15 min flight @250 grams for a 100$

By dafunk on Oct 04, 2019

15  940  3

This is the ideal companion for cruising around. If staying forever in the air without swapping LIPO is your thing then this build is for you !
It can do some flowy acrobatic, however if you go too wild the flex of the frame will remind you this is not intended for hardcore freestyle.

I have not hard crashed it yet, but if/when I do... I intend to get another identical frame to get 4 spare arms and mount a second bottom plate to increase the rigidity.

Notes on LIPO usage

  • 4S 1550 mah : the motors run hot
  • 4S 1300 mah : up to 15 minutes of flight
  • 3S 1300 mah : flies great and can do flips and rolls
  • 4S 850 mah : I don't have this size but definitely worth trying for accro
  • 3S 1550 mah : I have some 4S with a dead cell. I intend to convert them to 3S for this build

This is the link to the youtube video showing 15 min of fly time :


The correct price I paid was 100$ thanks to promotions without gps. But still for 150$ this is definitely among the most affordable builds for 7 inchers.

Many are calling their 7 inch build ultra light but get tempted by power and use big motors.
Apart from GPS, every effort was made to get the lightest possible build

  1. The frame is only 75 grams. (Vs 100 grams for a genuine Floss 3.0 on 7 inch)
  2. The motors are 1806 and 20 grams each
  3. The stack is a 20x20 mm
  4. The camera is a nanocam

Build notes :
The build is straight forward, you might need to look close at pictures to mount the frame

  1. Install the motors on the frame. You can only use 2 screws per motor.
  2. plug the FC into Betaflight makes sure its working
  3. Install the ESC on the frame without the FC
  4. Solder the motors to the ESC
  5. Solder the XT60 or XT30 with a capacitor. I went for XT60
  6. Plug a Lipo, make sure everything is running
  7. Plug the FC over the ESC
  8. Re plug a Lipo to make sure all is OK
  9. solder the connexion to the VTX
  10. Plug an antenna on the VTX !!!!
  11. Re plug a Lipo to make sure all is OK
  12. Install a camera and test
  13. Install your receiver and test (note : PPM pad on FC is used for telemetry after using RESOURCE in Betaflight).
  14. Install GPS and test

Photos

Discussion

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ledimestari   Oct 16, 2019  

A skinny 7" build like this has been one of my plans too, like to look of it. Have you considered trying li-ion batteries?

dafunk   Oct 29, 2019 
1

yes it would extend the range but havent tried yet. flying for endurance becomes quickly boring if you stay in the same spot.

Etolier   Oct 04, 2019  
1

Awesome - I love builds like this. Everyone is nuts for giant motors, power power power, when there are so many other ways to fly. I may dig deeper into my motor bin and pull out some of my old 1806s for the next recycle build...

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