My Mini Quad

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
My Mini Quad (Fail) Now my Hawksky Stabilizer Begin at post #22

I have been building a mini quad loosely based on the one that David W. built. I have a Hobby King V2.1 board and flashed it with QuadControllerV4_7_X_M168_M328.hex . I have two strange issues.

1. The Motors in the X diagram are numbered starting at the upper left #1, Upper Right #2, Lower Right #3 and Lower Left #4.

This motor configuration DID NOT WORK!

My motors are numbered like the like plus diagram but turned 45 degrees counter clockwise: And they work correctly.

Upper left #1
Lower Left #2
Upper right #3
Lower right #4

They respond correctly with the + numbering convention but in X configuration ie

Right on Aileron stick speeds up motors 1 and 2
Left on Aileron stick speeds up 3 and 4
Forward on Elevator speeds up 2 and 4
Back on Elevator speeds up 1 and 3
Left Rudder speeds up 1 and 4
Right rudder speeds up 2 and 3

Edit: I opened the file QuadControllerV4_7_X.asm and it does indicate the motor mapping as I found it rather than as it is listed everywhere in the X diagrams. For this software:

1 is upper left
2 is lower left
3 is upper right
4 is lower right

End edit

The other issue I have is motor 4 does not start till 1/2 throttle even after calibrating the esc's. (I can swap plugs so a different esc and motor emulate motor 4 and the problem moves to the new motor esc pair.

Any ideas?

Thurmond
 
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colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
As for the motor layout it should be like this front facing upwards.
1-3
-X-
2-4

As for the motor #4 it seems not to be a problem of the ESC, but the control board setup or the firmware. Check that you don't have mixes enabled on your radio, and then try with some other firmware...
 
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Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Thanks Colorx, That is the motor arrangement I had arrived at then found in the software file.

I will look into radio programming but I set it up as a new model (Futaba 7C Radio) so I doubt mixing is on by default. I will try other firmware tomorrow afternoon.

Thurmond
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Thanks Jim, I went back to 2.5 firmware and after reconfiguring motor positions everything works normally.

Thurmond
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
IT'S ALIVE :applause:

miniquad.jpg

6A RCX ESC's
hexTronik 5 gram brushless Motors
Horribly balanced FRAGILE (from the factory)HK 4X2.5 Props. (already wasted my 5X3's in testing)
I am tired of junk props already and have ordered some APC 4.1X4.1 E's and some proper prop adapters for these 1.5 mm motor shafts
HK Ver 2.1 Control Board
2.5 Quad Firmware
Corona R8FA Receiver
Turnigy Nano-tech 1.0 2 cell Lipo
3mm carbon tube
3/8" basswood

Thurmond
 
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ananas1301

Crazy flyer/crasher :D
Looking awesome!

How did you make the motormounts?!

It says you used 3mm carbon tubes. Did you run 3* 3mm tubes to each motor? Could you possibly make a few close-up pictures!?
 

Rcjim11

New member
Sweet quad, its good that you manage to get 2.5 working. By any chance did you get the continual ESC beeping on startup? I can't get mine to initiate properly
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Thanks. Yes 3 tubes per motor, wire run inside the tubes. The motor mounts are 3/8" basswood from Michael's Crafts. I drilled slightly smaller than 3 mm holes for the tubes to fit tightly in each mount and in the frame (which is built of 2 stacked 2" squares made of the 3/8" basswood). The motors are attached with epoxy to the mount. Two tubes pass through the mount and the third is bedded in a groove with epoxy. I will try to get some close up pics. 2.5 is working well. I get esc's beeping till I drag the throttle stick to the lower right to "arm" the board.

Thurmond
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Well progress has been slow on my quad due to Hobby King Delays. Now I am very depressed about it. I waited a month for prop adapters and a new micro receiver from Hobby King. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=22691 . It is tiny and perfect for the quad, it did take some extreemly intense searching for connectors to fit it (you guessed it Hobby King was "Backordered" (arn't they always). Problem is it will not ARM the Hobby King Multicopter V2 Board :mad:. So there is another 22 wasted dollars and a month of wasted time. Then while trying to get it to arm the board I plugged in the battery, there was a POP and a puff of smoke. One of the 4 esc's blew 2 FET's (ESC's were not Hobby King because theirs WERE BACK ORDERED just like they STILL ARE). Now waiting for another 30 days for a new one from China. Oh and the machined Hobby King prop adapters spin off center and of course out of balance with no props installed. I hope this thing will finally fly more than a minute some day. It is starting to look like I could have bought a DJI Flamewheel F450 Quadcopter with NAZA Controller almost as cheap as this one is getting to NOT be.

Thurmond
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Further testing revealed that the 2.5 Firmware would not let the V2 board arm with the FrSky TFR6M. The 4.7 (kapteinkuk) firmware will let it arm. I wonder if there is still a lazy motor 4 issue with it?

