Flying Frog

By MK on Sep 24, 2017

9 1,011 6

Mid-price freestyle quad. Targeted at $250 for total (excluding batteries). Saved money for frame and motors because they are the parts that can be easily broken by crash. On the other hand, high quality F4 flight controller and BLHeli_32 ESCs are used since our life is too short to live with poor FC and ESCs.
RCX RS2206 2400KV motor is not just cheap motor but is, in fact, very decent motor. It's well balanced between power and efficiency, and the build quality is incredible at the price. It's not super powerful for racing for sure, however, I think it's good enough for acro flying. The motor is $11 each without factory warranty.
Matek F405 FC has a very sensitive gyro sensor. Both motors and FC are soft mounted to reduce mechanical vibration, and 1000uF Panasonic low-esr capacitor is attached to the battery pad to smooth out electrical noise.
Runcam Eagle 2 has the best image quality I've ever seen from a fpv camera (I've used Foxeer HS1177, Runcam PZ0420M and Swift).
With 48KHz PWM frequency, BLHeli_32 ESC (Wraith32 35A) makes me feel like connected to the quad. I've used BLHeli, BLHeli_S ESCs before, and everytime I upgrade to a new technology, it makes me surprised.

AUW 377g (excluding batteries and HD camera)
Maden flight:

Flight after tuning:

Photos

Part List

Frame	TransTEC Frog Lite 218mm Carbon Fiber 4mm Arm X Frame DIY Frame Kit RC Drone FPV Racing Multi Rotor (42 builds) Banggood.com	$29.99
Flight Controller	Matek F405 AIO (63 builds) Pirofliprc.com	$39.99
ESCs	4 x Wraith32 - 32bit 35A BLHeli_32 ESC DSHOT1200 (11 builds) Fpvmodel.com	$59.80
Motors	4 x RCX RS2206 (V3) 2400KV FPV Racing Motor (Japan EZO Bearing / N52SH Arc Magnet) (10 builds) Myrcmart.com	$59.96
Propellers	RaceKraft 5051 Tri-Blade (Set of 4 - New Special) (123 builds) Getfpv.com	$3.99
FPV Camera	RunCam Eagle 2 800TVL CMOS 2.1mm/2.5mm 4:3/16:9 NTSC/PAL Switchable Super WDR FPV Camera Low Latency (98 builds) Banggood.com	$39.99
FPV Transmitter	Eachine TX526 5.8G 40CH 25MW/200MW/600MW Switchable AV Wireless FPV Transmitter RP-SMA Female (120 builds) Banggood.com	$12.92
Antenna	AOMWAY 5.8G 3dBi RP-SMA Male Four Lobe RHCP VTx/VRx FPV Antenna (60 builds) Banggood.com	$9.90
Receiver	FrSky XSR 2.4GHz 16CH ACCST Receiver w/ S-Bus & CPPM (481 builds) Getfpv.com	See Site

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Discussion

ratpunter Feb 20, 2018

How much did it weigh with everything on it?

MK Feb 21, 2018

It's shown in the last pic.

extraltodeus Oct 08, 2017

Nice build!!!
What is this orange thing on the side?

MK Oct 08, 2017

it's 1000uF 35v low-esr capacitor.

extraltodeus Oct 09, 2017

And what is it used for? It is not the first time I see a wild capacitor on a drone and I am still wondering their role since they aren't on most builds.

MK Oct 10, 2017

It's used for smoothing out electrical noise. Modern ESCs (with active breaking feature) generate severe current spike or low when throttle changes in a sudden. In addition, more sensitive gyro is a trend for modern FCs (Matek F405 FC uses a very sensitive gyro). Noise generated by ESCs can make your gyro go crazy, fry any electrical component in your copter, or cause video blackout. This all depends on which ESC, motor, prop you use. That's why some people add capacitor only on battery pad, some people add it to every ESC and battery pad, or not at all. In my setup, a large capacitor only on battery pad was good enough.

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