Advice for a new FPV Quadcopter User

[Nightwalker]

A little intro; I am in the UK and looking to get into using a FPV Quadcopter, I have just today received a Eachine 250 Racer with controller and screen from Singapore.

Backstory: So my first Quad was a small Hubsan X4 H107C which I have been flying for many months now and I would say I'm quite proficient with it and can manoeuvre it exactly how I want, I'm very confident with it. The Hubsan X4 is fairly small and cheap (~£45) but I think it is superb little model.

I'm interested in photography so I didn't hesitate to dismantle my Hubsan X4 and upgrade its camera by soldering in a new higher res camera-board from BangGood, so I'm not scared of a basic soldering job But the thought of building my own drone from scratch would probably be a little daunting for me. I have a GoPro 3 so I look forward to attaching it to my new Eachine Racer 250 and getting some HQ shots.

I don't have a lot of cash to spend but I've always wanted a bigger / better quadcopter; hence my most recent purchase (Eachine Racer 250 FPV with 2.4G I6 Controller 6CH Transmitter 7 Inch Monitor). Shipped into the UK from Singapore the full bundle + import-duty charges cost me around £240 which is the highest I could afford for a drone atm.

I liked the fact that it was pre-built and mostly ready to go. The instructions were very minimal and don't really tell you how to get started, I watched a few videos online about this model and it seem to be that everyone was using OpenPilot GCS to do an initial configuration and calibration before their first flight, I don't know if that was required but I kinda of assumed it might have been.

So I downloaded & installed OpenPilot and got the firmware re-flashed & calibration done.

I'm sensible when it comes to safety so I wont be attempting to fly this indoors at all as I realise it is more powerful and can cause injury. The weather is appalling here at the moment so I may have to wait a day or two. But I have a few questions for the community:

Are there any guides that you would recommend for beginners to FPV / Quadcopters? Either on here or elsewhere? I have seen FliteTest's great 5 tips for new drone users and have been watching FliteTest for the past few months (I love it!)

I picked up a good glossary of terminology here: http://blog.oscarliang.net/quadcopter-acronyms-term-glossary-word-drone/

I have also lost one Hubsan X4 back when I was learning in long-grass so to my Racer 250 I will be fitting a lost alarm/buzzer which I am yet to purchase. I'm open to advice and looking for useful resources.

Thanks for your time and help.

 

[Nightwalker]

Propellers

So here's a good example of the kind of thing that might baffle a beginner and I'm wondering if anyone can help me with: Propellers and how to know which goes where? I understand that on the quadcopter I've got some rotate clockwise and others counter-clockwise and the matching pairs are diagonally opposite to one another however with my Eachine Racer 250 (shown in attached photo) which comes with a spair set of propellers I have noticed that the propellers are angled differently, the back ones are black, front white, but there are two different types of white and black ones.



A close inspection of the propellers shows very tiny writing which says: 5030R and on the other type it says 5030 would I be right to assume the inclusion of the letter 'R' on one type might be to indicate that they should be used on the right-side of the vehicle?

I have noticed that the rear black propellers have the same lettering. Are there any FliteTest or other guides out there shows how propeller angles should work for quadcopters? Apologies if I have missed it, thanks for your time.

Update: I just watched this great FliteTest video from 5+ years ago that taught me something about propellers, quite often the numbers on indicate the diameter and pitch. So with my propellers the number '5' indicates that it is five inches long. Still not clued up on the angles though.

