My 3DR Y6B has gone through several APC 10 x 4.7 props, no fault of the props. I've had several good flights now with no broken props so would like to experiment.
Does anyone know or have a recommendation for good quality CF props to replace the SF and SFP props for a Y6?
Thanks.
I'm basing my curiosity on this:
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Ok, so I ran a few flights with the CF 10x4.7 props, but didn't record the throttle data yet. The mid throttle position to hold altitude is lower, so to me that means the props are putting out more thrust at a lower power draw, feel free to correct if wrong. They definitely have a different sound to them.
In the next day or so I'll get the actual data (CTUN) to see how much it changed.
Unfortunately the copter was acting up in RTL and Land after applying the updates and reloading the frame type back to Y6B default parameters; another issue to address. The descent was too fast as if it didn't know what alt it was at touched the ground and bounced back up.....couldn't disarm because it was in Battery Failsafe mode (part of the test). I hope the GPS isn't glitching or barometer taking a dump; don't see why, it was working fine for over 20 flights. The props are balanced good, so don't know what to think at this point.
Received the CF props today from Helibatics. To be honest, I'm not impressed. 2 or 3 were out of balance pretty bad and the adapter ring was a somewhat sloppy fit. I paid more for these than the Gemfans were; if these are better quality I'd sure hate to see poor quality props.
As much criticism as the APC props get, beyond the excessive flashing that must be removed in the hub area, they really are a pretty good prop for the money.
So now to see how the CF props work. I did Auto Tune before swapping the props out and the results were not very good; the copter is quite jerky. The Y6B RTF parameters seemed to work much better, so I will change settings back to that and start from scratch.
BTW, there was a firmware update today and the Hybrid Mode I believe is now called 'Pos Hold'. Does anyone know what it does? I tried it and the copter seemed to just drift away.
Hello there here is a link on the hybrid mode. http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A1529...
Get this dialed in and I think it will be very useful.
My Y6 also flies better with the RTF B parameters, however when I went into loiter after reloading them my Y6 pitches back and forth rather quickly. Now I have to figure that one out.
Hybrid mode is no longer a flight mode option. It looks to be replaced by "Pos Hold", but I haven't figured out what it actually does.
Do you have the trims tuned?
I put my Y6 back to Y6B parameters after not liking the Auto Tune results, but forgot to change the x and y trims to my settings so when it took off it pulled hard to the right. The default for Y6B IIRC is .018 for x and -.014 for y, which explains why it pulled to the right and forward.
So I changed the trims back to my tuned numbers:
It is quite windy today so holding in Loiter is a bit of a problem let alone stab. I know there is some tuning to help that but I'm not up to that level of the learning curve.
My engines and ESCs feel warm after a flight (I don't know about HOT, but definitely not "cool")... is this normal for all you Y^ pilots? Or do your ESCs and motors stay literally cool to the touch after flying?
fwiw: I'm flying the 980kv motors with 10x4.5 props
It depends on how I fly it, and hot and cold can be very subjective. I haven't taken temperature readings, but to my touch the motors and ESC's are warm and never cool (compared to ambient), and not HOT.
When just loitering for 10 minutes or so in still wind, all 6 motors feel about the same temp, so I figured that means one isn't grossly compensating to keep the copter stable and all are relatively equal in power draw.
Now that I didn't answer your question with any definition of what hot and cool is, one description I've read in this forum was one or more motors were "hot enough to cook an egg on". That I would say is definitely hot.
my ESC's are always a bit warmer than ambient temp when power is connected, i'm pretty sure it's the BEC doing it's thing. I'm using afroESC's 30A.
a good rule to go by is, as soon as you land, if it's too hot for you to hold/touch with your bare hands, then something is wrong for sure.
My ESC's have not been running too hot but when I was running 11" props on the bottom motors after a 9 minute hover my temps were 160+ degrees and the top motors were 10-15 degrees cooler . With the 10" props my temps have dropped to 145 average degrees all around. I am running the stock blue motors (850 I think). My props are the APC 10X4.5. I don't get anywhere near 15 minutes of flight (9 minutes with gimbal and gopro)...would changing the motors out help? I called 3dr tech support and the person I talked to didn't seem to think that was too hot on the motors. I have no idea how hot is too hot on a motor, I am an old nitro guy :)
Hi Mike,
For longer flight times it comes down to bigger props.. the biggest you can fit (meaning, the biggest you can fit considering the motor's specs for efficiency) will usually give you longer flight times. IF you wanted to 11" or bigger all around, you definitely cannot do it with the blue 3DR motors.
Hello,
I use graupner 11x5 props all around on my Y6B, driven by 800kv t-motors. they are not CF but composite, much stronger/stiffer than the APC. love the way it flies compared to the APC.
Best,
Raph
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