Bind your SPI receiver via Betaflight CLI
• Chris Landa
A lot of flight controllers that come with integrated receivers have them connected via SPI to the processor. If you have an AIO flight controller where the receiver is connected via SPI you do not need to push the physical bind button on the flight controller anymore - you can simply bind from the Betaflight CLI.
This is especially handy when the bind button is hard to reach. In the future bind buttons might be omitted on the boards at all - mechanical parts are expensive, so the manufacturers can save a couple of cents.
SPI stands for “Serial Peripheral Interface” and allows multiple devices to use the same serial wires. One device, in this case the MCU, is the master and other devices are the slaves. The communication always happens between the master and one of the slaves, in this case our receiver.
Binding from the Betaflight CLI can be used with a lot of the current brushless whoop AIO boards, for example the Crazybee F4 PRO flight controller - the flightcontroller for the trashcan has its receiver connected via SPI. But also the receiver of the Mobula7 is connected via SPI.
Depending on the Betaflight version you are using, there are different commands to put the receiver into bind mode:
For Betaflight 4.1.x and 4.2.x type
bind_rx
For Betaflight 4.0.x type
bind_rx_spi
into the CLI and hit enter.
The beta version of Betaflight 4.0 used a different command:
bind
So if the first command does nothing, try the second one. I found that a lot of the models that use the Crazybee F4 Pro AIO flight controller have a beta version of Betaflight 4.0 flashed so with those you have to use the bind command.
For Betaflight 3.x type
frsky_bind
into the CLI and hit enter.
This will put your receiver into bind mode - same as pushing the physical button. From here you do everything on your transmitter as you would do it after pushing the button.
Other Receivers
Unfortunately this method only works with SPI receivers, meaning you can not bind your FrSky R-XSR, XM+ or any other SBUS enabled receiver with this command, you will have to use your receivers native binding procedure instead. Usually this involves pressing a button on the receiver while plugging in power to the quadcopter.
Via Graphical User interface
In the latest versions of the Betaflight Configurator you can now also activate SPI binding by clicking the “Bind Receiver” button from the “Receiver” tab.
Chris is a Vienna based software developer. In his spare time he enjoys reviewing tech gear, ripping quads of all sizes and making stuff.
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