 

[Longbaorder23]

Unfortunately i havent found a bible on all these subjects, because trust me i would be screaming about it if i had haha. But good thing you saw something on propeller direction and the numbers, thats easily a very frustrating thing when learning. As far as quads and FPV goes, id say for sure the FPV side of the machine is far simpler than the quad side, being that any fpv system has maybe 5 or 6 parts total, and a quad has well over 20 individual parts lol. As youve seen, i love oscars blog, hes really a tinkerer to appreciate, and his work is spectacular, especially in the more complicated side of setting up a multirotor. Once you get the hang of building and assembling, and it seems youre already good for soldering, the hardest part in my opinion is tuning, which i think is the steepest learning curve of them all. Again, Oscar has some great content there, and i will tell you now, beta flight is awesome. It seems if youre using openpilot, i assume you have a cc3d? Some people i fly with have those, but it still seems that literally every one of those pilots is battling the cc3d in one way or another. it wont do this, or it wont do that, or it behaves strangely. I would highly recommend a naze rev6, or like the latest flip32 racing edition, both will perform identically and superbly well, and with betaflight, its literally unmatched performance with very little tuning to be done. Search up BorisB's betaflight fork, it is a godsend.

But, it seems for learning as well, a cc3d may be just fine for you for now. Source: Ive only ever flown nazes and flip32s, and theyve always performed top notch.

 

[Nightwalker]

Thank you for your time and help all.

But good thing you saw something on propeller direction and the numbers, thats easily a very frustrating thing when learning.

Yes I have just learnt from another community member that the "R" or 'Pusher Propeller' are the ones that should turn clock-wise and the others should turn counter-clockwise, this had led me to configure:
Front Left - 5030R (turning clock-wise)
Front Right - 5030 (turning counter-clockwise)
Rear Left - 5030 (turning counter-clockwise)
Rear Right - 5030R (turning clock-wise)

As youve seen, i love oscars blog, hes really a tinkerer to appreciate, and his work is spectacular

I haven't actually read much of his blog, I just found that acronym cheat-sheet whilst searching for it, but it sounds like his blog is very worth-while so on your recommendation I will check it out in more detail thank you.

It seems if youre using openpilot

Yes, only because that is what I saw most people saying to use in YouTube videos when it came to this particular model of aircraft. I think I saw one other video where someone was using a Google Chrome Plugin called Cleanflight, I've not tried that yet, I don't know if you or others would recommend doing so?

i assume you have a cc3d?.

Bear with me! 'CopterControl 3D' my cheatsheet tells me, yes I believe I am. My specs say it is using that and I had to use OpenPilot version 15.02.02 which supports CC3D, the latest one didn't work so I guess that confirms for sure that I am using CC3D.

Some people i fly with have those, but it still seems that literally every one of those pilots is battling the cc3d in one way or another.

Oh that's a shame to hear, I would love to hear from other CC3D operators to gather their experiences. If I'm honest initially I've not got a lot of desire to actually race or perform stunts or anything elaborate, I just enjoy flying and the possibility of being able to a) do FPV and b) be able to film from above in HQ using my GoPro both excites me greatly, so if I can do that with it I will be happy.

I would highly recommend a naze rev6, or like the latest flip32 racing edition

So just to clarify for my learning mind you're talking about upgrading the Flight Controller, replacing my current CopterControl 3D with something else. Then...

with betaflight, its literally unmatched performance with very little tuning to be done. Search up BorisB's betaflight fork, it is a godsend.

Am I correct in thinking 'BetaFlight' is like the Firmware or Profile which can be downloaded and flashed to the Flight Controller and I assume someone or the community has put much effort & testing into the making of BetaFlight so its pretty decent firmware/profile (please feel free to correct my on my terminology).

Can BetaFlight be flashed to a CC3D controller? Thanks for your time and help one and all.

 

[Nightwalker]

I would like to fit a lost alarm/buzzer before I fly this Quad I'm wondering if any of you fine folks could help me confirm if the kind of thing I am looking at would be compatible? I can see ones like this:
- http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Racer-250-Drone-Spare-Part-Lost-Alarm-Module-p-1012629.html
- http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbykin...itor_Signal_Loss_and_Lost_Airplane_Alarm.html
- http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__13064__Signal_loss_Alarm_Lost_Plane_Finder.html
I notice on a couple of these they say they "plug into any servo/rx port", I believe in my case that might be the widest white connector on my CC3D, please be gentle with me I'm new to all this!

