This project originally started in July of 2020, but I lost interested and stopped working on it. But recently my friends drew my attention back to long range flying, so now I am back on it again. Last year was my first-time trying Lithium Ion batteries as flight packs and the result were impressive. If you know the batteries limitation and its purpose of long flight times, then you can better understand performance of these batteries. My latest test was building a 21700 4200mah 45a 6S lithium ion pack and that gave me over 25 minutes of flight time with a 7” quad. That is why I am here now, building a lighter quad with added GPS functionality.
When building a 7” quad for long range flights, reliability is something that is very important. You do not want to look for a quad that crashed on the side of the mountain 2 miles away because something failed. That is why I am kind of hesitant about the iFlight F4 40a AIO FC that I am using for this build. I do not have any history with this board but after reading the reviews, it sounds like a hit or miss. Other than the slower F4 processor, it has everything I need for this build (One UART for the Crossfire RX, One UART for the DJI Air Unit, and one UART for the GPS). To make it even easier, this FC a plug specifically for a DJI FPV system so I do not need a BEC because I am running a 6S setup.
All the electronics is very straight forward, but the bulk on my time was searching for 3D models and remixing it to suit my needs. I spent a few days, remixing files and 3d printing protype of GoPro, GPS, and Antenna mounts. Back in July when I first started building this quad, I thought I could use the same GoPro case as I would for all my other quads. After printing one out, I found out that it will not work because I will get props in the GoPro camera’s view.
To make a long story short, I combined a few different mounts to come up with what I have now. This mount moves the camera a little higher and forward to help clear the props view. If you use 4K Wide 16:9 mode on the GoPro you will not get and props. But if you try using 2.7K with superview, you will get props still.
Another thing that is worth mentioning is the cool GoPro mount that M490fpv designed (https://www.thingiverse.com/m490fpv/designs). Why I thought is cool about this mount is because it has a lens guard that helps lock the GoPro in the mount. His original design was made for a different quad, so I had to remix it to fit mine and I also added a hook to help lock the lens guard better.
Update (March 23, 2021) - New Stack
I think I should have gone with my gut feeling about the iFlight F4 40a AIO, because it might of cause a midflight failure. The strange thing is that the none of the electronics was broken. I tested the motors and ESC, and everything was working fine. I do not trust the iFlight F4 40a AIO anymore, so I swapped it out for a full 30x30 stack, T-Motors 55A Pro II 32bit 4 in 1 ESC and Holybro Kakute F7 HDV FC. To use that stack, I had to raise top plate 10mm (replaced the 25mm standoff to 35mm). With all these changes, I gained another 20g in weight.
Part of the Antenna and GoPro TPU mount broken in the crash, so I had to print another one. This time around, I used a softer TPU, and I hope it would be more durable. I also changed the color theme and went with purple and green because that was on the 3D printer already.
Update (October 24, 2021) - Lower GoPro mount
During the summer I went mountain surfing for the first time, and I learned that I should have set the GoPro to “Superview.” The footage I recorded looked like it was cropped off and you keep waiting for it to tilt up, but it never happens. The FPV footage looked great because it had a wider field of view. With the old camera mount, I had a problem with the props being in the camera’s view when I set the GoPro to “Superview.” And I also felt that the GoPro was sitting a tad higher than I like and made it top heavy. So, the updated mount, I lowered the camera mount and pushed it forward. I also tied in the GoPro camera mount to the top of the FPV camera mount so it is a lot studier too.
This is how the old mount looks like. It is not a huge difference, but atleast it now does not have any props in the GoPro camera's view.
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Hello, I have the same drone, now I made the structure based on your design and everything looks beautiful. Is it possible to share your pid page in Betaflight, with what values did you reach the best settings?
mmcx to sma how many cm should i get.
Thanks, I bought 10 cm, it will be a little long, but I will fit it somehow. I just bought Frame and you've been using it for quite some time by the way. I'm going to install a stack, not aio. Do you have any problems in your last experience by making the standoffs 35 mm? If you have any suggestions, I would be happy to help.
I actually switch out the AIO board with a full 30x30 stack because I need something reliable. I am also using 35mm standoffs and I am able to fit the Holybro Kakute F7 HDV FC, TMotor F55A ProII 55a 4in1 ESC, and the DJI Air Unit. The only thing I have between the Air Unit and FC is the 3D printed mount and they do not touch each other. I think It really depends on the FC/ESC stack you plan to use and how tall is it. Take a look at this picture, I hope this gives you a better idea of how I have it setup: https://rotorbuilds.com/pictures/f_1922_lMepXUBpHNS8D36XUbAFBFTdK.jpg
This is such a good looking build. I am looking into building a 7 inch long range quad. What would you change after flying this? I not have dji so it will be analog for me. I really like the colors you used!
Thanks! After flying this and a 7" source one the only things I would change are: The GoPro camera angle for the because I can see the prop in view when I use 2.7K superview, It is fine when it set as 4K Wide. I really like the lighter weight 2507 motors but 1850kv is a bit too high, so I had set a throttle limit to 70%. I think 1300kv motors would be ideal for a 7" quad.
Hey man this thing looks really cool. I was looking at the Floss command center 3D print but it just looks so top heavy and just, well, heavy heavy. I like how you made the whole mount shorter and put the GPS on the back instead of a big mast like the command center does. I have a couple questions:
- is your GoPro base compatible with the command center gopro mount? I mean will the hole spacing line up? EDIT: I just downloaded it and looks like they line right up, disregard this question!
- how does the GPS do on the rear brace (interference-wise)?
Also, just food for thought, I did a bunch of experimenting with mine and found that completely removing the front and rear braces actually made an improvement in vibrational performance and made it easier to tune the little bobbles out; not sure if you experience what i'm talking about but if you do try different brace combinations (front only or rear only) or remove them completely. I know it's counter-intuitive but I did lots of blackbox logging to get a decent tune on this frame and found that mine is best with no braces at all.
yes, my version of the gopro base is compatible with the command center gopro mount. They are all interchangeable. The only difference is that the mount I made solid and has holes instead because I felt the original version was not stiff enough.
I have no issues with GPS mount in the rear. It lock on to SATs just is slow as it would when placed far away from everything. I was doing some test with different GPS where I had the GPS hanging far from the quad and it was taking just as long as it was mounted to the rear brace.
I do not know if it just me, but I do not have any noticeable issue with vibration or bobbles. Maybe I do, but I just do not know? :)
I think I should check out my blackbox data for more scientific results and not just go with how things feel.
Hi,
so which flight times did you achieve with this build?
Thanks
I have not tested this quad for max flight time yet, and the longest flight I have recorded in a single flight is 11:19 minutes with a 1500mah 6s Lipo. I let a friend borrow the 21700 lithium ion pack, so I do not know what kind of flight time I will get with that. I do not expect a huge difference between the Source One 7" that flew over 25 minutes with the 21700 lithium Ion, because both quads have the same props and motors. But there is a 100g weight difference between, the 2 quads. Here is the 11 min Floss 7" flight DVR video to show you the crusing speed. I started out slow but started to pick up speed after 7:30 minutes (I have the Raw GoPro 7 Black HD video too but its chopped in to 2 files because Gopro's camera does that automatic):
FYI…I would recommend a lower KV motor because I put a 70% throttle limit on it. So, the ideal KV for a 7” is around 1300 – 1500kv. I bought these motors used, and I did not want to buy new ones. I am using 2507 motors, and most people are using larger 2807 size motors. Until I buy some to test, I do not know how it will compare, in terms of efficiency.
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I just wanted to say that your article is great and I really like the information you share. fall guys
Thanks!