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[Mook1e]

If you think you're young fella can handle something like the Runner 250, build something like this;

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...Copter_A_Mini_Sized_FPV_Multi_Rotor_kit_.html

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...troller_Soldered_version_Horizontal_Pin_.html

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...06_2150KV_Motor_The_34_Baby_Beast_34_V2_.html

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__58261__Flycolor_10_Amp_Multi_rotor_ESC_2_3S_with_BEC.html

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...or_ABS_Propellers_One_Pair_CW_CCW_Black_.html


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It might be more expensive but it's modular and it'll be something he can grow with. My mate built basically the same thing for shits and giggles and he just abuses it and it takes it no problem. The downside of something like the V686 is it's plastic chasis. If somerhing breaks, you're kind of screwed unless you know where to get spares. It will cost more but the V686 isn't that much cheaper. If you want him to get a toy to start, check out the $30-$40 models and build this for when he's ready. Hell you will probly fly something like this for fun to learn to do flips and rolls yourself (I know I am thinking about it)

You can add FPV gear later (it's not expensive) and you can use this as an excuse to order a decent radio which you can use yourself later or even with the Runner 250 if you change out the receiver.

One thing I forgot to note. The V686 actually does have quite a few parts that are easily replaced:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Newe...ablet-PC-Android4-4-Windows8/32277402735.html

 

[Joe]

Thanks to this thread (and the earlier temporary thread) I got a Hubsan X4 (H107C "HD") and 5 batteries!

I have literally zero idea what I'm doing but I can't wait to crash it

 

[Mook1e]

Thanks to this thread (and the earlier temporary thread) I got a Hubsan X4 (H107C "HD") and 5 batteries!

I have literally zero idea what I'm doing but I can't wait to crash it

Awesome. You should have a lot of fun learning the ropes. Your charger should account for it, but you may want to make sure you only charge and discharge your batteries together.
This means, don't connect a half-charged and fully discharged battery to the charger at once. Only connect fully discharged batteries.

Also, does that model have headless mode?
You may want to fly in headless mode first for a while to get the hang of hovering and basic inertial controls down first.
Look up headless mode on youtube for videos and explanations.

 

[Mohonky]

So NOT use headless mode. Otherwise it'll confuse the shit out of you when learning orientation. It'll become a habit you have to break.

Also, that charger is cool, was that a seperate purchase?

 

[Joe]

Awesome. You should have a lot of fun learning the ropes. Your charger should account for it, but you may want to make sure you only charge and discharge your batteries together.
This means, don't connect a half-charged and fully discharged battery to the charger at once. Only connect fully discharged batteries.

Also, does that model have headless mode?
You may want to fly in headless mode first for a while to get the hang of hovering and basic inertial controls down first.
Look up headless mode on youtube for videos and explanations.

Thanks for the tips! I looked up what headless mode and this model does not have it but it does seem like a cool feature.

So NOT use headless mode. Otherwise it'll confuse the shit out of you when learning orientation. It'll become a habit you have to break.

Also, that charger is cool, was that a seperate purchase?

Thanks for the tip! Yes it was, got it from Amazon here:
QuadPro 1x5 charger

 

[Mohonky]

Thanks for the tip! I looked up what headless mode and this model does not have it but it does seem like a cool feature.


Thanks for the tip! Yes it was, got it from Amazon here:
QuadPro 1x5 charger

Huh, that's a nice little gadget to have for the hubsan.

I wrote a guide on picking up how to fly on the first page. I am against any sort of alternative modes when learning, particularly headfree is a bad one to use as it's a habit forming mode. I know that the boards in those little quads usually don't have it they usually only have Angle Mode but I could avoid any other modes except self levelling when learning to fly.

It also relies on the compass for magnetic heading which is easily effected by many outside sources.

 

[Mook1e]

Huh, that's a nice little gadget to have for the hubsan.

I wrote a guide on picking up how to fly on the first page. I am against any sort of alternative modes when learning, particularly headfree is a bad one to use as it's a habit forming mode. I know that the boards in those little quads usually don't have it they usually only have Angle Mode but I could avoid any other modes except self levelling when learning to fly.

It also relies on the compass for magnetic heading which is easily effected by many outside sources.

