Group Build 2014, DJI NAZA/F450 Quadcopter!
- Thread starter Bartman
- Start date
Gary Seven
Rocketman
Thanks for the reply and looking into it, Bart. I suspect that can't be done on this type of "forum software" (probably based on python) but I'll manage nevertheless. ;-)
Thanks Bart -
I spent many hours today going through forums and different sites trying to find good parts on a budget.
I think I settled on the following
F550 w NAZA v2 & GPS
Radio - 9XR
I spent many hours today going through forums and different sites trying to find good parts on a budget.
I think I settled on the following
F550 w NAZA v2 & GPS
Radio - 9XR
| http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__28297__Turnigy_9XR_Transmitter_Mode_1_No_Module_.html 9xr battery Module for 9xr 8 channel receiver NAZA BTU bluetooth module battery alarm Charger
|
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Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Well I ordered everything for a F550 except the battery today! Now the anxiety awaits until it comes... was this a smart purchase or not?! lol oh well.. it's only money right? I can't wait to get this thing assembled!
Also holy cow are gimbles expensive for cameras! It's like half the cost of the copter itself! Are there cheaper mounting options available for just a newb like me?
Also holy cow are gimbles expensive for cameras! It's like half the cost of the copter itself! Are there cheaper mounting options available for just a newb like me?
Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
what kind of camera and what's the budget?
coreyperez
Member
[MENTION=15830]chadwyk[/MENTION];
I have now found that all my flight batteries have transitioned to 4S batteries, and I only use 3S for powering my ground station, etc. I've only found a rare instance or two where something absolutely will not play nicely with the 16v a 4s battery will supply, but with additional equipment (voltage regulator) purchased from FPV sources I've overcome those issues easily.
Most of the electronics these day easily support upto 4s power. (Only things on my mind currently are my EZAntenna tracker - Ground & 3s Source, and my TinyTelemetry), in that case, I just used Immersion's AWESOME supplied cable from the transmitter to the TinyTelemetry and easily got the required power source.
Corey
I have now found that all my flight batteries have transitioned to 4S batteries, and I only use 3S for powering my ground station, etc. I've only found a rare instance or two where something absolutely will not play nicely with the 16v a 4s battery will supply, but with additional equipment (voltage regulator) purchased from FPV sources I've overcome those issues easily.
Most of the electronics these day easily support upto 4s power. (Only things on my mind currently are my EZAntenna tracker - Ground & 3s Source, and my TinyTelemetry), in that case, I just used Immersion's AWESOME supplied cable from the transmitter to the TinyTelemetry and easily got the required power source.
Corey
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I know the tread is starting to slow down, but I've been flying for a while now (with the basic F450) and still working on trying to get the Big build F450 up and running. ITS HEAVY!! Anyway, I've been running two 2200 S3 batteries in parallel, but have some 3000 S4's waiting for me at home to try out. I've been running them in parallel and hope to get some better flight times, especially from the heavy quad (and hoping for a little backup. Bartman, this was your idea, are you still running two batteries??) I'm still trying to get the ground station up and running (help, anyone using the ground station could you PM me) but haven't figured it out yet. I am also having difficulty getting the video all wired up through the Zenmuse H3 3d gimbal. The video is working fine one the light quad. Overall, I'm a bit disappointed in the flight times really for both quads, but hope that changes with the higher voltage batteries.
Huge Thanks to everyone on here from the start!!!! I think I may have gotten these things up in the air and taken a shotgun to them if it wasn't for all the information on here and youtube!!
So, whats next Bartman?? Time to start a new build? Let me try to get the bugs worked out of these first, OK... That would make the wife happy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BePoeIANT4
Heres a short video (with not much editing) with the light quad. Yes, I was a "little" nervous about the water.
Huge Thanks to everyone on here from the start!!!! I think I may have gotten these things up in the air and taken a shotgun to them if it wasn't for all the information on here and youtube!!
So, whats next Bartman?? Time to start a new build? Let me try to get the bugs worked out of these first, OK... That would make the wife happy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BePoeIANT4
Heres a short video (with not much editing) with the light quad. Yes, I was a "little" nervous about the water.
Jason Hermann
New Member
Really awesome work everybody and thank you for sharing all the knowledge. Learning a ton reading thru this thread and forum
Jay
Jay
Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
i had been planning to do an FPV quad group build this winter but it's going to be hard if FPV is outlawed by the FAA
Yeah, after doing some more research after buying all my parts, I found out Wisconsin, where I live (Go Packers) just passed a law this past spring with bipartisan support that you can't have a camera mounted and fly in places that people have the "expectations of privacy". They say it's not supposed to effect hobbyists much. They want to prevent police and peeping toms from spying on you I guess.. haha
It is a bummer it seems they are all getting so strict on it all... but at the same time I can see the reasoning for some of it... The FAA and FPV stuff just doesn't make sense though. Oh well..
Back on topic!
I got my f550 assembled this weekend. Just waiting on the receiver / transmitter and battery to come in the mail to hook it all up! Oh and the LED tape and switches, etc.. but I'm more excited to get it ready to fly than anything...
Also I just wanted to note, that in past posts you stated that you need a PC to configure the NAZA but it looks like DJI now has a Mac native App as well.
It is a bummer it seems they are all getting so strict on it all... but at the same time I can see the reasoning for some of it... The FAA and FPV stuff just doesn't make sense though. Oh well..
Back on topic!
I got my f550 assembled this weekend. Just waiting on the receiver / transmitter and battery to come in the mail to hook it all up! Oh and the LED tape and switches, etc.. but I'm more excited to get it ready to fly than anything...
Also I just wanted to note, that in past posts you stated that you need a PC to configure the NAZA but it looks like DJI now has a Mac native App as well.
