Snarls 250 Summer Quad - Performance ZMR Build

[jipp]

the pictures are not loading for me.. anyone else having a problem?

i did get a server error the first time i tried to load this page... so i restarted the web browser but that did not help.


anyhow, looks like a great mod.. i personally would rather deal with a toggle than two modules.. im looking at getting a teranis down the road and from what i get you can keep the orange module and also the internal frysky protocol.. nmot sure how you toggle through the both tho.

i think you can do a internal mod too.. shrugs ill worry about that when i get one. for now my POS dx6i will have to do.. i wish my optic 6 was not FM.. i really loved the feel of that TX,.. the DX feels like a toy compared to it. i hope the teranis feels solid like the optic 6... and not like a plastic toy like the dx6.

also i think im gonna build another ZMR using 2204 motors so i can compare the 1806s to the 2204s.. but that is probably a winter project.

today i ordered the camera for my flying tank project went with the sony cam with a 2.8 lens like everyone else recommends.... was a quick 34 bucks.. i sure hope i do not ruin it on my first crash or ill be pissed at my self. laughs.
i need a RX/TX plus two attena and a battery yet.. and ill have the FPV stuff. slowly getting there. even tho i feel so lost collecting FPV parts. heh. iv been calling my next build the flying tank project but in all honest i think i should call it "the flying mess" as i really have no direction. just collecting a box of parts it seems.
chris.

 

[Snarls]

Not sure what happened with the pictures, there was some server issues when I made the post. Should be good now though. Sounds like you have a lot of projects on your list jipp. I think most of us do as well. Can't wait to see your "flying tank" project come to life. It rained this weekend, but I think I'll be able to get my quad maidened tomorrow!

 

[jipp]

yeah i have lots of projects i want to do.. as my skills develop to complete them which they have not yet.. heck today i went to the local hobby store to see what they had i was surprised.. half of it was over priced multirotor stuff. soe planes, FPV, and the other half was cars.. 3 years ago they had trains taking up half of it.. the guys who are into trains are getting older as that is my step dads generation.. he has tried to get me into trains but i find it quite boring. hhe..

anyhow i picked up a sheet of hobby grade aircraft void free plywood to build a multirotor frame down the road.
that was a quick 21.00 pretty darn expensive plywood. LOL.

but hey its better to have a lot on the mind than nothing i say.
chris.

p.s

ill be starting a post soon for my next project to put a fire under my rear or i could be talking about it for years as i keep collecting more parts than i need. laughs. however, im still healing. i figure a few more days and my wrist will be 100 percent from my recent fall and ER stay.

 

[Snarls]

Maiden!

Finally, I now present to you the maiden flight! I'm running the ESCs without oneshot enabled, with Gemfan 6030s and with the 30-40c 1300mAh Turnigy battery that was involved in my first smoked ESC. So basically the quad can still be optimized to perform better. Even so, the maiden felt rock solid. Probably the most confident I've ever been with a quad, either because of the components, my hours on the simulator since I last flew, or just a smaller size being less intimidating. I did not sense any oscillations or bad tendencies, although the yaw was slow as expected.

 

[jipp]

looks great, she is flying like my zmr.. id recognize they characteristic in a heart beat. you should be proud.

iv not flown for a while either.. sigh.

also hobbyking has the 3s 1300 40-90C battery's in stock in the US warehouse.. i ordered two on friday they are showing more than 10 in stock still.. i guess the US shop got loaded up.

chris.

 

[Snarls]

Flew through three 1300mAh and half of a 2200mAh battery in my backyard today trying to dial in the yaw and get comfortable. Practiced some small circles and throttle punches while trying to avoid the trees, my house, and the neighbor's fence. Only had one major crash into a pile of wood pallets that broke a prop. I think I could really push it in a larger field, but I can tell that this thing will turn hard to see very quick.

I set up a telemetry module on the Naze, but for some reason it would not connect to my computer. Will probably fly a few more batteries then I'll try out FPV.

 

[jipp]

sounds good snarls.. my wrist should be 100 percent so i hope to burn through a few battery's next week in the morning.. as its summer here and flying in 116F just does not sound fun to be honest.. at night ill have to get a night flyer since i total my nano qx as it had LED.. i was flying that every day next to the ac before the big crash that total it.. now i have the FC and three motors, to building something with down the road.. micro hex would be neat. probably order a BNF nano next month as i sure miss it.

anyhow, the 1300 45-90C came today, now i have 8 battery's to burn through. i think my next battery purchase will be a 1400 as my next quad will be a 280mm instead of the 250 as the zmr so that is my logic on that... w hich got me to thinking..
you said the mini is easier to fly, what larger quad were you flying if i may ask? do you think the weight just amplified mistakes?

any idea on the telemetry? is it a naze issue or the module it self? iv seen a few blue tooth but they say naze only as im using CC3d i did not buy it.

chris.

