Newbie advice (or should I just buy an ar.Drone)

Hi,

I've just built my first quad, it's a Feiyu Tech kit fitted with a kkmulticopter blackboard flight controller and it's almost impossible to fly. Every flight feels like a semi controlled crash waiting to happen, needing constant stick inputs just to keep the thing the right way up and I've given up on anything resembling a stable hover.

 

It's not at all like the various quad videos I've seen on youtube where the guy puts the transmitter on the ground and the quad remains in a stable attitude/altitude.  The quad is also very twitchy, i.e. small stick movements produce large pitch/roll movements, not really suitable for a beginner, and to be honest I've stopped trying as even getting the thing into the air is quite scary.

 

Is this normal for this type of setup?  I was looking for a stable platform to do some aerial photography but there's no way I'd risk putting a camera on this setup as it is.  Would replacing the kkmulticopter controller with an Ardupilot Mega give me a flyable platform or should just buy a Parrot AR.Drone and hack my iPhone so I can record the FPV from that? I don't want to keep spending money on DIY kit if it's inherently unstable and I can't afford a DJI or MikroKopter setup.

 

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • Plenty of Patience and plenty of reading with a pinch luck is all you need (experience also helps) to be able to fly  take off, and then a shit load more to hover !

  • @Gareth

    Thanks for taking the time to reply, I'd just about made up my mind that the APM was the way to go, and your comments have convinced me. Looks like it'll be March before I can get my hands on an APM2 module, gives me a bit more time to save up for telemetry and FPV gear.. I can see this ending up as an addictive and expensive hobby!

     

  • Just a quick update.  I've spent a few days playing with the quad, balancing the props and tweaking the gain pots and I've managed a few short semi-stable flights, but I've noticed that to get the quad flying near level I've had to use loads of trim on my transmitter (almost max back and right).  Does this suggest that there may be something wrong with my setup or is this normal.

    I've decided after reading your comments that the KK board probably isn't what I was looking for, being a complete noob I didn't realise that you needed more than just gyros for attitude hold and after seeing demos of the Parrot drone I'd assumed these things were inherently stable. I'd say mine is currently about as stable as a fixed pitch heli, and I never did have the reactions to fly one of those well.

     I really want to concentrate more on the photography than controlling the quad so I need some sort of altitude/attitude hold.  I'm also wondering if the 10" props supplied with the Fieyu kit are a little large for stable flight, the one time I accidentally nudged the throttle a little too far the thing shot straight up about 30' and I just about managed to recover into a controlled crash that only cost me a prop :)... The feiyu frame does seem quite sturdy and has survived some pretty hairy landings unscathed, but I'm going through props like there is no tomorrow.

     

    @UnmannedTechShop when are you expecting to stock the new ardupilot mega boards, seems that as it has the magnetometers etc. built in it's going to come in around £100 cheaper overall than the older board + oilpan + magnetometer.

     

  • Distributor

    The KKmulticopter board is just use to help limit the roll rates on your quad, it still requires practice and skill to fly.  If you want you should try out an arducopter controller, or one of the controllers by Fieyu Tech, they can be used for stabilization to that if you let go of the sticks your quad will just sit there.  You can the take it one step further to let it fly to way-points automatically (included with ardupilot, but Fieyu Tech requires addon boards).

    However one thing that may help with your KK boads, it to try tune it abit more to get the gains right.

    Hope that helps.

This reply was deleted.

Activity