Blackie QAV--R

By Briefly Flying FPV on Mar 14, 2017

18  1,235  7

This was my 3rd build. I aimed for the cleanest and more practical quad to service possible. Also wanted an all black build - always thought all the coloured wiring looked terrible. So all wiring is black, except the XSR and TBS wiring which both had hard to replace proprietary connectors so I covered them in black paracord.

The way the quad is built it's quite easy to service anything on the FC stack and camera, I only need to unscrew the top plate and since nothing is attached to it, like the vtx or rx, no need to unplug stuff. Quick and hassle free.

I used a different PDB then the provided by Lumenier with the frame cause I wanted to get rid of the extra clutter and weight of the XT60 pigtail and have it directly mounted on the side of the PDB. Also I tried to find one that would fit the build better. One thing I added after taking the photos was a Armattan connector saver with an very small 12AWG wire pigtail for relief. Placed a capacitor on the PDB just where I connect the FC and the VTX for cleaning up electrical noise and voltage spikes - it is placed facing forwards between the fc stack and the camera, well protected and off sight.

Added a ULX LOS carbon fiber plate on top of the FC stack to mount the TBS Vtx. Glued the vtx on it with termal paste which holds it very well and helps dissipate the heat trough a larger surface when using higher output powers that in normal conditions make the VTX pretty hot. I noticed this mount improved greatly it's cooling compared to a more tradicional approach using double sided tape or zip ties.

Used a RC PAPA side plate camera plate on one side to help secure the angle of the camera angle more easily.

Initially was thinking of using Lumenier's tail LED lights but for practical reasons I decided not to. It was either that or the XSR mount and the antena holders were so practical that it was a easy choice.

312 Grams

Here's one of Blackie's flights :

Photos

Part List

Frame

QAV-R Carbon Fiber X Bottom Brace (3 builds)
Getfpv.com
$4.99

Frame

QAV-R FPV Racing Quadcopter (5") (22 builds)
Getfpv.com
$114.99

Flight Controller

KISS FC - 32bit Flight Controller V1.03 (179 builds)
Getfpv.com
$34.99

ESCs

4 x KISS 24A ESC Race Edition - 32bit Brushless Motor Ctrl (122 builds)
Getfpv.com
$107.96

Motors

4 x Lumenier MX2206-9 2450KV Motor (22 builds)
Getfpv.com
$63.96

Propellers

HQ Triple Prop 5x4x3 Black (2 Full Sets) 4CW 4CCW (4 builds)
Pirofliprc.com
$9.59

Propellers

HQProp DPS 5x4x3 PC Propeller - 3 Blade (Set of 4 - Clear PC) (2 builds)
Getfpv.com
$2.99

FPV Camera

Replacement Camera Lens 2.5mm 170°Degree Wide for Gopro HD Hero 2 Camera OS56
Ebay.com
$7.89

FPV Camera

Runcam Swift 600TVL FPV Camera (Black) (16 builds)
Amainhobbies.com
$39.99

FPV Transmitter

TBS Unify Pro 5G8 HV (RP-SMA) (83 builds)
Team-blacksheep.com
$49.95

Antenna

Menace RC - Raptor Antenna - LHCP (16 builds)
Readymaderc.com
$9.99

Receiver

FrSky XSR 2.4GHz 16CH ACCST Receiver w/ S-Bus & CPPM (481 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

Power Distribution

Oops! That page can’t be found.
Miniquadfpv.com
See Site

Radio

Frsky Taranis Q X7 Transmitter 2.4Ghz Black EU Firmware (263 builds)
Quadcopters.co.uk
See Site

HD Camera

GoPro Hero5 Session Waterproof 4K Video Camera (302 builds)
Phaserfpv.com.au
$202.95

HD Camera

GoPro Hero6 Black (2 builds)
Fnac.com
$115.00

Misc Parts

QAV-R FrSky XSR Mount - FPV FlightClub (2 builds)
Fpv-flightclub.com
$8.00

Misc Parts

QAVR Camera Side Plate for Runcam Swift Camera Mount
Rcpapa.com
$6.99

Misc Parts

Universal Video Transmitter Brace - FPV FlightClub (3 builds)
Fpv-flightclub.com
$6.00

