First 250 Quad

[Jase82]

I'm building my first 250 quad and these's are my parts.

Tx - Spectrum DX6i
Frame - Emax 250 (I think... looks the same)
PDB - CC3D Power Distribution Board With 3A BEC Output 5V 12V
ESC - ZTW Spider Series 12A OPTO Multi-Rotor ESC 2~4S (SimonK Firmware)
Motors - Eachine BG1806 1806 2300KV Brushless Motor 2-3S
Props - Genfen 5030
FC - CC3D EVO
RX - 2.4G 6CH S603 Receiver Supported JR Spektrum DSM-X DSM2 Transmitter
FPV - Eachine CCD 700tvl 148 Degree Camera Lens w/ 5.8G 200mW FPV Transmitter
Lipo - ZOP Power 11.1V 1500mAh 30C Lipo Battery XT60 Plug


I noticed my ESC don't have BEC so Im going to power the FC from the 5V BEC connection on my PDB.
The FPV Tx will be tapped into the same 5V BEC connector. The PDB 5V BEC is rated up to 3A and my FC + FPV Tx
combined draws less than 1A.


Any Advice on what I've got or should look at swapping out.
I may change out my lipo once I've seen how it preforms on the quad.


Thanks.

 

[Jase82]

Powering the FC from the 5v BEC seems to work fine.
Powering the 5.8G 200mW FPV Transmitter from the 5v BEC does't work. The FPV Tx requires more voltage 7 to 12v.

I moved the power to the 12v BEC but the image was full of static so I moved the power to the 12v LED point.
That seems to work ok and on the plus side I gain an on/off switch if needed.

 

[Jase82]

quad is built

After waiting ages for my ESC to arrive, I've now completed the build on my first 250 quad.

It weighed in heavier than I was expecting at 550g including battery but the thrust to weight ratio is still good.
550g weight to 1500g thrust.

Tomorrow I look forward to PID tuning and test flights

 

[PsyBorg]

Before you get flying too far from where you stand I suggest you get some separation between those receiver antennas. Running them parallel like that defeats the purpose. They should technically have 90 degree separation but 45 degrees would help a lot. Specially in turns. Also you DEFINATLY want to get them further away from the FPV antenna

Other then that looks like a nice clean build. Good luck with the maiden.

 

[Jase82]

Before you get flying too far from where you stand I suggest you get some separation between those receiver antennas. Running them parallel like that defeats the purpose. They should technically have 90 degree separation but 45 degrees would help a lot. Specially in turns. Also you DEFINATLY want to get them further away from the FPV antenna

Other then that looks like a nice clean build. Good luck with the maiden.

Thanks for the advice I've used a zip tie to push the two antennas apart.
I'll pick up a short clover leaf antenna and swap it over.

 

[PsyBorg]

You have the FPV setup to the "Norm" with it at the highest point in a turn The way most proven setups have been done. I would keep that as is. I would move the receiver antennas to a mid or front mount to get separation. They don't have to be high and long to be effective as only the uncovered ends are functional as they have been "Unshielded".

There are many options but getting them down to a length where they wont get chopped off in a crash is suggested. For an example I mid mounted mine with one sticking straight up and the other 90 degrees direct out the side. I have yet to have a brown out let alone a signal loss with that. I learned this on my walkera runner 250 when one of the long leads lost the unshielded tip in a rollover. As soon as I got 90 degrees in a left hand turn that would instantly lose signal and follow the last command given which was lucky for me always happened at the start of my course in a slow and low left hand banked turn.

Look at a few of the build and or maiden pictures and videos to get an idea for placement and set ups for that style quad. This is a picture how I did my Versacopter set up.

 

[Jase82]

I see what you mean with the placement of your antennas.
I think I was aiming for more of a cosmetic look and less functional. Need to change that way of thinking.

At the moment I'm only flying 6ft in front of me while I get the feel for the quad (baby steps).

I did notice my quad was heaver than expected. I guess weighted at 400g but now its built the full weight including battery is 550g.
Takes a little more the 50% throttle to hover but I'm getting a good 5 minutes flight time.

 

[Jase82]

I've started PID turning.

So far I've tuned P - The fast oscillation has 99.9% gone apart from the odd little twitch but then I has turning with I and D set to 0.

With I I push pitch forward and release the control stick and my quad slowly starts to level off.?
Im not seeing any slow oscillations. should I push it up higher?

Its hard to know how high to push the figure without putting them through the roof.

 

[Snarls]

With I I push pitch forward and release the control stick and my quad slowly starts to level off.?
Im not seeing any slow oscillations. should I push it up higher?

Increase I until you can leave the quad in any orientation and it will stay there. It should not level off over time (assuming acro mode).

 

[Jase82]

Took a step back....

I've changed my quad a little now.
Now running a Taranis 9XD Pro with X4R Sbus Rx. ( oh the difference )
Moved my ESCs on to the arm and shorted all the connecting wires ( Looks so my better )
Repositioned my Rx antenna.
Vecro on my Lipos, Changed Lipos to Nano-Tech 1300mAh 45-90C

My quad now flys a lot better and feels better too. Still running on default PIDs with OpenPilot GCS.
I've started flying FPV and its great.... No my control is better, Im going to turn my PIDs



LOS Video

FPV Video

 

[PsyBorg]

Good to see you are up in the air and starting to have fun. Congratz mate.

 

[Jase82]

Success.

I've had some progress tuning my PIDs and I can now see and feel the difference.

There still off and need more work but for now. I'm happy and I'll continue to adjust them as time goes on.
I'm just happy it seems to be moving in the right direction.




Just noticed my Max Rate Limit, Ill swap them around I think.

I even had a go at some flips and rolls

Not sure what happen with my backflip at 20 seconds? It was way faster than the rest and seemed out of control?
any ideas?

 

[TheAdviser99]

Components should be ok