Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

almoststew1990 said:
Now that spring is coming around and i'm moving house right next to a nice field/park I think the time is right to build my first quadcopter. I've had a couple of Syma X5c's which I enjoyedb ut broke / lost so I'm familar with flying. Now I would like a 'proper' quadcopter now. I'm after speed and maneuverability rather than a stable platform for recording aerial photography.

I was thinking of getting a kit, and building it myself.

The kit
Transmitter and Receiver
Extra Battery
Battery Charger

How does this look? I would be looking to go FPV in the future.

How much tinkering with my PC would I have to do? I'm happy to do some to learn how to tweak a quadcopter. What do you actually set/change/configure when you connect the quad copter to the PC?
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** Please note, I am no expert, nor "racing" pilot, I just fly for my own amusement **

Some thoughts:

Kit - no idea about that frame, looks good enough. Power train is good, nothing amazing but the motors are solid performers and the exact motor/ESC combo served me well on my ZMR 250

TX/RX - Spend a bit more on a module based radio. FlySky is all well and good, but when you decide the way forward is FrSky, you're SOL. Also, don't discount throwing in a DSM2/X module to fly some micro/BNF stuff too ;) I'd go for a Turnigy 9X/R/TH9XB (the latter I own, flashed with OpenTX)

Battery - No qualms here. You probably want a couple more though!

Charger - Yuk! You need one that at least supports discharge/storage charge. We've all been there - you charge your lipos ready to go and then it rains for a week solid... Storage charging preserves the life of the pack and can reduce the chance of a fiery surprise. A Turnigy Accucell 6 is probably the better option for a first charger IMO

Tinkering - this is where the fun/frustration loop begins! Modern FCs are a relative dream to program/flash. USB + PC + Cleanflight (Chrome app). Loads of help on here and RCGroups if you need it, youtube is awash with how too videos too.
 
Russinating said:
http://www.dji.com/products/compare-phantom :p

But namely obstacle sensing, ActiveTrack and TapFly as well as other general improvements to flight time and build etc.
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Yeah, I read that and couldn't see much difference! Seems like the Phantom 3 Advanced is a bargain compared to the 3 Pro and 4 if you dont need 4k.

Is there a cheaper alternative to the £120 batteries? Seems crazy.
 
Yeah we need 4K and the extended flight time is useful. ActiveTrack is also much needed for our uses when there isn't a dedicated payload operator as tracking subjects smoothly isn't as easy when flying simultaneously.

First non-flight impressions are really good, having not used the P2/3. Build quality of the entire thing is really solid. It's so glossy it's crazy. Setting up was easy, already had a couple of updates to do. Using a tablet for the monitor is great and really sturdy.
 
Anyone used Multistar Lipos?

Hobbyking has the 6S 16,000mAh ones in stock UK warehouse for just £55 ... seems crazy cheap for a battery that big - am tempted though if I get the S1000+ setup!

Otherwise it'll be a pair of my older 8,400mAh 3S ones in series for the time being.

Which batteries do you use on your one Russ?
 
Tested out the new purchase yesterday afternoon (Möbius cam), little bit of wind at times but nothing crazy.

Seems to work reasonably well, million times better than the stock cam. Womtnuse it all the time as the motors start to struggle when the battery lowers. Still, I'm happy.

 
TheOtherOption said:
Anyone used Multistar Lipos?

Hobbyking has the 6S 16,000mAh ones in stock UK warehouse for just £55 ... seems crazy cheap for a battery that big - am tempted though if I get the S1000+ setup!

Otherwise it'll be a pair of my older 8,400mAh 3S ones in series for the time being.

Which batteries do you use on your one Russ?
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We've just got Overlanders (12,000mAh 6S) but they're not cheap. I wouldn't squander on LiPo batteries though, one failure and you've either got an expensive crash or a big ass fire. That said, that's assuming cheaper batteries are of a lower quality which may not be entirely true.
 
Russinating said:
We've just got Overlanders (12,000mAh 6S) but they're not cheap. I wouldn't squander on LiPo batteries though, one failure and you've either got an expensive crash or a big ass fire. That said, that's assuming cheaper batteries are of a lower quality which may not be entirely true.
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Depends how you treat them really...May be different with the larger variants though.

Also, had another bash today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmryuAFy-n0
 
Watched that the other day - very clever bit of software - would love to try it!

Am now considering the potential for using a Ronin M on an S1000 rig as it's cheaper than a Zenmuse gimbal and would give greater flexibility with what camera you can fly - some small downsides but I could live with them I think!

Main one being you need an adapter plate to fit it and longer legs which all together doesn't come cheap - £450 odd from the US.
 
Yeah it's pretty old they don't build them to be easily compatible - we've had a Ronin for as long as we've had the S1000 but haven't had the need to go the extreme lengths required to make them properly compatible.

Compare that to the Freefly Alta and Movi range and it's weird as to why DJI aren't trying to take a slice of that market - given everything pretty much exists bar some compatibility.
 
Just taken a look at the Freefly UAVs - wow very nice!

Is yours the full size original Ronin as that really would be pushing the S1000 to its absolute limits with a camera on there as well?!

Even the Ronin M is around 2kg minus the handle bars compared to about 1.3kg for the Sony A7 Zenmuse that I'd otherwise be looking to get!

I'd be interested to know exactly how much just the gimbal part actually weighs as it could be less than 2kg that's just my guess.

DJI really do seem very slow to release new gimbals and reluctant to adopt the Ronin series for aerial work - they've steered people away from using them on the S series on their forums numerous times that I've seen!

Am going to continue to look into it - the UK importer of the Cinemilled adapter / mount for the Ronin M has a showroom not far from me so I will have to see if they can get all the parts in at a decent price.
 
TheOtherOption said:
Just taken a look at the Freefly UAVs - wow very nice!
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Did you see the Tero too? Want!

Is yours the full size original Ronin as that really woul d be pushing the S1000 to its absolute limits with a camera on there as well?!

Even the Ronin M is around 2kg minus the handle bars compared to about 1.3kg for the Sony A7 Zenmuse that I'd otherwise be looking to get!

I'd be interested to know exactly how much just the gimbal part actually weighs as it could be less than 2kg that's just my guess.
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Yeah, which is why we've never mounted the Ronin on it :p. The cross handle of the Ronin's is minimal weight-wise as it's hollow carbon, so you can subtract a bit but not a lot. Remember to include the battery too.

DJI really do seem very slow to release new gimbals and reluctant to adopt the Ronin series for aerial work - they've steered people away from using them on the S series on their forums numerous times that I've seen!

Am going to continue to look into it - the UK importer of the Cinemilled adapter / mount for the Ronin M has a showroom not far from me so I will have to see if they can get all the parts in at a decent price.
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There's obviously a reason and I think that's simply because they're not optimised for aerial work really. They weigh a lot, need their own battery (may be able to power it externally but based on how it connects I'm unsure) and don't think the controllers are that long range either.

Another thing to consider is the video link. On our Ronin for groundwork we actually use an Immersion RC transmitter on the gimbal which transmits to a monitor on the handlebars so the whole thing is wireless. For aerial you'd need to add a DJI OSD or similar to all that again increasing the weight of the gimbal. It's not a lot compared to the gimbal's original weight but it would all add up and change the craft's centre of gravity even further (this is also now a requirement of your ops manual if you haven't updated this recently).
 
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