I wanted to show you guys one of my favourite quads, the Diatone Grasshopper 160! My goal was to build a small and light 4" quad to run 4S batteries, had room for a HS1177 camera and sub 250gram (unfortunately, sub 250gram was a bit hard with 4s batteries. I can't find any small 4S with a weight of about 50g and not expensive shipping to Norway). 

I started out with the Diatone ET160, but that frame is very fragile with 2mm standoffs and really thin top plate so it was ruined in the first crash with a tree. (the bottom plate even got delaminated where the cutout is for those of you that are familiar with that frame).
I then bought the Grasshopper 160, but since that frame comes with low M3 plastic standoffs, I had to swap them out for 35mm alu standoffs. As you can see from the picture below, I used the plastic standoffs to reinforce the middle of the top plate.



It isn't an actual build thread, but a teardown/Rebuild as I was changing the FC and PDB. This thing is really small and light, but running this thing on 4S makes it able to show some muscles when standing up against it's bigger brother, the 5" quad. It isn't as powerful, but its light weight makes it turns on a dime and it is really agile. I have tested the quad with different props, DAL TJ4045, DAL T4045 V2, KINGKONG 4040BN (cut down from 5040) and even DAL T3045, but the prop I'm always coming back to is the two blade KINGKONG 4045. IMO this is the prop that gives the most thrust with these small 1306 3100kV motors.


Part List:
- Diatone Grashopper 160 with 35mm alu standoffs
- Beerotor F3 FC/OSD with latest Betaflight (most of the time)
- Beerotor PDB v2 with current sensor
- Runcam HS1177
- Eachine ET200R VTX
- Aomway cloverleaf antenna
- Littlebee 20A pro with BLHeli 14.6 Multishot
- DYS 1306 3100kV
- 4045 Kingkong props
- depinned and decased Flysky FS-IA6B receiver
- 4S 1000mAh Dinogy 65C battery



I took heatshrink on each of the arms to protect the ESCs from shorting out on the carbon, and used electrical tape to fasten them.



The depinned and decased Flysky FS-IA6B receiver is stacked between the bottom plate and the PDB.



The FC is stacked on top of the PDB. The Beerotor F3 with OSD and the Beerotor V2 PDB with current sensor is a quite nice package for small builds, but it lacks the abillity to run 4K looptime even though it's a F3. The fastest I have had it to run was 2.67K.



The antennas are taped directly to the rear arms. I have no idea how much it will reduce the signal, but so far I haven't had any problems. This isn't a quad I fly very far away with anyway.



The PDB is connected to the FC with a "special" cable which has 5V, current signal, battery voltage signal and 0V. I have used this PDB with Xracer and SPracing FCs, and the purple cable next to the red can be connected to the current pad on those FCs to have current reading, so it is not a proprietary PDB. 
A beeper is also mounted in the back of the quad.



Weight without battery, 198g


Weight with battery, 308g

So there you go. A fast, small 4" quad with 4S, and about 5min flight time when trashing around in the park! This is a perfect travel companion! 
I will try post a video soon

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For those of you who are interested, this is how I connected the SPRacing F3 to the beerotor PDB connector to get the 5V and current signal





The VTX is taped on top of the FC and everything is taped for wet grass protection.

i am surprised that you only get 5mins on this light build LOL
and I didn't know Runcam also make 1177?

Its a runcam swift but Im so used to calling them hs1177, since it is basically the same

Its a power hungry little one with a max current a little over 30amps at full throttle, so the battery drains quite fast when flying hard on the throttle. I'm really surprised how well those tiny motors can handle 4s batteries

That's a beautiful build, thanks for sharing! FWIW I've been very happy with my Diatone ET160 so far, had plenty crashes without any consequences, I guess experiences differ.
I like how you implemented the Flysky FS-IA6b receiver! I did the same to mine but yours looks a bit nicer. I like how you lead the antennas over the motor arms. I have them bunny-ears style over the top which works, but I'm concerned about the weight distribution since the FS-IA6b rx antennas are top-heavy. Are you happy with the reception with the antenna over the arms?
And did you do the voltage telemetry mod as well? (src: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2402288)

Thank you bombarie!

I had a high speed straight on chrash with a tree, so i'm not so sure if the Grasshopper would have made it either. The camera was smashed into the FC stack, the FC got destroyed and some of the solderings on the CCD sensor got loose. I resoldered all the pins, and it looks like it has survived for now. I haven't fully tested it yet, but will probably do it tonight.

I haven't had any issues yet with the antenna placement, but I haven't been very far away either. maybe 100 meters behind a bunch of trees and that was no problem. I should maybe do a range test one day, because I am also a bit curious of the range. I have seen tests with the FS-IA6B where they get over 2km range, so I guess my setup should be good for at least a couple of hundred meters.

