Remote controlled flying things-Quads, Hex, Octo or anything

[Marschy]

I'm thinking of getting a tricopter frame, so I've been researching on rcgroups at what people are using. The Hobbyking Turnigy Talon seems to be very popular, but I think it has some shortcomings that make it a not so desirable option for me. Not the least is the expensive motor mounts that have a habit of bending if you land heavily on them, plus the very short landing legs.

I really like the look of this tricopter frame. The motor mounts should be cheap to replace if needed, it has an integrated PCB frame and the the yaw mechanism is very simple in comparison to the Talon and at only 450g is comparable in weight to the Talon, albeit 100g more which is probably attributable to the landing gear.

I've got everything I need to get it in the air, minus a decent servo for the yaw motor. I may get one in the new year. This will be the last one, I swear  Best of all, it's cheaper than the Talon including express shipping.

[Mandrake]

Don't like those legs - Had a set on the Phantom for a couple of flights - Ends were in camera ( move them out of camera and it topples over !! ) .
Crashed once or twice and the carbon tubes cracked - Got rid of them after that ...
I've got this monster coming for the Alien ... http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6365949219.html - Hope its sturdy enough ...
Motors arrived today - just finished fitting ... 6mm rubber O-rings on motor mount screws and motor screws - should dampen a bit of vibration ...
Pic coming soon ...

[Marschy]

The crab legs are pretty forgiving, very bendy and bouncy. You may want to look for replacement legs as well. I have very similar crab undercarriage from Hobbyking. I've only broken one leg so far. The hook that attaches to the bottom rail snapped off.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__40671__Deluxe_Multifunction_Anti_Brake_Care_Free_High_Crab_FPV_Landing_Gear_Set_Black_.html

Hobbyking don't sell spare legs for the undercarriage with 8mm top rails, but fortunately I have bought 4 spare legs from Goodluckbuy for about $10/pair.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DIY-Universal-190mm-Tall-landing-Skid-Gear-Stand-8mm-Tube-for-Quadcopter-Hexacopter-PTZ-FPV-1/1787193784.html

Hobbyking now stock spare legs for 10mm top rails, but not 12mm top rails, they have them on Aliexpress, just search for "landing gear 12mm tube"

[Marschy]

How long before your first flight? You may beat me at this pace.

I'm waiting on some silicon wire to arrive to finish wiring the video camera and transmitter, then I'll be ready to maiden. Check out this thread on rcgroups dedicated to the Alien 560. PID's have been posted for DJI Naza on this frame which may prove handy.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2115146

[Mandrake]

Hahaha - I got my silicone cables this morning 16 AWG and 14 AWG ...
I'm taking this real slow - Just a little bit everyday --
Still got a few bits n bobs to arrive -  hardware , cable wrap , gimbal hangy clips , OSD . FPV cameras ,Landing skid and some 4 pin micro cables n plugs ..

So I can't get too far ahead yet as I want to make it nice ..

I still have the new FC40 to play with weather permitting .. Waiting on bandy legs , FPV camera , 2.4Ghz Tx to complete it ...

Merry Xmas !!! LOL

[Marschy]

I'm waiting on 14, 12 and 24 AWG cable, and cable wrap as well for both the Alien and my F450 rebuild.That should see me through to the finish on the Alien and the F450 rebuild.

The F450 is about to get a frame upgrade to one of these.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/MWC-X-Mode-Alien-Multicopter-Quadcopter-Frame-Kit-Random-Color-as-DJI-HJ-APM-GPS/1766737798.html

I mean, for $20US why wouldn't you? Its got lot more room than the F450 and I'm hoping to do away with the crab landing gear and use an in-line gimbal to keep the centre of gravity as low as I can and keep the weight down as much as I can.

[CBRK]

What about this stuff - does the same job - more of it and a little bit dearer ...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CHOOSE-YOUR-COLOUR-PERFORMIX-PLASTI-DIP-FLEXIBLE-RUBBER-DIP-BRUSH-214ml-/350586388029?pt=AU_Building_Materials&hash=item51a093be3d
Mandrake

Good find, I'll see if I can find a local supplier.  Looks like some of the auto shops carry it.

