One of the crucial essential settings in FPV drone tuning is charges—they decide how your drone responds to stay inputs. In case your charges are too excessive, your quad will really feel twitchy and laborious to manage. In the event that they’re too low, it might really feel sluggish and unresponsive. On this tutorial, I’ll break down what Betaflight charges are, how they work, why Precise Charges are the best choice, and learn how to choose the good charges on your flying model.
Charges Want Tuning
Similar to PID and filters, charges must be superb tuned to optimize your drone’s efficiency. You’ll be amazed by the numerous enhancements you’ll be able to obtain in your flying expertise by tuning charges to match your distinctive flying model and necessities.
Betaflight provides a complete of 5 fee techniques:
- Precise Charges
- Betaflight Charges
- Raceflight Charges
- KISS Charges
- Fast Charges
Nevertheless, probably the most broadly used are Precise and Betaflight Charges.
On this tutorial, we are going to delve into the important thing options of Precise Charges and Betaflight Charges, how they work, and the way I discover my most well-liked charges. In case you are undecided which fee system to make use of, my advice for each novices and skilled pilots could be to start out with the default – Precise Charges. It’s efficient and intuitive to make use of.
Understanding Precise Charges
“Precise Charges” are the default charges in Betaflight, offering an easy strategy to setting most rotational velocity (e.g., getting into 1000 corresponds to 1000deg/sec) and heart sensitivity values. No extra guessing, as this technique is way extra intuitive and fewer complicated for pilots in comparison with the older Betaflight charges.
In case you are new to the pastime, I’d suggest utilizing Precise charges. In the event you come from one other kind of charges, there are various on-line instrument that make it easier to convert fee values between these completely different techniques.
There are 3 values in Precise Charges: Heart Sensitivity, Max Fee, Expo.
Heart Sensitivity
Heart Sensitivity pertains to the responsiveness across the heart stick place. A decrease worth provides finer, smoother management, whereas a better worth ends in a extra reactive drone to stay motion.
Max Fee
Max Fee defines the drone’s spin velocity at full stick deflection. The worth entered represents the precise most rotational velocity. For instance, getting into 700 means your drone will try to rotate at 700 levels/sec at full stick.
Nevertheless, understand that the utmost angular velocity may be restricted by your motors. When motors attain their bodily limitations and can’t spin any quicker, the utmost angular velocity is capped, whatever the greater worth set in Betaflight.
Expo
Expo flattens the curve between heart stick and full stick. To realize a extra linear fee, hold Expo low. For a broader heart stick area with finer management, enhance Expo. Needless to say rising Expo additionally reduces heart sensitivity. Whereas Expo may be as excessive as 1.0, extreme Expo would possibly trigger decreased heart stick sensitivity and make the drone’s response extra unpredictable in the direction of full stick (extra jumpy).
Tuning Precise Charges
Begin by setting the Heart Sensitivity. Cruise round and navigate by means of gaps to check the specified management precision across the heart stick. For small changes and exact aiming by means of gates and gaps, the drone have to be exactly managed. If the Heart Sensitivity is just too excessive, the drone will overreact and turn out to be jittery. Evaluation your flight footage will make it easier to decide extra objectively.
Subsequent, set up your Max Fee by performing flips and rolls – be sure you are proud of how snappy your drone is. This step needs to be comparatively simple.
Lastly, apply freestyle strikes involving varied stick positions between heart and full stick. To flatten the speed curve, add some Expo, however bear in mind that this will cut back predictability in the direction of full stick. In the event you enhance Expo an excessive amount of, it’s possible you’ll want to boost Heart Sensitivity barely to compensate. Expo is primarily a matter of non-public choice.
Repeat this course of for roll, pitch and yaw, or it’s possible you’ll copy the identical values for all 3 axes.
My Charges
Right here’s a basic guideline for various flying kinds and purposes based mostly on my private expertise:
- Cinematic / Racing: 500-800 Max Fee
- Freestyle: 600-1000 Max Fee
- Line of Sight: 1000+ Max Fee
Then set heart sensitivity based on your flying model. Reducing heart sensitivity enables you to make tiny corrections with out jerky motion—that is particularly helpful for cinematic flying and {smooth} freestyle strains.
- Cinematic: 50-150 Heart Sensitivity
- Freestyle: 100-200 Heart Sensitivity
- Racing / Line of Sight: 150-300 Heart Sensitivity
Expo controls how {smooth} or aggressive your stick response is in the course of stick journey. In case your quad feels too linear and robotic, including a little bit of expo could make actions really feel extra pure. In the event you fly freestyle, a small expo curve makes tips like juicy flicks and snap rolls really feel smoother. However an excessive amount of expo could make actions far much less predictable.
