Anyone else built a 250 size hi performance FPV quad?



cootertwo

Member
I was just thinking yesterday, about the shortages, everywhere. We'll probably all be kicking ourselves "after" the demand slows, and the inventories fill, and the prices drop drastically. I've been ordering some different types of cameras for FPV. There are so many types, and prices, and they too are hard to find in stock.
 

cootertwo

Member
I have one of those cameras, but I mistakenly got the "board" version, no case, and no case available!
http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/690TVL-Ultra-WDR-Pixim-SEAWOLF-Sensor-OSD-Camera-2.8mm-Wide-View-%252d-US.html
And it's larger than most, and no way to trim the board down. It has little components all the way out to the edge of the board. And, it's too big to fit between the two plates of any of the quads I have. So I had to fiddle around. I got it mounted to the stock camera mount, by screwing into the back of the heat sink, but it extends past the frame, so a head on collision will probably destroy it. The camera does seem to have a little better color quality, than a standard 600TVL Fat Shark camera. Also, it has a heat sink, which adds to the weight slightly. "BUT" $50 better than a $40 Fat Shark, "no" not in my opinion.
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Rumor has it that BO will be sending out frames to the distributors soon.

In other news, I am FINALLY getting my flying down somewhat. I was weaving through trees and picnic benches over the weekend and only broke 3 props and 2 standoffs doubling as landing gears!! I was so happy lol. And it's just so much fun picking up more and more speed now. I still get the annoying throttle bounce (when I keep over estimating the throttle) but slowly getting that under control now too. I'm flying CC3D in atti mode.

For other newbiles that may have struggled like me, forget the newbie tuning tutorials with linked pitch and roll tuning. Unless you are flying a perfectly symmetrical X quad, these tunings just do not provide the responsiveness you need to do the crazy proximity flying people do. I ended up scrapping all my tuning, started with suggested tuning (BO has it on their site and so does getFPV for the QAV250 - otherwise just ask others for their PIDs) as a starting point, then ratcheted back the tuning from there.

I can't tell you how stoked I am that I am not spending the week rebuilding mangled minis!!! :tennis:
 

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If you are using a CC3D, no need for manual throttle calibration - just go through the radio calibration procedure in GCS and set the motors arming speed. I'm not sure about Naze32 procedures for throttle calibration - it may be that you can do that in Baseflight as well.

But barring that, manual calibration is not hard. Ideally you calibrate all ESCs at the same time. But you can also hook up each ESC one by one directly to the throttle channel of your rx. Power up your transmitter at zero throttle. Move to full throttle, listen for confirmation sound from the ESC, then unplug. To do all ESCs, you just need to make a harness that connects all the ESCs to a single servo plug you connect to the throttle channel. The only thing that annoys me about doing them all at once is I can't be sure if a single ESC is not giving the proper sound confirmation.

As an aside, mind if I ask when you ordered and when Witespy shipped? I need more ESCs but not sure if there's a delay on his end. I do have another set of the naked blues that just shipped but need some reds cos I think one of mine conked out.
 


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Got to fly around a bit yesterday. My tribute to the World Cup mini style lol ...

 
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LOL, nice attack on the branch.

Thanks thats why I always need to carry at least two minis lol. I lasted a lot longer with the QAV250 except I drove that one into a park bench and then into the roof over the benches.
 

chipwich

Member
Pretty much a plain Jane QAV250 for me. FrSky X6R, Fatshark FPV, OpenPilot CC3D. It all works well together. Originally I had an OpenPilot Revo board running a ported APM, along with GPS RX on the top deck. The GPS worked fine, but I could never get the APM to fly well enough to make me want to ditch the OpenPilot. And since the GPS support is limited and rather against the mini quad ethos, went back to the CC3D with the legendary juz' settings and never looked back. Love the thing, although I have had the cajones to fly it under a car or through a drain pipe like some of you dudes :D

One thing that I wish that I would have changed, and am too busy to fix now, but that would be to run the power lead out of the side and over the top like Juz. The bottom location puts too much tension on the aft LED lead and it will break at the board eventually. I re-soldered mine 3 times before adding a "service loop". I also relocated the VTX to the top deck after frying an IRC 600mw that was mounted inside the frame with the antenna sticking through the center hole like so many do. Mine got too hot one day while tinkering and went bye bye.

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Nice build chipwich. I really like the stability of my QAV250 (compared to my BO mini-h) and I've got to wonder if the single piece body has something to do with it but likely the added weight does as well. I'm highly annoyed though by the decision to use self tapping screws to secure the LED boards. I have one hole completely stripped and another on the other side where the screw snapped off leaving half of it inside the hole. Still, minor gripes for a really good frame that can stand a LOT of abuse. I've rammed mine full tilt into a concrete park bench as well as the aluminum roof over that bench (yes, I over compensated LOL) and it still flew. I suspect the use of aluminum standoffs and metal m3 button head socket screws is what makes the difference (vs. nylon hardware).
 

chipwich

Member
I'm highly annoyed though by the decision to use self tapping screws to secure the LED boards. I have one hole completely stripped and another on the other side where the screw snapped off leaving half of it inside the hole.

Much agreed ronin. My rear LED board is slight lose because I stripped the screws the last time driving them in. At the least, the manual needs to be revised requiring, not suggesting, the drilling of pilot holes for the buttery soft LED mounting screws.

I found a photo of the first build with Revo board and GPS. Saving them for another project.

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Funny you mention that chip. I've got in mind to put an APM outfitted OP revo board with GPS and bluetooth module into the upcoming BAH Nemesis I have on preorder. I'd always wanted a tiny footprint quad that can accomplish the same mission plans and GPS assisted maneuver of a larger setup. Failed miserably with a Naza Lite and GPS but hoping to get better results with this revo on steroids.
 

PeteDee

Mr take no prisoners!
Biggest killer is going to be run time, my bigger quads will do 12-14 minutes, the Spanky nowhere near that, it will do it but somewhat limited by the flight time.

Pete
 

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Wanted to share a quick video of my Armattan build. Really a blast to fly but still getting the hang of it ...


Armattan Carbon Fiber Mini Quadcopter
OpenPilot CC3D Flight Controller
SunnySky X2204 2300kv Brushless Motors
F-12A Fire Red SimonK ESCs
HQProps 5030 Propellers
PZ0420 Clone FPV Camera
Mobius Wide Angle Camera
Fatshark 250mw 5.8Ghz Vtx
Lumenier 1300mah 3S 35C Lipo
Simple OSD
Omnivision CP 5.8ghz Antenna
Mini PDB
 
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PeteDee

Mr take no prisoners!
Currently running a CC3D in mine and have very little time to fly recently, sick, crap weather and work have all intervened but hopefully that will improve.

Anyway I saw that RMRC had a few hundred Naze32 acro's available and grabbed one to use in my Spanky, lucky I was quick over 500 gone in a few hours.

Pete
 

PeteDee

Mr take no prisoners!
So just got a Naze32 Acro to install for flying this weekend.

Also got a tiny Runcam Skycam 650TVL camera, so far looks very nice.

How is everyone else's flying going?

Pete
 

cootertwo

Member
Oh, been through about a dozen props in a week, so I'm flyin OK! Luv these mini's. Took my 550 hex out yesterday, and dusted it off. What a difference, after having been flying 250's for weeks!
 

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