Another first fpv quad build

[relativenewbyseb]

Hi guys, another newbie here in search of I imagine very similar information to the last and next.
I've had rc cars for many years and had a few small indoor quads that I've flown and really enjoyed but have thought now would be a good time to actually build one myself, partly because that's one of the things I enjoy most about this hobby being the building, fixing and maintenance. I'm looking to do it on a budget and potentially in stages, depending if this is possible/worthwhile to perhaps start without the fpv side of things and then add once I'm used to the quad/have funds available?
So at the moment I have settled I believe on 7" as something that is fairly substantial, can cope with more of the elements, good for carrying a GoPro session as well as fpv, plus generally slightly larger is easier to work on component wise and fitting everything in first time(or am I wrong?)
I had been making a list of parts assuming I wanna start from frame up but then when I have failed to really settle on a frame I just carried on anyway
SKYSTARS StarLord GK7 7 Inch 297mm or iFlight HL7 V2.1 FPV 7" Long Range Frame Kit
4x Emax Eco 2306 Motor (1700Kv) for 4s ( although they don't mention 7" in specs so would they suit)
HOBBYWING XROTOR MICRO 60A 4IN1 ESC&FC F4 G3 COMBO (shot in the dark really as to whether this is overkill,or any good, as saw lower amp escs reccommended for the motors but am used to going overkill with escs on cars)
FlySky FS-i6 2.4G 6CH AFHDS RC Radion Transmitter With FS-iA6B Receiver (seen this as a popular choice, plus had nothing wrong with flysky before)

anyway yeah that's just my first shot at some basics, I know there are further costs but thought I might as well get this stuff shot down first before I make any more decisions  
cheers guys and I imagine this forum will be just as welcoming as all the rest I've been on, look forward t getting into it!!

[ched]

So a few things to start. The heavier the quad the harder it falls! So a 7" quad is big and heavy so might not be best for learning on. I assume you know, if in UK you have to register and pass an online test to fly anything above 250gms (inc battery)!!!! A 7" quad will still use a 30mm stack (Flight controller and 4in1 esc) so soldering is still same size as 5".
That said I would go for a 5" quad. You will crash a lot so something robust with easy to get spares would be good.
Something ike Martian 3 it is about £17. You can use a F4 flight controller and 4in1 ESC like Manba F405 & 40Amp esc at about £40.
Motor wise the Emax 2306 2400kv motors at £34 are reasonable.
The Flysky i6 tx is a good budget tx I started with one. You can flash it to 14 channels and add timers etc. As for rx I would say the X6B is better as it's smaller and you can wire the flight battery to it so you can see the live voltage on your tx when flying. Lipo batteries are quite delicate as you probably know and will be damaged if taken too low.
Then you need bits and bobs like props (get a good few sets as you will break them), xt60 connector, heat shrink batteries (4S 1500mAh 80C+ decent brand is important), charger etc.

While you have had practice with rc cars and indoor stuff I would say get some practice on a simulator. You can get a 7in1 usb adapter from the FlySky i6 to a laptop/pc. FPVFreerider is cheap at about £6 or Velocidrone (£17) is better as it uses BetaFlight (FC software) style setup so you can 'play' with rates but needs a bit better machine. Rates are a very very helpful thing, basically they control how fast the quad will move in relation to how far you move the sticks (throttle bit different). So you can make centre of stick travel less sensitive but with your rc experience you might not need this to much.

My links are for Banggood as they are cheap (generally) but take a while (2-4 weeks) to deliver. They do have UK warehouse but very limited stock.

Anyway hope that gives you some ideas.

[relativenewbyseb]

Yeah I figured if I wanted to build my own and it not be micro then it was gonna be over that threshold so not an issue [emoji106]
 I dunno I guess I just had myself set on 7" as I thought it would be a good size, happy to be corrected though so looks like 5" it is
So in terms of that flight controller I'm assuming they're most commonly used for early flyers as I've seen it or variants pop up plenty, and do I need a power distribution board or whatever also don't I?
Is the battery voltage not possible from the esc or on the standard receiver that comes with the i6? If that's the case then yeah sounds like a good bet to get that receiver also, does it do the current also for drop under load etc?
Charger no probs, batteries can sort yup, props  I guess I'm spoilt for choice
when then adding the fpv side of things I'm under the impression I need camera, vtx, goggles, what else?
Then that should all work off a port on the flight controller or wired direct into battery?
Banggood seems to be the go to, I had been looking around for UK stock of a few things so I'm sure they're available for a small increase maybe for more immediate delivery
Cheers mate for all the help straight away, hoping you haven't had to repeat every single thing you usually do [emoji16]

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[Andy7]

Welcome to the FORUM!

