#11031

Kakute F4 AIO (V2)

User Manual & Installation Guide

v1.0
 Contents

Overview .......................................................................................................1
Features
Specifications
Warranty and Return Policy
Pinout Diagram ...........................................................................................4
Installation Guide ......................................................................................5
Updating Betaflight Firmware .......................................................... 10
Installing Drivers
Installing Betaflight Configurator
Flashing New Firmware
Initial Configuration .............................................................................. 15
Connect to The Board
Ports
Configuration
Blackbox
OSD
Using The OSD .......................................................................................... 19
Saving Your Configuration .................................................................. 21
Additional Reference............................................................................. 23
Adjust PIDs / Rates / vTX from Taranis ....................................... 24

Page |1 Kakute F4 AIO

Overview
The Holybro Kakute F4 AIO All-In-One flight controller makes it easy to build your multirotor. It
integrates flight controller (FC), power distribution board (PDB), and on-screen display (OSD) in one. The
Kakute F4 AIO V2’s layout makes it easy to wire up the other components of the multirotor while
keeping the build neat and tidy.

New V2 Features
• Additional UART (UART 4) added to support serial camera communication such as to RunCam
Split. Please note this is NOT the same as Betaflight Camera Control feature, which controls the
menu of FPV cameras like Swift, Monster, etc.
• Additional UART (UART 5) added to support ESC telemetry such as from BLHeli_32 and KISS.
• Through-hole solder pads instead of flat pads for more secure soldering especially for beginners.
• Barometer sensor on board allows altitude hold mode.
• I2C pad available for certain external sensors.

Features
• Supports Betaflight and Cleanflight.
• Betaflight OSD. Change PIDs, adjust common configuration parameters, and change video
transmitter channel and power level, all using your transmitter sticks and goggles.
• Soft-mounting built in. The IMU (“gyro”) chip on this board is mounted on vibration-isolating
foam. This means that there is no need to soft-mount the board itself.
• New high-performance / low-noise / high sensitivity IMU. ICM20689 with 6-axis gyro and
accelerometer. Can run at up to 32 kHz.
• 2 oz. copper PCB allows up to 120A maximum continuous current.
• Dedicated bootloader button for easy firmware flashing.
• Low-profile design fits into even very compact frames.
• Input voltage 7v to 42v. Power the board directly from the flight pack, up to 6S (on “B+” pad
only).
• Automatic voltage monitoring. No need to run a separate vBat wire for voltage monitoring; the
Kakute F4 AIO monitors voltage directly from the battery power lead.
• Filtered voltage output for clean, noise-free video. On-board regulators output 5v at up to 1.5
amps and 3.3v at up to 200 mA to power peripherals such as receiver, video transmitter, FPV
camera, or LED strip.
• Supports BLHeli pass-through for easy ESC upgrade and configuration.

Page |1 Kakute F4 AIO

Specifications
• MCU: STM32F405RGT6 32-bit processor
• IMU: ICM20689 (SPI)
• Barometer: BMP280
• USB VCP Driver (all UARTs usable simultaneously; USB does not take up a UART)
• 5 hardware UARTS (UART1,3,4, 5, 6)
• Supports serial receivers (SBUS, iBus, Spektrum, Crossfire) only. PPM and PWM receivers are not
supported.
• 128 Mbit Dataflash chip for Blackbox logging
• Dimensions: 35x43x7mm (includes USB in height)
• Mounting Holes: Standard 30.5mm square to center of holes
• Weight: 7g

Page |2 Kakute F4 AIO

Warranty and Return Policy
If you believe that your Kakute F4 AIO is defective, please contact us. If we determine that the board is
defective, it will be repaired or replaced at no charge to you. We may ask you to send your Kakute to our
service center for examination or repair. Shipping costs are your responsibility. Returned items should
include the original packaging and all accessories.

If product is damaged or defective, we will repair or replace it. Refunds are only given when product is
lost by the shipping company. The refund amount is limited to the price of the product. Shipping costs
are never refundable.

