250 Class FPV Drone Under $350

Intro: 250 Class FPV Drone Under $350

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Comments

[MischaB]

Hi there MoTinkerGNome,

I'm just having trouble running up my rotors, they dont appear (are not coloured-availible) on the screen in base flight, can input all other parameters, any ideas?

regards Mischa

[DaniyaalS]

Thank you very much i hope it will be useful to me

[geekster88]

Hello! I'm thinking about making one of these, and I was wondering if it had a gyro (to balance itself). This is what I'm used to flying, but I'm willing to try to fly without. Thanks!

[MoTinkerGNome]

Yep there is a gyro for each axis along with accelerometers, the controller can be programmed for either self righting or "acrobatic" depending on your skill and desire to replace propellers :)

Hope that helps.

[upstart66]

In case anyone was following my post the solution to my arming problem was:

- rewire the receiver as shown in the pic attached. Basically opposite hand with signals all on first rail in same order as before and power wire left as it was on ch5.

- modify the max_check in the program through CLI to something less than the default value of 1900 (say 1850) so your controller yaw can exceed it at max position so the program recognizes an ARM command. (You can first test this before changing the program default by just using the fine tune thumb wheel for yas if you can get it above 1900 on the high side.)

Hope that helps somebody somewhere.....................

Next up.............tie it down and add props!

-

[upstart66]

Remarkably good Instructable! Worked fantastic for a beginner like myself.

I purchased and assembled all of the parts as
presented. Even added a Screamer for low
bat alarm. FPV is operating great!

For the program I used CleanFlight and all seemed to work fine. I used the CleanFlight configurator and
followed your lead in the video for setup.
Motors calibrated fine after I did swap leads on two of them to get them
in the right direction. So the power board seems to work ok and the
Naze32 controller board LED lights up as expected. The Screamer unit beeps at me. It was hard to see the position of the 5V power
connected to the receiver (CH5 pins) and I know I had the ground lead flipped
to the control board's ground side wire pin on the receiver first. Then
flipped it over to the signal side pins with the other signal channel wires from
the control board and it lit up and worked then. I always had the 5V red power supply from
the PDB on the same line of receiver pins as the red power line to the flight control board (receiver
center pins).

Problem I do have now is that I cannot get the Turnigy 5X
control transmitter to work. It seems to
bind ok with the receiver. Its light on
the receiver and transmitter go solid when binding as expected. But will not interface with the configurator
channel range checking step nor will the controller arm. I am trying to arm by leaving the right stick
in center and moving the left stick to low (down) throttle and high (right)
yaw.

I have it set on MODE 2 and tried the Aile and Rudd switches
in normal and Rev position. I did try to set the minimum throttle to 850 to
make sure range was low enough. There is
another yellow blinking LED on the flight controller board that I think is
supposed to go solid green when it is armed?

I tried searching this out on line but without success. Any help or suggestions?

[MoTinkerGNome]

OK now that there is some hooplah on the drone front you may or may not need to regester your aircraft depending on weight of all systems. 250 grams is the limit over you need to regester under you are good to go.

[Sherring92]

Hi, very nice instructable.

I made this quadcopter like a month ago, but I have a problem with motors. When I'm testing them via master slide they turn fine, when I try with the radio controller they do not spin equal. Can you help me?

Thanks a lot.

[MoTinkerGNome]

Sure, The first thing I would do would be to re-calibrate the speed controllers. around the 7 minute mark in my configuration video.

Along with double checking the orientation of the flight controller and that all the controls are centered. If you used the 5x transmitter that I picked the dual rate switch seems to do some weird stuff with the motors. So I would check that it is not set to the reduced rate setting.

As it is a quad all the trims should be centered. Let me know is that resolves your issue.

[Sherring92]

Hi, I tried everything you said.

I have this issue only with the radio controller. If I spin the motor via baseflight they are ok. This happens only to one motor randomly, sometimes is the 4th, sometimes the 3rd or the 2nd. I'm starting to guess that is a radio controller problem.

Thanks for the patience.

[MoTinkerGNome]

No worries. Did you use the turnigy 5 channel controller? I had to reverse 2 channels. On my TX it is from left to right. Up, down, down, up, up, up,

[Sherring92]

I have the same channel configuration, the only thing is that I'm using mode 2 because I prefer to have throttle and yaw on the left and pitch/roll on the right stick. Another thing I saw is that the radio doesn't "save" the previuos configuration. Everytime I check the channel status in baseflight I get the yaw, pitch and roll miscalibrated. When i put them on 1500 the motors sping regular.

Another thing that may help you is the battery: 3S 1800mAh 45C.

[coloricanking]

How many steps does this kit eliminate?

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__82571__Spedix_S250AQ_Carbon_Fiber_CC3D_PDB_Motor_ESC_Propellers_ARF_.html

[MoTinkerGNome]

Well dang. That is a pretty inclusive kit. You would need to put it together bind your TX to your RX and you are ready to fly. Add the quanum goggle set and you are ready to fly FPV. I wish that was available when I built mine LOL.

[coloricanking]

Thanks for replying. It almost looks like they built this kit based on your 'ible. I think I'll get it when I finish my current project. This 'ible is great, I found it after watching a youtube video by Tested and it's very helpful so thanks a lot for making this cool hobby look both affordable and doable.

[MoTinkerGNome]

You know that would not surprise me in the least. They already carried most of the components the funny thing would be if my write up shows up in the box. If the motors last a while it is a better deal as they should offer more power then the ones I picked. the 2204's were twice the price of 1806's when I priced everything out.

[MoTinkerGNome]

You could probably eliminate all the soldering steps except for the camera. and the tuning steps as it is pretuned for that frame. And you could eliminate the waiting from multiple vendors.

[vmod32]

Since you point out FAA regulation flying with FPV googles is technically in conflict. You need to maintain line of site at all times, obviously if you are wearing googles you do not have line of site and therefore are limited ability to see potential hazards such as other aircraft and property.

[MoTinkerGNome]

Great point. However there is a bit more explanation that addresses this. So if you are flying at a AMA club or field and have a spotter you are good to go. If you notice from the video I was not flying FPV my son was the one along for the ride so it is legal to fly over my property with the goggles. To stay in compliance I only fly FPV at the local club... I have also been a member of the AMA for like 23 years :) yep i'm an old fart.

The FAA has interpreted the rules to mean that the operator must have a line-of-sight view of the model aircraft at all times, and that FPV does not qualify.

Based on the plain language of the statute, the FAA interprets this requirement to mean that: (1) the aircraft must be visible at all times to the operator; (2) that the operator must use his or her own natural vision (which includes vision corrected by standard eyeglasses or contact lenses) to observe the aircraft; and (3) people other than the operator may not be used in lieu of the operator for maintaining visual line of sight.

But also note that this does not apply if:

...the aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization;

The above is from the linked NPRM released in June 2014. The latest NPRM from February 2015 has the same requirements.

So members of an organization like AMA are exempt from that rule. The AMA requires a spotter to be used when flying FPV.

[vmod32]

Thanks for the added clarification, very helpful!. I've been thinking about joining AMA myself since I've been getting deeper into the hobby and do my best to operate in a responsible manor. I'm also working on a Section 333 wavier petition and started lessons towards a sport pilots license a few weeks ago. I'm looking to position myself to get into the commercial side of things. It's applicable to my current profession and what better what to join my hobby with my work. :)