Quadrocopters :)

[learnerdriver]

Originally Posted by Steve Ball

Peter King just north of Wolverhampton makes up Hobbyking kits with the Ardupilot 2.5 flight controller. I have one of his setup's and for £270 which includes GPS to do waypoints etc. You honestly cannot go far wrong for the money.

can you pm me his details , please, looking to upgrade my 450
thanks

[andys]

Pm Sent

Spoke to Peter, he e-mailed me details of the gear too. Seems like he really knows his stuff

Don't know why this ArduPilot 2.5 flight controller was not on my radar. Seems to do everything the Naza can and more. Looks great from the video's.

Very tempted by this now - just not entirely keen on the idea of buying it built as I like to tinker myself, but at least it will work and I suppose you can tinker from a point where it initially flies

[andys]

After weeks of head scratching - I have ordered this little lot - all from the HobbyKing UK Warehouse. I was very tempted to buy a built Quad from Peter King - but I feel the only way to really learn is to build it myself. With this in mind i've gone for the smaller Quad, cheaper and less likely to break as i'm learning

With shipping came in at £157.46

I have though bought 2 frames and an extra esc for spares

I still need props / radio TX /RX / power distribution board / receiver wires, plugs / Lipo connectors . Anything else chaps ?

2x #260000006/38063 F330 Glass Fiber Mini Quadcopter Frame 330mm (UK Warehouse) = $22.50
1x #9171000073/31656 Hobbyking KK2.0 Multi-rotor LCD Flight Control Board (UK Warehouse) = $30.65
1x #9171000016/35250 5.6mm x 21mm M3 Nylon Threaded Spacer (10pc) (UK Warehouse) = $2.30
1x #OR009-00502/35181 M3x8 Nylon Screws (10pcs/bag) (UK Warehouse) = $0.93
2x #N2650.3S.25/32243 Turnigy nano-tech 2650mah 3S 25~50C Lipo Pack (UK Warehouse) = $34.78
4x #SK3-2822-1275/31202 Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 - 2822-1275 Brushless Outrunner Motor (UK Warehouse) = $66.44
1x #TR_PC/29330 TURNIGY BESC Programming Card (UK Warehouse) = $7.58
5x #TR_P18A/28407 TURNIGY Plush 18amp Speed Controller (UK Warehouse) = $62.10

[andys]

Added this list from the US Warehouse :

Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver (Mode 2) (v2 Firmware)
*JIT-Item (this item takes 3-5 days to dispatch)

10CM Male to Male Servo Lead (JR) 26AWG (10pcs/set)
Hobby King Quadcopter Power Distribution Board
On-Board Lipoly Low Voltage Alarm 2s~3s
8045 SF Props 2pc Standard Rotation/2 pc RH Rotation (Black)
8045 SF Props 2pc Standard Rotation/2 pc RH Rotation (Red)
Individual HXT 3.5mm connector for motor/ESC (12pc)
5.6mm x 8mm M3 Nylon Tapped Spacer (10pc)
M3x8 Nylon Screws (10pcs/bag)
HXT 4MM to Banana Plug Charge Lead Adapter
HXT 4mm Connector to T-plug conversion charge lead

[neallewis]

Looks good that lot Andy, will make a very capable and fast small quad i'm sure.

[andys]

Originally Posted by neallewis

Looks good that lot Andy, will make a very capable and fast small quad i'm sure.

Cheers Neal - my only concern is the motors - thought they were ideal but after ordering I began to wonder if they will be powerful enough. Plenty or rpm - but not much power on the specs.

Ive read various info / posts mainly saying they should be ok and as the Quad should be lighter I'm hoping it will be ok

No doubt it will be a while for it all to arrive - I'm in no rush.
You do realise I'll be asking even more questions now

Cheers. Andy

[night.freak]

Those motors will be plenty powerful enough as it is a small Quad. i see you ordered a low voltage alarm, there is one on the KK2 lcd board but you have to solder 2 wires and connect it to the power distribution board, worth doing. Good luck with the Wild animal.

