My First Build RFX185

By Nightover on Jan 16, 2017

2  444  1

So I bought my first brush-less quad-copter mid-year 2016, it was an "XK X251". Early reviews said it had Acro mode, but sadly once I received it, my particular model only had angle and horizon mode. At first I was excited because it was so much faster than anything I had previously flown and only weighed about 200 grams. It was,'t long though before I found myself wanting something faster and more agile. So I began my journey to build my first FPV Racing Drone. I wanted it to be as light as my toy quad but faster and with full acro mode. I selected the "Realacc RFX185" frame as it was light and cheap but had carbon fiber arms 8mm wide, 4mm thick and could take 5 inch props. Most everyone selecting this particular frame were putting 2206 motors and finding it to be so fast as to be almost un-flyable. I wanted to balance the power, weight and efficiency so that I could use a smaller battery and have something quick and light. In the event of a crash it would be more likely to bounce than break. Here my "All Up Weight" is 242 grams and with the battery it weighs in at 308 grams. I setup my Turnigy I6S radio so that it when I flip the arm switch, it also activates a count up timer, disarming causes the timer to stop and hold. Using a 450mAh 4s Pulse 45c battery I was able to get 6 minutes of flight out of this setup. While it may not be the fastest drone on the track, it is still much faster than my X251 was, and is certainly fast enough for a newb like me. Since this is my first build, I kind of expected problems with it, but to my amazement the flight was uneventful and it flew like a dream. I have to say building something that flies, is a much bigger kick than buying something off the shelf. What a nice sense of satisfaction!

Photos

Part List

Frame

Realacc RFX185 RFX160 4mm Carbon Fiber FPV Racing Frame RC Drone w/ 5V & 12V PDB Supports 4-5 Inch Prop (5 builds)
Banggood.com
$20.19

Flight Controller

F3 V2.0 Flight Control Board Integrated with PDB 5V 12V BEC
Banggood.com
$26.90

ESCs

Racerstar RS20Ax4 V2 20A BB2 48MHz Blheli_S 2-4S 4 in 1 Opto ESC Support Oneshot42 Multishot 16.5 Dshot600 (15 builds)
Banggood.com
$37.23

Motors

4 x EMAX Cooling New MT2204 II 2300KV Brushless Motor CW CCW for RC Multicopter (5 builds)
Banggood.com
$39.96

Propellers

DAL T5040 V2 Tri-Blade Translucent (2 builds)
Dalprops.com
$2.49

FPV Camera

FatShark 700TVL V2 CMOS Cam Fixed Mount #1204 (7 builds)
Readymaderc.com
$14.99

FPV Transmitter

AOMWAY FPV 5.8Ghz 200mW 32CH Wireless AV Transmitter Module (4 builds)
Banggood.com
$22.55

Antenna

Vas 5.8 Ghz Cloverleaf Omni (Rhcp) Sma No Cable - www.readymaderc.com
Readymaderc.com
$14.49

Receiver

Flysky FS-A8S FS A8S V2 2.4G 8CH Mini Receiver with PPM i-BUS SBUS Output (91 builds)
Banggood.com
$9.99

Batteries

PULSE 450 mAh 4S 14.8V 45C (XT30) - FPV Racing Series - 130 Sized LiPo Battery
Pulsebattery.com
See Site

Misc Parts

Multi Color 6061 Aluminum Alloy M3*35mm Knurled standoff 10pcs
Fpvmodel.com
$2.94

Misc Parts

EMAX Buzzer For Skyline32 Acro Advanced Flight Controller
Banggood.com
$2.89

Misc Parts

KINGKONG Universal FPV Camera Lens Adjustable Holder (2 builds)
Banggood.com
$1.89

Misc Parts

10mm YELLOW Braided Mesh – MultiRotorMania
Multirotormania.com
$1.50

Misc Parts

PURPLE Braided Mesh – MultiRotorMania
Multirotormania.com
$1.25
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Discussion

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Nightover   Jan 18, 2017  

My Youtube video includes some LOS flight footage.

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