HD Squirt v2 w/ Vista, Mini Ducts with 12min (18650) / 9min (LiPo) flight times!

By wrong17 on Sep 11, 2020

28  3,328  19

I am very happy with the Squirt’s transformation. After switching to a DJI FPV Setup, I gained a bit more weight and my total flight time really suffered. I tried a few things to lose the extra weight but the only thing that helped the most was a larger battery. My current battery of choice is a Tattu 1300mah 4s HV. Most of the time I do not charge it HV because I feel when I charge a lipo to HV it does not last as long. For the most part I was happy because I am getting 5 minutes of flight time again.

Then I starting to learn more about Bidirectional DSHOT and how people are getting more flight time. Setting up Bidirectional DSHOT was easy because I already had a BLHeli_32 ESC, and all I had to do is make sure I had the most current firmware on my ESC. If you are interested in all my settings, I posted a screen shot of everything in the image gallery below. Around the same time, I came across a posting on facebook and how Robert Moss has some good PIDs for Betaflight 4.1.5. I sent him a PM and he sent me the screen shots of his setup. After I got everything setup, I gained about 1 minute of flight time with Bidirectional DSHOT and it also flies better with the new Betaflight settings. Now, I am about 6:30 minutes (7:30min in HV).

Next up, mini prop ducts and props. I do not expect any flight time increase with shorter ducts, but I was hoping for better flight characteristics. With “real” prop ducts, it will give you a lot of downward thrust. So, it gets challenging to fly when you fly very close to ground because of the prop wash. It is less of a problem if you are flying fast but when you are flying slow you have all this air pushing the quad all over the place. To my surprise, the shorter ducts did not have any noticeable negative effects. The flight times was about the same as the regular size ducts. I think I gained some more flight time with the weight loss. The biggest improvement is how it handles, especially with freestyle flying. The point of the Squirt is usually slow cinematic flights but now you can throw in some freestyle moves every now and then. Most importantly I also seen an improvement when flying closes proximity of walls, ground and hallways. It is almost a no brainer to switch to these mini ducts. A side note about the mini ducts. It is no longer free to download because he as moved it to Cult3D where it can be purchased. It is very easy to remix the orginal ducts that Andy Shen created, but you need some help just sent me a message.

Finally, the new props. I have collected 3 different props over the past 6 months and never tried them out because they are a little too big. I would need to trim the props before I can use them. For some odd reason, I hate trimming the props. So, I avoid testing them until now.

The newest props I purchased are the Gemfan D76 Ducted Durable 5-Blade 76mm. I did not notice a significant noise reduction, but I did get hotter motors and less flight time. Maybe this might be a better fit with a larger motor setup. With BH 1407 3600kv motors, it did not do too well.

Next up are the iFlight MegaBee V2 3045 Props. I only learned about these on Facebook and people were raving how good it is. I have to say, these props have the best flight time between all the props I have ever used. I was able get an 8:07 minutes of flight time with a NON HV charge. My only gripe about these props are the colors. The red did not match the theme I was going with the squirt.

The iFlight Nazgul Cine 3040 is my prop of choice but with the next best flight time of 7:50 minutes. The time difference is only 10 seconds so the way I flew, or the wind condition could have changed the result. There are 2 reasons why I went with the iFlight Nazgul Cine 3040 props and that is because of the color of the props and how smooth it felt. No matter how I flew the Squirt, 9 minutes of slow cinematic flying or 4 minutes of fast freestyling, the motors always stayed nice and cool with both iFlight props.

I have 4 videos to show you my two flight. Each flight includes the DJI DVR and GoPro 7 video:

This is the 9 minute flight footage recorded with the DJI DVR Goggles:
Warning!! This is long and boring video, the point of this is maximum flight time.


GoPro7 recording of the same 9 minute video:


Here is the freestyle flight footage recorded with the DJI DVR Goggles:


This is the same freestyle footage as above but recorded with GoPro 7:


UPDATE: Oct 19, 2020 - Samsung 30Q 18650 3000mAh

Thanks to a friend who supplied me with a boat load of 18650 Samsung 30Q 18650 3000mAh batteries, I was able to build some 4s and 6s flight packs. These are used 18650 batteries taken from a One Wheel and even with used batteries I am getting around 12 minutes of flight time.


