Setup Guides

Step-by-step guides for setting up a helicopter, in roughly the order you need them. Each guide links to the Configurator pages that explain the individual settings.

Blades off

Keep the main and tail blades off until the setup is finished and the first spool-up test has passed.

The basic setup

Step	Guide
1	Flash the firmware and make a first connection.
2	Betaflight flight controller? Remap the outputs for servos and motors. Rotorflight flight controllers skip this.
3	Set the board orientation on the Configuration tab, and calibrate the accelerometer.
4	Connect the receiver and set it up on the Receiver tab; set up the arm switch.
5	Battery sensors and profiles on the Power tab.
6	Servo Setup -- centres, rates and directions.
7	Mixer & Swashplate Setup -- swashplate type, calibration and limits.
8	ESC protocol and throttle range on the Motors tab, then RPM Measurement and ESC Telemetry.
9	Governor -- headspeed control.
10	RPM Filters on the Gyro tab.
11	Rates to taste, and check the failsafe.
12	Set up your radio and the Lua suite.
13	Back up, then fly and tune.

The Example Build follows these steps for a real helicopter.

More guides

Guide	For
ESC Forward Programming	Programming the ESC through the flight controller.
BLHeli_S to Bluejay	Flashing small-heli ESCs for bidirectional DShot.
Nitro Helicopters	Throttle servo, RPM sensor and governor for nitro.
Gear Ratios	Working out ratios for two-stage gearboxes.
SmartFuel	A fuel gauge that behaves in flight.
Profile Switching	Several tunes and headspeeds on one switch.
Stability Modes	Angle, Horizon, Rescue and trimming them.
LED Strip	Orientation and status lights.
OpenLager Logging	Blackbox logging to an external logger.
FBUS Master	F.Bus servos and sensors driven by the flight controller.
ELRS Custom Telemetry	Full Rotorflight telemetry over ExpressLRS.