Hi guys

I'm pretty much new to this quad thing. A couple of weeks ago I purchased this DIY KIT for the Eachine Racer 250 from Banggood. 
( http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Racer-25...35409.html )

What attracted me about this the most was having both my desire to have a quad and my joyfullness for putting things together (and apart too  ) I'm really anxious and looking forward to begin playing with it

I have been reading Oscar posts and website (which has taught me A LOT) and seen tons and tons of videos on youtube everysince I bought the quad....

It is going to take a few weeks to get here to Brazil and I am already regreting a few things.... anyways... I'm gonna stick to the plan but I am already planning on upgrading the FC....

I chose the Naze32 version, which I believe to be a F1 board, for its compatibility with CleanFlight

What do you guys think about this other Naze32 FC: http://www.banggood.com/Upgrade-NAZE32-F...10232.html

is the investment on this upgrade worth? what exactly are the pratical differences between those two boards?


Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!

welcome to the forum nmatrai,

The one FC you posted is kind of misleading by the supplier, that particular board is a SPracing F3 clone board, and in all honesty is a much much better board than the Naze F1 board., Having said that though, the Naze 32 is still a damn fine board and will serve you well.

The Naze 32 is a much older tried and true F1 board, whereas the SPracing F3 and the likes are F3 boards. What does that mean for you? Probably not a whole yet in the early stages. But basically the F3 boards have faster processors, more onboard ram for blackbox recording etc and a few other goodies thrown in.

Honestly, best not to get bogged down with all the technical stuff early on, just get up and flying and when you get better and feel you want more then step up. I assure you the Naze board will be more than fine for you (I still have 2 quads with the Naze in them).

(07-Aug-2016, 01:30 AM)BigglesFPV Wrote: welcome to the forum nmatrai,

The one FC you posted is kind of misleading by the supplier, that particular board is a SPracing F3 clone board, and in all honesty is a much much better board than the Naze F1 board., Having said that though, the Naze 32 is still a damn fine board and will serve you well.

The Naze 32 is a much older tried and true F1 board, whereas the SPracing F3 and the likes are F3 boards.  What does that mean for you?  Probably not a whole yet in the early stages.  But basically the F3 boards have faster processors, more onboard ram for blackbox recording etc and a few other goodies thrown in.

Honestly, best not to get bogged down with all the technical stuff early on, just get up and flying and when you get better and feel you want more then step up.  I assure you the Naze board will be more than fine for you (I still have 2 quads with the Naze in them).

Great, BigglesFPV, thanks!

Another doubt I've been having, this Naze32 that comes with the kit is capable of doing PID tuning directly to the ESCs using Cleanflight, or is this something completly impossible to do and I must have any other part to do so? 

Also, the description in Banggood site for this kit shows a video of upgrading the ESCs to BLHeli (?), and I kinda of got lost about it... is it something I MUST do?

(07-Aug-2016, 01:45 AM)nmatrai Wrote: Great, BigglesFPV, thanks!

Another doubt I've been having, this Naze32 that comes with the kit is capable of doing PID tuning directly to the ESCs using Cleanflight, or is this something completly impossible to do and I must have any other part to do so? 

Also, the description in Banggood site for this kit shows a video of upgrading the ESCs to BLHeli (?), and I kinda of got lost about it... is it something I MUST do?

PID tuning has nothing to do with the ESC's

PID tuning and ESC firmware updates and changes are 2 different things.

Yes you can setup the board to do PID tuning via your radio, but again, do not get bogged down with this as trust me, it will confuse the heck out of you in a matter of minutes.  I choose to do my PID tuning by Fly and Test, make a change or 2, Fly and test and repeat and so on.


ESC's that run Blheli firmware can be upgraded through Blheli suite and it is always a good practice to update the firmware on them.

You can update them either through the FC if running  Betaflight 2.6.1 or higher or you can update them by using a Arduino USB flash tool and plug each ESC in turn into it and run Blheli suite and then upgrade.  Is not a hard job to do at all, but to first timers it can be a bit overwhelming. Oscar's Blog has an article or 2 on flashing ESC's in Blheli suite.

Feel free to use the search function in the forum for any other questions you may have and if you cannot find a suitable answer just ask, a lot of very knowledible members here.

nmatrai - you're in much the same position as me, bought a bunch of stuff because it was good deal, or was sold together and now having that moment of buyers remorse.

Biggles is very right though, it's probably the key learning I have taken away from this forum. That is nearly every F/C and other part sold in the last few years WILL get you in the air and flying.

The primary point here is that even super basic gear like the KK2.1.5 I bought WILL enable flight, once you're flying then that experience should then unlock what you want to do next. Do you want a stable camera platform for your photography hobby?, do you want to race?

As a beginner I definitely had to change my mindset from wanting the latest/greatest/most tuneable to "wow this stuff is really really complex and maybe having less buttons and software would be smart".

So I say lets enjoy our entry into the hobby and see the really latest and greatest stuff for the next build

(07-Aug-2016, 01:54 AM)BigglesFPV Wrote: PID tuning has nothing to do with the ESC's

PID tuning and ESC firmware updates and changes are 2 different things.

