Naza V2 and Misc Flying questions

[jfro]

My new build. View attachment 17235

I built this 8 days ago. I am very happy with it's flying capabilities & flight times.
Naza V2, Simonk 40 amp ESC's, Tiger 2216 900kv motors, and APC 10x4.5 props.
I have the GPS, just haven't mounted it yet.

I'm getting 12.5-15.5 minutes flight time with easy flying for video with 1 battery.
I have 5000mah, 4s 30c and 40c batteries.
The 15 1/2 minutes is is on my new 5000mah 40c GensAce batteries (hard case and heavy).
Older GensAce are getting 13-13.5 and 2 Turnigies are getting 12.5 minutes. (all 5000mah 4s)
Without the gimbal I was getting 18-21.5 minutes on 1 battery...
Motors are barely warm after 15 minutes in the air.

I'm done spending money for a while, but maybe next year I might try 2- 3300 5000mah 30c batteries.

I'm new at this (this year) and this is my 2nd build. My other MR is a xy8, 12lb mid size with Hoverfly and Avroto 2814's. Get 6.5-8 minutes with GH3 or GH2 depending on which set of batteries (2x5000mah 4s). With my 8 batteries, maybe 28 minutes of total flying time. On quad f450, it's over 110 minutes with same batteries.

I built the quad to get more air time as I found my learning curve to be very slow on the bigger more expensive unit. Mission accomplished. I'm enjoying this little quad, it's less stressful learning and trying new things, and getting way more air time. GoPro video is decent, so this is sort of my learning and scouting MR.

Looking for some opinions.

I'm now venturing out farther (Line of sight) and having trouble with orientation. What are some of the tricks of the trade for lighting or marking the quad to help with orientation? Not a big fan of lining my arms with lights, but I did buy some and they are just sitting on the table. I like the idea of a couple lights maybe, just not a whole string.

My biggest issues are when moving left to right or right to left in front of me, when I get off to one side or the other, and I've lost which direction my MR is facing and I need to immediately stop the momentum in the direction the MR is moving. I find I like to do real slow yaw's going side to side, but as it get's out a ways to one side, I can lose how much I've rotated, ie lost orientation.... When I want to stop it's motion in a hurry and I don't know which way I'm going, it's panic city.... I've set it down twice this year, broke 1 arm and leg on the xy8 and on the second time no damage to the f450. It's time for me to figure out a better way.

When I put the GPS unit on, if the MR is moving in one direction and I flip the switch from ATTI to GPS, will it stop it's directional motion and just hold position at that point? I may just learn to use return to home in the I0C mode. I just need to put the GPS on to try it and then pull back on the stick to bring it back, or at least arrest the motion. Still don't know understand course lock...

I put 10" apc's slow fly's on the quad during set up and to make sure all was good before putting more expensive CF 9" or 10" props on. My flight times are good, my motors run cool, it handles nicely, hoovers at 50% throttle, and the video is stable. Should I even mess with the other props. I've got $70 worth of unopened carbon fiber props sitting here and not sure if I want to even mess with them?

Anyway, thought I'd share my f450 build and flight time and also take the space to ask a few questions.

 

[PeteDee]

For practicing I recommend some of the plastic props green on front and orange on the back or some similar combination so that it will make it easier to see, one or two nice bright LEDs under each of the coloured props can help.

Orientation can be a ***** and is probably the biggest contributor to every "hard landing" I have ever had.

Get your GPS mounted and calibrated and fly close and keep the speed down and remember that hands off the Naza will basically take control and set it in a hover while you sort yourself out.

My TBS Discovery is all black with black arms and CF props but as long as I keep my mind on the job it is fine, oh and I fly FPV a lot of the time.

 

[jfro]

Orientation can be a ***** and is probably the biggest contributor to every "hard landing" I have ever had.

Get your GPS mounted and calibrated and fly close and keep the speed down and remember that hands off the Naza will basically take control and set it in a hover while you sort yourself out.

Hands off works, unless I'm in that moment when I don't have time for the glide to stop. I like to film where I get the MR sort of gliding and then just maybe a little yaw going. I can have the pitch and roll in the middle, but have to counter the momentum and if I don't have orientation, it's a oh oh moment. If there is room to let it run out while I figure it out, no problem, but I'm describing the few times when I said, oh oh, I need to stop that momentum RIGHT NOW.

I'm going to put the GPS on this week and try the IOC. From what I understand, I'd just have to pull the stick back toward me and that should stop the momentum or reverse it back to where I took off from with the switch in home lock. I may play with course lock also.

I'm have some led's and trying to figure out where to mount some short strips. Not a fan covering the full length of each boom. Maybe something at the end.... More wires which is not something I look forward to.

 

[glacier51]

jfro:

I went through the same thing, loss of orientation on my DJI F550 hexa.

I also started looking at lights and strobes and one day, driving into town, I come upon some cyclists, one of which had a very bright red tail light strobe. Found one at REI, runs on 2 AA bats. Took it apart to lighten the weight. It was just a little circuit board with 3 red LEDs, one the strobe and the other 2 used for steady illumination.

This particular assembly has a push button switch, OFF, strobe, steady. I wired it into the battery balance connector to the ground wire and next wire over, putting out single cell voltage. Runs fine on 4+ volts, down to around 3.5V when I'm landing. Wired this way, no special BEC and it will run off any voltage through the balance cable.

I fly red arms forward and the strobe flashing out front, so any time I see a red strobe, the hexa is flying toward me. If I don't see it, I continue the turn until I do. Good for a couple hundred yards on a bright day.

I thought about aircraft lighting, red strobe on the left, green on the right, white tail light, but it's just weighty with the units and additional wiring. If you're looking to maintain orientation in directions not toward or away from you with a single light, I recommend aircraft lighting. Flytron sells a selection called Strobon.


Ron

 

[jfro]

I've been thinking about doing something similar as having two blinking lights near the motors on the front. When in ATT mode, I can see the blinking amber light on the back side I thought maybe getting 2 lights on the front might work for me.

I'll do a little googling on mike lights tonight.

Thanks for the ideas....