tbs electronics CROSSFIRE (XF), Manual

Page 1: ...me link vitals and telemetry Self healing frequency hopping link Receiver beacon mode to recover your downed aircraft Super easy binding and configuration via built in OLED display or TBS TANGO remote Low latency control for perfect immersive feeling Free output mappable 8 output diversity with integrated backup battery or super tiny receiver 4g weight only both with up to 12 channel PPM Ability t...

Page 2: ... Set failsafe BST Connectivity with TBS equipment Control UNIFY PRO VTX with SmartAudio Antenna Operation Status display Up and downlink status Find mode Direction finder How does find mode work Testing find mode Preparations Simulating flight Simulating a Crash Search and rescue Link regained Transmitter LED status indicator Receiver LED status indicator Real time telemetry using app link Configu...

Page 3: ...light controller COLIBRI Minimum requirements Wiring layout Setting up radio for CRSF Setting up receiver for CRSF Configuring BetaFlight for CRSF protocol Discovering telemetry data sensors Remote configuration of CORE PRO CROSSFIRE RX from radio Requirements Setup Telemetry Firmware upgrade Installing TBS Agent Over The Air software updates Emergency update FAQ Good practices 3 ...

Page 4: ...and configuration via TBS Agent software Recovery mode Diversity RX Beacon mode receiver backup LiPo battery operating time of approx 2 days Failsafe Pre set servo positions or stops outputting servo pulse selectable in configuration menu or via push button Antenna connector Standard SMA not RP SMA Operating range Variable depending on output power and radio environment Input power TX 3 5 to 12 6V...

Page 5: ...at may be not allowed in your country Please always check your local RF legislation to set the frequency and output power according with the regulation A general rule for RC aircrafts is that they must be controlled always under sight of view check your RC regulation to keep up to date with regulations 5 ...

Page 6: ...Overview The following diagram indicates the essential inputs and features of the transmitter and receiver Standard transmitter module Diversity receiver unit 6 ...

Page 7: ...Micro transmitter module Micro receiver unit 7 ...

Page 8: ...dio and the TBS CROSSFIRE transmitter The adapter simply fits into the slot on the back of the radio The radio battery power to the TBS CROSSFIRE and no additional power is necessary for RF output up to 500mW Insert the JR adapter into the slot on the back of the radio remove the adhesive sheet from the TBS CROSSFIRE back and align the four studs with the matching holes on the transmitter Connect ...

Page 9: ...plete this step Using Hitec Graupner JR cable If you own a Hitec Graupner or JR radio without a JR module slot you can still use the trainer output connector to get the necessary power and PPM control signals to the TBS CROSSFIRE transmitter Connect the included cable to the radio trainer port and the other end to the left port RC on the transmitter 9 ...

Page 10: ...r port and the other end to the left port RC on the transmitter Using custom PPM cable If you want to connect any other radio or have a custom setup you can use the 3 pin pigtail cable and solder the wires according to the table below to suite your needs Radio pin left in photo above TBS CROSSFIRE 3 pin cable White PPM 1 PPM Red Power 2 Power Black Ground 3 Ground 10 ...

Page 11: ...68 MHz and 915 MHz Once changed it will blink white 1x for 868 MHz and 2x for 915 MHz Short press Enter bind mode LED blinking green If the receivers needs to be updated it will start blinking blue Press the button again to confirm The update will start and the LED will be solid blue until the update is complete Once update is complete the LED will turn solid green or orange If there is a link LED...

Page 12: ...The CROSSFIRE Micro TX module fits perfectly on the back of the TBS TANGO FPV remote It clips easily in place and can use the telemetry compatible CRSF format between the module and radio 12 ...

Page 13: ...e BEC with a suitable amperage rating min 1A recommended Make sure that adequate power is available by letting the model run for a few minutes with servos connected and check your BEC temperature If you want to connect additional TBS products to you setup e g CORE PRO CURRENT SENSOR BLACKBOX and GPS we are providing a 4 way BST splitter adapter to connect everything together The receiver servo hea...