 

[Snarls]

you said the mini is easier to fly, what larger quad were you flying if i may ask? do you think the weight just amplified mistakes?

I was flying my 550mm spider quad that I built. I think it is harder to fly not because it is not stable, but because it is really intimidating to fly in my not so large backyard. It could be that or the fact that it is a custom wood build with budget parts, whereas the ZMR is very solid with top of the line parts. I think if I take it to a field I will be able to fly it well.

any idea on the telemetry? is it a naze issue or the module it self? iv seen a few blue tooth but they say naze only as im using CC3d i did not buy it.

Not sure why it does not work. I know the modules work because I used them, on my multiwii pro board, and I know they are communicating because the green lights are solid. So I think its a failure of communication between module plugged into the computer and the computer/cleanflight. Perhaps the wrong driver.

 

[Snarls]

Woohoo did my very first FPV flight ever today. It was a little nerve racking trying it for the first time in a yard full of things to hit. Despite this I got the quad into a nice hover and put the goggles on and woah. I would call it awareness and lack of awareness at the same time. The flying seemed much more intuitive and natural, but my mind was trying to comprehend the movement without actually moving my body. I felt myself moving my head around a few times as if I could turn the camera. Second flight I got more comfortable and things started feeling a lot like the simulator. I ended up going through five batteries flying behind trees and under a bar I set up. Broke a prop trying to land and caught my video TX going under the bar (it's kinda like a hook sticking up like that). All and all really fun.

One strange thing did happen though. I wanted to test the range of my video so I flew over to the other side of my house. I got on the other side so it was house between me and the quad and my RC tx went out. I did not know what was happening at the time, but luckily failsafe brought me down (from a meter up) safely without damage. There were other times too where I would plug the battery into the quad and it would fail to find the TX. I'm going to have to open up my TX tonight to see whats up, and then do some range testing. I think one factor could be that I'm flying close to my house wifi. Not sure if you guys have any ideas.

Other things to note: The Quanum DIY goggles are nice, but heavy. After five batteries it was hurting my nose. I'll have to add a third, vertical strap I think. Second is that the quad oscillates or "shimmies" when I punch the throttle in an ascent. I think this is a PID issue I will have to tune out. Lastly, at some point I will tweak my rc rates and try some flips. The roll and pitch right now seem too slow to get a quick flip done.

 

[Darkback2]

I have fallen over trying to lean my way around a corner...Needless to say I fly sitting down now.

 

[jipp]

Woohoo did my very first FPV flight ever today. It was a little nerve racking trying it for the first time in a yard full of things to hit. Despite this I got the quad into a nice hover and put the goggles on and woah. I would call it awareness and lack of awareness at the same time. The flying seemed much more intuitive and natural, but my mind was trying to comprehend the movement without actually moving my body. I felt myself moving my head around a few times as if I could turn the camera. Second flight I got more comfortable and things started feeling a lot like the simulator. I ended up going through five batteries flying behind trees and under a bar I set up. Broke a prop trying to land and caught my video TX going under the bar (it's kinda like a hook sticking up like that). All and all really fun.

One strange thing did happen though. I wanted to test the range of my video so I flew over to the other side of my house. I got on the other side so it was house between me and the quad and my RC tx went out. I did not know what was happening at the time, but luckily failsafe brought me down (from a meter up) safely without damage. There were other times too where I would plug the battery into the quad and it would fail to find the TX. I'm going to have to open up my TX tonight to see whats up, and then do some range testing. I think one factor could be that I'm flying close to my house wifi. Not sure if you guys have any ideas.

