250 Racer (or any multi rotor) ARM Question and a little about spin up!

[jaskoller]

Question for you professors of quad fun! What are you setting on your transmitters to arm your FC board? Some people are using sticks in certain areas (like lower left etc). Some people are using a switch. What do you do? And, if you would be so kind as to tell me why you chose what you chose.

Also, two quickies,
1. Do you allow your FC to spin up or do you leave that checked to disable spin up on start?
2. I watch the freestyle guys flying 250 racers and they leave their blades spinning when they throttle all the way down. I'm told this will leave them with control even when the throttle stick is all the way down. Are they really doing that? And if so, how? I've looked around and can't find anything about that.. How do they stop the spin in a crash? Just disarm?


Any help would be great.

 

[Topdawg]

I currently run Betaflight on my quads. In Betaflight you have the luxury of using Airmode. What this does is gives you control of your craft even when throttle is all the way down. As such you could accidentally disarm by using throttle and yaw. So I use a switch to Arm. Furthermore as part of this I keep my props spinning, because you still need them to be spinning to have the craft in the air. I know some of the higher artists use different mixes to accomplish the same thing by using a throttle up switch and than don't have the motors spin. I guess that is all personal preference. However, I figure in a crash I don't want to be thinking that I have to flip a switch and than use throttle and yaw to stop motors. I just flick the switch and the motors stop. Unfortunately I can not really help with setting up a throttle up switch if that is what you choose to do. I do hope this helps a little though.

 

[jaskoller]

It's a Start!

Thank you Topdawg. This did answer some of my questions.

 

[C0d3M0nk3y]

What are you setting on your transmitters to arm your FC board?

I arm with a switch.

And, if you would be so kind as to tell me why you chose what you chose.

So I don't accidentally disarm if I'm doing a yaw maneuver with no throttle.

Do you allow your FC to spin up or do you leave that checked to disable spin up on start?

I have the motors spinning while the quad is armed.

I watch the freestyle guys flying 250 racers and they leave their blades spinning when they throttle all the way down. I'm told this will leave them with control even when the throttle stick is all the way down. Are they really doing that?

Yes. This is what I do.

And if so, how?

There are two common ways to do this. One is to use air mode like Topdawg mentioned. The method I prefer is to put a throttle mix on a switch to make the value at zero throttle stick the minimum throttle value that will control the motors. This is commonly called an idle up mix or an idle up switch.

How do they stop the spin in a crash? Just disarm?

Yes, I disarm on a crash. It's easy when you're using a switch to arm.

 

[jaskoller]

Great Info!

Thank you C0d3M0nk3y, this is exactly what I was looking for. So just to be clear, you arm with a switch, and then you throttle up with another switch? So this would be similar to my heli. (but not full throttle of course) I'll do some playing around with it. This is my first racing/freestyle type quad so I'm learning as I go. I appreciate all your shared info.