Yes you can setup the board to do PID tuning via your radio, but again, do not get bogged down with this as trust me, it will confuse the heck out of you in a matter of minutes.  I choose to do my PID tuning by Fly and Test, make a change or 2, Fly and test and repeat and so on.


ESC's that run Blheli firmware can be upgraded through Blheli suite and it is always a good practice to update the firmware on them.

You can update them either through the FC if running  Betaflight 2.6.1 or higher or you can update them by using a Arduino USB flash tool and plug each ESC in turn into it and run Blheli suite and then upgrade.  Is not a hard job to do at all, but to first timers it can be a bit overwhelming. Oscar's Blog has an article or 2 on flashing ESC's in Blheli suite.

Feel free to use the search function in the forum for any other questions you may have and if you cannot find a suitable answer just ask, a lot of very knowledible members here.

I knew I had something wrong going on my understanding about the ESCs, thanks very much for clarifing it for me Biggles! So I won't update to BLHeli just yet, if I'm able to just assemble, do the basic config and fly that's good enough for me for now. 

(07-Aug-2016, 03:10 AM)Aaron Wrote: nmatrai - you're in much the same position as me, bought a bunch of stuff because it was good deal, or was sold together and now having that moment of buyers remorse.  

Biggles is very right though, it's probably the key learning I have taken away from this forum.  That is nearly every F/C and other part sold in the last few years WILL get you in the air and flying.  

The primary point here is that even super basic gear like the KK2.1.5 I bought WILL enable flight, once you're flying then that experience should then unlock what you want to do next.  Do you want a stable camera platform for your photography hobby?, do you want to race?  

As a beginner I definitely had to change my mindset from wanting the latest/greatest/most tuneable to "wow this stuff is really really complex and maybe having less buttons and software would be smart".  

So I say lets enjoy our entry into the hobby and see the really latest and greatest stuff for the next build

Glad to know I'm not the only who was in this situation, Aaron hahahah

I intended to get latest and stuff cuz it takes so much time for the parts to get here that I don't really know when I'm gonna have the patience to build another one for me lol...

But you guys are right, just get what I have and start learning...

Initially I wanted a drone for photograpy (which im really into too) but then I knew about racing and FPV and just thought I had to do that!!

So now I'm building this quad for freestyle and some races (although I can't find much information about quad race competitions in my state/country). 

However I know that, eventually, I will buy (or build) a gimbal onto the Racer250 and use my gopro for photography... maybe adding some gps unit and stuff. I know it makes it heavier but I don't mind assembling and dissassembling parts according to what I'm gonna do.

What I regret the most was buying a 7" monitor to do the FPV instead of getting a very simple Eachine goggles which was just a couple of bucks more... oh well... it's gonna be for christmas next year I guess hahahahahah

thanks for the help!

Be careful when you're connecting the Flight Controller to the power distribution board (the biggest black board). The cable that came with my set was wrong. Just watch the youtube tutorials and pay close attention to the orientation of the wires and boards. Some other guy also had the same problem: http://forum.banggood.com/forum-topic-193556.html

Looks like some other guy in the forum had wiring issues and smoking motors or something. I haven't started mine up yet, but i'm curious to see what'll happen.
I ended up getting the kit since it was the fastest way to learn how it all works. Ultimately I'll just crash then burn this dodgy eachine kit and build a new one with proper parts that was recommended to me a while ago. I'd rather stuff this kit up than stuff up the good set which is looking to cost 1.5x as much lol

(09-Aug-2016, 03:05 AM)tecnix Wrote: Be careful when you're connecting the Flight Controller to the power distribution board (the biggest black board). The cable that came with my set was wrong. Just watch the youtube tutorials and pay close attention to the orientation of the wires and boards. Some other guy also had the same problem: http://forum.banggood.com/forum-topic-193556.html

Looks like some other guy in the forum had wiring issues and smoking motors or something. I haven't started mine up yet, but i'm curious to see what'll happen.
I ended up getting the kit since it was the fastest way to learn how it all works. Ultimately I'll just crash then burn this dodgy eachine kit and build a new one with proper parts that was recommended to me a while ago. I'd rather stuff this kit up than stuff up the good set which is looking to cost 1.5x as much lol

thanks tecnix, never thought this could happen, I'm gonna be careful then... but I have watched all the assembling videos like a thousand times (really anxious to get the kit already)

your way of thinking is correct, I do believe that the kit helps teaching how everything works... I now know so much more and I haven't even done any assembling yet.... also, better mess up bad on a cheap thing than regret even more...

could you share with us these recommended parts that you have?    I'd appreciate it, information and knowledge is never too much and it might help me (and others). 

I'm already thinking of a new frame lol....

(09-Aug-2016, 10:47 PM)nmatrai Wrote: ....................I'm already thinking of a new frame lol....

And the addiction starts..welcome to the club, your wallet will hate you.

