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Just wanting to get started, advice please :-)


MrMitch1078

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kv on those motors seems a bit low for 3s. around 900kv - 1100kv sounds better on 3s.

have a look at the frsky taranis transmitter,its one powerful radio.people try stay away from the spektrum stuff for fpv.

i use 30amp afro esc's with simonk firmware. :thumbsup:

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go a sligtly bigger frame if you can 450 is a tad small for 10x4 11x4 

 

i would look at a cheap fpv styled frame. options then allow for bigger props swinging 11 inch props

 

 

I would NOT go with orangerx, i would say try if possible to get a spektrum system and run spektrum

receiver, there have been range problems with aftermarket recievers .

 

5000mah 3s / you can even go 4s if esc's allow, more volts means less throttle for same rpm making efficency

tad better

 

naza m lite -naza m2 fine they a good system , but you may get stuck with expensive add ons like the 

onscreen display unit etc etc and the silly hub they use. its ok but a moe simple system could be an ardupilot system

but does require some poking around and extra learning ( maybe a future upgrade if you want waypoints etc etc yadda yadda )

 

tutoring ............ slow and low, better to crash only 5-10ft from the ground and not 30-60ft. 

its possible your going to feel a little sickly at first, the notion of flying is wierd, head says wow your flying

bodys says,... erm hey im sitting still. its a wierd feeling some puke some dont, so take a sweet drink with you, juice /water

 

just have fun, any problems turn up or your not sure on things just yell in the quad section here and we will offer best advice/fix

if not find a way to work it out. 

 

oh and welcome to MSUK Phil

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Thanks for the welcome :-)

I won't be getting my drone together for probably a few weeks (early September I expect) - but I've still been reading up and making something of an amended shopping list;

I haven't changed the frame but I wonder if the 'Dead Cat' assembly would make much difference or should I bring the prop size down?

I looked into the Ardupilot and it does seem to be a lot more expandable than the Naza system, but is the HK Pilot Mega a good alternative? I'm also looking at NTM 28-26 1100kv 20A motors, with the AfroESC 30A controllers. And I also have my eye on the Taranis with the X8R receiver and a 4S Lipo...

Again, thanks for the advice :-)

Phil

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hi phil 

 

yeah everything you have listed is going to be fine. 

 

hobbyking boards sometimes come with problems, the last known problem was

a 5v power rail not grounded down on the board itself, the 5v regulator was soldered BUT the ground pin

was left none connected. hobbyking failed to fix and then shifted the boards of at knockdown prices.

 

people was angry and hobbyking removed lots of reviews that warned about the inherent build quality.

 

 

450 frame V dead cat. 

 

so a dead cat frame, it looks like a 450 X style but is stretched in the body a little.

the front arms are adjusted from 90 degree angles to 120 degree angle. 

these small changes  mean any camera fitted to the front of the quad does not have the rotor blades in view.

they also come with a Tail, an area the pilot is able to sling a battery in the rear of the tail. a camera on the front

act like a see saw and keeps everything in balance.

 

Size wise its slighlty bigger BUT has huge amounts of space. unlike a 450 everything is bunched up.

with a DC style frame your more open to placement you can have battery slung under the frame,

in the frame or even ontop. you can mount two cameras up front and even one under slung.

 

they tend to be fitted with 700 size helicopter landing skids, giving the quad a still squatting low stance but space

under slung you can go bigger on props to, upto say 12" props max. even then the flight changes and  feel to.

you find it more floaty and requiring a little less throttle to hover.

 

either way you would be happy with a standard 450 X frame or even moving right into a DC frame.

 

Below is a photograph of my two frames, the lower frame kitted out is a F330 flamewheel

and the upper is a cheapy amazon X-mode alien frame. you can see the arm sweep difference

and the tail extension with a small servo platform on the front. the dc frame here cost

Edited by Tamiyacowboy
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  • 1 month later...