Ok, so, I shouldn't use headless mode when I get the H8 mini. Got it
I guess that's a good idea. My son didn't have it with his 1sq Vcam, so I shouldn't use the crutch.

 

[Mohonky]

Ok, so, I shouldn't use headless mode when I get the H8 mini. Got it
I guess that's a good idea. My son didn't have it with his 1sq Vcam, so I shouldn't use the crutch.

Yeh just dont use anything outside of Stable / Angle, mini / toy quads have Angle on by default.

Headfree is something that you just dont want to touch. You're muscle memory will go out of whack. The idea is to learn to fly the quad and develop your inputs as they would normally be, if you rely on headfree it'll just become a crutch and when you turn it off, you'll basically ne unlearning what you already learnt to start all over again.

Think I covered a lot of why you should stay away from automous modes in the Learning to Fly section, under Multiwii flight modes I listed Headfree mode and I think I said just never even touch it. If you move, or the airframe gets confused by any magnetic interference it wont behave how you think it will. On top of that you just dont want to build muscle memory around it.

 

[Joe]

Ok...this thing is AWESOME.

It's a ton of fun to fly around. It's really disorienting trying to maneuver it around the space and maintaining proper height but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out after a while.

Crashing a bunch but I'm in a carpeted area and I'm not going too high so the little thing takes it all like a champ.The guard help a ton, only getting about 7-9 minutes per battery which seems to be about average.

 

[Mohonky]

Ok...this thing is AWESOME.

It's a ton of fun to fly around. It's really disorienting trying to maneuver it around the space and maintaining proper height but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out after a while.

Crashing a bunch but I'm in a carpeted area and I'm not going too high so the little thing takes it all like a champ.The guard help a ton, only getting about 7-9 minutes per battery which seems to be about average.

Flight time seems about right.

Good fun eh?

 

[Teknopathetic]

Finished my SoSX Blackbird (180mm) today, but my video receiver doesn't arrive until Monday, so I've only flown it LOS a bit thus far. Some words of wisdom, especially to anyone considering building a sub-200mm frame:


1. Don't deviate from your plan because you saw a good deal unless you want to end up with ESCs that are over half the length of your frame (but I got them to fit).

2. Buy a Flight Controller *without* pins already soldered in or measure your frame to make sure your Flight Controller's pin headers will fit under the top of your frame. I got a Naze32 clone with straight pins already soldered in, but they wouldn't fit under the top piece of my frame, so I had to desolder them and put in right-angle pins. I had some trouble with getting the new set of pins in and actually soldered off one of the pads on the circuit board, so I was forced to use a different motor output and setup a custom mix in Cleanflight.

 

[Joe]

Flight time seems about right.

Good fun eh?

It was great fun until I started reading about lipo battery safety and I'm now I'm paranoid as hell lol

 

[Mohonky]

It was great fun until I started reading about lipo battery safety and I'm now I'm paranoid as hell lol

Dont worry about it mate, unless you're being really stupid and using them for Dart practice you'll be right.

You already have a lot of lipos around you (phones, tablets, laptops) and you don't worry about them.

Just keep em somewhere away from flammables when you store them.

 

[captive]

I've got a DJI Naza M-lite GPS and flight controller
7 turnigy 30amp ESCs
And Tarot X6 heavy lift frame.
In my hobbyking cart right now.

Got turnigy 320kv motors.

Need radio, battery and battery charger.

Edit: forgot need a prop too. Looking for a 17" but not sure how to tell if it fits the motor and the adapter that came with the motor or if it needs a separate adapter. That's the thing I've seen about this hobby, there is lots of information out there but not as much as you would want. But especially reading blogs, these guys setup blogs and say I'm going to do X Y Z and they've barely done X(I get it, I do blogs as well) but even more frustrating is when your reading one blog or website and they say oh hey this is a good resource as well and you click the link and its dead. I've run into this a lot.

 

[Joe]

Dont worry about it mate, unless you're being really stupid and using them for Dart practice you'll be right.

You already have a lot of lipos around you (phones, tablets, laptops) and you don't worry about them.

Just keep em somewhere away from flammables when you store them.

yeah, that's a good point. thanks for that

 

[gutterboy44]

Awesome OP.

