RCX H250 Composite Mini quad Build thread
Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:46 am
Here is my write up on the RCX250 mini quad from My RC Mart.
I will be using an OpenPilot board I had lying around, and I have ordered some Zippy Compact 1500mah 35C batteries.
First the frame.
Well I was very nicely surprised to see the quality. The carbon is well woven and the finish is slightly satin like, similar to the QAV250.
All the CNC cuts are clean. No burring. Meaning I either got lucky and they had just changed the tool, or the QC is better than the other companies frames of this type.
The pieces had a light oil over them. Not sure if this is from the manufacturing, or to stop them scratching each other in the bag.
The arms look very strong. The seems to be more material around the motor mounts. Something lacking in other companies versions.
Here comes the kicker.
This frame is only $17 !!!!! Although the price is ment to go up later.
I have thought to build my own frames, but at this price, why bother.
Only one thing let the frame down. A coupe of the metal posts had too large a thread for the screws to grip.
I had to swap the screws around a few times, but eventually got a combination that worked.
The reason I had to wait so long for my quad to arrive, was the new 2400KV H1806 motors. These are hot out of the factory.
They are and upgraded version of there popular 2300KV motors.
Bearings feel very smooth, and the windings look very carefully assembled.
They come with two prop mounts, one for standard style props, and one for Tiger style.
The standard version come with a 5mm shaft. This negates the need for a prop adapter to shim the Gem fan props.
Warning about the screws supplied with the motors, they are too short to go through the arms.
Lucky I had some longer ones from an old 450 heli. Just be careful not to make them too long as to touch the windings.
The ESCs are Simon K flashed 12A. I removed the ESC motor wires, and solder the wires from the motor straight to the board.
One downside to these ESCs, is the battery wires are too short for the mini copter without adding extensions to allow all wires to be soldered together.
I have opted to replace the wire completely with longer ones. I have informed myrcmart to suggest lengthening them by 20mm.
When cutting the motor wires, I found the enamel coating goes all the way up the wire. So when you cut them to length, you will need to scrape the coating off, before they can be soldered.
Next I will wire up the power distribution. I did start this, but got annoyed with the short ESC wires, so I'm waiting for some 18AUW wire to arrive with my batteries.
So I'm going with the single Gopro as my Recording and FPV cam.
The is zero lag when testing on the bench, so it should work fine as FPV.
I had a spare piece of carbon, the same width as the arms.
It came from my Goblin 570, used for a separate Gyro sensor, if you have one, which I don't.
The frame kit comes with some useless flimsy landing skids, that nobody uses.So I made my own.
These are standoffs from a Trex 600 tail boom case.
I cut them in half and screwed them to the legs.
Ok all finished
If I can give anyone some advice with building these mini quads, it would be to use a Power distribution board.
The air was think with bad language today, trying to solder all the wires together.
So much easier with a PDB, but I got it done eventually
I replaced all the ESC wires with longer ones to make bundling the wire together more easy.
Then instead of Heat shrink tubing, I use balloons to cover the ESC as a temporary measure until the new heat shrink arrives
Wiring is a bit messy at the moment. I will tidy it up once I know everything is working properly.
Gopro with FPV cable connected
Rear has blue LEDs Looks like a space craft when flying away from me.
All setup and ready. I did take it for a test flight tonight, but it was pitch black, so the video is useless.
With the Open Pilot CC3D set up with some settings I found on Luminiers website for the QAV250, it flies pretty good.
With the 1500Mah 35C Zippy compact, I got 7mins on the test flight. Still had 3.74V per cell
I will be using an OpenPilot board I had lying around, and I have ordered some Zippy Compact 1500mah 35C batteries.
First the frame.
Well I was very nicely surprised to see the quality. The carbon is well woven and the finish is slightly satin like, similar to the QAV250.
All the CNC cuts are clean. No burring. Meaning I either got lucky and they had just changed the tool, or the QC is better than the other companies frames of this type.
The pieces had a light oil over them. Not sure if this is from the manufacturing, or to stop them scratching each other in the bag.
The arms look very strong. The seems to be more material around the motor mounts. Something lacking in other companies versions.
Here comes the kicker.
This frame is only $17 !!!!! Although the price is ment to go up later.
I have thought to build my own frames, but at this price, why bother.
Only one thing let the frame down. A coupe of the metal posts had too large a thread for the screws to grip.
I had to swap the screws around a few times, but eventually got a combination that worked.
The reason I had to wait so long for my quad to arrive, was the new 2400KV H1806 motors. These are hot out of the factory.
They are and upgraded version of there popular 2300KV motors.
Bearings feel very smooth, and the windings look very carefully assembled.
They come with two prop mounts, one for standard style props, and one for Tiger style.
The standard version come with a 5mm shaft. This negates the need for a prop adapter to shim the Gem fan props.
Warning about the screws supplied with the motors, they are too short to go through the arms.
Lucky I had some longer ones from an old 450 heli. Just be careful not to make them too long as to touch the windings.
The ESCs are Simon K flashed 12A. I removed the ESC motor wires, and solder the wires from the motor straight to the board.
One downside to these ESCs, is the battery wires are too short for the mini copter without adding extensions to allow all wires to be soldered together.
I have opted to replace the wire completely with longer ones. I have informed myrcmart to suggest lengthening them by 20mm.
When cutting the motor wires, I found the enamel coating goes all the way up the wire. So when you cut them to length, you will need to scrape the coating off, before they can be soldered.
Next I will wire up the power distribution. I did start this, but got annoyed with the short ESC wires, so I'm waiting for some 18AUW wire to arrive with my batteries.
So I'm going with the single Gopro as my Recording and FPV cam.
The is zero lag when testing on the bench, so it should work fine as FPV.
I had a spare piece of carbon, the same width as the arms.
It came from my Goblin 570, used for a separate Gyro sensor, if you have one, which I don't.
The frame kit comes with some useless flimsy landing skids, that nobody uses.So I made my own.
These are standoffs from a Trex 600 tail boom case.
I cut them in half and screwed them to the legs.
Ok all finished
If I can give anyone some advice with building these mini quads, it would be to use a Power distribution board.
The air was think with bad language today, trying to solder all the wires together.
So much easier with a PDB, but I got it done eventually
I replaced all the ESC wires with longer ones to make bundling the wire together more easy.
Then instead of Heat shrink tubing, I use balloons to cover the ESC as a temporary measure until the new heat shrink arrives
Wiring is a bit messy at the moment. I will tidy it up once I know everything is working properly.
Gopro with FPV cable connected
Rear has blue LEDs Looks like a space craft when flying away from me.
All setup and ready. I did take it for a test flight tonight, but it was pitch black, so the video is useless.
With the Open Pilot CC3D set up with some settings I found on Luminiers website for the QAV250, it flies pretty good.
With the 1500Mah 35C Zippy compact, I got 7mins on the test flight. Still had 3.74V per cell