Contact us at:

• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook Page: Holybro
• Facebook Group: Holybro Hobby Official Group

Page |3 Kakute F4 AIO

Pinout Diagram
Top of board
Pin Function
B+ Battery positive voltage (2S-6S)
5v 5v output (1.5 A max)
VO Video output to video transmitter
VI Video input from FPV camera
G or GND Ground
2
SDA, SCL I C connection (for peripherals)
R3, T3 UART3 RX and TX (automatic SBUS inversion)
R4, T4 UART4 RX and TX (uninverted)
R6, T6 UART6 RX and TX (uninverted)
SP FrSky SmartPort Telemetry (UART 1, inverted)
LED WS2182 addressable LED signal wire
BUZ- Piezo buzzer negative leg
Connect buzzer positive leg to 5v pad
RSSI Analog (0-3.3v) RSSI input
3V3 3.3v output (200 mA max)
M1 to M4 Motor signal outputs
RX UART 5 RX (uninverted, for ESC Telemetry)
Boot Bootloader button

Page |4 Kakute F4 AIO

Installation Guide
Solder the main battery connector to the large + and - pads
on the board. The battery connector should use either 12
gauge or 14 gauge, fine-strand, silicone-insulation wire. This
type of wire is commonly referred to as “silicone wire”. Do
not use regular stranded copper wire for the battery lead. It
will become brittle over time and break.

The battery connector will most commonly be an XT60.

Install the Kakute F4 AIO in your quadcopter frame. Do not

completely reassemble the frame. Leave the Kakute F4 AIO
accessible so that you can solder wires to it. For example,
leave the top plate of your frame off, or remove the camera
pod of an X-style frame so that you are working only with the
base-plate.

Having the Kakute F4 AIO mounted in the frame will allow

you to ensure that wire lengths are correct as you solder
accessories to the board. When in doubt, it’s always better to
leave a little extra wire.

Be 100% sure that the front-facing arrow on the Kakute F4

AIO faces the front of the quadcopter! If for some reason
this is not possible, then you must use Cleanflight or
Betaflight’s “board align” feature to compensate.

“Board Align” Feature Documentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSzWRnAqsSY

Page |5 Kakute F4 AIO

Solder the ESC power wires to the G and B+ pads at the
corners of the Kakute F4 AIO. ESC power wires are typically
18 or 20 gauge. Some ESCs are sold without attached wires,
in which case you will need to provide your own. We
recommend 20-gauge silicone wire for this purpose.

Each ESC should be soldered to the pads in the corner closest

to it. Cut the wires short to eliminate excess wire that can get
caught up in props, but be sure to leave yourself a little slack.
You can always shorten a wire a little more if you need to, but
you can’t easily make it longer again.

Be absolutely sure that you do not mistakenly reverse the

wires. Red goes to B+ and black goes to G.

Be absolutely sure that you do not mistakenly bridge the

pads with solder. Use a multimeter to test for continuity
between the G and B+ pads after soldering each ESC.
Continuity must not exist, or the Kakute F4 AIO and ESC will
be damaged when you plug in the battery. Also, the battery
can explode.

If continuity exists between the G and B+ pads, DO NOT

PLUG IN YOUR LIPO.
Solder the receiver signal wire to pad R3. If you are using a
typical cable, the signal wire will be white or yellow.

You must use a receiver that supports a serial protocol such

as SBUS, iBus, and Spektrum Satellite. You cannot use a PPM
or PWM receiver with the Kakute F4 AIO.

Solder the receiver ground wire to the GND pad below R3. In
a typical cable, the ground wire will be black or brown.

If your receiver requires 5v power (most receivers except for

Spektrum Satellite), solder its power wire to the 5v pad that is
beneath T3 and next to SP. In a typical cable, the power wire
will be red or orange.