I am trying to sell my Phantom FC40 that I got last year and moving in to FPV racing quads. I loved my Phantom and it was really easy to fly but I hit a hard upgrade wall. I could get a better camera and mod FPV but it didn't seem worth it and I don't want to buy the Phantom 3 even though it looks great. I enjoyed flying my Phantom more that I liked filming with it. As soon as I started learning about FPV racing I have been dying to build one.

I am going with a 4S build on a ZMR250 frame.
-Naze32
-Cobra 2204 2300kv motors w 5040 props
-Quanum DIY FPV headset
-FrSky Taranis

Those are the main parts. I will post detailed list of my cart so far when I am not on mobile. I have only ordered the frame and PCB so far. Almost everything else will be in a massive hobby king order. So excited !

Edit: Damn, looks like the 2204/2300 cobras are out of stock. Considering going down the the 1960 version. This will allow be to drop down to 12A ESC which might be easier for my first build. I can always upgrade later.
Edit2: Fuck me, those are out of stock now too. Can't find cobra motors in stock anywhere. Damn it, should have pulled the trigger on this part of the order last night. Any other motor brand that has the detailed prop efficency and thrust charts like Cobra?

 

[Yoritomo]

PID tuning is kicking my ass. I wish I could just copy a good PID setup.

Been messing around with a decent base tune then using cleanflight autotune to tweak the values a bit.

I still don't fundamentally understand what each of the values represent.

 

[Azulsky]

PID tuning is kicking my ass. I wish I could just copy a good PID setup.

Been messing around with a decent base tune then using cleanflight autotune to tweak the values a bit.

I still don't fundamentally understand what each of the values represent.

PID tuning is an art. Despite there being calculators to get you to a good starting point most people who are good at loop tuning do it by watching the loop behave and tinkering with values.

PID loops have three external parameters, Setpoint(SP), Output(CV), and Process Value(PV)

The loop functions by reacting to the difference between your SP and your PV, this difference is the Error, it compensates by modulating the CV

P - Proportional, Gain, or Sensitivity, this is how much your Output is going to change for a given instantaneous amount of Error. If you are off your SP by x% then the output will change P * Error(really simple example with other terms missing). P term only cares about the magnitude of the error.

If your setpoint changes very quickly then a low P term is not going to compensate fast enough and if it is too high you are going to massively overshoot and take longer for it to dampen

I - Integral is concerned with the magnitude and the duration of the error. When you increase this term it scales how much the function weights the duration. Think of it like two functions being plotted and the area underneath the two that overlaps is an accumulation of error. The I term has a memory that is adjusted each time the PID is executed whereas the P term basically is only concerned with the current sample.

With the same P term a high I term will cause overshoot because it is acting on past error when the instantaneous error is already 0. With a low I term you are going to get no overshooting but gradually approach your SP which can gut your sensitivity.

D - Derivative is counteracting to the I term. Probably unnecessary for manual flight as you are moving around too much with a multi-rotor. Essentially it lets you use I without worrying about the overshoot as much so you can get faster transient response. Very very hard to tune.

You want your P to be the primary controlling factor and the I to mitigate unwanted effects. You are always fighting response time and stability with loop tuning.

 

[gutterboy44]

Sweet, found a place in Colorado that has the 2204/2300 Cobra's in stock. I decided to start with a 3S build at the last minute. My ESC can handle a jump to 4S in the future but I think I want to keep it as simple as possible and since this is my first racing 250 build, I think starting with a little less power and more flight time is a better idea. Didn't hesitate this time and ordered the motors straight away. I am going to try the 20A DYS BLHeli OPTO ESCs. Anyone have experience with them?

 

[Yoritomo]

PID tuning is an art. Despite there being calculators to get you to a good starting point most people who are good at loop tuning do it by watching the loop behave and tinkering with values.

PID loops have three external parameters, Setpoint(SP), Output(CV), and Process Value(PV)

The loop functions by reacting to the difference between your SP and your PV, this difference is the Error, it compensates by modulating the CV

P - Proportional, Gain, or Sensitivity, this is how much your Output is going to change for a given instantaneous amount of Error. If you are off your SP by x% then the output will change P * Error(really simple example with other terms missing). P term only cares about the magnitude of the error.

