Flight Controllers

Flight Controller

For the flight controller I first started out with an Emax Skyline32.  I purchased the Skyline32 because it came with cables and connectors so all you have to do is plug your receiver and ESC’s directly into the connectors, no soldering required.  However the problem with doing this is you get a very messy installation because the cables are so long.  After flying several times and slicing one of the wires with a blade during a crash I decided to shorten all the cables and just solder them together, this gave me the clean installation that I was originally looking for.  So the time and effort I wanted to save by purchasing this board backfired on me.  

I want to also talk about documentation.  For the most part documentation for flight controllers is seriously lacking in information. YouTube is your best resource for all flight controller information. The 14 page manual for this board gives you directions to go to three different websites to download some software in order to update the firmware.  After several hours of following the instructions to the letter, it did not work.  I finally found a youtube video by 2dogrc that shows him just flashing it with the latest Naze32 firmware.  I followed the video and it finally worked, I was able to get into cleanflight and get busy prepping my quad for flight.  My first flight with cleanflight was bad, the Quad flew like a cinderblock.  I discovered Betaflight and from the first flight it was magical.

Lesson learned: Go with an FC board that requires you to solder pins to it, having all the wires and connectors from the skyline32 makes for a messier installation, there was so much excess wire hidden away on my quad it wasn't funny.  Instead of having the servo connectors connected directly to the FC I installed all the header pins on my next flight controller a Naze32, everything is now plugged into the header pins. I still had excess wires to take care of so I wrapped them in heat shrink and tucked them away.  

I am now on my 3rd brand of flight controller, the Omnibus F3. I love this board, it comes with an SD card slot for built in black box logging. Built in OSD which allows you to access your important settings such as your PIDs and rates, I haven't been flying long enough to really notice a difference in performance but it is also only $25, no reason to pay more.

For a 250 quad you do not need a barometer, no reason to pay for the more expensive FC.  Betaflight is the way to go for firm ware.  From the first day I flew with it my quad flew really well, highly recommended.

Power Distribution Board (PDB)

In the beginning I purchased a Crazy pony PCB power distribution board for a QAV250 quad-copter.  The board did not come with any instructions.  I purchased the board so that I could achieve a clean and organized installation.  Without knowing any better I discovered that this power distribution board did not work for the Emax 250mm quad frame.  The reason why it did not work is because the board and frame are shaped differently, meaning the mounting holes do not line up.  Since I still wanted to use the power distribution board I ended up purchasing a YKS QAV250 carbon fiber frame.  This went together nicely with the power distribution board.  Any future builds I plan to use a PDB every time.

Lesson Learned:
Any PDB that is purchased must have a BEC or regulated power for 5v and 12v otherwise what's the point and don't get the type of PDB that is integral to the frame, I ruined the PDB for my QAV250 in a crash.

Your video transmitter and Camera will both need to be powered by clean regulated power or else your FPV system just won't work. I also learned the different frame names and types of styles. the QAV 250 is also known as the ZMR. Regardless of which manufacturer you get the frame from if it's a certain style, parts for that style should fit no matter what.

A power distribution board helps organize the installation, the biggest tip I can give you is to cut the wires to reach the solder pads on the board with just a little bit extra length so you don't leave yourself short for future work.

Quadcopter frame and kit

Starting with this post I will go over all the various parts needed to fly FPV. This post will be all about the frame.

I originally purchased the LHI Emax 250mm kit from Amazon, it was a good price and came with a full carbon fiber frame.  This frame is actually the same as the 250mm Emax Nighthawk, not a handsome looking frame but a spacious one nonetheless.  I also purchased a QAV250 frame.  Both frames are pure carbon fiber.  People make a big deal about the carbon fiber frames, I have yet to use a 3k carbon fiber frame so I don't really know if it matters.  As the title says I am a habitual crasher, in the process of learning to fly I have crashed my quad-copter on numerous occasions, some saw the death of components and various parts, some weren't too bad.  Some crashes were user error but some were also various malfunctions.  It's been a long road learning this hobby and learning the nuances of building and repairing. The most difficult thing to learn has just been the programming and setup, which now is pretty easy for me.

One time I broke the front arms of the QAV250 by crashing directly into some rocks.  I forgot that I was not in horizon mode.  This frame did not hold up well to that crash.  I haven't spent more than $30 on a frame. They are out there under that price and are full carbon fiber. They hold up well in minor crashes, however the weakest part of the frame is the aluminum stand offs. Top plates are usually held on by really short M3 screws. For my latest quad I went to the hardware store and bought screws that were twice as long as the stock screws. They appear to help better in crashes (yes I'm still crashing)

If you are a beginner you might consider a non-carbon fiber frame to begin with because it will be cheaper to replace if you break it. My brother has this type of frame that only cost him $13 on Hobby king. He has crashed into the side of a cliff and other crashes and it appears to have held up really well until recently. It finally broke on him. Of course he does not fly as often as I do, I try to fly every week. Hobby king had a deal where you could get two of these type of frames for $18 for both. I thought about getting it for a moment.

