Getting started
From a freshly installed board to a droid that answers your transmitter. The board walks you through its own setup; this page says what to expect at each step.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”You need DroidFX installed on the board and your parts wired. Keep your transmitter to hand: the wizard finds your switches by watching you flip them.
1. Turn WiFi on
Section titled “1. Turn WiFi on”DroidFX keeps WiFi off by default, so a droid at an event doesn’t broadcast a network nobody asked for. Turn it on either way:
- close the WiFi switch wired from
GPIO1toGND, then power up; or - power the board up first, then press and hold BOOT for 3 seconds.
2. Connect
Section titled “2. Connect”The board makes its own network: DROIDFX_xxxx, password 12345678. Join it from your phone or computer and open http://192.168.4.1/.
3. Follow the setup wizard
Section titled “3. Follow the setup wizard”A new board opens on Setup. Turn your transmitter on, then work through the steps. Each one suggests sensible choices, and any can be skipped.
- Press Detect beside a control, then flip that switch or turn that knob on the transmitter.
- The wizard finds the channel that moved and fills it in. Do the next one the same way.
- Finish later keeps your progress on the board, so you can carry on from any browser.
| Step | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Welcome | Your droid’s name. |
| Security & WiFi | A web UI password, a new password for the board’s own network (everyone knows 12345678), and whether the board stays on its own network or joins your home WiFi. |
| Radio | The S.BUS pin, then each control, found by moving it; and what the lights do with no signal. |
| Audio, Servos | Whether you have them, and their pins. |
| Lights | How many, then for each: a name, plain LED or NeoPixel, a pin, its colour or shape, a first preset, and whether it’s Always On, with a live preview. |
| First button | Button 1, with a light and a sound. |
4. Review, apply, check
Section titled “4. Review, apply, check”Review lists every choice and says what applies straight away and what needs the one restart (the S.BUS, audio and servo pins, and WiFi). After Apply, the wizard runs live checks on the real droid: the radio link, the LED master switch, the audio board (scan the tracks and measure the sound latency here), the servo driver, each light (“did it light up?”) and button 1. Anything that fails says why and links to the page that fixes it.
If you chose your home WiFi, the board joins it after the restart. Connect to that network and open http://droidfx-xxxx.local/ (the board’s network name in lower case), or find it in your router’s device list. If it can’t join, it comes back on its own network.
5. Back it up
Section titled “5. Back it up”On Firmware, download a config backup. It’s what saves you if anything goes wrong later. See Updates & backups.
Then build on it: sequences, more buttons, and Startup and Idle.
Running setup again
Section titled “Running setup again”System → Run setup again starts the wizard from the board as it is now. Only the steps you complete are applied: a step you skip changes nothing, and nothing you didn’t touch is removed. Presets, sequences, other buttons, layouts, the track list, Startup and Idle all stay. The Lights step keeps the lights you have and adds new ones on free channels. Discard setup leaves the board exactly as it was.
Restoring a backup counts as set up, so a restored board never shows the wizard; a factory reset brings it back. To add one light at any time, use + Add a light on LED Configuration, the same form as the wizard’s, applied straight away.
A tour of the web UI
Section titled “A tour of the web UI”| Page | What you do there |
|---|---|
| Setup | The setup wizard, shown until setup is finished. |
| Home | Status at a glance and the running firmware version. |
| Droid Config | Your droid’s name, the radio channel map, sound, Startup and Idle. Guide |
| R/C Monitor | All 16 radio channels, live. |
| Button Pad | The 45 buttons: press them, or set them up. Guide |
| Pin Assignment | What’s wired to which pin. Wiring |
| LED Configuration | Every light, its shape and presets. Guide |
| Servo Config | Your servos and their safe range. Guide |
| Sequences | Timed shows of moves, sound and lights. Guide |
| System | WiFi, the web UI password, and running setup again. Guide |
| Firmware | Backup and restore, updates, restart, factory reset, licences. Guide |
Anywhere you see a small ? beside a word, tap it for a short explanation.