Yeah, what Ched said. 5" is a very popular frame size, and you can get some pretty good inexpensive frames. They'll be quite robust and stand up to all but the most spectacular crashes. You could weigh the benefits of getting a more expensive Armattan frame that has lifetime warranty over a cheaper frame - may work out cheaper in the long run but I started with a cheap ZMR200 frame for twenty odd quid when I went to 5" and I've only just truly retired it.

The QX7 is a very good radio, inexpensive and packed with features. You can just plug a USB from that into your computer and it'll work with the sims (there are many, and I find the DRL sim good and also has decent online multiplayer!)

Watch out for HobbyKing and check that you're actually ordering from the UK warehouse as you may get hit with import taxes. RCHobby are UK based and VERY good. I'd strongly advise against ordering batteries from overseas as you'll almost certainly get hit with taxes - though as you're already into RC I guess you'd know that! 


Enjoy... but most importantly POST PHOTOS / VIDEOS!!! 

[garbfink]

Hi and Welcome.

I've just gone through the process of building my first quad and learned a hell of a lot!

As others have said, 5" is probably the best way forward to start with but it really is entirely up to you.

To get started and to get something that will get in the air without FPV then you will need the following. (I've linked the components that I used as well. You can do it for quite a bit cheaper but I wanted to get stuff which was decent quality rather than having the cheapest of the cheap)

*Frame https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/tbs-source-one-5-frame
*Flight Controller https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/aikon-f4-flight-controller
*ESCs (You can either get a 4in1 ESC or 4 single ESCs, one for each motor) https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/aikon-ak32-35a-4in1-esc
*PDB (Power Distribution Board) you only need this if you opt for 4 single ESCs as a 4in1 ESC will handle he power distribuition otherwise.
*RX (receiver)  https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/frsky-r-xsr-eu-lbt-16ch-ultra-mini-receiver-with-sbus-cppm-and-telemetry
*Props https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/ethix-s4-5x37x3-prop-lemon-lime
*Lipos https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/gnb-1500mah-4s-110c-lipo-battery

The above will get you in the air wihout any FPV functionallity for FPV you will need the following on top:

*Camera https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/foxeer-predator-v4-mini-camera-18mm-black
*VTX (video transmitter) https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/matek-40ch-vtx-hv-video-transmitter
*VTX Antenna https://www.hobbyrc.co.uk/menace-raptor-58ghz-antenna-sma-lhcp
*Goggles

I got all of my stuff from HobbyRC and found that the service was very good. I'm not suggesting that you should buy your stuff from there but just thought you might like to see what I have just put together and to give you some ideas. You can build a quad a lot cheaper if you want/need to.

[ched]

So in terms of that flight controller I'm assuming they're most commonly used for early flyers as I've seen it or variants pop up plenty, and do I need a power distribution board or whatever also don't I?
Is the battery voltage not possible from the esc or on the standard receiver that comes with the i6? If that's the case then yeah sounds like a good bet to get that receiver also, does it do the current also for drop under load etc?
Charger no probs, batteries can sort yup, props  I guess I'm spoilt for choice
when then adding the fpv side of things I'm under the impression I need camera, vtx, goggles, what else?
Then that should all work off a port on the flight controller or wired direct into battery?
Banggood seems to be the go to, I had been looking around for UK stock of a few things so I'm sure they're available for a small increase maybe for more immediate delivery
Cheers mate for all the help straight away, hoping you haven't had to repeat every single thing you usually do [emoji16]

