Yes, its another Tarot 680 PRO build

Howdy,

So ive just bought a second hand Blade 350 QX to learn to fly multirotors, but have been spending a lot of time researching and coming up with my first DIY build.

I'm looking at a hex and something that is a good starting platform for aerial filming and fpv. I plan to start with using a GoPro and move up to the likes of a Sony NEX.
So ive decided on the following and any and all comments from seasoned/experienced flyers is greatly welcomed.

FRAME: Tarot Iron Man F680 PRO
FC: DJI NAZA M v2 with GPS and iOSDmini
Tx/Rx: Futaba T14SG and R7008SB
MOTORS: Tarot 4006 620KV
ESC: ZTW Spider Series 30A OPTO (undecided yet on getting RangeVideo's SimonK flashed ones or originals - someone please convince me which way!)
PROPs: RangeVideo 13x5.5 Carbon for when carrying a load / RangeVideo 11x5.5 for no load flying
BATT: 2x RangeVideo RV Power 16000mAh 4S1P 15/30C LiPo
vTx/vRx: ImmersionRC 5.8GHz 600mw transmitter / BlackPearl 7" LCD (RangeVideo) (will get goggles later)
GIMBAL: DYS 3 Axis GoPro with AlexMos controller / gimbal for NEX undecided at this stage, possibly DYS one with an upgrade to the 32bit AlexMos controller


Attached are my ecalc calculations under various loads/battery configs

View attachment 18782View attachment 18783View attachment 18784View attachment 18785View attachment 18786View attachment 18787

Thanks for your time and feedback, it will be much appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • eCalc - T680Pro_2batt_NoLoad.pdf
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  • eCalc - T680Pro_2batt_NEX_MaxLoad.pdf
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  • eCalc - T680Pro_2batt_GoPro.pdf
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  • eCalc - T680Pro_1batt_NoLoad_11prop.pdf
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  • eCalc - T680Pro_1batt_NoLoad.pdf
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  • eCalc - T680Pro_1batt_GoPro.pdf
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Ok, so no ones showing me any love, but that's alright, i can deal with that.

Anywho, been flying the 350QX as much as i can (its winter here in NZ) and have come (i think) a long, but i know ive got much further to go.

Ive also, finally managed to get everything i need to start building my hex. I have everything listed above with the exception of any FPV gear and gimbal, will have to sell the 350QX to fund the rest. Everything to make it fly i have got.
The frame finally arrived this morning from HobbyKing (took 6 weeks!).

Looking back at my calculations using ecalc (attachments above) i'm starting to wonder if i'm getting to heavy for the frame? other seems to be doing alright carrying a dslr, though not 100% on what batteries are being used, guessing 5000+ mah.
If anyone reading this has the 680 frame carrying a nex size or dslr, what batteries are you using and what flight times are you getting?
I may well get a couple of 5000mah batteries to start with before attaching the big 16000mah ones.

Thoughts/comments?
 

FlyGirl

Member
I can comment on what I know.... Definitely get the SimonK flashed ESC's or flash them yourself. The Immersion 600mw VTX works great for me. I use the 5000MaH batteries....
 

I can comment on what I know.... Definitely get the SimonK flashed ESC's or flash them yourself. The Immersion 600mw VTX works great for me. I use the 5000MaH batteries....

Thanks FlyGirl. Ive started looking into flashing the ESC's with SimonK.
 

I should read the packaging more closely. Turns out the ZTW Spider ESC's are pre-flashed with SimonK firmware! Yay for me, i don't have to mess around trying to flash them.
Build is coming along nicely, will put some photos up soon.
 

hvilorio

New Member
How is the build coming along? Any photos available? What additional parts did you need besides the ones listed above? I'm starting my own Tarot 680 PRO and am finishing buying everything I will need, but this is my first build and I don't know what I'm missing... any help appreciated.
 

Sorry, ive been a bit slack. I will try and get some photos and more info up tonight.
I have more or less finished the build and had a few test flights to dial in the gains. So far its working great.
Ive already started making plans to change it to the hybrid setup with the longer arms to run 15" props, though annoyingly i'm going to have to change the motors, most likely to the SunnySky V3508-580kv as the tarot motors are borderline with running 15" props (unless someone is having success with the tarot 4006 620kv with 15" props??)
 

How is the build coming along? Any photos available? What additional parts did you need besides the ones listed above? I'm starting my own Tarot 680 PRO and am finishing buying everything I will need, but this is my first build and I don't know what I'm missing... any help appreciated.

Additional parts, let see... i got a wiring pack from helipal, nothing much else major really, just misc tools i didn't already have. I did also use XT90 connectors for the batteries rather than the XT60.
 
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OK, ive got a lot of photos, so i thought it easier to upload to my flickr account and share the album.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alieneclipse/sets/72157646456869979/

Let me know if for some reason you can't view it.

Also, here are a couple of quick vidz for its first flight and another play flight.

First Flight, Play flight

Incase any of you are wondering whats going on in the background of my videos and photos.... i work at a high school (IT Manager), so ive been building it and testing it at work.
 

First thoughts of it in the air as this is my first time flying with the NAZA controller (previous experience is only with a Blade 350QX). Its stable and very responsive, i'm liking it a lot. Since those vids ive increased the pitch and roll gains (up around 180-190) and its sharp, very sharp. Just need to tweak the gain on Yaw to stop it moving up and down.

Still awaiting the gimbal to arrive so i can actually put my FPV gear on.

