Can I use my TinyHawk transmitter with another model?
• Chris
You got the tinyhawk RTF kit and are now wondering if you can use the radio with another quadcopter? The short answer is yes, and I will show you what you have to look for.
The transmitter for the TinyHawk uses the FrSky D8 protocol, this means you can use the controller with any D8 receiver. D8 is a protocol by FrSky and it is the predecessor to FrSky’s D16 protocol. A lot of bind and fly quadcopters that come with a FrSky receiver in fact do come with a D8 receiver. But those D8 receivers are also separately available for very little money.
So, as long as the quadcopter has a D8 receiver of any kind, you can use the transmitter that comes with the TinyHawk. It will not work with D16 receivers or any other protocol other than D8.
What is D8?
As mentioned before, D8 is a communication protocol by FrSky. It allows the radio to transmit 8 channels to the receiver. It operates in the 2.4GHz band and uses FHSS frequency hopping technology, allowing a lot of transmitters to operate at the same time, on the same band without interfering with each other.
Binding Procedure
In order to bind your model to your transmitter there are two steps involved: putting the model into bind mode and putting the transmitter into bind mode.
Putting the Model into bind mode
Depending on the receiver or your model, there might be different ways of putting it into bind mode. On a lot of the newer Ready to Fly kits you can simply enable bind mode from the BetaFlight CLI. All other receivers have a bind button you have to press, usually while powering it on. The exact procedure depends on your exact receiver, but the manual that comes with your receiver will tell you exactly how to put it in bind mode.
Putting the transmitter into bind mode
To put the TinyHawks transmitter into bind mode, first power it on and then press and hold both the throttle trim down and pitch trim down buttons for about 2 seconds until a red light turns on next to the green light around the power button. Release the buttons and the red and green lights will flash indicating the radio is in binding mode.
Now watch the receiver you are trying to bind with, something should change, a let should start or stop blinking - again, this depends on the receiver module you are using.
To exit binding mode on the transmitter again press throttle trim down and pitch trim down button for two seconds and the red light on the transmitter will turn off.
That is it - you are now successfully bound. I always like to check that, by power cycling both, the receiver and transmitter, and then checking in Betaflights Receiver Tab that the inputs work correctly. In the receiver tab you might also need to change the channel mapping - double check that all the sticks and buttons move the correct bars on screen.
How many models can I bind to the transmitter?
You can bind the transmitter to multiple receivers but a receiver can only be bound to one transmitter. Technically, when you power up all your quads that are bound to the same transmitter you can control them at the same time - although I would not recommend that at all…
Does it work with…
it would be impossible to list every RTF quadcopter and receiver that this transmitter will work with, but when it says D8 - it will work. If you still have doubts, feel free to leave a comment and I will try to figure it out for you.
Source:
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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