Page 14: ...directly connect to your FC without any inverters or special soldering hacks Connecting antenna The CROSSFIRE system used regular SMA connectors where the antenna has the center pin Connect the supplied antennas to the SMA connectors on the transmitter and receiver The straight connector is for the transmitter and the other two for the diversity receiver For optimal radio coverage and range mount ...

Page 15: ...receiver has now stored the unique serial number of that particular CROSSFIRE transmitter If it doesn t bind please verify that your firmware is to the newest version on both the receiver and the transmitter Head tracking The standard TBS CROSSFIRE transmitter supports standard head tracking input via the right 3 pin HT port Solder the included pigtail cable to suite your particular head tracking ...

Page 16: ...ansmitter and watch the servo outputs engage in the pre set failsafe positions BST Connectivity with TBS equipment There is an issue when you want to run BST devices like the GPS or BLACKBOX direct without a CORE PRO Most of the BST devices needs 5V which the CORE PRO provides You can also power the BST line by using the TBS 3 way splitter with a servo header to connect a 5V regulator or BEC The C...

Page 17: ... CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 5 CH 6 CH 7 CH 8 ANT 1 ANT 2 TRB CROSSFIRE true connectivity Bind B LiPo Status USB BST NAZA 4WAY SPLITTER BST BST TBS BLACKBOX SD Card Ext FC telemetry distribution CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 5 CH 6 CH 7 CH 8 ANT 1 ANT 2 TRB CROSSFIRE true connectivity Bind B LiPo Status USB BST GPS CORE PRO supplies 5V power to all BST devices Flight Controller provides 5V via ESC BEC to all devic...

Page 18: ...TBS CROSSFIRE Find Mode Operation Sept 2015 by Remo ...

Page 19: ...he CROSSFIRE RX channel mapping to output SmartAudio on the specific output channel see the Configuration chapter later on in this manual on how to access and navigate the menu Antenna Transmitter antenna Diversity receiver antenna The TBS CROSSFIRE kit comes with standard dipole antennas these are perfect for normal flying Metallic objects such as cables or handles should be kept away from the an...

Page 20: ...CROSSFIRE Micro Receiver is by necessity smaller and simpler To remove and replace the antenna remove the heat shrink tubing with a small scissor or cutting plier Disconnect the small U FL connector and replace with a new replacement Micro receiver antenna with U FL connector 18 ...

Page 21: ...1dBm good to 130dBm bad logarithmic scale LQ Link Quality based on the percentage of signal data received at the end point 0 to 300 SNR Signal to noise ratio compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise The RSSI determines your available link budget on a logarithmic scale with each additional 6dBm representing twice the range of your current distance E g you are at 5km r...

Page 22: ...last known coordinates to locate your model Inactive Press Enter Active Enable disable the Find mode shows on board LiPo voltage Do NOT enable during flight Signal Receiver signal strength makes it possible to triangulate the location 0 to 100 Alt Altitude above Sea Level GPS required 0 to 5000m Lat Latitude GPS required Lat Longitude GPS required The receiver has an on board LiPo battery to opera...

Page 23: ...ter receives a beacon signal and send an acknowledge the receiver will switch back to the fastest interval until the link is lost again Once a connection is established the receiver will share the GPS information with the transmitter if a GPS source is connected or RSSI values to find the receiver with signal strength and the DYI reflector Testing find mode It is highly recommended to go through a...

Page 24: ...spond in find mode For all other scenarios you should be able to regain control When you see find mode activated on your LCD give it more than a minute before you deactivate it again beacon timing see description above If you use the DIY reflector point and hold in different directions until you get your link back Link regained Once you got your link back to your copter plane you can now try to fi...

