After some consideration, I decided to not use the built in DJI receiver protocol to fly the drone that I just built. Instead, I soldered in a small yet powerful new control link from HappyModel.
I went with the HappyModel EP2 TCXO Receiver which is a newer version of the EP2.
It connects exactly the same as the older version but has some improvements to enhance the clock frequency. Ultimately this helps maintain a better link to the radio.
Connecting it to the drone
Soldering it up wasn’t too bad. Just needed to connect 4 wires to the receiver and to the flight controller. Getting it configured with the latest ExpressLRS version was tricky in my case. I had messed with the older version in the past, so my pc “remembered” that and gave me a fit.
I used the same colors as indicated on my wiring diagram for my flight controller. This is just so future Matt won’t mix up something down the line. It really does not matter what you use, just don’t mix up the connections or it will go up in smoke. Probably literally. The version I went with is in the middle in the image below.
Getting this thing to work
One of the ways you can flash the receiver is by using its built in Wi-Fi emitter and connect to it with the configurator app. My pc had the Wi-Fi network saved from the last time I flashed one of these and it ended up being an issue. I just had to forget the network and try again, and it finally worked.
Getting it configured in BetaFlight is simple. In the ports section, enable Serial RX on whatever port you soldered the receiver up to on the flight controller. In my case the receiver is connected to port 2 (UART 2). Click on Save and Reboot.
Reconnect and go to the Receiver section. Set the receiver mode to Serial (via UART) and set the serial receiver provider to CRSF and hit save. If all goes to plan the new ELRS receiver is the active one and the DJI control link will no longer work (unless you put the settings back to what you had before).
Since I already flashed to the latest version of ELRS (ExpressLRS), the receiver was ready to go. Just adjusted my modes in BetaFlight and I was done.
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