Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Skeeter if your objective is to build one fast then I managed to get all components together in just over a week but at extra cost by getting bits separately from the bay and the "river" shop.

If you want a ready to fly kit I'm not sure as I didn't look into it.

I would say take the jump, learn to solder as you will learn to maintain your craft and grow into to the hobby properly.

It isn't that difficult and we can guide you here as to what needs doing. All you need is some basic circuit knowledge + there are some great tutorials on soldering on the net / youtube.

You also need to get a basic understanding of how the connections work from battery to PDB to ESCs to motors (and receiver + ESCs to flight controller). I have a link somewhere with a good diagram. EDIT here it is:
http://oddcopter.com/2012/04/13/quadcopter-wiring/

With multirotors the effort is greater than other RC kits as everything is multiplied up (4 motors, 4 ESCs, etc.) but I wouldn't let that put you off. It's hugely rewarding to build and puts you in a much better position for repairs.

To give you some encouragement. I haven't picked up a soldering iron in years before I read this thread and got it into my head I wanted to build and fly a quad. Took me a weekend to assemble, no real surprises and I've rebuilt it twice now + added cameras and FPV gear. Never spoken to a person face to face or had to go into a shop as all the resources you need are online! Fascinating stuff.
 
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Since my old Phantom I sold flew away with FPV hubsan strapped to bottom of it I promised the guy I would go and search for it.

Been trawling through 30mins of video and spotted this... could this be a Phantom.

GOPR7905.MP4_snapshot_06.14_%5B2014.07.16_10.02.15%5D.jpg

enhanced.jpg

GOPR7905.MP4_snapshot_06.24_%5B2014.07.16_09.59.50%5D.jpg
 
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Genoma said:
Skeeter if your objective is to build one fast then I managed to get all components together in just over a week but at extra cost by getting bits separately from the bay and the "river" shop.

If you want a ready to fly kit I'm not sure as I didn't look into it.

I would say take the jump, learn to solder as you will learn to maintain your craft and grow into to the hobby properly.

It isn't that difficult and we can guide you here as to what needs doing. All you need is some basic circuit knowledge + there are some great tutorials on soldering on the net / youtube.

You also need to get a basic understanding of how the connections work from battery to PDB to ESCs to motors (and receiver + ESCs to flight controller). I have a link somewhere with a good diagram. I'll dig it out when I get home.

With multirotors the effort is greater than other RC kits as everything is multiplied up (4 motors, 4 ESCs, etc.) but I wouldn't let that put you off. It's hugely rewarding to build and puts you in a much better position for repairs.

To give you some encouragement. I haven't picked up a soldering iron in years before I read this thread and got it into my head I wanted to build and fly a quad. Took me a weekend to assemble, no real surprises and I've rebuilt it twice now + added cameras and FPV gear. Never spoken to a person face to face or had to go into a shop as all the resources you need are online! Fascinating stuff.
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Cheers Genoma. I'm not in any rush, I'm just after getting everything I need. Its all the little extra bits I'm unsure of, like the connecting wires, motor mounts, etc. The HK kit came with everything needed with minimal soldering.

I will look at specing up a setup individually and the post back here to make sure I've not missed anything.
 
Rilot said:
It sure looks like one Flukester
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Fingers crossed.. the guy is gonna go look tonight. Could be a major success if it is... has been lost about a month!


edit: had enough of Devo10 TX after FS flicked on at just 250m (probably local WIFI overload).... have ordered a Taranis and X8R. Heard a lot of good things about it :)
 
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Skeeter said:
Thats another reason I'm keen to avoid soldering. My incompetence knows no bounds :p
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Nah, can't be that bad, and none of this stuff is SMD level hard to solder. I'll put what happened last night down to tiredness and impatience. I think I wired the back two exactly the same as the front i.e. did the same operation twice :o

Nothing beats well trimmed and soldered electronics, so much neater and lighter.

Anyone seen these ESCs? They look amazing, bit pricey mind
 
@FPV250 owners

Where are you mounting your power distribution board? I was originally thinking to mount it under where the FC goes (raising the FC up on standoffs to clear it) with gyro tape. I'm now having second thoughts about this due to it's proximity to the compass on the FC.

Thoughts?
 
Yes, when rewiring my quad, with custom loop and the new PDB, both times I soldered the wrong bloody female XT60 connector, and the second time I purposely checked the battery too!
 
Rilot said:
@FPV250 owners

Where are you mounting your power distribution board? I was originally thinking to mount it under where the FC goes (raising the FC up on standoffs to clear it) with gyro tape. I'm now having second thoughts about this due to it's proximity to the compass on the FC.

Thoughts?
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I had both under the frame, the FC is better protected in the FC compartment than raised IMO also aesthetics look better with wiring and ESCs hidden under the frame.
 
Skeeter said:
Cheers Genoma. I'm not in any rush, I'm just after getting everything I need. Its all the little extra bits I'm unsure of, like the connecting wires, motor mounts, etc. The HK kit came with everything needed with minimal soldering.

I will look at specing up a setup individually and the post back here to make sure I've not missed anything.
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Motors and ESCs are easy as anything. On the power side you have live and ground, self explanitory. On the motor side you have three wires. You can wire these any way you like with no ill effects, aside from motor spin direction :p If she spins the wrong way, swap any two wires
 
Genoma said:
I had both under the frame, the FC is better protected in the FC compartment than raised IMO also aesthetics look better with wiring and ESCs hidden under the frame.
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Right, thanks. So your battery sits under the power distribution board effectively sandwiching it between the battery and the bottom of the frame?
I'm going to have to raise the FC slightly anyway so that I can access the USB port. I could dremel a bit out of the side of the compartment but I'm concerned that it would weaken the frame.
 
That's right. This is how it looked with the 3.5mm PDB:

s6vJ9val.jpg.png

This is how it looks now with the lighter 3g soldered on PDB (awful phone shot alert):

yD238P2l.jpg.png

more pics here for reference:
http://imgur.com/a/pEjPD#19

Also ignore the horrible elastic bands, velcro and led strip, it's a temporary attachment as I was planning to join a night flight RC event on Saturday but the weather is looking awful!
 
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Skeeter said:
Can you run those LED strips directly from the battery, or do you need to have something between the PDB and the lights?
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Directly off a 3s LIPO /PDB! These, the green, blue and white (boring) are super bright too! A green strip behind the quad is perfect for orientation. With a green strip behind a blue one in front its superb for flying in the dark.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/..._Flexible_Strip_Green_1mtr_UK_Warehouse_.html

My quad is now pretty modular, the fpv gear comes off with velcro, the leds come off with elastic bands so I can fly LOS, FPV or night time now! :)
 
I suspect this too, I think a small USB hole in the the side won't affect the frame and if it does, well it's a £9.99 job to replace :)
 
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