Update: actually used parts and build progress on page2

Hey all,

I am looking forward to assembling my first real quad and after some research time, I came up with this build. Could you please check it and let me know if I have not missed something and it could actually fly with these components put together, or give me any other suggestion that come to your mind? I am noob so any piece of knowledge is welcome 

Thanks a lot

Frame - Realacc Martian III 220mm
I like the fact that it has replaceable arms, so if I manage to destroy some, it could be easily repaired and includes pdb which is replaceable too. Acceptable price for me.

Flight controller - OMNIBUS Betaflight F3 AIO V1.1
It looks like popular fc so I should be able to find a lot of guides and help for wiring and assembly. Also love the fact it has OSD and decent price.

Motors - Racerstar Racing Edition 2205 BR2205 2600KV
Not sure about this, I dont understand the differencies in motors that much so I found these recommended and they have ok price.

ESC - Racerstar RS30A Lite 30A Blheli_S
Again not so sure if I need 30A, but according to "motor performance data" picture on the motor page it seems to me, that with 5 inch rotors and 4c battery, they will need 27.6 amps which is probably too high for the 20A ESC? Also like the fact that they are not 4in1 so I can replace them separately if something happens.

RX - Flysky 2.4G 6CH FS-iA6B Receiver
Bundled with my flysky FSi6 radio

VTX - Eachine VTX03 Super Mini 5.8G
Picked just by price, no Idea what are the differencies.

Cam - Eachine 1000TVL 1/3 CCD 110 Degree 2.8mm Lens
Wanted some ccd cam and found this one recommended. Not sure if the lenses will be wide enough, but the price is good for me. Can upgrade later for something better.

Props - Kingkong 5040
Have not much idea about the differencies, just that they are 5 inches and pretty cheap.

Batteries - Infinity 4S 14.8V 1500mAh 70C Graphene
Decided to start on 4S right away as some people on youtube suggested. Good price on these ones


What do you think? Combined price is already bit high for me, because I need to buy also everything else like fpv googles (I may fly LoS for some time to spread the investment) charger and all the soldering stuff, but I think it could last me a while.

Here's my five cents:

The Omnibus is a good flight controller although I can't vouch for the quality of the clone as I've only bought mine from the guys who designed it. I hope you are good with a soldering iron as the Omnibus is quite densely packed and you'll need to solder directly to it rather than using pin headers.

The RacerStar motors are great for the incredibly cheap price. I'd advise you to get five motors and five ESCs so that if you do have problems or damage one in a crash, you won't have to be grounded for a month while you wait for replacements.

You have selected the 2600kv version. The kv rating is how many RPM per volt the motor has. If you run these motors with 5040 triblade props, you should stay with the 30A ESCs and the big battery as the combination will draw lots of current. If you have no experience flying a very fast racing quad, it might be wiser to select the 2300kv version of these motors instead.

The IA6B receiver is very good and has excellent range, but the case that it comes in means that it's huge compared to a naked receiver and you might have trouble finding room for it in the frame you have chosen.

I really wouldn't use that VTX in a full scale racer. They are good for micro builds, but for this, they are a poorer choice. They are quite fragile and the quality isn't exactly great. If you want something better at a similar price, the TX526 would be a good option. Personally, I'm only using TBS Unify Pro VTXs these days as being able to change channel and power output on your OSD is a killer feature that makes you wonder how you lived without it once you get your first SmartAudio VTX.

The camera is OK, but only just. I doubt if it is actually a CCD camera. It doesn't include any way to mount it in your frame either. If you can stretch your budget just a little more, get an XAT600M. You won't regret it and the frame you have chosen has holes to mount the supplied bracket directly to it.

If you have not soldered before, then you really should practise on some surplus components before getting into a build like this. You should also get a good quality soldering iron with temperature control. A cheap iron makes soldering so much harder.

