Upgrading vom Plane 3.7.1 to 4.0.x worth it for Bixler 3?

ArduPlane Plane 4.0
1

Hey all,

I am going back to flying one of my old planes, a Bixler 3 (Bix3) with a Pixhawk 2 currently loaded with Plane 3.7.1.

The model uses 6 servos: 2 aileron, elevators, rudder and 2 flaps. The Pixhawk is connected to a u-blox M8N GPS and is attached to a TBS crossfire RX connected via SBUS.
No airspeed sensor is attached.

Now the following question arises:

is it worth it to upgrade Plane from 3.7.1 to 4.0.x for the above config?

If yes, what are the benefits? Are there any risks? Do I need to re-run auto-tuning?

I read the guide about migrating from 3.7 to 3.8 (https://ardupilot.org/plane/docs/plane-3-7-to-3-8-migration.html). I am just interested to know if there’s more to do when upgrading to 4.0.

2

Hi

I always upgrade when there is such an option. Usually there are several fixes and corrections - and new bugs and problems :slight_smile: I don’t think you would need to run an autotune again. Just browse the release notes. You haven’t said how you use the software, in which modes you usually fly, which services such as telemetry you use etc. so it’s hard to give more detailed recommendations.

3

I usually fly in FBWA and CRUISE.

Telemetry (Malvlink) is output from the Pixhawk to:

  • the TBS crossfire RX and is being sent to the TX (Taranis)
  • the mini OSD which displays some of the telemetry data on the analog video sent from the plane

Does this help in evaluating the risks and benefits of upgrading?

4

In this configuration, if everything works fine, I don’t think you will get a significant improvement. If there are no serious issues and you are happy… Are there any critical errors concerning the features you are using?

5

Nope, no critical errors, everything works fine.

If there are no significant improvement for the configuration I’m flying, then I’ll stick to 3.7.1. for my old Bixler 3 (never touch a running system) and use newer versions on new planes I’ll be building