CarbonCore Cortex....Owners' Thread

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SwarfWorks

Member
Hey all,

MrTarango, thanks for the link. I'm going to try a set of those. I might also machine some sort of insert that I can slip into the leg so I can possibly cut them in half and have a quick release of some sorts so the long landing gears can be "shortened" for transport (to fit in a case).

I think putting a little bit of some insulation on the cf esc plates would be a good idea. I could see that causing some problems (as Quinton has seen). Haven't seen it yet on mine, but it would be an easy preventative measure.

Good stuff!
 


Q

Quinton

Active Member
CarbonCore said:
CarbonCore did recommend the WooKong to Quinton.
We feel all problems could have been avoided if the WooKong had been used, as recommended.
Click to expand...

Quinton did not want to use a Wookong, Quinton has a Wookong on his Skyjib and wanted to use the A2
There is a reason for that, as there have been many users flying the A2 without problems lately and support you will find has been stopped for the Wookong.

Would I have jumped at a Wookong if I was a Spektrum user, probably not, but I use Futaba.
Personally I would not "not" recommend something unless I had tried it myself, and found it to be no use.
The A2 will be the FC that works much better with the Zenmuse and the Lightbridge, not to mention I do not need a receiver as its built into the A2.

When I had it flying, it was actually extremely smooth, even though I did not get a chance to get the gains right with the 2.5KG weight I had.
You can not use a Zenmuse on the Woookong unless you have the latest 5.26 Firmware, and the leg retract problem, well "in the end" I had a solution for that, theres always a solution, it just takes time to work at it.
The wookong also has its limitations like you would require an extra Can Bus hub if you want to run IOSD along with everything else, and I wanted to learn how the A2 compared to the Wookong.
 

J

jes1111

Active Member
What is it about the Cortex than prevents it playing nicely with the A2? Is the Cortex the only frame that can't be used with (arguably) the market-leading FC?

This thread has taken a huge amount of time; more time than if we'd built an RTF.

This thread has brought back frustrating memories of customers...
Click to expand...

One step forward and then two steps backwards ;)
 

CarbonCore

CarbonCore

Member
We can't see any reason at all why a Carbon Airframe and Tiger motors and ESCs can't work with an A2. It may have more to do with the wording of the A2 manual.
Here at CarbonCore we were able to reduce the 42 pages of WooKong manual down to 6 pages of plain English of what exactly needs to be done. They are heavy to read.

CopterSquad, who are investigating this now, will report soon. This thread really should have been called: "Help with A2 and Futaba Tx setup.... and cortex" Where's the DJI Help person?!?!?

From reading on this thread and many emails with customers, to whom CarbonCore did not sell the A2, it would appear that the A2 does not like having servos plugged in to it - output plug and end point settings.
There may also be that the Cortex ARTF is supplied with a regulator to power the retract servos, and only the servo signal wires goes to the A2.
There should not be any problem if both the A2 regulator, and retract regulator are both powered by the same flight battery, as this gives a common ground.

Many customers have modified this without even trying it and stopped it from working before they even tried it.

We would not recommend allowing the A2 regulator to power the retract servos through the A2. This would put any ripple current from the servos through the A2 bus and close to the Flight controller and receiver electronics.
Plus risks blowing the A2 regulator as we're guessing that's not rated to also power a pair of high torque servos.
 


CarbonCore

CarbonCore

Member
Wow Matt that was fast!
Thanks for starting a Cortex Build Thread.
Hopefully that will go very smoothly for you with the WooKong.
eMail us we'd like to send you the ARTF Cortex kit insert with our guide for setting-up from ARTF to RTF. (Although you're building ARTF yourself).

How to fit the ESCs inside the cooling holes with such a massive power board...
Mrtarango32
http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?t=17947

Maybe choose the motors for your payload (and combined Cortex and motor-battery) weight first (We copied ElectriFlite in on the email as they might be able to help)
Then multiply the max(?) motor current by 8. Max with a question mark because the flight controller will never allow full throttle as there would be no rpm left for control response to maintain stability.

