My package arrived from China on Tuesday. Inside was an Eachine Bat QX105 and 5 extra 600mAh batteries... 

I decided to be patient and spend my time charging batteries and make sure I do my due diligence when doing setup. I struggled through a few first-timer issues such as not knowing how to download betaflight (until doing a search for This post). I did my set up and fought some issues with the taranis (which I still need to sort out why I couldn't get deadband to work in betaflight) 

Then I went for a quick LOS flight... 

up in the air, wobble wobble crash... just as expected!  was under no delusion... Then I picked it up put it on my bed as a launch point and realized... 2 props had fallen off... I go back to the crash sight and there they were... OK well better falling off than busted so I was fine with that... get it in the air a second time, hover shakily for about 15 seconds until I lose my ability to recover from the tiny ghost inputs that the taranis is making on me (I really have to fix that) and boom... crash again... prop falls off I recover the whole thing and I am good.  I determine that I'll need more space before I try more. 

So last night it's evening time, sun is almost down but I have just enough time to give it a shot. I grab the bat, my goggles, the taranis... I head outside, get everything started up, vrx on the right channel, put the quad on the ground... pop up on the trottle but not enough, hit the ground then quick flip on it's head crash again this time from FPV... oops... 

Time to put some of that simulator knowledge to use and give it a confident pop of throttle as I know I'll need... I do it and tada I am up in the air hovering calmly in "stab" mode as the OSD abreviates. I apply some yaw, get a look around, keep much better control of the ghost inputs. about 30 seconds in or so I realize I am getting a little higher than my 2 story house and should be careful since the branches on the trees start to become a problem about 10 more feet higher than that. I am coming back down as smoothly as I can but not being used to these throttle inputs on it I come down a little too quick, overcorrect right as it taps the ground. It flys off to the side and bonks into a tree. 

When I use the word "bonks" here I use it intentionally... "Crash" would suggest a much tougher hit, but "tap" would have been underplaying it. I took off my goggles thinking "hey great my first legitimate crash into a tree and it wasn't too bad lets go see if the props managed to stay on this time." Sure enough, I get over to the tree pick it up and everything looks just fine! I was very happy to see that the props stayed on this time. 

I put it down on the ground again, goggles on, pop the throttle and bam... flip on head... wait, what?

Take goggles off... LOS... pop throttle and bam... flip on head... something is wrong here... 

like a mouse in a maze... I try it again because I don't believe it... bam flip on head... nooooooooo!

At this point I feel I need to know whats up and I am not getting any answers from trying to fly it so I pick it up, arm again (I've taught myself the habit of disarming when crashing in the simulators. Map the reset button to SF)... apply a little bit of throttle, it twists viciously in my hand. "No wonder I am having problems with throttle control", I think "this thing has a huge deadband on the throttle and once it does kick in it gives it waaaaay too much..."

I have a look at it, drop the throttle, apply more, drop it... I start to think "this one motor must just be spinning up too much, maybe something is wrong with the flight controller?".... Then I see it... one of the props isn't spinning at all!... and I am smelling electrical burning a little... yikes! (perhaps that's a symptom of new brushed motors, or maybe something else is wrong)

Upon further inspection there is a wire not connected on the dead motor... closer look... it's the super tiny 2 pin connector that has come loose from the main board... I can't solder that back on there, I'd need to be the size of a bug. 

Game over... Status of the toy: Either defective, or damaged... I am not sure which!...... Repairable? probably... Can you get replacement all-in-one boards for the QX105? I guess I'll need to find out, but first I may consider trying to call out with bangood or eachine that the connector should be tough enough to endure during a crash?  

So why tell my story here? Because I am new, and there are plenty of stories out there from the pros. Grumpy Trevor doesn't like the goggles 2 because he cant see as good. Steele takes it easy on his first battery to scope out a place before flying. Oscar's blog has taught me probably about half of what I know. 

Also because I think it'll be fun to document and come back and remember how my first FPV flight went. 

I also received the Vortex after more than a week of battling bank issues with the folks at flite test. Now I am waiting on a better receiver. I've signed up for a membership with a local RC flying park so that I can get my practice in at a big open space. Hopefully this weekend I can get out there and I'll have better luck with a quad that my simulator quad is based on... and, when I crash maybe it won't completely kill the thing x.x I'd love to make it past my first battery at least!

Nice story Carl. My first trip out went pretty simular first battery in and crashed in such a spectacular manner to bent a motor shaft. It does get way better and easier as you get more experience. The simulators definitely help alot but dont really prepare you for how disoriented you feel flying through actual goggles. This will go away quickly though and you'll be a natural in no time!

Happy flying!