- Cinematic: Excessive expo (0.4 – 0.7) for ultra-smooth pictures.
- Freestyle: Medium expo (0.3 – 0.6) for steadiness between smoothness and snap.
- Racing: Low expo (0 – 0.3) for fast, linear and predictable response.
My Freestyle Charges
Pitch/Roll
- Heart Sensitivity: 190
- Max Fee: 1000
- Expo: 0.70
Yaw
- Heart Sensitivity: 200
- Max Fee: 650
- Expo: 0.55
Observe that my charges differ relying on how I maintain the sticks. When “pinching”, my max charges are comparable, however heart sensitivity tends to be greater as a result of I can transfer the sticks extra precisely when I’m pinching in comparison with thumbing. Listed here are my thumbing charges for comparability:
Pitch/Roll (Thumbing)
- Heart Sensitivity: 140
- Max Fee: 1000
- Expo: 0.50
Yaw (Thumbing)
- Heart Sensitivity: 180
- Max Fee: 650
- Expo: 0.40
My Tiny Whoop Charges
Pitch/Roll
- Heart Sensitivity: 230
- Max Fee: 1000
- Expo: 0.62
Yaw
- Heart Sensitivity: 250
- Max Fee: 1300
- Expo: 0.68
Discover my yaw fee is a little bit greater as a result of I take advantage of quite a lot of yaw when flying tiny whoops indoor as a result of quantity of speedy sharp turns.
Delving into Betaflight Charges
Betaflight Charges is a legacy system, and whereas I don’t suggest it I assumed it might be good to have a little bit introduction for newcomers. Why I don’t suggest it? Nicely, it’s tougher to make use of than Precise Charges as a result of the three phrases are interdependent, making it much less intuitive to make use of.
RC Fee
RC Fee impacts the speed curve’s slope linearly all through the complete stick vary and determines how rapidly the quadcopter rotates at full deflection. In the event you’re aware of computer systems, you’ll be able to consider it as mouse sensitivity.
A better fee ends in a extra responsive however twitchier quad. Small stick actions will produce vital quad actions. Rising the RC Fee additionally boosts the quad’s spin velocity, enabling quicker flips and rolls.
Nevertheless, understand that the utmost angular velocity may be restricted by your motors. When motors attain their bodily limitations and can’t spin any quicker, the utmost angular velocity is capped, whatever the greater worth set in Betaflight.
RC Expo
RC Expo, often known as Exponential or just Expo, reduces sensitivity close to the stick’s heart the place superb controls are wanted (for Roll, Pitch, and Yaw) however doesn’t change the utmost angular velocity at full stick.
Expo is a proportion worth, starting from 0% (0) to 100% (1). At 0%, the rise in rotational velocity between minimal and most stick enter is linear, forming a “V” form with no stick enter within the heart. At 50% stick enter, your quad will rotate across the given axis at precisely half the utmost rotational velocity.
Rising Expo reduces sensitivity round mid-stick, requiring additional stick motion to realize the identical rotational velocity. Visualize Expo as reworking the “V” form right into a “U”, with a better expo proportion flattening the “U” across the center.
Tremendous Fee
Tremendous Fee (or just Fee) will increase each max angular velocity and sensitivity across the heart stick.
By elevating the Tremendous Fee, you’ll be able to preserve average stick sensitivity round mid-stick for traditional flying maneuvers whereas nonetheless attaining snappy rolls and flips on the stick endpoints.
Tremendous Fee basically combines the consequences of RC Fee and Expo, permitting for extra flexibility in attaining the specified stick really feel.
So why use Tremendous Fee? We will simply use RC Fee and Expo proper? Sure, form of, however having Tremendous Fee offers us extra flexibility in attaining the stick really feel we wish.
Tuning Betaflight Charges
Tuning charges in the end relies on private choice and “really feel.”
Start with the default Betaflight values: RC Fee 1.0, Tremendous Fee 0.7, Expo 0 for all three axes.
When tuning my charges, I all the time modify RC Fee first. Carry out flips and rolls, and if the quadcopter spins too slowly, enhance RC Fee till happy. Observe down the max angular velocity (deg/sec) within the Betaflight Configurator. For my freestyle rig, I often intention for round 700-800 levels per second.
Subsequent, merely cruise round (with out flips or rolls) and make sure the quadcopter responds swiftly and predictably to your stick inputs throughout turns. If it’s too delicate for exact motion, enhance Expo. If it’s too gradual to react (not delicate sufficient), lower Tremendous Fee whereas rising RC Fee to compensate and lift the max angular velocity.