Thurmond
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Somebody at Hobby King is watching me. The ESC's are suddenly back in stock and on their way to me I might add. I just placed 2 orders as a test. One is EMS shipping and the other is Standard Lowest cost Airmail. We will see how they travel. They were both placed within minutes of each other.

Thurmond
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Well, they aren't watching me. Both motors and ESC's for the tricopter I'm building went out of stock. Hopefully they'll get more in a couple of weeks :)
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Test orders are 111 orders apart, Placed about Wednesday 10AM HK Time, 8PM Tuesday CST (33 minutes lapsed between order placements).

Order Status this Morning 9AM CST, 11PM HKT.

13 Hours Elapsed since orders placed and accepted.

EMS order is printed and being packed.
Air Mail order is in the print queue.

Thurmond
 
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Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Well it is now 10 minutes to Noon on Thursday in HK (21:50 CST Wednesday) and the Regular Airmail Order has progressed from print queue to being packed. No additional progress noted on the EMS order.

Thurmond
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Update 00:24 CST thursday 8 mar, 2012 (14:24 hrs HK time, 2:24PM folks). The Air Mail order (placed second) just jumped ahead of the EMS order via an e-mail from a checker robot that said the order is packed and ready for shipment. No updates on the EMS order yet.

Thurmond
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Update: 22:30 CDT 14 March, 2011, Note both orders were placed well within 1 hour of each other on the 7th early in the HK business day.

Airmail package progress:

Detailed Results:

Processed Through Sort Facility, March 14, 2012, 1:30 am, ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
Processed Through Sort Facility, March 13, 2012, 10:57 am, HONG KONG, HONG KONG
Origin Post is Preparing Shipment
Acceptance, March 09, 2012, 5:28 pm, HONG KONG

(Note the above airmail package took 2 days from Hobby King Order to the HK post office then sat in the HK post office for several days)

EMS Express progress:

Detailed Results:

Processed through USPS Sort Facility, March 14, 2012, 4:28 pm, CHICAGO, IL 60701
Inbound Out of Customs, March 14, 2012, 10:52 am
Inbound Into Customs
Processed Through Sort Facility, March 14, 2012, 8:45 am, ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS)
Origin Post is Preparing Shipment
Processed Through Sort Facility, March 12, 2012, 2:39 pm, HONG KONG, HONG KONG
Acceptance, March 12, 2012, 2:14 pm, HONG KONG

(Note the above EMS package took 5 days from Hobby King Order to the HK post office then went through the HK Post Office on "Wings")

ISC New York has been holding packages for about a week lately so we will see how long from New York and how long from Chicago to get to me now.

Thurmond
 
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Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
A tale of 2 packages

Update: EMS Express package should be here tomorrow (Friday). Ordered the 7th (6th in the USA), Should arrive the 16th. About 9 days total but 5 of those were Hobby King getting the item to the Post Office in HK.

Detailed Results:

Depart USPS Sort Facility, March 15, 2012, LUBBOCK, TX 79402
Processed through USPS Sort Facility, March 15, 2012, 7:24 am, LUBBOCK, TX 79402
Processed through USPS Sort Facility, March 14, 2012, 4:28 pm, CHICAGO, IL 60701
Inbound Out of Customs, March 14, 2012, 10:52 am
Inbound Into Customs
Processed Through Sort Facility, March 14, 2012, 8:45 am, ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS)
Origin Post is Preparing Shipment
Processed Through Sort Facility, March 12, 2012, 2:39 pm, HONG KONG, HONG KONG
Acceptance, March 12, 2012, 2:14 pm, HONG KONG

Regular Airmail Package is still sitting at ISC New York which is no surprise! If like the last package that passed through there it will sit for at least 5 business days.

Thurmond
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Enough of the shipping updates I got the EMS Express package as expected but the Airmail package is still MIA.

Edit: the regular airmail package arrived 28 March 2012. A total of 21 days.

I got the mini-quad rebuilt. Switched to 10gram motors and tri blade 6X3 props. Using 4.7 firmware on the HK V2.1 control board.

After trimming excessively for the lazy motor 4 issue all this thing will do is UFO. Round and Round it goes. Trying to trim the yaw only results in reversing the direction of the UFO effect. I am getting VERY frustrated.

Any ideas?

Thurmond
 
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Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
That's it Folks, I am DONE with 4.7 firmware. It has cost me TOO MANY DOLLARS in replacement parts. Stick Centering, Trim, NONSENSE. That software load is FAULTY. It requires trimming way off of center (near the limits of my transmitter)and quite frankly is too touchy for me and when trimmed for pitch and roll the yaw is UFO. 2.5 solves my issues (and doesn't require the excessive trims that 4.7 does) except for one. The FRSky Micro receiver will not work with it. You can't arm the quad. I have another quad from Good Luck Buy with a KK Blackboard and an older firmware load and it will fly just fine (except for my lack of experience with it, but I CAN fly it without needing replacement parts and I have less money by $75 in it as well).

Thurmond