FT Versacopter V2 AWSOME oh crap @#$%@#$%

[Bottanker]

I want to start out saying hi and how excited I am to finally add content to the site.
My name is Shawn and I am active duty military stationed here at Fort Bliss, TX.
I have been on and off the hobby for the past 20 years. I started racing 1/12 scale road cars.
For the past two years ive been playing around with Blade planes, quads, and Helo's.

I have seen almost every single ft YouTube videos and even FTLIVE, miss that channel.

I week ago I came across the Versa copter V2 on EBay. I was so excited because finally it was in my budget (Thank Dear).
It came with the following(1) Flight Test VersaCopter 280-V2 Quad Frame
(4) Motors - Emax 2204 2300kv
(4) ESCs – Emax BL Heli 12 amp
(4) M5 Locknuts (CW Threaded)
(4) Emax 6x4.5 Props (spares)
(1) Naze32 (rev 6) flight controller board
(1) Custom Flite Test Lipo Bag
(1) Runcam Skyplus FPV camera
(1) Eachine VYX ET200 200mw 5.8Ghz video transmitter
(1) AOMWAY 4-L-RPSMA RHCP 5.8Ghz video antenna
(1) OrangeRX 2.4Ghz DMSX/DSM2 compatible receiver
(1) RunCam HD camera

I opened the box and took it over to my desk and opened it up and who put it together did a fine job.
Download Cleanflight and connected the copter to the PC. Watching FT and following there directions on setting it up for me.
Yesterday I took it out to test fly it and it didn't go so well. Before I broke anything brought it back inside to check my settings. Ran into some issues working with cleanflight and watching youtube videos to set up my PID's and the FT Videos were not really matching up with the values that cleanflight is using now.
Today I put new props on well did this twice because I didn't put them on right the first time. Went to take my maden and seamed little sluggish on the ground just spinning the motors up. Went to get it off the ground to hoover and it started to rodeo. OH GOD. The quad shot straight up and tagged the light pole. Really touchy, and the came crashing to the ground. broke props and the runcam DVR holder lucky I didn't put it on yet so it is safe.

Here are a few issues I ran into looking at clean flight. First off clean flight doesn't see a magnetometer like the flight test video I was watching. I do have a green light for Gyro, accel, baro.



And I just used some quess work for PID's just because the videos I was watching didn't match up.




So low and behold I now have a dinged up copter and kinda left in the dark and ready to go at it again later and to make sure I have don't need new parts.



I am very new at flying quads and everyone makes it look so easy lol. but for my quad any surjections would be helpful to try to keep my crash's to a min. Thank you.

 

[PsyBorg]

First off Thank you for serving our country mate. I know it ain't the best of times to do so with all the craziness in the world.

First off the reaction you got is similar to a few others who recently built quads and did not isolate the Flight controller from vibration well enough. Make sure you use the rubber "O" rings if you used stand offs to mount the FC or two layers of double sided tape if you stuck it to the mounting plate with the little gremlin.

The Versa is actually a very docile quad if you set it up by the videos. I think after reading what you had wrote regarding pids you have missed something in the translation. PIDS will be different for every quad there is as not a one is exactly balanced or put together with the same precision as well as part weights not being exact either due to the many different configurations. The general "Base" settings for starter flying just to get off the ground in a stable manor is the 4, 6, 8.5 method for p gains. set your I gains for pitch and roll between .30 and .40 to start and yaw between .40 and .50 D gains set to 10 on pitch and roll and 0 on yaw. That "Should get you a stable base to at least hover it and get a feel for it.

The key is setting up your rates before you try tuning. These will change as you get better and thus will require a new tune each time. RC rate will be how hard the quad flips, rolls and yaws. Roll Rate is how fast it will roll , Pitch rate is how fast it will flip, and yaw rate is how fast it will turn.

Opinions will vary on these settings and they are purely a feel of how you can and want your quad to fly. I would suggest for a nice docile start that you set RC rate to .7, Roll rate to .6, Pitch to .6 and yaw to .8. The quad will probably do flips with those but they will be slow and require some altitude when you first try them (later rather then sooner).