If your receiver requires 3.3v power (most Spektrum Satellite

receivers), solder its power wire to the 3v3 pad in the lower-
right corner of the pin header. Do not connect a receiver that
takes 3.3v power to a 5v pad or you will destroy it.

Be sure to reference the pinout diagram for your receiver, to

ensure that you are connecting the correct pads together.

Page |6 Kakute F4 AIO

Before wiring up your camera and video transmitter (vTX), you must determine whether you will power
them by 5v or battery voltage (vBat). Many cameras and video transmitters today can run off up to 4S
(16.8 volts) without issue. Some cameras and video transmitters can run off even higher voltage. You
must refer to the product specifications for your camera and video transmitter to determine what
maximum voltage they allow. These can typically be found on the product listing page of the vendor that
sells the equipment.

If the voltage that you will use to power the copter (such as 4S or 5S) is too high for your camera or vTX,
you must power them from the 5v regulator. If the voltage that you will use to power the copter is less
than the maximum rated voltage of your camera and vTX, you may power them from vBat. However, we
recommend powering the camera and vTX from 5v if possible, because the 5v regulator provides
additional filtering, which helps ensure clean and noise-free video.

Remember that the rated load of the 5v regulator on the Kakute F4 AIO is 1.5 amps. This means that the
sum of the accessories you run from the regulator cannot exceed 1.5 amps. This should be enough
current to run a camera, receiver, and video transmitter (even a high-powered vTX like the Unify Pro).
However, if you have other 5v accessories, such as 5v LEDs, you might exceed the rated capacity of the
5v regulator. In that case, you would have to run some of the accessories from vBat, to remove load
from the regulator. When accessories are run directly from vBat, they do not load the regulator.

To recap: the sum of the current drawn by all accessories on the 5v pads must be less than 1.5 amps.

Solder the video wire from the video transmitter (vTX) to the
VO pad on the Kakute F4 AIO.

Solder the video wire from the camera to the VI pad on the
Kakute F4 AIO.

Depending on whether you intend to run off vBat or 5v,

solder the power wire for the camera and vTX to either the 5v
or the B+ pad nearest to where you soldered the video wire.

Solder the ground wire from the camera and the vTX to the G
pad nearest to where you soldered the video wire.

Page |7 Kakute F4 AIO

Some video transmitters allow the channel, transmit power, and other such parameters to be
configured remotely, through the Betaflight OSD. This means you can change channel and transmit
power using your goggles and transmitter sticks, instead of pushing a button or flipping DIP switches on
the vTX itself. This is a huge convenience!

Holybro’s vTX, the Atlatl, as well as many others, use the IRC Tramp telemetry protocol to allow remote
configuration. TBS video transmitters like the Unify and Unify HV use a protocol called SmartAudio to
accomplish the same thing.

If you have a vTX that supports SmartAudio or ImpulseRC

Telemetry, then:

For SmartAudio vTX including TBS Unify, solder the audio wire
from the vTX to the TX6 pad on the Kakute F4 AIO.

For Tramp Telemetry vTX including the ImmersionRC Tramp

and the Holybro Atlatl, solder the T wire from the vTX to the
TX6 pad on the Kakute F4 AIO. Other vTX may label this pin
differently. Refer to their documentation.

Telemetry allows the Kakute F4 AIO to report values, such as

battery voltage, back to your transmitter. The transmitter can
be configured to give audible alerts on low battery, and other
such functions.

If you intend to use FrSky SmartPort telemetry, solder the

S.Port wire from your receiver to the SP pad on the Kakute F4
AIO. Since the Kakute F4 AIO has a built-in OSD for battery
voltage monitoring, many people choose to run without
telemetry. However, some people prefer both the OSD and
telemetry.

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RSSI monitoring allows you to view the signal strength of the
control link between your transmitter and your receiver in
the OSD. This can give a warning when you are getting close
to the edge of your range, as well as showing you if you have
damaged equipment, such as an antenna that has been cut
by a prop.

