Noob setup and questions...Help!

[madgolfer90]

Hi everyone!

I'm relatively new to the world of RC - particularly multi rotors. Im not a total noob as I do have some prior experience with RC. I've owned and piloted a+ Blade CX2, and a Parkzone Pole cat over the last few years off and on. I just recently purchased a 1SQ quadcopter (wanting to branch out in the world of RC) to have a little fun with my girlfriends cat and fell in love immediately with it. This led to a spark of my interest in multi rotors and tons of research about them. After watching all the glorious videos of quadcopter FPV flight on Youtube, ive finally made up my mind about building my own flying machine!

What I will want out of it:

1. Stability and ease of flight (something with gps, altitude lock, and being able to come "home" should something happen mid flight. The Naza M with the gps upgrade would be ideal but pretty costly. Anything with comperable features at a better price?)
2. Something that will acheive smooth footage!
3. Power (to be able to maneuver with all my equipment on board...gopro, FPV stuff, etc.. and flight time (is 10-15 minutes too much to ask?)
4. Looks (this may sound a little silly, but i want my machine to look like a UAV drone. A black dome would look awesome.)
5. Price (I really dont want to spend over $1000)
6. FPV (eventually)
7. Something in the 600mm range would be nice (ive read larger aircrafts are much more stable and easy to fly.)

Im content on a quad, dont like the looks of hexas and octas. I will also want to look into gimbals in the future..(for video smoothness)

What do you think of these frames to start and what do you think of their recommendations for motors and ESCs?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATG-T650-X4...442?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a80a68f2a

http://www.aeroxcraft.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11&products_id=7 (really love this one, bit pricey for a frame though starting out)

Guys please post your recommendations! Everything from props to ESC's as there are so many options out there for a noob and (im a bit overwhelmed)

Thanks again in advance!

 

[madgolfer90]

Oh and I forgot about range...id like to fly it (with FPV obviously) as far as a mile...
Thanks!

 

[madgolfer90]

So I did a little more research and decided a 600mm+ frame was way too large for what im gonna want to do. I would probably only get a 10-12 min flight time with such a heavy craft. So with that being said ive re configured my proposed setup:

Frame: HobbyKing X650F - http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...X650F_Glass_Fiber_Quadcopter_Frame_550mm.html
ESC's: Turnigy Plush 30A x4
Motors: NTM Prop Drive 28-26 1000 kV/315W x4
FC: DJI Naza M + GPS
Batteries: Zippy Flightmax 2200 mAh 3S1P 20C x2
Transmitter: Turnigy 9x or 9xr
Props: ? Suggestions needed...(something plastic! lol)
Gimbal: ? Suggestions needed...(2 axis)

Let me know what ya think!

 

[madgolfer90]

Bump...a little help for the new guy please. Would like to make some purchases soon!

 

[Electro 2]

Looks good to me boss. I might want a slightly milder wind for the motors, like 750Kv, to extend flight times, but that's it.

 

[madgolfer90]

Looks good to me boss. I might want a slightly milder wind for the motors, like 750Kv, to extend flight times, but that's it.

Thanks for the reply Electro. Do you think these motors and batteries will be powerful enough? My concern is that ill have a heavy setup. I already purchased the frame today which is 585g (couldn't wait)...I've also read that a lot of people run 4s batteries with this frame as well. Could you maybe post some links to some good motors and batteries for me? Id appreciate it!

 

[tstrike]

Here's my newest lil beasty...
View attachment 11917
Quadframes heavy weight quad...http://www.quadframe.us/collections...ight-quadcopter-frame-with-21-5mm-carbon-arms
Quadframes 200mm landing gear...http://www.quadframe.us/collections/landing-gear/products/200mm-clearance-landing-legs
I Power 2814Q motors...http://www.gothelirc.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=135&cat=iPower
DJI 30amp opto esc's
RCtimer gopro gimbal from uavobjects running the martinez BG board (just got it hung today and haven't tried it yet).

 

[madgolfer90]

tstrike your setup looks awesome! hows your flight time with that baby? and how much did it set you back? love the frame and legs but they are a bit on the pricey side for me

 

[tstrike]

Don't know flight times since I haven't got it off the bench but I figure around 6-8 minutes safely running a 4000mah 4s spinning 10's. It's getting one of my naza's for the
fc. A lot of the gear I had already, motors, esc's, naza w/gps etc. I haven't had a proper kit in like forEVER (even the disco I had was a burned out frame I got from kloner for like 20 bucks) and wanted something portable strictly for the gimbal.

 

[madgolfer90]

Don't know flight times since I haven't got it off the bench but I figure around 6-8 minutes safely running a 4000mah 4s spinning 10's. It's getting one of my naza's for the
fc. A lot of the gear I had already, motors, esc's, naza w/gps etc. I haven't had a proper kit in like forEVER (even the disco I had was a burned out frame I got from kloner for like 20 bucks) and wanted something portable strictly for the gimbal.

Im now regretting buying this heavy cumbersome frame....kind of want a hoverthings HT-FPV now. Only 350g. 6-8 minutes of flight time just wont cut it for me!

 

[tstrike]

Your first frame won't be your last frame. You'll be lucky to get 10 minutes with the battery you listed. The longest week of my life was the six minutes I flew my disco in 20mph winds.

 

[madgolfer90]

Your first frame won't be your last frame. You'll be lucky to get 10 minutes with the battery you listed. The longest week of my life was the six minutes I flew my disco in 20mph winds.

would you recommend switching to a lighter frame for extended flight periods? My thought precess is that i eventually want to get into go pro video with FPV.

