Darkback2's Diatone Blade 150 Build Blog

[Darkback2]

I switched up to 3045 tri-blades and it makes quite a difference. I was using cut down gemfan 5045 bullnose props and they were heavy for such small motors, as in the physical bulk of the props was...That made the quad sluggish and unresponsive, and I landed a lot with really hot motors.

Today's flying was remarkable in that the quad was much more responsive, had a bit more thrust, and when I got to it after each crash the motors were nice and cool. I think the battery even lasted longer!

In the end I ended up snapping my vtx antenna off of the board. I was using a regular cheap antenna that I had laying around, it while it is designed to fold down I think the tall grass snagged it and snapped the board. It still works so while I have ordered a new one I am in the process of 3d printing a plastic case to glue this one into. Hopefully it will hold together for the few days until the replacement gets here.

Had fun flying though.

DB

 

[Darkback2]

After going over to the main land to fly with the guys from Team Ecko and quadrysteria I realized that I need to practice flying set paths and in close proximity to things much more, and that flying around doing rolls and flips is fun, but in the end if I want to get better as a pilot then I need to start working on actually being in control of my quad instead of just going with where I end up and trying to turn it into something after the fact.

My home loop is pretty tight, and what I realized is that I have 30 degrees of uptilt on both my blade 150 and my alien. While I can't manage to get around the home loop once with my alien without drastically reducing the uptilt, (which requires removing the top plate because I went with runcam swift instead of the official HS1177) but with my 150 I can go slowly enough to perform multiple laps before I crash! I even managed to do a flip or two in some of the more open parts of the loop.

With the new prop setup I can go for about 10 minutes before I need to swap out the battery. I just can't film my flights yet. I need to invest in a small DVR...but there are other things on the list that come first. In the mean time, Cheers to learning!

DB

 

[Darkback2]

This past week the wife and I traveled to Winthrop Washington. I had high hopes of flying around and getting lots of video...So did she, but It was a family reunion in an unfamiliar place...So there wasn't much time for flying, and because we didn't know the layout of the space we had to fly we couldn't go too crazy. I pulled out the 150 because it is slow enough that I can fly around a new place and get a feel for it without risking too much. I ended up clipping the chain on a swing set trying to fly through it. Broke the front left arm in the process. I managed to fly back, but the front left and rear left props were hitting each other. Oddly I had to buy a whole new frame because replacement arms were not to be had. A new frame with 4 arms was $14 and a replacement set of 2 arms was $5, so I guess I got off easy. The replacement frame was waiting for me when I got home yesterday. In any case while I thought replacing the arm was going to be a big hassle, it ended up taking about 20 minutes total.

All in all I'm pretty glad I have this thing.

 

[LitterBug]

I went to my Wife's family reunion this weekend too. Wish I had taken some flyers and so did her family. Really want to FPV this place some time:



Had to settle for just some 4 wheelin'

Cheers!
LitterBug

Might be a good place for the resurrected Martian next year....

 

[Darkback2]

So...The blade is grounded until I figure out what is wrong. My battery monitor goes off after about 2 seconds of flight with 5 different batteries. SO...I'm thinking something is making my draw super high.

The 3* 3045 props might be the problem because they are overtaxing the motors...

I drastically increased my D value which did settle the quad out nicely...

The batteries might just be old and not able to perform as needed...

I may have burned up something in either the motors or the ESCs due to any of the above and need to replace one or the other. (the motors have been quite hot after a few reasonably short flights.)

I will probably start by reducing my D value...
Then replacing my motors...
Then testing my batteries in another quad...
Then ?

Are any of those things more likely than others to be the culprit?

Would anyone else try things in a different order?

DB

 

[Nerobro]

I would worry that the XX45 props are a lot of load. Have you tried going to x3 props? You have high KV motors, which is going to spin things up nicely.

What's your quad weigh? It looks heavy.

 

[Darkback2]

Yeah...I was going to swap those out also or at least go back to what worked before.

I am not sure about the weight, it is a bit of a porker.

I probably should just start by going back to what worked before I made the changes.

DB

 

[LitterBug]

If you are still using the 3045 triblades, get rid of them. They are some of the heaviest, low efficiency props available. Try the RotorX RX3040T props. They are the lightest and most efficient 3" props available. Check with a smokestopper to see if you have a large phantom load sucking your batteries down.