Page 25: ...an indication of link and backup battery status Receiver LED indicators Description Solid green Link is up and running OK Solid red No packages received from the transmitter and receiver is in failsafe mode Slow green blinking Receiver is in binding mode Fast green blinking Receiver bootloader active or firmware upgrade Green is flashing Receiver is in Find mode up to 1 min delay between flashing ...

Page 26: ...ter plane in real time with any MAVLink capable app on your phone e g Droidplanner app or GCS on your PC or MAC e g QGroundControl TBS Telemetry data is sent in JSON format if this mode is active Serial Bridge This mode is used for serial bridge between your connected device and the diversity receiver Please refer to the Serial bridge section for further information MAVLink This mode is used to pa...

Page 27: ...time telemetry updates will now stream from the CROSSFIRE transmitter to your handheld device For instance a live map overlay makes this a great way to track race performance or to locate a down aircraft 25 ...

Page 28: ... the joystick or left navigation Select item short press or right navigation Menu navigation Up down left right joystick press Micro transmitter configuration To configure the internal settings on the micro transmitter a TBS TANGO remote is required The changes are stored internally on the transmitter module so if you do not own a TANGO remote you can borrow one for a minute to make the necessary ...

Page 29: ...t RX Diversity or RX Micro and then Output Map Note this option is only available when the transmitter has detected the receiver 3 Pick a channel from 1 to 8 and toggle between Ch 1 to 12 PWM PPM RSSI LQ RSSI LQ and special options on 6 to 8 The following table shows the available channel mapping options for the diversity RX Receiver pin Output type Default value 1 PWM Ch1 to 12 PPM RSSI LQ RSSI L...

Page 30: ...vice connected to the transmitter If you select Bridge TX on output 8 then output 7 will automatically change to Bridge RX and channel 6 to Bridge RTS Please connect your device according to this information The baudrate is set to 57600 8N1 and the voltage level is 3 3V only The RTS pin will change to logical high when the internal FIFO is almost full and low if the FIFO is almost empty There is n...

Page 31: ...rfectly fit the RF link bandwidth This gives you the best performance for both OSD on the TBS CORE PRO side and on the telemetry over TBS CROSSFIRE in terms of latency and update rate If you run the system with a TBS CORE PRO you can decide if you want to run the digital TBS current sensors or use the current sensor information from the FC for the OSD display In case of using the current sensor fr...

Page 32: ...led under RX Settings If the telemetry is turned off the transmitter will not get any feedback This will affect the dynamic power and the status information on the transmitter side Dynamic power will be automatically switched off and remain on the max power setting Links statistics will not be updated anymore and the link status will say Connecting with an orange pulsing LED Note None of this will...

Page 33: ... into TELEM port Servo header 1 on CH 7 signal pin Crossfire output 7 to FC telm TX Servo header 2 on CH 8 Crossfire output 8 to FC telm RX Servo header rail to FC telm 5V Servo header GND to FC telm GND The serial communication carries R C control signal no need for R C IN Enable MAVLINK PPM under RX settings on CROSSFIRE receiver FC Current Sensor Custom BST cable wiring Connect only VBATT and G...

Page 34: ... XT30 JST shown in photo below 10mW 10dBm 25mW 14dBm 100mW 20dBm 500mW 27dBm 1W 30dBm 2W 33dBm To change RF power 1 Enter the configuration menu select General and Max Power 2 Pick the RF output power you require and exit the menu to confirm 3 The change is instant if the required input power is available and can be done at any moment Every 6 dBm increase in output power results in a doubling of t...

Page 35: ...displayed in the main display standard TX Transmission frequency CC Wikipedia The TBS CROSSFIRE supports two different frequency bands depending on your local regulation The frequency is locked to your locale when you upgrade the firmware but can be changed in TBS AGENT Below is a general overview of the primary frequency segmentation General area Frequency ITU Region 1 Europe Africa Middle East y...

Page 36: ...is lower but comparable to other LRS systems on the market Provides full MAVLink or serial bridge if used Normal update rate profile This profile is made for long range flight with a normal update rate on your stick inputs 50Hz It has also telemetry support in both directions but only for the most important information i e GPS current sensor attitude and simple commands The range improves about tw...