 

[tstrike]

would you recommend switching to a lighter frame for extended flight periods? My thought precess is that i eventually want to get into go pro video with FPV.

I guess it depends on how you fly. The fpv frames or H frames are really for forward flight and I'm more of a hover drifty flyer so I never really liked the
disco and it's *** hung battery but guys are fitting brushless gimbals on'm and kickin out some wonderful video. I really loved the aeroXcraft quad when he came out with it last year but the price at the time wasn't in my budget. Figure out what kind of flyer you are, what equpment you want to sacrifice to the gods of air, and go from there but 15 minutes of flight will need either a bigger battery or lower kv motors spinning bigazz props or both, but a 2200mah battery isn't going to do it.

 

[madgolfer90]

I guess it depends on how you fly. The fpv frames or H frames are really for forward flight and I'm more of a hover drifty flyer so I never really liked the
disco and it's *** hung battery but guys are fitting brushless gimbals on'm and kickin out some wonderful video. I really loved the aeroXcraft quad when he came out with it last year but the price at the time wasn't in my budget. Figure out what kind of flyer you are, what equpment you want to sacrifice to the gods of air, and go from there but 15 minutes of flight will need either a bigger battery or lower kv motors spinning bigazz props or both, but a 2200mah battery isn't going to do it.

thanks for the info its been helpful!

 

[madgolfer90]

So Ive decided on a TBS Discovery frame for my first rig. great reviews for beginners and from what ive read it offers some of the smoothest video for the go pro. also offers pre soldered connections to make wiring a breeze and less messy. buying tomorrow. cant wait!

 

[Silverburn]

I have the same quadframe "heavy" frame as tstrike and the same legs. I get around 15-20mins "non aggressive" flight on 2 x 4000 6s (which *just* fit in the battery bay of the legs) , powering 3508-29's (380kv) and 1450 CF props. I will upgrade to a single 11,000mah maxamps (lighter + more amps!) to give a solid 20mins with gimbal and gopro.

So yeah...big, powerful batteries required! The 11a battery alone weighs 1.3kg, and that's an improvement for me.

My question to tstrike - what is that mount you have attached to the front of the legs? I need one! Need to choose a Brushless gimbal and that looks the more standard mount rails.

Edit: question 2! You have excellent paint skills; what did you use on the dome? Normal Tamiya polycarbonate sprays and primer? I need to paint mine...

 

[tstrike]

I have the same quadframe "heavy" frame as tstrike and the same legs. I get around 15-20mins "non aggressive" flight on 2 x 4000 6s (which *just* fit in the battery bay of the legs) , powering 3508-29's (380kv) and 1450 CF props. I will upgrade to a single 11,000mah maxamps (lighter + more amps!) to give a solid 20mins with gimbal and gopro.

So yeah...big, powerful batteries required! The 11a battery alone weighs 1.3kg, and that's an improvement for me.

My question to tstrike - what is that mount you have attached to the front of the legs? I need one! Need to choose a Brushless gimbal and that looks the more standard mount rails.

Edit: question 2! You have excellent paint skills; what did you use on the dome? Normal Tamiya polycarbonate sprays and primer? I need to paint mine...

Thanks, the mount is a standard 15mm rods @ 60mm spacing with a rail block from an old shoulder rig, I wanted to be able to pull off the gimbal without
any tools. I drilled 15mm holes in a piece of pvc bar stock and the rails fit tight (they're stubby and don't go into the battery bay). The paint is just black primer out of the can sprayed inside and out with a sweet sticker I got at the zombie apocalypse store in vegas when I went to nab.
If you're ever in vegas, check it out, just west of I 15 on Warm Springs Road-take the kids, it's FREE!
What arms are you running? I'm using the shortys but have a ton of tail booms to go longer when the time comes.

 

[Silverburn]

I'm running the 370mm 21.5's. Unfortunately Jakob brought out the 25mm version two weeks later (I'd have preferred those, as they have double the thrust loading).

Re: the mount - ahah, ok - nice build then. I was hoping these were off the shelf

 

[madgolfer90]

I have the same quadframe "heavy" frame as tstrike and the same legs. I get around 15-20mins "non aggressive" flight on 2 x 4000 6s (which *just* fit in the battery bay of the legs) , powering 3508-29's (380kv) and 1450 CF props. I will upgrade to a single 11,000mah maxamps (lighter + more amps!) to give a solid 20mins with gimbal and gopro.

So yeah...big, powerful batteries required! The 11a battery alone weighs 1.3kg, and that's an improvement for me.

My question to tstrike - what is that mount you have attached to the front of the legs? I need one! Need to choose a Brushless gimbal and that looks the more standard mount rails.

Edit: question 2! You have excellent paint skills; what did you use on the dome? Normal Tamiya polycarbonate sprays and primer? I need to paint mine...

so it is possible to get the kind of flight time im seeking with that frame...kind of regretting cancelling my order with hobby king but the tbs disco will be much better for my FPV stuff I want to do. Ordering it in a few minutes along with the core and loveseat! thinking about getting their 690 tvl camera as well since its the only one that will fit in their mounting plate (32mm x 32mm)

 

[tstrike]

I think any board camera will fit on the disco. One thing to understand with that ship is you'll be limited to the size battery you can squeeze into the batt bay, I could barely fit a 4000mh zippy c in there and even then, it was tail heavy. I guess you could strap your batt on the top plate if you were so inclined.