EMax 250 Pro

[simonchambers]

First post of my first ';proper'; Quad. 

Thumbs up to Teslahed to the frame recommendation and makeitbuildit for getting to me before Christmas!

It';s not finished yet, I still need to load it up with a flight camera, VTx and fit the minimOSD on. Also as the ESCs are on the bottom, they';ll need filling up with hotmelt glue to prevent them shorting out in wet grass. I kept the ESCs off the arms as I didn';t want to hide the carbon! However I';m pretty pleased with the neatness of it so far.

Cheers,
Si.

[simonchambers]

For some reason the image uploader is a bit temperamental?

[philtrum]

Looking good Simon

very clean build

If its any help, when i built my last one, i got the esc between the bottom main plate and the little mini plate, same as where you have them but sandwiched between the plates rather than under the bottom one

keeps most of the grass/damp off them

might be worth a look to see if you can get it to fit

[simonchambers]

Looking good Simon

very clean build

If its any help, when i built my last one, i got the esc between the bottom main plate and the little mini plate, same as where you have them but sandwiched between the plates rather than under the bottom one

keeps most of the grass/damp off them

might be worth a look to see if you can get it to fit

I tried, but it was a very, very tight fit. So much so, it bowed the bottom plate! Even there though, I';d still worry about wet long grass getting moisture in there.

I';m not happy with the receiver position. The next aim is to make a PCB to mount the receiver on, so it can sit on top of Naze32 in a stack.

Si.

[kilby]

Looking goog

[weavo56]

I';ve got the same frame /kit  , I have the esc s in between the bot plate and the mid plate I used a 3 mm nut to space it away abit more .

[Allen Williams]

Amazing little frames! I love mine also bought frame makeitbuildit!

[Airwave45]

On offer just now too !

http://makeitbuildit.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=354

Really easy build, the Flight computer is a PITA to set up if you haven';t done it before, but I was able to, after 3 house whiskies, at stupid o';clock this morning finally get it to arm and sound like it';s behaving . .sort of (not flown yet)

Neat looking thing, feels solid !

The tape on the fpv Tx is temporary as I have to pull it to bits to replace an ESC and a motor (magic smoke escaped during testing, may have been me programming the ESC incorrectly) ((may not . . ))

[teslahed]

I tried, but it was a very, very tight fit. So much so, it bowed the bottom plate! Even there though, I';d still worry about wet long grass getting moisture in there.

I';m not happy with the receiver position. The next aim is to make a PCB to mount the receiver on, so it can sit on top of Naze32 in a stack.

Si.

That looks very neat, especially for the first attempt. I';ll be interested to see your PCB solution for the receiver when you get that going -  a FrSky compatible receiver breakout board that fits over the standard smaller square flight controllers like the Naze32 could be a handy thing to have to neaten up quite a few builds. I';d be tempted to try one myself if such a thing existed

My solution was to stick my D4R-II to the underside of the very top main plate right above the Naze32 itself then use PPM to wire it straight to the Naze32 directly beneath. It doesn';t take up much room and that space was ';empty'; on my aircraft before i added the receiver there anyway.

I';ve got the long aerials routed to the back with a nice little V-mount adapter to get the best possible diversity performance and put the drag of the antenna at the back for better dive performance.

[kibi]

When I built my Spanky, I stacked the filter PCB, FC and another piece of PCB material to act as a shelf for the receiver on top of one another.

I realise it';s a different frame and there may not be as much space on the EMax frame, but the idea may be transferrable somehow.







I hope this helps.

If you are interested, my Spanky build thread is here: http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=8267.0

[barneyg]

hmm ... I wonder if the copper in the PCB would act as an RF Shield in the same way that Mu Metal does  ?

[kibi]

hmm ... I wonder if the copper in the PCB would act as an RF Shield in the same way that Mu Metal does  ?

I will do if it is grounded. All of the components on my 12V filter board are mounted on the underside. The layer of copper on the other side of the PCB is clean and it is grounded at one point. I you look closely at my first image in my previous post you can see a ground wire going from the bottom copper to the top copper. This wire is visible just below and to the left of the USB connector of the CC3D.
I don';t know why I didn';t think to ground one of the copper sides of the shelf PCB that the receiver sits on. I';ve not had any issues, the most electrical noise originates below the clean plate anyway, but it wouldn';t hurt.

[DarrenG]

I didn';t have any problem fitting the ESCs (ZTW Spider 12A OPTOs from MakeItBuildIt) in between the two lower plates.

Amazing little frames! I love mine also bought frame makeitbuildit!

Allen, I like the look of those LEDs, may I ask where you got them from?

[Allen Williams]

Hi Darren

Got them from banggood, about a pound each but there is a guy selling them on eBay for £4 they are amazingly bright!

[DarrenG]

Hi Darren

Got them from banggood, about a pound each but there is a guy selling them on eBay for £4 they are amazingly bright!

Great, thanks 

[simonchambers]

Quick update. On new year I put together a simple, quick board and its been sent off to production. 