FC: F4 (processor type) or F7 FC will be great. The Mamba F405 & 40Amp esc I linked to has current measurement in the 4in1 esc. You connect the motors and battery to the esc board so no need for power distribution board. While BlHeli_32 (Esc software) can do telemetry it's not really that common at moment although more is coming.....
As for battery voltage, when you have FPV then it's easy as the camera is connected to the FC which puts a data overlay (BetaFlight OSD) onto it then passes it to the Video transmitter (VTX) and you see data on your goggles. Before you get to fpv you need to know what voltage the battery is during flight to protect it. You can get little low voltage warning buzzers for about £2 that clip onto the balance lead and you set to a voltage (say 3.5v) and when you hit that voltage the buzzer sounds. The slight problem is when you give a big throttle push the voltage sags and the buzzer sounds for a short while. That said they are cheap and a good reminder 
The iA6B rx can have a voltage module added (about £4) but it adds weight and the iA6B rx is big and bulky. We all tend to use a single connection between rx and FC and with FlySky it's generally called iBus (FrSky SBus). So you only need 3 wires from rx to FC +ve 0v and signal. So the X6B does iBus and has an extra connection for Flight battery voltage monitoring. It's a while since I set my FlySky radio up so I can't remember if it displays voltage by default or you have to flash the free firmware.
As for FPV, I find flying Line of Sight (LOS) in rate mode so difficult, yes you need a camera, vtx and something to view images on, plus a video receiver. That could be goggles or a screen.
First off do you wear glasses? If you do you need goggles that have variable focus or allow diopter inserts.
Glasses options:
Ev100 -4 to +1.5 with dvr (digital video recorder) about £85 UK stock - great value for money - I have only just replaced mine.
FXT VIPER V2 wear your glasses + dvr about £130.
Ultimate analogue goggles -6 to +2 with dvr but you need a receiver module so £500 ish!!!!!
No glasses:
ew30 real budget dvr and receiver built in for about £40.
EV800D - dvr receiver - box goggles that convert to screen about £70.
FatShark Attitude V5 oled screen dvr and receiver supplied at about £230.
SkyZone 03O dvr receiver very good OLED screens about £310.
Ultimate analogue goggles -6 to +2 with dvr but you need a receiver module so £500 ish!!!!!
That just gives you a very brief over view of whats about. Plus there is also digital systems from DJI but they are about £600 but include transmitter, goggles, camera and vtx.
As for cameras, first you need to know what size fits in your chosen frame (standard, mini, micro, nano etc) then go for a RunCam or Foxeer or maybe a Caddex.
VTX wise:
VTX03 is good cheap £9 and can be controlled by tx (i6) you can switch channels and power when on ground via your tx (SmartAudio or Tramp)
Rush Tank - SmartAudio - max 800mW (only 25mW legal in UK  )
Then you need antennas that fit the vtx. NEVER power on a vtx without an antenna you will kill it!!!

Hope that lot gives you food for thought?

Ask away for clarification or extra info etc.
PS they are Banggood links as it's easier to find everything on 1 shop. HobbyRC and Quadcopters UK are both good suppliers.

[relativenewbyseb]

Cheers Andy7, garbfink and ched again for the welcome, definitely from all 3 of you 5" is the way to go so that's that sorted[emoji106]
I'm guessing upon my initial research I was looking at 4 escs so that's where I got the pdb in my head from, as yeah makes no sense to need one if going 4in1
Been stung once or twice with taxes before and they're a right ballache after you thought you got a good deal yeah
The tbs source one was another I had looked at before so I guess just comes down to preference, would I be right in thinking most things are universal but maybe more easy to get say replacements arms for that as its open source?
Ah yes that was an oversight without the fpv I wouldn't have the osd [emoji849][emoji23]
No glasses luckily so was looking at the different cheaper eachine offerings on a website that compared a load by resolution, price, features etc
I think for now I may not be spending 3 or 4 times the quad on an fpv setup[emoji16]not until I'm really good haha
Vtx wise I was looking at the same website and that was recommended too, and also the akk x2 because of its range although it needs a different aerial iirc and the range bonus is negated as its illegal I'm guessing [emoji28] I guess what I'm trying to ask is what range can I expect?

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[ched]

The TBS SOURCE ONE, ROTOR RIOT CL1, and Armattan SabotageRC are decent frames made by top manufacturers. They were designed to be cheap but good quality. They might not be cutting edge frames but while you are learning you don't need that just decent strong frames. So any of the above would be good but see which are easiest to get spare arms for. I think they are all open source so anyone can get the plans and make parts. So be aware that unless they are genuine parts they could be sub standard!!!

The 4 in 1 esc or 4 separate esc is really a historic thing. A few years ago esc were a bit unreliable and fairly easy to damage. So if you burnt out 1 esc you could just replace that one. Now they are very reliable and have come down in price. So a 4in1 esc board helps as you don't need dist board and current sensor is easier. Plus props can hit esc on arms!!