Lesson learned:  Start out with a cheap frame until you are a more confident pilot.  Spending $10 on a glass filled nylon frame that is durable yet cheap is perfectly fine for learning how to fly and learning FPV, you will crash, you will have to repair and rebuild....you just need to decide how much you want to spend on your rebuilding. I now fly with a full carbon fiber QAV210, the bottom plate and arms are one piece so it holds up better in crashes.

"We have the technology" - Six Million Dollar Man

Flew with my brother

This last holiday weekend I got the opportunity to drive up to Mesa and fly with my brother.  This is kind of a big deal, not really but it was fun.  I live just south of Tucson and typically fly by myself.  I don't have nor will I ever get a Facebook account.  Yes I have Google+ but don't use it much.  Anyways I have no one to fly with.  Why do I want someone to fly with you ask?  Well, it's just better to sit and chat, laugh at crashes and just plain hang out and talk quad-copter stuff with someone other then yourself.  I'm not a very good conversationalist with myself.  I have no problems talking to myself I just don't usually get any response so it's typically a one sided conversation.

I had a great time, flew about 8 out of my 10 batteries, my brother only flew 7, mainly because he crashed pretty hard and broke two of his arms.  It'll be kind of hard for him to wipe without arms.  Having a second person there when you fly is good because they can act as a spotter.  My brother was flying in acro mode for the first time and I had to flip the horizon switch on his transmitter at the last seconds a few times to save his quad.  He typically flies horizon so is not used to where the toggle switch is located.

During this trip I also got to show my brother the Fat Shark goggles that I use.  He uses the cheap $30 special from Hobbyking, the picture is good but the goggles are better.  Anyways, while he was watching me fly with the goggles, I was using the hobby king special.  I had no place to set the video receiver so I placed it on the ground.  Because I did that I lost video very quickly.  I had the quad out about 200 feet away so I ripped the goggles off to fly line of sight and due to that distance I couldn't really tell which direction I was flying so I put the quad in horizon mode and my brother started giving me directions.  That didn't work really well so I got my goggles from him to see where I was.  Boy was I far away.  Panic started to kick in.  I'd already lost one quad-copter and didn't want to loose another.  I put on my goggles and had crystal clear video, rotated the quad a few times to see where I was at and started to head back in what I thought was the right direction.

I was able to fly the quad-copter back to my location and land, thankfully I didn't loose it.  I later analyzed the video and measured the distance on google earth, I was about 1690 to 1750 feet away from where I was standing.  I was amazed at the performance of the transmitter and the quad-copter.  I don't want to try that again but it's good to know that the equipment works.  I'll put the video on YouTube later.

Lets get into it!

Tomorrow I start tuning my fifth quad-copter.  Well I actually started yesterday so let me tell you about that first.  I purchased a flight controller (FC) online, installed it and when I got to the part about connecting the receiver and transmitter it would not work.  I found out after much research and examining the FC that the PPM resistor was missing.  So I went about installing the Naze32 FC that I salvaged from the last crashed quad-copter.  I had to re-solder a few connections but I got it to work.  Half way through tuning yesterday motor #3 kept dropping out.  That FC is now garbage.  I purchased a new FC yesterday afternoon, got it programmed and installed, I will start tuning it tomorrow.  Hopefully I don't crash or destroy the frame.  As soon as I have it tuned I will post a tuning video.  In the mean time here is a quick history of my builds and frames.

Here are some photos

ZMR250 Destroyed in a crash with some rocks in Yuma.  Rebuilt another after losing the one below in the desert.

Emax Nighthawk 250 Few away and destroyed the frame, replaced the top plate at least once.  Built a second one after destroying in it when it flew away and lost it in the desert south of Tucson

That's it for my post.  I'll post a photo of my new frame some time later.

About this Blog

I suck at hobbies and by that I mean when I try to get into a hobby it never goes well.  I suck at playing video games online, I had a hard time getting into Airsoft and now, my newest hobby of course is giving me a hard time.  Last Christmas I bought all the parts and built an FPV quadcopter. Most people just refer to it as a racing drone.  I hate that name because as a veteran, when I think of the word drone I imagine a predator shooting missiles at the enemy, not some little dinky thing flown by some fat old guy as a hobby.

Anyways, this has been a difficult road, the purpose of this blog is to  keep a record of my trials, errors, crashes and what not.  Stay tuned for more, I will try to post once a week to record the good the bad and the rebuilds.