Lotus RC T580 -flew one today

matwelli

Member
I ended up in a group selected to test this, i understand that my posting it may not be a popular decision, but the quad itself is worthy of a review (not minding the posturing and politics)

First flight of the T580

Assembly time was 10-15 minutes, very straight forward. (waited longer to charge the 3S 2650 lipo)

Propeller assembly - after reading many posts, complaining about the setup - it was very straight forward, and probably needs explaining.

Wind the prop onto the shaft, until it pushes the white plastic bushing onto the motor bearing.
Back the prop off 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn, to allow a small gap between the prop, black plastic washer and white spacer.
Firmly holding the motor bell in the palm of your hand, and prop between your thumb and fore fingers, wind down the prop nut, until it touches the prop.
While still firmly grasping the motor bell and prop (ensuring they don't move, keeping the running clearance) tighten the prop nut down onto the prop, to lock it in place.

Transmitter settings
65% travel, no expo on rudder/aileron/elevator. Rudder and Aileron needed to be reversed

Job done.


First flight
The motor start takes you buy supprise, each time, not very smooth, but once running, very quiet.
Lift off at about 45%, need a small amount of trim (due to the turnigy 9x not outputting exactly 1.5 ms pulses at neutral sticks).

Altitude hold works within +/- 600 mm height range,inside my dining room
total stick movement needed about 4mm in each direction. to keep it in the dining room.

Impressed, if the target audiance is a first time MR flyer, who wants to strap on a go-pro and take some photos.

Will get into proper testing this week, outside, wind, etc, also post some photos (we have snow up the mountain so will take it up :) )
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
..............................i understand that my posting it may not be a popular decision....................

no problem at all Mat, everything and everyone here stands or falls on their own merits.

if it's any good and serves to help people successfully fly their first quad, then let's hear it.

personally i don't love the whole rcgroups episode but for some reason people still choose to cram their stuff in over there and have it turn into a circus. i happened to get caught in the circus but that's passed so let's hear what you have to say.

bart
 

matwelli

Member
Thanks Bart, yes have gotten involved with a few "personalities" over at RCgroups, its where the trolls tend to hang out.
Thankfully there seems to be none of that here, a very good community has built up :)
 

Kilby

Active Member
Thankfully there seems to be none of that here, a very good community has built up :)

I'm very happy about that. ;-)

So Mat, have you tried out the XAircraft 650 as well? I was thinking of maybe looking between the Lotus & XAircraft for a new quad this summer.
 

matwelli

Member
Hi Kilby, nope haven't flowen a Xaircraft 650.

Flying out side in a slight breeze, the T580 is not so comfortable, more testing to come
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Hi Kilby, nope haven't flowen a Xaircraft 650.

Flying out side in a slight breeze, the T580 is not so comfortable, more testing to come

not so comfortable in a slight breeze and no settings to adjust? let us know if things improve at all.
 

matwelli

Member
yep, there is something funky in the programming, super stable inside, but outside influences knock it around.

I think the instability is due to its blade/motor setup, absolutly optimised to "tread air" at minimum weight, its about 30% more efficient than my quad (used 2200mah in 16 minutes, about 120 watts per kg for lift). but loaded up i dont think those super large blade lowkv/low power motors can compensate fast enough, hence the instability.

my quad, loaded with 2.4 times its original weight sits in the air like a brick, stability improves immensly
 

Stacky

Member
Mat have you seen Martins videos where he swaps motors and props etc. He has really done a job on it but his videos have lots of food for thought
 

n3m1s1s

Member
speak of the devil and he appears lol :) but i wont be posting any of my findings on this thread yet as i want Matts full opinion before i chime in :) Kilby i got the t580 from a new friend who also has a x650 he said the 650 was better for him ;) so maybe give that a go?
 

Kilby

Active Member
Hey Nem... I figured you would show up here sooner or later.

Yeah, I'm thinking more about the 650 at this point, but I'm also considering just going for it and grabbing an MK Oktokopter and being done with it! It all depends how much money I have left over after paying for my wedding/honeymoon next month.
 

matwelli

Member
Martin - feel free to post up :)

My full opinion.....

Good value for money, some FC boards are the same price as the complete T580, if you want to get into quads, and as a trainer this one is ideal.

The T580 would also be perfect for someone who only wants to move gently around, on calm days with a light weight camera.

The frame is generally well constructed, and nice and light, esp. considering the landing gear is nice and tall, and the electronics are in a shower proof housing.

Its extended flight time / efficient power train is also its biggest drawback - makes it a bear to fly in more than the slightest breeze and super sensitive to extra weight.

The motors are well built; no bearing noises, and run very cool. But the shafts are far too weak, snapping with only the slightest provocation - the method of changing shafts will in a very short time end up causing alignment issues with the motor bell.

The propeller attachment works well, needs to be explained properly, as this gets allot of complaints, but works well. One problem is when the shaft snaps, the plastic spacer fly’s off as well and can be hard to find - I have not seen any spare parts available for this.

The electronics in the power supply are not adequately rated, with heat issues, voltage regulator issues, and the basics such as insufficient capacitors - the two boards should be mounted separately for cooling, and a separate BEC system
 


n3m1s1s

Member
well personally i really liked it :) ha ha that shocked ya innit? is it great out the box? dunno i got mine broken to repair, is it strong stock NOPE, are the snapping motor shafts any good NOPE flight controller any good YES it did a better job with 700kv motors than anything else i ever tested so if you were to get rid of the esc's add a pwm converter and higher kv (950kv) motors with hobbyking esc's (the cheap ones) i think this quad would leap into super stable stats on a windy day :) this upgrade/mod would at least double the amount of flying days you could fly on :) flight controller is better than helicommand with low kv so i look forward to the day when these boards show up for under $100 with free pwm converter :D
 

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