(09-Aug-2016, 10:47 PM)nmatrai Wrote: could you share with us these recommended parts that you have?    I'd appreciate it, information and knowledge is never too much and it might help me (and others). 

http://intofpv.com/t-new-quadcopter-build

Also, I'm not sure if it's a problem specific to this kit or everything FPV but the transmitter and OSD gets really hot when I'm streaming video; granted, I had it side by side when testing it (not sure if proximity to the receiver has anything to do with it). Like, the gold plated transmitter connector at the base was pushing 60C+ and the OSD was getting hot as well but couldn't tell since it was mounted upside down and the surface mount components weren't accessible.

I had it connected to a power supply and I was testing how low of a voltage i could go (it was around 8.5V or something). I never went past 12V either, which is lower than a 4S battery (specs say 3S-4S).

(09-Aug-2016, 11:31 PM)BigglesFPV Wrote: And the addiction starts..welcome to the club, your wallet will hate you.

lol 


Very roughly, what would you guys suggest:  when getting a new frame, using the same FC, ESCs, motors etc as the eachine... or that's not even worth the time of disassembling and I should just go ahead and get everything new and upgraded?

(13-Aug-2016, 02:47 AM)nmatrai Wrote: lol 


Very roughly, what would you guys suggest:  when getting a new frame, using the same FC, ESCs, motors etc as the eachine... or that's not even worth the time of disassembling and I should just go ahead and get everything new and upgraded?

I would keep the one you have , and practice with it as much as you can, Only sticktime (airtime) will make you a better pilot. But on the side start a new build, one that will see you through for a while.

Things to look for : (only my opinion)

Avoid lots and lots of holes in the arms, Try and go for 4mm arms and at minimum 2mm top and bottom plates.
Buy a good PDB with line filters and Bec.
Buy Blheli firmware ESC's (they are probably the most popular and work very very well). 20 amp minimum
Buy decent motors (do not over spend as chances are when starting off you will not use there full potential anyways and the costs saved can be substantial.)
Unless you already have a swag of 3S lipos, go 4S right from the start.

So, yes, in answer to your question. Just go ahead and get everything new and build a new one.

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(11-Aug-2016, 10:29 AM)tecnix Wrote: http://intofpv.com/t-new-quadcopter-build

Also, I'm not sure if it's a problem specific to this kit or everything FPV but the transmitter and OSD gets really hot when I'm streaming video; granted, I had it side by side when testing it (not sure if proximity to the receiver has anything to do with it). Like, the gold plated transmitter connector at the base was pushing 60C+ and the OSD was getting hot as well but couldn't tell since it was mounted upside down and the surface mount components weren't accessible.

I had it connected to a power supply and I was testing how low of a voltage i could go (it was around 8.5V or something). I never went past 12V either, which is lower than a 4S battery (specs say 3S-4S).

It is perfectly normal for the VTX to get hot, and the higher the mW the hotter it can be, If the VTX says it can run between 7-22 volts try and run it at the lowest voltage you can, this will also help in keeping the vtx temps down. Also, not really a good idea to keep the VTX powered up on the bench unless you have an airflow source going over it, In the real world once the quad is flying those temps will come down due to the airflow on it. Same applies to the esc's and motors..Airflow is your friend.

(13-Aug-2016, 02:56 AM)BigglesFPV Wrote: I would keep the one you have , and practice with it as much as you can, Only sticktime (airtime) will make you a better pilot. But on the side start a new build, one that will see you through for a while.

Things to look for : (only my opinion)

Avoid lots and lots of holes in the arms, Try and go for 4mm arms and at minimum 2mm top and bottom plates.
Buy a good PDB with line filters and Bec.
Buy Blheli firmware ESC's (they are probably the most popular and work very very well). 20 amp minimum
Buy decent motors (do not over spend as chances are when starting off you will not use there full potential anyways and the costs saved can be substantial.)
Unless you already have a swag of 3S lipos, go 4S right from the start.

So, yes, in answer to your question. Just go ahead and get everything new and build a new one.

Great! thanks again Biggles, I'm taking notes of it all

Yeah, im gonna practice till the eachine wears out.... 

The ESC with the BLheli was already on my mind, so I don't have to flash them (guess i won't flash these ones I got either)
The motors I'm gonna invest heavy, hope to be good enough when I get to build this new one, anyways I'll eventually have a nice quad for advanced stunts... 

I don't have a swag of lipos, I already bought three 3Ss   however, my cousin is going to the US by the end of the year so I'm gonna ask him to bring a bunch (maybe 6) 4Ss, like a Turnigy graphene or something with 50C+.... also a good balance charger

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(13-Aug-2016, 03:14 AM)nmatrai Wrote: (...) so I'm gonna ask him to bring a bunch (maybe 6) 4Ss, like a Turnigy graphene or something with 50C+.... also a good balance charger

aaaaaaaaand I found an article that puts in doubt this "graphene lipos" quality and reliability.... so now I'm gonna reconsider which batteries to get:

http://www.quaddiction.club/the-reality-...batteries/