*Unofficial* FT Dart

nevenelestate

No Agenda FPV
I "landed" in a tree in my yard, it was up there for about a week, and through a rain storm or two. The brown foam board is good, but not that good haha.

The F411-Wing fits perfectly into the slot that FT designed for the PDB, just make it a little longer front to back, I think back worked best. When you install it glue the blank PCD, bottom plate, to the foam WITH THE STANDOFFS INSTALLED TO IT and then you can just screw the FC board down to it. I think you might want to try a smaller VTX, this AKK X5 one would be good.

This was where I placed my VTX, although you will likely need to fit the SplitMini PCB up front, the tough thing with the SplitMini is you need to be able to access the SD card to get your files off it.
IMG_20180920_213827.jpg


This is how i later got my GPS mounted in the back of the fuselage, I believe I had to cut a bit of the foam out of the top cover piece.
IMG_20181001_174319.jpg
 

metaldirtnskin

New member
Thanks again, that's all really helpful stuff. I am hoping to get someone to 3D print me one of the mounts designed for the Split Mini which has a slot in the side (or one can be cut) for the SD card. Odds are I can squeeze the VTX in front near there as well. I already hogged out the PDB opening slightly, and mounted the existing one in there with a little Velcro - should be able to put the F411 in the same way.

Yeah, a week in a tree will do it :( mine had a few hard landings in its first configuration but hasn't succumbed yet. I decided to put Gemfan 3025 two-blade props on it since they seem a little more efficient and I'd rather have a little more flight time than speed. Hopefully with FPV it stands a better chance of staying aloft long enough to take advantage of it.
 

Airkaos

Member
This was my Diff All from my F411-wing in my Dart (RIP) I installed the RMRC Micro GPS module on UART2, SmartAudio to ST1 pin and used SBUS receiver. If you want to use crossfire, or S.port/F.Port you will need to flash the MatekF411 SFTSRL2 2.1.0 FW to get the LED pin on the FC turned into second Soft Serial pin. You will loose ability to use programmable LEDs that way.

On the matek f411, I used UART1 for fport (but used the uninverted pad on a R9MM) UART2 for gps and ST1 for smart audio, did not need to reflash.
 

nevenelestate

No Agenda FPV
On the matek f411, I used UART1 for fport (but used the uninverted pad on a R9MM) UART2 for gps and ST1 for smart audio, did not need to reflash.
You don't need to, but if you decide you need uart1 for something else you could move f.port to the 2nd Soft serial Port on the SFTSRL2 FW.
 

5546dug

New member
Hello I am new to the ft dart and have finished the electronics portion of the build and come up against a wall with regards to my ESCs . They won’t allow the motors to iniatialize judging by the beeping.

Throttle high power on I get the musical tune and not the beep code, so then I go to low TH and I get the count out of ten beeps every time then tune.

Unplug and rep lug power then advance TH all I get is shaking on both motors for a couple of secs then I think ESC shuts down.
TH to low and it will repeat. SO is there a solution?

Or what is the problem. I have used the file for the 12 amp Esc at https://dronebuildersblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/10/emax-blheli-brushless-esc-programming/

I have tried to upload a video but I am not let.
Thanks Doug
 

Paracodespoder

Elite member
Hello I am new to the ft dart and have finished the electronics portion of the build and come up against a wall with regards to my ESCs . They won’t allow the motors to iniatialize judging by the beeping.

Throttle high power on I get the musical tune and not the beep code, so then I go to low TH and I get the count out of ten beeps every time then tune.

Unplug and rep lug power then advance TH all I get is shaking on both motors for a couple of secs then I think ESC shuts down.
TH to low and it will repeat. SO is there a solution?

Or what is the problem. I have used the file for the 12 amp Esc at https://dronebuildersblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/10/emax-blheli-brushless-esc-programming/

I have tried to upload a video but I am not let.
Thanks Doug
I had the same issue, plug one in at a time at first, and start it up (to where it starts stuttering) then spin it fast by hand, once it starts spinning, run it for a couple minutes. I don’t know why but mine seemed like they needed broken in. It also might be the timing on the ESCs.
 

5546dug

New member
Yes I think it might be also, however I can’t get into menu by transmitter, at full TH it chatters for a few secs and stops..
It sounds like the only code it beeeps is ten and then the tune.
I tried the v low TH and help spin but after ten or so tries the motor was hot ans shut down for now.

Wonder if there is another way in.?
 
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5546dug

New member
Hey Guys

Does anyone know how to flash the 12 amp bullet esc from emax, the one from Flight Test

doug
 

5546dug

New member
Took apart one three wire connection between esc and motor, DVM readings across each 2 motor wire were open, I am sure there should have been some resistance. Originally both motors shuttered now only the other motor does. Each wire to motor housing also reads open.
Took the motor apart to see if there was anything out of place but it looked clear and together so put it back together.
I have asked FLight Test for their input through customer support but have heard nothing back.
 

