From Dualcopter to QUAD...

[west0618]

Due to some issues in communication, the dualcopter Derek was building…and I was financing…has been put on hold because of WAY too much frustration.
Remember this?

00-dualcopter.jpg (77.06 KiB) Viewed 6118 times

So I suggested a “simple” quad to take its place for the time being in hopes of getting into the air with my 1/6th scale parachutes with something I think I can actually fly. So again, with me financing it And Derek doing the build, we are well underway on this construction.

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I picked up this 450 frame for $14.00, including shipping for a base for this build. Derek was actually impressed by it for the price.

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Here it is assembled but bare aside from the prototype landing gears I added to raise it off the ground a bit for clearance of a drop mechanism for the parachutes and foam bombs.

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Here’s a close-up of a landing gear that I bent out of a straightened and cut up metal coat hanger. Remember…these are simply prototype until I can determine the ground clearance I need but they are much less “bouncy” than they look…and much more rigid too.

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And the master at work soldering the many connections.

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Ready to have the top plate secured.

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Structurally, it only needs a few more cable ties…and props.

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And Makayla was a BIG help in tightening several of the top plate bolts. She is always eager and willing to help.

[DOG]

That looks like it's going to be a blast to fly. Good luck.

[Derek]

The build went really smooth and I imagine that was the case because there is so much more room on this 450 frame versus our 180-250mm racers, lol. Makayla is 3, will be 4 in December, and she rarely turns down a photo op, ha ha ha.

Progress on this frame has been seriously halted because I'm having a calibration issue. Discussion about this is in a different thread, here:

http://www.rc-hangout.com/forum/viewtop ... =93&t=2462

I sure hope we can get this sorted. This is the 2nd build for my Dad that isn't coming to conclusion.

[west0618]

Drop Mechanism Completed

I just finished and mounted the drop mechanism for this build to carry parachutes and foam bombs for release.

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The plan is to use a simple tether with a snap swivel on one end and a safety pin on the other to attach to whatever I am planning to drop. Parachutes should open almost instantly when released this way. Now the build is back in Derek's hands.

[Derek]

I've decided to remove the Full Naze32 from Dad's 450 quad and add my Omnibus F4 v1, with Inav. I've been having troubles with getting things to work properly and not being able to get the esc's to all work smoothly and identically. No matter how many times I"ve been through the esc calibration, the esc PWM numbers change. It just blows me away. I've also decided to move on to the Omnibus because the Naze32 boards are gonna lose their support. That's unfortunate, but things change. I've also decided to give Dad my Omnibus v1 because I have two v2 boards on their way.

Now, I've already gotten the Omnibus v1 reset back to default settings. I've been through a lot of the setup, including the 6 position accelerometer calibration. We are going to be using "Stick Arming" on this quad and I've already made the changes in my tx so that the board does arm and disarm. Awesome! Now, I'm gonna go remove the Full Naze32 from the quad and install the new Omnibus F4 v1. Once I get that installed and esc's connected, hopefully I can get through the esc calibration. If I run into troubles like I did before, I may just remove all the esc's (all brand new) and install new esc's and see what happens.

[Derek]

Here is a pic of the Omnibus F4 v1 flight controller. Is that port, marked by the red arrow, for a Spektrum Satellite rx?

Omnibus F4 v1 pinout copy 2.png (345.28 KiB) Viewed 6076 times

[Graham Lawrie]

Yes, but think iy may be DSM not sure if it is DSMX? From left to right on pins:
3.3v/ GND/DSM

[Graham Lawrie]

https://www.unmannedtechshop.co.uk/omni ... ontroller/

[Derek]

Yes, but think iy may be DSM not sure if it is DSMX? From left to right on pins:
3.3v/ GND/DSM

Hmmm, thats unfortunate. I was hoping to simply run a satellite rx.

