drone

[wise rain]

Hello,
We bought a new house and the previous owners left this drone behind and dont find it worth it to pay for the shipping to their new country.
I would be interested in using this drone rather then just throwing out does anyone have some tips? Im not very familiar with drones but I am into tech when it comes to pcs and such. How could I find out what conteoller, battery etc. It uses?
Thanks!

Lots of pcbs

Tried to plug in the micro usb port into my pc and nothing

[worldly kiln]

Damn your lucky

That’s a pretty new drone

@wise rain do you think you could show what the antenna is connected to

Like under the top plate

[wise rain]

sure give me a sec 😉

Its this gold cable

[worldly kiln]

Ok so it’s analog

That’s a start

[wise rain]

Is that good?

I dont know haha

[worldly kiln]

It’s neither good nor bad

Its cheaper to get gear for

[wise rain]

Ah thats nice

[worldly kiln]

Is there anything else with an antenna

A receiver

[wise rain]

What should I look for?

[worldly kiln]

Something small

Uh has 4 wires connecting it to the big stack of boards

[wise rain]

Everything i see is 2 3 or more then 4 wires

[worldly kiln]

What has more then 4

[wise rain]

These cables

[worldly kiln]

Do you have a micro usb cable that can do data

If so plug it into your pc

[wise rain]

I do

[worldly kiln]

And install an app called betaflight configurator

[wise rain]

alrighty one min

[wise rain]

alrighty what should I check for?

[worldly kiln]

Does anything show up

Oopsies

[wise rain]

haha

[worldly kiln]

Can you click connect

[wise rain]

says failed to open serial port

[worldly kiln]

Ok

So then download impulserc driver fixer

[wise rain]

just says searching for flight controller

[worldly kiln]

Try a diff cable

[wise rain]

alrighty

yeah still nothing

I plugged it into a more powerful port on my pc

now I hear it beep when I do that

but still dont see it in betaflighyt

@worldly kiln

[worldly kiln]

Same or different cable?

[wise rain]

diff cable

[worldly kiln]

Try another cable

That’s the most common issue

Is cable is charging onky

We gotta bring in the pros now @waxen parcel can deffo help more

Or @timber owl

[wise rain]

let me try and transfer files on this cable and see if it can do data

1min

ok so this cable does data and does a very slight buzz when I connect it

dont see anything in betaaflight or impulse

[junior pollen]

it is possible its borked. i had a number of quads with borked usb and i had no idea for many many flights because i wasnt tuning them

[worldly kiln]

That’s true

[junior pollen]

@wise rain good news is FCs are like what 40 bux?

[worldly kiln]

I was trying to figure out the rx it has based off what it’s set to in betaflight

[wise rain]

whats an FC?

[worldly kiln]

It’s much more complicated then that lmao

[junior pollen]

flight controller

[worldly kiln]

They found this drone for free in the house they moved into

[junior pollen]

computer that makes drone math to spin motors good

yeah is ee

[wise rain]

aha

[junior pollen]

@wise rain just so you know, there is about 500-800$ of gear between you and that drone flying, assuming its fully functional

[worldly kiln]

Also fyi this will cost somewhere around $350 to get flying (goggles, transmitter(controller) and charger/batteries)

[junior pollen]

you'd need batteries, headset, transmitter(controller with joysticks and such)

[worldly kiln]

Idk abt 500-800

It’s analog

[wise rain]

is this cheaper then buying a new one?

[junior pollen]

eh fair im a big spender

[wise rain]

or would it be cheaper to throw this out and buy a full new kit?

[junior pollen]

you dont typically "buy" a new one, you build them for that size

[worldly kiln]

In fpv everything is sold separately

[wise rain]

ah

[worldly kiln]

So it’s cheaper

You end up spending less bc u got a free one

[wise rain]

that seems nice

[worldly kiln]

Once we figure out what rx it has I can recommend you the other stuff needed

[wise rain]

so what would I need?

[junior pollen]

its a very small eletronics technical hobby, but if you spend the time you can learn it

[worldly kiln]

Do you by any chance have hex screwdrivers

[junior pollen]

my advice, go watch some rotor riot videos, they are like "youtube drone guys" to decide if you really wanna get in the hobby

[wise rain]

I do

[worldly kiln]

Ok so can you try and take off that top panel

[junior pollen]

@wise rain do you have a gaming pc by chance?

