Blade Indructix as a first drone

baronbernie

Member
During my journey with Flite Test, my flying experience has been all form board planes. The planes that I have built and flown were the FT Flyer, FT Nutball, FT Old Fogy, FT Old Speedster, Simple Cub and more (mostly slow flying planes).

Now that I have moved from a 3 floor house to a one room apartment, both a place to fly and space has changed and shrunk greatly.

After giving some serious thought to having something to fly indoors the Blade Inductrix BNF with SAFE Technology from Horizon Hobby was my first consideration. I tried flying a quad on my Real Flight simulator and failed miserably.

Not being able to get enough information on the Indructrix I still would like to try my hand on this one.

One question I have is what is SAFE technology?

Please share your experience and any that you have information with the inductrix.
 

TeckRC

New member
The safe technology limits the pitch and bank angles and also auto levels, it makes it much easier when learning how to fly.
 

TexMechsRobot

Posted a thousand or more times
I found the Inductrix was hard to hover. If it started to move downwards at all, it seemed to speed up beyond recovery to the point that by the time I hit the ground, it was at full throttle and still falling. Then, once it bounced off the ground, it would shoot up 5-10 feet from the throttle setting.

Has anyone else had this issue? The Horizon hobby rep told me that the props stall out pretty easily if it starts to come down too fast. Is this just the Inductrix or all quads of this size? Are there other props that are after market that fix this problem?
 

TazRC

Obsession, not hobby
I found the Inductrix was hard to hover. If it started to move downwards at all, it seemed to speed up beyond recovery to the point that by the time I hit the ground, it was at full throttle and still falling. Then, once it bounced off the ground, it would shoot up 5-10 feet from the throttle setting.

Has anyone else had this issue? The Horizon hobby rep told me that the props stall out pretty easily if it starts to come down too fast. Is this just the Inductrix or all quads of this size? Are there other props that are after market that fix this problem?

I have 4 and haven't experienced that at all when they were stock.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
SAFE is basically a "Beginner mode", in that it helps you to self-level your quadcopter, and it'll help you to hold a hover a little better than otherwise.

However, if SAFE is turned on, it will also prevent you from doing flips and rolls, as the software that helps keep it level also prevents you from getting too crazy.

I honestly think that if you're learning to fly a quadcopter, the Inductrix/TinyWhoop form factor is a GREAT quad to start out with, especially if you are doing indoor flight. This thing is fast, maneuverable, and responsive, even with the SAFE mode turned on. That said, it's also meant to fly in NO wind/indoor situations. Trying to fly it in wind, it will be something of a handful to fly, even with SAFE.

If you go to a bigger quad, it gets more stable, but then it's not as easy to fly indoors, so it's kind of a trade off. Starting with an Inductrix is a great way to head out and at least get the feeling of flying a drone, and they're cheap, easy to repair if something goes wrong, and can be tweaked for racing if you want to head down that path. :)
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
I'm not a quad expert but I have flown a few different multi rotors and still find the Inductrix enjoyable (aside from the battery life that dwindles much too fast but even that has improved with larger capacity LiPo's boasting 200+mAH). It's really very forgiving and now with the new red Inductrix will auto altitude and beefed up everything I think there is all the more reason to have one. I highly recommend a multiport charger though so you have batteries always charging when you want to get lots of flights in.
 

baronbernie

Member
On the Horizon website, the RTF kit shows that the Blade MLP4DSM 4 channel TX comes with the kit. Is it possible to use the TX that is provided with the RTF Champ in place of the Inductrix TX?

In the information and replacement section, there are 2 different rotation direction motors used, one that rotates clockwise and the others counter-clockwise. What is the reason for the spinning in opposite directions?

And how is SAFE turned on and off?
 

TazRC

Obsession, not hobby
On the Horizon website, the RTF kit shows that the Blade MLP4DSM 4 channel TX comes with the kit. Is it possible to use the TX that is provided with the RTF Champ in place of the Inductrix TX?
The Horizon Hobby BNF website shows the Champ RTF transmitter works with the Nano QX so I would guess that it also works with the Inductrix. You might call Horizon Hobby to see if they can tell you for sure though.

http://www.bindnfly.com/compatibleproducts/

In the information and replacement section, there are 2 different rotation direction motors used, one that rotates clockwise and the others counter-clockwise. What is the reason for the spinning in opposite directions?
To counteract torque effect. Equal amount of motors spinning in the opposite direction.