Expo isn’t all the time crucial since Tremendous Fee can present the identical impact. Nevertheless, for those who nonetheless discover small actions round mid-stick too delicate, enhance Expo till you strike the precise steadiness between precision and responsiveness.
Professional Tip: Making use of Expo on the radio (TX) reduces your stick decision, so all the time set Expo within the flight controller software program every time doable!
You might must iterate by means of the method a number of instances till the charges really feel good. Do not forget that pitch, roll, and yaw charges don’t must be similar—freestyle pilots usually favor greater roll and yaw charges however decrease pitch fee, it’s all private choice.
Completely different flight controller software program has completely different ranges and scaling in PID, charges and expo, so the identical numbers don’t essentially give the identical ends in a special firmware. You must be capable to discover on-line converters if you wish to migrate to a special FC firmware.
To offer you some examples, listed here are the Charges and Expos I used prior to now:
Freestyle
- RC Fee – 1.2
- Tremendous Fee – 0.77
- RC Expo – 0.20
Clean Cruiser:
- RC Fee = 0.80
- RC Expo = 0.00
- Tremendous Fee = 0.65
Expo is about to zero right here on goal, that is to keep away from overreacting in shut conditions and truly offers you total smoother outcome.
Aggressive Acro Quad:
- RC Fee, Pitch/Roll = 1.80, Yaw = 2.00
- Tremendous Fee, All = 0.64
- RC Expo, Pitch/Roll = 0.20, Yaw = 0.15
Tiny Whoop Charges
- Roll+Pitch: RC Fee 1.2, Tremendous Fee 0.75, Expo 0
- YAW: RC Fee 1.3, Tremendous Fee 0.80 Expo 0
- If utilizing acro mode, allow crash_recovery, there are some settings (get crash_ in CLI) you would possibly need to tune first to keep away from false self-centering.
As your flying talent improves, and also you turn out to be extra snug performing aggressive manoeuvres, you would attempt to crank up your charges. And additionally, you will in all probability need to use a bit extra expo to take care of correct superb management.
There isn’t any proper or mistaken Expo and Fee values, so long as it fits you. For instance, I’ve shaky fingers, so my expo could be a bit greater than others. :p
Don’t Change Your Charges!
Some pilots modify their charges for various drones, however this may be counterproductive.
Sustaining constant charges throughout all of your quads is essential for creating muscle reminiscence. Having constant charges lets you instinctively management the drone’s actions. In the event you’re continually tweaking your charges, your instincts won’t ever totally develop. As a substitute, choose one set of charges and follow them—it will make it easier to construct constant, instinctive stick management, it doesn’t matter what you’re flying.
That mentioned, this rule primarily applies to quads of comparable measurement and energy. In the event you’re flying drastically completely different plane—reminiscent of a 5″ freestyle quad and a tiny whoop—it is smart to regulate charges accordingly. These drones have very completely different flight traits and are flown in totally completely different environments, so utilizing completely different charges for every is each sensible and crucial.
Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo
Throttle Expo modifies the form of the throttle curve, flattening it across the “Throttle Mid” level. This permits for a gentler throttle response and most stick decision round this throttle degree.
Throttle Mid adjusts the place within the throttle curve the place Throttle Expo is utilized. By default, it’s set to 50% throttle (0.50), however for those who plan to make use of Throttle Expo, Throttle Mid needs to be set to the throttle of cruising velocity. That is the place you have to probably the most throttle decision, and Throttle Expo would possibly make altitude management simpler for you.
Throttle Mid won’t have any impact for those who set Throttle Expo to 0, as your throttle curve will stay a straight line whatever the Throttle Mid setting.
Alternatively, you’ll be able to arrange a throttle curve in your transmitter for much more exact throttle management.
Ultimate Ideas: The Magic of Precise Charges
Switching to Precise Charges in Betaflight was a game-changer for me. It gave me full management over how my quad responds with out annoying unintended effects from outdated fee techniques. In the event you’re nonetheless on previous Betaflight charges, do your self a favor—swap to Precise Charges and by no means look again. You’ll get smoother, extra predictable, and easier-to-tune management.
Edit Historical past
- 2015 – Article created
- 2018 – Article up to date
- 2021 – Added information about new function in Betaflight: Precise Fee
- 2022 – Utilizing Precise Fee as the usual, up to date screenshots, up to date Fee Tuning directions,
- 2023 – Simplified URL, optimized title
- Feb 2025 – Up to date tutorial
