KK2 setup video for the Tricopter V3

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Here is the KK2 setup video for the Tricopter V3. I noticed that I skimmed some areas a bit lightly when shooting the video, but I hope people still find it useful. For more in-depth info read Steveis manual.

Recommended PI values:

Setup:
Motors: NTM-28-30 900kV
Props: HQ 9×5 Electric
Battery: 4S 3000mAh 20C
AUW: 1026 grams

Roll and Pitch gains:
P Gain: 20
P Limit: 100
I Gain: 11
I Limit: 20

Rudder gains:
P Gain: 80
P Limit: 20
I Gain: 80
I Limit: 10

Stick Scaling:
Aileron: 30
Elevator: 30
Rudder: 40
Throttle: 90

Transmitter EXPO:
30% on everything

Setup:
Motors: NTM-28-26 1200kV
Props: HQ 8×5 Electric
Battery: 4S 3000mAh 20C
AUW: 999 grams

Roll and Pitch gains:
P Gain: 26
P Limit: 100
I Gain: 14
I Limit: 20

Rudder gains:
P Gain: 80
P Limit: 20
I Gain: 80
I Limit: 10

Stick Scaling:
Aileron: 30
Elevator: 30
Rudder: 40
Throttle: 90

Transmitter EXPO:
30% on everything

Setup:
Motors: NTM-28-30 1200kV
Props: HQ 9×5 Electric
Battery: 3S 4500mAh 35C
AUW: 1083 grams

Roll and Pitch gains:
P Gain: 21
P Limit: 100
I Gain: 12
I Limit: 20

Rudder gains:
P Gain: 80
P Limit: 20
I Gain: 80
I Limit: 10

Stick Scaling:
Aileron: 30
Elevator: 30
Rudder: 40
Throttle: 90

Transmitter EXPO:
30% on everything

Content:
00:18 – Hooking up the KK2 board
01:34 – 3 wire hookup
02:12 – Powering the KK2 board
03:00 – Hooking up the KK2 MINI
06:00 – Receiver test menu
08:45 – Loading a motor layout
10:15 – Reversing the Servo – increasing frame-rate
11:40 – MPU6050 setup
12:47 – ACC calibration
14:00 – Misc settings
16:00 – Stick scaling
17:20 – PI menu
17:46 – Recommended PI values
18:00 – Tuning your PI gains

83 thoughts on “KK2 setup video for the Tricopter V3”

    • David, I have the KK2.1.5 and I was wondering where to put the servo for rudder on the output side and does the input side corrospiond with the output side? thank you so much for the tunings this will make building and flying quicker and sooo much easier.

  4. Nice video, I wish you uploaded this earlier 😛
    Which gains are the closest ones for DT750’s + 9×4.7 + 3S 2800 30C? All props rotate the same direction.
    Thank you 🙂

  5. Just ordered another set of NTM Prop Drive Series 28-30 1200kv for the KK2 mini setup I am planning 🙂 Great that you included various setup configurations!

    Hope you can find the time sometime in the future to do similar setup videos for the Naze32 /Flip32+ boards, this is SO helpful 🙂

  8. Great video, David, as always.

    Does anybody know whether Steveis fw is available for KK2.0?

    Are you still using Simonk fw on the ESCs? What about BLHeli? Have you tried it out?

      • Listen, smart ass! 🙂
        I did order a cable to upgrade and asked a question below in another post, about what could I expect to be different. I guess it doesn’t matter, though, probably hard to put into words, and I will see for myself when I re flash my board.:)

      • And the answer is: THE DIFFERENCE IS AMAZING!!!!
        When you said highly recommend Steveis, you meant it, didn’t you?!
        I was nervous as I’m new to flashing things. Only took an hour to get it right! It turns out that the pinout for what I think is called the isp header was upside down from what I thought. Makes all the difference.

        Anyway, it flies amazing. Locked in, rock solid. Even the motors sound smoother. I didn’t like the low I gain on the stock firmware, but on this, it feels really good. I like it a tad higher, but man it flies so much better. So much better.