Eachines do a LOT of goggles, youtube is your friend here (Josh Bardwell, Albert Kim, Curry Kitten, painless360 to name but a few good people). Although they tend to compare goggles to high end FatSharks, so you have to balance their reviews with costs.
I started with HobbyKing Quanum v2 box goggles (4" screen in a big box) Stupid heavy but about £30. They did me for a while and gave a great image. I then progressed to eachines ev100, they are nice, have diopted adjustment and light weight and for the money they are great. The image is a bit small and seems a little like it's down a tunnel but they are perfectly flyable. At Christmas Santa was good to me and I received some HDO2. They are are stunning, great huge image, sharp, bright and have great diopter adjustment. I have been 'playing' with quads for about 5 years now. I started off on the most budget kit I could and over time I have upgraded.

Antennas are a bit confusing. There are multiple connections on vtx (ufl, MMCX, SMA and RP-SMA (reverse polarity) )You can normally get adapters to go from ufl or mmcx to sma type ones. Then their is linear (straight up antenna) or polarised antennas. When you have wet trees, metal or buildings vtx signals can bounce off things and create iffy images due to reflections (multipathing). Circular polarisation helps with this but keep them matches ie Both vtx and vrx should be same handed ie both Right (RHCP) or both left (LHCP).

Range wise depends on surroundings a bit in an open field 25mW will probably get you 0.5km! 200mW could get you 1.5km!! They are both theoretical distances as it could be better or worse.
That said I fly a Emax TinyHawk Freestyle on 25mW and fly round a football field with hv powerlines above and the picture is fine but does get some 'noise' at certain places as the dipole (vertical linear) antenna is naff and gets blocked by the battery in 1 direction!!! With my other quads on decent antennas and 'decent' vtx I get 100% signal anywhere on the field.
If you start trying to fly behind wet trees or buildings that range will be drastically reduced!!! Get a vtx that has multiple power ranges max say 400mW (2km).
If you are going to start Line Of Sight flying then your eyesight is the 'range limit' and it gets very difficult to orientate the quad. i.e. which way it's pointing. I used to but a florescent strip down 1 side of the battery to help.

I would say get a tx and a simulator and start practicing flying in Rate/Acro mode as that is the way to get full control. It is zero self leveling and when you first start it's very difficult.

Hope that helps... 

[relativenewbyseb]

So....
Multiple parts ordered, some for my birthday this weekend and others I've had to splash out on myself so now the waiting game begins!
Tx from Spain I believe, some stuff from China and the rest from the UK warehouse so I look forward to it gradually arriving
Will update further when it does

[ched]

Good luck and get some sim practice in 

[relativenewbyseb]

So frame, props and esc/fc arrived on saturday to have a fiddle with, batteries on Friday, flysky supposed to arrive at some point this week and then I've got a bit of a wait for the rest from China!
Am I under the right impression that I should try and update the firmware on the mamba with beta flight if its required? This is relatively simple is it not?

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[garbfink]

Woo exciting stuff!

I would update the FC if I were you. It is relatively simple but if using a windows pc then you can sometimes have some driver issues.

Assuming you are using a PC then first download betaflight from github.

Then google and download Impulse RC Driver Fixer

Once that is done plug the fc to the computer and run the driver fixer.

Once that has been updated you can then run betaflight and connect to the FC. Head to the CLI and type version and it will tell you the 'target' for the firmware.

Once you have that click on update firmware and select the target. you can then download the firmware and flash it to the fc.

Anyprobs then youtube is your friend on this one

[ched]

Dammm just spent 10 mins typing stuff and it disappeared!!!!
Any to add to garbfink.
First install BF and drivers then plug FC in and make sure on Setup page you can see the image of the quad move when you move FC. If it moves all good so far. Most vendors wont accept returns once you solder to board.

Next in the BF CLI type diff all save the output to a text file as it's the changes made to the FC by manufacturers. Good to go back to if necessary.

Again in CLI type version this tells you the target. You need the EXACT target to know what fw you need, they HAVE to match!!!

Have a google for Oscar Laing, he has a great site or youtube Josh Bardwell, Painless360, CurryKitten, AndyRC.

Hope that helps?

[ched]

No idea on the quality of the frame but if you want to smooth edges then use 'wet and dry' (silicon carbide) and use under a running tap as dust isn't nice!
Make sure the edges where battery strap is not sharp as it will cut through your battery strap!!!

[relativenewbyseb]

Rest of the parts now arrived so looking forward to getting it together!

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[relativenewbyseb]

Looking around I think this is what I'm supposed to do...
So I have from the receiver to fc; black/red/yellow so ground/power/ibus yeah?
And these go to the gnd/5v/rx3 or 6 bits on the fc?