(30-Apr-2017, 03:41 PM)unseen Wrote: Here's my five cents

Thanks for the tips ! I will switch the motors and VTX for the pieces you suggested (will think about the camera). Why do you say that I will have to solder directly on the board? The FC even comes with the header pins so I was under impression I could use those to make it a bit tidier. I soldered before on high school, but that is some time ago so I would have to get into it again

Oh and other question popped into my mind when I was assembling this post  - the Martian III comes with replaceable PDB, but when I checked it <here>, it looks to me just like direct routing from lipo without any BEC or LC filter. Should I switch the frame and get some standalone PDB like this Matek one so I can be sure I will have options to power everything I need in the future?

And about the rx - can I somehow just pop the casing, or do I have to buy extra naked reciever?

You might be able to get away with using pin headers on the flight controller - it depends entirely on if there's enough room to use them. Personally, I prefer to solder direct. It saves weight and space and if done properly is just as reliable, if not more, than pins and plugs.

It would probably be a good idea to use a different PDB as one with regulators and filters will protect your VTX and camera from any voltage spikes. The one you suggested can only provide 500mA on the 12V rail though and that's probably not going to be enough if you end up running the VTX at 600mW. There is another one here which will supply both 5V and 12V at 3A and would probably be a better choice.

The 5V regulator on the Omnibus is only capable of running the Omnibus itself and your receiver, so if you want to use a 5V camera or add LEDs, an extra 5V supply will be needed anyway.

Depending on how much room you have, you might not need to think about removing the case from the RX, but it's a little more complicated than just removing the plastic case because of all the pins at the end of the RX. This link shows what's involved: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthre...ng-FS-iA6B

Awesome! thanks a lot. And by the way you suggested buying one extra motor; how exactly would that work when I dont know if I will need CW or CCW one? Is it possible to just use different cap on the same motor and switch the cable order without the danger of unscrewing midair? Oh and should I buy also some mushroom antena for the VTX? Dont know if the bundled one from your post is any good.

As a first build I would not recommend the martian 3. It is a bit tricky to build as it doesn't have much space and the top and bottom plate is very fragile in a crash. I personally would get a martian 2 instead of martian 3.

The camera is CRAP. I got one and was surprised of how bad it was. the tiny micro CMOS cameras are better...

(30-Apr-2017, 06:30 PM)Roobaiz Wrote: Awesome! thanks a lot. And by the way you suggested buying one extra motor; how exactly would that work when I dont know if I will need CW or CCW one? Is it possible to just use different cap on the same motor and switch the cable order without the danger of unscrewing midair? Oh and should I buy also some mushroom antena for the VTX? Dont know if the bundled one from your post is any good.

Ah, sorry, I forgot that these were CW and CCW.

You can't use them in the wrong place unless you use nylock nuts, but finding nylocks with left hand threads is hard.

(30-Apr-2017, 11:41 PM)oyvinla Wrote: As a first build I would not recommend the martian 3. It is a bit tricky to build as it doesn't have much space and the top and bottom plate is very fragile in a crash. I personally would get a martian 2 instead of martian 3.

The camera is CRAP. I got one and was surprised of how bad it was. the tiny micro CMOS cameras are better...

Ok, thanks for reply! I wasnt liking the fact that MIII had battery under anyway, so if it is harder to build I can change it for something else. Not sure if MII, as the top doesnt seem to offer much for battery straps and also not sure if there is mount for the foxeer camera, so maybe this Realacc X5R could be the one ?  What do you think?

Martian 2 has got mounting plates for hs1177 style cameras (swift, arrow etc...).
Normally, I use two battery straps around the whole top plate. I don't bother it there are slots for straps or not. Some silicone anti slip stuff is always nice to put on the top plate so the battery doesn't slide off.

I don't knowuch about the x5r, but it does look okay. I would think that it is similar to the martian 2.

Regarding battery placement, I am a big fan of top mount/middle mount batteries as I like how the quad flies. I think it is more fluid, but it is hard to describe exactly. This is a whole different discussion and there are many different opinions about this. You'll just have to try for yourself and figure out what's best for you.

Motor Direction: I've been flying clockwise threaded motors since I started, nylon lock nuts are a must have... I would say that you need BACKUPS though... if they wear out you will start to have problems and props will come loose. I've dropped from the sky before due to this issue lol...

