Collecting parts for first tricopter build, what do you think?

[kevj46774]

My friend talked me into building a tricopter, after seeing his I became interested in these because they are pretty cool! I'm starting to read a lot more about these and should have read more before I ordered a bunch of parts. I'm a little worried about the multistar 30A esc's. What do you guys think of the parts I've bought so far?

I want to later add a gimble for the GoPro after I'am comfortable flying, I've been looking at the SSG because it looks pretty inexpensive. Anyone have experience with the SSG on a tricopter?

Bat Bone frame on its way
Giant Power 3s 65c 5500 mah batteries
Turnigy D2826/10 1400KV with 8x4.5 props
KK2 2.1 Board
3.5mm connectors, multistar 30A esc's, old e-flite servo I had laying around EFLRDS75H
VG600 6 channel 72mhz tx, 92777 dual conversion narrow band airtonics/sanwa rx I had laying around
5.8ghz 200mW Chinese A/V tx,rx http://www.ebay.com/itm/171204663247?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Chinese fpv goggles 320x240 res http://www.ebay.com/itm/151149880140?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
GoPro 1 used with accessories-$85http://www.ebay.com/itm/251458165279?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[Mustang7302]

The batteries you're hoping to use weight three times the recommended battery size for the Bat Bone frame. Your power plant setup is not going to have enough power to lift at least 1.3Kg with an 8" prop. You're going to need bigger props for those motors, if the motors can handle the additional current. The weight in crashes, if you do over come the power issues, will have a strong propensity for breaking booms, mounts, and even the bat bone frame.

FliteTest frames are not big heavy lifters. They're meant to be light for a moderate size copter with a moderate amount of power. Do yourself the favor of getting the recommended 2200mAh 3S ~25C battery, keep the additional hardware off the copter, and learn to fly with the all up weight less than 800 grams. Once you get better at flying, then consider building a second copter on a frame that is more capable of the weight and power for lugging around FPV hardware and a large battery.

 

[kevj46774]

Appreciate the advice Mustang, I will plan on scaling the batbone down and plan on a second multirotor for the fpv and video equipment. How do I calculate how big of motors to use with the bigger batteries?

 

[kevj46774]

I just calculated my weight without any fpv equipment or any wiring for motors or the hinge for the rear motor or any fasteners or zip ties and I'm at 1022g , that's with the heavy battery. Each motor with that prop combo is reported to put out around 800g thrust. Do you think that's doable? I do have a couple 2200 mah batteries that weigh in the 185g range but I would enjoy longer flight times. Is it possible to remove the hard cover on a lipo to lighten it?

Battery 429.5g
receiver 33g
servo 7.7g
3 esc's 97.5g
3 1400kv motors with prop adapters and mounts 185.7
kk2 18.3g
total wooden booms 113.5g
3 8x4.5 props 17.4
batbone frame 120g (haven't weighed it but that's what the website reports)

 

[DDSFlyer]

I think you are using rc car batteries...that thing is gigantic! If you want to check out the SSG, you can check out my thread http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?6922-First-Bat-Bone-Build I put one on my Bat Bone.

 

[FinalGlideAus]

Kev, do yourself a favour and swap those batteries out for 3s 2200mah batteries. You will still get decent flight times and looking at your weights you will get down to 800grams weight which is a good weight for the bat bone. Frustration awaits with those bigger batteries while you learn. Maybe use them on another project when you gain experience.

The multistar ESC's will work but just know they are not the best for the job and have some issues. I bought some originally but have used the Afro ESC's instead which work great. The multistars now prop up my wobbly table until I find another use for them.

 

[jhitesma]

I'm officially not a fan of the Multistar ESC's.

The good news though is that the 30A ones can be flashed. They're still not quite as nice as other options but you should be able to flash them with simonk and get much better performance out of them.

 

[cranialrectosis]

Your biggest challenge with the big 5S batteries and the weight is not lift. You can build a copter that will lift a brick if you want. The issue is inertia.

You will crash.

You will break booms and Delrin struts (buy spares, at least one rear strut with the tilt mechanism) and you will break rotors.

The more weight you have in the air, the more energy your airframe and electronics and whatever you hit will endure. You will spend more time flying a lighter copter regardless of battery life time because you will spend more time repairing a heavy copter than you will flying it.

Keep the weight under 800 grams if you can to learn to hover and get around. You may rebuild your copter two or three times just learning to hover. How much time and money that costs you is directly related to how much your copter weighs.

The difference between 800 and 900 grams is profound on the repair bench and your wallet.

 

[kevj46774]

I'm thinking about scratching the batbone frame and build a quad frame out of foam. I was thinking I could suround the props with the foam to save on prop damage, shove a couple carbon fiber rods thru it to stiffen it up. I bet it would float as well, imagine the under water video with a low hanging go pro provided the electronics are protected.

 

[cranialrectosis]

Quads are mechanically more simple than tri-copters to build.

IMO Tri-copters are more fun to fly, quads are simpler to learn to fly.

Lighter copters with fast motors (like the motors you have) are simplest of all to build, fly and repair.

You can use pool noodles to cover and protect your Delrin struts (tough for the rear strut with the servo on a Bat but you can do it) and those will help protect the struts in hard landings.

Don't bother to protect your props unless you plan to fly indoors (not recommended). Props are cheap. Protect your electronics, motors and frame in that order. IMO the best protection you can have is created by having a light copter.