Then the other from the receiver is the vbat where I have two grounds and a black wire for voltage monitoring and these go to where on the fc, or do I just go straight to the esc power source?

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[ched]

Looking around I think this is what I'm supposed to do...
So I have from the receiver to fc; black/red/yellow so ground/power/ibus yeah?
And these go to the gnd/5v/rx3 or 6 bits on the fc?

Then the other from the receiver is the vbat where I have two grounds and a black wire for voltage monitoring and these go to where on the fc, or do I just go straight to the esc power source?

Gnd, +5v, and rx3 sounds good - double check wire colour codes ie red is middle on rx.
The voltage sensing is to measure battery voltage. You shouldn't need both grounds on vsense. Just connect it where ever is easiest. I think on the f405 the xt60 connects to the esc board then with the little ribbon cable connecting esc to fc vcc (batt voltage) is passed to fc. Looking at the image you posted above it looks like there is gnd and vcc pads at the bottom right.
Hope that helps?

[badger1]

Looking around I think this is what I'm supposed to do...
So I have from the receiver to fc; black/red/yellow so ground/power/ibus yeah?
And these go to the gnd/5v/rx3 or 6 bits on the fc?

don't take this as gospel, but I think you can use the SBus pad (which is just UART 1 Rx really) for your iBus & set the protocol to iBus in BetaFlight

Then the other from the receiver is the vbat where I have two grounds and a black wire for voltage monitoring and these go to where on the fc, or do I just go straight to the esc power source?

just take VCC (same as VBatt) & GND off pads on the FC - there are two locations - top right & bottom right - which are probably more convenient than taking them off the battery terminals.

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edit:  oops - looks like Ched beat me to it.

[relativenewbyseb]

Gnd, +5v, and rx3 sounds good - double check wire colour codes ie red is middle on rx.
The voltage sensing is to measure battery voltage. You shouldn't need both grounds on vsense. Just connect it where ever is easiest. I think on the f405 the xt60 connects to the esc board then with the little ribbon cable connecting esc to fc vcc (batt voltage) is passed to fc. Looking at the image you posted above it looks like there is gnd and vcc pads at the bottom right.
Hope that helps?

Fab thanks that deos make sense to use the vcc and ground cheers, assuming the then configuring on the tx will be fairly easy

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[ched]

don't take this as gospel, but I think you can use the SBus pad (which is just UART 1 Rx really) for your iBus & set the protocol to iBus in BetaFlight

edit:  oops - looks like Ched beat me to it.

I had forgotten about that, it should work using uart1 and that leaves more uarts free for other fun stuff.
It used to be that you could only use the SBus pad for SBus as it's inverted and an 'un inverter' was between the pads and the cpu. Now I believe BF have implemented inversion in the code. So on most FC you can hook up iBus (which is Non inverted) to the SBus pad and just select iBus rx in BF and you should be fine.
Remember you need to bind the rx to tx 

[relativenewbyseb]

So I've soldered the ibus bit to sbus to try it and can't seem to get any response from the tx/rx in beta flight, I've tried to configure it to ibus instead but am a bit stuck
Elsewhere people say you can't do this but they're also all from 2018 so is that advice just out of date for current betaflight capabilities

Edit
I've soldered to the ground, 5v and rx6 and it has worked fine so think I'll just do that [emoji106]

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[relativenewbyseb]

Next step been setting up the switches to arm and the flight modes in betaflight which is coming in handy with the problem I'm experiencing...
So I turn on then arm the quad, all good so far, throttle up ever so slightly and I can bring it back down, however anything more than 10ish% throttle and it will then just spin up faster and I then have no control over the motors and the only way to stop them is to disarm or turn transmitter off for failsafe to activate
Is this me setting something up wrong? I mean in the receiver tab of betaflight everything is checking out being within the right ranges etc when I use the tx, failsafe works etc
Hopefully easy thing where I've just done something stupid bit don't know currently

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Video for idea of what it is
(assuming has to be YouTube to easily post[emoji848])
http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5e39a4656f721/VID_20200204_170402.mp4

[ched]

Video for idea of what it is
(assuming has to be YouTube to easily post[emoji848])
http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5e39a4656f721/VID_20200204_170402.mp4

I can't see vid but if you don't have props on then the quad might well be trying to level it's self or respond to stick movements and when it say, sees front left motor lower it will try applying more power to that motor to correct. Without props no corrections can happen so it tries raising motor speeds and keeps trying...
Also if Air mode is active this could make things worse on the bench...

Don't put props on to test this theory as spinning props are dangerous!!!!!

