Group Build 2014, DJI NAZA/F450 Quadcopter!

[Rgolfer]

Hi All,
Been lurking on this thread for a month or so and have decided to jump in and join the fray (only a little late). Have never encountered a place with so much good information (successes as well as failures). Bart's videos are fantastic.

Got hooked on the idea of quads when I got a Blade 350QX and have been using it to learn to fly. It has lots of safeguards for a nubie but with the ability to be as daring as you think you have the skill for. I decided you can probably have almost as much fun planning and building as flying. Have ordered an F450 kit and should get going in a week or so when it arrives. Undoubtedly will have many questions as I go along.

thanks in advance for all the future help.

Richard

 

[quarta]

Anybody know where I can find the f550 top and bottom plate? Thinking about upgrading my f450 but I can't find anyone with them in stock... ( anyone in North America anyways)

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Jindalee10368]

For F550 plates, try here:
http://www.centuryheli.com/products/productdetail.htm?prtnm=DJIF550CB



Sent from my Galaxy S3 via Tapatalk 2

 

[Rgolfer]

So, while looking at transmitters for my new build I have generally decided that a JR X9503 with a R921X receiver looks good enough for what I am doing and what I plan to do (F450 flamewheel with NAZA M V2). I see that it is offered in two models - a Helicopter model and an Airplane model. The difference being that the helicopter model has a smooth throttle gimbal and the airplane model has a ratchet- style throttle. I'm not sure I know what that means and would appreciate any advice in that regard.

 

[jer]

Picking the prop.

I have GARTT 2212 920kv 230W*motors and running 3600 s4 battery on a 450 frame.

When I ordered off HK I put two sets of 1045s but I didn't notice the motors have a notch in them and no way will I get the cap back on. What would I be looking at to pick the correct prop?


Found them at a local hobby store for 2.99 a pop.

 

[Rgolfer]

Late Guy here again.

I have completed wiring my escs to the F450 lower plate. In a DJI video I saw ( http://www.dji.com/product/flame-wheel-arf/video - third video) they tested the wiring (after soldering) for what I assumed was circuit continuity and assumed that the positive and negative sides should not be connected. I decided to do this and to my surprise positive seems to be connected to negative. Is there something going on in the escs to cause this since they are wired in the circuits or is there a possibility I have a bad lower plate. The escs that I am using are what I think are DJI's latest without two wires but instead one positive (red) wire encased in a braided negative wire which you have to strip off and solder to the negative terminals. I don't see why this would be different from having two power wires.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

 

[christoc]

To follow up on my previous post. I found that upgrading batteries to a 4S unit worked wonders for me No problem with flight now with the Tarot 2d and new legs/rails.

So I have been trying to do my own build here based on the idea of this thread.

I ended up putting together the following

DJI F450 Flamewheel ARF kit (w/ e300 propulsion kit, naza m v2)
Futaba 14sg (overkill for a noob but I make money so I can spend it )
Using a 2700mah Lectron Pro (3S)
LED module
Bluetooth module (haven't hooked up to use yet)

Got everything together and got a couple of flights in, loving it, got 13:25 out of my second full battery flight.

So I went and ordered a Tarot 2d Gimbal Hero3 (plus gyro), and a new set of legs/rails to try to mount everything to (via Amazon) Fpv Anti-vibration Multifunction Landing Skid Kit F450 F550 Quad Hexa Copter. I used a GoPro Hero3 Black, as I didn't want to risk my Hero3+ Black with a new setup like this.

That hasn't gone so well. I got it all together on Saturday, took it outside and promptly flipped it over breaking my first prop (I knew that was going to happen eventually). Put two new props on it, and can't seem to get it to fly right. I ended up getting it about 5' off the ground, but it doesn't have the control it did before, and wouldn't go any higher. Ended up flipping it over again and crashing. Put it on the workbench and haven't touched it since Saturday.

Couple of questions:

1) Should the F450 + e300 system be able to handle the weight of that setup?
2) If "yes" to #1, I had a thought while typing this up. I soldered the power leads for the gimbal to the +/- for one of ESCs on the bottom board. Should the Gimbal have it's own power source, or can I splice into the ESC power like that? Is that possibly my problem?

Hoping I just have something mis-configured, as opposed to it already being time to upgrade ESC and Motors.

Any help would be appreciated,

Chris

 

[RobBurn]

Late Guy here again.

I have completed wiring my escs to the F450 lower plate. In a DJI video I saw ( http://www.dji.com/product/flame-wheel-arf/video - third video) they tested the wiring (after soldering) for what I assumed was circuit continuity and assumed that the positive and negative sides should not be connected. I decided to do this and to my surprise positive seems to be connected to negative. Is there something going on in the escs to cause this since they are wired in the circuits or is there a possibility I have a bad lower plate. The escs that I am using are what I think are DJI's latest without two wires but instead one positive (red) wire encased in a braided negative wire which you have to strip off and solder to the negative terminals. I don't see why this would be different from having two power wires.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

Before you solder the connections the plus and minus is not connected, once you have the esc soldered to the bottom board then using a meter to check continuity will show a connection between plus and minus. I know this as i noticed this and thought hmm, i unsoldered each neg on the esc's and no connection, soldered them and there is a connection. Its in the esc that completes the circuit. If you let it beep a couple secods it will stop, try again and beep again and stop again.