[Derek]

Hey Graham! Just so it's known, I wanted to share this. I had asked about that DSM port on the fc, the other day. Curiosity got the best of me and I just figured, "Whats the worst that can happen?" So, I bound a satellite rx to my DX8, plugged it into the port on the fc, set the UART1 for SerialRX, set up Serialrx Input and 2048 in the configuration tab, and then checked the receiver tab.....sure enough....it works. Awesome! All 8 channels are working as expected.

[Graham Lawrie]

Brilliant Derek, progress:)

[Derek]

....because I have a Spektrum DSMX satellite in the DSM port, I'm not using the pins for PPM/SBUS. So, can I run the 5v JST plug, from the PDB to the +/- pins at the PPM/SBUS location (marked in yellow) or would there be a better place to connect? Based on the following picture, the JST plug would be coming up on the left side of the board but it wouldn't take much to lengthen the wires to make the connection on the right.

Omnibus F4 v1 pinout 3.png (343.3 KiB) Viewed 6054 times

[pvolcko]

You probably could, but why not just keep it on the left and connect it up on the gnd|gnd|gnd and 5v|5v|5v locations? Seems like that's what that block of pin locations is intended for (power buss feed and taps).

[Derek]

Well, I surely could. Based on the next picture, I have the GPS module plugged into where the green dots are. The ground and 5v are on the middle pins and the tx and rx wires, from the GPS, are on the other two green dots. As long as nothing will interfere (nor cause magic pixie smoke), I could connect the JST, from the PDB to the pins that you are talking about.

Omnibus F4 v1 pinout 3.png (339.42 KiB) Viewed 6051 times

[Stambo]

Not sure about the V1, but the V2 boards have diodes all over them to stop back feeding.
On mine you can power the board from USB or supplying main battery voltage to vbat or the bigger amp gauge pads.
It has a built in 1.5a 5v bec which should be plenty for a quad.
The 5v+ on the PPM/sbus pin is not directly connected to the rest of the 5v but if you power the board from vbat everything gets 5v through the bec.

[west0618]

IT FLIES...IT FLIES...

To prove a point, I was asked to show a couple of shots from the maiden flight of MY 450 quadcopter...built by Derek, though I did buy the frame and most of the components. Wow, me. I'm sure Derek will elaborate more on this success as he was a bit speechless at how well it all went.

For now, please enjoy these pics as it flew on a 3 cell and a 4 cell battery pack

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QUADDD03082019-1 154.jpg (31.01 KiB) Viewed 5222 times

We about froze shooting these but the next few days are expected to only be worse. We are expecting to test the position hold and return to home features at the next "fair" weather in a park...not his back yard.

[DOG]

I'm loving it. Long time but worth it huh. Dad must be happy. Nice going Derek!

[Derek]

I can't even express how shocked I was when I got this 450 quad off the ground and it stayed in the air. Although it did fly on a 3S pack, it really felt lethargic. I plugged in a 4S pack and everything just felt better.

I honestly expected the quad to just jump off the ground and flip over and crash but when the quad lifted off and continued to stay airborne, I had a huge sigh of relief and satisfaction. I thought there was going to be a lot more wobbling and/or oscillation. The only real faults that I could see was that the quad wants to drift rearwards slightly and there is a super slight oscillation when it descends from altitude. Besides that, it's just too cool! I'll need to wait for a slightly warmer day to work on those issues and then trying out Position Hold, Altitude Hold, and Return to Home with auto landing.

I'm sure we'll get some video as the weather warms up. It was just too cold to be out today for real long.

[Graham Lawrie]

Excellent stuff guys:) The oscillation on decent could be prop wash Derek?

[Derek]

Yeah, it could just be prop wash. The oscillation was very very little and the quad stabilizes very quickly.

Originally, we bought 8045SF props but I quickly found out that there just wasn't enough power. Dad and I went to the hobby shop and they had a set of 10x4.5 MR APC props in stock. These work much better. I did a few "near full throttle punch outs" and the motors came down cold. Awesome!

More to come from this project