Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Jase said:
Thanks I'm pretty sure it's what I want. Any funny you should mention it but the choice for me was a new lens or this, this is actually cheaper than the lens so maybe it is a no brainer :)
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Cool, might be worth some research on how well the batteries perform in the cold, seriously affected how long my DSLR batteries lasted in Iceland, like 40 mins max outdoors instead of the whole day!
 
Genoma said:
Cool, might be worth some research on how well the batteries perform in the cold, seriously affected how long my DSLR batteries lasted in Iceland, like 40 mins max outdoors instead of the whole day!
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Really 40 minutes, I was expecting them to not last as long but 40 minutes is much less that I would have counted on.
 
So assume around a grand budget, to include a camera, what would people suggest I should consider. Can push the budget if needs be to get something that adds good things, but would prefer to keep it around a grand and I want to buy and go, don't want to build something.

Looking to go exploring around where I live (countryside) and just have a bit of fun really but would be nice if I could use it for other stuff such as track days etc (i.e. filming fast drive byes at private events).
 
Hi guys,

I have taken to this hobby a lot, with my husban tiny £30 jobby from amazon. I want to get into it a bit further. Not really knowing exactly whats needed and would rather buy a "kit" to build or have it pre built.

If i said a budget of £500 suited, ideally it would have a camera or i can stick my xj4000 on it (same as go pro mounts) would that be enough for a decent machine?
 
Housey said:
So assume around a grand budget, to include a camera, what would people suggest I should consider. Can push the budget if needs be to get something that adds good things, but would prefer to keep it around a grand and I want to buy and go, don't want to build something.

Looking to go exploring around where I live (countryside) and just have a bit of fun really but would be nice if I could use it for other stuff such as track days etc (i.e. filming fast drive byes at private events).
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I just had to make the same decision. I went for a DJI Phantom 3 - Professional Edition which currently comes with a free Hardshell Backpack for £1159 and some places have a free 8" tablet also. I guess you could consider the Phantom 3 Advanced which is about £899
 
Jase said:
I just had to make the same decision. I went for a DJI Phantom 3 - Professional Edition which currently comes with a free Hardshell Backpack for £1159 and some places have a free 8" tablet also. I guess you could consider the Phantom 3 Advanced which is about £899
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This is where I had ended up as a friend has one of their earlier examples but what I remember is the battery life is pretty poor. Is there a way to improve that and is the camera of similar quality to a go pro, better, worse? I was looking at the 4K model with a few options, but it's all I have seen really and I don't really want to fork out that sort of money without a bit more background insight.
 
Housey said:
This is where I had ended up as a friend has one of their earlier examples but what I remember is the battery life is pretty poor. Is there a way to improve that and is the camera of similar quality to a go pro, better, worse? I was looking at the 4K model with a few options, but it's all I have seen really and I don't really want to fork out that sort of money without a bit more background insight.
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The camera is very good, it has the Sony EXMOR 1/2.3” Effective pixels: 12.4 M (total pixels: 12.76 M).

As for batteries they last about 20/22 minutes flight time, as far as I know the option is: buy some spare batteries.. not used mine yet but understand charge time is about an hour so not bad if you have access to a power input and a spare or 2.
 
I forgot to post this. Put it together a while ago. Flies really nicely.

Specs:

RotorX Atom 122mm frame
Eachine 1104 motors
DYS SN10A ESCs with BLHeli flashed. Enabled for OneSHot.
Naze32 acro
Micro Minim OSD
200mW micro VTX
FrSky D4R-II receiver

Everything apart from the receiver is soldered directly to boards. It was a bloody nightmare trying to fit all that in such a small space. I had originally planned to use an OZE32 which is a Naze32 with Minim OSD built in, but I discovered that the OSD part of the board was shot after I'd soldered it all up.

Pics:

SPFAeJI.jpg


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^^ That's tiny. I think if I wanted something that small to fly, I'd just get the blade nano QX FPV.