The very light and cheap power boards that fit the cortex, can be stacked to multiply the current rating... Need 400 Amps? 4x £6...
But if a 7.8Kg Cortex is pulling 5.4A per motor on average... 400A at less than 100% throttle is lifting.... No prizes for most amusing answer! :friendly_wink:

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sk8brd

Member
the a2 thing is funny..dji flight controllers as reported by kopterworks don't like different size props on coaxial setups. i never built a coaxial setup so don't know if thats true but those chaps got a bit of real world experience.. i also am hesitant about the internal rx on the a2 so close to the esc's if everything is on that bottom shelf. supposedly 2.4ghz has less of a problem of rf interference but my own way of doing things is i leave as much room as possible between my rx and the esc's for piece of mind.
 
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S

SwarfWorks

Member
CarbonCore said:
We can't see any reason at all why a Carbon Airframe and Tiger motors and ESCs can't work with an A2...
Click to expand...

I really don't either. I can't see any problems with mine (having an A2 in it), besides not being able to set the limits of the retract servos when plugged into F1 (to be able to use the "intelligent" gear control option). Which for now I'll certainly try Quinton's suggestion of using the F3 output to control the retracts.

BUT... this would be the exact same problem with any other mutlirotor (other than DJI's s800 or s1000 that have the built in retract module) I believe.

CarbonCore also recommended that I use the Wookong. Would it work? of course. Better? Well, if you didn't want the new features of the A2 maybe, maybe not. Will DJI support (firmware wise) the Wookong as long as the A2? That'd be silly. I have an Aceone in the single rotor 700 and there isn't even a firmware update to support the iOSD Mk2 yet (among other things). And I paid $3200 for it and it's still a current model! So why would I want an older FC? Just my thoughts.
 





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SwarfWorks

Member
Mrtarango32 said:
Swarf what setup do you have ?
Auw? And flight time. Looks good
Click to expand...

Thanks. Here is my setup as of now:

CarbonCore Cortex aRTF
DJI A2
DJI Zenmuse Z15n Zenmuse with NEX7 (and 20mm lens)
DJI IOSD Mk2
Iftron 500mw 5.8ghz tx
T-motor 15x5 (top) and 16x5.4 (bottom)
Swapped out ESC's to T-Motor t40a 400Hz
(2) Turnigy Nano-tech 8,000mah 6s
DX8 for Cortex, DX7 for Zenmuse

I haven't checked the weight yet. Also haven't had a chance to check full runtime as it's been either really cold or really windy. Come on spring!!!
 

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alib10

Member
What are people doing on there cortex regardin props? Same size props, more oitch on bottom, or more diameter on bottom?

has anyone tested efficiency/ losses of different setups?
 

S

SwarfWorks

Member
alib10 said:
What are people doing on there cortex regardin props? Same size props, more oitch on bottom, or more diameter on bottom?

has anyone tested efficiency/ losses of different setups?
Click to expand...

I have only tried the standard that CC is selling with the aRTF (15"x5 top and 16"x5.4 bottom). But I do have a full set of each, so I'll definitely experiment.

Here's another one. What so you guys think about this? He claims that there is yaw issues from having all top props spin on direction and the bottoms spinning the other. Sounds like he was changing it to be more like an X4 on top of an opposite X4. Interesting for debate anyway. I could see it having some plausibility but probably won't mess with it unless there are really yaw issues with it like it is. Just thought it was interesting.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=27255662&postcount=775
 

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alib10

Member
I had yaw issues in my x8 with all tops spinning one direction. With naza . I changed it round to have 2 cw and 2 ccw on the top and it made a world of difference.

Would highly recommend doing it. I got a diagram of how i setup the naza and esc on my laptop which i will post when ig et home. On ipad at moment
 


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Quinton

Active Member
Mrtarango32 said:
View attachment 21032

U5 are in. Think I should of went bigger! Lol
Don't know if the arms would of taken it tho
Click to expand...

Now I am very interested on how you get on, as that is the original motors that I would have liked to have tested even though they aren't as light as the 4010-14.
They seem to be basically the same as the 3515-15, which I have on the Skyjib
Very interesting post by Swarfworks above regarding props spinning different directions, let us know how you get on.
I assume they fit OK then.
 

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