Noob Alert - Ways to tame my 5" quad?

[ivanmcp]

Took my Emax Hawk 5 with 4S battery for it's maiden flight this evening just hovering around the garden and without goggles. Aim was to familiarise myself with it and get some flight practice. I accidentally moved the throttle all the way up and this thing gave me the scare of my life - it shot up into the stratosphere so fast I think I pooped myself a little.

Question - how do I make it less responsive whilst I learn some ropes? Can I use 3S? Or can I tweak it somehow in BetaFlight?

Coming from a DJI Spark this thing is a lethal weapon in wrong hands like mine and all I'm doing is trying to save few lives - if at all possible.

[ched]

3S will tame the throttle but that means buying more batts for a relatively short time before you 'need' 4S 
You should be able to tame things down a bit in Betaflight by looking at rates. Have a search on youtube about rates. Basically you can soften the stick sensitivity for yaw, roll, and pitch.

I found easiest way to get used to things was to connect my transmitter to my laptop with a 7in1 usb cable (ebay £5) and practice on FPVFreerider (cheap sim about £6 for full version, limited demo version free).

That way you can get your fingers used to small movements needed to control the quad. Learn Acro mode as Angle or Horizon mode will teach you bad habits that will make things difficult in future.
Acro is much easier with the goggles on.

[Cheredanine]

Well firstly get used to the throttle,
However easy ways to adjust your quad to make the throttle more tame:
1. Use less aggressive props (guessing it has avian, try some hq5040 or dal cyclone 5040 or even 2 blade 5030
2. Adjust your throttle channel sub trim on your radio so you don’t use the top end
3. Use 3s

Ched is probably right about rates although if you are flying angle mode it won’t be a problem, however rates won’t tame the throttle, only aspect changes

[Lamaule]

I had some sound advice when I bought my motorbike and asked an experienced rider about a restricter.

I remember his advice to this day “you’ve already got one built in” and pointed to my head and my throttle wrist.

Same applies to the sticks.  Take it easy, treat it with respect, fly in open space and you’ll be fine.  [emoji106]


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[Elmattbo]

Which radio is it?


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[Cheredanine]

Also worth finding someone to fly with that can help.

[Lamaule]

Very sound advice! [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

Also worth finding someone to fly with that can help.

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[Stactix]

I'd also consider getting a cheap toy house drone, usually around £10-15 and anything you learn with it will transfer directly to your 5"

[ivanmcp]

Which radio is it?

Taranis X7S.

Thanks for all your replies. I did buy Makerfire Tiny Whoop Micro but man, drones are so hard to fly - top kudos to all of you.

[ched]

Get a cable for your taranis and get FPVFreerider (free version is limited but works to test pc and tx).
You can practice for hrs, no recharging batteries or waiting for dry day. Plus you can alter the sensitivity of the quad. So you can gradually push things.

When I started out I could barely take off without crashing on fpvfreerider. Now I can fly fpv on most sensitive settings. Not that I can get through all the gates but I am improving slowly. I can notice the sim helping when I go out flying.
The sim helps teach your fingers to be able to do very small movements plus it teaches you eye hand co ordination.

[Elmattbo]

On the Taranis you can program a curve so that the stick travels linearly between say 0-75% throttle but using the whole stick movement. If you want to tame it down that’s  a good way to do it because more than 75% thrust is still available to individual motors for manoeuvring.

There’s a JB video about it somewhere, I’ll see if I can find it.


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[Elmattbo]

Haven’t watched it but hopefully this helps!
https://youtu.be/jfqw4sLYaRE


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[Two-Six]

One thing I have found helped me get better at fine stick movements was "PINCHING" the sticks.  I just can't fly using my thumbs on the sticks very well, especially my helicopters as they need pretty fine control inputs.  I don't really use much in the way of rates, just a little bit....I like a sharp feel to my controls. 

It might feel pretty strange at first but try holding your TX so your index fingers can rest on the top edge of the sticks with your thumbs on the lower edge, pinching the sticks.  Your finger is much more dexterous than your thumb and you can "index" the stick position more accurately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jiuh84SO8Q

[Martin Pegler]

The pinching method may help as stated above, I use to pinch when I flew helicopters but so since flying drones I have changed.

Don't be tempted to try and hover in a small place, always make sure you have plenty of room.

You will soon get use to the power and I'm sure before to long you will enjoy looking for ways to make it faster.

Definitely practice on a sim, it's great for muscle memory and to be honest there pretty good now.

Practice, practice, practice.. 😀

[Harlem]

3 cells is the best way, others are smaller props or less aggressive props.

Most Tx's have a throttle curve, NOTE, not many people do this as most want full power, but make your curve concave and ending at 75%.

I.E. 0 20 40 75

Oh and maybe make sure anti gravity is turned OFF? Others will have to confirm this though as i am not 100% sure.

[Sweet Pickle]

On the Taranis you can program a curve so that the stick travels linearly between say 0-75% throttle but using the whole stick movement. If you want to tame it down that’s  a good way to do it because more than 75% thrust is still available to individual motors for manoeuvring.

There’s a JB video about it somewhere, I’ll see if I can find it.


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The Joshua Bardwell video you referred to really helped me with calming down my 4S build. I still have a model setup as laid out in the video. I didn't/don't have the greatest ability and rarely ventured into Aacro before trying out that.

[Elmattbo]

The Joshua Bardwell video you referred to really helped me with calming down my 4S build. I still have a model setup as laid out in the video. I didn't/don't have the greatest ability and rarely ventured into Aacro before trying out that.

Glad to help!


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[Elmattbo]

3 cells is the best way, others are smaller props or less aggressive props.

Most Tx's have a throttle curve, NOTE, not many people do this as most want full power, but make your curve concave and ending at 75%.

I.E. 0 20 40 75

Oh and maybe make sure anti gravity is turned OFF? Others will have to confirm this though as i am not 100% sure.

All antigravity does is boost the I term during a fast throttle movement so that won’t make any difference. It’s just designed to stop attitude drift during aggressive punches.


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