Quadcopter Builds

Speedy78 said:

My buddy has the kk2 on his tri. If you went that rout get the programmer because the stock firmware blows. It works but autolevel is terrible.

Click to expand...

Yep, that's what my research dug up, tons of people saying you HAVE to reprogram it. Didn't find anyone actually trying to work with the stock firmware though so I was wondering how that is. Good to know it really is that bad.

Ah, thanks I didn't realize ESCs were rated by average current. Shouldn't be an issue then. I figured there wouldn't be much to replacing them but I was just guessing based on pictures.

The only reason I'm holding off then I guess is to see if anything better pops up between now and the dry season. I'll probably grab the radio system, charger, and battery(s) before then though. There's no guarantee I'll be able to wait that long for a full size quad anyway, haha, depends on how well the X4 holds me over. It may just wet my appetite further.. I loved that damn heli I had years ago!

As soon as you fly the hubsan you will want a quad or a hex a octaquad or if you're like me an octacopter

I have a KK2.1 on my mini quad and it seems to work decent, though I need to re-flash the ESC's. I've heard generally positive things about the later KK boards.



EDIT: Was just re-flashing the ESC's, when I derped and connected one up to the battery reverse. *POP*. $40 for new ESC's coming up

Ouch! That sucks for sure. What all is involved in reflashing an ESC? I've seen a lot of FCs that use the 6pin programming header MCUs use. I assume you need some kind of dev board and pc program, right?

Most ESC's on the market use ATMega MCU's, so all you need is a regular AVR ISP (you can even use an Arduino like I did). Some ESC's have pads broken out and some don't, so you may need to solder wires directly to the TQFP package pins to re-program them, but it's pretty straightforward. You can also get a tool to do it:

Atmel Atmega Socket Firmware Flashing Tool

Oooh that's mighty convenient!!! Gotta love Atmel!

Went and ordered my big quad today btw. Had to grab a wimpy 2450mAh cell for the mean time as the 6Ah cell is back ordered. I also grabbed a cheap "808" 640*480 cam to attach to the underside of my hubsan x4.

The Turnigy SK450 quad? Not sure I'd recommend a 6Ah on that, the weight and size is probably getting a bit up there. Would probably fly but you wouldn't be able to add much more weight, and you'd wanna use the 10" props and not the 8". I'm planning to use the 5Ah packs I use with my larger quad on it hopefully

I have 4 of these and they've all been brilliant: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=9184

Not bad for 5Ah. My venoms were more than twice that a piece lol

Awesome part is they actually stand up to their rating too, all the Turnigy LiPo's I've had are great.

Nah, I went with the IFLY-4 instead of the SK450. There's videos up on YT of it lifting 600g at 3/4 throttle and 400g at 40% throttle. I like the frame and FC a lot better.

Fuel weight on aircraft is like water in the desert; the more you bring the more you need to bring. I don't know that I'd use the 6Ah with an additional payload, but I'd use it for the longer flight times for sure.

Ya, I went with all Turnigy cells due to the high reviews. I'm waiting on that exact 5Ah cell to come in stock in the US warehouse. All the US turnigy 3S cells over 2450mAh are backordered (the good priced based 20-30C ones anyway). Though I may have to order from China anyway since the XT60 connectors aren't available in the US.

I got my Hubsan X4 H107L today!

Man it was a bitch to trim out, even after Tx calibration gyro calibration it would Yaw and Bank right across the damned room so fast! I think I have it leveled out now, but it is charging.

Speaking of charging.... the included usb charger seems to be nothing more than a reverse polarity protection diode, an op-amp, and a LED. There's no voltage regulation at all and 4.85V is fed to the LiPo pack when it is plugged in to a 5V USB source. I even checked to see if it would cutoff above 4.2V and it does not, luckily I caught it at 4.28V and stopped it. I wouldn't have thought to test the "charger" but the case is translucent and I noticed it looked rather vacant inside. Also, charge current soars to over 3.5C!

I'll be making a CV-CC charger for this cell that stops at 4.2V and limits charge current to 2C.

Btw, the Tx that came is the newest version without the wonky fake antenna, woot!

UPDATE: It seems the USB charger will cut back current to a trickle once 4.3V is reached, about 80mV higher than I prefer but probably still within safe range. It still charges a bit high current for what I think a 250mAh cell can handle though.

I just got my two spare batteries today! Down to do some flying now! The cheap cmos camera I ordered wa DOA. POS! Ordered another one. Picking up a small staggerwing re plane tomorrow to fly fpv. Just have to wait on a new rx for my radio.

With the copter on put the throttle at minimum and rudder all the way to the right, then with the right stick go back and forth over the roll axis and the led eyes should blink confirming confirming a new calibration.

Speedy78 said:

With the copter on put the throttle at minimum and rudder all the way to the right, then with the right stick go back and forth over the roll axis and the led eyes should blink confirming confirming a new calibration.

Click to expand...

Yep, did that a couple of times. I think it must be super sensitive to being on a perfectly level surface when you do this though, and that's probably the problem I had. I don't think there's a single level surface in this house. Hell, the house is on a ~9deg incline in the "flat" areas. I think the calibration is on a larger scale than the trims can adjust for, thus the wildly erratic flight.

Think I've got it doing decent now. Having a bit of trouble with two things now though:

1) it's really hard to not over/under throttle when trying to Yaw.
2) When adjusting Pitch even slightly the elevation drops dramatically and I have to counter this by increasing Throttle whenever I change Pitch. This does not happen when adjusting Roll. It seems like adjusting the Pitch down-throttles either the front or rear of the craft's props, instead of increasing it (on the opposite set of props) to achieve the same effect.

Any suggestions? It probably isn't a big deal in a high flying environment, but in a 8ft ceiling house it's a bit rough.

Yawing while not touching throttle input is just a skill you have to learn and practice. Try Yawing in circles and holding a hover. Will get you in the right midst for throttle control and yaw. Most likely you are putting in more pitch than roll. Mine drops in either direction and I have to compensate with throttle. Dip it over to its automatic stop and rip up the throttle and it will cruise forward supper fast and level. Just takes practice. Are you flying in expert mode?

Nah I've been in regular mode. It's a lot different than my old heli, haha. Having a blast though!

Also I changed rooms and I think I might have been getting interference in the first room from the nearby router as it is a lot more responsive and hovers a lot better now.

Lots more practice on the way, hehe.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Man I can't fly in normal mode lol. I feel like I'm not really in control of it lol. Just moves to slow. It fly great outdoors provided it's not windy. If it's windy and you're in normal it will just blow away lol