Some time ago I decided to buy myself a Sparky 2.0 flight controller, because on paper it looked as the best Cleanflight flight controller for now.
Details:
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STM32 F4 processor running at 168MHz
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MPU9250 Gyroscope/Accelerometer/Compass
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MS5611 Barometer
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2MB dataflash chip
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FrSky Telemetry
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Integrated SBUS inverter
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CAN Bus
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Build in 433Mhz modem
If you buy your Sparky 2.0 from Banggood, Aliexpress or any non official dealer you will need to remove the exciting resistor on the receiver pads and bridge them in other way.
When I wrote my article about the Cleanflight best flight controllers, I still didn’t know that the official Cleanflight firmware is still not working on any F4 based flight controller. In order to use it, I needed to flash the Raceflight firmware on the Sparky 2.0.
What’s Raceflight?
Raceflight is fork of Cleanflight, like the famous Betaflight. It’s optimized for F4 MCUs and you should get better flight experience. And like on Betaflight, you can directly flash your BLHeli ESCs using passthrough.
How to flash Raceflight on Sparky 2.0:
Go to the official RCGroups Raceflight thread and download the latest Raceflight firmware for the Sparky 2.0. Then you need the DfuSe Demo software for flashing the STM32 MCU.
The DfuSe Demo only works with .DFU files, so we need to convert the Raceflight .HEX in order to flash it. Go to the folder where you have installed DfuSe Demo and in the bin-folder you will find the DfuFileMgr.exe.
Run it and click on the button S19 or HEX. Select the raceflight_Sparky2.hex file, that you already downloaded. Then click on the Generate button and select a file name for the DFU file, for example raceflight_Sparky2.DFU
Connect the Sparky 2.0 flight controller with your computer. Start the DfuSe Demo. Choose the raceflight_Sparky2.DFU file, select “Verify after download” and hit the Upgrade button.
If everything goes fine, you will be able to use your Sparky 2.0 with the Raceflight firmware. In order to configure it, install the Raceflight configurator app for Chrome. It looks almost the same as the Cleanflight configurator, so you should not have problems setting the board up.
I am still tuning my PIDs, so I cant say anything about the flight performance yet. If you already run Raceflight on your Sparky 2.0 or OpenPilot Revo, please share your experience.
thanks for the Guide.. ill try it.. hopefully tonight 😉
Let me know if you have some problems with the flashing. Gruß, Sergey 🙂
HI
Does the 433mhz receiver works with raceflight (for controlling the copter, not for telemetry)
Thank’s
Andy
Hey Andy, the 433Mhz receiver does not work yet. But I doubt it will work for controlling the copter. It is mostly used for Telemetry. Best wishes, Sergey
Hi,
nice guide. I have a problem, because the DFuSe doesn’t regonise my sparky 2.
Hope you can help me?
bye willie
Hey Willie, need to check again the exact procedure and will let you know. Do you have some more information that can help me what the problem could be? Best, Sergey
Hey Willie, have you bridged the bootloader pins before powering the Sparky through the usb-cable? If you have bridged these successfully, only the green LED will turn on.
When I put my sparky 2 in dfu mode everything goes well. When I take it out of dfu mode nothing shows up.
Only green LED is on?
Sorry for my late response, i didn’t get an alert on the response.
No, only the green LED is coming up, but DFuSe do nothing. 🙁
Hi, I have a naze32 – cent find that FC as an option to flash on raceflight…
I doubt it, that you can run Raceflight on a Naze32, because it has a F1 MCU and Raceflight need at least F3. Best, Sergey