XAircraft XAircraft X650 Pro - Owners

[Av8Chuck]

I wouldn't feel too left out, it depends on how you define flyaway. A flyaway could be defined as "my F550 with a NAZA-M went out of control and ploughed into a very large bit of agricultural machinery."

In my case I was the Machine:

View attachment 14979

 

[CrashMaster]

Ouch......

 

[RCJardin]

My goodness I hope you are ok. Makes you think what you can do to others if not very careful.

 

[Dhardjono]

The guy that post the video in California is Gary he was using Phantom dji i don't think he put any stabilization he has more video for that gimbal and it was a prototype he was testing for hobby wing i was looking into that my self since i can take more pay load. I should be getting my 650 on Monday i need advise from all of you what battery to get for max time the x650 web site say 6800 turnigy what say you guys?. should i go for higher ones does the claim on the website that you get 15 to 20 min depending on the payload real true?.

 

[X650Mouse]

The guy that post the video in California is Gary he was using Phantom dji i don't think he put any stabilization he has more video for that gimbal and it was a prototype he was testing for hobby wing i was looking into that my self since i can take more pay load. I should be getting my 650 on Monday i need advise from all of you what battery to get for max time the x650 web site say 6800 turnigy what say you guys?. should i go for higher ones does the claim on the website that you get 15 to 20 min depending on the payload real true?.

Other side of the pond! I have 3 x Turnigy nano-tech 6000mah 4S 25~50C Lipo and powering a 5.8TX and 2axis Gimbal I get with each one 18 to 21 minutes, I use a battery alarm and it is set at 3.7v when it sounds I return and land, I have not seen the vehicle LED flash for low power state but have been told I've probably got another couple of minutes.
[h=1][/h]The batteries deplete to about 9% of capacity.

David

 

[CrashMaster]

I should be getting my 650 on Monday i need advise from all of you what battery to get for max time the x650 web site say 6800 turnigy what say you guys?. should i go for higher ones does the claim on the website that you get 15 to 20 min depending on the payload real true?.

Read my earlier posts using 8000mah Zippy Lipos Those times still stand and am seriously considering 10000Mah as there is still 400g spare payload with my setup at 2.6kg. I am also looking at hanging my Sony NEX7 under the frame but that will add significant weight to the take off weight. The GoPro is good but the quality of stills is no where near as good as the NEX7. I will be using a servo powered gimbal and not brushless too as the extra weight of a brushless gimbal is significant too and the price as I already have a gimbal which will take the NEX7:-

I have now put Deans onto my Zippy 8000mah 4s 30C Lipos and cycled them 4 times now and the flight times are very good. Even better than they claim on their website of 20 mins with wehight of 1800g (including 4S 5800mAh battery). I am running the 8000mah with a total weight of 2.6kg. That leaves 400g before it is over loaded so flies very stable and holds its position within 3-4 feet horizontally and 2-3 feet vertically. And that is even when hit by a gust of 25mph. This machine combined with the WKM is looking excellent.

Remember I am also powering from the lipo the iOSD, Aerxcraft GoPro Brushless Gimbal by 7.4v UBEC, GoPro 3 Black with WiFi on by 5v UBEC and a InnovationsRC 5.8ghz AV TX direct from power train. And even the DJI 2.4ghz Datalink although not connected to laptop during these flights was on. If I removed all the excess and went back to a bare frame as they did with their times I would probably exceed 25mins.

Flight times in 12mph wind gusts to 17mph:-
17min 38sec
18min 12sec

Flight times in 18mph wind with gusts reaching 25mph
19min 22sec
18min 31sec

Flight times in 5mph breeze and no gusts
18min 49sec
17min 56sec

Flight times in 0mph dead but hot - 30c
19min 52sec
19min 12sec

All the above flights were simply take off climb to 50 foot and stay there until the lipo alarm went of and then land.

On re-charging the Lipo which appears to get the edge is taking between 7000mah and 7250mah on re-charge and the other is taking between 6700mah and 7000mah It's internal resistance is slightly higher on cell 2 which may explain the differences.

