Quadcopter build question

[davidjcom]

I'm building a quadcopter and have a question about the orientation of the control board. I ordered a board from HK and I looked at the manual online for it and it shows the direction as being in a +Plus pattern. Most of the ones I seen on YouTube were flying in a X pattern. So I am confused as what works best or what is normal?

I may be over thinking this.

 

[colorex]

Check out this link from RCExplorer.se
http://www.rcexplorer.se/Educational/kkguide/kkguide.html

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I imagine it's a matter of what you're looking for. I liked the X configuration, because it allowed me to put a camera on the center plate, and it could shoot "through" the arms.

I think a + configuration is more for sport and stunt flying. I would suspect the response times will be faster on flips and rolls, because you're using two motors instead of drawing on all four, to do these maneuvers. (In X format, the two motors on the left, have to decrease, and the two motors on the right have to increase, to roll/flip to the right. Instead of just one motor on each side, for the + set up.)

 

[davidjcom]

So am I right to assume that I just need to point the board in the X and it will work correctly?
I'm not looking to do flips and such just a stable camera platform.

Thanks

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Not exactly... you have to tell the controller that you want it to be in the X configuration. Then it will know when you give it right input, to work the two motors on each side, instead of just one motor on each side.

If you buy the quad prebuilt, you can usually ask for the type of configuration you want.

 

[colorex]

Nope. You can't just put the board there. The mixes are different for X's and +'s.

X's mix two motors to move forward. +'s Increases only on one motor.

So you can only mount the board a certain way unless it's programmable.

 

[davidjcom]

Dang it! Is there somewhere on the net that will know if the HK board can be reprogramed to work in X mode?

 

[colorex]

This tutorial tells you how to reflash the kkboard from the default + formation to a tricopter. Should be much the same for an X.

http://www.rcexplorer.se/Educational/HKKK/HKKK.html

 

[davidjcom]

Hey great! It shows several different Xcopter versions so one of them should work fine.
Thanks

 

[colorex]

You're welcome! Keep us posted!