This is where we discuss all things related to the 3DR Arducopter Y-6, from Tuning, to issues, to mods.
Does anyone still build these? What's the state of affiars for DIY and coaxial hexacopter builds?
I've been fascinated with Y6 designs for years and have been wanting to craft my own but never had the finances to do so. FInally came into some extra cashflow and want to put it towards a drone. I just became FAA certified and have been doing this commercially as a side hustle in tourism. I currenlty have experience with DJI products.The allure of creating my own has always stuck though, as a fun side project. I've seen Y6 builds that are big enough to carry a DSLR and that's the direction I…
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Update; motor is fine. ESC is the one acting up...
OK, doing some inspection, it seems my #6 motor is toast... Must have had some defect or something, because when checking, all cables are fine, but after testing, I touched the motor, and it was HOT (all others were not). So, back to 3DR; I hope their customer service is good... Unfortunately, this means I have to wait until I move to Costa Rica to fix this now!
Oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention, I drained my wife's car's battery while charging the Y6, so she is not exactly happy about the Y6 right now... Luckily, I had my other car here, so I just jumped her, but still, she is not so happy about it.
Man, I am so ticked off at myself... I m moving from Panama to Costa Rica, and I made sure to build the Y6 before moving, as I wanted to fly it before I moved. Well, after doing ALL the preflight stuff, I took it to an empty field (I am currently at the beach house, as all my stuff from my house is now neatly packed into a container for the move!), and apparently, one of my engines is not running right. I know what I got to do (take the Y6 apart and check connections and possible broken motor wires), but at the beach house, I barely got a Philips screwdriver; I am just venting right now...
Of course, I tried taking off before I noticed, so the Y6 simply flopped on its side. No real damage (the GPS mast bent at the hinge, so it was not damaged; 2 props got some minor scrapes, but I got spares). I will try to drop by the local hardware store to get a small socket set to be able to take out the top plates and check the connection to the #6 motor, which is the one acting up, but MAN, I just wanted to fly this thing so bad! I should have checked this BEFORE packing up all my tools!
Oh and yeah, Nishid you need 4s for that Y6B.
True they are not meant for constant high throttle and the voltage will drop and not give much better flight time at all over say a 35c battery of similar weight, but I've found they consistently give better flight times than higher c rate batteries (apples to apples) even on my Spy 750 boat anchor. There are many tests on youtube demonstrating this.
If 2x MS are run in parallel, the c rating doubles to 20c. On heavier MR that is desirable if the batteries seem to get too warm and/or voltage drop is a problem.
A Y6B can handle 2x MS 5200 batteries.
So it depends on what the application is I guess.
I would have to agree with @David Anders. For my 3DR 2013 Y6, I find a 4S 6000mah Nano-Tech is a perfect balance between weight and performance. I have tried those MS in my quadcopter, but found they didn't give the "quick power boost", like the higher discharge batteries.
I am using the MS 5200mah and 8000mah in my fix winged "mapping" plane and find they work really good. I get about a 45 minute flight times in my FX-61 with 230 g camera on the 5200mah.
This may be a little late, but I would thoroughly recommend running a 4S and at least 5000mah.