And how is SAFE turned on and off?
As far as I know, you can't turn it off. However, you can put it in Agility mode, which is similar to Acro mode. If I remember correctly, switching modes is accomplished by pushing the left stick on the RTF radio and toggling the Gear channel on a computer radio.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I know on the Inductrix Pro, you can disable SAFE completely with putting it into Acro mode, but that's partly because the Betaflight programming allows you to shut it off. I want to say that the standard Inductrixes have it hard coded in with their Agility/Acro mode that the "SAFE" gets turned off, but it might be that it sets it to a Horizon mode, where it'll return to self-level but will still allow you to do flips & rolls if you pin the stick in a particular direction.

The other nice thing about the Inductrix series is that you can connect them to pretty much any of the DX series of transmitters (I'm not 100% sure about the DXe; I haven't tried with that, and I seem to remember that they require some sort of extra programming for quads needing to be added via the programming add-on module), and they fly just fine.

I have my Inductrix Pro bound to my DX6, and it's a lot smoother than the radio that comes with the RTF series - but that said, the DX6 is also about $150 more than the RTF series controllers, so it had BETTER have a smoother feel, as far as I'm concerned. LOL
 

TexMechsRobot

Posted a thousand or more times
From Horizon Hobby support:

Hello
It sounds quite normal to me. Now It would take more info to know if there is a problem. I've flown these quads a lot and they do, do that. But its usually associated with turning and descending quickly. I use the stairs at work here as an example. When I try and fly down the stairs. This kinda thing happens when I descend too quickly. Have you ever heard of kavitation....if I spelled that right. The spell check doesn't seem to know the word. Its most commonly referred to on boat propellers. Basically the water, or air in your case. It gets so churned up right around the propeller. It no longer pushes. When it drops to the floor. The air around the props forced out. The the props grab and it climbs. The point is. If the quad picks up too much speed falling. Or if your descending and turning at the same time. It will drop and have to bounce before it will lift back off with power. But the more stable you are at holding altitude. The better it flies. If you still suspect their is a problem. I would suggest staking it by your local hobby shop. They can give you a second opinion as well as contact us if needed. Otherwise you would need to send it into our service center. But they will want a copy of the receipt.​

I'm going to try binding it to my DX9 next time I'm visiting my dad but it seems that the props are stalling and that this is expected and normal and it makes me sad. My dad is a beginner and I was hoping this would help him learn to fly as well as inject some enthusiasm for the hobby. It has done neither and cost me $200.
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
I'm going to try binding it to my DX9 next time I'm visiting my dad but it seems that the props are stalling and that this is expected and normal and it makes me sad. My dad is a beginner and I was hoping this would help him learn to fly as well as inject some enthusiasm for the hobby. It has done neither and cost me $200.

I have had this kind of behavior on my Inductrix FPV once I'm at anything less than about 95% of battery - if I make very small stick movements and avoid a sharp drop in altitude I can fly OK, but once it starts coming down quickly, it's going all the way down.

From hanging out with a bunch of TinyWhoop racers and talking to them about it, this is pretty normal behavior for the stock Inductrix - with careful and smooth piloting it'll go just fine, but any big stick movements or sudden throttle decrease and it's going to get rough. It's less of a problem with brand new high quality batteries (hold their voltage better) and with souped up motors than run a higher rpm and can put out more thrust, more quickly to overcome the downward lunge.

Overall, it's made my Inductrix FPV the indoor quad I fly only after I've mucked up my DIY 'Tiny Power Whoop' for the evening.
 

TexMechsRobot

Posted a thousand or more times
I have had this kind of behavior on my Inductrix FPV once I'm at anything less than about 95% of battery - if I make very small stick movements and avoid a sharp drop in altitude I can fly OK, but once it starts coming down quickly, it's going all the way down.

