Naza GPS upgrade or FPV setup

[parkyi]

Hi, I'm quite new to this, but I'm kinda getting the hang of flying my DJI F450 with Naza. Really impressed with it. And no major crashes so far!

For the next step I'm wondering whether to get the GPS upgrade for the Naza or spend about the same amount of cash on an FPV tx and RX.???

I'll no doubt getting both eventually, just wondering what people's opinions are on the next logical step.

Also, I'm getting around 8mins of flight time using turnigy nanotech 3s 3300mah batteries. Using 10" props.

What would people recommend for better flight times. Bigger capacity 3s or move to 4s and 8" props.

Cheers in advance

Parky

 

[quadcopters]

Hi Parky
Bigger battery for sure but you will also find they fly nicer with a 4s lipo and 8" Props..
Also go for the gps upgrade first because its a really useful thing to have especially when doing fpv.

Thats my take on it , but others feel free to post your comments .
Geoff

 

[Chalagi]

I flew my F550 with naza and gps late yesterday evening and with very little wind and it was rock solid. My new led light sure did make things bright while flying.

 

[waterhouse75]

What else do you have on the F450 weight wise?

I'm hanging a set of Iris Aerial legs + batwing, a gopro clone + case + mount, and yesterday with a 3300 Turnigy (not nanotech) I got 11 mins until auto-land.

8 mins sounds too short unless you're carrying extra weight.

 

[parkyi]

I've got some plastic landing gear/skids, not sure of the make etc... But I'll check eBay and find out. Then I have the gopro3 silver edition, slung underneath in the gopro waterproof housing. And a small lipo alarm. I had this set at 3.7v. Which may be a bit high and I could probably fly it for slightly longer, but I found I was using more and more throttle as the battery was being used up (which makes perfect sense) but didn't want it to just drop out if the sky onto an unsuspecting dog walker .

What settings for the battery alarm are you using?

Parky

 

[helloman1976]

I've got some plastic landing gear/skids, not sure of the make etc... But I'll check eBay and find out. Then I have the gopro3 silver edition, slung underneath in the gopro waterproof housing. And a small lipo alarm. I had this set at 3.7v. Which may be a bit high and I could probably fly it for slightly longer, but I found I was using more and more throttle as the battery was being used up (which makes perfect sense) but didn't want it to just drop out if the sky onto an unsuspecting dog walker .

What settings for the battery alarm are you using?

Parky

I personally prefer 4S but I'm flying a larger F550 hexacopter. 4S is more efficient than 3S where 3S is lighter than 4S batteries so that's the real trade off. I fly with 2 x 4S 4,000mah Zippy Compacts and with all my FPV gear I still get around 14-16 minutes of flight time in total. They are the very best batteries for weight to capacity and I haven't found a single battery even close, especially at this price range. The other models, 3,700mah or 3,000mah are close but the 4,000 is the best weight to capacity. Here it is... http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idproduct=21361

 

[kloner]

3.7v under a load is landing prematurely, your looking for 3.7 at rest....... it'd be more like 3.3-3.5 under load (depending how big a load)

 

[helloman1976]

I've got some plastic landing gear/skids, not sure of the make etc... But I'll check eBay and find out. Then I have the gopro3 silver edition, slung underneath in the gopro waterproof housing. And a small lipo alarm. I had this set at 3.7v. Which may be a bit high and I could probably fly it for slightly longer, but I found I was using more and more throttle as the battery was being used up (which makes perfect sense) but didn't want it to just drop out if the sky onto an unsuspecting dog walker .

What settings for the battery alarm are you using?

Parky

I fly 4S and I set my alarm to 3.5V in my Naza and that's when I start my return trip. For the record I keep pretty close to where I am, less than 1 mile at all times...what I call "park and pickup" flight zones. So for clarity, in the Naza controller you'd set the YELLOW area in the battery section to 3.5V per cell (4S would be 14V) and for the RED area 3.3 (13.2V for 4S) and I do not use the UNDER LOAD area I just hard set it. Hope that makes sense...