[wise rain]

ive been looking at this hobby for a while and im interested

[worldly kiln]

Or wait hold up

[wise rain]

I do have a gaming pc yeah, 5600x + 3070 + 32gb ram

[junior pollen]

okay heres what you do

[worldly kiln]

What is that white wire connected to

The small one

It looks like it could be an antenna

[junior pollen]

buy a transmitter (im going with the radiomaster boxer, they are as cheap as 100$ for base model, 250$ for the one with all the fancy shiz you dont need)
go run a drone sim for ~10 hours with that transmitter BEFORE you even KIND OF think about flying a real drone. I learned on Drone Racing League on steam, but im sure there are better suggestions these days (though i just had my buddy learn on it)

flying a drone is like learning to ride a bike except the bike has 5 extra controls you gotta worry about and its 70-100$ every time to fall off and no training wheels

[wise rain]

oh hahahahaha

[junior pollen]

if you do good sim practice first, you can avoid significant damage crashes

for example, when i got in the hobby, my first few months i did A LOT of crashy

but i think i only toasted maybe 150$ and most of that was propellers and the piece of frame/motor or two

[worldly kiln]

$150 for base model

Get the elrs version

[wise rain]

ill take a look into that thank you

[worldly kiln]

Of the radiomaster boxer

Alr

I have to assume that fc is dead tho

[wise rain]

just curious does this drone seem functional? or are there some issues which need to be fixed?

[worldly kiln]

So add about $40 to the cost and maybe $17 for a new rx

[junior pollen]

just so you know, you can build a full analog drone thats pretty good for ~200-300$

im going fancy digital expensive so im spending easily double that per

if you wanna see more of the technical side of things, joshua bardwell on youtube is the go to

[wise rain]

alrighty

how good would you say this drone is? is it like a ferrari or what?

haha

[junior pollen]

ehhh ford focus

[worldly kiln]

Eh depends

[junior pollen]

doesnt look at first glance like a shit used fiesta

def not a ducati

[worldly kiln]

Do you think you could measure the props

[wise rain]

lol

[worldly kiln]

From center to outside

I’d say a nice Honda crv

[wise rain]

2 and a quarter inch I believe

@worldly kiln

[worldly kiln]

Ok

So it’s a smaller quad but that means it’s good to learn on

[wise rain]

thats good

[waxen parcel]

I’ve never been called a pro

hi

[worldly kiln]

Idk I was going to ping gg but they were offline

I didn’t want to disturb vitroid

So I went budget pros

[waxen parcel]

Is there still a problem with their quad

Ima read up

[junior pollen]

bro idk man crvs are WAY overpriced right now

[worldly kiln]

yea true

[worldly kiln]

probs a dead fc

[junior pollen]

bro thats not 2.5 inch props thats 5 inch

[worldly kiln]

idk abt that

[junior pollen]

gotta measure diameter not radius

[worldly kiln]

shit u might be right

i might be sped

that makes a lil more sense

ok

yea

so its a bigger quad

yo @wise rain do the motors have any words on them

maybe a 4 digital number

[junior pollen]

you forget i built like 25 quadsd back in the day ❤️

[worldly kiln]

and somehting saying KV

[junior pollen]

and judging by the chamfer on that carbon fiber, either its a decent frame or a very loving builder

[wise rain]

Tryna look gimme a bit

2206

[worldly kiln]

ok so yea 5 inch props fs

[wise rain]

2480kV

[worldly kiln]

ok so thats a 4s 5 inch

so the last thing to figure out is if the fc is dead

and what radio control link it uses

do you have any contact with the person who built this?

if so do you think you could also what radio link it uses

[wise rain]

no they were very grumpy

[worldly kiln]

ah alr

[wise rain]

is 5inch still a starter one or is this more advanced?

[worldly kiln]

it will be fine

if you spend enough sim time

[wise rain]

I have like 3k hrs flying planes in war thunder so maybe itll slightly translate lol

[worldly kiln]

not even close

sadly

[wise rain]

ah damn

[worldly kiln]

once you get something like a radiomaster boxer elrs plug it into your computer and download either liftoff or velocidrone

both are good simulators

[wise rain]

How much would it cost to fix this up to a usable level?