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RobBurn
Member
i had been planning to do an FPV quad group build this winter but it's going to be hard if FPV is outlawed by the FAA
I would not worry about this, it is a over reach by the federal gov and will never hold up in court. May take years lol.
Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
first of all, let's forget about the helicopters for a moment..........Go Packers! Are we going all the way this year or what? Everybody healthy?
ok, next up, if there's a NAZA Assistant for MAC then absolutely go ahead and use that.
keep with the program as you get flying. keep it nearby and not too high. don't rely on the advanced features to bring it home, be the pilot, be deliberate and get it home yourself a whole lot of times before you start venturing off with more dependence on GPS and the advanced features.
Good luck with it!
Bart
Yeah, the Pack looks good but already some knee injuries! Sure hope they go all the way!!!
got almost everything in the mail today to make it fly-able. Was really hoping to get it flying this weekend, but it turns out my charger didn't come with the correct adapter for my battery so I had to quick order one. Also waiting on the bullet plugs to solder on the bottom board. I am getting way too antsy to fly this thing!
I went to my local hobby shop, but kids were working... and were not helpful at all. They basically said they weren't allowed to sell the kind of plugs that the hobby king batteries have. dumb... I could swap out the plugs but there is something about soldering the wires on the battery myself, I don't trust.
UgashikBob
Member
Greetings:
Building a F450 with TBS extended arms and would like to find quality landing gear similar to the AeroXcraft gear I have on my F550. Any suggestions?
Building a F450 with TBS extended arms and would like to find quality landing gear similar to the AeroXcraft gear I have on my F550. Any suggestions?
PeteDee
Mr take no prisoners!
Hey Bart, mostly healthy but just spent five days in hospital after having a BiLateral Pulmonary Embolism, nasty stuff and now on blood thinners for the next year, fully checked out and fit again though but I urge everyone that has any sort of chest pain to get to your closest hospital and get checked out, faster you get seen the better chance you will have for a full and fast recovery.
Pete
ugh frustrated beyond belief... got the last remaining parts today that I needed to make it fly.. or so I thought.
turns out the receiver I bought, only works with the turnigy module. I got an orange module. I was a bit confused on the compatibility when I bought the module. The module says compatable with trunigy, but I think it meant the turnigy transmitter, not the receiver... wish I saw the fine print on the receiver's page which says it is compatible only with turnigy. Now I have to wait longer for a new receiver that will work with my module in my 9XR. I may stop at the local hobby shop tomorrow to see if they have anything that will work with my 9xr, but I'm not hopeful as they seemed very anti hobbyking last time I stopped in.
I also decided to get a RF-V16 GPS tracker. That came today. I went to AT&T to pickup a prepaid simcard. I got the $10 a month plan. It charges it $.10/min and $.20/text... Not too shabby.
I have yet to test it outside where it has a good GPS lock, but it seems like a good purchase incase of a flyoff!
turns out the receiver I bought, only works with the turnigy module. I got an orange module. I was a bit confused on the compatibility when I bought the module. The module says compatable with trunigy, but I think it meant the turnigy transmitter, not the receiver... wish I saw the fine print on the receiver's page which says it is compatible only with turnigy. Now I have to wait longer for a new receiver that will work with my module in my 9XR. I may stop at the local hobby shop tomorrow to see if they have anything that will work with my 9xr, but I'm not hopeful as they seemed very anti hobbyking last time I stopped in.
I also decided to get a RF-V16 GPS tracker. That came today. I went to AT&T to pickup a prepaid simcard. I got the $10 a month plan. It charges it $.10/min and $.20/text... Not too shabby.
I have yet to test it outside where it has a good GPS lock, but it seems like a good purchase incase of a flyoff!
The frustrations continued today. I went to the local hobby store and found a Spektrum AR8000. It was more pricey than I wanted to spend, but I read some good things about it, and I didn't want to wait another week for Hobbyking to ship me one. I got it home, unboxed it... and realized the servo wires didn't fit into it. So I took my exacto knife and trimmed the plastic tab off the wires male end and now it fits. And then I tried binding and finally success!!!
I programmed the NAZA and made all the motors spin the right way. Then came time to put on the self tightening props. Then problems came again. I didn't realize when I put the motors on, that the threads for the props were specific ccw and cw! ugh... so now I had to take the whole thing apart now and swap arms around until I got them in the right config.
Finally got it put back together and took it outside. I got it to fly! WOOOOOOO!!! haha... but I am horrible at manual mode! I didn't try the other modes yet. I crashed quite a few times, from 5 feet in the air only though. It kept getting pushed with the wind and I couldn't control it good enough to go against the wind. Also tried landing it a few times, but I need to get better at the sensitivity of the throttle, because that thing was bouncing up and down like crazy!
I think I'm going to go over the manual a bit again and see what else I glossed over... but looks like it was a successful build! Just waiting for my led's to come in the mail!
I programmed the NAZA and made all the motors spin the right way. Then came time to put on the self tightening props. Then problems came again. I didn't realize when I put the motors on, that the threads for the props were specific ccw and cw! ugh... so now I had to take the whole thing apart now and swap arms around until I got them in the right config.
Finally got it put back together and took it outside. I got it to fly! WOOOOOOO!!! haha... but I am horrible at manual mode! I didn't try the other modes yet. I crashed quite a few times, from 5 feet in the air only though. It kept getting pushed with the wind and I couldn't control it good enough to go against the wind. Also tried landing it a few times, but I need to get better at the sensitivity of the throttle, because that thing was bouncing up and down like crazy!
I think I'm going to go over the manual a bit again and see what else I glossed over... but looks like it was a successful build! Just waiting for my led's to come in the mail!
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