Upgrading from an older version of INAV to the current version

This page is intended to make it easy for you to upgrade your INAV older version to the current INAV version. The process is straightforward as long as you follow the instructions detailed here.

The current version of INAV is 2.4.0 (as the time this document was been last updated).

In general, all comes to the following steps:

• Get the lastest configurator.
• Get a diff all from your board
• Determine the current version and the TARGET of INAV flashed to your flight controller board.
• Check which values has changed over the newer versions, and adjust as necessary
• Flash the lastest INAV firmware to your board
• Paste the adjusted settings on the CLI
• Upload your preferred font to the OSD chip

Get the lastest configurator

Download and install the lastest configurator

Get all your current settings

1. Open the configurator program.
2. Connect the flight controller board to the USB port on PC, then click connect button on the configurator.
3. Go to the CLI tab and type diff all. It should return a big text with all your settings. Save this text on the notepad.

Determine your current INAV firmware version and target

On your settings file, just in the beginning, you should have something like this:

# version
# INAV/MATEKF405 2.2.1 Jul  3 2019 / 22:31:06 (a6d847482)
# GCC-8.2.1 20181213 (release) [gcc-8-branch revision 267074]

Take note of the TARGET which is just after the INAV/ and VERSION number which is just after the target (In this case, TARGET is MATEKF405 and VERSION is 2.2.1)

Check which values has changed over the newer versions, and adjust as necessary

Now it's time to change your settings file so it becomes compatible with the lastest INAV firmware. Follow your specific version instructions.

From 2.2.X or 2.3.X to 2.4.0

• Find min_throttle line, and replace it by throttle_idle, setting the percentage of the idle throttle. The default is 15.

From 2.0.X or 2.1.X to 2.4.0

• Find min_throttle line, and replace it by throttle_idle, setting the percentage of the idle throttle. The default is 15.
• If you are upgrading a multi rotor, POS XY PID I and D have now specific settings, respectively nav_mc_pos_deceleration_time and nav_mc_pos_expo . So if you don't use defaults, when restoring, move yours to the new settings.

Arming with sticks command is not supported anymore, so if you were using sticks commands for arming, after flashing and pasting the settings, add an arming switch in the Modes tab in the configurator.

From 1.9.x to 2.4.0

• Find min_throttle line, and replace it by throttle_idle, setting the percentage of the idle throttle. The default is 15.
• If you armed with via sticks, add an arming switch in the Modes tab in the configurator.
• If you are upgrading a multi rotor, POS XY PID I and D have now specific settings, respectively nav_mc_pos_deceleration_time and nav_mc_pos_expo . So if you don't use defaults, when restoring, move yours to the new settings.
• Delete all lines starting with: mixer acczero accgain magzero osd.

There was a big update from 1.9 to 2.0, there's a new mixer framework, a new OSD framework and new calibration scales for accelerometer and magnetometer. For that reason, you'll need to set this up again and the previous settings will not work. So, after flashing firmware and pasting the adjusted settings, don't forget to:

• Go to the Mixer tab and load and apply your desired mixer.
• Calibrate the accelerometer following the steps in the dedicated tab. Only first two steps need to be made in the right order.
• Calibration of the magnetometer should be done at the field. The magnetic field indoors can be distorted and led to a bad calibration.
• Restore manually your OSD layout using the screenshot and upload the font you like using the dedicated button.
• Carefully check all the configuration and check on the bench without installed propellers if everything looks good. In particular, check if the model preview behaves correctly when you are moving your model and check surfaces movements for an airplane.
• Arming with sticks command is not supported anymore, so if you were using sticks commands for arming add an arming switch in the Modes tab in the configurator.

From 1.7.X or 1.8.x to 2.4.0

• Find min_throttle line, and replace it by throttle_idle, setting the percentage of the idle throttle. The default is 15.
• If you armed with via sticks, add an arming switch in the Modes tab in the configurator.
• If you are upgrading a multi rotor, POS XY PID I and D have now specific settings, respectively nav_mc_pos_deceleration_time and nav_mc_pos_expo . So if you don't use defaults, when restoring, move yours to the new settings.
• Delete all lines starting with: mixer acczero accgain magzero osd.
• Find vbat_scale, vbat_max_cell_voltage, vbat_warning_cell_voltage and vbat_min_cell_voltage values on your settings, and multiply their values by 10.