If you intend to use the RSSI input, solder the analog RSSI
output of your receiver to the RSSI pad on the Kakute F4 AIO.

Many receivers do not support analog RSSI output, so you

may not be able to use this feature.

Some ESCs support a feature called ESC Telemetry. This

feature allows the ESC to report data such as motor RPM and
amps being used by the ESC back to the flight controller.

The main advantage of this feature is when the flight

controller (such as the Kakute) does not have built-in current
monitoring. In this case, the FC can gather current
consumption data from the ESCs.

If your ESCs support telemetry, and if you intend to use it,

then solder each of the ESC telemetry wires to the RX pad
that is next to the M1, M2, M3, and M4 pads.

Page |9 Kakute F4 AIO

Updating Betaflight Firmware
Like all software, the software that runs your flight controller has versions. Just like Windows XP was
followed by 2k, then 7, 8, and 10. The software that runs your flight controller is called Betaflight.
Putting a new version of Betaflight on your Kakute F4 AIO is called “flashing” your board.

Even if you decide you don't want to update your firmware right now, you still need to install the VCP
driver to configure the board. So, you must at least go through step 1 below to use your board.

Installing Drivers
Before you can flash your board, you must get the drivers installed on your computer. If you are on
MacOS or Linux, Your O/S comes with the drivers you need pre-installed. You do not need to perform
this step. You may skip directly to “Installing Betaflight Configurator”.

If you are on Windows, you must install the drivers manually. This is a place where beginners often
struggle. We’re going to present the steps here, and if you can follow them, then great, but many people
won’t be able to follow them. If you need a more personal approach, here is a link to a video that walks
you through the process in more detail.

All About Betaflight Drivers, Including How to Install Them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ygG6Y5zXI

Here are the steps you will perform:

1. Download the Virtual COM Port (VCP) driver installer from here. Unfortunately, you must either
create a login or give them your email address, then wait for them to email you a link, to
download the actual installer. We recommend that you create a user login because the “send
you a link in an email” method sometimes takes a long time to go through.
a. To create a login at the STM site, first go to this URL.
b. Click “Create an Account”
c. Enter your information in the next page and click “Register”
d. You will receive a confirmation email. Complete the confirmation process.
e. Log in to the STM site using the login you just created and download the VCP driver
installer from the link in step 3.
2. Run the VCP installer and let it finish.
3. Download the ImpulseRC Driver Fixer from here.
4. Run the ImpulseRC Driver Fixer. It will instruct you to plug in your flight controller.
5. Plug the Kakute F4 AIO into your PC via USB. The ImpulseRC Driver Fixer should complete
successfully.

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The video linked above shows a process of using Zadig to replace the VCP driver. The ImpluseRC Driver
Fixer is an easier way of doing the same thing. So, use the ImpulseRC Driver Fixer and don’t mess around
with Zadig like the video shows.

Is It Over Yet?
THAT WAS SUPER ANNOYING WASN’T IT. Yes… we know.

The good news is, you do not need to repeat this process again. Sort of. You never need to install the
drivers again on this computer, unless you reinstall the operating system for some reason. If you use
another computer for the first time, you will need to install those drivers on it. Also, every time you get
a new flight controller, you must run the ImpulseRC Driver Fixer one time for that board, before you can
flash the board.

Installing Betaflight Configurator

Betaflight is managed using the Betaflight Configurator application, also known for short as the
Betaflight GUI, or just, “The GUI”. (GUI is pronounced “gooey” in case you wondered. Only weirdos say,
“Gee You Eye”.) The Betaflight GUI is a Chrome app. To run it, first you need to install Google Chrome on
your computer.

https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html

Some people dislike Google and object to installing Google Chrome on their computer. There are a few
options for configuring Betaflight without Chrome, but they’re mostly intended for quick changes in the
field, not full-time use. If you intend to use Betaflight on your multirotor, you’re probably going to have
to install Chrome and use a Chrome app. Before you think of jumping ship, almost all other flight control
firmwares (KISS, Cleanflight) use Chrome apps too.

