Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Lovely Will Gill.
Set your camera up as -0 Sharpening, -2 Saturation and -2 Contrast
Shoot with the "None" profile.

You will want to get yourself a set of ND filter gels that you can cut down and fit behind the stock lens protector. That way you can cut the light down so you can shoot at a shutter speed of 1 / 2 x frame rate. So, if shooting at 60fps you want to have your shutter at 1/120. The only way to do this in bright conditions is with ND filters.
If you follow the 1 / 2 x frame rate rule you will get a nice blur on movement that looks much more cinematic.
 
Nice flying as usual Kanifee.

Managed to get a couple of flights today, first time in 3 weeks so I was taking it a little slow. Also quite busy today so was trying to keep an eye out for cyclists.

Edit* Forgot to mention I bought a little stool to sit on. I read a few comments on RCgroups with people saying sitting can help and to be honest it does make FPV flying a little easier.

 
Last edited:
Lovely Will Gill.
Set your camera up as -0 Sharpening, -2 Saturation and -2 Contrast
Shoot with the "None" profile.

You will want to get yourself a set of ND filter gels that you can cut down and fit behind the stock lens protector. That way you can cut the light down so you can shoot at a shutter speed of 1 / 2 x frame rate. So, if shooting at 60fps you want to have your shutter at 1/120. The only way to do this in bright conditions is with ND filters.
If you follow the 1 / 2 x frame rate rule you will get a nice blur on movement that looks much more cinematic.

This tbh. The Inspire camera (and that of the P3) and gimball is great. The 2nd controller is even better and the map overlay so you can always see where the drone is (sorry, has been) ;)

Having a 2nd person on the camera controller is great and you can master / slave the controllers as you need to.

I've had two issues with my inspire batteries now, both at 65% at take off dropping to 0% and alerting within 2 - 3 mins of flight. That's a battery conditioning issue though, but one to be mindful of.
 
Nice flying as usual Kanifee.

Cheers man, looking like you are making good progress yourself. That looks like a cracking place to fly, where is it if you don't mind me asking?

I need to find some more places, for how much open land we have here its surprisingly hard to find interesting places to fly as a lot of it is private land and the stuff that looks fun is right on the door step of a airport :(

And I must get my self a little seat to take with me too, so much more comfortable. If I stand I end up standing side ways and looking up in to the sky, I look like a right *** :D
 
Last edited:
If I stand I end up standing side ways and looking up in to the sky, I look like a right *** :D



Yeh its really weird what it does to you, if im flying downwards from high up, so my nose is almost facing the floor I end up looking down at the floor with the goggles on :p

Iv had to sit down a few times as it get a bit disorientating standing up and you swerve from side to side.


Aside from the 2 main places I fly, I am going to start looking for a few more flat fields, and a few more interesting places to fly now, one location for the 450 and 250 is potentially a reservoir (although not going to fly over it, forrest, and some green coastal line, althouh I want to try and find something with some obsticles.
 
I am sure I asked this question before, but which simulator is best to simulate rate/acromode for quadcopters something which handles like a 250 form? I have some simulators, but not sure if the ones I have are best for simulating quadcopters.
 
Where do you guys get your transmitters from? Is the "Flysky FS-i6 2.4Ghz 6 channel" basic one that I've seen on several sites any good?


What budget are you on? how many channels do you need (need + you want spare)

If your on a budget, I couldnt tell you, although the Spektrum DX6i can be had for around £50-£60.


How much have you got to spend is the question, if its anywhere running up to £120-£130, go for a FrSky Taranis which can be had for around £150, or £180 with a reciever


The FrSky Taranis or Taranis plus is an awsome tx
 
Last edited:
Where do you guys get your transmitters from? Is the "Flysky FS-i6 2.4Ghz 6 channel" basic one that I've seen on several sites any good?

I suspect most people on here are using the FrSky Taranis. I did have a Flysky one (ct6 I think) when I first started and it was only 25 or 30 quid. The taranis is expensive, but very good and has capabilities far, far beyond what I am ever likely to use it for.

Cheaper transmitters will have a cheaper feel, less channels and less flexibility with programming things like curves etc but if you are just learning and not sure how far you will go into the hobby, will probably be fine.
 
I've been building a spec on RadioC's website with generally cheap parts (£30 frame, £10 per motor, £8 ESC's, £20 3s battery...) and therefore went for the cheapest Transmitter and receiver. A PC analogy is that I don't want to buy an i7 4790k and put it with a Nvidia 8400GS :D (or maybe the other way around :s)

why does the number of channels matter? surely you only need 5; one for each motor and the camera on /off toggle?
 
Last edited:
why does the number of channels matter? surely you only need 5; one for each motor and the camera on /off toggle?


again depends what you want it for, I would say for most 6 channels should be ok, some functions can be hooked up on the same channel

Depends if you want something to just fly a 4 channel device and have 2 channels spare with it, or if you want to add stuff on, camera stuff, led control, flaps if it were a plane.

For quads your going to need a channel for your flight modes or failsafe etc.
 
Thanks for the info. Maybe i'll go for the 9 channel "Flysky FS-TH9x 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver"...

Here is the full spec, how does this sound for a basic spec? Also, is it all compatible?

Spec%20Quad.JPG


I don't really know what sort of props I would need though...

One last question, do you mobius users use the wide angle or standard one?
 
Your spending a little too much

You can get rx's cheaper, as an example, my FrSky D4R (4 channel 8 with PPM) was around £22, my D8R 8 channel was £25, my FrSky X8R (16 channel) rx was around £29 (or was this the transmitter?)

Battery im sure you could get a better price?