Page 37: ... powered on press the BIND button once The display should display Binding complete Note that there is no complicated 3 hands required plug in and push button procedure Just power your model wait for the receiver to turn on and then push the Bind button Be sure that the same firmware version is installed on both the transmitter and receiver 34 ...

Page 38: ... remote changes of the flight controller settings BetaFlight The CROSSFIRE receiver firmware 1 59 and later comes our latest digital CRSF V2 CR os SF ire protocol It has the following advantages R C data transferred at high speed serial format Up to 150Hz 3x faster than SBUS Lower latency CRC protection error detection Bidirectional communication telemetry capable Changing settings remotely via OS...

Page 39: ...rol signal no need for R C IN connection LED2 4 1 Pin out UART1 RX UART1 TX GND 4 7V 5V LED2 LED1 UART2 RX UART2 TX TBS PNP PRO V2 DIGITAL CUR SENSOR UNIFY PRO INTEGRATED CAM SWITCH DCDC 5V DCDC12V TBS FPVision Pin out UART2 RX UART2 TX CROSSFIRE RX will get 5V and GND from BST line also supplying servo connectors Note The TBS PDB will not power the BST line only FPVision FPVision alt If you use t...

Page 40: ...IRE DIVERSITY RX Clean BetaFlight Serial port COLIBRI or other Ch Pin 1 TX Ch Pin 1 TX 5V GND Ch Pin 8 TX 5V GND UART2 or 3 RX 5V GND Not available Ch Pin 2 RX only Ch Pin 7 RX only UART2 or 3 TX In addition to the CRSF serial connection you might want to connect BST BlackSheep Telemetry between the CROSSFIRE RX and COLIBRI to provide more telemetry and make changes remotely on the CORE PRO if con...

Page 41: ... now see RC Input CRSF meaning you have CRSF enabled and running Setting up receiver for CRSF With the CROSSFIRE receiver powered and connected go into the settings menu turn Telemetry to On then open the Output mapping screen On the CROSSFIRE MICRO V1 only CRSF TX will be available For the CROSSFIRE DIVERSITY RX change Output 8 to CRSF TX and Output 7 to CRSF RX While on the CROSSFIRE MICRO V2 RX...

Page 42: ... USB to the the flight controller Hit Ports and disable UART2 and enable UART3 Click Save and reboot Next open the Configurations and in the Receiver section pick Serial based receiver and CRSF To allow flight controller telemetry to be sent back make sure Telemetry is enabled in the Other features section 38 ...

Page 43: ...lete all the old sensors if any and hit Discover new sensors Momentarily the new four character sensors will populate the list f ex CROSSFIRE downlink uplink stats altitude GPS position battery voltage current draw current consumption FC pitch FC roll FC yaw and more The availables sensors depend on the auxiliary sensors you may have connected e g TBS GPS TBS Current sensor TBS POWERCUBE and or CR...

Page 44: ...try data points as you want to the main radio screens and set up any alarms that might come in handy Having the radio stats on one screen and flight critical information on anther provides a fine way of keeping on top operations 40 ...

Page 45: ...t http www open tx org TBS CROSSFIRE LUA script package on root of SD card Currently provided at http downloads open tx org 2 2 nightly sdcard TBS CROSSFIRE TX RX V1 62 or higher TBS CORE PRO FPVision V1 70 or higher TBS CORE PRO with SmartAudio purchased after 07 2015 for UNIFY PRO control Setup Connect the devices as normal via BST cables and make sure the CROSSFIRE radio link is up and running ...