There was a big update from 1.9 to 2.0, there's a new mixer framework, a new OSD framework and new calibration scales for accelerometer and magnetometer. For that reason, you'll need to set this up again and the previous settings will not work. So, after flashing firmware and pasting the adjusted settings, don't forget to:

• Go to the Mixer tab and load and apply your desired mixer.
• Calibrate the accelerometer following the steps in the dedicated tab. Only first two steps need to be made in the right order.
• Calibration of the magnetometer should be done at the field. The magnetic field indoors can be distorted and led to a bad calibration.
• Restore manually your OSD layout using the screenshot and upload the font you like using the dedicated button.
• Carefully check all the configuration and check on the bench without installed propellers if everything looks good. In particular, check if the model preview behaves correctly when you are moving your model and check surfaces movements for an airplane.
• Arming with sticks command is not supported anymore, so if you were using sticks commands for arming add an arming switch in the Modes tab in the configurator.

From 1.6.x to 2.4.0

• Find min_throttle line, and replace it by throttle_idle, setting the percentage of the idle throttle. The default is 15.
• If you armed with via sticks, add an arming switch in the Modes tab in the configurator.
• If you are upgrading a multi rotor, POS XY PID I and D have now specific settings, respectively nav_mc_pos_deceleration_time and nav_mc_pos_expo . So if you don't use defaults, when restoring, move yours to the new settings.
• Delete all lines starting with: mixer acczero accgain magzero osd.
• Find vbat_scale, vbat_max_cell_voltage, vbat_warning_cell_voltage and vbat_min_cell_voltage values on your settings, and multiply their values by 10.
• Find mag_hold_rate_limit and replace by heading_hold_rate_limit (renamed parameter)
• Find nav_max_speed and replace by nav_auto_speed (renamed parameter)
• Find nav_max_climb_rate and replace by nav_auto_climb_rate (renamed parameter)
• Remove nav_fw_roll2pitch parameter (obsolete)
• Find all lines starting with servo, and remove the fifth and the sixth arguments of the parameter.

Example: servo 3 1070 1950 1500 90 90 -80 -1

Will become: servo 3 1070 1950 1500 -80 -1

There was a big update from 1.9 to 2.0, there's a new mixer framework, a new OSD framework and new calibration scales for accelerometer and magnetometer. For that reason, you'll need to set this up again and the previous settings will not work. So, after flashing firmware and pasting the adjusted settings, don't forget to:

• Go to the Mixer tab and load and apply your desired mixer.
• Calibrate the accelerometer following the steps in the dedicated tab. Only first two steps need to be made in the right order.
• Calibration of the magnetometer should be done at the field. The magnetic field indoors can be distorted and led to a bad calibration.
• Restore manually your OSD layout using the screenshot and upload the font you like using the dedicated button.
• Carefully check all the configuration and check on the bench without installed propellers if everything looks good. In particular, check if the model preview behaves correctly when you are moving your model and check surfaces movements for an airplane.
• Arming with sticks command is not supported anymore, so if you were using sticks commands for arming add an arming switch in the Modes tab in the configurator.

Flash the lastest INAV firmware to your board

Now it's time to flash the lastest INAV firmware to your flight controller board.

• On INAV Configurator, go to the "Firmware Flasher" tab
• Select the proper TARGET of the flight controller board
• Make sure that the "Full Erase" option is ENABLED
• Click Load Firmware (Online), and then click "Flash Firmware"
• Wait for the completion of the process

Paste the adjusted settings on the CLI

• Click the "Connect" button on INAV configurator
• Go to the CLI tab
• Copy all the settings text from your text file and paste on the CLI input text box, then press ENTER.
• Wait for all the settings to be typed on the output text box.
• If no errors occurred, Flight controller should save the settings and reboot by itself.

Upload your preferred font to the OSD chip

The font file changes between versions! So you need to update the font stored on the OSD chip in order to OSD works properly.

• Go to the OSD Tab on the Configurator
• In the bottom right corner, there's a "Font" button. Click it.
• Select the font that best pleases you, and then click "Upload" button.
• Wait for the process to complete. Flight Controller will reboot automatically.

Enjoy the lastest INAV version!

If you done everything right, now your aircraft should be flying ok. Enjoy!