From one of the devs of expresslrs…
"Bryan Mayland Wrote:
(opinion) Do not buy SPI-based ExpressLRS gear.
The longer version of that is that the hardware is being obsoleted due to it being an entirely different codebase that exists in Betaflight. This means that ExpressLRS 2.x works fine, but when 3.0 RC starts in a couple weeks, SPI RX will not work at all due to changes in the over-the-air formatting (and you should not try to force them to talk). The amazing SPI developer Phobos has prepared a patch to make the OTA compatible with the modes 2.x has, but running from a 3.0 TX. This will require custom Betaflight builds with it until BF 4.x.x comes out with them in it, and the firmwares will likely not be maintained.
You’ll still keep what you’ve got right now, but you will not get any new modes or features. It is my opinion that SPI hardware should not be considered, unless you make the decision that what exists right now is all you’ll never need.
As a fairly active ExpressLRS developer I feel that people should be aware SPI hardware is already obsolete in the eyes of the development team as that information should be known before making your next whoop / AIO purchase. There will be new ExpressLRS AIO hardware, but it will have a full separate processor for running ELRS + VTX on it and will run from the main ELRS codebase to keep it always up to date."
So here I was looking for a RX to purchase, was pretty much sold on one from Happymodel themselves, the EP2, but I was still not convinced.
So before committing to the purchase I decided to give the drone another look. I removed the canopy properly this time, did a bit of cleaning on the board with a brush, a plastic stick and some alcohol. Also pressed lightly on some of the components near the antenna (who knows right, just for good measure)… There was a bit of muck near the battery connector, probably flux (from my previous sloppy soldering of the battery piggy tail) and dirt.
After all was done I plugged it into Betaflight and right off the bat I noticed a different light blinking on the bottom, was very hopeful already, then proceeded to turn on the radio and voila… We have connection once again!! I also did a quick test plugging the battering and arming the quad, it seems to be back to life, although if anything, I think its taking a bit longer than it used to to establish radio connection., not sure though, might just be me overthinking…
Further flight tests awaits but for now I’m happy that it has connected once again and seems like nothing was actually damaged (although I think unlikely, it could still be a loose connection somewhere which my poking with the stick might have temporarily “fixed”).
Will follow up after a flight test.
Thanks for the help and tips, at least I’m prepared to go the external rx route if needed.
Further update… just flew a couple of packs and all was in order. Seems like muck was to blame then, will keep an eye though.
If it fails again I’ll post back…
Yes do this.
Optician once told me that this does not mess your eyes up.