F330 FPV setup

[ferminator748]

Hey guys! I've been interested in quadrotors ever since seeing the s800 on reddit a year or so ago. Just the idea of being able to "fly" around a see things from a birds-eye view is so appealing to me. However, I kind of put getting one on the back-burner for a bit and now I've finally decided to go for it. I want a small FPV copter so I went ahead and ordered the DJI f330 flame wheel frame. Here is what I plan to get/put on it:

-dji naza m (v2 firmware)
-sunnysky 2212 motors
-rcmc simonK flashed escs
-gopro hero 2
-Futaba 8FG-S transmitter
-Futaba R6208SB receiver
-ImmersionRC GoPro HD A/V cable-ImmersionRC 600mW 5.8GHz Tx
-ImmersionRC 3S 460mAh 35C Tx lipo
-fatshark headset

Now, first off, will this thing fly? I know this a lot of stuff on a tiny little copter but I've seen it done before so I know it's possible. I'm completely open to any new part suggestions. Perhaps there is a better reciever and transmitter I could be using. Like I said, I'm a newbie to all of this so I really have no clue what I am talking about. Another question is my battery. I see a lot of stuff about 3S and 4S, not entirely sure what that means, so what would be a suitable battery that could handle all of this? Also, I'm not sure if these motors will suffice so any better suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks everybody!
Brad

 

[Tahoe Ed]

I have a F330 it is stock DJI. I fly on 4S and 8" DJI props. I have some 1600mAh lipos. You can loose the 3S 460mAh lipo. I wire the Immersion direct to the flight pack. The vTx can take the power. The H2 is a little heavy but it should be fine. I have flown with the H2 on a full FPV F450. Your biggest issue is component placement. What are you going to use for landing gear and camera mount?

 

[ferminator748]

Hey Ed, thanks for the insight. I was looking at the turnigy nano tech batteries. Which one would you recommend? I was going to mount the h2 on the little piece of the plate/frame that extrudes out in the front. As for landing gear, I haven't given that any thought. What would you recommend for that as well?

Thanks!

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

I use Turnigy nano-techs and for F450 I have 3S 2650mah, and 3S 6000mah. On the setup you describe, the 2650 should last you about 10 mins, and the 6000 probably 20 mins. I agree with Tahoe Ed about scrapping the 460mah. It just adds weight when you could just tap off the main batt.

The terms 3s and 4s refer to the number of cells within the battery, where each cell is 3.7V nominal. Thus a 3S battery is in the 12V range, and a 4S is in the 16V range. The 4S batt will give you a zippier response to your motors, if you think you'll need it (I don't). Here's a good article that might help:
http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-lipo-batteries.html

It sounds like you are going to just hard mount the H2. So with no gimbal, and if your mounting the H2 to the top side of the bottom plate, then you don't need the landing gear. If you mount the cam on the bottom side, or if you'll be getting a gimbal, then go with a small landing gear like the X468 standard height one (they make an extra tall one for bigger cams, but it's also heavier.

As for your transmitter and receiver, you picked some great stuff. Those two things will last you a long time and will do great if you grow you into bigger birds later if you wish. FYI, you could save yourself $75 and go for an R6303SB receiver and use S-bus. No loss of quality, just smaller, simpler way of wiring it up.

As for the motors and ESCs, I can't speak to that. I stick to stock stuff so I got the DJI kit stuff.

 

[ferminator748]

Wow man! Thanks so much, this really answers my main questions perfectly. I'll most likely end up getting the 3s 6000mah because you're right, I don't need instant responsiveness, just fly time. As for "tapping off" power from the battery to the transmitter, how would I go about doing this? I mean the actual process of connecting it to the battery. Are there splitters or something made specifically for it? I'm sorry if my inexperience is frustrating, as you can tell, I'm very new to hobby in general.

Thanks!
Brad

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Wow man! Thanks so much, this really answers my main questions perfectly. I'll most likely end up getting the 3s 6000mah because you're right, I don't need instant responsiveness, just fly time. As for "tapping off" power from the battery to the transmitter, how would I go about doing this? I mean the actual process of connecting it to the battery. Are there splitters or something made specifically for it? I'm sorry if my inexperience is frustrating, as you can tell, I'm very new to hobby in general.

Thanks!
Brad

Brad,

You can solder a male JST connector to one of your esc's +/- pads. Not a problem and you can tap your flight battery power.

Ed

 

[ferminator748]

Thanks Ed! Are the esc +/- pads the little copper-colored squares on the f330 plate?

 

[RTRyder]

The problem you're going to have on the F330 frame is finding enough real estate to place all the components so there's no interference between them. I built one using a Naza with GPS and it took a bit of creativity to get enough separation between the GPS and video TX so that the GPS would get a full satellite lock. Once I had every thing sorted though it proved to be a fun little FPV ship, easily get 12 to 14 minutes on a 3S 5000 battery...



Ken

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

RTRyder, couldn't you have done the VTx antenna on the bottom? That's what I'm doing with mine (though it's a DJI VTx); it's hands downward for nothing to obstruct path.

 

[ferminator748]

Wow Ken, I that is quite the innovative setup you have there. What is that little metal piece at the tip of the Tx antennae? I see that everywhere. Does it increase the signal distance or something? And I didn't even know the Tx could interfere with the Naza's gps so thanks for the heads up. I was thinking of also putting the battery on the bottom so I'll probably end up having a setup similar to yours.

 

[RTRyder]

Wow Ken, I that is quite the innovative setup you have there. What is that little metal piece at the tip of the Tx antennae? I see that everywhere. Does it increase the signal distance or something? And I didn't even know the Tx could interfere with the Naza's gps so thanks for the heads up. I was thinking of also putting the battery on the bottom so I'll probably end up having a setup similar to yours.

That's a right hand circular polarized clover leaf antenna, hands down the best type of antenna for use on a multi. You'll get 3 to 4 times the range from this style antenna than you will from the little rubber ducky that ships with the vTX. You will also want to have a circular polarized skew planar wheel on the RX, the difference being the one on the TX has three lobes, the one on the RX has 4. I often run a 4 lobe on both ends as it seems to give a bit better signal overall on a multirotor.

Immersion sells the Spironet antennas for 5.8 which are stamped steel CP antennas encased in little plastic domes, while they're relatively inexpensive and better than the stick antennas they don't get the range that these will... http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_45_49_97&products_id=1255

My usual setup for multirotor FPV is an Immersion 5.8 600mw video TX with RHCP antenna and a set of Fatshark Attitude goggles with builtin 5.8 RX that I attach a TBS 5.8 patch antenna to, this setup gives solid video at a half mile and beyond as long as there's no obtructions in between http://www.team-blacksheep.com/products/product:111 . If want to go low or longer range I have 1.258gHZ that allows me to fly behind trees and small hills while maintaining the video signal though that requires using an LRS radio setup to maintain the control signal when flying behind things, 2.4 control and 5.8 video just won't work in that situation unless you're within about a 100 feet or less and sometimes not even then.

Ken

 

[ferminator748]

With the antennas in the link you sent, would I put the one with three lobes on the tx and the one with five on the rx? I never thought antennae could be 64 dollars! haha