  10. Hi David, thanks for the Video. It helped me alot to setup mi Tri. But since this is my first model I ran into a problem I could not solve yet: I’ve got the KK mini and it won’t arm (but the servo is active). Each motor with esc spins up, when plugged directly into the receiver. The receiver test shows perfect setup.
    I could not find any good introduction to the KK mini. Do you have any by chance?
    Thank you in advance. 🙂

    • The KK mini and normal boards are identical, so you don’t need to look for KK mini specific instructions. What firmware are you running? Try doing a factory reset on the board. If you’re running the steveis firmware you’ll see in at the bottom of the receiver test if the board is arming or not.

      • Hi David,

        thanks for your reply. Thanks to your answer and some goole-research I found the answer: I needed to trim down trottle a little bit. Now it’s working. 🙂 Except for the stupid props… (HK delivered only CCW no CW props, but that’s another story…)

        I’m using the stock firmware. I don’t have a USB asp adapter by hand to flasch the KK mini. But it’s on my watchlist at HK to be purchased when available.

      • I’m struggling with arming issues as well. I have a FrSky Taranis Plus transmitter with X8R receiver and have that plugged into the KK-mini controller (with Steveis 1.19S1 Pro software). I’ve modified the transmitter weights so that each channel goes from exactly -100 to 100 (except for AUX, which is as-is). When I move the throttle stick to the extreme SW corner, the receiver test shows 0/Idle for throttle and -100/Right for rudder, but the Arm test stays in the safe zone all the time. I’ve also tried nudging the trims to provide larger/smaller values to either channel, but no dice.

        I can’t figure out what to try next. So frustrating. Do you have any ideas? 🙂

        Matti

  11. Thanks for the video David. Question for you or anyone else with some info. I’m using the Afro 30A esc’s with the 900kv ntm motors and 4s. These esc’s have a .5A BEC. First: Do I need an external BEC? Or is it safe the way it is? Second: Do I need to disconnect the BEC’s in the other esc’s? Or is it again ok to have power going to channel 2 and 3 on the mini board? Thank you.

  12. I tried these settings and with the I gain that low, it was way too spongy for me. Either it’s different without the Steveis firmware or I don’t like my copter like David does! Anyone else have that? My input felt mushy and delayed. I may also be clueless. I like the stick scaling a little higher too. I think maybe I’m too lazy? Cant be bothered to move the sticks too much?

      • Your settings made my settings feel self conscious! I fly line of sight a bit but FPV mostly. I tested the settings LOS. I remember you saying that for LOS the crisper the better but for FPV, the settings should be a bit more spongy?
        I ordered a usbasp so I can try the Steveis firmware. What can I expect will be different with that?

  13. David, what about a forum instead of the “open blog” ?
    There are many dedicated RCExplorer fans and just looking at the replies there are plenty of knowledge out there.

    Would love to see a simple but more efficient way to share thoughts and ideas about your products and contribution. phpBB Forum Software or something similar would help this RCExplorer community.

    Keep up the great work and looking forward to the next RCExplorer product. Perhaps the “V3 mini indoor” 🙂

  19. Thanks David, glad you were able to find the time to do the video, the info on PI values and stick scaling has been very helpful to me. The Steveis FW flies pretty great at default settings, but turning down the gains was a big improvement. Somehow I just wanted to not “turn down the volume”, like real men fly high PI gains or something :).
    I missed any mention of ESC calibration, and I’m not sure that Steveis mentions it in the manual. Your tips on how to deal with the single line of input pins on the Mini was great, but doing CPPM on those same pins is a bit more fiddly than a person might expect, especially since the HK video on doing so is (or at least was) wrong. Ground, voltage, skip a pin, THEN signal works nicely 🙂
    And I sure do totally love my V3!!! Thanks again!!!

    • Same went for me! I thought I liked the twitchy responsive thing. Looking at my footage though, it was jerky and crazy. Also hard to keep anything in frame for any length of time. Fun to fly but hard to hover steadily and it was easy to get into a “pilot induced oscillation” situation around obstacles. With the lower gains, it’s cushy and swoopy. I like it. I just have to think ahead a little as the reaction time is a little slower than my “manly” high volume settings. Thinking ahead is proving to be much more enjoyable and smooth. Now I know what David is talking about “resolution” I can actually move my sticks more, and get truly variable input. The way I was set up before was like turning the cyclic and rudder on or off, there was no variable input. Glad I tried it out. Thankful for the wait on the setup video. It allowed me time to get the experience of playing with settings so that I had a basis for comparison.