The Lipo is a brick but the machine handles them very well although I had to use a longer Velcro strap because the standard one is not designed for such large lipos. I have also added Velcro to the lipos and the bottom of the battery tray because there is nothing stopping it shift it's weight during flight which could off-balance the machine should it happen.

 

[Dhardjono]

Ok great thanks now i know what battery to get i want to know what a good bec to get to power my arris 2000 any link you guys can give me. Can i use my lipo 3s 5000amh battery that i still have it was for the run away coptor?

 

[wbrownj]

Hey all,
You all sound very professional compared to me but I too recently bought a XA650 Pro with SuperX. I too got it from Mark at xaircraft.co.uk and got very good and reliable service from him.
I really am only a hobby flier. I went from helis to quads when I discovered the Hubsan X4. That soon led to a DJI Phantom which I still have and enjoy but it soon became clear that I wanted (NEEDED ) a better craft and after due research I opted for the xa650 Pro. And wow I really do love it. SuperX is..er..well... Super. Here are a few photos of my setup....

View attachment 14988

View attachment 14989
I use a Spektrum Dx8 transmitter and a R8000 Rx together with its satellite receiver.
The bundle of wires with the yellow attachment is the controller for the lights I use for orientation. More on these later.

View attachment 14990
On the side I have 2 ubecs. One for 12volts to power my gimbal and FPV setup and a 7.4volt one for the lights.

QUESTION: When a ubec is not powering anything but is still connected to the flight battery, does it draw much/any power??? Thanks in advance for answers!!

View attachment 14991
So these are the lights and I really DO RECOMMEND THEM. They are available from http://www.4-max.co.uk/led-lights-landing.htm and whilst they are not cheap, they really are the business and fit perfectly into the body cavity at the front of the body. I hope you can see this from the photo. I have them held in place with strong double-sided tape and they are solid as a rock. In the photo, the lights are not on, what you see is just reflection from my camera flash. When they are on they are very bright and look very impressive even from a distance. They are great for orientation. They are controlled using a spare channel on the Rx.

View attachment 14992
This is my GAUI GV100 FPV system. I plugs into my GP3 BE. I really have not tried this yet because of the rubbish weather we have been having. I have the monitor screen that comes with the GV100 but have not gone with goggles yet. I have a few (lots) of problems with my eyes and goggles may not work too well for me. I may need to get some better vTx and vRx antennas like cloverleafs, but I need to see how it functions out of the box first. I liked the GV100 because it is so self contained. I was very easy to set up.

View attachment 14993
This final photo shows how I use two smaller straps for the battery. They are the type with buckles that allow them to be pulled tight. When I got the xa650 Pro it came with a very long xaircraft Velcro strap but I had a few worries about the battery slipping but these new belts really hold the battery firmly and there is no chance of slippage.

I am using 5000mah Turnigy lipos but have not really done any timings of flight times etc. At a guess I would say about 15 mins but that it pure guesswork.

Anyway, that is my setup and I am very happy with my Xaircraft 650 Pro.

Thanks for reading,


Jonathan

Oh yes, I mentioned a gimbal... well that has yet to arrive. For the DJI Phantom I use a Goodlucksell gimbal and it was pretty good. I then found that they do one specifically for the XA650 which has dedicated hangers that slot directly onto the hanger rails. SO I thought I would try it. I hope it will arrive soon.

 

[VIQuad]

Cool set up.

WAAAY better than the phantom in a lot of ways. But the phantom is still a decent quad and has proved to have do some great things. But when your ready to take the next step to getting serious the X650 pro is a good choice I think. Especially on a budget.

SuperX has been great I NEVER worry about fly aways or other minor FC issues. Always rock solid and RTH is quick and reilable when you need it.