Next, download the Betaflight Configurator GUI from the Chrome App Store:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/betaflight-
configurator/kdaghagfopacdngbohiknlhcocjccjao?hl=en

Finally, run the Betaflight Configurator GUI:

1. Enter the URL chrome://apps/ in Chrome’s address bar.

2. Click the icon for the Betaflight Configurator

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 3. The configurator will start.

To save time in the future, you can right-click the app icon in Chrome and choose “Create Shortcuts”.
This will create shortcuts in your start menu and on your desktop, to launch the app directly.

Flashing New Firmware

At this point, if you want to update your firmware, here is how to do it. But if you are annoyed and
frustrated at this point and just want to go fly, please, go for it! You don’t have to be running the
absolute latest firmware to have a good time. Just forget about this nonsense!

Still here?

To flash your firmware, you must connect the board in “bootloader mode”. Bootloader mode means
that the board is ready to accept new programming. To put the board into bootloader mode, hold down
the bootloader button while plugging in the USB cable. Leave the button pressed for a moment after
plugging in the USB cable to be sure it “takes”.

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If your Kakute F4 AIO is in bootloader mode, then you will see “DFU” in the pulldown menu in the upper-
right of the configurator, as shown here:

If you don’t see DFU in the pulldown menu, then either the board didn’t detect that you had the
bootloader button pressed or your drivers are not installed correctly. If you don’t see DFU in the
pulldown menu, you cannot flash new firmware to the board. It won’t work.

For the advanced users, a simpler way of getting into bootloader mode is to go to the CLI and type “bl”.
This will reboot the board into bootloader mode. On older versions of Betaflight, the command is “dfu”
so try that if “bl” produces an error. This is especially useful if the board is installed in a copter where it
isn’t convenient to press the bootloader button.

Here are the remaining steps:

1. Go to the “Firmware Flasher” tab.

2. Select “KAKUTEF4V2” in the “Choose a board” pulldown menu. If you flash any other board
type, the Kakute F4 AIO will not function. It won’t be damaged, it just won’t work until you flash
KAKUTEF4 to the board.
3. Select the latest version of Betaflight in the “Choose a firmware version” pulldown menu.
4. Click the “Load Firmware (Online)” button. The button will change to read “Downloading”. The
Flash Firmware button will change from gray to orange.
5. Click the “Flash Firmware” button. The screen should automatically scroll down to show the
status bar, which will fill with orange as the flashing process completes.

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 6. Flashing will be followed by a process called “Verifying”. Verification sometimes fails, but this
isn’t a problem. If the flash completes, everything is usually fine.
7. Un-plug your board and then plug it back in again, this time without holding down the
bootloader button.
8. For Windows users, the pulldown menu in the upper right of the configurator will read COM3
(or some other number). For MacOS and Linux users, the pulldown will read something starting
with /dev/tty. This is normal. If the pulldown menu reads “Manual Selection” then your board is
not being detected. This may indicate that you did not use the KakuteF4 target when you
flashed the board. Or it may indicate that your Virtual COM Port (VCP) drivers were not installed
correctly.

You are ready to configure your board.

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Initial Configuration
The full configuration of Betaflight could take hours to document. In this section, we’ll describe a few
things that are specific to this board. This won’t be enough to get you into the air, so we’ll also point you
to some videos you can watch if you’re not perfectly sure what else you need to do. Even people have a
few builds under their belt may be skipping some important steps without realizing it!

Connect to The Board

Plug the board in to USB. Start Betaflight Configurator. You should see “COM3” (or some other number)
in the upper-right menu. Click “Connect”.

The GUI will load.

Ports
Click on the “Ports” tab on the left side of the window.