      Yeah, this thing is fun!

  20. Hi David,

    I fly with self level on and i am realy struggling to get it to fly.
    do you think you could possibly post the settings that work?
    thanks for all the awesomeness!

  23. Hi David

    I have a question about the expo configuration. When you say that you use it on all the control surfaces, does it include throttle?
    I was setting up my radio lately and had this doubt.

    And other point: I had to set the throttle limit to be a little bit unde the value that you recommended on the video, at least on my KK2.0. Leaving it with 1 at lower throttle the board wouldn’t ARM, it seems to not recognize it as a zero throttle.

    Other than that, great tutorial, it helped me to adjust my board better.

  24. Hello all… Besides ESC throttle calibration, is there any programming that needs to be done with a ESC programmer for the Afro ESCs? Or is everything already setup with the SimonK firmware from the factory? thanks.

  25. Wait, I forgot to mention that I also installed a peacock feather on the tail boom and bathe the esc’s daily in holly hunter’s tears, and I hired a gnome to read ee cummings’ poems twice daily to them as they hover the tricopter. Other than that, good to go.

  26. Question for you
    I have the Trifecta and the mini KK board with 1.19 fw loaded

    I have the recommended turnegy servo it’s a digital metal gear but when i put it in high it start to wiggle to left and right before i even arm so something is for sure wrong, i seen some guy’s having issue with the servo and i am not sure if my issue when i fly it is the servo but the tail wiggle a bit i have this settings

    p at 60 and 20 i at 60 and 20

    yaw at 40

    servo filter at 50

    So is it my setting

    Or a bad servo

    Cheer’s

    Per?

  28. hey David
    I just bought a kk2,1,5 table and has full movie.
    but when I tried ACC bubble was the opposite of what you recommend
    and motorne also do the opposite of what they should. so the arm is up, it is also the engine begins to run faster. have also tried several times to make an ACC calibration .. can you hjælpr me

  29. helo..
    I had exactly the same problem like Jumper.
    the acc bubble on my kk2 board move to opposite direction,
    the back motor spin faster, faster, and faster when i move forward,
    the front motor do the same when move backward,
    the left motor do the same when move to right,
    the right motor do the same when move to left,
    always flip my quad.
    what i need to do? please help..

      • hi david
        yes i have turned kk2 as you describe.
        when I press down the right side of kk2, goes the bubble to our left ..

        can I send a vidio to you ?.
        so you ask to see my / our problem
        with kk2

        please help..

        på svensk.
        hej David
        Ja jag har vänt KK2 som du beskriver.
        när jag trycker ner den högra sidan av KK2 går bubblan till vänster om oss ..

        kan jag skicka en vidio för dig?.
        så du be att få se mitt / vårt problem
        med KK2

      • helo,

        yes i mount the board forward, read the screen from behind the craft. i made custom quad-x with this kk board.

        i check the motor layout like this:
        – one by one unplug the esc cable from kk output
        – run throttle a bit and check the motor

        yes the layout and rotation was correct. like i see on kk board screen: 1-FL-CW, 2-FR-CCW, 3-RR-CW, 4-RL-CCW.

        i solve the problem now,
        – reverse my aileron and elevator on my tx.
        – reverse the motor layout from 1-2-3-4 to 3-4-1-2

        and my quad can fly. that means my kk board working in reverse! really strange.

        try to reverse like i did Jumper.

        thanks david

      • sorry, i just thingking, how to reverse motor layout on tricopter david? because the front has 2 motors, and back only one? i had no problem to reverse motor layout on quad

      • Ooo for tricopter try this Jumper:
        – reverse aileron and elevator on your tx
        – rotate board 180 degree (facing backward)
        – dont change the motor layout
        i believe you can fly.

