Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Col_M · 10 Dec 2013 at 14:38

The good thing about video is that you can easily work out flight times!

on 4000mAh 4S I get ~16 minutes with my Disco.

Here's a very low moment (near the corner fencepost) from the weekend, I've sorted the handling now and it's so nice to fly

rebel rebel · 10 Dec 2013 at 21:54

Rilot said:
Q4 compared to X4 by Rilot, on Flickr

I ordered one of these tiny quads the other day, should be arriving tomorrow.

How easy are they to fly? I tried flying a walkera heli a few years ago and it didn't end well...

Burned_Alive · 11 Dec 2013 at 01:13

With the recently reduced prices, I've decided I'm going to pick myself up the DJII F550/Naza v2/Zenmuse bundle and an F450 frame kit and build up as an F450 giving myself the option to build up into the F550 in the future.

Can any recommend/advise on the on other vital pieces?

Radio System (Quite like the look of the Spektrum DX8 with telemetry)
Batteries
Charger

Also quite interested in the DJII Ipad Ground Station just to keep a track of it via GPS in case of a flyaway, but not sure its worth it...

Rilot · 11 Dec 2013 at 10:16

I finally got around to starting my S800 EVO build yesterday. I'm starting from the legs upwards so the first thing on the list was the gimbal which proved to be more involved than I thought.
The gimbal itself is pretty much ready to use out of the box but I needed to rig up a remote shutter release and an HDMI->Composite converter. This involved routing lots of wires around the gimbal and through the CF tubes. I'm making a multiplug that will have all of the connections for the gimbal (9 of them) on it so I can simply unplug it from the S800 when I want to either fly without it, or use a different gimbal for a different camera.

I also took apart my FoxTech 7" FPV monitor. It's the one that has a built in 5.8GHz vRx. I wanted to get a video output from the monitor so I can also use goggles without having to add another vRx so I soldered an RCA connector on the internal vRx and routed it outside of the chassis. It's tidy and solves a problem.

I also had a play with head tracking using my FatShark Attitude goggles and a simple 2-servo pan and tilt FPV gimbal. It was crap. The head tracker resets all the time and the movement is so jerky it's pretty much useless. Never mind though, the goggles are still awesome.

What else did I do...? Oh yes, I changed the vTx on my Phantom to the FatShark one so I can use the vRx built in to the Attitude goggles and have a more portable solution. It seems to work well but the damn thing has a different connector for the antenna to what's on my other vTx. It's SMA rather than RP-SMA which means I'm going to have to make up another set of skew-planar antennas with the right connector.

Burned_Alive said:
With the recently reduced prices, I've decided I'm going to pick myself up the DJII F550/Naza v2/Zenmuse bundle and an F450 frame kit and build up as an F450 giving myself the option to build up into the F550 in the future.

Can any recommend/advise on the on other vital pieces?

Radio System (Quite like the look of the Spektrum DX8 with telemetry)
Batteries
Charger

Also quite interested in the DJII Ipad Ground Station just to keep a track of it via GPS in case of a flyaway, but not sure its worth it...

FrSky Taranis for the transmitter. With X8R receiver. They are utterly brilliant. SO much better than the DX8 (I had one before switching to the Taranis) and cheaper too.

rebel rebel said:
I ordered one of these tiny quads the other day, should be arriving tomorrow.

How easy are they to fly? I tried flying a walkera heli a few years ago and it didn't end well...

The Q4 (tiny one) is harder to fly than the X4 but still fairly easy compared to traditional helis. It's very robust too so if you smash it in to things, it will live.

rebel rebel · 12 Dec 2013 at 19:47

Its arrived today!

Flukester · 12 Dec 2013 at 20:23

Rilot said:

Looking great...... But who plays the organ ?, I had lessons for 8 years in my teenage years.

Capt Doufos · 12 Dec 2013 at 21:31

I was just looking at the Easy DIY guide on oddcopter.com but looking on the hobbyking site a fair bit is out of stock at the UK warehouse.

I really fancy having a go a building one, does anyone have any suggestions using parts that are in stock? Ideally I would like to build something capable of lifting an action camera of some sort.

Thanks

pazza · 12 Dec 2013 at 22:25

Capt Doufos said:
I was just looking at the Easy DIY guide on oddcopter.com but looking on the hobbyking site a fair bit is out of stock at the UK warehouse.

I really fancy having a go a building one, does anyone have any suggestions using parts that are in stock? Ideally I would like to build something capable of lifting an action camera of some sort.

Thanks

Capt Doufos · 12 Dec 2013 at 22:29

That's great, thank you I will take a look at all that.