I have done the 10ch mod on my transmitter, but not the voltage telemetry. I have read something about it but I haven't looked much into it since I get the voltage, current and timer from the OSD.
Will you get an audible alarm from the transmitter?

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I mentioned earlier that my Beerotor F3 wasn't able to run 4K, but after installing Betaflight 3.0.0 RC10, I am able to run 4k/4k on it. It looks like BorisB have done some code optimization

Your crash sounds gnarly and terrible. Gnarly for the spectator, terrible for the pilot Like a fly hitting the windshield

Your reported range sounds acceptable. I personally don't fly more than 200m around myself so sounds like a good solution for me.

What do you mean with audible alarm from the transmitter.. if there's a low voltage alarm? In that case yes, and that's exactly the point of doing the voltage telemetry mod. The voltage telemetry you otherwise get is the voltage which you supply the receiver, which will of course be 5V if you're powering from the FC or a BEC. Not terribly useful if you ask me.

Here is the ET160 frame after being put to rest:

             

(26-Aug-2016, 09:03 AM)oyvinla Wrote: Here is the ET160 frame after being put to rest:

             

That is what I like to see, a well used frame.  sure does look like it has had it's fair share of hits. 

It is kind of sad when you have to say goodbye to one of your babies, but that is short lived as you have a new Frame to build and crash

(26-Aug-2016, 09:09 AM)BigglesFPV Wrote: That is what I like to see, a well used frame.  sure does look like it has had it's fair share of hits. 

It is kind of sad when you have to say goodbye to one of your babies, but that is short lived as you have a new Frame to build and crash

oh yes! For now, I keep my broken frames and hang them on the side of my Book shelf for display together with my running quads and nearly finished builds.

I already have a replacement frame for my Grasshopper ready:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-DIY-F...0755590835

And after that, maybe this one:
http://www.thanksbuyer.com/reptile-rx155...-pdb-48647

(26-Aug-2016, 09:03 AM)oyvinla Wrote: Here is the ET160 frame after being put to rest:

Well, that's exactly where I expect mine to fail after another crash. Hope I get some more love out of it before I'm *forced* (a bitter-sweet moment) to order the next small frame that I already very much exactly know that I want to have, haha!

In the spirit of sharing: if I crash this ET160 I'm going to get either a Deformation Insects 130mm or a Tarot TL130H2 135mm. I absolutely loved the challenge of building the ET160 frame, would like to go smaller on the next one. By any chance have experience with these frames of the 130mm size in general?

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By the way, I just looked up the rating of those DYS 1306 3100KV motors you're using and it's rated 3S max. You're flying 4S with no problems?

(26-Aug-2016, 09:27 AM)bombarie Wrote: Well, that's exactly where I expect mine to fail after another crash. Hope I get some more love out of it before I'm *forced* (a bitter-sweet moment) to order the next small frame that I already very much exactly know that I want to have, haha!

In the spirit of sharing: if I crash this ET160 I'm going to get either a Deformation Insects 130mm or a Tarot TL130H2 135mm. I absolutely loved the challenge of building the ET160 frame, would like to go smaller on the next one. By any chance have experience with these frames of the 130mm size in general?

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By the way, I just looked up the rating of those DYS 1306 3100KV motors you're using and it's rated 3S max. You're flying 4S with no problems?

I haven't got any experience with smaller builds, but I have been looking at the Deformation insect 130 frame a couple of times and it looks quite good.

I like to abuse my motors and fly them like I stole them! I can't wait till I find a tiny 5S to put on it! It isn't the voltage that will kill them, but the higher current running through them as the motors spin faster with higher voltage batteries. As long as you keep the current down, and the motors are not too hot when landing, I would say it should be any problem. (One day my words will probably backfire )

I'm quite positive your 5S adventure will end in a merry trail of smoke. Do tell us how that will go ^_^

I was inspired by how you had the antennas of your FlySky fs-ia6b receiver, decided to do that on my Diatone ET160 as well! I combined it with something I was planning to do anyway, which is add a low ESR capacitor to the main power train (1200uf 35V). Upon reviewing some DVR footage I noticed that the video was crapping up on sharp turns like a sudden flip (video below). Thought a cap on the PDB might help out.

Here's how I had my antennas before


Here's after. I flew it this weekend and don't notice any difference. If anything, I'd almost say if flies better. Would the air drag really be a factor?? I'm not sure.


Thanks for the inspiration!

Here's a video of flying the ET160. The footage is pretty shit but you'll notice extra hard video crap upon doing fast manoeuvres. Hope the low ESR capacitor will help.