From hanging out with a bunch of TinyWhoop racers and talking to them about it, this is pretty normal behavior for the stock Inductrix - with careful and smooth piloting it'll go just fine, but any big stick movements or sudden throttle decrease and it's going to get rough. It's less of a problem with brand new high quality batteries (hold their voltage better) and with souped up motors than run a higher rpm and can put out more thrust, more quickly to overcome the downward lunge.

Overall, it's made my Inductrix FPV the indoor quad I fly only after I've mucked up my DIY 'Tiny Power Whoop' for the evening.

Well, at least I know it isn't just me. Would have been nice to read this on the interwebs somewhere before the purchase though. Are there any mods I can do to the Inductrix to alleviate this a little? New motors or props?
 

TazRC

Obsession, not hobby
TMR, I must've missed "Inductrix FPV" in your first post. My FPV platform Inductrix quads are converted from standard Inductrix quads with different motors so they may not be the same. RCGroups has tons of info on the Inductrix FPV. There's a post very similar to your experience and the poster was successful in using/changing rate, expo and throttle curve, indicated further down the page.

Start fifth post down:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/sho...de-Inductrix-FPV-Official-Tiny-Whoop!/page259

You may want try giving more throttle and/or coordinated turns to help maintain altitude.

If all else fails, definitely send it back to Horizon. I don't know about the Inductrix FPV but the early production Inductrix had issues and were being replaced.
 

TexMechsRobot

Posted a thousand or more times
TMR, I must've missed "Inductrix FPV" in your first post. My FPV platform Inductrix quads are converted from standard Inductrix quads with different motors so they may not be the same. RCGroups has tons of info on the Inductrix FPV. There's a post very similar to your experience and the poster was successful in using/changing rate, expo and throttle curve, indicated further down the page.

Start fifth post down:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/sho...de-Inductrix-FPV-Official-Tiny-Whoop!/page259

You may want try giving more throttle and/or coordinated turns to help maintain altitude.

If all else fails, definitely send it back to Horizon. I don't know about the Inductrix FPV but the early production Inductrix had issues and were being replaced.

That's good info. I'm glad that his issue seemed to be fixed with rates and expo. I'll give that a shot next time I'm visiting my parents.
 

baronbernie

Member
Is it possible to use the 150 mAh batteries used by the Champ micro planes okay to use with the Inductrix drone?

Also, can the battery charger for the Champs battery also be used for the Inductrix battery?
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Is it possible to use the 150 mAh batteries used by the Champ micro planes okay to use with the Inductrix drone?

Also, can the battery charger for the Champs battery also be used for the Inductrix battery?

Yep - most of the UMX micro planes are on the same battery size. You'll get a little more flight time from your Inductrix if you buy some 200mah (or 205 or 230) batteries - and those will work in the micro airplanes too.

The only thing to look out for is there are two different connector sizes for these little batteries - the stock UMX / Inductrix uses the JST-PH and TinyWhoops are often upgraded to the more powerful JST-PH 2.0 connector to handle more current and have a longer life span.

There are plenty of adapters out there to connect one size to the other, but they all add weight to your aircraft. I'd recommend at first sticking to the stock JST-PH size of stuff until you decide you just absolutely need more power and then break out the soldering iron to convert the pigtails over to the larger size.
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Oh wow - I put in the radio settings from this site and my Inductrix FPV flies like 1000% better for me!

http://www.whoopassdrones.com/2017/06/radio-settings-for-inductrix-tiny-whoop.html?m=1

Since I'm running Taranis things are a little different, so I'll put those settings below for the non-Spektrum people. These come out as a pretty sedate setup, but it's perfect to learn on, and I'll be increasing the rates and reducing the expo every 20 flights or so as I get better.

Taranis Inductrix FPV

Travel / Rates

AIL 40
ELE 80
RUD 40

Expo

AIL 50%
ELE 10%
RUD 70%

5 Point Throttle Curve

Taranis: -100 / -20 / 24 / 61 / 100

Throttle/Rudder Mix
Add 10% of Rudder channel input to the Throttle so yaw control doesn't cause so much altitude dropping in the turns.
 
Last edited: