometer 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). Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Spektrum betaflight config setup 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Spektrum betaflight modes setup arm 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Spektrum betaflight modes setup 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!

Binding to FrSky transmitters such as the Taranis X9D

This is slightly more involved as it will require replacing the entire receiver board. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding FrSky

Fitting the AC800 FrSky compatible receiver

Before starting, ensure the battery is fully charged as the batteries arrive with a 'storage charge' level. Firstly we will have to remove the current receiver.

For the Armor67

Remove the top deck using the screwdriver, being careful not to disconnect the camera wires. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 67 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Amor 67 receiver The receiver board is visible here, the small plastic wrapped circuit board sat ontop of the flight controller, with the bare antenna wire sticking out of it. You can also see the power and signal wires entering it below as shown in the following photo. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Amor 67 wiring

For the Armor90

You will need to remove the entire camera 'turret'. Unscrew the 4 screws from below to remove the lid with a small cross-head screwdriver. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 90-remove camera canopy Then unscrew the four screws holding it down to the chassis and put it aside, being careful not to strain the camera wiring. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor-90 remove canopy and camera This will give you access to the flight controller with the receiver connected via three wires running into the camera 'turret'.

Continuation for both drones

We will be replacing the standard receiver with the Makerfire ISky AC800 FrSky 7CH Telemetry Receiver available on our webstore. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding lead-ISky AC800 receiver The receiver comes with a couple of wires, one of which you can modify to connect the 3 relevant pins on the circuit board.  We recommend you use the wire with the 3pin plug on the end that will allow you to easily connect and disconnect the receiver. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding FrSky compatible receiver AC800Cut the wire leaving a pigtail of around 4cm of wire and the plug on the end. Now it is time to remove the receiver. This is achieved by de-soldering the white, red and black wires that join it to the flight controller board. The standard DSM2 compatible receiver is connected to the flight controller as follows:
  • White cable > TX2 pin
  • Red cable > 3.3v pin (inboard from the 5v pin, see the diagram below for more detail)
  • Black cable > Ground
Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding ground signal and power wiring When changing to the new AC800 receiver the wiring position is different, it requires a higher voltage to operate as well as utilising a different output. Its worth noting that the colours of the wires are only relevant if you are using the supplied wire.
  • Yellow > PPM/SBus pin (next to the 5v pin)
  • Red cable > 5v pin
  • Black cable > Ground
The below wiring diagram explains the setup visually makerfire flight controller wiring diagram Take your time when soldering as the tabs are very small and you do not want to bridge the connection. With the Armor67 drone with affixed the receiver to the top of the USB port on the board with a small piece of foam tape. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 67 AC800 For the Armor90 drone we routed the new wiring into the camera turret and placed the receiver in there as with the original setup. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 90 replacement receiver Now you are ready to bind to the transmitter.

Binding the FrSky transmitter

Plug in a charged battery to the quadcopter. On your FrSky transmitter, create a new model using the menu. Navigate to the bind setting under that model memory Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding FrSky Bind mode On the drone, plug in the battery, wait 6-10 seconds and the LED on the receiver should start flashing rapidly indicating it is in bind mode. Press enter on the bind option to activate it on the FrSky transmitter and it will confirm that it is bound. You should at this time get a telemetry on the screen confirming that the transmitter and receiver are talking to each other.

Configuring Betaflight for FrSky

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.  If it doesn't work at first try reconnecting the drone before pressing connect. Otherwise consult betaflight documentation for the correct drivers. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Armor 90 betaflight Ensure the drone is level and press calibrate accelerator and confirm that the calibration is finished in the top status bar. This is required to ensure the craft can arm as it knows it is flat. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding betaflight calibrate accelerometer Select Ports on the left hand menu (expand your window if your left hand grey menu doesn't look like ours) Disable UART2 Serial RX by pressing the switch off. Enable UART3 and change the telemetry output to FrSky as below. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding FrSky betaflight ports Press save and reboot. Reconnect the drone. Select Configuration from the left hand menu. Change the serial receiver provider to SBUS as shown in the screenshot below. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding FrSky betaflight configuration Press save and reboot. With the craft reconnected from the left hand menu select Receiver. At this point you should be able to interact with the sticks on the transmitter and see the values change on screen. 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Spektrum betaflight modes setup arm 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. Makerfire Tiny Whoop Binding Spektrum betaflight modes setup 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!

Order your brushless Tiny Whoop today!

Hopefully this guide has been helpful in explaining how to get the new drones in the air. As ever they are available from our webstore, the Armor67 here and the Armor90 here. We also have the AC800 receiver you will need if you would prefer to bind it to an FrSky transmitter such as the X7. Have you noticed any errors in this blog? Perhaps you have questions regarding the Armor range? Please leave your comments below!

Written by

Tom Beggles

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