Group Build 2014, DJI NAZA/F450 Quadcopter!

[Bartman]

That's awesome Howard! You should be very proud of yourself!

Congrats!

 

[HowardH]

Thanks Bart! yeah it is pretty cool i can see getting addicted to multirotors and by the way i'm looking forward to the 28th i'll be tuned in

 

[HowardH]

I've had quite a few flights now and a couple of mishaps and i am very impressed at how durable this thing is so what's on next years plate for a group build

 

[makerbot_m]

I've had quite a few flights now and a couple of mishaps and i am very impressed at how durable this thing is so what's on next years plate for a group build

I'm in the middle of a Thunder S550 hex build at the moment. Wish more people were actively building these.

 

[darwin-t]

It's been a while since we started this thread and in the time since some stuff has changed, other things not so much.

Flight control systems have made it a lot easier to be able to consider different options.

I built my F550 with a PixHawk clone - the RTFHawk and have been very happy with it. It did not work well with DJI ESCs, however. Now I am building a 250 racing quad with a Naze32 board and plan on using my DJI ESCs with it. I seem to remember that the endpoints on the DJIs are fixed and different than other ESCs. 1100 and 1700, maybe? I can't remember. Does anyone happen to know what they are? Or am I confusing it altogether?

Also, I have some 5 volt, 2 amp fixed voltage regulators laying around. Can I use one of these as a BEC to power the flight controller and receiver?

Thanks

 

[Bartman]

NAZE32 gets power from the ESC's so if the ESC's you're using don't have BEC's (don't supply 5V through the red wire of the servo leads) then using a 5V regulator would be the next best thing.

 

[Rgolfer]

I built my F550 with a PixHawk clone - the RTFHawk and have been very happy with it. It did not work well with DJI ESCs, however. Now I am building a 250 racing quad with a Naze32 board and plan on using my DJI ESCs with it. I seem to remember that the endpoints on the DJIs are fixed and different than other ESCs. 1100 and 1700, maybe? I can't remember. Does anyone happen to know what they are? Or am I confusing it altogether?

Also, I have some 5 volt, 2 amp fixed voltage regulators laying around. Can I use one of these as a BEC to power the flight controller and receiver?

Thanks

You could be right about the DJI ESCs. I tried using them with a NAZE32 and couldn't get the motors to come up to speed correctly. Finally gave up. If there's a solution for this I'd be interested in hearing it. Was using DJI motors as well and Cleanflight. As Bart noted you will need a 5 v BEC for power.

 

[darwin-t]

You could be right about the DJI ESCs. I tried using them with a NAZE32 and couldn't get the motors to come up to speed correctly. Finally gave up. If there's a solution for this I'd be interested in hearing it. Was using DJI motors as well and Cleanflight.

That may be why it is said Naze32 is not for DJI frames. IIRC, the lower half of the throttle would work okay, then little or no difference in motor speed between half and full throttle and there was a LONG delay for the motor speed to decline when the throttle was cut. I was/am using DJI E300 motors on my F550. It is overweight/underpowered, but not fatally so.

I'll give the DJI ESCs a try. It won't cost me a cent to try. I'll report my results back here ASAP. I have all of the parts ordered, don't have any yet.

 

[Rgolfer]

That may be why it is said Naze32 is not for DJI frames. IIRC, the lower half of the throttle would work okay, then little or no difference in motor speed between half and full throttle and there was a LONG delay for the motor speed to decline when the throttle was cut. I was/am using DJI E300 motors on my F550. It is overweight/underpowered, but not fatally so.

I'll give the DJI ESCs a try. It won't cost me a cent to try. I'll report my results back here ASAP. I have all of the parts ordered, don't have any yet.

Exactly the performance I had . I was using E300 motors on a F450 frame. Switched to an old NazaM V1 (flashed to a V2) and all worked fine.

 

[darwin-t]

Exactly the performance I had . I was using E300 motors on a F450 frame. Switched to an old NazaM V1 (flashed to a V2) and all worked fine.

I may as well order some ESCs then, and not even mess with these. :-(

Thanks

 

[Bartman]

I may as well order some ESCs then, and not even mess with these. :-(

Thanks

probably a good idea. Turnigy Plush are a good all-purpose ESC that don't cost much. For high pole-count motors (Pancake style as they say), Hobbywing PRO are not expensive and work great. There are a lot of other options if you want to do the leg work of checking them all out. I've never bought into the whole SimonK thing although the OneShot ESC feature seems very cool in that the braking is used to decelerate the motors when reducing power instead of just letting the props freewheel and decelerate from the drag on the props

 

[hweinkum]

Hi,
I built a model like that, using a
F450 frame
Naza M lite
3s LIPO battery
30A simonk ESCs
1000 KV motors
10x4.5 props
turnigy 9x RC

HOWEVER, regardless in which flight mode I fly, after 10 seconds or so it switches to failsafe mode and lands itself.
I cannot figure out what triggers that. Could my motors draw too much electricity??

The turnigy is set up perfectly, it switches through all the modes, everything is calibrated.
Thanks for you help!!
Harald

Hi everyone,

I'd like to propose a group build. We'll start with the process of selecting components, we'll purchase what we need, and then go step by step through the assembly and flight testing. To the maximum extent possible we'll stick with one list of pieces but there will also be room for people to customize things.