Make sure you have set your channel centers to as close to 1500 as you can get and your end points at 1000, and 2000 on all channels. this is done using sub trims on your radio for centers and travel adjustments for the end points. Once you have these set NEVER use the radio trims to make changes as this will off set everything and make it go goofy.

I suggest that you start off using the radio expos until you have an idea what you like to fly with as that is easily changed in the field. I suggest set roll and pitch to 65-70% expo and yaw between 0 and 15%

After that make sure you have done your throttle calibration and test to make sure the motors are in fact turning the correct directions. Once that has been done THEN you can put the props on making sure they to are going the correct rotation with the numbering facing up. After that its take it outside and slowly raise the throttle until it looks like the weight is starting to get off the ground and do a quick check that roll is roll pitch is pitch and yaw is yaw using subtle movements without lifting it off the ground fully. (I have in the past used my radio to fly a sim and had reversed channels to do so and forgotten before launching air planes to find the second it got off the ground I did not change things back) after that its take a deep breath and lift slowly. Once it hovers you can then try forward flight and see how the roll pitch and yaws seem and have an idea what you want to do with rates to better match your skill and comfort before trying to get a tighter tune. (ALWAYS done in acro mode not in any type of level mode for tuning)

You can start off in a leveling mode if you are nervous but the soone you get into acro the better and faster your progress will be. (I STILL always have a level mode programmed on a switch for them "Oh Crap" moments like when video blacks out)

Hope all that means something to you after setting it up and watching videos. If not feel free to ask specific questions going step by step in the above process.

 

[Bottanker]

OK here goes nothing thank you PYS Ill let you know how it goes

 

[Bottanker]

FT Versacopter V2

So I really wanted to start this thread to kind of make it a daily blog thing but that hasn't worked yet lol. So I finally got in the air a week ago. I've never had so much fun with a quad before. So a few thing I've noticed are
1. This little quad is bullet proof (versacopter v2)
2. Prop really don't last long looks like a bulk buy item
3. FT YouTube videos need a disclaimer of how hard it really is to fly and they make it look way to easy
4. Flying FPV right out of the box really doesn't seam fezable
5. Since every quad is different seems like there needs to be a PID and tuning for dummy's

So since I was able to find a good group of guys here in el paso last weekend with there help I was able to get into the air and fly around.
Really don't know what was different from what I was doing and what they helped with either way I got in the air thanks guys. I've made it a must that I get up in the air and burn at least one pack every day. in just the week I've done this I have been able to now recover and not crash as much. really wanting to work towards flying FPV. I'm still working on tuning as much as I can. Really messing around with my I's. Every day I spend time online looking and learning. More information I can gather the more successful I will be. This brings me to another thought/point. Goals Why am I doing this. Well for me It is for free stuff and to become a YouTuber. As I know this is far off and if possible. While I'm in the army I am able to go off to so really cool places and would like to get video of each spot And either way for what ever happens I will have fun. I have gotten a new frame this week and doing a lot of planning for this build being my first. I really want something I can grow with. Thanks every one for the view and any words of wisdom would be great. I will make it a habit to post daily

 

[PsyBorg]

Great to hear you got to fly and are starting to progress. Guess now is time to pass on some more information.

1. Props should be bought by the pound once you decide which ones you like to fly with. Each change will require slight tune adjustments to be perfect. For now I suggest you shoot for stable untill you learn and understand better.

2. FPV Freerider flight sim. The basic level is free and the complete version is like 10-15 dollar donation. WELL worth the investment if you fly race quads at all. I fly it every night if I can and most cold days I am on it for at least an hour or three trying to work out tricks n such. It will also give you a better perspective for flying FPV without the damage costs. You can run any tranmitter you wish that has a trainer port using a program called "Smartpropoplus"

3. As for tuning there are many methods but I have found one that has gotten me from guessing to actually understanding what I am looking for and how to adjust for it. I suggest you watch these two videos to start. The first one explains a bit about what pids do and what changes happen when you do make changes to them. The second one is the one that got me to fully understand and have a much better idea of how to tune and what exactly I was looking for.

As always feel free to post your progress (get videos!!) and do not hesitate to ask for help. There are a lot more people here besides me that have a better understanding and can go more in-depth if necessary to help you. Keep on getting stick time when you can and Enjoy the Holidays you have certainly earned the good times.