• USB VCP is the port that is used to talk between the Kakute F4 AIO and the Configurator GUI.
MSP is the protocol that they use to talk to each other. If you ever turn off MSP on USB VCP, you
will not be able to contact the board any more via the Configurator. You will have to re-flash the
board and erase your configuration to get back into it. Suffice it to say, this is bad, and you
shouldn’t do it. Don’t ever turn off MSP on the USB VCP line in the Ports tab.
• If you are using FrSky SmartPort telemetry: on the UART1 line, in the Telemetry Output column,
choose SmartPort from the pulldown menu.
• On the UART3 line, enable “Serial RX”.

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 • If you are using RunCam Split remote control, on the UART4 line, in the Peripherals column,
choose RunCam Split.
• If you are using ESC Telemetry, on the UART5 line, in the Sensor Input column, choose ESC.
• If you are using SmartAudio or ImmersionRC Tramp Telemetry to control your video transmitter:
on the UART6 line, in the Peripherals column, choose either TBS SmartAudio or IRC Tramp,
depending on which type of transmitter you are using.

Configuration
Click on the “Configuration” tab on the right side of the window. Scroll down to the “Other Features”
section.

• If you are using SmartPort telemetry, enable TELEMETRY.

• If you are using a programmable LED strip, enable
LED_STRIP.
• Air Mode increases authority when the throttle is all the
way down. We recommend leaving this option on all the
time.
• The Kakute F4 AIO has built-in Betaflight OSD. The OSD
option should always be enabled.
• If you are using ESCs with telemetry capability, enable the
ESC_SENSOR option.
• The ANTI_GRAVITY option increases the stability of the
copter when the throttle is raised or lowered quickly. We
recommend enabling this option, and setting Anti Gravity
Gain to 3.0 in the PID Tuning tab. Detailed instructions for
tuning this value are outside the scope of this manual, but
this default setting will work well for most quads.

Next, go to the Receiver section of the “Configuration” tab. Since the Kakute F4 AIO only supports serial-
type receivers, configuration of this section is simple.

• Set the Receiver Mode to “Serial-based

receiver”.
• Set the Serial Receiver Provider to the type
that matches what kind of receiver you have.
FrSky and other SBUS receiver should use
SBUS. Spektrum Satellite receivers should use
SPEKTRUM2048 or SPEKTRUM1024 depending
on whether they are DSM2 or DSMX. FlySky
receivers use iBus. These are the most common serial receiver types that are likely to be
encountered.

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Blackbox
If you have enabled the Blackbox feature, go to the Blackbox tab on the left-hand side of the window. In
the Blackbox tab, at the top, set the Blackbox Logging Rate to 1 kHz.

OSD
In the OSD tab, you can choose which values you want to see on screen while you are flying. Enable and
disable individual elements using the Elements toggles on the left.

The Video Format section lets you choose whether your camera is NTSC or PAL. Betaflight defaults this
value to Auto, but Auto sometimes picks wrong. If this happens, you might not see any OSD text, or the
bottom of the OSD text might be off the bottom of the screen. In some cases, you won’t see any video
at all—just the OSD. Because of this, we recommend manually setting the Video Format to NTSC or PAL
depending on which type of FPV camera you have.

You can rearrange the individual OSD elements on screen by dragging them with your mouse.

Some individual OSD Elements of note are:

Main Batt Voltage: This is probably the single most important element to use. Your battery must never
go below 3.3 volts per cell under any circumstances, or it will suffer damage. For a 3S battery, this would
be 3 times 3.3 = 9.9 volts. For a 4S battery, it would be 13.2 volts. Any time the battery goes below this
level, it is likely being damaged, at least a little. More importantly, you will have very little power and
may crash if you are doing aggressive maneuvers.

Although 3.3 volts is the recommended absolute minimum, you will get the best life out of your
batteries if you keep the voltage above about 3.5 volts per cell—10.5 volts for 3S and 14.0 volts for 4S. If
you are flying and you notice the battery going below this level, it might be time to land, or at least go
easier on the throttle. If your batteries consistently drop to this level when you try to fly, it might be
time to get new batteries.