[worldly kiln]

uh depends but probs around $40-$60 but then you will need goggles, controller, charger and batteries and that will run you around $350

otherwise its about $600 to start from scratch without that drone

[wise rain]

So the owner left a $300 drone behind and doesnt even want me to ship it to him?

Wtf lol

[worldly kiln]

yea ig

probs closer to $200 for that drone

but still

and if they knew its a dead fc and maybe more thats why

[wise rain]

What weirdos lol

[wise rain]

Thats still not bad

[worldly kiln]

yea lmao

[wise rain]

This could be a transmitter maybe

Looks like some small capacitor is connected to it

small 2pin cable unplugged from the camera not sure if thats supposed to be like that lol

[wise rain]

I saw some controllers like these where I could use a screen like my phone would that work for a drone like this?

or if im doing my research correctly then all I would need is one of these controllers, a battery and potentially a new flight controller is that correct? @worldly kiln

[worldly kiln]

Those controllers don’t work with fpv drones

Those are for prebuilt camera drones

It also depends what receiver is in it as you might need an extra

[junior pollen]

you wouldnt want that, trust me. you want to be connected to the drone via your face

[wise rain]

Ah alright

So id just need a transmitter some goggles and a battery yeah?

Do you know how I could find out what type of transmitter and goggles this needs?

And also what battery lol

[wise rain]

Im assuming its bad?

[worldly kiln]

Get eachine ev800d for goggles

And transmitter you would need to take off the top and send some more picture

And battery a 1300mah 4s lipo from cnhl should be good

And for charger get a hota d6 pro

[wise rain]

Ill take a look into those parts thank you

[wise rain]

Which part specifically if you dont mind me asking

Is it the little bottom barrel with a capacitor on it?

[worldly kiln]

The receiver

[wise rain]

This thing?

[worldly kiln]

No

That’s the vtx antenna

[wise rain]

This thing here?

[worldly kiln]

That looks like a buzzer

[wise rain]

Oh lol

Do you know what it could look like?

[wise rain]

I also wanted to ask do you by any chance know what the range of a drone like this would be?

[worldly kiln]

It all depends

Unknown at this point

We would need models of the vtx and receiver

[wise rain]

which one is the receiver?

[worldly kiln]

It should be a rectangle

Should be pretty small

If you take off the top plate and send pictures it will be easier

[wise rain]

ok will send in a few mins

[wise rain]

Theres a qr code on here

When scanned it gives me these numbers

5112090964513247591928844

[worldly kiln]

That looks like frsky or flysky or something but I’m not sure

I’d post that picture asking what it is in #❔help-quick-questions

The rx

[wise rain]

ok ty

[junior pollen]

@wise rain i highly suggest you watch this video, i think it would help you get started: https://youtu.be/2T_JC4v5T3E

you're going to learn exactly what all the things are

trying to just brute force each piece wont be efficient

plus

you WILL crash

everyone does

its part of the hobby

and if you dont know what all this is, you wont be able to really do the hobby

this guy, joshua bardwell, is a wonderful teacher

im watching this video now and hes so good lol

[woeful turtle]

Dont throw it out 😭

Thats the worst thing you could do

[lusty sleet]

brrr DOWNTILT

[woeful turtle]

What

[woeful turtle]

Thats also the transmitter

[woeful turtle]

He has a fr sky xm plus

[woeful turtle]

Im not good with txs so if anyone could give him a recommendation for one itd be great @junior pollen @worldly kiln

[wise rain]

Ty

[woeful turtle]

@waxen parcel

[worldly kiln]

I’d reco getting a new receiver

Get something like an ep1 txco

And a radiomaster boxer elrs

[wise rain]

what would be the difference between this receiver and the one I have?

[worldly kiln]

Frsky sucks

Elrs is good

!elrs

[indigo heron]

Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour, ExpressLRS?
ExpressLRS is the latest and greatest in control link protocols.
It is Open Source made by people from the community, for the community.
It has the longest range, the lowest latency, is easy to use and on top of that is also the cheapest option available.
It is absolutely a win/win!