DJI DVR recording of a 12 minute video:


GoPro7 recording of the same 12 minute video:

Photos

Part List

Frame

Shen Drones Squirt V2 3" Cinewhoop Frame - Carbon & Hardware Only (Ducts Sold Separately) - Choose Your Version (19 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$37.99

Flight Controller

Talon F4 V2 20x20 FC Flight Controller VTX Pit Mode Black Box (21 builds)
Heli-nation.com
$39.99

ESCs

Aikon AK32PIN 4-in-1 35A 6S 20x20 "VERSION 2" (11 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$64.99

Motors

4 x BrotherHobby Tornado T1 1407 3600Kv Micro Motor3600kv (193 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$63.96

Propellers

2 Pairs iFlight MegaBee V2 3045 3Inch 3x4.5 3-Blade Prop CW CCW Propeller For BumbleBee FPV Racing RC Drone (4 builds)
Banggood.com
$2.99

Propellers

iFlight Nazgul Cine 3040 Propellers (Set of 4) (3 builds)
Getfpv.com
$2.69

Propellers

Gemfan D76 Ducted Durable 5-Blade 3" Prop 4 Pack (5mm & 1.5mm Mounting) - Choose Your ColorPink (10 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$2.69

FPV Camera

Caddx Vista Digital HD System for DJI HD FPV (98 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$164.99

Receiver

TBS Crossfire Nano Rx Special Edition FPV Long Range Drone Receiver (159 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$29.95

Batteries

Tattu R-Line Version 2.0 1300mAh 100C 4S1P High Voltage Lipo Battery Pack with XT60 Plug (3 builds)
Genstattu.com
$27.99

Radio

Team BlackSheep TBS TANGO 2 V3 PRO RC RADIO (103 builds)
Heli-nation.com
$199.99

Goggles

DJI Goggles 2 (7 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$648.99

3D Printed

Shendrone Squirt v2 Caddx Vista HD Air Unit & Antenna Mount by wrong17 (2 builds)
Thingiverse.com
See Site

3D Printed

Squirt v2 GoPro 5 6 7 Variable Angle w/ Lens Guard by wrong17 (3 builds)
Thingiverse.com
See Site

3D Printed

Squirt v2 GoPro 5 6 7 Variable Angle w/ Lens Guard by wrong17 (3 builds)
Thingiverse.com
See Site

3D Printed

Shendrones Squirt v2 Variable Angle Gopro Hero 5 6 7 Mount Immortal T by wrong17 (2 builds)
Thingiverse.com
See Site

3D Printed

Squirt v2 DJI installation kit by M490fpv (2 builds)
Thingiverse.com
See Site

3D Printed

Shendrones Squirt V2 parts by andyshen (5 builds)
Thingiverse.com
See Site

3D Printed

Hoops and Mini Ducts Shendrones Squirt
Cults3d.com
See Site

HD Camera

GoPro Bones - HERO10 Black (FPV Lightweight Drone Camera) (3 builds)
Gopro.com
See Site

Battery Charger

HOTA F6+ 1000W 60A 1-6S Quad Channel AC/DC Smart Charger - Grey
Racedayquads.com
$185.99

Battery Charger

HOTA D6 PRO Dual Charger 1-6S AC200W/DC650W 15A w/ Wireless Cellphone Charging - Black (14 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$117.98

Soldering Iron

TS100 Portable Programmable Smart Soldering Iron (264 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$58.99

Backpack

Lowepro QuadGuard BP X3 - Drone Backpack for 4 FPV Quad Racing Drones and 15" Laptop w/Exterior Mounts (Black)
Amazon.com
$286.00

Accessories

iFlight Crystal HD Patch and Stubby 5.8GHz RP-SMA Antenna Set for DJI - LHCP - Carbon
Racedayquads.com
$56.99
Show stores (10)

Discussion

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Mattjkilo   Mar 31, 2021  

A fascinating read thankyou! Reference the mini-ducts. Could I kindly take you up on your offer of getting advice on remixing them please?

wrong17   Mar 31, 2021 

How do you want to remix them?

Mattjkilo   Mar 31, 2021 

go with the mini ducts that youve got. it looks like a great way to go.

BromboFPV   Nov 03, 2020  

Nice work! Can you please upload or link the stl file of the motor bumper?

wrong17   Nov 03, 2020 

If you are talking about the guards on the end of the arms, they are in the collection of 3D printed parts that AndyShen created for the Shendrones Squirt V2 parts: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3351513/files
Look in the list of files, and it is about 15 items down (squirt_armguard.STL).