I built this last weekend, sorry the pics suck:

KWeZg2X.jpg

pqQYCIj.jpg


With it's bigger brother:
bsbuZ8C.jpg


Specs:
Misfit 180 frame
Cobra 2204/2300KV motors
20A Little bee ESCs
SP Racing F3 flight controller
matek PDB
matek addressable LED and buzzer bar
HS1177 camera @ 5v
Foxeer 25mW VTx
home made antenna (LHCP in the pic)
Thug 4x4.5 bull nose props
FrSky X4R-SB receiver with telemetry wired up.

It flies on 4S 1300mah batteries, as that's what I fly my 250 on.

Currently running betaflight 2.1.6, and it has had its maiden line of sight flight in the garden today. It sounds angry even at low throttle 3" off the ground.

Comes in at 286g without lipo, so not super light. I'm looking forward to getting it to the field and pitting it against everyone's 250s.
 
^^ looks great. I bet it's a beast on 4S.

It's funny how 180s and 150s are the new minis and that 250s are now considered full-sized racers.

Question for you about the F3; does it support SBUS without an inverter? I see you have the X4R so I guess it must do as I didn't think the X4R supported PPM.
 
Yes, Sbus is supported without an inverter on the F3. It's also supported without an inverter on the Naze Rev6 too. I have one of those in the 250.

There is now a firmware for the X4R-SB that outputs 8 channel CPPM on output 1, as well as Sbus on the usual pins, and PWM channels 9 and 10 on outputs 2 & 3 if you have a servo or buzzer you want to control.

I don't know if you know this, but with OpenTX 2.1, you can flash receivers by connecting them to the module bay, so no need to buy the USB flashing kit.
 
I didn't know that. I have the USB flashing kit though.
I've not updated my Taranis in ages. I'm sort of an "if it ain't broke" kind of guys with transmitters. I will take a look though.
 
I'm the same. It's still running OpenTX 2.0 as apparently there are some changes with the telemetry when going up to 2.1 and I can't be bothered re-setting it up for my helis.
 
Yeah, I've got so many craft that are controlled by the Taranis that going through them all and making sure they all fly right with the new software version is a multi-day project.
 
Any recommendations for a small fpv quadcopter? I have chargers and a dx6i that I use for helis so I think I just need the quadcopter, a receiver and a viewer?

I want to be able to fly around indoors but also outside in low wind if possible? If I can buy a bundle that would be best so I can dabble and understand how it all works without frustration then look at doing a diy at a later date as I've got access to cool toys like laser cutters and 3d printers!
 
Blade Nano QX FPV is what you want if you want BNF. It will bind straight to the DX6i. Poor battery life (4 mins) as stock but there are loads of motor and frame upgrades you can get for it to extend this massively. I transplanted mine on to an RKHeli frame and upgraded the motors. It now takes a 500mAh battery and flies for nearly 10 minutes. You will also need a screen.

If you want to build it yourself then one of the bundles from MakeItBuild it or RadioC. Something like this: http://www.radioc.co.uk/hurricane-mk2-racing-drone-kit-p/6552.htm but it's a bit big to fly indoors unless you have tons of space. Personally, I'd go for the Nano for indoors and low-wind outdoor and then get a bigger quad for purely outdoor.
 
If you want to feel fpv for what it is, which is quite a sensation if you have goggles but also on a screen, I would do an outdoor build.
 
Bigpops said:
I'm the same. It's still running OpenTX 2.0 as apparently there are some changes with the telemetry when going up to 2.1 and I can't be bothered re-setting it up for my helis.
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Yeah i wish i never upgraded to 2.1.6 Now all my sensors have gone.. need more hrs in the day to set it up again :( :)
 
Cheers guys, that self build looks like a beast, how good would it be outdoors? The physical building looks fairly easy, is there likely to be hassle when mapping it to the dx6i or is that easy?
 
That kit will be fine outside. I fly something similar and it handles wind just fine. It doesn't come with FPV gear though so you would need to add a camera and a video transmitter. You will also need a receiver for your DX6i.
I'm not very familiar with the DX6i but I don't see why it would be much different to the DX8 that I used to have. Just a matter of mapping the 4 flight channels, and setting up another for the flight mode switch.

I would buy a small, indoor quad to play with first though. Something like a Hubsan H107 or a Syma X4. That will give you a feel for how a quad handles.
 
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