[Steve Ball]

Keep us updated how it goes. Yes Peter knows his stuff, the Ardupilot 2.5 is a good controller, certainly does more than the Naza and its getting better each month as new firmware is released.

I don't think it'll be long before you upgrade the KK controller and start adding things like GPS and camera's, I know I didn't!

I filmed this at the Dez Chand meet in insanely high winds, I put my quad in Loiter and let go of the transmitter!

[Steve Ball]

And I've just noticed you've bought 4 standard rotation blades. You need 2 CW and 2 CCW blades.

Hope this helps,
Steve

[andys]

Hi Steve.

Cheers for the info

These are the prop sets I ordered :
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=25815
Says - "SF Props 2pc Standard Rotation/2 pc RH Rotation (Red) - Complete with spacer rings."
So I hope they are right !

My favourite part of RC cars is building them - so I had to 'have a go' myself with this and buy the bits to self assemble.

Peter was very helpful - and I was very tempted, maybe if I like this little one, i'll go to him for the next one

Re the alarm - I read up on that last night. So much to learn - I feel like I have learnt a new language this last month or so

[andys]

Originally Posted by night.freak

Good luck with the Wild animal.

Worried now
Thought it would be tame with smaller motors !

[Col]

The props are fine Andy.

My replacement motor arrived a couple of weeks ago, but it seems it took a phase out of the esc with it, so I've bought another 4 of those which arrived today.

RE the kk2.0 - I've flashed mine onto v1.5fw, but there are numerous hacked ones about as well. Later I'll be flashing it to another which has much improved acro settings as well as the improved self level and an apparently superb camera gimbal controller.
If you want to borrow the flash tool just let me know and I'll post it over to you - flashing was initially daunting but actually extremely simple.

Hopefully will have it in the air sometime soon...

p.s. those motors are animals...

[andys]

Cheers Col.

Please post and let us know how you get on with the Quad now you have some new parts

My UK order is now 'en route' but the US order has not left yet.

Looking forward to building it. Let me know how the new firmware goes and I may take you up on the kind offer of the 'flash' gear

Andy

[night.freak]

Cool Quad Video. Looks like a Nice Track there too.
Thought i would show you my Little Quad video too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmGqf6beuQU

[Col]

Originally Posted by andys

Please post and let us know how you get on with the Quad now you have some new parts

Well.. it flies. Badly.
I think it's probably my fault - I've continually messed with the PI settings (which TBH I don't really understand) so when I get some time I'll factory reset all the settings and start again.

But I don't care! It flies!

[Danny Harrison]

May aswell jump on bandwagon. The little chinese quads are ace to learn with. This is first day my syma landed from bangood. 27 quid delivered with 2 batteries

http://youtu.be/X5Bd3K7jEOg

[andys]

Originally Posted by Danny Harrison

May aswell jump on bandwagon. The little chinese quads are ace to learn with. This is first day my syma landed from bangood. 27 quid delivered with 2 batteries

http://youtu.be/X5Bd3K7jEOg

Looks awesome - have you flown one before - you look pretty confident with it
That little quad looks pretty rapid compared with my WL Toys one - is it bigger / more powerful?

[neallewis]

Originally Posted by andys

Looks awesome - have you flown one before - you look pretty confident with it
That little quad looks pretty rapid compared with my WL Toys one - is it bigger / more powerful?

It's actually the same! just with a different bodyshell and white front props. the Tx software is also the older type where you push a button to flip, rather than the auto-flip at 100% setting on our WL toys v949s.

[Danny Harrison]

Originally Posted by andys

Looks awesome - have you flown one before - you look pretty confident with it
That little quad looks pretty rapid compared with my WL Toys one - is it bigger / more powerful?

Just had a couple goes of Neals before it came, I seem to find them fairly intuitive. Probably from playing on playstations for years as a kid/young adult

[Col]

You seem to have the same camera man as Neal... turn it round 90degree!

A full reset has transformed mine and (with the 1min of battery life left) it flew pretty well tonight. Still needs some fine tuning, but it's a vast improvement on last night.
Should be at YORCC on the 25th of you boys fancy it?