Tuning the Project399 SuperG+

I’ve built three Project399 SuperG+s, and prefer flying them over my other quads. Here’s what I’ve learned in the past year with respect to tuning.

Some say the Project SuperG+ flies well with default PIDs. That was a reasonable conclusion under Betaflight 3.5.7, if you ignored wobbles in windy conditions. Betaflight 4.0 flew terribly with default values, so I stuck with 3.5.7 until v4.1 came along with RPM filtering (thanks, @joelucid!). Betaflight is targeted towards 5″ frames, and needs to be tuned for larger builds.

Partly due to complacency with almost smooth flights, and mainly time constraints, I flew BF4.1 for months with a less than stellar tune. You can see overshoot and instability in the PID response even during a short flight with little throttle input:

Betaflight 4.2

Upgrading to BF4.2 this week, I followed UAVTech’s 7″ tuning guide and was instantly impressed. My 7″ SuperG+s finally feel locked in and smooth!

PID response has improved tremendously. This flight was over 5 minutes, with power loops, flips, rolls, and yawspins that should have induced propwash (what propwash?!). It’s an awesome starting point:

While tuning is a work in progress and build dependent, the starting parameters below work well on both of my current SuperG+s:

  • Flight Controllers + ESCs:
    Matek F722SE + 4x Spedix ES30
    BrainFPV Radix + Hobbywing 4-in-1 60A
  • Motors: Brotherhobby Avenger 2806.5:
    One running 1700kV, and another running 1300kV
  • FPV Antenna: TrueRC AXII Long
  • Props: HQProp DP 7X3.5X3 V1S
  • Batteries: Tattu 5S 1300mAh and RDQ 5S 1800mAh

Here’s what I did:

Motor Upgrade & Further TuningĀ 

Edit: I rebuilt the first quad with a CaddX Vista, new 60A ESC, and FPVCycle’s “7-8in” motors a few months ago. The larger motors boosted authority, finally giving the quad adequate power to smoothly fly with heavy packs. A major retune was necessary.

Hope that helps someone get started!

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