When you are using the battery, its voltage will drop. This is referred to as “sag”. After you land, the
battery will recover a small amount and its voltage will rise. Our recommendation is that, the battery
should be at no less than 3.75 volts per cell—11.25 volts for a 3S and 15.0 volts for a 4S—after it has

P a g e | 17 Kakute F4 AIO
been allowed to rest at the end of a flight. If your batteries are consistently resting at below this level at
the end of a day of flying, then you might be shortening their lifespan at least a little.

mAh Drawn: Although voltage is what ultimately determines whether a battery is being damaged, mAh
may be a better way of deciding when to land. Because voltage sags when you raise the throttle and
recovers when you lower the throttle, it can be hard to tell exactly how used-up the battery is. mAh is
like a “gas gauge” for your battery. It shows how much capacity you have consumed, independent of
other factors.

A good practice is to draw from a battery no more than about 80% of its rated mAh. So, a 1300 mAh
battery would be able to deliver about 1000 to 1100 mAh. With a healthy battery and an honest battery
rating, this will result in the battery resting at about 15.0 volts after flying. If you draw 80% of a battery’s
rated capacity and it is resting at higher than 15.0 volts, the manufacturer might have under-rated its
capacity. If the battery is resting at lower than 15.0 volts, the manufacturer might have over-rated its
capacity. Also, remember that batteries lose capacity as they age. A battery that consistently fails to
deliver 80% of its rated capacity without sagging below 14.0 volts might need retirement.

The mAh readout is based on the current sensor on your Kakute F4 AIO board. The current sensor on the
board has been calibrated from the factory, but perfect calibration isn’t possible. We recommend that
you record the mAh Drawn at the end of your first few flights, then compare it to the mAh that your
battery charger puts back into the batteries. Then adjust the Current Scale in the Configuration tab to
compensate for any difference.

Here is an example:

• OSD shows 1100 mAh Drawn at the end of the flight.

• Charger shows 1000 mAh put back in to the battery.
• 1100 / 1000 = 1.10. The OSD is reading 10% high.
• Current Scale works backwards from how you might think. To make the OSD read lower, you
make Current Scale larger. Since the OSD is reading 10% high, we need to INCREASE Current
Scale by 10%. This will cause the OSD to read 10% lower.
• If the Current Scale was at 400, we will multiply it by 1.10 to add 10%, meaning the new value
should be 440.

The mAh put back in by the battery will seldom perfectly match the mAh reported by the OSD, but by
taking several measurements and averaging the results, you can usually get it reasonably close.

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Using The OSD
The Kakute F4 AIO includes Betaflight OSD, which displays information like battery voltage and mAh
consumed while you fly. In addition, the Betaflight OSD can be used to configure the quadcopter,
making in-field adjustments and tuning more convenient.

Mode 2 Mode 1

The graphics above show the stick command to bring up the OSD menu. The stick command is: throttle
centered, yaw left, pitch forward. The exact stick command therefore depends on which mode your
transmitter sticks are in.

In the OSD menu, use pitch up/down to move the cursor

between menu items. When a menu option has a > symbol
to the right of it, this indicates that it contains a sub-menu.
Roll-right will enter the sub-menu. For example, in the
screen to the right, moving the cursor to “Features” and
then moving the roll stick to the right will enter the
“Features” sub-menu.

If you are using a video transmitter that supports remote

configuration, enter the “Features” menu to configure the
vTX. From there, enter either “VTX SA” if you are using
SmartAudio (TBS Unify) or “VTX TR” if you are using IRC
Tramp Telemetry.

To adjust PIDs, rates, and other tuning-related parameters,

enter the “Profile” sub-menu.

In the “Scr Layout” sub-menu, you can move the OSD

elements (like battery voltage, mAh, and so forth) around on
the screen.

The “Alarms” sub-menu lets you control when the OSD will
try to alert you that battery voltage is too low or mAh
consumed is too high.

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When a parameter can be modified, the parameter’s current
value will be shown on the right-hand side of the screen. In
this case, roll left/right will adjust the parameter up and
down.

