Hello all,

I am a private pilot but going out to fly regularly and not owning my own plane is getting expensive. I decided to try out building and flying a FPV Quad. I have nearly completed building my quad and am starting to dig into what I need to get the firmware/software configured and ready so I can take my maiden flight. I am to be honest a little lost when it comes to what flight software (betaflight,cleanflight,etc) to use and what settings to choose. I want to be careful to get everything setup correctly to avoid disaster my first time out. I have my parts listed below. Any comments about gear or advice on what I should be using/ doing is appreciated.

FPV Gear:
Eachine VR D2 5 Inches 800*480 40CH Raceband 5.8G Diversity FPV Goggles with DVR Lens Adjustable http://us.banggood.com/Wholesale-Warehouse-Eachine-VR-D2-5-Inches-800480-40CH-Raceband-5_8G-Diversity-FPV-Goggles-with-DVR-Lens-Adjustable-wp-Usa-1074866.html?rmmds=myorder
FPV Transmitter:
Eachine VTX03 Super Mini 5.8G 72CH 0/25mW/50mw/200mW Switchable FPV Transmitter http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-VTX03-Super-Mini-5_8G-72CH-025mW50mw200mW-Switchable-FPV-Transmitter-p-1114206.html?rmmds=myorder
FPV Camera:
Eachine 1000TVL 1/3 CCD 110 Degree 2.8mm Lens Mini FPV Camera NTSC PAL Switchable http://us.banggood.com/Wholesale-Warehouse-Eachine-1000TVL-13-CCD-110-Degree-2_8mm-Lens-Mini-FPV-Camera-NTSC-PAL-Switchable-wp-Usa-1053340.html?rmmds=myorder
PDB:
Matek Systems PDB-XT60 W/ BEC 5V & 12V 2oz Copper For RC Multirotors http://us.banggood.com/Wholesale-Warehouse-Matek-Systems-PDB-XT60-W-BEC-5V-12V-2oz-Copper-For-RC-Multirotors-wp-Usa-1049051.html?rmmds=myorder
Flight Controller:
F3 Flight Controller Acro 6 DOF/Deluxe 10 DOF for Multirotor Racing (DELUXE) http://us.banggood.com/Wholesale-Warehouse-Upgrade-NAZE32-F3-Flight-Controller-Acro-6-DOF-Deluxe-10-DOF-for-Multirotor-Racing-wp-Usa-1010232.html?rmmds=myorder
ESC:
4X Racerstar MS Series 25A ESC BLHeLi_S OPTO 2-4S Supports Oneshot125 Oneshot42 Multishot http://www.banggood.com/4X-Racerstar-MS-Series-25A-ESC-BLHeLi_S-OPTO-2-4S-Supports-Oneshot125-Oneshot42-Multishot-p-1089007.html?rmmds=myorder
Motors:
4X Racerstar Racing Edition 2205 BR2205 2300KV 2-4S Brushless Motor 2 CW & 2 CCW For QAV250 ZMR250 http://www.banggood.com/4X-Racerstar-2205-BR2205-2300KV-2-4S-Brushless-Motor-2-CW-2-CCW-For-QAV250-ZMR250-260-Multirotor-p-1066837.html?rmmds=myorder
Batteries: (variety of sizes and cells to practice with)
Turnigy Nano-Tech 1300mAh 3S 45~90C Lipo Pack https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-nano-tech-1300mah-3s-45-90c-lipo-pack.html Turnigy Nano-Tech 1300mAh 4S 45~90C Lipo Pack https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-nano-tech-1300mah-4s-45-90c-lipo-pack.html ZOP Power 14.8V 1500mAh 4S 45C Lipo Battery XT60 Plug http://www.banggood.com/ZOP-Power-14_8V-1500mAh-4S-45C-Lipo-Battery-XT60-Plug-p-1022092.html?rmmds=myorder
Charger:
Charsoon DC-4S 2-4S Li-poly/Li-ion Battery Balance Charger & Voltage Detector with Power Adapter http://us.banggood.com/Wholesale-Warehouse-Charsoon-DC-4S-2-4S-Li-polyLi-ion-Battery-Balance-Charger-Voltage-Detector-with-Power-Adapter-wp-Usa-1081892.html?rmmds=myorder

Thanks,

Azi

Welcome to the forum and this wallet-draining hobby, good luck with the build. As you're just starting, I'd go with Cleanflight, as Betaflight is more geared toward acro/racing, wheras Cleanflight is solid allaround platform. setting up and configuration of the flight controller can be a little overwhelming but there's some really knowledgeable people here who are more than happy to answer any questions you have.

Welcome from me as well!