Bikke Vliegen FPV   Oct 12, 2020  

hi
Your esc needs M2 screws, right? But the frame has M3 holes, even for 20*20 stack. Did you use adapters?

wrong17   Oct 12, 2020 

Both the ESC and FC uses M3 screws, so I do not need any adapters. But if I did use an ESC with M2 screws I do NOT use any adapters on the frame because the size difference it not that much. Plus when you snug everything down, nothing will move. If the hole size for the ESC and FC are different, then I might need to use an adapter or reducer/spacers. For this particular build, I did not need an adapter for my stack. I guess that is why I did not have any pictures of the stack, because it was a normal install with nothing special needed.

Bikke Vliegen FPV   Oct 23, 2020 

Thx. I will use adapters, just to be sure. Bit weird that a 20*20 stack has holes for M3, but I will manage.

gukobayashi23   Oct 23, 2020  

Hi i'm planning to make squirt v2 to fly with 18650 batteries. Do you recommend 6s or 4s? thanks in advance

wrong17   Oct 23, 2020 

I would suggest building a 4s setup because the weight of six 18650 batteries may be too much for the squirt to carry. I think 200g is pushing the battery weight limit, so a 4s 18650 should be the ideal size for the squirt.

gukobayashi23   Oct 19, 2020  
1

your cine is the perfect setup for me at the moment. Couldn't be better now with li ion batteries! really cool stuff!

Briefly Flying FPV   Oct 11, 2020  

Awesome build! I use the same exact tune from Robert Moss! Works great, have to try the mini ducts thing and those ESC settings. I've been using the Gemfan 3 blades cinewhoop props, have you tried those? How those compare? I'm not sure about the Nazgul ones, have heard good things and bad thing about them... I should give them a try. I'm just looking for a stable filming platform...

wrong17   Oct 12, 2020 
1

When I first built the Squirt v2 no one had any cinewhoop props, so I used some HQ 4x4.3x3 props. Then they came out with the Gemfan Ducted 75mm Tri-Blade 3" and HQ Prop Duct 3 Tri-Blade 3". They did not give me any significant increase in efficiency but they were a smoother. Then I heard people were liking the Azure Power 5150 props and that became my new favorite prop. It was not as smooth as the Gemfan and HQ ducted props but it gave me more thrust and better flight time. Then recently I tried some of iflight props because I heard a lot of good things about them too. After cutting the iFlight Nazgul Cine 3040 and iFlight MegaBee V2 3045 props to size I was suprised to see the increase in flight time. My test is not very scientific so I am not 100% sure which of the 2 iFlight props are the best. But for my setup, these are my new top 2 props. You have to try the mini ducts too because that reduce the amount of prop wash when flying indoors and/or low to the ground. And you do not get pushed around as much when its windy either. I also think that new 5 and 6 blade props could be an option too because not for the 1407 motors that I am using. I might have to upgrade to a larger motor to spins those props. I tired using the Gemfan D76 Ducted Durable 5-Blade 76mm Cinewhoop Prop but I did not notice any improvement except hotter motors.

Bikke Vliegen FPV   Sep 28, 2020  

Did you motors feel well powered?

I'mt thinking about FPV cycle 2203 3450kv (kebab) or xnova 1804 3500kv (lightning) or 1507 xing 3600 kv or yours

wrong17   Sep 28, 2020 
1

For my current setup it has plenty of power even while carrying a GoPro 7. Keep in mind, I plan to use this quad to record cinematic videos, so I am not expecting the same power as a freestyle quad. I have not tried different size motors because I did not feel the need to. However, with these new 5 blade props being released, I wonder if I could benefit from these if I has more powerful motors to turn them. The only reason why I would consider these 5 blade props, is to reduces the amount of noise.

Bikke Vliegen FPV   Sep 29, 2020 

thx for that info
my taycan works great on xing 1507, got some power
other motors no experience

saahbs   Sep 12, 2020  

Awesome build!

Q. Can you take the setup you used for 7:50 flights, remove the ducts and re-test?

Q. How much shorter or longer is the flight?

The ducts will improve prop aerodynamic efficiency, but weight will also increase power draw.

wrong17   Sep 13, 2020 
2

I do not plan to test the Squirt without the ducts because it has been done before. You will get more thrust and flight time with it on. So, it is best to have some kind of duct (not prop guard) for this quad. However, you can gain some freestyle characteristic buy reducing the height of the ducts. I am NOT making any claims on the increase or decrease of flight time with the shorter ducts because I did not do much testing on that. But it will fly and handles better with the shorter ducts.

Bikke Vliegen FPV   Sep 28, 2020 

Thanks I will try these ducts too!

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