Luckily I've been plugging into HDMI on the goggles... what did throw me off was FOV... I could visually tell that it was very different on the camera than what I was seeing in Liftoff... The other thing that I realize now when I think about it is that I never really even tried the micro model in liftoff to test out the characteristics differences... so not only do I have to contend with the differences between real life and a simulator that's been characterized as "floaty" in the past... but I also have to contend with a machine that is tinier, has different type of motors entirely, and has generally different physical characteristics from a 250 quad. It's like I made it twice as hard on myself with a device that wasn't very tough.

So... Saturday I go out to the RC park and get my stuff. I'll be bringing the vortex and about 4 lipos with me. Hopefully if I do it right I'll catch the video on DVR on my fatsharks and be able to post any good crashes that might happen... or who knows maybe I'll start to sort things out by the 4th battery!

I've just got one of these as well and if my initial 5 minute flight test is anything to go by, I'm going to have a lot of crashes to show off. Maybe we should have a competition over who can crash it the most!

I have been practising on Liftoff as well. Have you come across any changes to the set up that make it more realistic?

(10-Mar-2017, 02:34 PM)philmcc Wrote: I've just got one of these as well and if my initial 5 minute flight test is anything to go by, I'm going to have a lot of crashes to show off. Maybe we should have a competition over who can crash it the most!

I have been practising on Liftoff as well. Have you come across any changes to the set up that make it more realistic?

Hey philmcc,

If I get mine working again I'll try to record all the way until it dies again or I make it through a few batteries and we can go head to head.

I've spent a bit of time tuning pids in liftoff which I think just distracted me from practice for a while. Tomorrow I am going to go out and fly the Vortex 250 UmmaGawd edition which is the exact same model that I use in liftoff. I call it the 1e1hfpp. 



I'll be able to tell you how similar the 2 feel. I just spent about a half hour practicing with my rates turned way down (to 400) which felt kind of boring on the simulator but I expect will help me take it a lot easier on my first flight (I will be hooking it up to clean flight tonight to make sure I have slower rates to start with and to get a feel for the translation. (Hopefully it translates like betaflight does).

OMG this hobby forces me to learn so much stuff! lol... but I think maybe that's why I like it so much

So going to dig up this old thread... Not sure if I'll be posting the repair on this one or not but it turns out you can get the flight controllers for these on the Chinese websites. I ordered one for a QX110 which looks to fit the same frame and I'll be rebuilding the bat when it comes.

I am glad I documented this... I remember that day and how little I knew. It's hard to imagine that it's only about 3 and a half months later and I have managed to learn as much as I have. I really love this hobby and this forum! you guys are great.

More to come on the repair of the bat!

Omigod I feel like such an idiot!

I got the FLYSKY flipping receiver... I need to learn to read... FLY and FR are not the same DANG LETTERS!

I've already installed the thing too...

It does have a bad accelerometer... maybe I can return it as defective for that reason... or better yet maybe they'll just take it back...

(13-Jul-2017, 12:48 AM)Carl.Vegas Wrote: Omigod I feel like such an idiot!

I got the FLYSKY flipping receiver... I need to learn to read... FLY and FR are not the same DANG LETTERS!

I did that with an F3 inductrix board for my E010

A, B, C, D, F4 or F3, 
FR? FL? the wrong FC, 
no I don't know my ABC's 
But I really hope I get the right ESC's

(13-Jul-2017, 04:48 AM)Tom BD Bad Wrote: I did that with an F3 inductrix board for my E010

A, B, C, D, F4 or F3, 
FR? FL? the wrong FC, 
no I don't know my ABC's 
But I really hope I get the right ESC's

yeah... R and L are no where near each other on the keyboard... had I been typing the name of which receiver I needed this never would have happened because I am a touch-typist and R and L are not only different hands but they are different fingers too! 

I feel like I need to make a decision now... avoid the natural tendency to get stuck on the sunk cost fallacy and feel like I need to put more money into this tiny PITA build... or give it one more try waiting another month for another board to ship from China... (possibly paying for the new board)

I would like to have a micro to fly because my front and back yard are well suited to a little toy now that I have experience with flying. Plus I have all these 1s 600mAh batteries... 

I might give it a couple of days to decide though.

You have a QX 7, correct?  You could get one of these for $14 from BG USA: https://us.banggood.com/Wholesale-Wareho...97688.html

And then get it working with your Taranis like this:

hmmm... it looks like it might fit... I have the X9D.

15 bucks is cheaper than another 25 for a new flight controller.

According to a post I found on another forum it takes a little modification to get it to fit but it could work. Thanks for finding it, I had considered it but was too grumpy and distracted by the build to look.

The ability to easily speak multiple radio protocols without having to faff around with pluggable modules was why I went with Walkera Devo radios and the DeviationTX firmware.

My Devo 10 has all four popular RF chips (CC2500, A7105, CYRF6936 and NRF24L01+) and can talk to just about anything that flies.