TBS Micro V2 rx - M8N GPS - Omnibus F4 v2 on S800 Wing

[Derek]

Although my Reptile S800 wing was flying real well without any sort of stabilization, I decided to add an Omnibus F4 v2 flight controller and an M8N GPS unit. The problem that I was running into, I really had no idea how to connect my new TBS Crossfire Micro V2 rx to the Omnibus. Absolutely clueless! After a lot of research and talking to some very knowledgeable people, I am happy to report that everything is working on the S800 wing and it's ready for a remaiden with the TBS Crossfire Micro V2 rx, Omnibus F4 v2 flight controller, and M8N GPS unit. I'll show you what I did.

Connecting the TBS Micro V2 rx to the Omnibus

This turned out to be MUCH simpler than I thought it would be. TBS supplies several different wire harnesses with each rx. This proved to be real beneficial. There was a harness that had 4 wires. One end had a 6 pin connector and the other end had a 4 pin connector. I cut off the 4 pin connector and soldered four 12" lengths of wire to each of the 4 wires of the harness. The 6 pin connector plugs directly into the rx. Paying special attention to the Rx, Tx, GND, and 5v from the rx, I took the GND and 5V and added a servo connector with the GND on the outside and 5V in the middle. Connect that to the GND and 5V at the PPM/SBUS pins on the Omnibus. This will supply power for the rx. Easy enough!

TBS power connection.jpg (163.25 KiB) Viewed 3354 times

We'll get back to the rx and tx from the TBS rx in a moment.

Connecting the M8N GPS unit to the Omnibus

This part was pretty easy for me because I've done it before on a previous build. I did have to order some 6 wire JST-SH connectors. Thankfully they come with about 6" of wire already pinned in the connector. I had to open up the GPS unit to find out which wire went to the 5V, GND, RXD, TXD, SDA, and SCL. The SDA and SCL wires would be used if I wanted the internal magnetometer, but I don't, so those won't get used for the GPS unit. The colored wires from the GPS unit need to be soldered to the wires of the 6 pin JST-SH harness. The harness wires aren't the same color, nor are they in the same order, as the GPS unit so I had to be careful to match the colored wires from the GPS unit with the harness wires and then connect the plug to UART6. Now, take a look at the following pic...

TBS power connection.jpg (163.25 KiB) Viewed 3354 times

Looking at the right of the pic, you'll see a pad that is labeled J10. This is where UART 3 and UART 6 are located. UART 6 is on top and UART 3 is on the bottom. The GPS unit takes the top 4 pins. Then I soldered the tx and rx from the TBS Micro V2 to the rx and tx at UART 3. By doing this, the rx is pulling power from the PPM/SBUS pins on the Omnibus and the rx is communicating with the Omnibus via UART 3. Awesome!

GPS and TBS to UART.jpg (145.96 KiB) Viewed 3354 times

Powering The Servos

Because the Omnibus doesn't have a way to reliably power the servo on the S800 wing, an external power source is needed. I opted for a Castle 10amp BEC. Can't go wrong with that!

1bec to power servos.jpg (80.14 KiB) Viewed 3354 times

In order to make this work, I soldered the VIN wires of the BEC directly to the battery leads. Then, I took the positive BEC lead and soldered it to the positive lead of each of the servos. Done deal there! Then I took the negative BEC lead and soldered the two negative servo leads together, as well as an extra negative lead. This extra lead got a servo connector added to it and that got pinned to the GND pin at PWM 4. I opted for PWM 4 because it was easy to get to. Any open GND would have sufficed. Then the signal wires were pinned to the signal pins at PWM 3 and PWM 4.

elevons to fc.jpg (166.88 KiB) Viewed 3354 times

Powering the VTX

JST to power vtx.jpg (144.81 KiB) Viewed 3354 times

OSD to Omnibus

OSD to fc.jpg (179.57 KiB) Viewed 3354 times

So, it's been an interesting series of events to get to where I am now with the Reptile S800 wing and Omnibus installation. I've been all through the flashing and configuration of INAV and I'm happy to say that the S800 is ready to be remaidened.

I am also wanting to be able to run the S800 on 4S packs, as well as 3S packs, but the 4S packs that I have don't fit under the foam battery bay cover that came with the wing. I was able to get in contact with a really fantastic guy on Facebook that agreed to 3D print a very gorgeous new battery bay cover for a very reasonable price. This new cover is sexy smooth, fits right in, and has tons of room for 3S, 4S, and probably 5S lipo packs, lol.

Let's just think about the things that have been upgraded over the past few weeks...
Inav on an Omnibus F4 v2 flight controller
TBS Micro v2 rx
Removed the Turnigy 40amp esc and added a Little Bee 40 amp esc
Added a Castle 10amp BEC
Added an M8N GPS unit
New 3D printed battery bay cover

It's a damn shame that it's suppose to rain all day today, lol. Remaiden coming soon and I will have the camera running!

Thanks for checking this out! If you have questions, feel free to ask. I don't know it all but if I have an answer to your question, I'll try to answer your question.

[Derek]

I almost forgot.....I cut off the EPP foam elevons and added some strong balsa elevons, too.

[Graham Lawrie]

Excellent informative thread Derek:)

[Derek]

Thanks Graham! Just because I'm new to the Crossfire, it was a bit daunting but after I had it explained to me, it all made sense.

I'm working the next few days but I'm hoping to remain the S800 wing on Monday/Tuesday. I'll take off in Manual/Passthrough mode and make sure it flies level. If it doesn't, land and connect to the laptop and make some alignment adjustment. Once it flies level, then ill test Horizon mode, RTH, Nav Alt Hold. Once all that goes well, I'd like to add Auto Launch and test it lol

[Derek]

Because the GPS unit plugged into UART 6, I had thought I could just plug the Micro rx into UART 1 but I found out that UART 1 is an inverted UART (whatever that means) and couldnt be used for the rx. Thankfully a couple of guys instructed me to split the J10 pad and use UART 6 for the GPS and UART 3 for the rx. Too cool!

[Derek]

I grabbed a couple zip ties and tried to tidy up the wiring. I've seen cleaning installations but I think this will do, lol

wires tidied up.jpg (120.81 KiB) Viewed 3345 times

Here is a picture of the very smooth 3D battery bay cover that I ordered. It's so pretty!!!

3D cover.jpg (88.01 KiB) Viewed 3345 times

With the wiring "tidy-ish", I put the 3D cover on.

3D cover installed.jpg (109.58 KiB) Viewed 3345 times

[Graham Lawrie]

Looks really nice Derek:)

[Derek]

Thanks Graham!

I have one more thing to double check. I need to double check that my MiN GPS is calibrated properly. I'm not sure that ive done that yet.

It would be a real shame to be out and flying and test the RTH, only to have the wing fly off to Scotland lol.