[worldly kiln]

Plus you already have to take everything off so it’s not that big of a thing

[junior pollen]

I'm telling you friend you can just ask little bits and pieces on here but you're going to have way more guided learning and knowledge if you go through Joshua bardwell's videos

[wise rain]

Yeah im watching the vid that you sent 🙂

[junior pollen]

❤️

i flew for about a year, 5 years ago and am getting back into the hobby and i literally have already learned a boat load from JB

[wise rain]

I have made an advancement! I tried unplugging everything from the fc since thats how I troubleshoot pcs, and now with that unplugged 2 lights came on

The green light is on constantly and the blue one is blinking

Maybe its not dead afterall @worldly kiln @junior pollen @woeful turtle

[woeful turtle]

Whats so bad about it?

[wise rain]

betaflight is now connected

[woeful turtle]

Yep just do that

[wise rain]

does this look good to flash?

[woeful turtle]

Idk betaflight lets wait for others

[wise rain]

should I keep it plugged in or unplug and wait for others?

it warmed up a little not sure how sensitive to heat this chip is

eh ill unplug

[worldly kiln]

Unplug it

Yea

Don’t flash it

[worldly kiln]

It’s frsky

It’s overpriced, the frsky company sucks ass, it has no range, latency

More

[woeful turtle]

Here is the thing

Not everyone needs the most proffessional equipment

Im using a fsi6 which is almost as old as me

[worldly kiln]

Yea but elrs is cheaper lmao

And better

[worldly kiln]

That’s flysky not frsky

[woeful turtle]

Yea but you are treating it like he is on the midst of buying it, but the thing is he already has that reciever

[woeful turtle]

Yea and my point is its also shit but it still works great for me

There is always a better but that doesnt mean you have to upgrade

[worldly kiln]

Yea but it will be easier to find parts and cheaper for elrs

[worldly kiln]

Flysky is cheap but frsky isn’t

[woeful turtle]

So your saying he will have to use an frsky tx?

[worldly kiln]

You could get the 4in1 boxer

But it’s the same price as elrs

And a receiver is like $13

[woeful turtle]

Alright

But it isnt a necessity

"no range" to you is like 500 meters and below

Which is a good amnt of range

[worldly kiln]

There is zero failed reason to not upgrade when the cost is like $7

And you will have support

Frsky has lost basically all support

[wise rain]

Would I need to buy a different remote depending on that receiver?

Because if I do then it might be worth to get that elrs

[worldly kiln]

so no matter what the radiomaster boxer is your best bet

there are 2 versions

the 4in1 and the elrs version

if you get the 4in1 you can use frsky (i dont reco this at all) or you can get the elrs and use elrs (i reco this)

!elrs

[indigo heron]

Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour, ExpressLRS?
ExpressLRS is the latest and greatest in control link protocols.
It is Open Source made by people from the community, for the community.
It has the longest range, the lowest latency, is easy to use and on top of that is also the cheapest option available.
It is absolutely a win/win!

[worldly kiln]

frsky is just shit at this point

no reason to use it

shitty support

not as good range

expensive receivers

well the recivers arent that expensive but still

[wise rain]

What is the range difference compared to elrs and the one I have?

[worldly kiln]

Elrs is way better

[waxen parcel]

ELRS has gone over 100km

frsky mightve gone further than someones backyard once

[worldly kiln]

Lmao yea

[junior pollen]

here's the full answer:
elrs is the new standard, frsky was an old standard. that chip is ~15$, however, you will need to buy a transmitter (controller with joysticks) in order to fly. that transmitter will support the type of reciever you choose. its not much cheaper to get an frsky transmitter vs getting one that runs ELRS

elrs is a new standard cuz way better range/penetration

[wise rain]

hahahahahhahaha

love that comment

alright so elrs it is

[wise rain]

are there any cheaper options or do I have to splurge out a $150 on a transmitter haha

[wise rain]

yeah it looks like elrs is the way to go

[wise rain]

so does this mean my fc works fine?

[wise rain]

is there a receiver that i wont have to solder? haha

[junior pollen]

yes but you are wasting your money doing so. learn to solder. dont half ass the hobby or you will only get 1/8th the fun

soldering is easy, i did it when i was like 12

[worldly kiln]

Not that I know if

[worldly kiln]

Yea looks like it

[wise rain]

I dont have a soldering iron currently

[worldly kiln]

Radiomaster tx12, zorro or pocket

[worldly kiln]

Get a pine64 pinecil

It’s cheap

[junior pollen]

see, @wise rain , there is a magical website called amazon.com where you can exchange currency for goods

if you were to give them currency, you could summon a soldering iron right to your door

[wise rain]

oh nice cheap and small thanks!

