One of the 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 onerous to regulate. 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 methods to choose the good charges to your flying type.
Charges Want Tuning
Identical to PID and filters, charges have to be high quality 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 type and necessities.
Betaflight presents a complete of 5 fee methods:
- Precise Charges
- Betaflight Charges
- Raceflight Charges
- KISS Charges
- Fast Charges
Nonetheless, probably the most extensively used are Precise and Betaflight Charges.
On this tutorial, we’ll 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. If you’re unsure which fee system to make use of, my advice for each rookies and skilled pilots could be to begin 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 middle sensitivity values. No extra guessing, as this technique is much extra intuitive and fewer complicated for pilots in comparison with the older Betaflight charges.
If you’re new to the interest, I’d advocate utilizing Precise charges. Should you come from one other kind of charges, there are various on-line instrument that assist you convert fee values between these totally different methods.
There are 3 values in Precise Charges: Middle Sensitivity, Max Price, Expo.
Middle Sensitivity
Middle Sensitivity pertains to the responsiveness across the middle stick place. A decrease worth presents finer, smoother management, whereas the next worth ends in a extra reactive drone to stay motion.
Max Price
Max Price 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.
Nonetheless, understand that the utmost angular velocity might be restricted by your motors. When motors attain their bodily limitations and can’t spin any sooner, the utmost angular velocity is capped, whatever the larger worth set in Betaflight.
Expo
Expo flattens the curve between middle stick and full stick. To attain a extra linear fee, preserve Expo low. For a broader middle stick area with finer management, enhance Expo. Remember the fact that growing Expo additionally reduces middle sensitivity. Whereas Expo might be as excessive as 1.0, extreme Expo would possibly trigger decreased middle 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 Middle Sensitivity. Cruise round and navigate by way of gaps to check the specified management precision across the middle stick. For small changes and exact aiming by way of gates and gaps, the drone should be exactly managed. If the Middle Sensitivity is just too excessive, the drone will overreact and turn into jittery. Evaluate your flight footage will assist you decide extra objectively.
Subsequent, set up your Max Price by performing flips and rolls – ensure you are pleased with how snappy your drone is. This step must be comparatively simple.
Lastly, follow freestyle strikes involving numerous stick positions between middle and full stick. To flatten the speed curve, add some Expo, however remember that this could cut back predictability in the direction of full stick. Should you enhance Expo an excessive amount of, you could want to lift Middle Sensitivity barely to compensate. Expo is primarily a matter of private desire.
Repeat this course of for roll, pitch and yaw, or you could copy the identical values for all 3 axes.
My Charges
Right here’s a common guideline for various flying kinds and functions based mostly on my private expertise:
- Cinematic / Racing: 500-800 Max Price
- Freestyle: 600-1000 Max Price
- Line of Sight: 1000+ Max Price
Then set middle sensitivity based on your flying type. Reducing middle 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 Middle Sensitivity
- Freestyle: 100-200 Middle Sensitivity
- Racing / Line of Sight: 150-300 Middle Sensitivity
Expo controls how {smooth} or aggressive your stick response is in the midst 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. Should you fly freestyle, a small expo curve makes methods 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 photographs.
- Freestyle: Medium expo (0.3 – 0.6) for stability between smoothness and snap.
- Racing: Low expo (0 – 0.3) for fast, linear and predictable response.
My Freestyle Charges
Pitch/Roll
- Middle Sensitivity: 190
- Max Price: 1000
- Expo: 0.70
Yaw
- Middle Sensitivity: 200
- Max Price: 650
- Expo: 0.55
Be aware that my charges differ relying on how I maintain the sticks. When “pinching”, my max charges are comparable, however middle sensitivity tends to be larger 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)
- Middle Sensitivity: 140
- Max Price: 1000
- Expo: 0.50
Yaw (Thumbing)
- Middle Sensitivity: 180
- Max Price: 650
- Expo: 0.40
My Tiny Whoop Charges
Pitch/Roll
- Middle Sensitivity: 230
- Max Price: 1000
- Expo: 0.62
Yaw
- Middle Sensitivity: 250
- Max Price: 1300
- Expo: 0.68
Discover my yaw fee is a bit of larger as a result of I exploit numerous yaw when flying tiny whoops indoor as a result of quantity of fast sharp turns.
Delving into Betaflight Charges
Betaflight Charges is a legacy system, and whereas I don’t advocate it I assumed it will be good to have a bit of introduction for newcomers. Why I don’t advocate it? Effectively, 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 Price
RC Price impacts the speed curve’s slope linearly all through the complete stick vary and determines how rapidly the quadcopter rotates at full deflection. Should you’re accustomed to computer systems, you’ll be able to consider it as mouse sensitivity.
The next fee ends in a extra responsive however twitchier quad. Small stick actions will produce vital quad actions. Growing the RC Price additionally boosts the quad’s spin velocity, enabling sooner flips and rolls.