I think this diagram backs up my thinking:

I would love to hear from others who have fitted lost alarms and whether you think any of the above alarms will be compatible with my Eachine Racer 250? Thanks for your time and help.

 

[Longbaorder23]

Buzzers are universal! fortunately so the buzzer would plug into your receiver, not your cc3d. you *could* plug it into your cc3d but its a world of pain to get it to work. So that big wide "receiver" connector on the cc3d is a data-in port, in this case it will not be able to control the buzzer. instead, plug it into the unit labeled there as "RX" on any channel number that is *not* 1-4, as you need those to fly lol.

your other option for lost model alarms is to buy a bluetooth unit thats independent of the rc stuff. This is what i do. I have purchased a tile, which is just a chip in a piece of plastic with a buzzer, and i can use my phone to tell it to beep, and then find it.
Tile:
http://www.amazon.com/Tile-Gen-Phon...8&qid=1449233911&sr=8-1&keywords=tile+tracker

great range, just mount it such that its on the sidewall of your quad, so you could hear it and so that it can get the signal after a crash. also, with a tile, you and a buddy or 10 can help you find your model with the app! if one of them finds it, itll tell you the location of it, and then you can go get it.

Yes, betaflight can run on a cc3d, just get the version of it titled "CC3D" haha. betaflight and cleanflight are of the same ancestors, and those two programs work together seamlessly (or almost, its a work in progress!) lets say you put cleanflight on your cc3d, (cleanflight is not only a google plug-in on a computer, it is just like openpilot, its firmware that can go on your cc3d as well) and you would use the cleanflight google app to work with the copter, right? if you put beta flight on your cc3d instead, you would still use cleanflight on your computer to configure it as well. putting the firmware on the cc3d is the hardest part of it
But, again, beta flight is only my recommendation, openpilot will work, especially if youre doing simple stuff to start with.

 

[Craftydan]

Not to add complexity to the build . . . Oh who am I kidding. This makes for a new level of complex

If you can reflash the SimonK ESCs to BLHeli (if they truly are flashed SimonK, you *CAN* flash them BLHeli, but it might not be easy), it has a "Beacon" feature built-in. After a user-defined interval with the ESCs commanded "off" the motors will begin to beep. Not just handy for "lost model hunting", but also "dummy, you forgot to unplug it" . . .

. . . and it doesn't require any more onboard parts or weight than what's already there . . . assuming you can reflash them

 

[Nightwalker]

Thanks Longbaorder23, I've researched different buzzers since and I understand now that they connect onto the receiver not the CC3D, some of them being a pass-thru like this one which I have just ordered.

The only problem is; in all the online videos I've seen of other Eachine Racer 250 owners I see they have what looks like a larger RX which have multi-coloured cables connecting to different channels. In my case all my cables are black, smaller and more integrated, I think they might have made a custom mini PCB & female-block to make everything more integrated and ready to go (I didn't have to plug in the RX like many people had to).

I will include some photos of my model to illustrate what I mean:

Note there is a black female block connecting to all pins and channels in one go.

This is my RX after I have removed the female-block:


The reason I mention this is because the lost-alarm like this one below is a pass through as far as I can see, I might into trouble trying to use it, might have to splice and solder, but the wires coming off that PCB are small and not labelled (any advice?):


I might be interested in Craftydan's suggestion of utilising the ESC's to beep if that is possible - I don't want to break my new ESC's though!

 

[pressalltheknobs]

Yes given you have header connector that covers all 6 channels on your receiver and by the looks of it a dedicated header on the FC board too, you will have to splice that alarm in between the receiver and the Flight Controller.