The receiver (V8R7-II based) will mount on the bottom of the board, secured by the receiver pins. Cut-outs fit the Naze32 pin headers. I';m going to add RSSI injection onto the PPM signal too, so only one lead is needed. Of course it';ll support Frsky D8/V8, Futaba S-FHSS and Hitec A-FHSS 2.4GHz systems too. Fully Firmware upgradable, so can add plenty of nerdy features later, such as channel usage, etc. Maybe even a simple 2.4Ghz spectrum analyser? ::)

Si.

[teslahed]

Now that looks interesting, some nice features there especially the RSSI injection onto the PPM stream. OpenLRSng already has that feature and it works really well with the Naze32. I wonder who suggested that 

Need any help testing them?

[JAB1a]

I like that receiver a lot, excellent idea to make it the same form factor of the FC';s, ingenious. Will you be making a run of these to sell or is it just for yourself? Count me in for one if you make a batch

This will make already tidy setups clean crisp and beautiful 

[teslahed]

I think this product was in part the inspiration for the design;

http://www.multirotorsuperstore.com/radio/radio-receivers/brotronics-powertowerrx-for-openlrsng.html



It also works very well with the Naze32 - same form factor, injection of RSSI onto a PPM channel (i use channel 8), UHF beacon on signal loss with it';s own 1 cell backup battery so even if your main flight battery disconnects you can still find the thing with a suitable CB radio. A buzzer as well, and lots of lovely bright status LEDs. Oh yeah - and a range measured in terms of 5km + with good aerials.

But the 2.4ghz system that Simon Chambers has in mind should be simpler, easier to setup with less config to worry about and will be directly compatible with taranis transmitters and other common gear unlike the slightly specialised OpenLRSng stuff.

The openLRSng receiver also doesn';t have the pins that line up with the Naze32';s pins either so you';ll still have a wire between the two and it wont be quite as near. Nor does it do diversity so might not be as good in some situations as a result.

I';m intending to put the openLRSng receiver on my mark 4 miniquad and 2.4ghz on my smaller line of sight models but depending on performance that could change. Both are good options for neatening up wiring and should perform well.

Sign me up for one (or possibly two) from the first batch please!

[philtrum]

Quick update. On new year I put together a simple, quick board and its been sent off to production. 

The receiver (V8R7-II based) will mount on the bottom of the board, secured by the receiver pins. Cut-outs fit the Naze32 pin headers. I';m going to add RSSI injection onto the PPM signal too, so only one lead is needed. Of course it';ll support Frsky D8/V8, Futaba S-FHSS and Hitec A-FHSS 2.4GHz systems too. Fully Firmware upgradable, so can add plenty of nerdy features later, such as channel usage, etc. Maybe even a simple 2.4Ghz spectrum analyser? ::)

Si.

Simon

Im interested both for me and for potential stocking for others etc

Cheers
Phil

[kibi]

I think this product was in part the inspiration for the design;

http://www.multirotorsuperstore.com/radio/radio-receivers/brotronics-powertowerrx-for-openlrsng.html



It also works very well with the Naze32 - same form factor, injection of RSSI onto a PPM channel (i use channel 8), UHF beacon on signal loss with it';s own 1 cell backup battery so even if your main flight battery disconnects you can still find the thing with a suitable CB radio. A buzzer as well, and lots of lovely bright status LEDs. Oh yeah - and a range measured in terms of 5km + with good aerials.

But the 2.4ghz system that Simon Chambers has in mind should be simpler, easier to setup with less config to worry about and will be directly compatible with taranis transmitters and other common gear unlike the slightly specialised OpenLRSng stuff.

The openLRSng receiver also doesn';t have the pins that line up with the Naze32';s pins either so you';ll still have a wire between the two and it wont be quite as near. Nor does it do diversity so might not be as good in some situations as a result.

I';m intending to put the openLRSng receiver on my mark 4 miniquad and 2.4ghz on my smaller line of sight models but depending on performance that could change. Both are good options for neatening up wiring and should perform well.

Sign me up for one (or possibly two) from the first batch please!

Also, BOM and Gerber files are available so that one can build it for themselves if they wish! Awesome!! :)

[quadfather]

Quick update. On new year I put together a simple, quick board and its been sent off to production. 

The receiver (V8R7-II based) will mount on the bottom of the board, secured by the receiver pins. Cut-outs fit the Naze32 pin headers. I';m going to add RSSI injection onto the PPM signal too, so only one lead is needed. Of course it';ll support Frsky D8/V8, Futaba S-FHSS and Hitec A-FHSS 2.4GHz systems too. Fully Firmware upgradable, so can add plenty of nerdy features later, such as channel usage, etc. Maybe even a simple 2.4Ghz spectrum analyser? ::)

I don';t get it.  What am I looking at???

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[mrorange26]

Just found this mount might come in handy for people with fatshark fpv camera.http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:612583
I printed one its a good angle.

[simonchambers]

A quick update. PCBs have arrived. Receiver mounts very nicely on it. 

Still need to get the firmware changes done and tested... there are never enough hours in the day. 

(Sorry for the poor quality pics!)

Si.