Building my first hexacopter

Hi everyone,

I'm new to these sort of projects, and I'm trying to prepare all the components I need to build a hexacopter. I'm looking to buy the jD-Simplex Hexa (RTF) from jDrones, with the upgraded motors, ESCs, and the 12x45 props. I'm also planning on purchasing the radio set with it. However, I'm in a dilemma about the battery I should get and what the flight time will be. I've read almost everything I can about how to select a battery and how to calculate the flight time.

With the upgraded motors and ESCs, I'm thinking I need a 8000 mAh 3S1P 30C battery, because 8 Ah * 30C = 240 A, and the ESCs run on 30 A (so 30*6=180). Can someone clarify this selection for me?

Also, if I calculated correctly, this copter at 75% throttle will have about 4.5 minutes of flight (with the 8000 mAh battery). Does anyone that has experience with this drone have a longer flight time than that?

Thanks so much,

Kate

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MR60

Hugues June 6, 2014 at 9:21am

Wow interesting sociological experiment here! It would be funny if behind the poster's picture was really a big fat bearded guy, lol.
- hotelzululima > Hugues June 6, 2014 at 3:09pm
  
  and your point is???
  
  hzl
  - Emin Bu > hotelzululima June 7, 2014 at 1:13am
    
    Point is;if you want fast answers,be a girl in multirotor world..
    - Cala > Emin Bu June 7, 2014 at 1:50pm
      
      mmm..... not always :)
      - This reply was deleted.
        
        Cala June 7, 2014 at 2:31pm
        
        Really I can't say nothing, because I had as much help as I need, and I was recived much better than my expectatives In this men's world, this activity gives me a lot of friends and an unexpected hobby, I agree with you Will about questions, and I have to decide for an Avatar too ;)
        
        This reply was deleted.
        
        Cala June 8, 2014 at 4:59pm
        
        Female, it's a Spanish name, generally in Spanish names finishing with "a" are female and with "o" are male.
This reply was deleted.
- Kate June 6, 2014 at 5:59am
  
  Thanks for all the info! So the Iris with the Pixhawk will allow me to also go in and enter my own code with Arduino?
  - hotelzululima > Kate June 6, 2014 at 8:26am
    
    hi kate,
    
        there is a vagrant based compile for pixhawk at present. I dont think it will compile for usage on an Arduino as the Arduino/APM hardware is AVR 8 bit based and the pixhawk STM32 based.. entirely different machine code as far as I know.. that being said.. the compile for PIXHAWK is CLI based as opposed to the gui based automation of the arduino.
    
    But YES on writing and modifying and adding to the APM/PIXHAWK code base or any of the more popular Open Source MAVLINK based ground control stations, you will wind up learning and using a variety of tools across different platforms..
    
    I can attest to the IRIS/PIXHAWK programmability .. I have one myself.. even if they are a bit expensive comparatively. Good platform to learn the PIXHAWK hardware and software on where its already setup and configured for you.
    
    That being said ALL of the 3DR multicopters come with PIXHAWK now as far as I know and copters like the Y6 and X4/X8 can be folded up a bit smaller than the IRIS which doesnt fold at all and have a GOOD deal more weight capacity for experiments and are NOT constrained by a HULL as in the IRIS case.
    
        choices, choices, choices
    
         hzl :)
  - Developer
    
    Bill Bonney > Kate June 6, 2014 at 6:27am
    
    You can program the Iris with your own code. It uses the Pixhawk autopilot. Which is based on a ARM 32bit processor. Compiling code for it is more involved than the APM2.5/6 hardware, but being more performant, you can do more. See http://dev.ardupilot.com for more info on that
This reply was deleted.
- Kate June 6, 2014 at 8:06am
  
  So if I'm understanding this correctly... The IRIS itself is Arduino-based but the Pixhawk is not?

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Building my first hexacopter

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