 

[parkyi]

Nice one chaps,

Great tips, I've ordered 2 x 4000mah 4S Zippy compacts, so I'll give these a go with the 8" props. The GPS upgrade is next on my list

 

[helloman1976]

Nice one chaps,

Great tips, I've ordered 2 x 4000mah 4S Zippy compacts, so I'll give these a go with the 8" props. The GPS upgrade is next on my list

The 8" props might not be enough or may make your motors work too hard etc etc, I have a hexacopter and I spin 10"x5 degree APC hobbyking blades no problemo with torque-y motors though, 750Kv 250W. You'll have to give the props a shot and let us know how they work out. That battery is the lightest, highest capacity battery I've been able to find in a 4S setup and they're 25C so in parallel you still end up with a 50C 4S 8,000mah battery, not bad. Before I had these batteries I flew Gen Ace 40C 4S 3,000mah in parallel so I had a 4S 80C 6,000mah battery and it has power galore. When I switched over to these it took a little getting used to as they don't put out instantaneous power like an 80C cell would but the difference is milliseconds honestly. If you're looking for range, decent power and battery capacity make sure you stick with the batteries you just ordered, they are the best hands down and super, super light for those purposes. I'm going to be ordering about 4 sets of them in total so I'll have them all charged up before I even leave the house, for me that's over an hour of time in the air without having to recharge. The batteries cost about what, $26 each? Good deal! Also, I ordered these long ago for putting the batteries in parallel and I can't speak high enough about them, I'd order these too if I were you they are very well made.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230640235806

 

[parkyi]

Well chaps, gotta say a big thanks for all your tips. I'm now flying the F450 with the stock DJI 8" props (ok, ive heard bad things about these, but they seem ok at the mo, any 8" alternatives out there?) and using a Zippy compact lipo 4S 4000mah. The motors are DJI 900kv. It flies really well, very very stable and very responsive. And I'm even getting the hang of orientation now!

I got a good 16 minutes of flying time out of the zippy 4S. Didn't have any camera on board for this tho, just the F450 with landing gear/skids.

i bought 2 of these batteries and I'm definitely going to get another 2. Which will give me a good hours worth of flying. I'm thinking of selling my 3S batteries now and just standardising on 4S.

thanks again for your help and advice

Parky

 

[JG-rn]

I personally prefer 4S but I'm flying a larger F550 hexacopter. 4S is more efficient than 3S where 3S is lighter than 4S batteries so that's the real trade off. I fly with 2 x 4S 4,000mah Zippy Compacts and with all my FPV gear I still get around 14-16 minutes of flight time in total. They are the very best batteries for weight to capacity and I haven't found a single battery even close, especially at this price range. The other models, 3,700mah or 3,000mah are close but the 4,000 is the best weight to capacity. Here it is... http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idproduct=21361

I'll have to try those zippy batteres. The 4000mah only weighs about 13g more than my 4s 3300 hyperions.

My hyperions though are 45c, the zippy are 25c. Does that make a difference with these MC's?

 

[kyrkbymannen]

I flew my F550 with naza and gps late yesterday evening and with very little wind and it was rock solid. My new led light sure did make things bright while flying.

And it is just so fun to fly them in the dark too.. people are REALLY staring at them!

 

[helloman1976]

Well chaps, gotta say a big thanks for all your tips. I'm now flying the F450 with the stock DJI 8" props (ok, ive heard bad things about these, but they seem ok at the mo, any 8" alternatives out there?) and using a Zippy compact lipo 4S 4000mah. The motors are DJI 900kv. It flies really well, very very stable and very responsive. And I'm even getting the hang of orientation now!

I got a good 16 minutes of flying time out of the zippy 4S. Didn't have any camera on board for this tho, just the F450 with landing gear/skids.

i bought 2 of these batteries and I'm definitely going to get another 2. Which will give me a good hours worth of flying. I'm thinking of selling my 3S batteries now and just standardising on 4S.

thanks again for your help and advice

Parky

Hey, glad I could help. I do hours and hours of endless research to find these types of things. I got some nice flights in just yesterday with the same batteries, they work well.

 

[helloman1976]

I'll have to try those zippy batteres. The 4000mah only weighs about 13g more than my 4s 3300 hyperions.

My hyperions though are 45c, the zippy are 25c. Does that make a difference with these MC's?

I use them and they are great for long distance flying, they are not for sport flying and don't have the "punch" of a 40C+ pack. I use 2 of them in parallel to get a 25C 4S 8,000mah battery pack, that means 200A discharge rates they say that but at 100A they are sagging. Not everyone is pulling 100A though either, I've pulled around 90A max and typically my max in "normal" flight is around 60A. I use a 40C 4S 6,000mah battery setup for sport flying and using that setup I've pulled 1280W before. Hope they work out for you, I'm ordering 4 more of them Thursday.