Beginner Seeking Advice [Aerial Film/Photo]

[Jaybeast]

I don't think it can be said enough times but when cutting battery wires, CUT ONE AT A TIME.
I think it's a great idea to watch a few videos of lipo fires to drive home the respect for these volatile batteries. Keep them stored in a cool dry location and make sure to not drop or puncture them. I like to store mine in an old army ammunition box. Helps me sleep better at night.


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[Motopreserve]

I don't think it can be said enough times but when cutting battery wires, CUT ONE AT A TIME.
I think it's a great idea to watch a few videos of lipo fires to drive home the respect for these volatile batteries. Keep them stored in a cool dry location and make sure to not drop or puncture them. I like to store mine in an old army ammunition box. Helps me sleep better at night.
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There are some great videos on YouTube that walk you through it. Make sure you watch them. Maybe twice!

 

[PCMAerial]

Thanks for the info guys! These things are always a hazard and will be treated carefully. All i want is to get them connected and do it correctly! Definitely have read up and understand the hazards with these batteries. Also going to order some lipo bags next time I place an order. So that will be more protection.

May not even have the components to hook my battery up yet. No computer for the next few days, so I'll have to order new connectors for Monday if im going the Xt-60 route.

 

[PCMAerial]

Hex, GPS, Taranis, and Battery have all finally arrived. Time to start working!

Ordered a bunch of 3.5mm male/female bullet connectors, as well as some XT-60 Male/Female connectors. My battery has a deans plug so I'm going to snip that off and solder the xt-60 to my battery. NOW, I haven't gotten the xt-60 yet but I'm wondering is it going to be soldered directly to my PDB or do I need to make a wiring contraption with a positive/negative wire to the xt-60, that will then connect to my battery. If so will 12ga wire work?

 

[Motopreserve]

Hex, GPS, Taranis, and Battery have all finally arrived. Time to start working!

Ordered a bunch of 3.5mm male/female bullet connectors, as well as some XT-60 Male/Female connectors. My battery has a deans plug so I'm going to snip that off and solder the xt-60 to my battery. NOW, I haven't gotten the xt-60 yet but I'm wondering is it going to be soldered directly to my PDB or do I need to make a wiring contraption with a positive/negative wire to the xt-60, that will then connect to my battery. If so will 12ga wire work?

you want to make a "contraption" lead that is soldered on one end directly to the PDB and the other terminates in XT-60 (opposite gender of the battery of course). 12 gauge is good.

And again, when you get to the battery - PLEASE, one wire at a time!!!! Wrap the exposed wire in electrical tape or heat shrink it to be safe. Watch the videos - they'll set you straight.

 

[OkaNare]

Hi guys.
I am a total noob & have built my first hexacopter which consists of the following parts:
KK2.1 board,
F550 flamewheel frame,
Ublox H6 gps,
1000kv motors,
30A escs,
10x4.5 props,
radiolink T6EHP-E tx & radiolink r7eh rx.
Can you help me with info or parameters for setting my transmitter as I do not understand the Idle Up Throttle/Pitch Curves, gyros, Swash, Dual Rate/Exponential, epa, setting up fail safe, etc.
Does anyone have this same setup to help me with some settings for this radio to
get me going? In the meantime, if someone can send me the digits
(or screen shots of the LCD readout) for the setting parameters in the radio,
I would be most grateful.
Following instructions from the manual I have managed to set the trims, calibrate the ESCs, bind a radiolink r7eh rx to tx & the throttle hold.

I have asked for help on a different thread here: http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?18723-RadioLink-T6EHP-E-for-f550-hexacopter

 

[Motopreserve]

Hi guys.
I am a total noob & have built my first hexacopter which consists of the following parts:
KK2.1 board,
F550 flamewheel frame,
Ublox H6 gps,
1000kv motors,
30A escs,
10x4.5 props,
radiolink T6EHP-E tx & radiolink r7eh rx.
Can you help me with info or parameters for setting my transmitter as I do not understand the Idle Up Throttle/Pitch Curves, gyros, Swash, Dual Rate/Exponential, epa, setting up fail safe, etc.
Does anyone have this same setup to help me with some settings for this radio to
get me going? In the meantime, if someone can send me the digits
(or screen shots of the LCD readout) for the setting parameters in the radio,
I would be most grateful.
Following instructions from the manual I have managed to set the trims, calibrate the ESCs, bind a radiolink r7eh rx to tx & the throttle hold.

