Derek's ECHO 290mm FPV Quad Flight Log

[Derek]

Today's flight with the ECHO 290 quad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6pGhX_zwqg

[DOG]

Nice flying their Derek . Your landing is improving. Next time you park the quad, watch out for the fag you almost landed on. I think that's what Lee calls a cigarette.

[Tony]

Cool Derek, landing great too, battery alarm going on your climbs, was it not fully charged or maybe a low C rating...

[Derek]

Nice flying their Derek . Your landing is improving. Next time you park the quad, watch out for the fag you almost landed on. I think that's what Lee calls a cigarette.

Thanks DOG! I'm really loving this quad. I'm greatly satisfied because I know that I built it...it wasn't a kit. I surely wouldn't have accomplished as much with the quad without the guys here at the Hangout. I'll be sure to watch out for the cigarettes, lol, ha ha ha.

Cool Derek, landing great too, battery alarm going on your climbs, was it not fully charged or maybe a low C rating...

Thanks Tony! It's getting more and more comfortable. I'm still not comfortable trying to fly low. It's a bit intimidating to fly low like Lee does, lol. I enjoy the higher altitudes. And yes, the battery alarm again on the climbs and speed passes. The pack I was using today was a 3S 1550mah 30C. I was hoping that this pack would be suitable but it clearly isn't. It was 100% charged. The alarm went off while using the 4S 1800mah 40C pack, too. I understand that my quad is heavier. It's much heavier than I had hoped for but hey...I'm no engineer, lol. Perhaps the 6" props are just too much. I do still have the HQ 5040 props that I bought for my Dart 250. Maybe I should try them until I can get some higher C rated packs.

What do you guys think?

[danhampson]

Nice flight Derek have you calibrated the vbat feature on your naze board?
If not it could be giving you false readings.

[Lee]

Awesome flying Derek
She seems super smooth.

[KevG]

Nice Derek, and good landing mate,

[Derek]

Nice flight Derek have you calibrated the vbat feature on your naze board?
If not it could be giving you false readings.

I'm not even using the VBAT on the Naze. I have a separate LVM attached to the quad.

[Derek]

Thanks, Lee and Kev! It's really a smooth quad and a lot of fun. I just need to make an adjustment to the flight modes. I think I'm going to totally eliminate the Angle Mode and just have Horizon and Acro Modes.

[Derek]

I hope this works. First time trying to share a video from my tablet

Smooth landing too lol

https://youtu.be/IiM5Drd2hSg

[cml001]

Awesome bud!

[Stambo]

Nice flight Derek, flying acro would be much more like FPV on a fixed wing.
Once you have done a few more acro flights I bet you will wonder what you were worried about.
Lol, I was looking with concern at that lake but then I realized it was you not Tony.

[Derek]

Lol, I was looking with concern at that lake but then I realized it was you not Tony.

Lol, thats funny

[DOG]

Your improving on your landing. Looking good Derek. Keep up the good work and videos.

[Tony]

Haha, nice one Stambo.... Great flight Derek....

[Graham Lawrie]

LOL:)

[Derek]

QUAD DOWN! QUAD DOWN!!!

I did press the power button on the Mobius, which should have turned it on, but I guess I should have double checked that it was on because the camera was off when I recovered the quad. The flight was really going well. It felt smooth and a lot of fun until.....it went inverted and tumbled and then thud! Prior to going inverted, I was probably about 60 feet up and down to the ground it went. I broke all 4 motor mounts, all 4 props, and the plastic bulb that covers the vtx antenna. Thankfully my Mobius is fine. I'll be tearing the quad down tonight and testing the video system. Hopefully all that is ok.

I'm probably just going to set the remaining carbon fiber frame aside and put the video system on my new scratch built quad....more to come on that.

So...bummer, lol.

[pvolcko]

What happened?

[Derek]

after some investigation....a motor gave out. Ya know.....an odd truth about quads...if one of the 4 motors fails in flight....the entire quad is coming down, lol.

I still have yet to check the video system. Hopefully it's ok so that I can install it on my new quad.

[Derek]

It looks like I'm shopping for another vtx. Looking at the quad more, I'm seeing dirt and dust on the back of the quad and on the rear carbon fiber arms. There is no dirt on the front of the quad. This tells me that the quad must have hit the dry dirt on the rear...unfortunately that's right where the vtx antenna was located. So, I imagine that the quad hit hard enough on the rear of the quad (and the vtx). This impact on the vtx antenna broke 3 of the 5 tabs that are located on the antenna that get soldered to the vtx, itself. So, it's definitely broke. I'll get another vtx ordered as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I'll go ahead and get my new quad build started. New thread on that coming soon. I will try to document the build a little better than I usually do. The frame pieces are cut, the esc's are flashed with BLHeli, the new Naze32 is flashed with Cleanflight and OneShot is enabled. This new quad is going to be about performance and functionality...not so much cosmetically appealing. Lightweight and gobs of power. No LED's, no Bluetooth, etc. If it's not "needed", it won't be on the new quad.

So, it's a bit of a sad story but I'm just gonna open a new chapter. Until the new vtx arrives, I'll keep the broken one so that I can mock up the placement of the vtx and antenna.