My 450 Quad Thing

[Hands0n]

I';ve not been at this very long, less than a month I';d say. And that would not include the many months spent reading and watching YouTube videos before taking the plunge.

I went for a F450 [clone I guess] from someone on eBay. In hindsight it was an expensive way to start, but it did include everything including the TX. I went for Spektrum DX6i and AR6115e RX (park flyer).  It came with a KK2 FC, Turnigy Plush 25A ESC and Turnigy D2836/8 1100kv motors and 8x4.5 props.

It didn';t take me long to crash and start breaking bits off - arms really, the rest of the frame seems bulletproof.  In one I wrecked the kk2 so bought another, but wasn';t happy with it.

A succession of FCs followed; a HK 328P MultiWii which is occasionally troublesome, so put me off.  Then I picked up a MultiWii Pro with GPS from Paul on here and that is what is mounted in the 450 right now.

It has taken me a while to get everything sort of right. A massive problem found with electrical interference to the FC, so I have stacked it up high, away from the motor and power wiring to the ESC and distribution board.  It has made a massive difference, the Magnetometer actually knows which way is North, consistently 

Anyroadup - tonight I finally got to try out the GPS Hold and GPS Home features of the MultiWii.  They are set up to use Mag, Baro and Angle with each flight mode.

You can see for yourself how it performs - GPS Hold seems mostly okay, a bit of a wanderer in relatively still air.  GPS Home was a bit of a disaster - I need to try it out on an open field ...

So to the videos. Any suggestions or comments more than welcome. I have a ton to learn  ::)


First try at GPS Hold, then GPS Home with a difference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Iq_QGt1Vc

Second try at GPS Hold, and a successful GPS Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NROYNXFIbNg

Just using up the battery, and a bit of a snazzy landing by my standards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rs2fEdlTcY

[JT]

 Looks good. GPS isn';t pinpoint accurate so I don';t think it will ever land on the exact spot, I think its something like 10'; accuracy(based on what my handhald GPS gets) so that would give a 20'; circle centred on the original point. Mine is running a crius se v2 with a cheap chinese GPS and in GPS hold it wanders probably 15'; in all directions from where I switch it on. I haven';t tried RTH as my baro gives out some interesting figures, despite it being covered with a piece of breathable foam(like you say yours has), it seems to be working well and then it will suddenly say stuff like 1850 meters when its about 5!

Why did you not like the kk2.0 I was thinking about getting one for building a tricopter?

[Hands0n]

Thanks for that.  I do not really properly understand the practical GPS behaviour in these craft yet. It is very different in land-based vehicles.  And the Baro seems to be the bane of everyone';s life, with a mind of its own.

I love the idea of the KK2.

I think that the KK2 was, for me as an outright beginner, too little in terms of supportive during the baby steps. Whilst being much of an appliance and easy to adjust and configure it seemed to be quite prone to instability - that could be for the same reasons as the MultiWii has suffered in the 450 frame. Then I smashed the LCD of one in a crash that has rendered it useless. The replacement has a flaky screen, it works, but has artefacts that irritate my OCD   I love the idea of the KK2. But it utter reliance on that LCD and no apparent easy fix if it breaks puts me off now I';ve experienced it. 

Right now I';m quite biased towards the HK 328P for a cheap';o FC that has tons of configurability, all the sensors (incl a Baro). Add a cheap Bluetooth board and an Android phone app and you can have the same (better?) in-field configurability as the KK2.  Thats the direction I';m heading in for the TeslaQuad that I';m building :-)

[JT]

 The bluetooth module and android app is very handy for changing settings  and also works for a bit of close range telemetry, the logging feature of ezgui is really cool as you can log then look at your flights with google earth . The only downside is bluetooths 50m or so maximum range.

I only really considered a kk2 for my upcoming tricopter build just to try out something different lol, but I may after what you said (lcd fragility and dependence on it) get another crius se v2 as I';ve sort of got to grips with multiwii and they are only £29 on ebay and posted from uk.

[Hands0n]

It really is only the LCD of the KK2 that bothers me. An otherwise perfectly usable board is now lying in my "bits box" locked in the last config I entered into it. Frozen in time 

What is the Crius SE like?  I';ve an AIOP coming - at this rate I';ll have tried all the main FCs  ::)  But for a less complex, or scratch, build it seems that having a few of these low-end (!!) FCs could come in handy.

[JT]

 I would have said fantastic as it flies wonderfully stable but something just( like 2 minutes ago ) went wrong outside as I took my first FPV flight, I don';t know if it was the FC or something else. I';ll post a video of the incident in the general section as soon as I can upload a video to youtube to see if anyone has any ideas .........

[Hands0n]

Whoopsie!  I have grown to hate it when that happens ... already