Test hover flight with one of the 16000mah batteries, i got 20 minutes and that was with the NAZA hitting the voltage protection and landing itself. The take-off weight was approx 3.25Kgs (about 7.17 lbs for you imperialists). Tweaking the voltage protection i could probably get 1-2 min more which would put in right on the money with the ecalc calculations.

Ive also done a flight with the 13x55 props carrying the second battery as weight and was getting approx 9mins mixed flight (hovering at about 10-12ft and moving back, forward, side to side in a box pattern at half stick input). The take-off weight being about 4.6-4.7kgs (~10.36lbs).

On my shopping list i'm going to get a couple of 5200mah batteries and play around to see if i can get the flight time up.

but that's where i'm at this far, any questions, just ask.
 

Well thats a pain in the ***...

Got my Gimbal this week and some other bits including 2 new ZTW Spider ESCs to replace 1 i had damaged and for 1 for a spare. What ive found is these news ones which were only manufactured 2 weeks ago (according to the paparwork in the packet) seem to be running a different version of the SimonK firmware or different firmware altogether (they are supposed to be SimonK flashed).

The startup and config sounds are vastly different than my other ZTW Spider ESCs (all of which have been purchased from the same place). Whatever firmware is running on it is worse than the older ones, the older ones (which are only 2 months old) are very responsive and idle nicely at low throttle (10-15%). The new ones are very unresponsive and scare me to not wanting to fly with them.

I have sent an email away to ZTW, to see find out if the have changed the firmware that now comes on the ESCs.
I will try an get a video uploaded to show you guys what i'm on about and maybe knowledgeable person can tell me if its genuine SimonK firmware or not by the sounds.
 
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Ive just now uploaded a video to illustrate what i'm on about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QKXT2qvBqs

If anyone can tell me if the beeps from the new ESCs are in actual fact SimonK or not. I don't know if all SimonK firmware versions/revisions use the exact same beeps or have changed over time.
May someone can tell straight off by listening/watching the video.

Cheers.
 

Well no closer to a resolution, have had no replies from ZTW yet, nor here.

One thing i have noticed now, which never caught my eye before is that this is a version 2, the packaging doesn't indicate this, only a small V2 printed on the ESC itself.

From what ive found on goodluckbuy (this isn't where i purchased them from) http://www.goodluckbuy.com/ztw-spid...trol-esc-for-multicopter-2-6s-lipo-400hz.html

Is that they run version 15.5.2013 of the SimonK firmware, still have no idea what version the original ESC ran.
Either way looks like i'm up for a whole new set of ESCs from some other manufacturer.

Anyone else running v2 of the spider ESCs?
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Did you redo ESC/throttle cal with the new ESC? There are tons of simonk firmware version, but unless you've done it yourself, you'll have no way of knowing what version is flashed on there.

Might be be worth getting a flashing tool (cheap at HK) so that you can flash your own.
 

Yes I have (see the video).
The problem is I don't know what version is on the older ESCs. I don't want to change what's on the older ones as they are working perfectly.
I'm hoping for a reply from ZTW. The version 2 looks no different hardware wise, so if ZTW can tell me what version they used to use then I could re-flash them.

Good news anyway, I managed to repair one of my ESCs by replacing the damaged capacitors. So far its running fine. Will test fly it when my new blades come in.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Sorry. Posted after only watch the first half. I have never seen an ESC/throttle cal like that. Typically with the ESCs I've done (about 4-5 manufacturers at this point) you follow the beeps with full throttle, stick down...couple beeps and then you're done. Then the stick back to full throttle would be powering the motor. When you connected the ESC, was the servo plugged directly to your RX throttle channel? Do you have a link to that cal procedure? Maybe it's a newer SimonK thing???

You're right, there is no way to "read" the FW version, which would be really helpful since there are so many different revisions now.

Nice work fixing the bad ESC. Even better since you knew its performance.
 

I just did the normal simonk calibration, as you say full throttle, power on, throttle down and its set. But it doesn't seem to work like that. I'm starting to think that its running stock amtel firmware, maybe?
It maybe because I haven't done the correct throttle calibration for whatever firmware it is, that's why its not working correctly?
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
I just did the normal simonk calibration, as you say full throttle, power on, throttle down and its set. But it doesn't seem to work like that. I'm starting to think that its running stock amtel firmware, maybe?
It maybe because I haven't done the correct throttle calibration for whatever firmware it is, that's why its not working correctly?

sounds like that may be the issue. The procedure shown on video was definitely foreign to me. You'd have to flash them yourself. It's not hard - and would make sense to have them all flashed so that you are confident they all match. Another pain in the a** :)
 

Ok, so i got a response from ZTW today...

Thanks for your positive feedback and attention to ZTW Model. Upon to your questions, the answer is following:

Can you please tell me the difference between version 1 and 2?
Attached the newest instructions for your reference, you can find out the answer there
View attachment 20272


Is it just a firmware change? no change to hardware design at all?
Only the software and the lable have been changed, spider 12A and spider 40A OPTO Small are the lastest invention.



What version of the SimonK firmware was on version 1? As i may have to flash the v2 with the old firmware to get it to work.
It is Smionk 2013.5.15, it seems all of your guys are more prefer Simonk, so the spider V2 only sale in China now


Ive asked them to confirm if the firmware on version 2 is actually SimonK firmware or not and if they are still producing the v1.
Being that a lot of us buy from chinese suppliers anyway, the fact that v2 is now only sold in china doesn't make a great deal of sense to me.

But at least i know the version of simonk firmware they did have and that the hardware hasn't changed, i should be able to reflash them and have them working.



 

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  • Spider_V2_eng.pdf
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