Grasshopper

By Rotorenpilot on Sep 23, 2023

6  0  4

This is my first toothpick/tiny built attempt with an AIO.

I first picked the Darwin AIO with ELRS 2.0 (SPI) pre-installed...that turned out to be a disaster, as updating the board to the latest BF (4.4) didn't help to get the receiver to bind with my radio.

Having tried the Zeus10 AIO, I found it to be a really elegant AIO solution, so I picked one up for this built.

Generally speaking I have to say that most of the HGLRC products have given me an overall very positive opinion about their quality control, as they usually just work.

One major drawback about the Zeus10 AIO is that the receiver is not built in, which is a big space issue when there's so little space in the frame.

While soldering on this board I really discovered why these tiny builds are so much fun.

I gave it a hover test in my room and it flew ok on a 2S. One thing that was a bit disappointing though was how much throttle it needed to get off the ground. After finishing the built I noticed that it was quite heavy for it's small size...also the motors are probably not the best size for this frame...sad since I already cut the wires and they came with really short wires to begin with.

Well, I'll take it for a field test and play with the PID and rates and see if I can improve performance a little.

Video quality is good, so I'm happy about that...and it looks so nice.

After adding a bulge in the throttle curve around the hover point this built feels super zippy. I really enjoy it and it got over 7 minutes on a 3S pack with 850mah flying with many flips and rolls and a couple of power loops. Shout out to yohfpv, thanks for the tip.

Photos

Discussion

Sign in to comment

yohfpv   Oct 04, 2023  

Its really cute, but I understand your frustration with lack of space. I have some advice for you to make it fly like a champ. Change your props to HQ T2x2.5x3, build a power bulge into your throttle curve, starting just past hoverpoint and then strap a 4s lipo to it. Minimum 450mah. You could run 2x 2s lipo in series to make 4s if you don't have any. Don't sweat too much about the weight. Those motors should have tremendous thrust if you feed them well.

My reference for the advice is a 1206, 4500kv 4s prototype on a 3mm base plate. Similar enough.

Rotorenpilot   Oct 04, 2023 

Cool, I'll try that, thanks

Rotorenpilot   Oct 07, 2023 
1

Wow!!! So I added a power bulge in the throttle curve and tried it...that was a true "quad-saver". Feels super snappy now, really fun built.

Thanks for the tip

Sugalime3D FPV   Sep 29, 2023  
1

Cute frog :D
Looks great

Guides & Reviews

Jun 21, 2021

AirbladeUAV has done it again and this time they've brought long range to the 5" class! Based on the popular Transformer Mini, the new Transformer 5" Ultralight adopts a lot of the same design philosophies with larger props and more payload capacity. It can fly upwards of 20 minutes on a 4 cell Li-Ion battery pack and in ideal conditions it's got a range of over 4 to 5 miles. In this guide I'll walk..

Read more
Mar 04, 2021

With the release of the DJI FPV Drone cinematic FPV has become a lot more accessible, but you certainly don't want to crash a $750 drone! The QAV-CINE Freybott is a compact, lightweight cinematic FPV drone that can take a hit and keep going. It's a lot safer to fly indoors and around people. With a naked GoPro or the SMO 4k you can capture some great stabilized footage. In this guide I'll show you..

Read more