First quad, first build, need help

[crayfellow]

I would reiterate SunnySky, and only from a reputable source. I am personally running SunnySky X2204S 2300KV on a Blackout Mini H with 5" prop and X2212 KV980 II with 9" prop on a wooden tricopter. Both are nice and smooth, great value for the price.

Be sure to order only from a reputable source such as http://www.buddyrc.com or http://www.readymaderc.com . Otherwise you may well end up with counterfeit motors, it's NOT worth the risk to safe a few bucks.

 

[crayfellow]

I see the motors you're trying to use are also 980kv, so I recommend SunnySky X2212 KV980 II from BuddyRC. $20 apiece right now, they are working great on my kids' super smooth, consistent wooden tricopter.

Keep in mind they come with bare wire, so if you really want to use bullet connectors vs. direct soldered wires, you will need some of those as well. You'll need to re-check motor direction, once you've got them wired up; just switch any two of the wires to reverse one that ends up backwards.

 

[fengshuidrone]

I personally use Turnigy Multistar 980Kv motors. I would never run less than 9" prop using them though. They are pretty much rated for 9" to 11" props. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought low KV = low RPM = more torque = bigger props.
Personally I would go with 5" props on 1900 to 2800Kv.

 

[Raptorboy]

Well... I have messed with my motors quite a bit. I loosened the clip on the bottom of the motor just a hair and I ran the motors at about 75% throttle for 5 min. It appears that they may have "broken in". They now feel the same and also start at the same time when I throttle up. I did all this the day after I broke one of the props. So I ordered new props today. Hopefully they will be in soon.

 

[crayfellow]

best of luck!

 

[Raptorboy]

best of luck!

I'm gonna need it. This quad is kicking my but. Can't get it to fly.

 

[Raptorboy]

It flys! Took a LONG time to get it in te air. But it flies! It has no responsiveness in any controls except for the throttle though. I'm assuming I need to change the gains and settings. Anyone have a link to good stettings for a KK2 x-quad??

 

[crayfellow]

I'd say just offhand even without tuning you should have a basic response to pitch, roll, and yaw. Had you been tweaking those values before while trying to sort out what was happening?

Or are you saying you do have basic response, just not enough to your liking? It it heavily expo'd, where a little stick only has a small response, and you need to move it a lot to get a strong reaction?

 

[Raptorboy]

There is not enough response to any controls other than throttle. When you give it inputs from the radio you can tell that there is a slight change in the quad. But certainly not enough to actually steer it.

 

[crayfellow]

alright, that is indeed expo. Are you sure you don't have expo set on your transmitter? Otherwise, check your expo on your KK2 before you alter any PID's.

 

[Raptorboy]

expo?

 

[crayfellow]

Sorry, expo is short for exponential. Think of a set of numbers. A linear set (a straight line) would be 1,2,3,4,5, ... an example of an exponential set would be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, ...

View attachment 25691

So as you move the stick on your transmitter, it's following some function in the way it affects the movement of your craft. At the very least, the transmitter (the sticks you are moving), flight controller, and ESC's are all impacting this.

"High" expo would be a very bent curve, where you might move the stick 50% or more to the limit, but the impact to the desired throttle, roll, pitch, or yaw are very small. But move closer to the extremes, and the impact becomes 'exponentially' extreme.

So you'd want to check your expo settings on the transmitter as well as the flight controller in order to truly understand what to expect from the craft. You might try hovering in a SAFE, CONTROLLED, OPEN ENVIRONMENT, then test a small roll/pitch to confirm a small response, then try (for example) moving roll or pitch to ever greater extremes, slowly back and forth to keep it generally in the same hover location. If your expo setting is to extreme for your desires, you should find an exponentially more significant reaction as you get closer to the extremes with your stick inputs.

 

[Raptorboy]

Sorry, expo is short for exponential. Think of a set of numbers. A linear set (a straight line) would be 1,2,3,4,5, ... an example of an exponential set would be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, ...

View attachment 25691

So as you move the stick on your transmitter, it's following some function in the way it affects the movement of your craft. At the very least, the transmitter (the sticks you are moving), flight controller, and ESC's are all impacting this.

"High" expo would be a very bent curve, where you might move the stick 50% or more to the limit, but the impact to the desired throttle, roll, pitch, or yaw are very small. But move closer to the extremes, and the impact becomes 'exponentially' extreme.

So you'd want to check your expo settings on the transmitter as well as the flight controller in order to truly understand what to expect from the craft. You might try hovering in a SAFE, CONTROLLED, OPEN ENVIRONMENT, then test a small roll/pitch to confirm a small response, then try (for example) moving roll or pitch to ever greater extremes, slowly back and forth to keep it generally in the same hover location. If your expo setting is to extreme for your desires, you should find an exponentially more significant reaction as you get closer to the extremes with your stick inputs.

Thank you very much for your input. This is my first RC anything that didn't come from walmart or radio shack and there SO much to learn.

 

[crayfellow]

that's why this is such a great avocation/research project/field! There is always more to learn, I learn something every day I play around with this stuff! Did just a few minutes ago!

How's it going now? when you move the sticks closer to the extremes do they have more of an impact or is it soft throughout? You may just need to do a radio calibration (sorry I am not familiar with kk2 so I don't know how it is done).

 

[Raptorboy]

It flies!! I crashed it and broke some stuff. But it flies! I actually did a factory reset on the KK2 board and it flew pretty well. Maybe a little to responsive. Once I make some repairs I may have to try and slow it down a little until I get better at flying it.