I think you have a good chance at a successful first build with the parts you have. My only recommendation is to use a lighter (1800 or 2200mah 3s 30C battery). I don't know about the eflight servo and recommend you use a servo with a metal gear.

There is a guy in this forum who built a quad out of plastic candy canes and a post-pack tube. I have seen a quad built out of a small plastic box here on this forum. Just about anything that provides vibration free ridgidity between the FCB and the motors will do. The FCB cannot move in relation to the motors during flight. And the motors should be reasonably equidistant from the FCB and on vectors close to what the FCB expects.

I built an Anycopter first, then a Knuckle I Quad and then a Bat Bone. I fly them all. I try to use at least one battery a day.

The Bat Bone is an absolute blast and a toss up between that and my tiny Knuckle I Quad. Don't give up on the Bat. It is way too much fun to ignore.

 

[Loc8tor]

I use 3s 5500 batteries on my batbone. I get a lot of flight time. If I get a 2200 I picture 7 mins of flight time at the most. They are heavy batteries though and you can see it in how slow the tri is to lift. It's decent but it's not whipping around like the ones I see on youtube. The batbone seems to do fine supporting all my weight. How much flight time are you getting on smaller batteries? Kevin, you are right to listen to your friend and get into the hobby.

 

[kevj46774]

Getting a little further along here, weighed the bat bone frame and it comes in at 106.9 g. I bought 6 36" booms from Lowes made out of poplar and weighed 1 to begin with for a estimate on weight. Today I weighed all 6 and they range from 60.7 grams to 96.8 grams. So there is some weight to be saved if you feel like finding the light ones on the shelf at Lowes or wherever.

 

[FinalGlideAus]

Loc8tor in another thread you were asking how to shed weight and how other Bat Bones fly like they do. It is all in your oversized battery. Yes it will fly slightly longer but not by a huge amount. I am getting 12 minutes flight time on my 2200mah battery without tuning the system to see if I can get more effeciencies. Yes a big battery will fly but it won't fly nice. The downside is you WILL break things in a heavy landing. Weight and ESC/Motor/Prop/Battery selection on Multirotor are far more important than a plane. You can still get it to fly with the wrong gear but there will be many trade offs. The importance of this is greater if you are learning as having a Multirotor that is harder to fly and breaks everytime you crash stacks the odds against you succeeding before you give up through frustration. Once you have learnt to fly though, if you are happy to trade agility and lack and load carrying capacity for longer flights times then there is nothing wrong with that. Just be understanding of what you are loosing.

 

[xuzme720]

FGA is right. The single most heavy component is the battery. By going to the humongous 5500's, you are weight loading your motors and rotors by almost another 50%. So if you go to a 2200, your flight times aren't going to be 7 minutes, they should be 10 or 12 and your copter will be much more nimble, to boot. I'd give it a try and see if you don't like it much better. You can always go back to the 5500's if you don't like it.

 

[Loc8tor]

FGA is right. The single most heavy component is the battery. By going to the humongous 5500's, you are weight loading your motors and rotors by almost another 50%. So if you go to a 2200, your flight times aren't going to be 7 minutes, they should be 10 or 12 and your copter will be much more nimble, to boot. I'd give it a try and see if you don't like it much better. You can always go back to the 5500's if you don't like it.

I'm sensing a trend in this and other trends. My battery is too big. I suggested to Kev to get a bigger battery for flight time. I feel bad now. I can't remember what he bought thought. I am having issues flying. I don't understand because when I started flying the copter seemed to fly fine after you guys helped me get airborne. It was only after I changed my yaw did the drifting all the time start. And the rearing up like horse. The issue with the one motor going to 50 percent (no measurment just seemed like that) happend before yaw

 

[Loc8tor]

FGA is right. The single most heavy component is the battery. By going to the humongous 5500's, you are weight loading your motors and rotors by almost another 50%. So if you go to a 2200, your flight times aren't going to be 7 minutes, they should be 10 or 12 and your copter will be much more nimble, to boot. I'd give it a try and see if you don't like it much better. You can always go back to the 5500's if you don't like it.

I'm sensing a trend in this and other trends. My battery is too big. I suggested to Kev to get a bigger battery for flight time. I feel bad now. I can't remember what he bought thought. I am having issues flying. I don't understand because when I started flying the copter seemed to fly fine after you guys helped me get airborne. It was only after I changed my yaw did the drifting all the time start. And the rearing up like horse. The issue with the one motor going to 50 percent (no measurment just seemed like that) happend before yaw

 

[Loc8tor]

i meant other threads not other trends.

 

[earthsciteach]

Just to jump in here...

My bat bone easily reached 10 minutes on a 2200 mah, 3s with 1300 kv motors.

Then it flew away...

But, I have a much better tricopter, now. Gotta love a larger airframe with DT750's!

 

[manglin]

To possibly change the subject, have you tried those fpv goggles? I've been fishing around for more economical fpv options and an $80 pair of fpv goggles sound like just the ticket, that is if they work.

 

[kevj46774]

I haven't tried the goggles yet, still waiting on them from china. They are kinda low res so I'm not expecting a really great picture from them. I seen a video on youtube of someone who tried them and he seemed to like them, he popped the screen out of the glasses and put them in some paint ball goggles that were painted black to keep the light out.