If your setpoint changes very quickly then a low P term is not going to compensate fast enough and if it is too high you are going to massively overshoot and take longer for it to dampen

I - Integral is concerned with the magnitude and the duration of the error. When you increase this term it scales how much the function weights the duration. Think of it like two functions being plotted and the area underneath the two that overlaps is an accumulation of error. The I term has a memory that is adjusted each time the PID is executed whereas the P term basically is only concerned with the current sample.

With the same P term a high I term will cause overshoot because it is acting on past error when the instantaneous error is already 0. With a low I term you are going to get no overshooting but gradually approach your SP which can gut your sensitivity.

D - Derivative is counteracting to the I term. Probably unnecessary for manual flight as you are moving around too much with a multi-rotor. Essentially it lets you use I without worrying about the overshoot as much so you can get faster transient response. Very very hard to tune.

You want your P to be the primary controlling factor and the I to mitigate unwanted effects. You are always fighting response time and stability with loop tuning.

Thanks. This helps. Getting my ass out there and giving it a shot with cleanflight set up for in flight adjustment seems to be the best way.

 

[gutterboy44]

Woot! Got all my stuff ordered! I didn't order any of my FPV gear yet as I want to get the quad assembled and get the hang of flying it. Hopefully by the end of August I can have my quad dialed in and order my gear.

My build so far.
-ZMR250 by MRM w/ OSO Grande PDB
-Acro Naze 32
-OSDoge
-Cobra 2204/28 2300kv
-HQProp 6030
-ESC BL20a OPTO ESC (BLHeli - OneShot Rdy)
-Rx FrSky D4R-II
-Tx FrSky Taranis
-Turnigy nano-tech 1600mah 3S 25~50C

 

[Mohonky]

PID tuning is kicking my ass. I wish I could just copy a good PID setup.

Been messing around with a decent base tune then using cleanflight autotune to tweak the values a bit.

I still don't fundamentally understand what each of the values represent.

Yeh, PID tuning is a pain in the ass. i meant to do a section on it but I'll get back to that. I hate doing it myself, a lot of the Naze stuff is pretty well tuned straight out of the box for the 250's and such from what I have heard.

 

[Downhome]

I'm posting this from the other thread since this is the main thread now...

I ended up designing and building one this past year with a bunch of 3D printed parts after owning a couple of other quadcopters in the past couple of years. What I would recommend if you are a first time owner would be to buy a cheaper model (likely sans camera) so you can begin to get a feel for how they fly.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IZC6C8E/?tag=neogaf0e-20

That's one I use when teaching kids how to fly. It's a pretty decent model, has relatively good durability, and it also can take a bit of a beating. It also is a good option to give you the ins and outs of quadcopter control.

Thanks Ryan. I bought this one the night before last on Amazon and I just got it. I have no experience using a quadcopter at all but I've been wanting to get one for years now. Boy, I sure do suck so far, haha. The first thing I did was accidentally hit the button to make it ascend and I went to grab it with my right hand and it ALMOST sliced my finger open. It broke the skin but no blood, but that taught me a super quick lesson.

I have since purchased a pack of five extra batteries, a bunch of propellers, and a guard. After putting the guard on it I'm not only able to fly it around my pets and grab it if need be but it has become WAY easier for me to control.

Here is Betty our Boston Terrier being very confused over it...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uT_ww9qV-dk&feature=youtu.be

I'm having so much learning on this one. I can't believe such a thing was only $25!!!

 

[captive]

does anyone have any recommendations on Gimbals? I have few book marked but haven't decided on any. I'm going to swing my D800 from it so it has to be somewhat large.

 

[Yoritomo]

Yeh, PID tuning is a pain in the ass. i meant to do a section on it but I'll get back to that. I hate doing it myself, a lot of the Naze stuff is pretty well tuned straight out of the box for the 250's and such from what I have heard.

Yeah it flies right out the box and isn't uncontrollable but any transition has it wobble rapidly before it sets into it's new orientation.

Gonna try and take it out tonight and do some tuning. Maybe get my first fpv flight in.

 

[gutterboy44]

Woot, all parts ordered for FPV side of my 250 racer build. I might have this thing fully running by the end of next week!

-Quanum V2 DIY goggles
-IRC 5.8ghz 600mW vTX
-FR632 Diversity vRX
-VAS 5.8ghz Cloverleaf Whip antennas

I will try to document the build for this thread. I have never built a quad before so it should be interesting.