As it is intended to be a learning process we'll pick components typical for a light lift quad or hex and the proceed to add what would be useful for sport flying, FPV, or aerial photo/video use.

Right off the bat I'd steer us towards a DJI F450 or F550 frame set, Tiger 2216 motors, 10" props, Turnigy Plush 30A ESC's and either the DJI NAZA or XAircraft Super X flight control systems. There's an inexpensive brushless GoPro gimbal we can adapt to the frame and with a landing gear solution you'll be good to go. A simple GoPro mount would be better for FPV and there wouldn't be any camera for just flying around the local park or RC field.

Anyone interested in something like this? I was going to help a fellow member to get started and just thought maybe we could have some fun with it here. Winter's coming (for us N. Hemisphererers) so it's a good time to kick off a new build project.

Who's in?

EDIT:

We've gone ahead and started the group build. From that I've added a list of abbreviations for multi-rotor helicopters and their associated equipment/hardware/manufacturers/etc.;
http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...Heli-abbreviations-acronyms-secret-codes-etc-!

There is also a tutorial on Lithium Polymer batteries;
http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?12819-Understanding-Lithium-Polymer-batteries

Some points about hardware selection;
http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...50-Quadcopter!&p=139675&viewfull=1#post139675

Outline of initial set-up using NAZA-M Assistant
http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...AZA-M-V2-w-GPS&p=149450&viewfull=1#post149450

About first flights;
http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...50-Quadcopter!&p=141416&viewfull=1#post141416

NAZA Quick Start Guide Review
http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...50-Quadcopter!&p=142412&viewfull=1#post142412

Here are the videos that are posted in the thread covering different aspects of the build process

DJI NAZA intro video

Another DJI demo video

Here's a list of common mistakes that keep new NAZA builds from flying properly;

• Front of NAZA IMU is pointing towards the back of the helicopter (motor wires should be plugged into the FRONT of the NAZA)

• NAZA needs to be mounted upright (upside down is baaaaddddd, you didn't do that, right?)

• NAZA components are not plugged into each other correctly

• Controls calibration not completed successfully (Use NAZA Assistant to check this)

• Controls are reversed (Use NAZA Assistant to check them)

• ESC's have not been calibrated (DJI 30A Opto ESC's do not need to be calibrated)

• One or more motor directions are reversed (switch any two of the three motor-to-ESC connections to reverse the direction of the motor)

• One or more motors are plugged into the wrong slots of the NAZA

• One or more propellers are on the wrong motors or upside down

• Radio transmitter is set to Heli instead of Acro

• One or more receiver channels are plugged into the wrong input ports of the NAZA

• Old channel mixes in your transmitter are messing things up

• Flight battery is dead or close to dead

 

[JoeBob]

Is your Battery Failsafe on or off?
You may have enabled battery failsafe and have your voltage set incorrectly.

 

[hweinkum]

Hi and thanks for your reply!
I have it off, I already ruled that out as a possible cause.
I did notice many builds suggest motors with less electric draw, like 770KV, could my 1000 KV motors be the culprit?

 

[jbrumberg]

A failing LiPo could cause the battery failsafe to activate as well. I have a similar set of components and my quad (avatar) weighs in at at least 1800 grams and I have no problems with performance. I have had similar problems to yours in the past with failing batteries. I would check individual cell voltages in your battery and see if the internal resistance is acceptable.

 

[hweinkum]

I have two new 3s, 25C, 2200 mAh LIPOs and of course fully charge them before use

 

[Bartman]

Hi and thanks for your reply!
I have it off, I already ruled that out as a possible cause.
I did notice many builds suggest motors with less electric draw, like 770KV, could my 1000 KV motors be the culprit?

what exactly are the specs of the motors? manufacturer and model # would help also

 

[hweinkum]

First off, thanks so much, I cannot believe how helpful folks are on this forum!!
the motors are
brushless motor a2212/13 kv1000

BUT: today I swapped one of the ESCs and that might have fixed the problem! I had my first several-minute-long flight without it switching to failsafe!
So let's assume the problem is solved, thanks all of you who replied. Great forum!
Harald

what exactly are the specs of the motors? manufacturer and model # would help also

 

[bobspryn]

Hey all! Newbie here looking to do a F450 build. If you were redoing this build right now, what would the component list look like? I have no real method of deciding which newer bits to swap out, but hoping to follow this thread's instructions pretty closely. I've seen a kit with the naza m v2 straight from dji. Suggestions? I need basically everything.

Bob

 

[Rgolfer]

Hey all! Newbie here looking to do a F450 build. If you were redoing this build right now, what would the component list look like? I have no real method of deciding which newer bits to swap out, but hoping to follow this thread's instructions pretty closely. I've seen a kit with the naza m v2 straight from dji. Suggestions? I need basically everything.

Bob

The all DJI kit with NAZA M V2 would be a good way to start building. I did one of those during the group build and it was easy to build and flys well. I originally used a JR transmitter and receiver but have since switched to Taranis stuff. I have since built another quad using a DJI 450 frame and motors but used a Pixhawk FC. The Pixhawk (would have to be one of its clones nowdays) is more complicated to set up but does more things than the M V2.