MINI MWC Flight control board V1.3
&
LeoCopter’s Simple Guide
Building an interface between your FTDI USB board and the flight controler
1. Solder the 4 leads of the 'mini micro 4 pin 1.25 T-1 JST connector' cable (the same one used on
the Neo 6-M GPS module - SKU: 387000004) to a 6 pin header (GND, 5V, Rx, Tx). Solder an
extra wire to GND.
2. On the other end of the wire, solder a probe (I my case a 1 pin header with heatshrink tubing). You
will need this probe to put the 328P in programming mode. Make sure Rx goes to TX and vice
versa.
Binding your DSM2 Compatible Radio TX to the On-Board Radio RX
1. Plug your new interface cable to the board (or power the board via the output headers - D3 to
D11) while pushing the bind button (the one on the top circuit board where the antenna is
soldered). The red LED will blink rapidly and you are now in binding mode.
2. Turn on your DSM2 compatible transmitter while pressing on its bind button (if you have a
ORX orange DSM2 module).
3. The LED on the Mini MWC will stop blinking then will stay on. It is now bound to your TX.
Updating firmware in Arduino.
1. As a “personal preference” I like to Clear the EEPROM Before I make changes to the
firmware.
2. Plug your new interface cable to the board and connect it to your PC.
3. In Arduino load the MultiWii sketch and select the HK_MultiWii_SE_V2 board.
4. Make sure you uncomment #define SERIAL_SUM_PPM in the config.h tab. This is needed
for the On-Board Radio RX to work.
5. If you plan to use an OLED display, uncomment #define OLED_I2C_128x64.
(the Crius OLED works very well and is cheap)
Calibrating ESCs in Arduino.
1. Uncomment #define ESC_CALIB_CANNOT_FLY (situated towards the end of CONFIG.h
file).
2. Compile and upload the sketch. (Don’t forget to probe)
3. When the sketch has been uploaded wait about 30 seconds and then unplug the Mini MWC.
4. Turn your transmitter on. Go full throttle.
5. Power on the Mini MWC. Wait for the 2 beeps. Set throttle to minimum.
6. You should hear 2 beeps and, depending of the ESCs, the initializing sequence.
7. Power off the board.
8. Return to Arduino, comment (i.e. //) #define ESC_CALIB_CANNOT_FLY.
9. Recompile and upload the sketch. (Don’t forget to PROBE!)
MultiWii Gui.
1. Next, use the same FTDI usb to 4 pin JST adaptor you built in step one to connect the board to
the MultWiiGui.
2. Make sure you calibrate the ACC.
3. Adjust your PID settings and your RC control settings.
4. Put the props on your quad and go flying !
This is how I put the flight control board in programming mode
(there might be a better way ...?)
1. Within 1-2 seconds of clicking on the Upload button in Arduino, I rapidly tap the probe
(the extra wire connected to GND of my FTDI usb adapter) 3 to 5 times on the 'reset dot' of the
ATMEGA 328P. The 'reset dot' is in the upper left corner of the chip (looking at the board with
the output header pins facing down).
2. The Rx and Tx LEDS of your FTDI USB board will start flashing indicating that the sketch is
being uploaded to the flight controller.
Chris - 'Leocopter'
P.S : make sure you read the MINI MWC Flight control board
V1.2 document.
MINI MWC V1.3 is upgraded on the base of MINI MWC V1.2, here is the details of the change:
1）We changed the BMP085 baroceptor to BMP180 which is higher precision.
2）We changed the PPM signal converter of C8051F330 to smaller C8051F300.
3）The second IIC connection port was added, so that IIC OLED and GPS can be connected at the same time.
The MINI MWC Flight Control Board did great improvement on PCB design, the board becomes smaller and cute, it
is convenient for use, the improvements are the followings:
1) The ESC port changed to right angle ( There are 9 output ports: D3, D5,D6,D9, D10, D11, A0, A1, A2), it applied
immersion gold pin connectors;
2) The ESC port board applied double 2OZ copper PCB board, max current is 16A, in this case, no need extra power
board when its power supply is 2S lipoly battery;
3) It comes with a 7CH receiver that compatible with DSM2 ( the receiver output signal is PPM SUM)
4) Self-voltage checking(A2 port)
5) The layout of components and each ports is newly designed and arranged;
6) FTD1 protection is added to avoid the conflicts between outside power supply and USB power supply;
MINI MWC physical parameters:
1） Size：47.7 *23.5 *11.0mm（not including mounting holes）
，48.0*30.0 *11.0mm（including mounting hole）
；
2） Weight：7.8g（including DSM2 receiver and antenna)
3） Size of mounting hole：Φ2.0mm
MINI MWC board diagram(mm):
MINI MWC Flight control board ports for connection(photo taken by a sample):
Binding Operation:
1, Press the frequency binding switch on the receiver ( Green LED light is on), connect MINI MWC
with power, then release the frequency binding switch, the red LED light on the receiver is fast
flashing (The receiver enters the mode of frequency binding).