 

[Mook1e]

Awesome, gutterboy. I'm going to test out my son's addiction to quads with the V686 and then (probably) start a 180 or 250 build with him.

I think I'm going to buy a Walkera Runner 250 Set 2 RTF for myself, though.
They're about to release a GPS-enabled model.
I was also looking at the Unicorn 1 mini as well.
http://www.tmart.com/Unicorn-1-Mini...airvoyance-3D-Goggles-Mode-2-RTF_p332683.html

 

[Mohonky]

does anyone have any recommendations on Gimbals? I have few book marked but haven't decided on any. I'm going to swing my D800 from it so it has to be somewhat large.

What frame and flight controller?

Tarot are probably where you want to look, they do gimbals for full frame multirotors. Servo driven with belt connectors so they should have the power you need and the belts will take any harshness out of the servo motors.

 

[Yoritomo]

So apparently power lines aggressively interfere with the video, or there's a weak link in my video transmission setup.

Got everything tuned (used some numbers I found online then dropped the p values a bit so I had less wobble). Having the dreaded pitch out when I angle back to decelerate.

Quad is a little heavy in the back. Not sure how to compensate beside trying to change the layout.

Should have gone with smaller batteries.

Also I'm looking for some sort of 3d printed Mobius camera mount. Not sure what's a good shop for parts like that.

 

[gutterboy44]

Parts are starting to arrive! I feel like a kid on Christmas. Everything is so much smaller than I expected. All of the photos and videos made everything seem just a bit bigger. Oh man, the Taranis is a beauty. Feels great to hold right out of the bat, especially compared to my DJI Phantom 1 controller. Think I will be programming her with an irish accent...because I can.

 

[Yoritomo]

The taranis is great.

 

[Kyaw]

does anyone have any recommendations on Gimbals? I have few book marked but haven't decided on any. I'm going to swing my D800 from it so it has to be somewhat large.

What's your budget? A D800 is big-ish. Servo controlled ones are cheap and the belt does an ok job of getting rid of jittery motion but brushless ones are still the best.

You can get something like this with an Alexmos gimbal controller board: http://rctimer.com/product-987.html

 

[gutterboy44]

Saw someone on Reddit recommend the free demo of a quad copter sim, "FPV Freerider" (full game is only 5$) because you can use your Taranis as a USB controller and it allows you to try out Acro mode before crashing your new quad. I am sooooo glad I installed this game. My muscle memory from flying a Phantom via LOS with GPS assist made me have to completely re learn to fly for FPV Acro. Holy shit, I was not expecting that learning curve because I was damn nimble with my Phantom. By the end of the night I was able to complete actual laps through all the gates. Worth checking out even if you are curious about FPV quads. You can use an Xbox controller too.

 

[Mohonky]

So apparently power lines aggressively interfere with the video, or there's a weak link in my video transmission setup.

Got everything tuned (used some numbers I found online then dropped the p values a bit so I had less wobble). Having the dreaded pitch out when I angle back to decelerate.

Quad is a little heavy in the back. Not sure how to compensate beside trying to change the layout.

Should have gone with smaller batteries.

Also I'm looking for some sort of 3d printed Mobius camera mount. Not sure what's a good shop for parts like that.

What frame is this?

You want the front to be a lottle heavier than the back if anything, flight controller in the center of the frame. You definitely do not want any part of the wuad to be way out of balance weight wise or yeh, which ever side is heaviest is going to be hardest to pull back into shape.

Try altering the lay out, moving the battery as far inboard as possible, smaller battery maybe as you said. If you absolutely can't balance it perfect, you coukd always try getting some adhesive weights to balance it out but you want to use them as a last resort,p as lighter is always better but sometimes it might not be possible.

Also yes. Avoid powerlines, they will mess with your signal something fierce.

Also if you fly FPV try and make sure you have someone with you who can see it line of site or even better, have then be able to see it line of site as well as have them on a ground station so they can see what you see in fpv plus line of sight.