Some friendly advice for you. While you may already be able to fly a real fixed wing aeroplane, flying a quad is a completely different skill set. The parts you have will build a very fast and powerful craft which will be way more than you can handle if you've never flown a quad before. If you try to learn with this machine, I promise you that you will be crashing it into the ground regardless of how well the firmware is set up.

The weight and speed of this craft will result in lots of damage when you crash.

A better idea is to get something small and light to start with. Less weight is less impact energy and less things broken when you crash. Once you gain some skill and confidence, then you can start flying the big quad.

The ZOP Power batteries are often referred to as Zero Output Power, and personally, I'd avoid them.

Your charger will only charge one battery at a time and does not have enough power (or the connections) to add a parallel charging board and charge multiple batteries. Something like the B6-AC charger would be a better idea (pay the extra for a genuine one, the cloned versions are rubbish).

Welcome aziassassin!  Looks like a nice set of parts.  (I've got that same camera and despite the "cheap price", it works very well.)

Your Flight controller is an SP Racing F3 clone I believe.  That's good because Painless360 on YouTube has a complete series on setting up the SP F3.  (The video series is a little old, but it does cover CleanFlight installation and configuration.  I wouldn't be afraid of BetaFlight though as I think you can extrapolate to get it set up to your liking as well.)  Here is part 1 of 9.


As far as the frame size choice goes, while what unseen says is true (smaller-size crashes tend to damage less than larger-size crashes), a lot of folks have learned on 250-size quads.  One nice thing about the ZMR250 and the QAV250 is that spare parts are readily available (get some).

One other thing you might want to consider is getting in some stick time on a simulator before taking to the air.  I use LiftOff, but there are others.

First off, welcome to the best forum ever
Second. Everything said before is good advice. Having extra parts on hand keeps you in the air while replacememts arrive. The spares I keep at hand; motor, esc, arm, couple vtx antennas and a few rx antennas, besides the usual nuts bolts ect.
As an actual pilot I'm sure you understand the benefits of a sim. I use FreeRider
As for cleanflight/betaflight. Both have made things very easy for beginners. I started on betaflight and havent looked back This is a guide here I referenced a lot> http://www.propwashed.com/drone-racer-so...tup-guide/
And I can personally vouch for the iMax B6 AC charger. Been using mine for a few years now, and the newer ones are even better imo.

Good luck! Welcome to the addiction and looking forward to your build

My tip: buy a 10DOF (barometer equipped) board so that you can use altitude hold modes. Buy a TX that will let you change between self-centre and traditional throttle.

Alt hold is great for learning with as you can just "let go" of the sticks and the Quad will basically level off and drift based on its inertia but not necessarily fall out of the sky. Yes you will still be able to drive it into the ground but in those tentative early flights you shouldn't be doing anything fast.

As you get more experience using Acro modes and disabling the self-centering will turn it into a compentent racer, but you'll always be able to park the throttle at mid-point - enable Alt hold and "park" in the sky..

(19-Apr-2017, 08:31 AM)unseen Wrote: Welcome from me as well!

Some friendly advice for you. While you may already be able to fly a real fixed wing aeroplane, flying a quad is a completely different skill set. The parts you have will build a very fast and powerful craft which will be way more than you can handle if you've never flown a quad before. If you try to learn with this machine, I promise you that you will be crashing it into the ground regardless of how well the firmware is set up.

The weight and speed of this craft will result in lots of damage when you crash.

A better idea is to get something small and light to start with. Less weight is less impact energy and less things broken when you crash. Once you gain some skill and confidence, then you can start flying the big quad.

The ZOP Power batteries are often referred to as Zero Output Power, and personally, I'd avoid them.

Your charger will only charge one battery at a time and does not have enough power (or the connections) to add a parallel charging board and charge multiple batteries. Something like the B6-AC charger would be a better idea (pay the extra for a genuine one, the cloned versions are rubbish).

First off thank you for your recomendations on the batteries and the charger. I will avoid ZOP and I do plan to get a better charger that can charge multiple in parallel and will take a look at the B6-AC charger for sure. 

With that said I know that the quad is going to be very different. I have spent around 50 hours in the DRL Sim over the last month or so. I am still far (very far) from perfect but I dont plan to go out with the real thing till I fell confident. Plus I figure if I learn in ACRO first it will be better in the long run. As for the weight and things breaking I have already bought 10+ replacement props and the frame is 3d printed so I have made 4-5 spares of everything! I know I will crash for sure (I've even seen pros crash  

I cant wait to get out in the real world.

(19-Apr-2017, 10:24 AM)sloscotty Wrote: Welcome aziassassin!  Looks like a nice set of parts.  (I've got that same camera and despite the "cheap price", it works very well.)

Your Flight controller is an SP Racing F3 clone I believe.  That's good because Painless360 on YouTube has a complete series on setting up the SP F3.  (The video series is a little old, but it does cover CleanFlight installation and configuration.  I wouldn't be afraid of BetaFlight though as I think you can extrapolate to get it set up to your liking as well.)  Here is part 1 of 9.