Well I think we're long overdue an update of what I have been up to since my last post - 

 

Its gonna be a bit of spiel, but I have built my quadcopter  :thumbsup:  

I went with the SK450 Frame with the deadcat addition, 3DR Ardupilot board with GPS, NTM 1000Kv Motors, SimonK AfroESCs, 10x4.5 Slow-Fly Propellors,  4000maH 3S battery and the Frsky Taranis + X8R receiver

 

Assembly was pretty straightforward, I did read some tutorials and watch some Youtube videos for general hints and tips for assembly. I had some trouble with the programming and calibration of the Ardupilot but that was due to it being late at night and me being dense! The next evening I ventured outside to the open space behind our house - thats when I discovered the throttle settings for the Ardupilot were off - maximum throttle was set to 10% as a default, this was quickly rectified and I achieved a successful maiden flight :sweatdrop:  

 

The next evening was not so successful, something happened in which the quad flipped during take off, my attempt at a save resulted in a crash that snapped off the forward plate of the frame but no other damage, no big problem - just reduces room for a camera when I feel more confident with my flying skills - it is actually well balanced which was a concern I originally had with the deacat setup but no issues so far with barebones quad... I decided it was time to show my wife what I had been building in the garage, just when she looking somewhat impressed that I had built something that worked, I caught a landing claw in the grass which resulted in a snapped motor mount - not good! So I was grounded until some replacements arrived from Hobbyking in China, I was pleasantly surprised at the sub-2 week delivery - I was expecting 4 - 6 weeks at the soonest! Since then I have had plenty of flights in the fields behind our house, at Westbury White Horse, and on Salisbury Plain above Erlestoke, and 1 crash from about 5ft because I set the voltage alarm too low which resulted in a snapped prop. 

 

The quad handles really well, and I've not yet done any tuning or even the autotune as it goes well for now, its good to get the telemetry on missionplanner/google earth - with a light wind behind it, it hits about 50mph in a straight line which will only come down when I start adding features such as lighting, camera, and onboard telemetry. I think I'm getting about 15-20 minutes flight time from my battery - but its dependent on how heavy I am on the throttle  :whistling:

 

I also bought 4 strips of leds and two brighter leds for orientation - with I think JST connectors, but I have no idea how to mount them or power them, so any tips there would be cool..

 

I'd just like to thank those that have given me advice since my first post here, its helped get me to where I am now  :thumbsup:

 

Sorry it was so longwinded!

Phil

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Hello Phil 

 

and welcome back, its great news to hear you are airborne and the wifey is somewhat happy with your project and hobby. 

 

breaking things is due course, props will always be the main thing thats caught.

if your feet are fairly flat and are four prong type maybe cutting holes into some ping pong balls and popping them

onto the bottom of the legs, this way they cannot get hooked up so easy and the quad will still sit correct.

 

for your led lighting my fellow flyer, we use a device called a Ubec , these fit between your battery and esc's

it take the voltage of the battery and drops it down to around 6v and a couple amps, enough to power servos and

other items. if yours are the 12v type you can hook the direct to the batterys pos and neg leads, but then 

they are on 24/7.

 

you can also add a pos and neg wire to your power dist board ( if you have one ) and grab a 4 into 1 JST adaptor.

it take the single power and splits it to four so no need to route and solder huge amount of wires.

it also means your able to swap a set of lights if they fail, just unplug and plug new loom of lighting in. 

here is a video of a light strip install to give you an idea how it all goes together

 

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Thanks Tamiyacowboy, 

 

I've briefly looked into the lighting that I have, I have 4x led strips LED Strip with JST Connectors from hobbyking (4v-12.6v) and 2x Super bright 3W led lamps with aluminium heatsinks (2.5v- 3v) - but they were cheap so I don't mind if I don't use them. I have a power distribution board with male JST pins soldered on, which runs via the 3DR power module for the APM - so looking at the possibility of getting a JST harness I could use all the strips connected directly to the PDB. I'm having trouble finding one - so I may need to make one up - unless anyone can source one for me? I have looked at my local model shops to no avail... If I get a UBEC would I be able to use my transmitter to switch the leds on and off? And also how would I power it?

 

Thanks, Phil

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