I have asked for help on a different thread here: http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?18723-RadioLink-T6EHP-E-for-f550-hexacopter

I wasn't familiar with the radio you have, so a quick google search turned up so e stuff on other forums. I'm not sure - bit it seems that that radio is pretty specifically geared towards other RC vehicles - so you might have to figure out some work arounds. I'm sure you can get it to work on a MR, but it has some built in features that are with heli or plane specific.

 

[OkaNare]

I wasn't familiar with the radio you have, so a quick google search turned up so e stuff on other forums. I'm not sure - bit it seems that that radio is pretty specifically geared towards other RC vehicles - so you might have to figure out some work around. I'm sure you can get it to work on a MR, but it has some built in features that are with heli or plane specific.

Thank you for the response.
I have actually seen some Chinese shops selling some RTF f550 flywheels with this radio but it seems these come with an older KK flight controller without an lcd screen onboard. Initially, my decision to go with this radio was influenced by its low price. I assumed setting it up would be a breeze but now I realize that I should have looked at the amount of support available for it on the web before buying it.
I am still hoping that someone out there has an idea of a work around to get it to work on a multirotor.

 

[Motopreserve]

Thank you for the response.
I have actually seen some Chinese shops selling some RTF f550 flywheels with this radio but it seems these come with an older KK flight controller without an lcd screen onboard. Initially, my decision to go with this radio was influenced by its low price. I assumed setting it up would be a breeze but now I realize that I should have looked at the amount of support available for it on the web before buying it.
I am still hoping that someone out there has an idea of a work around to get it to work on a multirotor.

I'm assuming you looked at the threads over on rcgroups? This forum definitely will be MR-centric, and the gear that lends itself to them.

 

[jbrumberg]

Welcome PCMAerial- I do not disagree with any of the above as most of the material posted above is out of my areas of interest, but for the sake of really learning to fly a multi-rotor aircraft and to minimize the damages, the repair costs of, and downtime resultant to broken parts from the crashes that inevitably occur during those early stages in everyone's learning curve it would be to your advantage to purchase a smaller, cheaper quadcopter first to learn the necessary flying and orientation skills. These contraptions really are not as easy to fly as you would think. The skills learned flying a "trainer" quad are directly transferable to the larger, fancier quads that you will ultimately be flying. A small investment in one of these cheap units will ultimately save you money in the long term; and they are fun to fly as you learn to fly.

Just my $.02USD

Whatever you do good luck, have fun, and fly responsibly.

Jay

 

[jbrumberg]

I wasn't familiar with the radio you have, so a quick google search turned up so e stuff on other forums. I'm not sure - bit it seems that that radio is pretty specifically geared towards other RC vehicles - so you might have to figure out some work arounds. I'm sure you can get it to work on a MR, but it has some built in features that are with heli or plane specific.

Welcome OkaNare- I too took some time and went on the internet about that radio transmitter and could not get enough support information to be of assistance to you either. One gets what they pay for in this hobby. Cheap = cheap. It would be to your best advantage to purchase a good radio transmitter that offers at least 9 channels and has OSD.

Good luck.

 

[OkaNare]

Welcome OkaNare- I too took some time and went on the internet about that radio transmitter and could not get enough support information to be of assistance to you either. One gets what they pay for in this hobby. Cheap = cheap. It would be to your best advantage to purchase a good radio transmitter that offers at least 9 channels and has OSD.

Good luck.

Thank you for your time and effort jbrumberg, I really appreciate it.
As a newbie in multirotors I shall take this as a learning curve & the lesson encapsulated in the following phrase, (the stench of poor quality lingers long after the cheap price is forgotten). At the moment I am looking to sell this radiolink tx & save up for a frsky taranis x9d radio which does not come cheap at all. It seems to have lots of threads in most multirotor forums so I assume getting help to set it up will be quite easy.
Do you think this would be a good radio to go with?

 

[Motopreserve]

Thank you for your time and effort jbrumberg, I really appreciate it.
As a newbie in multirotors I shall take this as a learning curve & the lesson encapsulated in the following phrase, (the stench of poor quality lingers long after the cheap price is forgotten). At the moment I am looking to sell this radiolink tx & save up for a frsky taranis x9d radio which does not come cheap at all. It seems to have lots of threads in most multirotor forums so I assume getting help to set it up will be quite easy.
Do you think this would be a good radio to go with?

that radio will be the cheapest, fullest functioning radio for the money that you can get. It's probably got 100's of features you'll never touch, and costs $100's less than it's competitors.