I had my goggles on one day and sunscreen ran into my eyes, I couldnt hold my eyes open for more than a second at a time, I had to have my mate guide me back as I was basically blind. It the quad is far away it can be hard to tell if you are heading toward or drifting away and I was on the other side of about 2 football pitch lengths at the time so the quad was basically a dot, if he wasnt there with a ground station it would have gone very wrong. As it was I was able to fly it back just by his guidance alone even though I couldnt see anything.

Parts are starting to arrive! I feel like a kid on Christmas. Everything is so much smaller than I expected. All of the photos and videos made everything seem just a bit bigger. Oh man, the Taranis is a beauty. Feels great to hold right out of the bat, especially compared to my DJI Phantom 1 controller. Think I will be programming her with an irish accent...because I can.

Heh, the DJI controller is a toy. After that anything would feel like a million bucks. The Taranis is definitely the best radio out there for features and reliable signal strength though.

You dont realise how much control things like the DJI are taking away from you until they are gone, which is why I suggest never using a DJI Phantom as a first quad because if it becomes confused and you need to flip it out of auto mode, you might find yourself in a position where you cant fly it back beapcause you dont really know how to fly one and even then in the DJI acro mode, its automation is still lingering in the background trying to fight you.

 

[Mohonky]

Thread needs more pictures and I happen to stop in at a mates this arvo and took some pics of his toys;

Trailer full of toys for taking out to the flying fields. He's working on the Decathlon at the moment.

Another plane that is being repainted in Matt Hall's flying scheme.

Mustang hanging from the ceiling grave, it only had 1 main flight on it. Came in and landed and for some reason after landing it pitched forward. So most of the frame stayed intact, but he took the guts out and they went into the Decathlon.

250 Sized Quads;

Hobbyking frame for LOS flying

Blackout for FPV racing

 

[Yoritomo]

What frame is this?

You want the front to be a lottle heavier than the back if anything, flight controller in the center of the frame. You definitely do not want any part of the wuad to be way out of balance weight wise or yeh, which ever side is heaviest is going to be hardest to pull back into shape.

Try altering the lay out, moving the battery as far inboard as possible, smaller battery maybe as you said. If you absolutely can't balance it perfect, you coukd always try getting some adhesive weights to balance it out but you want to use them as a last resort,p as lighter is always better but sometimes it might not be possible.

Also yes. Avoid powerlines, they will mess with your signal something fierce.

Also if you fly FPV try and make sure you have someone with you who can see it line of site or even better, have then be able to see it line of site as well as have them on a ground station so they can see what you see in fpv plus line of sight.

I had my goggles on one day and sunscreen ran into my eyes, I couldnt hold my eyes open for more than a second at a time, I had to have my mate guide me back as I was basically blind. It the quad is far away it can be hard to tell if you are heading toward or drifting away and I was on the other side of about 2 football pitch lengths at the time so the quad was basically a dot, if he wasnt there with a ground station it would have gone very wrong. As it was I was able to fly it back just by his guidance alone even though I couldnt see anything.

ZMR250 frame, but I've got a 2200 mah battery on... which is too big to really balance out without adjusting everything forward. I've got a different camera mount setup now and have balanced it better.

I also think I had some issues with the rotor striking an esc due to a zip tie that hadn't been tightened enough.

Need to pick up some smaller batteries.

How far should a 200 mah 5.8g transmitter be good for?

Gonna take it out again tonight to do some additional tuning.

 

[gutterboy44]

Heh, the DJI controller is a toy. After that anything would feel like a million bucks. The Taranis is definitely the best radio out there for features and reliable signal strength though.

You dont realise how much control things like the DJI are taking away from you until they are gone, which is why I suggest never using a DJI Phantom as a first quad because if it becomes confused and you need to flip it out of auto mode, you might find yourself in a position where you cant fly it back beapcause you dont really know how to fly one and even then in the DJI acro mode, its automation is still lingering in the background trying to fight you.

Naze Angle mode is not really that dissimilar to DJI ATTI (attitude) mode. Yeah, most people don't fly their Phantoms in manual often, because it is not really necessary. To go "manual" if your GPS wigs out, you don't actually need to kick it in to full manual. ATTI mode counts as an override and disrupts any RTH or fail safe commands. That allows you to fly with no GPS, but you still aren't completely screwed. What you are really missing is any form of customization in your controls and how the quad behaves. The handling characteristics are pretty much dialed in and very stable, which is actually a good reason to learn on them, but, also is a big wall to run in to if you really start wanting to fly harder or faster (you can fuck with some stuff in the NAZA app, but probably not worth it if flying faster is what you are after). I agree, I don't think if you have your heart set on FPV racing, they are a good learner. But they are still a really easy multicopter to fly and learn on, especially if aerial photography is what you are interested in. They are definitely the "Apple" of the multicopter world.

