Note: Like all of our Airbot products, this is the genuine original Airbot board – not a clone.
The omnibus series of flight controllers are known to be the best all in one integrated flight controller, using the best selection of sensors and parts at a great price and small form factor. Now the latest addition to the series uses the performance STM32 F405 MCU. The omnibus F4 uses the MPU6000/ICM-20608 IMU over SPI for the super fast gyro updates (up to 32Khz) to keep up with the fast F4 MCU, allowing you to run your betaflight/iNav control loop insanely fast. This gives you the extra edge when racing your FPV quadcopter.
The AB7456 OSD chip (an upgraded MAX7456) allows for direct configuration and updates directly within betaflight. This OSD chip uses much less power than the older MAX7456 OSD Chip, but the main benefit is that it can be configured directly within betaflight, no need for an external FTDI, or jumper switches. In addition the omnibus F4 includes a high performance 5V, 1.5A STM L78 voltage regulator which help filter the power and adds voltage protection to the board.
You can view the omnibus F4 V6 Manual over on dronetrest.com
Omnibus Versions
- The V6 omnibus has quite a few changes:
- New firmware target (OMNIBUSF4FW) – after flashing go to CLI and type set gyro_to_use = second , and save to get the IMU working.
- 5x UART Ports
- 5V 1A and 8V BEC for FPV camera
- Current source jumper selecter (see manual for more information)
- The V5 omnibus includes a current source selection jumper (see pinout below for more details), also the omnibus f4 v5 uses a new 8 pin Sh 1.0 Socket to make connecting a 4in1 ESC much easier. This is compatible with up to 6S batteries.
- The V4 omnibus main feature is that the solder jumper to selected between PPM/SBUS is no longer needed. The board also features some minor hardware revisions to increase the boards robustness even more.
- The V3 fixes some of the LDO problems of the V2, so now you can power this board directly from your battery (up to 4S Lipo)
Key Features
- Tantalum Capacitors added for noiseless gyro reading
- Solder pads added for SmartAudio and Camera Control (next to Video pads)
- Added an 8v BEC and LC Filter for the camera and VTX power
- This board now has 5 UART ports
- New style layout
Specifications
- STM32 F405 MCU
- SBUS input (no PPM input support)
- 6PWM output
- Only 36x36mm, mount holes 30.5×30.5mm
- BMP 280 Baro
- SPI Sensor MPU6000/ICM-20608
- 128Mbit Flash
- Powered directly from 2-6S Lipo (v5 only)
Kit Contents
- 1x Omnibus F4 Flight controller
We do not include any pin headers with this board, but we do sell them separately on our website.
Zadig Drivers
If you have problems connecting to the board, or uploading new firmware the best fix is to use the zadig driver tool.
- Push BOOT button on the flight controller.
- Plug-in the USB cable (the red LED should not be as bright as normally).
- Fire up Zadig and hit “Options” and then “List All Devices”.
- From the list choose “STM32 BOOTLOADER”.
- Under “Driver” choose “WinUSB” on the right and hit “Reinstall Driver”.
For more information check out our zadig driver tool tutorial
Omnibus F4 V6 Pinout
Omnibus F4 V5 Pinout
The V5 omnibus includes a current source selection jumper (see pinout below for more details), also the omnibus f4 v5 uses a new 8 pin Sh 1.0 Socket to make connecting a 4in1 ESC much easier.
Omnibus F4 V4 Pinout
This v4 pinout is for people who still use the older version. The notable feature of the V4 board is that the SBUS/PPM solder selector jumper has been removed, now you can just connect your receiver to J7 and select the type within betaflight.
Omnibus F4 V3 Pinout
The pinout was kept here for previous customer still flying on the V3 omnibus.
Using SBUS/PPM/DSM
There is a known bug with betaflight that can sometimes prevent you from switching between SBUS and PPM. You need to first select serial RX and sbus in the configuration tab, save. Then go turn on serial RX on the UART 6 port in the ports tab and save. Then go back between the two to make sure the settings have been saved correctly as sometimes it does not save properly.
Inverted and non-inverted SBUS
- SBUS/PPM (J7) header (uart6) This is for inverted signal receivers; has fixed inverter that can not be turned off (by cli command sbus_inverter=on/off)
- RX1 (on J2) (uart1), These are for non-inverted signal receivers.
Spektrum DSM
- DSM connector (on J8). This is for non-inverted signal receivers, and is equivalent to RX1.
Arming problems:
- If you are certain that your board is set up correctly yet it refuses to arm, try raising the gyro noise limit in the CLI using this line: “set gyro_calib_noise_limit = 120”
Graeme Watt –
Having had some bad experiences with ‘Omnibus’ F4s purchased from eBay I’d had enough and decided to take a chance on one from unmanned tech. When it arrived, the difference was immediately apparent; the text printed on the PCB was legible and crisp – unlike my eBay ones – and the usb connector was shiny and new looking, unlike the eBay specimen which had a rough, cheap appearance.
As for the operation of the flight controller; of the two eBay ones I purchased, one had a faulty video chip resulting in a mangled video signal which was unwatchable. The other one I bought had a problem with the RAM pin so battery voltage wouldn’t pass to the FPV gear.
The F4 I bought from unmanned tech just worked properly from the start, pinheaders soldered on without any problems, it calibrated fine in iNav and it flies perfectly with all features functioning correctly. .
I’ve now got confidence in this company that they sell genuine products at very fair prices and I’ll definitely be using them again.
João Araújo –
I don’t recommend this if you planned to use PWM5 and PWM6, is very hard to solder a whire and the tracks breaks very easy. And if are planning to connect any wires you have to be careful with the sd card reader. Is a bit limited on what applications you can use. For example if you use for a quad is ok, more than that is very difficult. Other than that is very nice board and if you want to use it to control a plane i recommend INAV with 2.0 and above firmware.
My FC of choice. –
Great price for an excellent flight controller. Well laid out and versatile for various build set ups. Esc harness keeps build clean with compatible 4-1 escs. I actually have an Aikon 32 4-1 10 pin harness connected to this 8 pin and it is a really clean build with option for esc telemetry or current. 6s is fine also which was my main reason for choosing this fc in the first place. Highly recommend.
Mike Sykes –
The SBUS input doesn’t work and nobody seems to have any answers. I’m stuck here waiting now for two weeks for the problem to be resolved. Stay with V% if you can get it.