Group Build 2014, DJI NAZA/F450 Quadcopter!

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n1kk

New Member
I am a newbie. I have a Syma X5C-1 and a Blade Nano QX. I think by the Spring I would like to upgrade to
something a little bigger and more powerful.
I was looking at kits and wondered besides the learning knowledge of building is there any cost savings?
The other question I have is why do they call it "DJI" 450 That sounds like the name of the RTF Phantom. Does the same
company make the pieces to this kit?

The last question, How to I know what handheld transmitter to buy? I am interested in the features the NAZA offers, and I want the GPS for sure. I understand the handheld transmitter has to match the receiver installed but
I have not found a lot of info that states how to do this.

thanks
Ken
 
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eskil23

eskil23

Wikipedia Photographer
n1kk said:
The other question I have is why do they call it "DJI" 450 That sounds like the name of the RTF Phantom. Does the same company make the pieces to this kit?
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum!

Yes, the company "DJI Innovations" makes the RTF models Phantom and Inspire as well as the kits Flamewheel (F330, F450 and F550) and Spreading wings (S800, S900 and S1000) and components likte the NAZA, Wookong, Zenmuse etc.

n1kk said:
The last question, How to I know what handheld transmitter to buy? I am interested in the features the NAZA offers, and I want the GPS for sure. I understand the handheld transmitter has to match the receiver installed but I have not found a lot of info that states how to do this.
Click to expand...
The NAZA is a flight controller, not a receiver. If you buy a transmitter it often comes bundled with a matching receiver that you can plug into your NAZA.
 

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n1kk

New Member
eskil23 said:
Welcome to the forum!

Yes, the company "DJI Innovations" makes the RTF models Phantom and Inspire as well as the kits Flamewheel (F330, F450 and F550) and Spreading wings (S800, S900 and S1000) and components likte the NAZA, Wookong, Zenmuse etc.


The NAZA is a flight controller, not a receiver. If you buy a transmitter it often comes bundled with a matching receiver that you can plug into your NAZA.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the explanation..

What I am interested in something with GPS, Return to Home, and what allows the quad to fly such that regardless of front/back of
the quad, left will be left, right is right, forward/reverse will be forward/reverse of the stick. I think DJI calls it IOC. Blade
calls it "Stick Relativity"

Do you save any money building vs. buy someone's brand quad that can do this?

Thanks,
Ken
 

Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
NAZA will do that just fine, in fact I just bought another NAZA-M V2 to be able to use IOC on a quad I've built.

but will you save money? that's impossible to say, if you can't build something and you decide to go RTF only to crash it and then have nothing because you can't fix it then you haven't really saved anything, right?
 

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n1kk

New Member
Bartman said:
NAZA will do that just fine, in fact I just bought another NAZA-M V2 to be able to use IOC on a quad I've built.

but will you save money? that's impossible to say, if you can't build something and you decide to go RTF only to crash it and then have nothing because you can't fix it then you haven't really saved anything, right?
Click to expand...

From my research I am finding you can buy just about any replacement part for a RTF system. I have a cheap Syma X5C-1 that I am learning
on and I could actually build one from original parts including the plastic covering but it would cost more than just buying another one for
about $50. I was just curious if any savings could be available with building
over RTF. The cheapest built quad with GPS along with features similar to what NAZA offer (return to home, etc.) is around $320-$340.
Could a kit be built for less? I just stated pricing out kits or "Lego" type quads coming in with similar features for around $400.

Technical, I would not have a problem building mostly curious if there is any savings.

Ken
 

Accupro

Accupro

Member
Not really any savings in building a kit contrary to what you might think. The kit offers a lot more flexibility then the RTF's as the RTF comes bundled and that's what you get. Should you start out with an F450 as an example and then decided to go bigger F550, S800, etc. all or most of the components will transfer and thus you are saving money and more importantly learning as you go along.

With the RTF you're not really thinking about how many channels your transmitter has, what frequencies you're on, etc.
 

eskil23

eskil23

Wikipedia Photographer
I'm pondering obout the layout of the internal components. I know that the FC is supposed to go in the middle as close to the Center of Mass as possible, and the GPS goes on the top and far away from other components that may cause interference. Are there any other pitfalls or concerns for interference to be aware of?
 


eskil23

eskil23

Wikipedia Photographer
Bartman said:
fingers should be at least 1/2 the diameter of the props from the center of the motors
Click to expand...
Check!
I'll be using prop guards as a visual reference of how far out 1/2 the diameter is.

Edit: I got my prop guards by mail today. Neon green ones was not what I orderd. They are going in return.
 
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n1kk

New Member
Can someone explain the NAZA Lite firmware update I have been reading about.
Is this something you would want to do? From my reading it offers a smoother flight
with GPS. I think it offers a feature that will hold the quad steady at a certain height
which is a feature I would like to have along with the other IOC features.
I also read you can return it to stock mode at any time.

Ken
 

Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Ken,

It's hard to say if it's worth it, my guess would be that DJI will figure out a way to disable the Lite-to-V2 conversion and that the methods people are using will stop working. i'd also guess that if you hacked your Lite you might not have it able to do anything from that point forward
 

C

cnason3

Member
Hello,
I am looking at getting into one of these. still not sure if I will go 450 or 550. but I did notice there are two different versions. one that has 30amp esc's and one that has 15amp. not sure about the smaller esc version.. and also was not sure if it would be better to just piece one together picking the motors and esc's or if the kit is best way for a first build.. definatley will be using the naza m lite just not sure on the rest
thanks... I tried reading through this thread for answers... but it looks to have turned into a short book so if the info I need is already here sorry in advance
 

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TomS

New Member
Just wanted to say thanks to Bart and everyone who has posted in this thread. I had been following it for the past month or so, ordering parts to piece together my budget F450. I took my time, sifted through all the information I could gather, and watched a lot of videos. We had calm winds today, the temps were in the upper teens, and I had the day off. So I double-checked everything, charged a battery, and it took flight without flipping over, bursting into flames, or causing property damage! Here's the video of the maiden flight - it's a little boring, but that's OK for now. My 15 year old even took a turn at the sticks and did a great job with it.

 

Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Congrats Tom! It's very gratifying to know we created a resource here that is still successfully leading people through their first builds.

Tell your 15 yr old congrats also!
Bart
 

Dezy

Dezy

Member

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Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Dezy said:
Here are some pics of my completed build, with a big THANK YOU to all involved with this thread - especially Bart. This thread/forum is the best thing going for this industry!

View attachment 23563

I printed this simple camera bracket:

View attachment 23565

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Happy Flying!

Dezy
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I see what you did with that Hexa frame and I like it!!!! using the front and rear tabs to mount hardware is a great idea while getting the benefits of the XY format!

Congrats!
 



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