ImmersionRC Vortex 150 Mini Getting Started Manual

150 Mini Getting Started Guide

International edition

Rev 1.0 - Dec 2016

Every Vortex 150 Mini is flight tested before
leaving the factory.

Flight Tested By:

WARNING

Congratulations on your purchase of one of the hobby’s first ARF pure-bred racing quadcopters. A
product designed by FPV Racers, for FPV Racers.

Do not expect it to fly like a DJI Phantom™ . It does not have a return-to-home feature, no GPS, and it
does not have stabilization features that will allow your little brother to fly.

Take it easy if you are new to the world of FPV racing, try to avoid slamming the quad into the first wall
before you have mastered slaloming through the trees on the way to the wall.

Acro mode is something that should be learned as soon as possible, flying any other mode is a bit like
driving a Lamborghini around a parking-lot in reverse… not exactly what you bought the Lambo for.

Please carefully read the recommendations in this getting started guide, as far as equipment/battery
selection, and how to run the Vortex 150 Mini Wizard.

REMOVE PROPS

Mini-quad props can do serious damage when coming in contact with human skin, risk of deep cuts and
lacerations should be avoided at all cost.

So when you are working on a quad with the battery connected, it is highly recommended to REMOVE
ALL PROPS, unless you are just about to fly. Keep in mind that when setting up mini-quads, there is
always a remote chance that a configuration change can spin up motors unexpectedly.

ImmersionRC accepts no responsibility, or liability, for any injury, or damage, to persons or property, caused
by the use of the Vortex.

INSTALL ANTENNA

The Video Transmitter included in the Vortex may be damaged permanently if run without the supplied
SpiroNET Antenna. Please take care to install this antenna before every flight, and when powering up the
Vortex for even a short time period.

ImmersionRC accepts no responsibility for damage caused to the Vortex by operating without a suitable Tx
antenna installed.

2

4 Steps: Unboxing to Racing

To get your ARF Vortex ready to race, follow the simple 4-step process below.

1) Install Compatible R/C Receiver

2)Install suitable battery

3) Setup the video link

4) Run the wizard

3

1) Install Compatible R/C Receiver

The Vortex 150 Mini is shipped with three receiver interface cables, supporting 4 commonly used
interfaces.

a) 3-Pin 0.1” Servo Cable, for S-Bus, and CPPM (5V)
b) 5-pin Picoblade for FrSky XSR receivers (5V)
c) 3-pin JST-ZH for Spektrum DSMX receivers (3V)

Receivers may be mounted externally on the tail-end of the quad, or internally. Internally is definitely the
preferred solution but does require a suitably small receiver.

The following are recommended for internal installation:

1) FrSky XSR, using the supplied XSR cable

2) FrSky X4R-SB, ‘Naked’ version with SBus output

Requires some soldering to wire sbus cable

3) Spektrum SPM4648 Auto-bind receiver with supplied DSMX cable

Remove plastic case and heat-shrink for optimal fit

4) Spektrum SPM9646 Carbon fuse receiver

5) Spektrum SPM9649T Telemetry receiver

To access the receiver bay for internal receiver mounting, remove the 8 screws which secure the top
plate to the arms, and carefully remove the top assembly, which includes the camera unit.

The receiver connector is indicated by the red arrow below. To mount the receiver, a small piece of
double-sided tape may be used on the top of the metal can in the receiver bay.

Finally, the receiver antennas may be routed through the two notches in the bottom of the LED diffuser.

4

Notes on Receiver Selection

One critical parameter to keep to a minimum in a race quad setup is latency. Latency from what the
camera sees to the display device, and also from the control stick to the flight controller.

For minimum latency, with reasonable range, the Spektrum™ radios and satellite receivers are a great
choice. Another good (and quite common) choice is the FrSky Taranis radio with a matched S-Bus
receiver (X4R for example).

For longer-range FPV, the EzUHF system is a good choice. Due to the close proximity of the electronics
and Video Transmitter on a mini-quad, and the lack of a suitable ground-plane, a diversity receiver, with
dipole antennas is highly recommended.

Note: An update to all existing EzUHF systems will be available early Dec. 2015, which will enable an S-Bus
output, as opposed to the more traditional PPM. This will greatly reduce latency.

5

Receiver Auto-Detection

A unique feature of the Vortex family of quadcopters is that the receiver type is auto-detected by the OSD
when running the wizard.

With the Vortex 150 Pro, it is no longer necessary to manually specify the receiver type with the
ImmersionRC Tools before running the wizard.

R/C Transmitter Configuration

The advanced wizard used in the Vortex 150 Mini is cable of detecting most transmitter configurations.
Channel ordering, stick range, center position, etc. are all learned by the wizard.

In most cases it is better to start from a ‘default’ model on the R/C transmitter. On the Taranis, select the
quadcopter option, and leave all settings as defaults.

2) Install a Suitable Battery

The Vortex 150 Mini has a flexible battery mounting system, and uses an industry-standard XT-30
connector. This allows it to use a wide range of different batteries.

To help select a suitable battery for your flying-style, read this section carefully:

Voltage

First things first, voltage. For starting out with the Vortex, a 3s (11.1V) pack is recommended.

A Vortex running 4s (14.8V) is an extremely fast race-quad, which can easily get a pilot into trouble.

A 3s pack calms things down a bit, and is a good way to ease into the hobby, hence novice pilots should
certainly start out on 3s.

Note that the 16A ESCs installed in the Vortex 150 Mini do support ‘LiHV’ packs, with a cell voltage of

4.35V as opposed to the standard 4.20V cell voltage with LiPo packs.

Capacity

For capacity, there are a few things to remember. Firstly, keeping weight down on a mini-quad is the best
way to increase crash survivability as well as improve acceleration, climb speed and general agility of the
quad.

Also remember that most races are just a few laps, so a huge capacity battery is just dead weight, and
will never be drained in the typical race.

650-850mAh packs, or similar, are ImmersionRC’s choice for racing. 3s for beginners, 4s for pros.

NOTE: We do not recommend the use of 1300mAh+ batteries used on 250 quads on the 150. The extra
weight of the battery can cause serious damage in crashes with the lightweight 150 frame.

6