QAV250 Xmas build a'la banggood.com

Long time no post as usual but this fall hasn't yielded a lot of building worth posting. This however is a complete QAV250 build with most parts from the cheap Chinese online shop banggood.com.
Parts needed are the usual suspects starting with the frame. This is a carbon fiber/plastic frame with a robust X shape for $16.99. Just be careful and use lock-tight to keep screws in place.

This combo package consists of an ESC, a brush-less motor with a 5x3 propeller. The ESC is programmed with a SimonK firmware, which is something to aim for as his firmware usually does a better job than the stock firmware. Motors are 1804-2400kv from ZMR. This package goes for $16.08.

One motor was broken on delivery. It felt like one of the magnets had come loose and I've heard from others that they have had similar problems too. Luckily, I bought one spare package.

As flight controller, I'm using a Naze32 copy called Flip32. It's based on a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor (STM32F103CB). It can be used with both Baseflight and Cleanflight, which are both open source projects. I'm using Cleanflight as it feels newer and seems to have a more active development. It also has a few more features, such as Autotune. PID configuration can be used right out of the box.
Note: One issue I experienced is how to arm the flight controller. After some research, I figured that you absolutely need to calibrate both magnetometer and accelerator in order to get it to arm. $24.59.

I'm using a generic 1300mAh battery, which is common with QAV250 models. I have had no issues with these batteries so far. $20.45 each, I bought two but I think that I'm going to order a couple more.

Radio receiver is actually bought from Hobby King rather than from banggood, simply because I fancy the OrangeRX brand. It's a seven channel RX with fail-safe functionality. When used properly, if the RX detects a loss or radio connectivity, it'll automatically pull down the throttle channel to a minimum. This will prevent your model from flying away. If you're interested in the "fly away" topic, do query YouTube with the keywords "quadcopter fly away". $17.99.


Merry Christmas and fly safe!

The ground station

Today is a good day. I got an idea a few weeks ago looking at ready made ground stations such as this!
  However, my shoe string budget does not cover the $180 needed to acquire the selected product.









I therefore thought of the idea to make one by my self using the FPV parts I recently purchased. It's not an 8 inch monitor, but a 7 inch and it's not as pretty as the ready made ground station. I first bought this aluminum "service case" from Clas Ohlsson, a common utility store in Sweden.

It's fairly cheap and cost only about $31.








I removed the lid tool hanger, I might do something else with it later but for now its gone. My father in law helped me with some intricate drilling to get it all to fit nicely. And this what it looked like. Notice the antenna in the upper left corner.

Here is the finished product with the 7 inch monitor and radio mounted. It can even fit the radio transmitter, batteries and other gadgets that are good to bring for a nice flight.

 

RC model building weekend

I just spent Saturday building RC models with the guys and was able to get a first look at what the FPV kit would be able to deliver.


I also had a miner accident assembling the quad in a hast without doing vital calibrations. Hope the accident wont render any further problems.

The micro USB connector that allows configuration of the MultiWii flight controller got loose at one point but was fixed by one of my friends. It's now soldered and hot glued to the board. Hopefully it stays there for a bit as I'm afraid that it wont be fixable if it happens again..

Stuff has arrived!

The things I recently ordered arrived today. Transport took 17 days, which is longer than normal.

 

This picture is supposed to illustrate how I'd connect the items. From top, transmitter and camera. Then LCD display connected to the receiver with the option to use the USB connector instead.

See anything missing? Yes, nothing to connect the camera and the transmitter.. I've apparently forgotten to order a cable, which I thought to be included. On other sites where I've observed the same camera, this specific cable has always been included. However not at banggood. 

This is the missing cable. It connects the USB output to a video cable, which then connect to the radio transmitter.Only $3 and now I have to wait another few weeks to get it.

Stay tuned!