[Mandrake]

I could only find the spray cans locally .. Auto barn..

[Mandrake]

Hey guys ... Help ...
Connected up the ESC , motors , naza and receiver ..
Got the correct blinky blinky LED for Naza
Got the audio from ESC ..
All good so far ..
Tries to start motors .. Nada
I know I am supposed to calibrate the ESC but should the motors turn over before that
or does the calib also fix the power up joystick combination -
Coz I can't calibrate using the DJI controller / receiver as it doesn't have a throttle set of pins ..
Any ideas please ..
Steve

[Marschy]

Hey guys ... Help ...
Connected up the ESC , motors , naza and receiver ..
Got the correct blinky blinky LED for Naza
Got the audio from ESC ..
All good so far ..
Tries to start motors .. Nada
I know I am supposed to calibrate the ESC but should the motors turn over before that
or does the calib also fix the power up joystick combination -
Coz I can't calibrate using the DJI controller / receiver as it doesn't have a throttle set of pins ..
Any ideas please ..
Steve

Have you got a 5 volt BEC? If so, power up your receiver using the BEC. Don't connect it straight to your battery otherwise SMOKE.

Connect a speed controller directly to the throttle channel on your receiver and the power for the ESC directly to the battery.See if the motor spins up when everything is turned on. You'll need your transmitter for this.

You can also do this with a servo tester and not worry about a receiver or transmitter.I'll post a photo shortly to show what I mean.

[Marschy]

Ok

If you have a servo tester, you can test your motor and ESC by hooking it up like pictured below.

If you don't have a servo tester and your ESC is opto, leave the power from the battery connected directly to the power cables on the ESC, but connect a 5 volt BEC to your balanced output pn the battery, then power up your receiver from the BEC and connect the servo cable signal wire from the ESC to your throttle signal pin on your receiver. Power up your transmitter and use the throttle to see if the motor spins up.

If your ESC has a BEC, subsititute  the servo tester in the photo with your receiver and use your transmitter to spin up the motor.

[CBRK]

Hey guys ... Help ...
Connected up the ESC , motors , naza and receiver ..
Got the correct blinky blinky LED for Naza
Got the audio from ESC ..
All good so far ..
Tries to start motors .. Nada
I know I am supposed to calibrate the ESC but should the motors turn over before that
or does the calib also fix the power up joystick combination -
Coz I can't calibrate using the DJI controller / receiver as it doesn't have a throttle set of pins ..
Any ideas please ..
Steve

Hi Steve,

I would expect it to spin the motors still, even if they arent calibrated.  By starting the motor I presume you are trying to arm it and then throttle up.  The calibration will depend on the ESC's you are using, some controllers will let you do them all at once, others you have to individually.

I haven't used the naza so I'm not certain about that process for it.  Do you see feedback as to when it is armed? 

Marks method should test that the motor will fire up.  I'd do the test through the receiver though as it will give your true values from your tx (let you see if any mixing, d/r, limits or expo settings getting in the way).  I'm not sure if it's a worthwhile test as even if one was faulty it wouldn't stop the others, but if your ruling stuff out it would be a test to do.  If you have limits set it may prevent it from arming (as you never reach the far ends as far as it's concerned)....

Chris

[Marschy]

Hey guys ... Help ...
Connected up the ESC , motors , naza and receiver ..
Got the correct blinky blinky LED for Naza
Got the audio from ESC ..
All good so far ..
Tries to start motors .. Nada
I know I am supposed to calibrate the ESC but should the motors turn over before that
or does the calib also fix the power up joystick combination -
Coz I can't calibrate using the DJI controller / receiver as it doesn't have a throttle set of pins ..
Any ideas please ..
Steve

If it's a new receiver, did you bind it to the transmitter?