[wise rain]

haha

[wise rain]

so is 7/8th's of the hobby soldering stuff? xD

[worldly kiln]

All of building is soldering

[junior pollen]

you will crash, you will need to repair

unless you can afford a 300$ drone twice a day

rotorriot makes a solderless kit but its way too expensive

[wise rain]

the pinecil looks perfect so its aight

ill need to go watch a soldering tutorial haha

[junior pollen]

when you can learn how to solder in 30 minutes

get a solder practice board

[wise rain]

which one is good to get with it?

[junior pollen]

go watch videos

its a full skillset to solder, not a wildly involved one but

OI

@wise rain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoPT69y98pY&t=12s&ab_channel=JoshuaBardwell

LOOK AT THAT\

HUH

its as if he has the entire hobby ready for you to learn on his channel

[wise rain]

I watch a good bit of louis rossman and he solders a crap ton so im very familiar with it

[wise rain]

fine xD

[junior pollen]

im not trying to be an ass, but please trust me, if you take shortcuts, you will not enjoy the experience

if you want people to check over your work before you plug in a battery, this is the place for that

but if you want to get intros to the entire skillset, bardwell will be what you want

[merry valve]

rock on a string made of single hair strands vs. infinite range hack

how do random people end up finding random quads and just casually use them

[wise rain]

Whats wrong with it hahah

[merry valve]

I've never seen an FPV irl other than my own, much less an irl one that I could just randomly take posession of lol

it might be broken and it's definitely not super new, but hey, free quad, can't complain

[wise rain]

I unplugged a wire that prevented it booting so just a bit of gear and it might fly

[merry valve]

yeah I skimmed the messages, that's good news at least 👍

oh was it the receiver you unplugged, any idea?

the frsky thing with the antenna

[wise rain]

no it was a 2pin cable going to the buzzer I unplugged lol

[merry valve]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/956724609812689007.gif?size=240&quality=lossless

interesting. shorted buzzer...?

that's odd but good ig

[worldly kiln]

It came free with the house lol

crazy deal

[merry valve]

I read

careful, that quad might bring your property tax up

[worldly kiln]

But I agree I’ve never seen an fpv drone irl besides mine lol

I saw someone who I knows dad post they are selling all of it but otherwise that’s all I’ve seen

That was on the local Facebook group

[merry valve]

ok there was one time I swear I heard an FPV quad, but by the time I got to where I heard it, no trace of FPV.

[worldly kiln]

Oh

Damn

This was the listing

$450

It sold

I was debating buying the goggles

[wise rain]

I just realised that I dont believe I have a video transmitter

or is the FC capable of that?

or is this a video transmitter or is it something else?

[worldly kiln]

That’s the video transmitter

[woeful turtle]

^

[wise rain]

@worldly kiln do you know of a good elrs receiver thats on amazon? couldnt find the ep1 txco on amazon like u recommended before

[worldly kiln]

It should be on Amazon

Look for a betafpv super D

Also Amazon marks up things a lot

We call it the Amazon tax

In fpv sense

If your in the US

look at racedayquads

[wise rain]

damn lol

well I guess the question is if the shipping will cost a bit on rdq

since its free on amazon

is there a difference? lol

[worldly kiln]

It’s not bad and if your ordering a transmitter, battery and charger it will be over $99 so free shipping

[worldly kiln]

The first one is good

The second one is better but in reality unless your doing long range it’s overkill

[wise rain]

ive got some amazon credit on my account thats why ive been interested in using it tbh

[worldly kiln]

Ah

Let me find a link for the ep1 txco on Amazon for u

US?

Oh yea Florida

[wise rain]

that would be great ty

[worldly kiln]

Happymodel 0.41g 2.4GHz ExpressLRS ELRS EP1 TCXO Long Range Low Latency Receiver for Micro Carbon Fiber FPV Racing Quadcopter Quad Frame kit RC Drone Frame Rekon 3 https://a.co/d/gXI9Ptd

That’s the exact one I ordered

And use

[wise rain]

awesome thank you

if you dont mind me asking whats the difference between the ep1 and ep2?