 

[jbrumberg]

that radio will be the cheapest, fullest functioning radio for the money that you can get. It's probably got 100's of features you'll never touch, and costs $100's less than it's competitors.

I agree. At some point I will upgrade from my Flysky FS TH9XB to a Taranis with Frsky. I will keep the Flysky module for the Taranis so I can keep flying all my "trainer" quads. I think that the module should work.

I have read some "rumor posts" (I forget which site) that HobbyKing is in the process/development phase of offering a radio transmitter that rivals the Taranis radio transmitter.

You are most welcome OkaNare. We are all in this together. We have all purchased items that in hindsight were monies not wisely spent. Live and learn….

"The stench of poor quality lingers long after the cheap price is forgotten." I like that. Thanks

 

[OkaNare]

I read about the frsky taranis on rcgroups.com and the reviews are pretty impressive. Just out of curiosity, which are the most popular competitors of this radio? Also which is the ultimate radio regardless of the cost?

 

[jbrumberg]

A lot of the members here and at RCG swear by the Futaba 14 channel as the ultimate radio transmitter. They may be right, but the cost is astronomical. There are also a 9 channel Futaba I believe. I hope Futaba owners will chime in on this.

 

[Motopreserve]

A lot of the members here and at RCG swear by the Futaba 14 channel as the ultimate radio transmitter. They may be right, but the cost is astronomical. There are also a 9 channel Futaba I believe. I hope Futaba owners will chime in on this.

I own both and honestly, once I get the taranis set up on all the MRs and working correctly, the futaba 14sg will be sold. Don't get me wrong, it's a great radio. But at over double the price - and considering you can build up a collection of telemetry for the taranis for less than the cost of 1 futaba sensor - a modest investment gets you off to the races.

The taranis is a different type of radio. The open source software/firmware gives it options and facets that just aren't present on the traditional name brands - and with that cones a learning curve. But like multiwii, the community is vast and helpful. And if you're new to RC, I can't imagine there being too much difference in learning one companies idiosyncrasies vs another.

The fact that you look at what you're doing in a computer GUI is priceless to me. It makes the other radios seem archaic in terms of editing.

Just my .04¢

 

[OkaNare]

I own both and honestly, once I get the taranis set up on all the MRs and working correctly, the futaba 14sg will be sold. Don't get me wrong, it's a great radio. But at over double the price - and considering you can build up a collection of telemetry for the taranis for less than the cost of 1 futaba sensor - a modest investment gets you off to the races.

The taranis is a different type of radio. The open source software/firmware gives it options and facets that just aren't present on the traditional name brands - and with that cones a learning curve. But like multiwii, the community is vast and helpful. And if you're new to RC, I can't imagine there being too much difference in learning one companies idiosyncrasies vs another.

The fact that you look at what you're doing in a computer GUI is priceless to me. It makes the other radios seem archaic in terms of editing.

Just my .04¢

:hororr: You are absolutely right about the astronomic prices for these futaba radios. I have just been looking around and seen some going for $4200 . For a poor man like me I thank God for open source as this is mana from heaven.

I have just paid $252 for a taranis with a receiver from http://www.t9hobbysport.com/frsky-taranis-2.4ghz-transmitter. I am expecting delivery on Monday.
The open source factor played a big roll in swaying me towards this radio. I will set it up with a kk2.1 for my first ever flight then move to the apm2.6 once i gain some flight experience.
Are any of you guys flying hexacopters with your taranis radios?

 

[Motopreserve]

:hororr: You are absolutely right about the astronomic prices for these futaba radios. I have just been looking around and seen some going for $4200 . For a poor man like me I thank God for open source as this is mana from heaven.

I have just paid $252 for a taranis with a receiver from http://www.t9hobbysport.com/frsky-taranis-2.4ghz-transmitter. I am expecting delivery on Monday.
The open source factor played a big roll in swaying me towards this radio. I will set it up with a kk2.1 for my first ever flight then move to the apm2.6 once i gain some flight experience.
Are any of you guys flying hexacopters with your taranis radios?

Congratulations. I think you'll be very happy. I'm setting up a hex right now that will be flown with the taranis.