[Mandrake]

Yep . Tx and Rx arrived in a bind . As I said I am getting home lock and GPS lock and ESC startup audio bings.. but I just don't seem to be able to fire up the motors .. I believe if one is stuffed nothing happens ?? Which is why I want to test each motor seperately .. Maybe I can get a single ESC and test each motor that is the cheapest option at the moment.. I will open up the 4in1 today  make sure its OK but it does make OK noises so should be alright.
Steve

[Marschy]

I'm going to be upgrading the Hobbyking SS30A ESC's that I flashed with SimonK software. I was having problems with one motor not spinning up properly which I have narrowed down to one of the ESC's, so I'll replace them all.

 I quite like the Multistar 30A OPTO's but I notice that Hobbyking have taken them off their website. Curious??!!. I know people had issues with flashing them with SimonK, but I'm still using stock firmware on mine with no issues so far. I may get the Emax 30A OPTO's flashed with SimonK from the emaxmodel.com website.

It seems that BLHeli is the preferred firmware now over SimonK. Most of Hobbyking's Multistar ESC's are now flashed with it.

[Crisp Image]

Have you got the naza assistant software for the computer. You might have to adjust the end points on some channels to get the start up to work
Regards
Crispy


Sent using fat fingers on the iPad thingy

[Mandrake]

Just noticed on plugging in battery that during the ESC noise bit only 2 of the motors twitched - The other two are motionless - So I'm gunna pull the ESC apart and swap the boards around to see if the other 2 motors will twitch ... Seems like a plan ..

[Marschy]

Well if you can narrow down the problem Steve, the emaxmodel.com website sell the power boards and UBEC boards for the 4 in 1.

[Marschy]

I was just trying to set the throttle limits for my 12 amp Emax ESC's. With the transmitter on and the receiver bound to the transmitter, the ESC was constantly beeping as soon as the power was connected, which means it thinks the throttle is neither at the top or bottom of its limits on the transmitter.

Had me scratching my head, so I created a new model on my transmitter, powered everything off, turned the radio on using the new model which has not had any settings changed, then connected the ESC to power with the receiver connected and bingo, now the motor spins up with the transmitter throttle and I can calibrate it.

Create a new model on your radio and give this a try

[Mandrake]

Can't do those tricky things with a DJI Tx - There are no options or extra settings etc .. Which is why I am having twubble .. Just ordered a Walkera Devo 7 ch Tx / Rx .. Will be here in 10 days ..

I tested what I could and the ESC is OK on all 4 channels - AND all the motors twitch on all 4 channels - So its the Tx / Rx combo that is not allowing the Arming of the motors ... Hopefully the

Walkera will address that and I will be able to buzz in quadruplicate vewwy vewwy soon ...

Thanks for all your help and advice - Its a HUGE learning curve for an old grumpy pensioner ... LOL

Steve

[Marschy]

I haven't had this particular problem before.

The problem was that I calibrated the ESC using my servo tester which has lower and higher limits on the trim pot than the trim pot on the throttle of my transmitter. So when I connected the receiver and turned the transmitter on, the motors started constantly beeping, telling me that the throttle wasn't at the lowest or highest limiton the tranmitter throttle. The only way I could fix it was by creating a new model. This must reset the limits on the transmitter to zero is my guess.

This may be peculiar to the emax ESC's so I'll be filing this away in case it happens again.

[Marschy]

Great priced on a 3 axis gimbal.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/1986705158.html

[Mandrake]

In the description it says only for PWM signal not PPM ...
Aren't most controllers PPM ?

[Marschy]

In the description it says only for PWM signal not PPM ...
Aren't most controllers PPM ?

No, most of them are PWM. It just means you can't use one signal wire for manual control, you need three servo leads, one each for yaw, pitch and roll. I'm going to keep an eye on this one to see what the feedback is like. It looks a little too good to be true.

[GGV8Cruza]

These look like fun

http://www.helipal.com/storm-racing-drone-rtf-type-a.html

GG