[worldly kiln]

Ep2 has a built in ceramic antenna

It’s fine on foam frames like for planes but the carbon fiber of the fpv frames really limits it

[wise rain]

ah I see

thanks

[wise rain]

@worldly kiln i found an old 30w soldering iron would that work?

Not sure if its powerful enough or if i should just buy the pinecil

[waxen parcel]

pinecil my beloved

[waxen parcel]

if you can change the temp and it has a good tip then maybe

[merry valve]

I started out with a cheap iron, purely cause I had it already. It can work (and imo it forces you to really practice your own skill), but as LiPo mentioned, the tip is really important. If you could send a pic of it, we could tell you what condition it is

the nature of cheap irons is to have a damaged or oxidized tip cause inexperienced people use and damage them. but hey if it's in good condition might as well use it

[wise rain]

I have no idea tbh just found it

[wise rain]

I think its a soldering iron at least

[merry valve]

yep that's an iron, it's a bit hard to tell what's on the tip but it doesn't look horrific

I mean

one sec

#🖼️photos message

that's bad

[wise rain]

Oh wow haha

Yeah thats bad

[merry valve]

anyways FYI, to "diagnose" an iron tip: I'm mainly looking for oxidation/burnedness. That'll prevent solder from sticking to the iron (it'll bead off like water on wax), which will also make heat transfer near impossible. Not to mention the solder joints will look "rough" at very best. However, if the oxidation is on the solder that is coating the tip, this is actually a good thing - the sacrificial bit of solder left on the tip acts as protection. Next time you warm the iron, you'll wipe off the old oxidized layer and it'll be mirrorlike. Keep it that way. Whenever you're not using the iron, keep a layer of that sacrificial solder on it. Never let it stay exposed to oxygen unless you absolutely need the tip to be clean and dry (i.e. when making solder joints on small pads).

[wise rain]

Well ill be soldering a receiver so thatll be interesting

[merry valve]

only expose a tiny bit of the wire (you don't want more than a mm sticking out of the insulation). Brace your hands against a table, kinda like you're writing with the iron. Learn the rhythm and timing of iron down (on the pad), solder, remove solder, allow solder to heat and adhere, remove iron. Don't keep the iron on for too long or you'll burn off all the flux prematurely, which will lead to the solder not solidifying nicely. But definitely make sure you have the iron down long enough to allow the solder to fully saturate everything it needs to. Should cool to a nice mirror-surfaced bead with no exposed wire. just silicone insulation straight to bead.

hard to explain but not much to it watch a bunch of videos of (experienced) people soldering. iirc joshua bardwell has a whole video on it

[wise rain]

Thank you for the tips

I watched joshuas vid on soldering and louis rossmans ones haha

[merry valve]

👍 no problem, sounds like you're off to a great start then

[wise rain]

Since I have to solder it how would I solder it to this 3 pin connector? Im looking at the page I assume it should be connected as RX TX +5V? Which wires and where could I get the connector for it?

[worldly kiln]

You might have to get an adapter

It’s what Ibus to uart

[wise rain]

which adapter if you dont mind me asking

I could potentially try to canibalise this connector

strip the wires and then solder them onto the new receiver

although not sure how well that would work

thoughts? @woeful turtle

[merry valve]

Someone else please check me, but I think unprofessionally's recommendation for an IBUS->UART adapter is an actual electronic adapter, not just connector. IBUS and UART are two distinct, separate protocols (for communication between FC and RX), so I guess just straight swapping the receiver would lead to compatability issues

[wise rain]

Well i basically need to plug in the ep1 txco receiver (what unprofessional sent) to the port thats on this fc, i dont actually know what this port is called

[worldly kiln]

This is true

[wise rain]

well let me rephrase sorry, I need to connect the ep1 txco receiver to my FC

this is where the last receiver was plugged into

im just not sure how to plug in the ep1 to this

[wise rain]

the closest thing I could find to this is an "uart to can bus converter"

I have this FC I believe
https://www.getfpv.com/flycolor-x-tower-f4-fc-40a-blheli32-4-in-1-esc-stack.html

[wise rain]

Hello

[junior pollen]

Bro what are you trying to do

[wise rain]

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