QAV-CodeRed

By fjulian79 on May 11, 2019

3  197  2

My goal was to build a premium 3" Quad and here it is!

I's flying very very well with BF 4.1 default PID's and has a enough power for the way I'm currently flying. Maybe I will switch to 4s someday, but for now I'm more than happy. My plan is to integrate a RunCam Split mini which is already waiting on the bench. But at first I want to see how it performs, the Spit is the next step.

I want to report some findings which have been disappointing so far ...

  1. The position of the USB connector on the bottom of the FC PCB is pretty bad. The distance between FC and ESC is fixed because of the signal connector and the motor pads are directly under the USB connector, so you need a USB cable with a very small connector which is not included. A cable with a large connector will NOT fit at all, a usual one will fit only when no motor wires are soldered to ESC. Finally I found a cable which almost fit's but I have to modify the connector to get a relaxed fit. The solution would be to place the USB connector on the top side of the PCB.
  2. The holes for the button head screws on the backside of the frame are to close to the base plate. This causes a lot of tension if you screw them in. It you decide to screw them in anyway, you are about to damage the 20mm aluminum spacer and the base plate gets pretty scratched. My solution was to modify the screws to prevent this .. That's easy when you have the right tools for this job, but if not ... :-/

Finally ... I have not expected such things on a parts from a well known brand like Lumenier!!

I will post a update here once I have installed the RunCam Split. Maybe I will also add a YouTube link to some FPV footage then.

Photos

Discussion

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fjulian79   Aug 18, 2019  

So finally this one is retired because of a broken arm and the lack of avaialble spares for a reasonable price in europe. I was flying so well that it has become my reference for the following builds. It's successor is a micro reverb which is resuing the most parts used here.

fjulian79   Jun 16, 2019  

Update ..

1) Got sick of my Runcam Split mini ... keep going with the Swift as it has the better picture, consumes less power and the split PCB is hard to install. So no HD footage for now :-(

2) I already have ripped two micro axii antennas (the second one after 3 minutes using it after I have replaced the first one) in both cases the head of of the antenna has been tangled during a crash and then destroyed because of the resulting high forces. The first one in high gras the second one in a tree. Now I'm using the linear antenna which came with the vtx and have to wait for further spares.

3) Although I have a lot 3S 850 Batteries I will switch to 4S .. I have tested 4S 650 and 850:

3S 850: 80g, Approx 4:30 flight time
4S 650: 70g, Not more then 3:30 flight time
4S 850: 110g, Approx 5:30 flight time

The 4S 850 gave me imho better freestyle performance as it has less voltage drop compared to the 3S 650. I also like that the quad has more momentum in those swings over trees. Beside of that I think it fly's more stable with the extra wight. Anyway .. 3S is ok to get used to the quad, 4S is WAY more fun .. So I will switch over to 4S 850 R-Line batteries.

My conclusion .. go with 4S and use a throttle curve the power scares you to much, don't use the micro axii antennas as they are not very robust and HD footage is not everything.

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