the RC (radio control) and electric rideables thread

hehe yeah i get into the chit chat subforum over there often, it is more or less my only source of that stuff.
 
so remember i said i was getting ~3-5 min with my 1500mah batteries on my quad, depending on if i had the gitup w/ waterproof case on top? well, i had my low battery alarm set at 3.7v. if i landed when it was going off, the resting voltage would come back up to about 3.80-3.85v, and that's where i was stopping it. but then i read a little more about lipo batteries, and how low you can safely discharge them. i set my battery alarm to go off at 3.5v instead. practically DOUBLED my flight time to about 10 minutes (not doing anything crazy, just learning to fly), and resting voltage bounces back to about 3.7v once i land. granted, this wholly unscientific test involved me going to an open field and just practicing flying back and forth, fighting the near-constant wind in one direction. i crashed a few times of course, and lost one of my battery alarms in the process (glad i bought two!), and only got one flight on each of the three batteries, but i seemed to get a good 10 minutes out of each battery. even the one that had been giving me a lot less flight time before the alarm went off.

my theory is that before, i was only taking off a surface charge during each flight instead of an ACTUAL deep charge, so now that i'm giving the batteries some actual exercise, they're working better. not surprisingly, they take longer to recharge too. of course i'm using a cheap little "imaxRC B3" balance charger that came w/ my quad kit, and it charges each cell at around 700ma - i'm ok with that though - sure, it's slow, but slow charges are apparently good for the batteries. and it consistently gets each cell to 4.18-4.20v, so i'm ok with that. If I get more batteries, I'll probably invest in a better charger, but for now this is fine.

so maybe now i don't need to buy a 3000 mah battery for extended practice time. i AM still planning on rebuilding my quad to open up the cavity inside the frame to allow me to put the battery inside the cage of the frame for better protection and lower center of gravity. this will also allow me to have better access to the USB port on the flight controller. i may even mount the FC (in its hard plastic case) vertically in the front compartment to act as a dividing wall between the camera/VTX and receiver, and what will become the battery bay in the rest of the frame. also planning on mounting the power distribution board between the bottom two layers of the frame, which will provide more protection for some of the wiring, and also make room for batteries. i plan on taking photos along the way so you can get a better idea of what i'm talking about.

while i'm at it, i may upgrade my receiver to the R9D, which can send telemetry back to my transmitter. maybe it'll eliminate the need for a low battery alarm. i can program my transmitter for all sorts of things, and if it sends back voltage, then i can set an alarm (which not only beeps, but also vibrates the transmitter!) so that even if i'm flying FPV and it's out of my range of hearing, i'll still know when it's time to land.

Hmm... $8 for 2 more battery alarms or $16 for a new receiver with telemetry? they're cheaper from china, but the price difference is surprisingly small (only about $1 less), so it's worth it for shipping that will get here this weekend instead of this summer. maybe i'll buy both. :p and this time i'll attach the low battery alarm to the quad with zip-ties instead of velcro.

i guess the next thing for me to learn is librepilot, so i can download my existing settings from the CC3D before i mount it in a different direction. I like the way it flies now in the different rate modes, and don't want to lose that when i move the FC.

oh one more thing - i tried letting the quad hang down pointed straight at the ground instead of horizontal when i turned it on - it didn't care - beeps were normal, and it flew normal. so apparently mine's also set like yours, @TechTronic9000 in that it already knows what level is, and doesn't calibrate every time you power it up. so that's handy.
 
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This little quads do cry out for a lot of modding, I'm also planing on stripping mine and redo all the wiring, this time it will be shorten and soldered directly to get rid of the clutter and extra weight, but I'm still thinking of converting it into a small hex...
 
My friend have problems flying his 250 walkera, though it is the full blown GPS model its no way like flying his phantom 1
Actually he is not flying it much, it tend to crash pretty quick, he said he done the setup of it several times, but still it is crashing.
Even the stick controls is wierd on it, the manual say at 50% trottle it should hover, but some times thats not enuff, and yet other times it shoot up into the air at 50% trottle.

PS. a 3.7 V cut off seem pretty high, i allways used 3.2 volts, and maxamps claim you can go as low as 2.8 volts minimum.
 
I've just got a entry level but full FPV quad, it's a newer released quad from JJRC (H25G). At it's price it's a good model for beginners which doesn't need any more expenses to get running. I do like the idea to mod it and add a Git2 on it :rolleyes:

Here's the unboxing for now
 
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Over here ( Denmark & Germany ) the ppl who drive the big rigs for work love it so much they do it scaled down when they are off the clock.


Be advised, this is not cheap toys, a couple of 1000 buks for a rig is not somthing spectacular.
 
