First Day Flying a Quad - Radio Input Speed Adjustments???

[P1Co]

The Blade mQx (BNF) arrived about a week ago. The extra battery and (real) charger I ordered arrived on Wednesday. The DX9 arrived yesterday. Got everything charged up, did the BIND, and started out to the front yard early this morning.

Flew for about 1-hour 40-minutes total today and I must have crashed 30-40 times. Tree'd it three times -- so badly I had to assemble various implements to get it down. One extraction took half an hour. Put it on my roof once, but was able to fly it off. Bounced it off the neighbor's roof once. Knocked the body off three times and knocked battery out of it once. It didn't occur to me that I needed to adjust the input speed of the controls until late in the day.

This was a lot of fun, but I don't know how much abuse this Quad can take! Just finished up the last session and I can takeoff, hover, and land it on furniture pretty well. Almost did the circle track from the kitchen, to dining room, down the hall, and back to the kitchen again...almost. I gotta figure out how to slow the inputs down more than I have. I put -45% Expo and 60% D/R on switch H...I think. But, I can't tell too much difference. Gonna try 40% in the morning.

Any suggestions appreciated!

--Scott

 

[CdA D]

I have a DX8 and fly a Quad (MQX) and a Octo. These settings are for my Quad only. I set my Aileron, Elevator and Rudder to work off of the Aileron DR switch. I set position 2 at 50%, position 1 at 60% and position 0 at 90%. I started flying at 50% and as I got better I switched to the next position. This changes the degree of reaction for the sticks. I assume that you have your sub-trims set. If not then try that and you should have a better flying experience. This has helped me fly my single rotor much better. I'm sure there will be other opinions to follow soon.

 

[P1Co]

I have a DX8 and fly a Quad (MQX) and a Octo. These settings are for my Quad only. I set my Aileron, Elevator and Rudder to work off of the Aileron DR switch. I set position 2 at 50%, position 1 at 60% and position 0 at 90%. I started flying at 50% and as I got better I switched to the next position. This changes the degree of reaction for the sticks. I assume that you have your sub-trims set. If not then try that and you should have a better flying experience. This has helped me fly my single rotor much better. I'm sure there will be other opinions to follow soon.

Thanks, DdA D. I started messing around with the trim switches. Sure makes takeoff easier!

I don't think any of the other switches have functions on them. That's okay...it's forcing me to learn the menu system. I've been through the entire menu a couple of times. The thing is...I don't know what options there are, or what it's capable of doing. So I don't know what to put on the switches. Still fun figuring it out. The DX9 doesn't appear to have a DR switch specifically for "Aileron".

I live in a windy place - Reno, NV - so I am going to have to learn to fly in wind. But, it's gusting to 25 right now and I don't think I should try it today! Flew indoors for 30-minutes this morning and made some good improvements with the trims. Was able to hover for a full session with only one loss of control.

I got my pilots license in 1990. Flying a Cessna is easier!!

 

[P1Co]

Purchased an F550 with NAZA M v.2 GPS. Comes with two sets of landing gear, fixed and retract, Zenmuse 2-axis, 9" GenFan 4.7 carbon/plastic props, and a couple of 4s 2200 Turnigy LiPos.

First flight, took off and it headed left. Got it stopped. Tried again and it went left again. Had a prop strike and shatter, so not a great first attempt. Got the GPS locked with fast green LED blinks. Had it in Attitude Mode for takeoff, Home Lock, 50% throttle. Moving the right stick to control the drift had zero effect. I think this had something to do with Home Lock. I will try with Home Lock off.

I also discovered (DJI FAQ) that the second set of green blinks (I noticed on power-up) is to indicate that calibration is required. Loaded the software this morning and did the calibration (3.16 firmware and 2.16 software).

This is a sophisticated system and I have a lot to learn. Waiting for props, reamer, and magnetic balancer to arrive. Feeling a little reamed myself.

Any tips greatly appreciated...

 

[FlyGirl]

Purchased an F550 with NAZA M v.2 GPS. Comes with two sets of landing gear, fixed and retract, Zenmuse 2-axis, 9" GenFan 4.7 carbon/plastic props, and a couple of 4s 2200 Turnigy LiPos.

First flight, took off and it headed left. Got it stopped. Tried again and it went left again. Had a prop strike and shatter, so not a great first attempt. Got the GPS locked with fast green LED blinks. Had it in Attitude Mode for takeoff, Home Lock, 50% throttle. Moving the right stick to control the drift had zero effect. I think this had something to do with Home Lock. I will try with Home Lock off.

