What You Need

• Driving only: any dual-core (avoid Atom and old Celeron), 4 GB of RAM (8 GB is more comfortable on Windows 11), one USB port for the transmitter plus your wheel. An inexpensive second-hand laptop is enough.
• + live FPV video: a genuine quad-core (Intel i5-6xxx or newer, AMD Ryzen 3 or newer, Intel N100 mini-PC), 8 GB of RAM. The video is decoded by the processor, integrated graphics is fine.
• + telemetry and motion (SimHub): Windows 11 (SimHub’s own minimum), 16 GB of RAM, a third USB port for the motion or bass-shaker controller.

Many small cars have a 2-in-1 board (receiver and ESC together) tied to their own radio: it has to be replaced. Brushless versions often keep the receiver separate, so only the receiver changes. Suits most 1/8 and 1/10 cars from 2S to 4S.

• Traxxas Slash (1/10): the most used for FPV. 1/10 is much more enjoyable than small scales.
• Traxxas 4Tec 2.0 (1/10): easy swap, the separate servo is kept.
• Arrma Mojave 4S (1/8): the stock ESC is kept, only a receiver is added.
• Losi Mini-T 2.0 (1/18): used on an indoor dirt track with FPV.
• 1RC Racing Late Model (1/18): three hours of oval driving in a row.
• Arrma Mojave Grom (1/18): an event operator runs three of them at once.
• A Losi Micro-T was found too small for FPV.

Indoors, limit the power in the app (one member drives at about 40 %).

Instead of the Ranger Nano, not on top of it. The cheaper Radiolink ATA Nano has no Direct USB, so it connects through a small RP2040 adapter, with the transmitter powered by a 5 V / 3 A charger. Full range on any PC, the module needs no setting and stays usable on a radio, and the app installs the adapter’s program for you. With a Ranger Nano you do not need any of this.

Plus a 5 V / 3 A phone charger to power the transmitter. Order the ATA Nano with the ELRS Module Base option, no soldering on that side.

Two wires, a heat-shrink tube and a drop of hot glue. How to wire it

Assembly notes

• Order the RP2040 without pre-soldered pins: the wires are soldered straight onto it, which keeps it small.
• Only one connector wire is needed: cut it in two, solder the cut ends on the RP2040 (signal and GND) and push the two connector ends into the TX connector.
• Slide it all into the heat-shrink tube, shrink it, and hold the wires with a drop of hot glue.
• A PC USB port gives 500 mA, the transmitter needs up to 3 A at full power: the 3 A charger gives you the full range.
• Step by step with the diagram: Configuration guide.

Prefer not to solder? An RP2040 with pre-soldered pins and male-to-female Dupont wires on the same two pins also works.

Other transmitters in Direct USB. The Radiomaster Ranger Micro is validated too (a member measured about 600 m of control in open space at 100 mW), and the BetaFPV 1W Micro works. The Radiolink ATA Nano does not work in Direct USB: use it with the RP2040 adapter. Compatibility table.

Next update (0.10.20) Your own radio, with just one cable*. Already have a radio bound to your car? Plug the PC audio output into the radio’s trainer port: the app drives the car through your radio, no ELRS parts needed. Tested on a Spektrum DX6i.

* Your radio needs a trainer port (usually a jack socket on the back; many entry-level radios sold with ready-to-run cars have none) and your PC an audio output (headphone socket or a small USB sound card).

It needs PWM outputs to drive the servo and the ESC: drone receivers will not work. Steering goes on channel 1 and throttle on channel 2 (wired the other way round? swap them in the app). One receiver per car, and it can move from one car to another.

Next update (0.10.20) No FPV kit yet? Put an Android phone on the car: it becomes the camera, within the range of your Wi-Fi. Tested by us.

1. Install DroidCam on the phone and the DroidCam client on the PC.
2. Once: open the PC client, connect it to the phone (same Wi-Fi, the phone shows the address to type in), then close the client.
3. From then on: start DroidCam on the phone, pick DroidCam as the video source in SimuRC-PRO (VIDEO tab) and start the video. You see what the phone sees, F11 for full screen.

Close to DJI image quality, no goggles needed. The PC receives it with a USB Wi-Fi adapter: the RTL8812AU chip is required. It is also the video transmitter the TrueFeel add-on needs (real feedback from the car: speed, G-forces, vibrations).

That adapter is dedicated to the video: keep Ethernet or another Wi-Fi if you need the internet while driving.

• Walksnail Avatar: two members, one sends the receiver’s HDMI output through a capture dongle. A member also shared a technique to open up more channels on the VRX.
• RunCam WiFiLink2: laptop + Wi-Fi dongle, easy first setup.
• Analog (lowest cost): a Wolfwhoop WT05 camera with a USB 5.8 GHz receiver works well indoors, the image washes out under bright track lighting.
• DJI O4 + DJI goggles: the easiest, but the picture stays in the goggles.

• Power the camera from its own battery. Some need 9 V or more (the WiFiLink2 takes 9 to 22 V), which a 2S car pack cannot give, and the motor causes current spikes that are bad for a video transmitter. Members use a separate 3S battery.
• Video range is usually the limit, not control. A member lost the video at about 126 m with two buildings in the way, control stayed alive. Set the failsafe on your receiver and test it.
• A capture dongle adds a little latency: not measured by us yet.