*edit* just one thing, the motors link is wrong, it links to the ESC's

pazza · 12 Dec 2013 at 22:33

Col_M said:
The good thing about video is that you can easily work out flight times! on 4000mAh 4S I get ~16 minutes with my Disco.

Here's a very low moment (near the corner fencepost) from the weekend, I've sorted the handling now and it's so nice to fly

Thats pretty good for a 4000 mah battery.

PinkFloyd · 12 Dec 2013 at 23:13

Capt - Based on the Motor mount and Adaptors that Pazza linked it would have been one of the NTM Prop Drive 28-26 series - probably one of these 2 guessing from the 10" props.

1000kv motor
1100kv motor

Shame Hobbyking UK don't have the KK2.1 in stock yet. That'd be my recommendation due to the 2.0 not being made any more.

pazza · 12 Dec 2013 at 23:16

Sorry it was these or you could go higher KV as pinkfloyd has suggested above

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__19611__NTM_Prop_Drive_28_36_750KV_265W.html

Burned_Alive · 13 Dec 2013 at 01:49

DJI F550 ARF Kit, DJI F450 Frame Kit, Naza V2 GPS Set and Zenmuse H3-2D all ordered and on the way!

Think I'm probably going to sell the Zenmuse on though as I only have an original GoPro and dont really have any plans to fork out a further £300 on the Hero3. Should be able to get about £200 for it, which will make the rest a bargain at £329.

rebel rebel · 13 Dec 2013 at 05:16

Rilot said:
The Q4 (tiny one) is harder to fly than the X4 but still fairly easy compared to traditional helis. It's very robust too so if you smash it in to things, it will live.

This info was spot on, it seems to be quite sturdy. I've been taking it slowly and just trying to hover and keep it still. Its slightly easier than a heli but I know with a bit of practise I will improve. Obviously the first time it took off it went up and then straight into the wall.

My main concern was that it would end up in my open topped aquarium, but its stayed dry so far!

quickshot89 · 13 Dec 2013 at 09:52

Does anyone have simple instructions on how to trim the controls on the X4? Been struggling to get mine just to hover up without going forward and to the left

Capt Doufos · 13 Dec 2013 at 10:11

PinkFloyd said:
Shame Hobbyking UK don't have the KK2.1 in stock yet. That'd be my recommendation due to the 2.0 not being made any more.

So do you think it's worth sourcing the KK2.1 elsewhere or just waiting for them to come into stock. They certainly seem to be the best and easiest to setup.

Are there any recommendations for the Transmitter? I have a Helicopter in need of a new one anyway, it would be good to be able to use it for that as well.

pazza · 13 Dec 2013 at 10:32

Capt Doufos said:
So do you think it's worth sourcing the KK2.1 elsewhere or just waiting for them to come into stock. They certainly seem to be the best and easiest to setup.

Are there any recommendations for the Transmitter? I have a Helicopter in need of a new one anyway, it would be good to be able to use it for that as well.

I would just get one from the global warehouse:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...ntrol_Board_With_6050MPU_And_Atmel_644PA.html

They are so easy to setup and work great.

AS for transmitter the frsky taranis, if you can get hold of one they are by far the best in that price range and much higher.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...D_Digital_Telemetry_Radio_System_Mode_2_.html

Col_M · 13 Dec 2013 at 10:38

Capt Doufos said:
That's great, thank you I will take a look at all that.

*edit* just one thing, the motors link is wrong, it links to the ESC's

For motors I'd go with SunnySky x2212 980kv, in fact I have them on my Discovery, they're about the same price as the ones from Hobby King but siginificantly better quality. They seem to be the motor of choice for 450 size quads right now going by the amount of people getting hold of them on forums.

pazza · 13 Dec 2013 at 11:09

Col_M said:
For motors I'd go with SunnySky x2212 980kv, in fact I have them on my Discovery, they're about the same price as the ones from Hobby King but siginificantly better quality. They seem to be the motor of choice for 450 size quads right now going by the amount of people getting hold of them on forums.

Id go for sunnsky too,i have them in a couple of quads,very good quality for the price.

It's a pitty hobbyking dont sell them.

JBod · 15 Dec 2013 at 12:38

Can anyone recommend a Quadcoptor for less then than £50?

Birthday present for my older brother, I've found this one:
http://www.paramountzone.com/rc-qua...n=googlebase&gclid=CLqv5pyesrsCFQ1L3godZXkAzQ

But it seems a bit.... Small. Any ideas if this is a good one or if better can be had for the money?

Thanks!