Misc Parts

KISS Cable Set For ESC (2 builds)
Hobbyrc.co.uk
See Site

Misc Parts

FPV Mini Mic Micro Microphone for RC Multirotor FPV Photography System
Ebay.com
$3.99

Misc Parts

LANTIAN NAZE32 F3 Super Loud Beeper 5V Buzzer Tracker For RC Racer Drone (20 builds)
Banggood.com
$3.98

Misc Parts

Silverbead Thermal Adhesive 10g Quality Heat Paste Heat Sink
Ebay.com
$3.57

Misc Parts

Soft Mount pour Moteurs 22XX - TPU
Drone-fpv-racer.com
See Site

Misc Parts

Armattan Connector Saver (4 pieces) *Discontinued (4 builds)
Armattanquads.com
$2.00

Misc Parts

QAV-ULX Carbon Fiber LOS Top Plate
Getfpv.com
$1.99

Misc Parts

Kondensator 1000 µF 25V low ESR 1 STCK. Die guten !! Panasonic FC Serie (8 builds)
Ebay.com
See Site

Misc Parts

1m Paracord Wire Sleeving - Midnight Black
Hobbyrc.co.uk
See Site

Video Receiver

FuriousFPV True-D V3.8 Diversity Receiver System - Clarity Redefined (17 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$55.99

Radio Module

TBS Crossfire Micro TX V2 (154 builds)
Team-blacksheep.com
$69.95

Battery Charger

ISDT SC-608 150W 8A MINI Smart LCD Battery Balance Charger AU Warehouse (14 builds)
Banggood.com
$54.27

Tools

Hakko FX888D-23BY Digital Soldering Station FX-888D FX-888 (blue & yellow) (34 builds)
Amazon.com
$115.00

Backpack

Lowepro QuadGuard BP X3
Colorfoto.pt
See Site

Misc Supplies

lens filter series for gopro 5 | PGYTECH
Pgy-tech.com
See Site
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Discussion

Sign in to comment

pro XY   Mar 17, 2017  

I gotta commend you on going all black on the wiring. I wanted to do it on my last build, but just getting the thing together caused so much frustration that I cant even imagine how much worse it would have been. Quad looks great man.

Briefly Flying FPV   Mar 17, 2017 

Thanks man! Yeah, I know what you mean... I used some tricks to make it a bit simpler tough:
Soldered one type of connection a time on the two ends - for example - all the ground wires for the ESCS - finish - all Telemetry wires for the ESCs, etc... Marked all the + wires with a small piece of white tape to help out when stuff got tangled up, I removed that later when all done.
Also used a multimeter very often during the build an a smoke stopper on the first power up. Hope that helps you in your next build!

SIGHKOTIK   Mar 20, 2017 

I didn't even notice the wires untill mentioned - that's an extremely nice touch. I just came to compliment the overall theme, and the quality of the photos. Very nice!

Briefly Flying FPV   Mar 21, 2017 

Thanks Sighkotik! I really appreciate it!

QuadX   Mar 14, 2017  

Amazing build! How do you like the lumenier motors? Smooth i'm guessing! But what about power?

Briefly Flying FPV   Mar 14, 2017 

Thanks ReubeuX! The motors blew me away to be very honest. I've used the RX2206 2350kv for a while on other builds and loved their smoothness and efficiency. But eventually after trying some other more modern and more powerful motors like the ZMXs and Returners, etc... I felt them bit underwhelming and wanted more power... Bought some ZMX's and the power was there but they weren't smooth at all, the response was very different, tunning with them was a bit of a pain and they were like eating lipos alive. So these came out and after reading this very accurate review ( http://www.miniquadtestbench.com/lumenier-mx2206-2450kv.html ) I gave them a try and was amazed by the performance. They're very smooth, have the incredible efficiency of the the RX2206's on low and mid throttle, and have much more torque and top end. Take a look at Cody ripping them:

QuadX   Mar 14, 2017 

Awesome! I was thinking of use some of the lower kv motors on larger props for a very fast ap follow rig...Therefore I was on the lookout for some smooth motors to help with the footage quality (although I will probably run a gimbal on it)

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