Other things to note: The Quanum DIY goggles are nice, but heavy. After five batteries it was hurting my nose. I'll have to add a third, vertical strap I think. Second is that the quad oscillates or "shimmies" when I punch the throttle in an ascent. I think this is a PID issue I will have to tune out. Lastly, at some point I will tweak my rc rates and try some flips. The roll and pitch right now seem too slow to get a quick flip done.

you have me excited to try FPV.. i too went with the quanuim DIY.. but i went with version 2 with the swim suit condom for the foam.. which seem to have that third strap you are talking about.. i wonder if it was added because of complaints?

i too will be nervous as i will be a small place for my first FPV.. but man.. you have me excited to try FPV. heh.. i can see how it would be more second nature lack of a better term.. as a youth i guess all them FP shooters i use to play may pay off. LOL

thanks for sharing your first flight. may i ask what battery you used for your goggles.. that is one of two things i need to order yet..

also good luck on your range.. i guess since you modded your Tx that would be the first place i would investigate too.

thats to bad about the telemetry, hope its a simple driver.

chris.

 

[Snarls]

may i ask what battery you used for your goggles.. that is one of two things i need to order yet..

I'm just using the 1300mAh 30-40c Turnigy that might have suffered some damage when I smoked my ESC. It has been behaving very well though and makes sense to use because it is the only non 45-90c 1300mAh I own. I think a larger battery would be too heavy to fit on the goggles, and a smaller battery might not last long enough. Four batteries worth of FPV flights and setup in between brought the receiver battery down to 11.8v.

 

[jipp]

thanks snarls. i have 4 of the 1300 30-50C batters and just bought two of the High C.. ill order to more next month. it seems hobbyking is well stock both east/west for high C batterys.

did you have to get a adapter? i do not think the T-60 will work with my setup.. but im still waiting on the antenna/RX/TX to get here. i was thinking i would need a smaller battery..
looks like i have almost everything thing i need for FPV.

chris.

 

[Snarls]

You might have to, depending how DIY your setup is. I have the Quanum bundle with goggles and skyzone FPV gear so all the wiring was pre made.

 

[jipp]

thats cool. im probably going to have too. but i wont know for sure till i get the receiver/vtx in the mail any day. then ill know if i need SMA adapters too.

hope you get to fly some this weekend..

chris.

 

[Snarls]

Flips and Motor Noise

Practiced my first multirotor flips today. First flip the quad only managed to flip upside down before it smacked the ground from 30' up. The battery flew off and that was it. Upped the rates and got a full roll, but did not punch it enough to avoid smacking the ground. broke 3 props. Set the roll and pitch rates in Cleanflight up to .50 and the RC rate to 1.25 and I could finally get a full flip. Did a handful of rolls, backflips and diagonal flips. Rolls take the most space with about 8' of altitude loss while the backflips and diagonals have a loss of only about 5'.

Came in and landed and went back to the work bench when I discovered that one of the Cobras was grindy and would spin and stop at points. Took an air can to it and it started spinning fully, but the motor still sounds a little different when I spin it. It is very minor. I'm thinking one of the bearings has dirt in it or is damaged. Flew a 2200 or it and the quad still flies fine. If it gets worse or affects my video and flight I might inquire about a warranty.

 

[Snarls]

Quad is flying good. I opened up the TX and resoldered my entire OrangeRX module mod and it is much cleaner now. Took the quad out for an FPV flight in my yard and was able to fully circle my house. Video had some static on the other side of the house, but control was good. I had the GoPro on and I would show you the video, but I was going pretty slow :l Tomorrow I might bring it to a larger field and do some speed runs, although I'm not sure how fast I can go before I need to tilt the camera.

 

[Snarls]

Took the quad out to a big field today for some speed runs and filming. At high throttle the quad will shake so I will have to adjust some PIDs. I only had one bad crash smashing into a log dividing the parking lot and field. All four props broke, the GoPro flew off along with breaking my newly made angled mount, the video antenna is partially severed and the battery is crumpled slightly. Put some new props on and it flies. I am just hoping the VTX did not burn out when the antenna broke. I had both a stationary camera filming and the GoPro, but it looks like the GoPro lost the footage in the crash.

 

[jipp]

sounds like a crash worthy of the 4th. i fear just that with a camera of any quality so i still plan on using a runcam or mobius, or the js4000. should be good enough for any mini. on a larger quad i will justify a more expensive camera, but that would be a grandma flying machine.. slow and stable is all i care about. heh.

 

[Snarls]

Been flying this thing pretty fast lately. I tilted the camera 15-20 degrees and still had majority grass to look at so I will increase it more. I crashed twice today getting a little overconfident with flips, but the result was only one broken prop. One issue I keep fighting against is that my battery is slipping out in crashes. I know the forces are high, but I'm going to try some battery straps from Hovership as well as try to find some grippy material for the battery to sit on. Let me know what you guys do.