 

[wbrownj]

Hey Viquad,
Thanks for the reply and yup I still really enjoy my phantom.
BTW in a separate thread, you left us all hanging when you posted pics of a great case you got for your 650.
See this link
http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?14487-What-case-do-you-use

We would really like a link to where you got it !!!

Cheers

Jonathan

 

[CrashMaster]

Ok great thanks now i know what battery to get i want to know what a good bec to get to power my arris 2000 any link you guys can give me. Can i use my lipo 3s 5000amh battery that i still have it was for the run away coptor?

I am no authority on the SuperX but can advise that if you use the WKM you are advised to use a minimum 4S - it will work with 3s (I have tried it because like you had a load of 5000ma 3s when I dumped the f550. I would also advise the 4s any way because the 800kv motors will be running slower with 3s (800 revolutions per minuite for every volt input)
i.e. 3s = 2400 rpm and 4s = 3200 rpm
Simply speaking this means more lift with the 4s for the same throttle input compared to the 3s.
When I tried the 3s I had to take it upto about 60% throttle to hover then drop down to 50% to get it to hold and in the transition it lost 15 feet in altitude then held.

The alternative would have been to experiment with larger props 12-13 inch until I had the lift right. However, decided to go with the build recommendation and never regretted it.

 

[Dhardjono]

I am no authority on the SuperX but can advise that if you use the WKM you are advised to use a minimum 4S - it will work with 3s (I have tried it because like you had a load of 5000ma 3s when I dumped the f550. I would also advise the 4s any way because the 800kv motors will be running slower with 3s (800 revolutions per minuite for every volt input)
i.e. 3s = 2400 rpm and 4s = 3200 rpm
Simply speaking this means more lift with the 4s for the same throttle input compared to the 3s.
When I tried the 3s I had to take it upto about 60% throttle to hover then drop down to 50% to get it to hold and in the transition it lost 15 feet in altitude then held.


Ok thanks Crash master i order some 4s 5800 turnigy and i got the lumineer 5200 i will try the 8000 but let me get use to the 4 s never try those yet. I am thinking to add a small battery like a 450 or 1000 amh 3s battery to run the gimbal and the fpv tx 600 watt.

 

[CrashMaster]

I just realised I must have had a blonde moment and quoted figures:

i.e. 3s = 2400 rpm and 4s = 3200 rpm

This is wrong but the principle is the same:

i.e. 3s = 8,880 rpm and 4s = 11,840 rpm

 

[wbrownj]

....and the fpv tx 600 watt.

600 watt!!! You must be broadcasting to half the country :highly_amused:

 

[Dhardjono]

600 watt!!! You must be broadcasting to half the country :highly_amused:

Was not getting good signal with 400 watt it could be that it was not working i took the antenna of while it was on. But now i am getting great signal using my phantom i will put it on the 650 when i get it tomorrow.:frog:

 

[CrashMaster]

600 watt!!! You must be broadcasting to half the country :highly_amused:

I think he meant 600mw - although in the UK it is illegal to transmit at 600mw unless you have paid for a licence from OffCom yet they are available for purchase here. The maximum you are allowed in the UK without a licence is 25mw, which I use with clover leave antenna and get a good signal upto the maximum distance of 500 metres from me Line Of Sight (LOS).

 

[VIQuad]

Yeah sorry, I thought I had responded to that.
It's a custom case and foam that the guy who works with our company had made. I'll have to ask him about it. I think there are a lot of places where you can get them online. I believe he was looking for something we could take on a plane specifically and it seemed to work.

 

[X650Mouse]

Yeah sorry, I thought I had responded to that.
It's a custom case and foam that the guy who works with our company had made. I'll have to ask him about it. I think there are a lot of places where you can get them online. I believe he was looking for something we could take on a plane specifically and it seemed to work.

Mentioning not responding! I was hanging out for a response from you to this :nevreness:

This is great thanks, I have 3 Turnigy nano-tech 6000mah 4S 25~50C Lipo and a 5V UBEC so okay in that department.

How would you rate yours against the GoodLuckBuy model, it seems their software might be a bit lacking?