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[PsyBorg]

Define "Drastically" when you say you cranked up your D terms. I noticed as well as was told the more D you have the more the motors have to work and that stresses everything as well as becoming a power suck. I'm not sure if it is possible to get the results you are from doing that but for giggles and ha ha's trouble shooting as well as your gears longevity drop D way down and tune your issues out with higher P gains.

I thought I was going to high on the Versa with P but after watching Skitzos tuning video and using a 60 fps camera I was able to raise my P values a ton and drop D way low. My motor and esc temps fell dramatically as well as after flight battery temps dropping. That to me says D can and will suck massive amounts of power.

 

[Darkback2]

Part of the issue is that there are too many variables. I am just hoping that I didn't burn up my motors or batteries getting to this point. When I first started going down this path everything seemed fine...So the problem has accumulated over time.

DB

 

[Darkback2]

Ok...so further thought...part of the problem seemed to start after a crash that broke one of the arms about a month and a half ago...Just now I tried hovering it in the house...the front left motor was "stuttering after I armed it. I'm thinking that might be partially to blame. I am re-tuning from scratch also...Hopefully replacing the motor, maybe more than one, coupled with the re-tuning will solve my troubles.

Thanks,

DB

 

[LitterBug]

Try a set of RotorX RX3040T props too. I think you will find them beneficial on these 3" builds.

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[PsyBorg]

You might have stretched an ESC wire when the arm broke and possibly have broken strands inside the casing you cant see. That would surely increase current draw, or maybe have some exposed wire touching inside the arm shorting out? in any case during the rebuilding I would either rewire the arm that broke or at the very least hit them with an ohm meter to see what they look like as any breaks or issues will be obvious when compared to the rest of the wires.

 

[Darkback2]

So I ordered a pair of motors and a couple ESCs. I am thinking of swapping out the props also. Hopefully I'll have this one back up in the air pretty soon given how much I used to enjoy flying it. It may also be time for new batteries...Funny...Take up flying RC makes it hard to maintain my drug habbit...I never have money anymore.

 

[PsyBorg]

That's not necessarily a bad thing is it.

Hopefully you solve the issue and are back flying before the weather gets to bad on us as that time of year is fast approaching. My new VTX and antennas will be here Thursday so I hopefully get back to reliable FPV again. I can't complain though as I still have fun LOS freestyle. Specially now I have gotten better at tuning and my quads behave as I want them to.

 

[Darkback2]

Being a school teacher has its advantages...I have keys to the field house.

 

[LitterBug]

Being a school teacher has its advantages...I have keys to the field house.

My wife has summers off. THAT is one heck of an advantage....

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[Darkback2]

So a few day's ago I basically reset the blade 150. I replaced the left front motor and ESC, I re-tuned the quad, and I replaced the props with 2*3045s.

The heat issues are gone, and while I didn't get to fly a pack dead, I did fly for about 5 minutes without the battery sagging too badly.

Now the question is, do I reintroduce changes 1 at a time to figure out which of the above was the problem or do I let sleeping dogs lie, the whole if it ain't broke don't fix it. One thing that I did get it to do was fly under 2s again which it wouldn't do before I made the changes. Something was causing a major drain which made 2s impossible. Not that it really matters because 2s is boring.

DB

 

[PsyBorg]

Glad to hear you are back in the air again mate. I would go with the let sleeping dogs lie and get as much flight time in before the weather goes to crap. You can always do bench testing later if you want to do that whole scooby doo routine and find the exact cause.

ANY flying whether it is 1s to 4s or even pedal power is fun in it's own way. I have not flown anything yet that has not amused and amazed me for some reason or other. Some have certainly frustrated me more then others but it all gets ironed out with time and patience.

Welcome back to the world of the flying. Tell Blondgirl its been too long since we have seen a progress video with the pretty areas she has flown at. Oh and Hi Blondgirl!!

 

[Darkback2]

I'll pass that on to her.

So today I went for a fly and I was getting bounce at the end of flips. So I turned up the D from 10 - 20, and then 25. The bounce was still there, but so slight I figured I would quit while I was ahead. Now when I do power loops the battery beeper goes off as I am coming out of it. If I stop flying erratically for a few seconds the alarm stops beeping. I did a test, did a loop, the beeper went off, and then I clicked back into stability mode for about 3 seconds and it stopped beeping...Then I flew in and landed. The battery was reading 11.9 at that point.

1000 mah 25c zippy compact...

The max amps for the motors is 8, and I am running 20 amp escs.

Nothing felt hot...so the question is, am I drawing enough to sag the battery from almost 12 to below 10.1?

DB