Motor prices look ok, ESC you could probably get them a few quid cheaper

Get the stuff from makeitbuildit and combine the postage costs, plus their ESC and motor prices are good



Naze32 funfly, go for a Naze32 from makeitbuild it, around £25 soldered (do you really need full version?)
 
it's good to know this shop is a little on the expensive side! I'll check out makeitbuildit.

1) The FSi6 is receiver and transmitter combined (i'm guessing that is what you mean by rx?). The receiver it comes with is a

2) is the battery capacity and 3s appropriate for the weight of the quad? I'll see if the same or similar is cheaper on mibi.

3)Are SimonK ESCs required for a 250 build? is the Ampage ok?

4) I only wanted the basic Naze 32 I think, I'll change that.

Thanks for the help btw!
 
it's good to know this shop is a little on the expensive side! I'll check out makeitbuildit.

1) The FSi6 is receiver and transmitter combined (i'm guessing that is what you mean by rx?). The receiver it comes with is a

2) is the battery capacity and 3s appropriate for the weight of the quad? I'll see if the same or similar is cheaper on mibi.

3)Are SimonK ESCs required for a 250 build? is the Ampage ok?

4) I only wanted the basic Naze 32 I think, I'll change that.

Thanks for the help btw!


To answer your questions

1) probably about the right price of the tx and rx, but look at spektrum DX6i, they are good for the price

2) Assuming this is a 250 racing quad build, you want to keep weight as less as possible, for example on my 250 racing quad im using 3S 1300mah 45-90C and the same but 25C which has an average battery weight of 119-130grams I think

Remember you need to try and keep your total weight below a certain number, cant remember what the number is, is it sub 500? without googling i cant remember.

Thats a massive difference as yours is 253 which is quite a bit to add to a 250, maybe someone else could advise otherwise, but I would look at 1300-1800 rated batteries maybe.

Remember the higher rating you go, your going to end up putting more weight on it anyway so will balance out the flight times/weight anyway

3) I use EMAX 12amp esc with SimonK firmware, iv had no issues, maybe people with more statistical performance knowledge will know better, but generally this fits the bill fine for these builds

4) Unless your going to use the additional features of the full naze board, just go for the

Acro NAZE 32 flight controller

Plus £5 soldering service
 
3000mah? Bit porky for a 250. Buy a couple 1500s, in the 40c+ range

Transmitter is a bit subjective. I chose to cheap out in 2012 and bought a bottom of the line 2.4GHz jobbie (RipMax iirc) but later found that spare RX units were nearly the same cost as the TX. I've since got a FlySky TH9XB, which has been great for the £50 it cost. On the other hand, I've modded it - backlight, new 3 position switch, LiFe battery, ER9X software etc. Could have just bought a Taranis I guess...

MakeItBuildIt are really good, Phil is a top chap and is always ready to help too, I'd have no qualms about buying most stuff there.

e: as above. 500g AIW is going to work with DYS1806 motors. Lighter the better. 250g+ on battery alone is not a good idea

e2: I too have EMAX 12a SimonSeries (not SimonK FWIW) and they ARE good ESCs BUT I did have an issue which required the use of a programming card (budget another £15). They have a low voltage cutout set (something like 3.3v per cell) which is all well and good, you don't want to run cells down that far. What my issue appeared to have been was that under wide open throttle, voltage seemed to have sagged just enough to cause all of them to shut down even though the battery was relatively fresh. Not great on something that is essentially a flying brick. Long story short, turning off this cut off completely solved my problem. It can be down by stick programming but that is just a **** **** :mad:
 
Last edited:
are you handy with a pc? how in to this hobby do you want to get?

I ask because if shopping for esc now, the only real contender in my book if you are willing to do some tweaking is the dys sn20a, they are tiny, lightweight and cheap. they support all the latest features a esc should eg: oneshot, damped light etc but do require some tuning.
if you buy popular motors (the dys 1806 are) it takes the guess work out of the equation as the settings people use are readily posted in rcgroups and as you are starting out at most all you will need to change is the timing maybe. These esc run around £9 I think from make it build it. you would need a cheap arduino nano to program them with blheli (£5) and a 5v bec for the naze. If not comfortable interfacing with the esc (very simple to do) the emax is a great choice, sn's are just top of their bracket with IMHO only being beaten by KISS, if they live long enough :D

Get a acro naze, pointless getting a full naze on a 250, gps and such just bog down a small frame and I would suggest a 300mm+ frame if that is your bag... costs will rise though.

Hobbyking is your only real option for batterys, the price is unbeatable and you want a good c rating on a good 3s pack, nothing worse than replacing all your battery's because your flying ability's improve but your flight packs cant keep up with the constant draw you demand now. I would say go 4s for total future proofing but for a beginner it is a bad idea indeed, that unfortunately is the one thing that will force you to replace all your packs though a way away yet. All you want is a 1300-1500mah 45c 3 cell pack(s)

Unfortunately in the area of transmitters and recievers I have little idea, I only have experience with 2, the x9r pro from turnigy and the taranis from frsky.
The turnigy seems like a good deal at first, cheap and full functioned but factor in the cost of a battery for it and transmitter module you get in to money that buys most of a taranis... might as well put in the extra £30 and buy a taranis. Oh and the turnigy, at least in my case breaks, feels cheap and reminds you its cheap every time you use the gimbals.
you could look at the turnigy 9x and a d4rII, I have a spare djt module I would give away but you would still need a battery for the transmitter.
 
Camera mount now mounted with metal screws and nuts, much more secure. Also pulled out some of the wires in the naze breakout connector, so I can use the space under the naze mount for other wiring

[/QUOTE]

Looks impressive. How much does that lot weigh?
 
Back
Top Bottom