Captain Video

Well-known member
Try swapping the motors and see if the trouble travels with the motor. If it does not try swapping the escs if the problem travels with either then that could narrow the trouble search. Good Luck!
 

Flying Oscar

New member
So, my speed build kit arrived a few weeks ago and last weekend I started the build a little and did some work on the electronics, including putting 2mm bullet connectors on the motors. I have also ordered a lighter, less bulky Rx (the plane seemed a bit tail heavy with the big 9ch Rx I had). If all goes well, I'll get a lot of work done on rebuilding it next weekend. :D
 

slembcke

Member
The 1106 motors in the h-pack don’t have enough power to be a v-tol, so you’re going to need some larger motors (1306 maybe?). Ask around some more though because I’m not an expert ;). Good luck, let us know how it goes, and post a build thread for it to, others may want to build one as well.

I scratch built a little VTOL a couple years ago with EMax 1306 motors. It flew OR hovered ok, but to my knowledge there still aren't any VTOL capable firmwares for the 32 bit FCs that are common nowadays. I had to reflash the settings with my computer to switch between them. Not exactly convenient to do in flight. There is OpenAeroVTOL, but that runs on old KK2 boards (which are bigger/heavier). I seriously considered modifying iNav to do VTOL, but I never actually started on it. :-\ I also had no idea what I was doing in terms of aircraft design, so it was pretty hard to fly until I got the FC tuned up properly. All about that ridiculous thrust to weight ratio. ;)

Honestly though, 1306 (~4000kv I think?) motors with 3" props were a little underpowered for hovering. IIRC, it was a ~200g plane with a 450 3s battery,. It didn't need full throttle, but man did that thing sound like an angry vacuum cleaner when hovering. It lasted maybe a minute or two hovering before the battery died. If I was to do it again, I'd use 1806s with 4 or 5 inch props to make it a little more efficient.

I have a Dart coming in the mail that I'm going to repurpose the electronics for. :D I had a Mini Scout with ailerons and an old Naze FC in it last summer that was an absolute blast to fly. Could easily fly a foot off the ground (inverted of course) it was so stable. Hoping the Dart will fill the FPV sized hole my Scout left when I finally scrapped it.
 
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slembcke

Member
Build is almost complete! Built with parts from my mini VTOL mentioned above. (3300kv, not 4000) So not as high kv as the recommended motor, but should give a lot more thrust? Didn't check with a wattmeter last night, but those 1306's advertise a lot more wattage than the recommended motors. Flight controller is a RMRC Dodo. Not fancy or new, but still supports the latest iNav. Really interested to see how it performs. At 230 grams AUW, its similar to my old fully loaded Mini Scout. Looks to have much more wing area, and a lower cross sectional area. Kinda expecting it to be a rocket, but hopefully it can cruise nice and slow too. Weather looks good for a maiden tonight or tomorrow. :D

IMG_1541.jpg IMG_1542.jpg
 

5546dug

New member
To update I bought another power kit from Flite Test and all is well it flew well stock from kit, but is much better on mid or low rates for me.

Set the timer for 4 minutes and had 39 % left on 3s 850 mha battery.
Will fly this way for some exp.

It is my first wing and haven’t used bank and yank in a while.

Flite Test did do a refund me for the def power pack, so thanks to them!

Doug
 
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slembcke

Member
Was that flying aggressively or cruising? I was hoping to get at least 5 minutes on a 450 mah, upwards of 10 minutes on an 850 mah. My Arrow runs for 15+ minutes on an 850, but that has such a light wing loading.

How long of flights do other people get?
 

5546dug

New member
I was just cruising , not pushing and looking at my batteries I don’t own any 850’s just 450’s mha, so the flight time was not bad.

Would 850 mha 3s fit in?
I have two quarters taped to the lower leading edge to balance , the extra battery size and no quarters would be nice addition.
 

slembcke

Member
Boy is this plane squirrely until you get it up to speed. I was wondering if those crazy launches and landings from their review video were a fluke or not. Nope! Definitely needs more than a gentle flick of the wrist like the Arrow.

Hopefully once I get it trimmed and tuned nicely in iNav the launch mode will help make it a less harrowing experience. Definitely going to need to make a cover for the cloverleaf antenna. Landings seem to involve a fair amount of tumbling.

Update: Flies real nice with a little bit of stabilization, and iNav's launch mode works fantastic on this model! :D You need little more than a flick of the wrist to set it on a stable climb. Stuck a 25 mw AIO camera yesterday, but it was too windy to fly. Now we have another blizzard heading our way tomorrow. >.<
 
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5546dug

New member
Having flown some flights now, and crashing some, it appears the two Emax are not synced as well as they were when new.
I get a diffinate yaw on
The dart due to difference in rpms swhich leads to another crash 20 feet out.

Is there a way to reset ? the motors back to sync ? Or the ESC.
Thanks Doug
 

5546dug

New member
Has anyone got the .stl file on the build site to download so as to put the file onto thumb drive ?
I want to send the file to a buddy to print, but it only shows a page of Asii characters.
Is there another place I could download from?