So in summary If I buy this and strap it on my X650 I'll have software that I can plug the gimbal into on my PC and configure it for what I want, like tilt angle etc?

And I'll have a piece of equipment that will give me reasonable steady videos taking out most of the vehicle and environmental vibrations and buffeting, a yes from you now may result on me pressing 'add to cart' :nevreness:

David

David

 

[VIQuad]

I haven't tried the GLB 3 axis. BUT I have seen some great stuff from it...just not from a X650, usually a phantom or other quad.

I went with the Arris 3000 because I felt like it was a better fit for my X650 setup. I developed a custom vibration mounting plate and I feel like it works the way I want without being a $3500 Zenmuse.(ridiculous by the way)

Some Back Story:

I'm very picky about vibrations, shakes and twitches and wanted absolutely stable video like people "claim" to get right out of the box, or with very minimal tuning. I see people posting video claiming that it had NOT been stabilized, when it clearly had been. I also found that people will lie about the fact they have stabilized the video, only to have people online fawn over them about how "great their footage looks" and how great they are, or their setup was. I would invest in their exact same setup and have everything completely balanced, props, motors, tighten every screw...everything was perfect. And I would not get anything near what they were getting with smooth vibration free footage. The footage I got was nice don't get me wrong, but I wasn't getting the same "easy" out the box results like they were claiming. It either had micro vibrations or very slight twitches or something going on. I TRIED EVERYTHING...AND FOR HOURS.

So I have settled on the Arris 3000 and with my dampening plate mount I feel like I got results I can live with. The software works fine. I had a few little hiccups but quickly got it resolved and there are a lot of great little tweaks with the software you have access to that the other gimbals I have tried didn't offer. Yes, you can plug it into your PC and configure it if you like. I did and it seems to work great. The 3 axis makes a HUGE and very noticeable difference. I noticed it immediately and I think 3 axis is the future of UAV gimbals.

Disclaimer....I don't like to be responsible for other peoples happiness, so please don't just buy it based off my recommendation. :nevreness: Please do some research and find what will work best for what you want to do. I know I hate that when people say that, but its true. Some people are perfectly fine with the results they get from their gimbal. And most people can live with little vibrations here and there.
I had to experiment with a custom dampening plate along with mounting the gimbal with all its dampening features it already comes with. And I think what I have done works best for me. Is the stock gimbal perfect out of the box like people claim or show in their videos? No, but it is pretty dam good. And its a WAY better starting point then some other gimbals(Tarot) in my opinion.

WARNING: This video is very boring and nothing special. But when I was trying out endless gimbals a simple video like this I would have micro vibrations or slight shakes in it. Just simple panning had a little shake here and there now its all gone. I just shot this tonight to show you what I mean. I also just returned to Dallas and its FREEZING outside. I feel like I could do a full video review on this gimbal, and I'm sure their sales would go through the roof!..But they don't pay me for that...haha :highly_amused: I recommend the Arris 3000 over other gimbals out there as of today. My flight times are about 13 mins. which is fine for what I do.

Here are the results I get now with my X650 setup.
Also vimeo compresses the hell out of this video, so if you want the real deal full effect download the original video from vimeo.

 

[X650Mouse]

I'm very picky about vibrations, shakes and twitches and wanted absolutely stable video

Thank you, I relate to your back story being a photog it is what I am chasing thus my reason for prodding you! no! I will not hold you responsible in any way for my buying descisions, your video is what I am after, not necessarily content but technical presentation.

Thanks for your input, I am at present using the XAircraft 2 axis servo gimbal with Hero 3 Silver, it did not work until I removed the legs it was supported on to the 2 front frame bars, it is simply too long and creates more vibrations than it defeats at least now bound to the frame my vibrations are less and the camera sits on pads of moon gel.

A smaller tighter 2 axis gimbal would work even better but I think the 3 axis we are discussing will be the 'bees knees' in terms of smooth video, again thanks for your input and time spent.

David