Flamewheel 450 first flight

[RTRyder]

I just did the first flight with my Flamewheel 450 out in the backyard in barely 30 degree F temperatures. First impression, it flys really well, the Naza controller works as good or better than every other flight controller I've owned or flown with altitude control and autolevel, and I've tried most of them. While the Flamewheel kit is intended to be an entry level kit it does everything one would expect and then some. No, it's not nearly as aerobatic as my small KK quads but that isn't its intent, you can toss it around some if you want and it takes it no problem, ease off and use ATTI mode it will float around at whatever height you put it at.

Compared to the WKM controller it has much the same feel and flight characteristics in ATTI mode, altitude hold works the same and the autolevel seems just a little bit looser which makes sense given that the Naza is less for APV and more for sport flying.

The Flamewheel frame is solid and flys quite well, I see no signs of any severe vibration problems some others reported the frame to have, the components in the DJI kit are obviously well matched to the frame so I did not expect to see any to begin with. I think if I were to swap in a KK board with some higher KV motors and smaller props then try to do a couple flips then there might be a problem but I see absolutely nothing wrong with the kit as sold.

Overall a very successful first flight, once I have a chance to fly it in an area larger than the roughly 30 x 30 space in the backyard I'll have a better idea of what it can really do when it has room to fly.

I've got video uploading now, have to run out for a while, I'll post the link when I get back.

Ken

 

[GGoodrum]

Looking forward to the video. How do you have the camera mounted? Pics?

-- Gary

 

[RTRyder]

Looking forward to the video. How do you have the camera mounted? Pics?

-- Gary

The GoPro is tie wrapped to one of the centerplate extensions with a velcro strap around it in the other direction to keep it centered, more or less. It can move around a bit but from the video appears to have stayed in the same spot. A fair amount of jello effect which doesn't surprise me but otherwise it looks decent. Looks much better on my 22 inch monitor than it does after Youtube compressed it but I'm not after cinema quality here so doesn't really matter.

I would like it if the F450 had more yaw authority, it seems a bit slow to respond, but it is still set at the default settings so it can most likely be improved. I think this would make a nice FPV platform and that's exactly what I'm going to do with this one, just need to outfit it with something better than the park flyer receiver I have on it at the moment. Now to charge up a couple batteries and give it a few more test flights.

At 2:25 I landed and switched it to manual mode and then flew it around to about 3:48 where I clicked it back into ATTI. Could use a touch of expo for manual mode, took me a bit to get the feel as it doesn't take much control movement to get a LOT of frame movement in pitch and roll...

Ken

 

[GGoodrum]

There's a lot less vibes and "jello" than I was expecting, based on those initial reports, and I don't see any sort of flexing, really. There's a slight buzzing, and a little bit of vibration, occasionally, but this is with some purposely aggressive flying. I'm guessing a little Moon Gel would take care of that.

How are the props? Do they come pre-balanced? I'm pretty impressed with the 10x4.5" props that came with the XA Hexa kit. They are fairly stiff, and all were perfectly balanced. Nonetheless, I've got a set of 10x5 Graupners coming.

-- Gary

 

[RTRyder]

There's a lot less vibes and "jello" than I was expecting, based on those initial reports, and I don't see any sort of flexing, really. There's a slight buzzing, and a little bit of vibration, occasionally, but this is with some purposely aggressive flying. I'm guessing a little Moon Gel would take care of that.

How are the props? Do they come pre-balanced? I'm pretty impressed with the 10x4.5" props that came with the XA Hexa kit. They are fairly stiff, and all were perfectly balanced. Nonetheless, I've got a set of 10x5 Graupners coming.

-- Gary

I just flew another pack, this time with a set of Graupner 10 x 5 props and some minor adjustments to the gain settings to account for the wind that's come up since the first flight this morning. Huge difference, the jello is gone, so it appears the props in the kit are badly unbalanced, the difference in the video is immediately apparent. The video from this flight is uploading now, probably be online in the next 30 minutes by the time Youtube gets done with it. Did most of this flight in ATTI so occasionally you find yourself fighting it a bit in banking turns, the ATTI wants to level it out and I want it to stay leaned over. Eventually we'll find a compromise but for now it's good enough. Cold outside as well as windy so the fingers get a bit numb by the end of the pack but the temp doesn't seem to have any effect on the Naza which is encouraging. I did give manual mode another try but it needs more room than I have available to toss it around in that mode, it reacts really fast and there's way to many obstacles to hit to be trying to toss it around that way here.

I'll post the vid as soon as it's done.

Ken

 

[RTRyder]

The last video doen with Graupner props, a lot smoother than the first flight with the stock props...

I've seen a couple snowflakes falling outside so I think I'll get one more flight in and then call it day with the Naza.

Ken

 

[rwilabee]

Looks good with the Graupner props. What is the KV rating on the motors.

Rich

The last video doen with Graupner props, a lot smoother than the first flight with the stock props...

I've seen a couple snowflakes falling outside so I think I'll get one more flight in and then call it day with the Naza.

Ken

 

[Tahoe Ed]

It is not quite so cold in Las Vegas.

Back from the field after some more experimenting. I tried the GoPro factory mount vs hard mounting the camera. It did not work. So much jello as to make the video unusable. Fortunately I had a new friend there to take some video with my iPhone.