Battery placement: I am about to build a quad based on the same frame and planned to go with under placement as well... Frames with top plates like these are pretty much going to have awkward center of gravity regardless of top or bottom mount. If you find a preference that works for you I'd be interested in hearing more, I'll let you know if I develop a preference too.

(02-May-2017, 02:50 AM)Carl.Vegas Wrote: Motor Direction: I've been flying clockwise threaded motors since I started, nylon lock nuts are a must have... I would say that you need BACKUPS though... if they wear out you will start to have problems and props will come loose. I've dropped from the sky before due to this issue lol...

Battery placement: I am about to build a quad based on the same frame and planned to go with under placement as well... Frames with top plates like these are pretty much going to have awkward center of gravity regardless of top or bottom mount. If you find a preference that works for you I'd be interested in hearing more, I'll let you know if I develop a preference too.

I'm assuming you're talking about the martian 3? I did some testing with battery placement on that quad and if flew much better with top mounted battery than bottom mounted. It cornered much better and didn't have the tendency to drift as much when cornering. It felt much more precise, while the bottom mount was sloppy. The COG was almost perfectly in line with the props when I top mounted the battery.
If you think about it most of the weight (motors, arms, bottom frame, wiring, pdb) is already below the props, and the way the battery mount on the M3 is extended puts the COG even more off.

(02-May-2017, 02:50 AM)Carl.Vegas Wrote: Motor Direction: I've been flying clockwise threaded motors since I started, nylon lock nuts are a must have... I would say that you need BACKUPS though... if they wear out you will start to have problems and props will come loose. I've dropped from the sky before due to this issue lol...

Battery placement: I am about to build a quad based on the same frame and planned to go with under placement as well... Frames with top plates like these are pretty much going to have awkward center of gravity regardless of top or bottom mount. If you find a preference that works for you I'd be interested in hearing more, I'll let you know if I develop a preference too.

So you are suggesting to get M5 version of these and go for all CW motors? It could be nice to not worry about the orientation and go for clean wiring if I would have to change the directions in betaflight anyway

And I will listen to the advices here and switch the frame for Martian II or X5R so I will not do the bottom mount.

The motors doesn't have any dedicated rotation direction, it's just the threads. For convenience, CW threads are preferred, but it's not hard to get ccw nuts. They have them on banggood

(02-May-2017, 08:00 AM)oyvinla Wrote: I'm assuming you're talking about the martian 3? I did some testing with battery placement on that quad and if flew much better with top mounted battery than bottom mounted. It cornered much better and didn't have the tendency to drift as much when cornering.  It felt much more precise, while the bottom mount was sloppy. The COG was almost perfectly in line with the props when I top mounted the battery.
If you think about it most of the weight (motors, arms, bottom frame, wiring, pdb) is already below the props, and the way the battery mount on the M3 is extended puts the COG even more off.

A fair point... I haven't received my parts yet so I haven't really had  chance to get a feel for it all put together. I'll still probably try it both ways but I think you might have influenced my hypothesis around which will perform better

(02-May-2017, 09:36 AM)Roobaiz Wrote: So you are suggesting to get M5 version of these and go for all CW motors? It could be nice to not worry about the orientation and go for clean wiring if I would have to change the directions in betaflight anyway

And I will listen to the advices here and switch the frame for Martian II or X5R so I will not do the bottom mount.

No recommendations on motors from me, just recommendations on the nuts for the props. If you go with motors that have cw threading on all 4 then make sure you get extra lock nuts... With time mine wore out (frequent prop removal, changing, dirt getting into threads, etc etc) and as recently as last Saturday I had a mid-air crash where when I took off my goggles I could see my prop still floating down to the ground.

Watch out for the quality as well. With some nylock nuts that I've bought recently, the nylon ring gets forced out of the groove that's supposed to hold it in place.

Even the brand new ones that came with my fancy new EMax 2306 motors don't seem to be particularly good quality.