That said I have, in the past put props on after checking correct motor rotation. Then securely held the quad and armed, then test yaw, roll and pitch responses seem correct. Be aware that this method isn't very safe as quads have lots of power and you could lose grip!!!!

[relativenewbyseb]

OK interesting, seems maybe the only way I will find out if that's what it is or not?
No props on yes, checked motor rotation in betaflight and they are all correctly wired.
So I'm led to believe acro is enabled automatically by betaflight so angle and horizon modes are the two assigned to the first two positions on the 3 position switch, then when I go to the 3rd it resorts to the default
That's it set up currently
But yeah I'm guessing the only way I can find out is to test it as you say with it being well tethered [emoji848][emoji848]

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[ched]

You are right that no mode set = acro/rate mode. So looking at your setup that's the way I started with. I no longer have angle mode as an option, I have horizon, rate with airmode and rate. That's a sort of habit now, I used to switch off airmode to land but I have got used to being much more gently when landing so air mode doesn't cause an issue.
I would say it's best for you not to have air mode on by default, maybe put it on a switch and leave it off while you learn. If you land a bit heavy then air mode will bounce you up in the air again!!! But I do think airmode is helpful when doing acrobatics as it maintains control with zero throttle. Without airmode on zero throttle the FC internal control loops can't do much. So for acrobatics air mode is good.

Tethering down is probably safest way to check. In the days before BetaFlight, PIDs were very difficult to get anywhere near right and a new quad was almost unflyable without tweeking PIDS but you couldn't get controllable flight without decent PIDs. I remember having a quad on strings between 4 chairs trying to get PIDs somewhere in the ball palk. That was iffy.... I had props cutting strings and all sorts..... BetaFlight is now so good PIDs will be great straight out of box. I am sure yours will be fine. One thing to check is that when you switch tx off motors stop fairly quickly (within a sec or so) that way if you have an issue you can switch off tx and quad will come back down!!

[relativenewbyseb]

OK looks like I'll have a look into the air mode and then first testing shall be today [emoji1696][emoji1696]

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[garbfink]

Personally if all motors are in the right direction I would still not put props on on the bench. Although I must say Ched's story of tying the quad to 4 bits of strings attached to chairs does sound like fun.

As long as the quad disarms then put your props on and find a nice outdoor empty space and test with props on for a second or two.

The motors spinning up faster and faster is normal in my experience, both home built and rtf quads have done this to me when on the bench and I've been testing out TX inputs

As Ched has said it is normally due to the quad trying to level itself out a bit and as it is putting more power to a motor and the internal gyro is changing it adds more and more power.

[relativenewbyseb]

Personally if all motors are in the right direction I would still not put props on on the bench. Although I must say Ched's story of tying the quad to 4 bits of strings attached to chairs does sound like fun.

As long as the quad disarms then put your props on and find a nice outdoor empty space and test with props on for a second or two.

The motors spinning up faster and faster is normal in my experience, both home built and rtf quads have done this to me when on the bench and I've been testing out TX inputs

As Ched has said it is normally due to the quad trying to level itself out a bit and as it is putting more power to a motor and the internal gyro is changing it adds more and more power.

We've got plenty of fields available so that had been my plan, I know the failsafe works and disarming it so thats my backup if it were to do that again
That said with cheds advice on looking at air mode and reading about it then, it does sound like that is exactly what it is so I'm not too worried
Out of interest the flysky stuff isn't too hard to flash to 10 channels is it? I just feel like I'd like to be able to use more than just 2 switches if I do add more to the quad in the future

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[ched]

The flashing is easy but you do need a ftdi adapter (£3-4). I will dig out instructions.

[relativenewbyseb]

Well first flights, and first crashes, had!
Few notes to self: disarm quicker on landing, when trying acro mode don't go fully one way and then try and solve it with throttle, fpv is gonna be tricky [emoji23]
I surprised myself with being reasonably comfortable with acro mode, it's just when it gets a bit disorientating combining multiple inputs with yaw aswell and then I go too much the wrong way when it goes wrong!
I also had an experience that I don't want to repeat too often, flew out a bit further than the distance in the photo and then suddenly it cut power and dropped like a stone, gopro recording so can see its short tumble through the trees and very luckily landed just the other side of a stream at the bottom of our garden!
Really not sure why it cut out as distance wise it's not far at all, quad battery was fine on power as I flew afterwards for another 3 or 4 minutes, tx battery was just over half, so a bit confusing


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