The white wire is needs to be attached in-line with one of the signal wires that will be moving around when you are flying. People suggested the Throttle which on that TX/RX is CH3. Actually it probably doesn't need to be inline and can just be branched off. I think the pass though is largely a convenience so you don't have to make up servo style wires when it is used in a regular RC setup. In which case you can probably just pull it of the back of that header connector - the CH3 S pin. The nice thing about that it is pretty non destructive to you quad so you can try it without cutting its wiring harness, just a bit of soldering. Unless you solder on pins or a servo cable tail, you will have to cut the alarm cable though. I would cut the end off a spare servo cable and solder that onto the header.

The Red is +5v and the Black is -ve. You need to connect those to whatever lines are the +5v and -ve going to your Receiver. Those wires do not need to pass through, just branched off. You can probably just pull them off the back of the header too. In a receiver the +ve pins are all bused together and the -ve pins are all bused together so it doesn't actually matter which ones. Just make sure to get the polarity right. Use a voltmeter to check before you make the decision which to connect where.

BTW. The receiver looks like it is a FlySky iA6 just re-branded Eachine and your TX (not the FPV part which is a separate thing) is a re-branded Flysky i6 which is quite a nice low end Transmitter. It means you can most likely get additional receivers for it and use it on other models you want to build. I'm only being cautious in case Eachine did something to knobble it. Probably only branding though. Something to play around with. Assuming all is good then look into getting a FlySky iA6B receiver at some point. Should give you better range and you can get battery voltage telemetry with the addition of a small probe. And if you wanted to use a Naze32 instead you could clean up the wiring because it supports PPM.

You can also use that TX (not the FPV part) to control a SIM on your PC. Just need a cable like this aPicaSim is a free one most with gliders but it has a quad and a few planes and is quite good. There are starting to be some quad racing ones too like Freerider but my machine is too graphically impaired to run it. Other 3rd party sim cables may also support the FlySky too but you will have to check around.

And if you want to update the firmware at some point you need this data cable which for some reason you can only get at the EU warehouse. I doubt you will need to do this but just in case.

 

[Nightwalker]

Thank you pressalltheknobs that was really, really useful to me & makes total sense, when I receive the lost alarm I will try branching off the back first, I have a voltage meter so can locate the + & - etc.

Great to hear about RX & TX options also, thank you. Off to research now!

 

[Nightwalker]

Batteries

So a newbie question about batteries; when I ordered the Eachine Racer 250 package from BangGood (which came with two batteries) I also ordered a third spare from this page. The battery pictured & described on that page is identical to the ones that come inside the Racer 250 box and are obviously labelled as a spare part for this drone, but the third seperate battery turned up today and it is a different size and weight and is missing the label that the other two have.

Here they are pictured:


The top two are the ones I got in the box with the model, they weigh 108 grams each. The bottom one which turned up late and I expected to be identical weighs 128 grams and is obviously longer.

I'm relatively new to Lipo's (learning quick) and I understand these batteries should have three cells in them for this model, I'm just worried this one might have more, unlikely you think? As you can see it also appears to be missing a label on the upper side.

It does have the same Warning notice on the bottom:


What do you think, should I be concerned at all? I've measured the voltage with a multimeter and it seems normal.

I will be reading this soon to learn more about Lipo's: http://www.tjinguytech.com/charging-how-tos/lipo-terminology

 

[Balu]

According to the balancer port (4 wires), both types are 3S (cells) batteries, so you should be fine.

The bigger battery might have a higher capacity than the 1500 mAh ones, but I don't know how to determine that without any writing.

There's a really nice 101 post on LiPo batteries here on the forum too: http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?437-Understanding-Batteries-101

 

[Nightwalker]

Thank you Balu, I will give that 101 a good read.

It would certainly be easy to assume it was slightly higher capacity than the standard-issue 1500mAh given its larger size which is more comparable to the other larger sized mAh ones, that would be a nice little bonus if it were the case. Likewise I'm not really aware of a method for testing capacity. Presumably you could compare the two batteries by depleting them slowly at a very steady load and maybe estimate from that, but I don't have means to do that.