Nonetheless, understand that the utmost angular velocity might be restricted by your motors. When motors attain their bodily limitations and can’t spin any sooner, the utmost angular velocity is capped, whatever the larger worth set in Betaflight.
RC Expo
RC Expo, often known as Exponential or just Expo, reduces sensitivity close to the stick’s middle the place high quality 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 middle. At 50% stick enter, your quad will rotate across the given axis at precisely half the utmost rotational velocity.
Growing 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 the next expo proportion flattening the “U” across the center.
Tremendous Price
Tremendous Price (or just Price) will increase each max angular velocity and sensitivity across the middle stick.
By elevating the Tremendous Price, you’ll be able to preserve average stick sensitivity round mid-stick for traditional flying maneuvers whereas nonetheless reaching snappy rolls and flips on the stick endpoints.
Tremendous Price basically combines the results of RC Price and Expo, permitting for extra flexibility in reaching the specified stick really feel.
So why use Tremendous Price? We will simply use RC Price and Expo proper? Sure, type of, however having Tremendous Price offers us extra flexibility in reaching the stick really feel we wish.
Tuning Betaflight Charges
Tuning charges in the end is determined by private desire and “really feel.”
Start with the default Betaflight values: RC Price 1.0, Tremendous Price 0.7, Expo 0 for all three axes.
When tuning my charges, I at all times alter RC Price first. Carry out flips and rolls, and if the quadcopter spins too slowly, enhance RC Price till happy. Be aware down the max angular velocity (deg/sec) within the Betaflight Configurator. For my freestyle rig, I often goal 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 sluggish to react (not delicate sufficient), lower Tremendous Price whereas growing RC Price to compensate and lift the max angular velocity.
Expo isn’t at all times mandatory since Tremendous Price can present the identical impact. Nonetheless, in case you nonetheless discover small actions round mid-stick too delicate, enhance Expo till you strike the correct stability between precision and responsiveness.
Professional Tip: Making use of Expo on the radio (TX) reduces your stick decision, so at all times set Expo within the flight controller software program each time potential!
You might must iterate by way of the method a number of instances till the charges really feel good. Do not forget that pitch, roll, and yaw charges don’t have to be an identical—freestyle pilots typically want larger roll and yaw charges however decrease pitch fee, it’s all private desire.
Completely different flight controller software program has totally different ranges and scaling in PID, charges and expo, so the identical numbers don’t essentially give the identical ends in a unique firmware. It is best to be capable to discover on-line converters if you wish to migrate to a unique FC firmware.
To present you some examples, listed below are the Charges and Expos I used previously:
Freestyle
- RC Price – 1.2
- Tremendous Price – 0.77
- RC Expo – 0.20
Clean Cruiser:
- RC Price = 0.80
- RC Expo = 0.00
- Tremendous Price = 0.65
Expo is ready to zero right here on function, that is to keep away from overreacting in shut conditions and truly offers you general smoother consequence.
Aggressive Acro Quad:
- RC Price, Pitch/Roll = 1.80, Yaw = 2.00
- Tremendous Price, All = 0.64
- RC Expo, Pitch/Roll = 0.20, Yaw = 0.15
Tiny Whoop Charges
- Roll+Pitch: RC Price 1.2, Tremendous Price 0.75, Expo 0
- YAW: RC Price 1.3, Tremendous Price 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 ability improves, and also you turn into extra comfy performing aggressive manoeuvres, you could possibly 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 high quality management.
There isn’t any proper or mistaken Expo and Price values, so long as it fits you. For instance, I’ve shaky fingers, so my expo is likely to be a bit larger than others. :p
Don’t Change Your Charges!
Some pilots alter 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. Should you’re always tweaking your charges, your instincts won’t ever absolutely develop. As a substitute, choose one set of charges and keep on with them—it will assist you 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. Should you’re flying drastically totally different plane—corresponding to a 5″ freestyle quad and a tiny whoop—it is sensible to regulate charges accordingly. These drones have very totally different flight traits and are flown in completely totally different environments, so utilizing totally different charges for every is each sensible and mandatory.
Throttle Mid and Throttle Expo
Throttle Expo modifies the form of the throttle curve, flattening it across the “Throttle Mid” level. This enables 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 in case you plan to make use of Throttle Expo, Throttle Mid must be set to the throttle of cruising velocity. That is the place you will want probably the most throttle decision, and Throttle Expo would possibly make altitude management simpler for you.
Throttle Mid is not going to have any impact in case you 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 uncomfortable side effects from outdated fee methods. Should you’re nonetheless on previous Betaflight charges, do your self a favor—change 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 characteristic in Betaflight: Precise Price
- 2022 – Utilizing Precise Price as the usual, up to date screenshots, up to date Price Tuning directions,
- 2023 – Simplified URL, optimized title
- Feb 2025 – Up to date tutorial
