Hello. My name is Brandon. I'm new to this forum and have learned a lot. I'm building my first hexacopter and would like to know what you think of my setup. I am using a very light frame weighting in at 175g and measuring 470mm (18.5") motor to motor. The motors are Tunagy multistar 2209 spinning 9 x 5 Aeronaut CamCarbon props. The ECUs are 12A Afro powered by an 8400mah 3S 40C lipo. I will be using a NAZA flight controller and a FPV setup using a go pro and gimble. I entered the specs in eCalc and got the following results.
10.4min mixed or 17.6min flight time
The throttle at hover is 61% giving me on the safe side 30% throttle to maneuver.
The max motor Wattage is 100W and at full throttle it will consume 102.1W. I dont think this will be a problem as long as I dont fly full thottle?
Is this a good setup? I would like to confirm before ordering more parts. I would realy appreciate your thoughts. Thanks guys.
Replies
Thank you for the replies and advice. I have upgraded my ESC to 20A and confermed the battery will fit. I still need to pick a prop because I have read that stiff props may cause a problem with NAZA. I also need to choose a radio and received. I was going to go with a 9x radio but want a return to home feature and not sure how to do it with that radio and naza. I have parts arriving tomorrow and will start the build. Looks like I have much to learn about transmitter/reciever and ground stations. After I build this one I want to build another using an open source flight computer but choose NAZA to start because it will work out of box with little set up. Thanks again, I am looking forward to flying, sharing my build and contributing to the community.
What frame is that you are using? I have not seen one like that before.
It's a proto frame by ohm conversions. I'm still building it and can't wait to fly it. You can watch a video on youtube of it flying. Type in hexa-hex.
Those 12A ESC are marginal, I'd get the 20A units just for peace of mind.
That's a pretty big battery. You really don't need 40C for your use. A 20C battery is good for 3X the max amp draw you would need at full throttle. As a side bonus, it should be slightly lighter.
If I was you, I'd also get a battery in the range of 2000-3000mAh and try flying with that as well. You may find that it's way more responsive and fun when flying around and that the flight time trade-off is worth it.
Hoover at 61% is ok, but rather high.
I wouldn't worry about max throttle power slightly over max wattage for your motors unless you plan on flying that way regularly. A couple of seconds above max won't be a preblem as long as your motors have good cooling.
I suspect the ESC's are going to be a tad small for the 9x5 props. The motors are rated at 9A max on 8x4.5 props. Going size up will increase the current usage of the motors.
That LIPO is a SERIOUS battery back. Those pack are quite large (assuming its the Nano-tech pack). This back wil EASILY handle what you throw at him using the supplied hardware setup. Even at full throttle. Not sure about the ESCs though. Perhaps better to go for the 20A ESC unit. Afros are awesome. Stick to that and you'lle be happy
Dimensions: 157 x 45 x 45mm <= Cut a piece of foam this size and put it on your frame so you see where you are going to mount this just to make sure it fits.
They also weigh in at 650g each. Just make sure of your complete weight and use that to see if 6 of the motors with 9" props will carry the payload. You should always aim for hover at 50%. This can be tweaked slightly on the flight controller usually.
Flight times are hard to calculate. eCalc is not ALWAYS that spot in with results but provides a fair indication. Don't be surprised if you get less flight time than expected. Adding weight brings down flight time considerably.
Personally I would go with a 4S pack since it provides a bit more kick that the 3S. It will mean you have to rethink you motors and ESCs though.