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Connecting controller to Tello FPV

johngalt

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Hi!
know this has been discussed over and over again but still I am a bit unsure as to whether what I am trying to do is impossible or if I am doing something wrong.

I have a licensed copy of Tello FPV, a Sony Xperia 5 II, an Xbox one controller and a PS3 controller. I have also installed Gamepad tester.

If I connect the Xbox one controller to my phone, either through BT or with an OTG cable or the PS3 controller with the OTG cable, Gamepad tester register all controls when I test them. If I start up Tello FPV a get a splash screen informing that the controller has been found, all of them, but that's it.
If I try to use it, or try to remap the controller, nothing happens except that pressing some buttons or controllers might start scrolling, try to exit the app or opens the menu.

So quiestion is, am I missing something, doing something stupid or is it just not going to work. Thankful for any help I can get
 
f I start up Tello FPV a get a splash screen informing that the controller has been found, all of them, but that's it.

Android 11 I guess?

If so this is a known problem of Android 11 specifically. If you google "android 11 gamepad problem" you will get a few tenthousand entries.
It has been established that it is related to some accessibility features. You may find some suggested fixes, depending on what you have installed and the phone.

Only Google can ultimately solve this. Sadly it's a known problem for a few months so seems to be forgotten by Google
 
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Hi!
Thank you very much for your quick reply!
Took out an old Oneplus 5 with Android 10, connected my Xbox controller and it worked like a charm.

Really appreciate the work you put in to Tello FPV as well as the prompt support.
 
I have an Moto G7 on Android 10. and X box one controller.

I downloaded the Tello FPV Demo ap but kept getting controller drop outs and therefore crashes so the demo option ran out in no time so haven't been able to solve why..

Is there anything i can do to test the gamepad compatibility further without having to purchase the full version? I don't want to buy it if I cant resolve the dropout issue?

PS I've just checked xbox controller functions via a number of free apps "gamepad tester" et-al and they're all reliably consistent so I'm a bit confused is there something else I'm missing?
Apologies if this has been asked before... I'm new to all this stuff.
 
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Drop outs of a functional controller are not a known issue.
You can try to make the controller work consistently in a gamepad tester app or some game. Once it works it should work in Tellofpv demo, too.

But realistically this a thing between your phone and your controller, not an app issue. The controller doesn't talk to the app, it talks to your phones android os, which then talks to the app.
Dropouts will most likely happen on the link between phone and controller, not between android and an app.
 
Yes thanks for that... the odd thing, the controller does seem to work in tester apps very well that I've just downloaded.. I've just flown it in the standard Tello app and its fine so its not the Tello hardware... just that xbox controller . i wonder if its a combination of using the Wifi connection and Bluetooth together that my phone doesn't like? not sure how to test that. There must be something going on if I'm losing control in the fpv app whether or not its an fpv app issue.. be nice to get to the bottom of it.

Just noticed the Tellofpv app controller compatibility specs only list Gamesir T1d, T1S and Parrot Flypad no mention of Xbox controller :( so I'm guessing that must have some relevance otherwise i'd have thought other controllers would be listed
 
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The real compatibility list is: Gamesir t1d + Parrot Flypad (both natively supported through their own protocols) plus whatever controller Android fully supports.

It is impossible to test what is causing your issues. Could be interference, some broken RF shield of the wifi / BT chip, some misconfigured background process blocking each other,....


That is what the Demo is good for: Test compatibility for your setup and buy the real thing only if it works as expected
 
Yes that's why I downloaded it, but as I say I didn't get many goes before it locked out. I guess there is a reason why the demo doesn't resort to limited function.. i e no video or other advanced features.
That is what the Demo is good for: Test compatibility for your setup and buy the real thing only if it works as expected
Yes that's what i was hoping, but it locked out before i could get the hang of it.. I only flew it indoors for fear of the Tello disappearing on me.. so as you might expect.. many crashes. Still I will just have to grin a bear it for now... I may just buy the full version in the hope that I can try to get to the bottom of it, not the best option but it seems to get good reviews and i'm not a gamer so don't know how else to figure out what's happening.. i may buy a cable to buy pass the Bluetooth and try that too

I prefer the feel of a hand controller over the screen option, so its worth persisting with it.. if a get a solution i will post here

Thanks for your help
 
There is no particular reason why the demo stops flying. I agree that I could have switched off video instead but honestly that never crossed my mind.

Personally I'd suggest _not_ to continue the TelloFpv & BT road. This combination is known to work for thousands of users so it's something about your particular setup that brakes it. The full version will have the same issues, it is exactly the same codebase minus a few compile time switches.

Experiments with an instable setup too often leads to crashed / lost drones and angry users and negative reviews and all that.
Something I'd like to avoid.
 
Ahah I see you're the person behind the app... Well thanks again for your responses

I've already ordered a cable to make a direct wired connection between my phone and controller... if that tests to work with 'gamepad tester' then maybe i will give it a go.

If you don't have to re-write too much code to change the demo functionality then I'd think an update offering that would offer more of a reliable way for entry level users like me to make sense of seeking a work around on that BT issue. I guess you will get far less negative responses on google play if you changed that limitation.... I don't see it as a price-point issue, its a more of a frustration issue. Thankfully i didn't have to buy a controller as I had one from my son.
 
Yes, that is one of my apps.

I understand that you ran into problems but only very very very few people ever reporte issues with the demo that warrant extensive debugging / testing on the user side. Like 10 people out of 350.000 downloads.

Typical issues reported are video quality, frame drops, control latency with BT controllers, etc. Almost all of these are related to old entry level phones, interference issues, or just wrong expectations.
In most cases people just fly a few times and then either buy or don't. The buy / no buy decision takes rarely longer than 10 minutes I guess.

If someone runs into unclear reliability issues, loss of control, app crashes, and other severe issues it is IMO best to use another app that doesn't give such issues. Better be safe than sorry
 
Just to update this thread, Android 12 seems to have fixed the gamepad issue. I can control my Tello via Tello FPV just fine using my Pixel 4 running Android 12, with an XBox One controller connected via bluetooth. Make sure you select the controller in the controller settings (e.g. as the student controller).
 

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