Hobby King Quad Ordered.

**spykeuk** · 07-10-2011, 01:25 PM

Good afternoon all,

Yesterday I ordered the quad as mentioned above.
Ive been reading around the topic, and have come up with a shopping list.
4x <1000kv motors
4x 10x4 props, 2xCCW/2xCW
4x 30A ESC

I already have from my 450 set up.
2200 3s Lipos and 8FG TX/RX

The question is what control unit would you all suggest? Good for a complete n00b. Ive put my email down for stock of the Openpilot, but i know they are hard to get hold of. Any suggestions OPEN source if i can, as i do love open source. OR something to get me in the air..

PLUS any good reads for Wiring diagrams etc?

**R1stu** · 07-10-2011, 03:01 PM

KK board best option. 99% here use them. I do on my tri copter

**Splashy** · 07-10-2011, 03:14 PM

Go for the MultiWii. You should get the bare board from here and then add an Arduino from proto pic or someone like that. You need as a minimum a Wii Motion+ controller board and then you are set. I had mine flying beautifully straight away. All the software is open source and there are some really helpful people out there.
The fun starts when you add things to it. I have added an accelerometer so it can switch to auto levelling, a barograph so it can height hold and a magnetometer so it can hold a heading.
It produces a really full featured and very flexible platform for FPV or camera mounting and the Paris board also controls a camera mount. I also have a Parrot AR Drone which flies about the same with the Quad in auto levelling mode. The only difference is when you open the throttle, the quad shoots up at an astounding rate!
My only advice would be to get a good BEC to power the Paris Board from (so no power comes from any of the ESC) and to use good ESC. I used the Turnigy Plush 30A and think they are great.
If you want some HobbyKing ESC then I have 4 for sale !
I used the RCTimer motors 1000Kv 2830-11 and these are a great size and have well enough power for the job. I used 10" props and a frame from quadframes.co.uk - the 450 frame.
I will add some pictures next time I fly her .. I need to test the 8 Channel PPM Encoder that I just included so I can get all the channels through to the Arduino.
I would also really recommend the Flydubtion Power Distribution board from quadframes.co.uk it really helps to tidy up the build.

**Gaza07** · 07-10-2011, 05:38 PM

The multiwii is a very good platform but you need some soldering skills and a FTDI interface to upload the code once you have edited it, you also need to get hold of an original Wii Motion Plus and then rip the guts out of it, there are a lot of clones about and some work some dont, or you could buy one of the sensor boards that are about that have all the sensors pre mounted, Or buy a plug and play board from the link given in the above post with the right code installed and ready to fly these have all the senors on board including auto level (Accelerometer) compass heading hold(Magnometer)and barometer (Altitude Hold) GPS is also now being added to the multiwii platform.

The KK boards are where it all started and are a little basic compared to some of the others around but work very well and they are now very cheap, hk do them but you would be better of going for the newer one with the bigger chip so you can use any of the firmware that is about, you would probably need a programmer for this to but they are only about a tenner and very easy to use, there is a program about that will download the code from the net for you and upload it to your board

OpenPilot copter control this is a awsome board and is quite well priced at £79.00 but not easy to get hold of at the moment, it can all be setup using the GCS (Ground Control Station)
It has a much more advanced MCPU than any of the other boards and when they release the pro version with all the other sensors and gps there wont be anything to touch it

There are other boards available but more advanced and not really for some one just starting out
The KK from HK would prob be the cheapest to start with and if you like it then move on to some thing more advanced, the rctimer motors and esc,s are as good a choice as any

**spykeuk** · 07-10-2011, 08:29 PM

2011-10-07 20.27.19.jpg 2011-10-07 20.27.23.jpg 2011-10-07 20.27.39.jpg

So here it is, I received it this afternoon, and have built it to how I thought it should be as the instructions provided are..less than useful. I mounted broken 450 pro undercarriage, in replacement of the cheap and nasty legs it comes with. Also not including the camera mount..

All comments welcome.

Cheer for the reading guys keep it coming this is going to be a winter project as funds allow. with an aim to being FPV.

**spykeuk** · 07-10-2011, 09:46 PM

This guys made stuff alot clearer! AlouetteIII's videos on Vimeo

**spykeuk** · 08-10-2011, 11:41 AM

2011-10-08 10.56.03.jpg how it looks during painting

**HGJL2009** · 08-10-2011, 11:58 AM

A problem with the HK frame is that they painted it before gluing, so you have paint glued to paint, not wood to wood. I scrape off all the glue I can see and super-glue it together. The good thing is when you do crash, you only do a couple of quids worth of damage. I also use LED strips down each leg, green at the front, red at the rear. and a LiPo saver. Its great fun.quad-1.JPG

**Dedcalm** · 08-10-2011, 12:08 PM

the hk kk based controller now comes with the atmega 168 which should be fine for most releases of code I have come accross. my 5.5 board has a 320 but until I get around to tinkering with code I dont think the extra code space will be required.

**spykeuk** · 08-10-2011, 12:20 PM

2009 What motors are they they loook huge!!

**HGJL2009** · 08-10-2011, 12:36 PM

They are cheap DT750 motors from HK, with SS 18 ESC and very cheap 10X6 props (pack of 6) all HK.
KK 5.5d board from Dan with V4.7X. It flies great, very stable, just the pilot whose rubbish.
All up cost including 2200 3S and orange Rx £75. Just started a Hex frame.

**MartinW** · 08-10-2011, 12:37 PM

I was going to say, can't you use an Arduino for this (which I'm becoming quite a fan of), but someone just mentioned the ATmega168 so I guess that covers that

**muscleflex** · 08-10-2011, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by HGJL2009

They are cheap DT750 motors from HK, with SS 18 ESC and very cheap 10X6 props (pack of 6) all HK.
KK 5.5d board from Dan with V4.7X. It flies great, very stable, just the pilot whose rubbish.
All up cost including 2200 3S and orange Rx £75. Just started a Hex frame.

Just £75 for a flying machine? Can you list items used?

**HGJL2009** · 08-10-2011, 02:04 PM

KK Plus V5.5d Multicopter controller KK board
HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : hexTronik DT750 Brushless Outrunner 750kv DT750 motor
HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : 10X6 Propellers (Standard and Counter Rotating) (6pc) 10X6 props
HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : Hobbyking SS Series 18-20A ESC SS 18-20 ESC
HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : HobbyKing Quadcopter Frame V1 V1 Frame
HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : Prop Saver w/ Band 4mm (10pcs) Prop savers
HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : Turnigy High Density R/C LED Flexible Strip-Blue (1mtr) LED strip
2200 3S LiPo off Ebay
Orange Rx
Dans KK board is better than HKs as it has power distribution around the edge, making it easy
for neater wiring.

**Matt_W** · 08-10-2011, 07:03 PM

I'm looking to build a quadcopter over the winter too, to use for fpv. Reading this thread has been a help and I have found some info on www.multiwii.com and www.fpvuk.org but don't know where to start, I would like to add Accelerometer, Magnometer and barometer and possibly GPS as stated above as they all sounds really cool, but don't know if this is to advanced for my first build, can this all be added to any board. what the difference between + and X layouts, they say the cards are open source dose that mean you need to be a programer to make it work. As you can see i have lots of questions, If you would be able to pass on any of your knowledge or put me on the right path it would be much appreciated.