        • my kk2 board works if I put the motor 3 = 1 and 1 = 2 and 2 = 3 and servo as 4
          reverse my aileron and elevator on my tx.

          but a thousand thousand thanks for your help ..
          it is lovely it is such a place where people will help …

          • glad to hear your board work,

            but i think if you change motor layout 3=1 1=2 and 2=3 you only rotate your board 120deg, you need complete 180deg rotation, and your tricopter will fly better (maybe).

            if you have time you can try what i suggested, and see the result.

            our kk board is really really strange! haha..

  30. helo
    I have your tricopter V3 setup with an kk2 mini board.
    My problem is that: When I turn on the kk2 mini board first it’s works, but a few seconds later the operating system crashs. The display shine but you don’t see anything, just white.
    When I remove the energy plug I must wait a few minute, than I can put the plug into again.
    The board works for a few seconds than it crashs again.
    please help….

  32. Hello has all tuto is excellent!
    I made all the configuration as so indicated above.
    Having made it but after my helixes turn not
    on my screen he are write there:
    self level is on
    batt: 0.0V
    toll angle
    pitch angle

    and no up help me plz

  33. Hey David. I am trying to get my first tricopter up and running but am having trouble with my kk2 board. Have tried and retried with no success. I have flashed and re flashed with steveis 1.18 (I know 1.19 is available but wanted to have the exact version that you use in the video). I am using the hard case kk2 board that I just received from HK a couple of weeks ago.

    First off I got all the settings done per your video and the receiver test showed connectivity and function. However, in the end, when all was said and done, and I powered up the system, there was no actual powering of the motors or servo. I tried to check all but had no success.

    I now re flashed and when I power up the board through port 1 with a bec, the kk2 board shows SAFE and not ERROR and when I attempt the receiver test, it shows no response. I am at a total loss. Can you give me some direction? I have no clue where to go from here. Thanks so much for your time.

    • Do you have a picture showing how you hooked thing into the KK2 board. That would help a lot.
      Does the receiver power up when you power the KK2 board?
      Are you sure you got the signal pins towards screen on the KK2?
      Are you sure the signal pins are the right way in the receiver?
      Did you bind your receiver to the transmitter?

  34. Thanks for the response David. Actually,,,,,life is now good. I figured out my problem and have had two successful hover flights.

    Here is what happened. Actually, when I first completed the build and the kk2 setup, I was unaware of the last step,,,,arming the board. Sounds crazy simple now but at the time I was not aware. I had never flown a multicopter. So, I re-flashed the board and started over. When I started over I questioned some setup options (i.e. receiver type selection) and thus made mistakes. I kept at it with more reading and came across the “arming” step. Once I had my mistakes corrected and knew about arming all came together. It was a learning experience but I have it now. And it is a wonderful feeling to get it in the air.

    I hope that this post helps others that have maybe had my same experience. It was a struggle at the end but all in all very fun. I look forward to #2

    Thanks David for all the information that you have place out there for all to learn from. I couldn’t have done it without you. For those newbees that may be reading this,,,,,another site that was very helpful,,,,especially since I did not know how to “flash” the kk2 board,,,,is http://www.everythingcpo.com. He made the flashing step a breeze.

    Thanks again! I can’t wait to fly more each day!

  35. What’s the point of trimming everything so that receiver test shows zeros if most multirotors require further trimming to get most stable hover?
    Also please explain me when to use trims and when subtrims.

  36. hi!david! I am your super fans that from CHINA! I have builded a new Tricopter as yours. I use the KK2.0 too! thans very much about your building video etc.But I have a little bit problem for PI tuning.As your PI data,my tricopter is not so good handfeeling.so I increas the P gain and I gain for the roll and pitch. P 120 I 65,the yaw is 60,the same about P I. So the tricopter do not appear the vibtation until I have set the value as above. why? Is the KK borad has broken??? but it flied stabilty. I hope you tell the things about above, I speak English a bit,please do not mind,thank you david so much!

  37. i have all the settings the way you suggested. im not getting enough lift from the front left arm. even when trying to go right it wants to dip left. i cant figure it out.

  38. i figured it out. the guy i purchased it off of had a diff brand esc on that arm. i had one in stock. prog it and it works great. thanks for the settings info

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