 

[Mohonky]

....and since no one else has posted their frames;

Hoverthings Flip 360

Paris AIR FC
12A Carbon Bird ESC
RCTimer 1000kv Motors

Recently changed a few things, just rearranging for weight and making some other changes as I don't think I'll use the go-pro on this one

Scarab Armour Reconn V4

Paris Sirius v3r2
20A Carbon Bird ESC
Carbon Bird 888kv Motors
Extended Arms
AlexMos Gimbal Controller (Gimbal not attached at point of photo taken)

Carbon Bird FPV Goggles (Diversity), Taranis TX with 7" LCD Screen with Diversity + Recording Functionality mounted, have since removed the screen as it makes it a bit heavy, now keep screen on tripod as ground station.

Quads with Align T-Rex 700 DFC with HV Servos

 

[Mohonky]

ZMR250 frame, but I've got a 2200 mah battery on... which is too big to really balance out without adjusting everything forward. I've got a different camera mount setup now and have balanced it better.

I also think I had some issues with the rotor striking an esc due to a zip tie that hadn't been tightened enough.

Need to pick up some smaller batteries.

How far should a 200 mah 5.8g transmitter be good for?

Gonna take it out again tonight to do some additional tuning.

200mw?

How long is a piece of string? lol. It's hard to say, it really depends on the antenna, whether you go with one omni and one direction or just directional, what the weather is like, what interference is around etc.

Best bet is to simply put it in one area and walk away and see how far you get before it starts to go bad.

You never really want to get out of line of sight either.

You'll usually get break up before loss of signal so it's usually a good idea to turn back or orient the airframe so the antenna isn't being blocked by the airframe.

 

[Yoritomo]

200mw?

How long is a piece of string? lol. It's hard to say, it really depends on the antenna, whether you go with one omni and one direction or just directional, what the weather is like, what interference is around etc.

Best bet is to simply put it in one area and walk away and see how far you get before it starts to go bad.

You never really want to get out of line of sight either.

You'll usually get break up before loss of signal so it's usually a good idea to turn back or orient the airframe so the antenna isn't being blocked by the airframe.

Yeah 200 mW whoops.

Have already ordered a 600 mW replacement. In about a year I'll be really good at all this stuff ...

 

[captive]

What frame and flight controller?

Tarot are probably where you want to look, they do gimbals for full frame multirotors. Servo driven with belt connectors so they should have the power you need and the belts will take any harshness out of the servo motors.

tarot x6 heavy lift frame. DJI naza m lite Gps.

What's your budget? A D800 is big-ish. Servo controlled ones are cheap and the belt does an ok job of getting rid of jittery motion but brushless ones are still the best.

You can get something like this with an Alexmos gimbal controller board: http://rctimer.com/product-987.html

This seems overkill and heavy. But thanks for the recommendation I had not run across that particular one.


Almost all my stuff arrived yesterday. The ESCs are so much smaller than i expected.
But the props holy cow, they're 17" but still imnotsurewhatiexpected.gif

Still need a radio and batteries. Haven't decided on either.

 

[Jag]

Fairly new to the hobby, but fly RC planes a bit.

Been working with this Quanum Venture with a CC3D controller and spectrum receiver. Programed it using Openpilot.

Problem is the thing flips on take off. Motor rotations are accurate. Prop installs are correct. Motor spin speed is calibrated to be the same. Attitude and calibration is done through the software. I just can't figure out for the life of me why it won't lift without flipping.

Anyone have any experience with Openpilot and CC3D?

 

[Mohonky]

tarot x6 heavy lift frame. DJI naza m lite Gps.


This seems overkill and heavy. But thanks for the recommendation I had not run across that particular one.


Almost all my stuff arrived yesterday. The ESCs are so much smaller than i expected.
But the props holy cow, they're 17" but still imnotsurewhatiexpected.gif

Still need a radio and batteries. Haven't decided on either.