TechTronic9000 said:
I've just got a entry level but full FPV quad, it's a newer released quad from JJRC (H25G). At it's price it's a good model for beginners which doesn't need any more expenses to get running. I do like the idea to mod it and add a Git2 on it :rolleyes:

Here's the unboxing for now
Click to expand...
Saw that on your yt page last week. Doesn't strike me as mod friendly like the 250 racers you and I have. Might look cooler for rookies, and I suppose it is nice to see a decent entry level kit for people to try out the hobby without sinking too much money in it...

Still planning on rebuilding mine to cram all the electronics into the front 1/3 of the frame so the back 2/3 will be a cage for the battery. Lower CG and some actual protection for the battery instead of it being exposed on top. Just waiting for next paycheck and then I'll order a new pdb, LEDs and some other goodies.

This pdb seems to have a lot of good stuff for a pretty cheap price! I particularly like how it has a low battery alarm built in. It doesn't just beep though - it also flashes the LEDs you have connected to it, so if you can't hear it, you still have some indication that it's time to come home.
http://m.banggood.com/Matek-LED-POW...-12v-Low-Voltage-Alarm-Tracker-p-1019353.html
 
TechTronic9000 said:
GearBest is running a sale on various R/C stuff, it's worth taking a look.
They also have US/EU warehouse stock options.

Click to expand...
and based on how much "fun" people are having getting stuff they ordered from gearbest, i don't think i'll be ordering anything from them, even if it is 80% off.
 
That PDB looks great, it's now on my wish list, I also see that on BG there are some KingKong props, and there is also a KingKong hex frame :confused:
As for shopping online from China I'm accustomed of waiting even 60 days, that was a reasonable time for DX.com to deliver half of their goods. When I want something either dirt cheap or that I can not find in another place, I do torture my patience :)
 
TechTronic9000 said:
That PDB looks great, it's now on my wish list, I also see that on BG there are some KingKong props, and there is also a KingKong hex frame :confused:
As for shopping online from China I'm accustomed of waiting even 60 days, that was a reasonable time for DX.com to deliver half of their goods. When I want something either dirt cheap or that I can not find in another place, I do torture my patience :)
Click to expand...
Those King Kong props are amazing and super cheap. You can crash hard, bend a prop in half... Just brush off the dirt and grass, bend the prop straight again, and keep flying! I finally managed to actually break one last week. I was practicing flying though the chains on my kids' swing set, and so I hit the chains and crashed probably a dozen times. That didn't break the props though, it just dented them. I broke one when I came in for a fast landing on the table (which has metal edges). Realized at the last second I was too low so gave it more power but it was too late - props hit the edge of the table at nearly full throttle, which put a small 1cm crack in the end of one of them. Probably could have just kept flying, but the battery alarm was going off and that was my last battery, so I just packed it up.

I'll definitely be buying more of these props... In different colors this time.
 
Also BG has a US warehouse, and sometimes parts are almost the same price or only slightly more expensive. I may order some stuff from there this time so I get it in a few days instead of a month. Of course the CN warehouses have more variety so sometimes that's the only option. Like the LEDs I want aren't sold from the US, only CN.

Part of my wish list:
 
My friend just tried some 3 bladed props on this phantom 1, that was a waste of money he said as the controls of the quadcopter became wierd.

So he will carry on with his new prop guards and the carbon props he allso got but havent tried out yet.
 
kamkar1 said:
My friend just tried some 3 bladed props on this phantom 1, that was a waste of money he said as the controls of the quadcopter became wierd.

So he will carry on with his new prop guards and the carbon props he allso got but havent tried out yet.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking of adding prop guards too, but haven't found any I like yet. Too many options...
 
Dont know why my friend wanted those guards, when we last flew it we more or less used is as a lawn mower flying in the 2 - 3 foot tall grass.
We will be trying somthing new this year as my friend is building 2 of thosh small NQD jet boats for us, and he plan to film that low level with the quad.
But flying over a small creek getting things in the propeller is the least of possible problems i think.

 
Gibson99 said:
Part of my wish list:
Click to expand...

I get an error when trying to open the link

kamkar1 said:
My friend just tried some 3 bladed props on this phantom 1, that was a waste of money he said as the controls of the quadcopter became wierd.

So he will carry on with his new prop guards and the carbon props he allso got but havent tried out yet.
Click to expand...

3 bladed props add a lot of stress on the motor, have bigger mass needing more torque and power from the motors thus reducing efficiency. The only usage of this type of prop is when you need more lift power at the expense of all the other factors, or when you are building a quad and you can't fit larger 2 blade props.


Gibson99 said:
I'm thinking of adding prop guards too, but haven't found any I like yet. Too many options...
Click to expand...

On the P3 i have a set of quick release guards, but i never have used them, I keep only the clips installed as an arm / motor pod reinforcement.

I have also bought a set of prop guards for the 250 ... haven't fit them as they seem so fragile that will break on flight and they also need some additional drilling to fit the motor screw configuration.
 
i wouldn't use prop guards unless I'm in a big indoor hall. when you have them on outside, they're just another surface to catch wind which slows speed and introduces more turbulence to the quad.
 
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