2, Press the switch on DSM2 transmitter and turn on the power.
3, When the fast flashing LED light on the receiver turns off and then turns to solid LED(constant
on), it indicates that the binding process is successful, otherwise, the above steps need to be
repeated.
The connection way for brushless ESC and Lipoly battery on MINI MWC Flight control board:
If it is powered by a 2S lipoly battery and max working current is less than 16A, you can connect the brushless ESC
and battery directly without extra power board( so it can reduce the weight on 4-axis such as QUADX, QUADP and
Y4 ), please check the following picture ( The battery should be connected with A2 port (negative and positive pole,
the brushless ESC on the picture is OVERSKY-10A-Mul ESC)
ATTN: OVERSKY-10A-Mul is a kind of high speed brushless ESC, its frequency for controlling signal is
1K-8KHz.
If it is powered by a 3S lipoly battery or the working current is more than 16A, the brushless ESC and the 3S
lipoly battery must be connected with a outside power board or soldered together, the signal wire of the ESC
connects with the flight control board, the flight control board is powered through the BEC of one of the ESC, just
look the following picture for details:
How to change and modify the parameters of MINI MWC flight control board:
Open the software of “MultiWiiConf exe”, connect MX-FTDI programming stick tool with MINI MWC flight
control board and computer, change and modify the parameters according to your request.
How to flash a different software:
Open＂arduino. exe” connect FTDI programming stick tool with MIN MWC and computer, press the probe pin of
the flash stick tool onto the position showed on the picture of below, click
(ATTN: everything have been
ready before this step) and then flash the software, as soon as the red and green LED lights on the programming stick
tool blinks constantly, you can release the probe pin, when the red LED and green LED blink no longer and prompt
“Done uploading” appears, it indicates that the software flashing process has been completed.
How to connect and mount OLED screen:
Connect the wires come with the OLED screen with MINI MWC flight control board according to picture A,
and then mount the OLED screen on the MINI MWC flight board ( you need to buy the four columns for mounting
separately)
A：
B：
Showed on the screen：
Attn: before using OLED, please change “//#define OLED_I2C_128x64” to “#define OLED_I2C_128x64”
from “config.h”
How to connect GPS module:
MINI MWC Flight Control Board can only connect with GPS through the converter board of IIC&UART, and
need to change “//#define I2C_GPS” on “config.h” to “#define I2C_GPS”. The diagram for connection is the
following:
The followings are the major components of MINI MWC flight control board:
1） ATMEGA328P；
2） MPU6050；
3） BMP180；
4） HMC5883L；
5） C8051F300；
6） CYRF69103；
MINI MWC working voltage: 5~8.4V;
Transmitter for MINI MWC flight control board: it supports DSM2 compatible 4CH or above (we recommend
6CH or above transmitter)
The following functions can be realized through our MINI MWC flight control board:
1) auto stabilization,
2) Stabilize the altitude
3) Fixed heading course
4) HeadFerr
5) Hovering at an identified position (needs 12C-GPS converter board and supports by GPS)
6) Return flight automatically (needs 12C-GPS converter board and supports by GPS)
MINI MWC flight board supported modes:
1）GIMBAL——individual cradle head stabilization 独立云台增稳；
2）SINGLECOPTER——VTOL single axis；
3）BICOPTER——BICOPTER Avatar
4）Tricopter
5）FLYING WING
6）VTAIL4——
7）AIRPLANG——Fixed-wing airplane
8）4-Axis（QUADX，QUADP，Y4）
，cradle head stabilization can be applied at the same time: connects the ESC to
D3/D9/D10/D11, connects the servo for stabilization toA0/A1, connects the servo for shutter toA2;
9） 6-Axis（Y6，HEX6，HEX6X）, cradle head stabilization can be applied at the same time: connects the ESC to
D3/D9/D10/D11/D5/D6，connects the servo for stabilization to A0/A1，connects the shutter servo to A2；
Related devices:
1）MX-FTDI programming stick tool: small and convenient for use, it can be plug on the USB port of a computer
directly for changing and modifying the parameters of MWC flight control board and flash its software as well.
2）OLED scree: 128*64 lattice, double IIC ports, can be mounted on MINI MWC flight control board directly;
3）OVERSKY 10A-Mul brushless ESC: it is a light and specially designed high speed controller for MINI
MWC, small and light (18*12.6*5.5mm, 0.95g not including the wires), working voltage: 3.7V-7.4V, Max
working current:7A
4）IIC&UART converter board: it is for changing the UART signal of GPS to IIC signal which is special for
MWC. Size:18.6*11.2*3.8mm, weight:0.75g;
5）GPS module: it applied NEC-6M GPS receiver and powered antenna of high-gain dual amplifier (25*25mm);
Size:33.5*33.5*12.5mm; weight: 17g.