I cant recall, but you have flown a quadcopter before right? I mean you're not going to throw a D800 on an airframe without having had a lot of practice first?

 

[Mohonky]

Fairly new to the hobby, but fly RC planes a bit.

Been working with this Quanum Venture with a CC3D controller and spectrum receiver. Programed it using Openpilot.

Problem is the thing flips on take off. Motor rotations are accurate. Prop installs are correct. Motor spin speed is calibrated to be the same. Attitude and calibration is done through the software. I just can't figure out for the life of me why it won't lift without flipping.

Anyone have any experience with Openpilot and CC3D?

When you say flips on take off, you mean it doesn't get into the air at all? It just rolls or pitches itself over from the ground or it starts to get into the air and then flips?

I don't mean to sound condescending or rude, but there has to be something going with the setup of the motors or the props here if it's trying to flip straight from the ground instead of lifting off.

You really have to double check this because something is off, double check;

- Motors are spinning in the correct direction (refer to CC3D Openpilot motor configuration for correct directions)

- Props are correct for direction of motor direction (2 counter clockwise, 2 clockwise)

- Props aren't upside down?

- I know you said you calibrated all ESC's, did you do it with a break out cable or did you do them all individually? Usually it's best to use a break out cable but doing them individually should be fine

Can you get a video of what it's doing?

 

[gutterboy44]

Man, I still can't get over how small everything is for this 250 build. I see pics of the DR4-II on a forum and then I go look at mine and it is so tiny. I guess the camera really does add 10mm.

Still waiting on my Acro Naze 32, ESCs, OSDoge and props to arrive this week. Hoping to at least have it up and running for some LOS practice and tuning in my backyard by the ende of thee weekend. But I suspect I'll be lucky to have it going by next weekend. FPV side, if I can run that by the end up August I'll be thrilled.

 

[captive]

I cant recall, but you have flown a quadcopter before right? I mean you're not going to throw a D800 on an airframe without having had a lot of practice first?

no, i'm not stupid. Going to learn to fly the thing before putting my camera on it.

 

[gutterboy44]

Got to love custom sounds on the Taranis. I give you, Taranis 3.11.
https://youtu.be/CdLMZXI8DCQ

 

[Flo_Evans]

tarot build

Gimbal and FPV transmitter

Here is the S900 with zenmuse GH4 gimbal.

TBS discovery frame

captive I would love to know how your build goes, I thought about flying my D810 but honestly I don't think FF is necessary or even beneficial to ariel stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjoVtQDNF1Q&list=PL8ILBPE63JLylT93S0Y87BDIkKY0OonQP

vids of various testing stage builds - these are more for my own benefit to go back and look at what I was doing, not really commented or anything but feel free to ask me any questions.

 

[Flo_Evans]

When you say flips on take off, you mean it doesn't get into the air at all? It just rolls or pitches itself over from the ground or it starts to get into the air and then flips?

I don't mean to sound condescending or rude, but there has to be something going with the setup of the motors or the props here if it's trying to flip straight from the ground instead of lifting off.

You really have to double check this because something is off, double check;

- Motors are spinning in the correct direction (refer to CC3D Openpilot motor configuration for correct directions)

- Props are correct for direction of motor direction (2 counter clockwise, 2 clockwise)

- Props aren't upside down?

- I know you said you calibrated all ESC's, did you do it with a break out cable or did you do them all individually? Usually it's best to use a break out cable but doing them individually should be fine

Can you get a video of what it's doing?

My guess would be flight controller not orientated correctly. Try flipping 180 degrees.

 

[captive]

tarot build



Gimbal and FPV transmitter



Here is the S900 with zenmuse GH4 gimbal.



TBS discovery frame





captive I would love to know how your build goes, I thought about flying my D810 but honestly I don't think FF is necessary or even beneficial to ariel stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjoVtQDNF1Q&list=PL8ILBPE63JLylT93S0Y87BDIkKY0OonQP

vids of various testing stage builds - these are more for my own benefit to go back and look at what I was doing, not really commented or anything but feel free to ask me any questions.

Nice same frame.

I'm mostly going to use it for still photography, not video. I have several shots in mind already. And I just like having the best quality photos available to me.