Page 46: ...del GPS COMPASS BST BST TBS BLACKBOX SD Card Ext FC telemetry distribution TBS BLACKBOX CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 5 CH 6 CH 7 CH 8 ANT 1 ANT 2 TRB CROSSFIRE true connectivity Bind B LiPo Status USB BST TBS CROSSFIRE Any of the connections can also be made directly 4WAY SPLITTER TBS BST SPLITTER XT60 Colibri R V2 boot UART1 BUZZER RX GPS Mag Alt LED_Strip U U Servo USB DCDC PWR STAT SWD LED2 4 1 TBS P...

Page 47: ... show up immediately e g TBS CROSSFIRE TX TBS CROSSFIRE Diversity RX or TBS CORE PRO Pick either to change the settings Note the CORE PRO will not show up of the standard POWERCUBE is connected disconnect it first from BST TBS CROSSFIRE TX settings TBS CORE PRO FPVision settings 42 ...

Page 48: ...TBS CROSSFIRE Diversity RX settings The changes will be committed once you leave the settings page 43 ...

Page 49: ...4Hz 1 50Hz 2 150Hz TBS CROSSFIRE RX TPWR Uplink transmitting power TBS CROSSFIRE RX TRSS Downlink signal strength antenna radio controller TBS CROSSFIRE TX TQly Downlink link quality valid packets TBS CROSSFIRE TX TSNR Downlink signal to noise ratio TBS CROSSFIRE TX GPS GPS Coordinates TBS GPS Compass Alt GPS Altitudes TBS GPS Compass Sats GPS Satellites acquired TBS GPS Compass RxBt Battery volta...

Page 50: ...a micro USB cable on the transmitter or receiver power is provided via USB The software will automatically detect the device and offer you the option to upgrade the firmware if a newer version is available If you like beta versions press F1 and enable the checkbox When the status indicator is green and says Connected you can upgrade or downgrade the firmware To upgrade the firmware select the late...

Page 51: ...er or the joystick enter button for the transmitter while you plug in the USB cable The device will show up inside the TBS Agent and you have the ability to reload the firmware For the micro receiver it is a little bit more complicated As the device itself does not have a USB connecter the firmware needs to be loaded by BST for emergency update This requires a TBS CORE PRO or a diversity receiver ...

Page 52: ... behavior Re enable telemetry will bring back a solid green to your transmitter TBS CROSSFIRE Seems not to work with Futaba T18SG It required you use an external battery to power the TBS Crossfire Go to Trainer port settings and select ACT Student and 8 Ch or 12 Ch Does the transmitter forget the receiver when I bind a new receiver No The receiver stores the serial number of the transmitter Everyt...

Page 53: ...se and can cause problems When using powerful R C transmitters make sure your groundstation equipment is properly shielded Adding Return To Home RTH to an unreliable system does not increase the chances of getting your plane back Work on making your system reliable without RTH first then add RTH as an additional safety measure if you must Avoid powering the VTx directly from battery step up or ste...

Page 54: ...ceiver as possible to lower the RF noise floor and EMI interference Do not buy the cheapest equipment unless it is proven to work reliably e g parts falling off multitudes of bug fix firmware updates community hacks and mods are a good indicator of poor quality and something you do NOT want to buy for a safe system Do due diligence and some research before sending your aircraft skyward Manual writ...

Page 55: ...ription of the appliance Transmitter Modules Trade name and model of appliance TBS CROSSFIRE Tx A CRFR XFIRE 0741587427599 Applicable Standard s ETSI EN 301 489 1 V2 2 0 2017 03 ETSI EN 301 489 3 V2 1 1 2017 03 EMC EN 60950 1 EMV EN 301 489 1 EN 301 483 V1 3 1 Assumption of conformity is based on the application of the harmonized standards and when applicable or required a European Community notif...

Page 56: ...TBS CROSSFIRE DIY Reflector Front holder Sept 2015 by Remo Sheet size a little larger than A3 Alternatively print on multiple A4 sheets ...

Page 57: ...Sept 2015 by Remo TBS CROSSFIRE DIY Reflector Main reflector Sheet size a little larger than A3 Alternatively print on multiple A4 sheets ...