I also discovered (DJI FAQ) that the second set of green blinks (I noticed on power-up) is to indicate that calibration is required. Loaded the software this morning and did the calibration (3.16 firmware and 2.16 software).

This is a sophisticated system and I have a lot to learn. Waiting for props, reamer, and magnetic balancer to arrive. Feeling a little reamed myself.

Any tips greatly appreciated...

Yep you really have to go by the book with these things. It is a lot to learn for sure... In the short time I have been playing with the higher end stuff, watching this and other forums, 95% of the time pulling left or right or going crazy is a motor turning the wrong way, the NAZA flight controller pointed the wrong way (the ports for the motors should point straight to the front), a CCW prop is on a motor that is turning CW or vice versus, or the proper multirotor configuration wasn't chosen. I don't think home lock being on would do anything because it won't engage until you are a certain distance from your starting point. Check everything step by step and I bet you find the problem.

 

[P1Co]

Yep you really have to go by the book with these things. It is a lot to learn for sure... In the short time I have been playing with the higher end stuff, watching this and other forums, 95% of the time pulling left or right or going crazy is a motor turning the wrong way, the NAZA flight controller pointed the wrong way (the ports for the motors should point straight to the front), a CCW prop is on a motor that is turning CW or vice versus, or the proper multirotor configuration wasn't chosen. I don't think home lock being on would do anything because it won't engage until you are a certain distance from your starting point. Check everything step by step and I bet you find the problem.

Thanks, FlyGirl. The surface I took off from was my slightly-sloped driveway and that might have played a part. I think the guy I purchased this from did a reasonable job. Before I bought, we flew it with my controller and it appeared stable.

After doing some reading and talking with the previous owner, I'm going to chalk this up to pilot error...thinking I should have gone up to about 10' to gain stability. Still, it concerns me that the right stick appeared to have no input. I am going to check that again hooked up to the Assistant software.

• Left-front rotates clockwise and alternates from there.
• "Motor ports"? What's that? I will look that up right away!
• I am going to replace all of the GemFan 9047 props (ordered 3.5 sets of identical size), as I don't know how many were actually damaged (in my ground-strike or previously).
• Yes, I agree about home lock. According to the DJI FAQ, it takes 10-meters from launch before that kicks in.

I can envision the subject, exactly how I want to start filming, and the techniques to use. Hope I can build the skills needed quickly and am excited for the next flight.

 

[FlyGirl]

Thanks, FlyGirl. The surface I took off from was my slightly-sloped driveway and that might have played a part. I think the guy I purchased this from did a reasonable job. Before I bought, we flew it with my controller and it appeared stable.

After doing some reading and talking with the previous owner, I'm going to chalk this up to pilot error...thinking I should have gone up to about 10' to gain stability. Still, it concerns me that the right stick appeared to have no input. I am going to check that again hooked up to the Assistant software.

• Left-front rotates clockwise and alternates from there.
• "Motor ports"? What's that? I will look that up right away!
• I am going to replace all of the GemFan 9047 props (ordered 3.5 sets of identical size), as I don't know how many were actually damaged (in my ground-strike or previously).
• Yes, I agree about home lock. According to the DJI FAQ, it takes 10-meters from launch before that kicks in.

I can envision the subject, exactly how I want to start filming, and the techniques to use. Hope I can build the skills needed quickly and am excited for the next flight.

LOL I should have said the ports on the NAZA where all the ESC's plug in. That has to be pointing as straight as possible to the front of the MR....

 

[P1Co]

LOL I should have said the ports on the NAZA where all the ESC's plug in. That has to be pointing as straight as possible to the front of the MR....

Ah, got it. Thanks!

 

[P1Co]

Well, I may have found the issue with the instability...

I purchased this F550 from a seller in Los Angeles. I drove the 7.5 hours each way, as I wanted to see it fly before buying. The seller programmed my DX9 and it worked great. 7.5 hours of driving is approximately 500 miles. Also, Los Angeles is at sea level. I live at approximately 5,500' MSL. It turns out that making large changes in position and altitude between flight operations require GPS and compass recalibration.

Added to Preflight Checklist: Recalibrate compass before flight.

Found the settings for failsafe, but have to check on one thing before I'm convinced it is setup properly. Also, received the props, reamer, and balancer yesterday. Replaced the props and am ready to test again. Batteries are charged and should be ready to go in the next hour.

 

[P1Co]

Posted my first video. I have a lot to learn!