I've been messing with this copter for a few months now. The biggest setback has been ESC issues with KDE 2814XF-515 motors. Doing it over again, I'd bite the bullet and buy the $$ KDE ESC's made specifically for their motors.
After 4 different ESC's (3 SimonK) tried, the HobbyWing 40A OPTO XRotor (non-SimonK) seems to be the best, and also increased the flight time. The KDE ESC's would be even better I'm told.
Choosing the right prop configuration was also a problem since this is not a kit build. After trying several different props, it now has 15x5.5 Tarot TM on the bottom and 14x5.5 Gemfan TM on the top. As others have discovered, the pwm disparity from top to bottom caused stability issues and requires more customized PID's. Switching to this latest setup appears to have taken the Auto Tune results better and the Yaw IMAX and Loiter P/I Rates are back to default. There's still more tuning needed, but I like the why it flies much more already.
PWM at hover and some flying with 15x5.5 top and bottom (10 mph wind gusts):
PWM at hover with some flying at end with 15x5.5 top and 14x5.5 bottom (10 mph wind gusts)
Thanks do Doug and others who suggested changing the top 1" smaller.
The other day I received a Neo-M8N GPS from CSGShop and installed it. No more waiting for <2 hdop, or cancelling a mission because of GPS glitches, and now have redundancy to boot.
The best hover time achieved so far is 23 minutes (to battery FS 14.0v/3.5v min cell) using a Multistar 10000mah 10c battery. I think it will get better with warmer temps and more fiddling, but for now it actually beat expectations. Next will be trying 2p batteries to see how it handles.
Here's the copter minus the 2nd GPS and waiting for wiring harness loom for the new one. AUW is 3.1kg
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It's as stated above; the sentence for the picture is a typo. The above flight was done when it was quite windy. Today, although very cold, was calm. It sure takes its toll on battery life.
The graphs below have periods of hover and some fairly aggressive flying (albeit mostly Loiter) after running AT (not shown) until it ran up to the battery FS, oops. Still plenty of battery left to land fortunately. I was pushing it pretty hard in Stab at the end, had it up to 90m when it RTL, then switched to Land. There were two AT done and 3 flights, so I knew the battery wasn't going to last much longer.....the time kind of "flew by" For some reason the audible notifications were not working on the GCS after installing MP on a different laptop (v 1.3.17 MP).
Anyway, there is much better correlation of RC_Out now between the top/bottom motors which can be seen during the hover time at 142-150. I've noticed as temps drop, the RC data changes compared to 20 deg higher temps.
And the spaghetti graph:
Do you know why PosHold is not in 1.3.17? There is just 'Pos' now and the simple/super simple option is not available. I like using that option when flying in tighter areas where split second decisions on orientation isn't required, and it stops on a dime.
The vibration depictions look much better than the previous ones. Still I wonder if the lower props are running inefficiently due to the dirty air its receiving from the upper props. Have you tried smaller on top and large on the bottom? Like to see if your performance would improve. Wondering if you can get the PWM lower with the configuration I suggesting?
It does have smaller props on top.
I think a problem with a Y6, particularly a design such as the Spy, is when the distance between the upper and lower prop is too close and lends to creating much air flow chaos between them. I'm seriously considering installing spacers under the motors.
Note the axial distance between the props on the Y6 in the video below. I've had discussions with him in another forum. He gets 1 hour flight times out of some his Y6's, and they are rock solid in the windiest conditions.
I added propeller quick connectors on my Y6B and X8 and they added more space between upper and lower motors. And they allow me to quickly unscrew them for storage. I found the spacing of my 600 and 690 kv motors with these connectors are equal to the spacing I had with the 850/880 kv motors with props attached.
Unfortunately, these particular motors use a 3 hole pattern for their prop adapters which are for using APC style, but that would mean opening up the prop center hole to 6mm.
There are a few things KDE didn't think of when designing these motors.
HobbyKing and FoxtechFPV sells both 3 and 4 bolt connectors.
I haven't seen any for 3 hole using TM style props. There are T-Motors and other motors with 3 hole mounts that people want quick detach for, so it isn't just KDE. If you have the link, please post it; I searched for quite a while.
I switched to TM style because APC jumps from 14" to 16" in the MR series, which may be too large for this motor. KDE only has data up to 14" TM props, but there are people using 15" without issues. The APC props are heavier, so 16" would compound the problem.
The thrust data for 14" props show they should work on this Y6, but I think the short axial distance between the top/bottom is causing more efficiency loss than there would be with a larger distance.
Now with sub-zero temps rolling in, there will be plenty of time to sort things out.
I dropped FoxTechFPV a message asking for assistance on a solution to your dilemma. Will see what they have to say. I will say this I searched around and found 3 screw quick disconnects with standard 6mm shaft, but none with TM style connector plates. Also noted that there are others in the same situation. Maybe FoxTechFPV will fab some for this type of motor.
Can you use quick disconnects with 6mm shaft?
http://www.goodluckbuy.com/fc-3-17-cnc-aluminum-alloy-quick-release...
http://www.aliexpress.com/promotion/electronic_quick-release-adapto...
Thanks Doug. I sent a message as well asking if they would be offering 3 hole versions in the future and received a reply:
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