As far as the frame size choice goes, while what unseen says is true (smaller-size crashes tend to damage less than larger-size crashes), a lot of folks have learned on 250-size quads.  One nice thing about the ZMR250 and the QAV250 is that spare parts are readily available (get some).

One other thing you might want to consider is getting in some stick time on a simulator before taking to the air.  I use LiftOff, but there are others.

Thank you so much for the video link! I will check it out for sure! I am glad to hear the camera works well. I needed to go somewhat budget but it seemed to get great reviews for the price.

I have not seen LiftOff but I use DRL Sim so ill check that one out for comparison. I have seen lots of people recommend starting smaller drones but I am willing to take the risk as long as I put in the time an take it slow to start. I figured Id spend the first 4-5 batteries just hovering and doing basic manuvers no more than 5-10 ft off the ground.

(19-Apr-2017, 02:39 PM)Drone0fPrey Wrote: First off, welcome to the best forum ever
Second. Everything said before is good advice. Having extra parts on hand keeps you in the air while replacememts arrive. The spares I keep at hand; motor, esc, arm, couple vtx antennas and a few rx antennas, besides the usual nuts bolts ect.
As an actual pilot I'm sure you understand the benefits of a sim. I use FreeRider
As for cleanflight/betaflight. Both have made things very easy for beginners. I started on betaflight and havent looked back This is a guide here I referenced a lot> http://www.propwashed.com/drone-racer-so...tup-guide/
And I can personally vouch for the iMax B6 AC charger.  Been using mine for a few years now, and the newer ones are even better imo.

Good luck! Welcome to the addiction and looking forward to your build

I can honestly say this forum has already surpassed my expectations! Loving the feedback and helpful posts.

I figured I would need spares but didnt think about needing more antennas. Do they snap/break off easily? How often would you expect to need replacements?

Also havent seen freerider so ill have to check that out as well! Ill post pictures of the completed build once I finish the last few final touches.

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(20-Apr-2017, 01:06 AM)Aaron Wrote: My tip: buy a 10DOF (barometer equipped) board so that you can use altitude hold modes.   Buy a TX that will let you change between self-centre and traditional throttle.

Alt hold is great for learning with as you can just "let go" of the sticks and the Quad will basically level off and drift based on its inertia but not necessarily fall out of the sky.  Yes you will still be able to drive it into the ground but in those tentative early flights you shouldn't be doing anything fast.

As you get more experience using Acro modes and disabling the self-centering will turn it into a compentent racer, but you'll always be able to park the throttle at mid-point - enable Alt hold and "park" in the sky..

Interesting idea. I had heard about the GPS addition idea/option and figured that would provide a similar effect. Is the barometer a better option than GPS?

Also should my first few flights be in Angle mode if I dont have that? Ive been practicing in a simulator but thats all so far.

(20-Apr-2017, 03:42 AM)aziassassin Wrote: I can honestly say this forum has already surpassed my expectations! Loving the feedback and helpful posts.

I figured I would need spares but didnt think about needing more antennas. Do they snap/break off easily? How often would you expect to need replacements?

Also havent seen freerider so ill have to check that out as well! Ill post pictures of the completed build once I finish the last few final touches.

---

Interesting idea. I had heard about the GPS addition idea/option and figured that would provide a similar effect. Is the barometer a better option than GPS?

Also should my first few flights be in Angle mode if I dont have that? Ive been practicing in a simulator but thats all so far.

Actually the one I bought is a 10DOF! I bought the deluxe version. Does that mean it has a built in barometer or just that it is compatible ?

It's Barometer equipped. I wouldn't worry about GPS etc as you really just want to make something that has some ability to hover, and the F3/F4 controllers are pretty much capable of doing a "position hold" by detecting wind influenced tilt and compensating. At least that's how I read it.

Anyway you can "turn off" the use of the barometer any time (or switch modes). I found having Alt-Hold a saving grace when I was learning...

(20-Apr-2017, 03:42 AM)aziassassin Wrote: I figured I would need spares but didnt think about needing more antennas. Do they snap/break off easily? How often would you expect to need replacements?

Props like to eat antennas during a crash so its a bit relative to skill level, risk taking and the mounting options/creativity of your build. Personally I had 7 extra Rx antennas to start and carry 1-2 in my flight pack (might take more. I repair mine untill they become too short before I replace them, to pinch a penny) As FPV antennas go. I started with Aomways which are cheap and fairly tough for having exposed lobes. Props and branches are not their friends Foxeers (covered) are my next to try (sold out during my build) and have decent reviews also. Antennas like the Race Blade and such are very fragile and would likely require more replacements nearby. I bring 1 tough backup to the field.