I had lowered the ATTI gains to 110 in the beginning. The Naza was wobbling like crazy. Landed and too it back up to 130 and all was good. Winds were between 2-3 in the beginning and 7-10 at the end. This is one very stable craft. You will see the Naza come down about 6:30 into the flight. It appeared that it just lost power. I am using the Battery monitor set at 10.5-.2=10.3v for the first alarm and 10.1-.2=9.9v for the second alarm. The alarm had not started. I started back up and flew until the monitor landed it. Total flying about was right around 8 min. Not sure why it did that. I got one flight at 10 minutes before the Battery alarm took over and landed. Not bad for a 2200mAh lipo. I am going to remount the camera and put my FPV gear on for the next flights. Basic gains are set at 145 and ATTI at 130.

 

[GGoodrum]

The last video doen with Graupner props, a lot smoother than the first flight with the stock props...

Yep, big difference. The telltale buzzing is gone, and so are the vibes. Great setup.

I have a F450 frame coming tomorrow, and a Naza on Tuesday. I'm going to use it with the 12A ESCs and motors that came with my XA Hexa kit. I may try this on 4s, and use the 11x5 Graupners I took off the X8.

-- Gary

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Not going to get the FPV gear on today, working on the Data LInk, but I did mount my Graupner 11x5's on to see how they do. Based on e-Calc the flight times should be lower and the take off throttle should be lower. I will check.

 

[rwilabee]

Did you mount the NAZA on one of the tabs sticking out of the bottom plate.

Rich

[\QUOTE=RTRyder;17709]I just did the first flight with my Flamewheel 450 out in the backyard in barely 30 degree F temperatures. First impression, it flys really well, the Naza controller works as good or better than every other flight controller I've owned or flown with altitude control and autolevel, and I've tried most of them. While the Flamewheel kit is intended to be an entry level kit it does everything one would expect and then some. No, it's not nearly as aerobatic as my small KK quads but that isn't its intent, you can toss it around some if you want and it takes it no problem, ease off and use ATTI mode it will float around at whatever height you put it at.

Compared to the WKM controller it has much the same feel and flight characteristics in ATTI mode, altitude hold works the same and the autolevel seems just a little bit looser which makes sense given that the Naza is less for APV and more for sport flying.

The Flamewheel frame is solid and flys quite well, I see no signs of any severe vibration problems some others reported the frame to have, the components in the DJI kit are obviously well matched to the frame so I did not expect to see any to begin with. I think if I were to swap in a KK board with some higher KV motors and smaller props then try to do a couple flips then there might be a problem but I see absolutely nothing wrong with the kit as sold.

Overall a very successful first flight, once I have a chance to fly it in an area larger than the roughly 30 x 30 space in the backyard I'll have a better idea of what it can really do when it has room to fly.

I've got video uploading now, have to run out for a while, I'll post the link when I get back.

Ken[/QUOTE]

 

[DennyR]

The GoPro is tie wrapped to one of the centerplate extensions with a velcro strap around it in the other direction to keep it centered, more or less. It can move around a bit but from the video appears to have stayed in the same spot. A fair amount of jello effect which doesn't surprise me but otherwise it looks decent. Looks much better on my 22 inch monitor than it does after Youtube compressed it but I'm not after cinema quality here so doesn't really matter.

I would like it if the F450 had more yaw authority, it seems a bit slow to respond, but it is still set at the default settings so it can most likely be improved. I think this would make a nice FPV platform and that's exactly what I'm going to do with this one, just need to outfit it with something better than the park flyer receiver I have on it at the moment. Now to charge up a couple batteries and give it a few more test flights.

At 2:25 I landed and switched it to manual mode and then flew it around to about 3:48 where I clicked it back into ATTI. Could use a touch of expo for manual mode, took me a bit to get the feel as it doesn't take much control movement to get a LOT of frame movement in pitch and roll...

Ken

Ken the motors are upright, If you bend the arms with a heatgun like MK do with their motor wedges then the yaw response will be more positive

 

[RTRyder]

Did you mount the NAZA on one of the tabs sticking out of the bottom plate.

Rich

I have a GoPro tie wrapped to the tab sticking out the front and eventually a video TX for FPV will live on the back one, I put the Naza dead center on the lower deck and a small park flyer RX tie wrapped to the side of and arm. The RX will have to go in favor of a longer range unit when I start using it for FPV.

Ken the motors are upright, If you bend the arms with a heatgun like MK do with their motor wedges then the yaw response will be more positive

Now that I've got a few flights on it the yaw response is fine, no bending required, just a little tweaking of the gain settings to suit my flying style!

Here's the very last flight I did the other day after I swapped to Graupner 10 x 5 props and adjusted the gain settings a bit. I'm heading outside to get another flight or two in right now...

Ken

 

[DennyR]

Ken
That is looking pretty good. The GoPro seams to handle the fast pans without too much blur. What frame rate did you use?

 

[RTRyder]

Ken
That is looking pretty good. The GoPro seams to handle the fast pans without too much blur. What frame rate did you use?

720P 60 FPS, pretty much the only setting I use on the GoPros, I find 30 FPS doesn't handle spins and panning all that well. The GoPro is tie wrapped to the tab on the lower frame plate, no vibration isolation at all, the F 450 frame seems to do a decent job of damping the vibrations and the Graupner props don't hurt either.

Ken