In the past year I mostly used the CC3D and Naze32 boards, flashed with Cleanflight. Today I received my new custom firmware flight controller – the KISS FC. It is a 32bit flight controller with STM32 F303 processor, just like the SPRacing F3 flight controller. The KISS FC has its own custom firmware, but because of the same processor, Cleanflight could be ported in the future.
Details:
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Dimensions: 38x36x8.4mm (incl. connectors)
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Weight: 4.6g
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30×30 mounting holes
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STM32 F303CCT6 72Mhz MCU
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Invensense MPU6050 Gyroscope/Accelerometer
Compared to the Naze32 or the CC3D, the KISS flight controller is slightly wider – 2mm. The board comes with absolutely no pins, so you need some soldering skills for using it. I am also a bit skeptical about the soldering pads. Personally I prefer through holes, as I have bad experience with the receiver solder pads on my Naze32. Probably it could be better, to solder directly the cables from the ESCs and receiver and not using any pins at all. But in that case, its hard to change the flight controller easy between different multicopters.
I also don’t understand why they choose the MPU6050 (only i2c bus) and not the MPU6000 (i2c and SPI bus), like on the CC3D. Yes, if you are using only the standard custom firmware, it will work great. But if Cleanflight gets ported in the feature, you are limited by the i2c bus a bit. You will need to overclock the i2c bus.
Features:
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Input voltage: 2-6S LiPo
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6 PWM outputs
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Supported frame configurations: Bi, Tri, Quad, Hexa
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500mA BEC
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Telemetry from KISS24A ESCs
I like that you can power the board directly from a 2-6S LiPo and at the same time connect you receiver to the flight controller. This is possible, because of the integrated 500mA “ON Semiconductor 78M05G” voltage regulator.
In combination with the new KISS24A Race ESC you can get telemetry data via OSD. For example: battery voltage, current or ESC temperature.
Supported receivers:
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Standard PWM signal
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PPM Sum
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Spektrum Satellite
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S.BUS
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ExBus
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Graupner SumD/SumO
You need the KISS Flight Control GUI from the Chrome Webstore to configure your KISS FC. The user interface need some work to look a bit better and modern. Now it looks to me like older versions of the MultiWii GUI. And definitely new images for the UAV types!
Summary: The hardware of the KISS flight controller is pretty standard… simple. But that is what we know about all the KISS hardware: Keep it super simple and have a great user experience! It’s the custom firmware, that makes this flight controller (and all the KISS products) special. I am going to build a new quad with the KISS FC and test how it performs in flight. So subscribe or like the Facebook page to be notified.
Hello, new Kiss owner here and was wondering if it’s safe to connect to USB and powered by 3S lipo battery at the same time while a receiver is connected too?
Hey Joseph, why do you want to connect the battery too? The receiver is powered even only the USB is connected. It is always a bit risky to have battery connected, props mounted and connected to PC for every flight controller. Cheers, Sergey
I actually don’t connect the usb and battery at the same time and I always disconnect lipo battery when changing PIDs in the configuration but sometimes I forget to disconnect the lipo maybe 2 times already for a very short time hence I ask this question. I thought maybe there is a circuitry that would prevent this from happening. But from your reply, it’s not the case. I guess I will have to be more carefull next time. Thank you for quickly answering my question, Joseph
No, there is no nothing to prevent that. Take care and happy flying. Best, Sergey