The screen to the right shows the current vTX settings. From
here, you can change the frequency band, channel, and
power level of the video transmitter. After making the
changes, move the cursor to “Set” and press roll-right to
confirm the settings.

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Saving Your Configuration
Once you have finished building, configuring, and tuning your multirotor, it’s a good idea to back up your
configuration so that you can restore it later. This is useful if you lose your quad, or if you damage your
flight controller, or if you accidentally lock yourself out of your flight controller and must reset it to get
back in.

Before we show you the right way to save and restore your configuration, let us warn you about the
wrong way. Betaflight and Cleanflight have a “save configuration” and “restore configuration” button.
Without going into too much detail, they have some significant drawbacks that mean we don’t
recommend that you use them.

The correct way to save your configuration is as follows.

1. Connect your Kakute to your PC by plugging in USB.

2. Start the Betaflight GUI app.
3. Go to the CLI tab.
4. In the text box at the bottom of the CLI, type “diff” and hit enter. This will cause the flight
controller to display all configuration options that you have changed from the default values.
5. Scroll back to the top of the window to find the line where you typed “diff”.
6. Click your mouse and drag/scroll down to select all of the text below where you typed “diff”.
This is your configuration data.
7. Right-click and choose “Copy” to copy the highlighted text to the clipboard.
8. Open any text editor, such as Windows Notepad or MacOS TextEdit.
9. Right-click in the text editor window and choose “Paste” to paste the highlighted text into the
editor.
10. Save the document somewhere you won’t lose it.

To restore your configuration, do this:

1. Open the text file in your text editor.

2. Highlight the entire contents of the file.
3. Right-click in the text editor window and choose “Copy”.
4. Connect your Kakute to your PC by plugging in USB.
5. Start the Betaflight GUI app.
6. Go to the CLI tab.
7. Click the mouse once in the text box at the bottom of the CLI tab to place the cursor there.
8. Instead of typing any commands, right-click in the text box and choose “Paste”.
9. Press the Enter key on your keyboard. The pasted-in text will rapidly scroll past.
10. Type “save” in the text box at the bottom of the screen.
11. Press Enter. The flight controller will reboot and the configuration will be restored.

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 How To Save and Restore Your Configuration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsxTqp76Brs

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Additional Reference
Here are some links to additional videos to help you build your quadcopter successfully.

Betaflight 3.2 Ultimate Setup Guide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkggzZySIqs

How to Calibrate Your ESCs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Mg-9M0l24

If you are using an analog protocol like Oneshot or Multishot, calibrating your ESCs is mandatory. Most
ESCs today support Dshot. If your ESCs support Dshot, you should use it, and you can skip this step.

Failsafe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dikr9oDzQqc

Failsafe is what happens when you fly too far away or your receiver gets disconnected from your flight
controller. If you don’t configure failsafe, the quad could fly away, or it could crash into something… or
someone.

DON’T FLY WITHOUT VERIFYING THAT FAILSAFE WORKS CORRECTLY.

To verify failsafe, remove your props, then plug in your battery and arm your copter. Then turn off your
transmitter. Your motors should stop within 1 to 3 seconds at most.

If your motors don’t stop when you turn off your transmitter, DO NOT FLY YOUR MULTIROTOR UNDER
ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

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Adjust PIDs / Rates / vTX from Taranis
If you have a FrSky Taranis radio and if you are using SmartPort telemetry, you can use your Taranis to
change your PIDs and rates.

This is done by installing a piece of programming code called a Lua script on your Taranis. If you are also
using SmartAudio, you can use a Lua script to change your vTX settings. This is the same as if you were
using the Betaflight OSD, but it works without you having to put your goggles on.

Detailed instructions for how to do this are below:

How to Upgrade Taranis to OpenTX 2.2 and Install Lua Scripts

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PLwoDb7WF6c8kLrGADjuxJUm5M2szXd_j8

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