In one of my previous post, I described how to flash the Cleanflight firmware on the CC3D flight controller and why I prefer the CC3D over Naze32 at the moment. I used my Arduino Nano as FTDI adapter to do this, but Bill posted a video in the comments, how the board can be flashed only through the USB-Port. I have tried it yesterday and will show you, how to do this if you don’t want to watch the video.
First download the OpenPilot GCS 15.02.02 (the newest 15.05 does not support the CC3D board) and install it on your computer. Here is a manual how to install it, if you have some problems with that.
We also need the STM32 Virtual Com Port driver. Download it from the official ST-webpage and install it.
Install the Cleanflight Configurator from the Chrome Web Store and download the latest Cleanflight firmware for the CC3D board. Download the “cleanflight_CC3D.bin” from GitHub.
Open the OpenPilot GCS software, connect the CC3D board through the USB-Port, go to the “Firmware”-Tab and click the “Halt” button.
Now you can open the downloaded cleanflight_CC3D.bin. Check the “I know what I’m doing!” box and then “Flash” button. That’s it, now you have the Cleanflight firmware on your CC3D board.
Important: To use the board through the UBS-Port, you need to power it with external battery. Then you can connect it to the Cleanflight Configurator.
If for some reason you want to go back to the OpenPilot firmware, go to this page and follow the exact instructions “How to Upgrade the Bootloader and Erase Settings”.
Thanks to Bill, who told me about the video and to FranzArians for sharing his way to install the firmware!
i love cleanflight on my cc3d, it just worked so much better for me, one thing i hate though is having to plug in power to use cleanflight and power cycle everytime you save settings, thats a bit of a pain.
Yeah, great board and great firmware. But as you mentioned there are some small issues that the firmware has to resolve for the CC3D and all other not Naze32 boards.
i have downloaded and installed cleanflight , the drivers and installed them and flashed CC3D with the cleanflight.bin file when i go into cleanflight configurator it will not connect to the board? what am i missing? my email address is capps2000@gmail.com thanks for any help
Hello Mike, you need to also connect the battery to the CC3D in order to connect it to Cleanflight.
the TX is on as well as 3S battery and when i hit connect it says serial port successfully opened with ID:24 then in red it says no configuration within 10 sec. communication failed , serial com port successfully closed
I hope you havent powered the CC3D with 3S battery or?! You need to supply 5V to the CC3D to power it. Then connect it to the PC and click connect.
I hope you havent powered the CC3D with 3S battery or?! You need to supply 5V to the CC3D to power it. Then connect it to the PC and click connect.
well yea , i have 3s battery connected to PDB board and 5v out put is on CC3D board
ok, that is fine.
when i connect battery 5v powers the board and i get a solid green light on board with a slow flashing blue light for about 5 sec. then a heart beat blue light then only green light
Hm, have you tried all com ports?
do i need download the latest CP210x drivers? i just see this in the cleanflight configurator i’m so sorry if im being a pest im really new to quads and my ZMR250 flys great with openpilot but i have a SPEDIX 250 i wanted to try cleanflight on and now ive gotten myself in a dark room and dont know how to find the light switch
No problem, Mike. I would love to help you. I am thinking right now, what could be the problem. Can you test to connect to OpenPilot GCS? If it indicates the board and its movement, than the Clenaflight was not flashed. Just for test.
if i can get this to work and understand how to tune pid loops better i have lots of frames , motors and esc’s to build and fly more aggresive. i used my dominator V2 goggles for the first time today and i am addicted something awful
the only port thats an option is COM1 or manual selection , and buad rate is 115200
Have you tried to connect again to OpenPilot GCS to see if it really runs the Cleanflight firmware? You can also try to flash it again… Well I have no idea at moment, it is a bit late here in Germany now.
when i go into openpilot and hit rescue it shows me BL4 and at bottom left shows firmware on device board name unknown firmware tag unknown etc.
Hm, then it should be flashed successfully with Cleanflight… Ok, leave a message tommorow and I will check mine board again. Bye
with an ” ! ” in a yellow triangle
ok thanks for your time and maybe i will try to reflash it , maybe send you a message tomorrow thanks so much for you help . i think this is right DAHN-keh