Rob

 

[Gary Seven]

Great thread!

This thread freakin rocks! Discovered some YouTube posts by Bart a few months ago which finally brought me here to this forum. I've been pondering for a while building my own quad and this thread may have pushed me over. May the Gods have mercy on me!

Thanks again to everyone.

 

[Rgolfer]

Before you solder the connections the plus and minus is not connected, once you have the esc soldered to the bottom board then using a meter to check continuity will show a connection between plus and minus. I know this as i noticed this and thought hmm, i unsoldered each neg on the esc's and no connection, soldered them and there is a connection. Its in the esc that completes the circuit. If you let it beep a couple secods it will stop, try again and beep again and stop again.

Rob

thank you you very much. I was about to unsolder as you did to test but you saved me the trouble.

 

[dmoorejr]

I am thinking about modifying my sk450 dead cat.

It has the kk2 board mounted on the top plate with a protective dome over it. I was wondering if it was possible to remove this dome and move the kk2 board to the middle plate?

It uses the frame at the following hobbyking link:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...onversion_kit_for_sk450_quadcopter_frame.html

View attachment 18510

Thanks,

 

[RobBurn]

Maiden voyage f550

Well i had the maiden voyage. All went as expected. Flight time was 20 minutes at 14.4 cutoff. Ive ran two flights so far. Tried the failsafe and worked flawless.
f550 with e300 system
futaba 14sg
zippy 4S 5000 30C lipo

sweet. Will get more flights and work on getting zenmuse hd-3d and gopro as i grt more comfortable.

cheers and thanks for this site!

Rob

 

[Bartman]

This thread freakin rocks! Discovered some YouTube posts by Bart a few months ago which finally brought me here to this forum. I've been pondering for a while building my own quad and this thread may have pushed me over. May the Gods have mercy on me!

Thanks again to everyone.

I haven't been cruising through here as much as I should but it's great to see we're still getting people started. Fellow member FilmFly was over a few days ago to do his first flight and I pestered him with the F450 I built while he was flying his.

Good times and fun flying!

 

[jer]

First flight.... Ha...

 

[Bartman]

hang it on the wall as a reminder that there.......will......be......more.

 

[Rgolfer]

I am a complete nubie and have joined this group build late and have recently acquired a JR 6503 which came with a JR 921x receiver. The manual is quite sketchy but implies that this receiver has a battery that needs to be charged. Is this correct. There are no real instructions on how to charge it but the transmitter charger does have a 2nd cable which I presume you plug into the power port on the 921. If this is the case I may look for another receiver since charging would seem to be a pain (suggestion here would be welcome - I am building a F450 with Naza V2). In this forum I have never heard any discussion of battery charging related to receivers. Advice will be appreciated.

Richard

 

[Rgolfer]

I am a complete nubie and have joined this group build late and have recently acquired a JR 6503 which came with a JR 921x receiver. The manual is quite sketchy but implies that this receiver has a battery that needs to be charged. Is this correct. There are no real instructions on how to charge it but the transmitter charger does have a 2nd cable which I presume you plug into the power port on the 921. If this is the case I may look for another receiver since charging would seem to be a pain (suggestion here would be welcome - I am building a F450 with Naza V2). In this forum I have never heard any discussion of battery charging related to receivers. Advice will be appreciated.

Richard

I can't type either. Should be JR 9503 not 6503 :upset:.

 

[Rgolfer]

So my build is essentially complete and I am ready to set up the system on the computer. I am building a DJI F450 with NAZA 2 flight control. I will be using a JR 9503 transmitter and the receiver is a JR 921X. However when I power up to bind the transmitter/receiver the NAZA naturally reports that there is no receiver. But the receiver appears to not have any power - no blinking lights, totally dead appearing. So - no binding. All wiring looks to be plugged in properly..

So I am essentially stuck at this point. Does this sound like a dead receiver or am I missing something basic?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Richard

 

[jer]

Photo?

I have noticed no body posts a darn photo! My 9x did the same till I put the bind plug in and pressed the bind on the RX.

Then link light on the TX.

 

[Rgolfer]

Well, making progress I think. Turns out I had put the binding plug in the wrong slot (verifies the rule to never do stuff late at night when you ought to be in bed). Now the Rx appears to bind OK but I am still getting the "no transmitter signal" blinking yellow light when I fire up the NAZA. More solution searching underway. Here's a photo of my "partially assembled/partially disassembled" mess at the moment.


View attachment 18563