Hello guest, if you read this it means you are not registered. Click here to register in a few simple steps, you will enjoy all features of our Forum.
This forum uses cookies
This forum makes use of cookies to store your login information if you are registered, and your last visit if you are not. Cookies are small text documents stored on your computer; the cookies set by this forum can only be used on this website and pose no security risk. Cookies on this forum also track the specific topics you have read and when you last read them. Please confirm whether you accept or reject these cookies being set.

A cookie will be stored in your browser regardless of choice to prevent you being asked this question again. You will be able to change your cookie settings at any time using the link in the footer.

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Shopping list for my first quad build, looking for advice
#1
Hi everyone!

As the title says, I just finished the shopping list for my first quad build and gear (I heard about FPV one week ago) and would like to know what you think of it, and whether I'm making any mistakes in my component choices. I apologize in advance, this will be quite a wall of text, as I'll try to explain why I chose each of these components.

The main goal of this build is to provide me with a decent learning quad at a budget price. Unfortunately I'm low on $$$, and the lowest the price is, the sooner I can get flying, and upgrade components progressively later on. Other goals of this build are: being a good learning quad obviously, so not overly powerful, a good efficiency (for now I favor flight time over performance I won't be able to harness), low weight (for more efficiency and weight room for batteries, and less crash impact), good crash resistance, some nice features (I'm a geek at heart) and finally, good upgradability to follow me along as I progress. And I think I got it nailed down! So here it is:


 - Frame: Lisam LS-210. It's dirt cheap (14.99 USD), not overly heavy (100g), and should be reasonably crash-resistant with its 3mm CF bottom plate.
 - FC: Omnibus F4 Pro V2. I didn't cheap out too much on this one. What a nice FC to start with. It has an F4, built-in barometer, OSD, 5V/3A BEC with LC filter, SD card slot for blackbox, current sensor... And for 22.20 USD on gearbest, who can complain? I'm pairing it with 5V FPV components (camera and VTX) to take advantage of the LC filter, and as an added bonus: I don't need a PDB \o/
 - ESC: Racerstar 20A 4 in 1. Seems lighter (25g including cables) and cheaper (24.99 USD) than 4 separate 20A ESCs (also generates much less rotational inertia, as it's mounted super close to the center of mass and not on the arms), it handles 4S, supports Dshot300, and should provide plenty of amp room with my motor/prop combo. Seems like a great ESC to begin with.
 - Motors: Racerstar BR2205 2300KV. Definitely not the best, but they're cheap (29.99 USD for the set of 4), and should produce enough power for a beginner. They go up to 4S.
 - Props: Dalprop 5045 V2 Bullnose dual blade. Triple blades seem to be all the hype, but I'm really favoring efficiency and crash resistance over performance here. These props are 1.99 USD per set.
 - Radio: iRangeX iRX-i6X with iR-A8S receiver (woohoo I wrote it correctly!) Less than 40 USD for a transmitter & receiver set! This clone of the FlySky FS-i6X supports up to 10 channels, has a gimbal resolution of 4096, and the receiver supports PPM & i-BUS and only weights 1.2 freaking grams! The only downside that I can see from my beginner's point of view is that the receiver only has one antenna. But it's cheap to replace once I've got the $$$.
 - FPV camera: a cheap no-name 600TVL CMOS 170-degree 5V camera with builtin microphone. Yeah, I want sound with my FPV :-) It's dirt cheap (5.90 USD), super small and light, and will do the job until I buy a Runcam Split, which I can't reasonably afford right now. Oh and I seem to prefer wide angle cams, and this one is.
 - VTX: Eachine ATX03. A 5V, 72-channel, switchable 0/25/50/200mW transmitter with audio input. It's 11.99 USD and weights only 3.5g. The provided antenna seems to be crap though, I'll probably have to replace it with a cloverleaf quite soon.
 - FPV goggles: LS-008D. 40 channels, has DVR and dual antenna (don't know if it's real antenna diversity) for... 39.99 USD on gearbest! Can't beat that to get flying for cheap. It only has a 480x272 screen, but for this price, who cares? :-D
 - Battery: ZOP Power 1800mAh 3S 65C (set of 2). Probably not 65C, probably not 1800mAh, but 26.99 USD for 2 batteries... You got a deal. I'm just hoping they won't burst into flames.
 - Misc stuff: buzzer, XT60 connector with 12AWG wire, 2205 motor protections, 1000uF low-ESR 35V capacitor (to be soldered onto the ESC power input to reduce FPV interference and voltage spikes), a few battery straps, battery anti-slip mat, 2-3-4S battery charger, anti-vibration screws for the FC and ESC, and some heatshrink and zip ties.

And... that's it! Thanks for reading it all :-)

According to my estimations, I should be up and flying for around 250 USD all-inclusive, around 135 USD for the quad alone (excluding radio RX & TX, batteries, battery charger and goggles), and the quad should weight around 440 grams with battery / 300 grams without battery. With all the features that the F4 Pro FC brings, I think it's a steal.

What do you think?
Reply
Login to remove this ad | Register Here
#2
If you are asking whether this will work, I am pretty sure it will work to get you out and flying.

Two things that stuck out.

Is this the FPV camera you are planning to buy?
https://banggood.com/600TVL-8_0MP-14-2_8...84345.html
If so, it is a pretty crappy camera. I would spend a little bit more for the camera. I found this. Can't vouch for the picture quality, but at least more mount friendly.

https://banggood.com/Orange-1200TVL-2_5m...50403.html

Secondly, I think you battery is too heavy. It will slow your quad down, which is nice for beginners. But you will need to buy new batteries if you want more speed. I would go with 1300-1500 mah and add weight to slow down the quad a little bit.
[-] The following 1 user Likes voodoo614's post:
  • smalg
Reply
#3
(21-Oct-2017, 06:51 AM)voodoo614 Wrote: Is this the FPV camera you are planning to buy?
https://banggood.com/600TVL-8_0MP-14-2_8...84345.html
If so, it is a pretty crappy camera. I would spend a little bit more for the camera. I found this. Can't vouch for the picture quality, but at least more mount friendly.

https://banggood.com/Orange-1200TVL-2_5m...50403.html

Yes this is the camera I was planning to buy! And indeed I was expecting to have some trouble to mount it properly if it doesn't fit on the LS-210's camera plate. Regarding the video quality though... Do you think I would see the difference on goggles with such a poor resolution? Because, although it probably has a better video quality, this one is more expensive, and doesn't have a built-in mic. And I'm planning to buy a Runcam Split later on, so the less I spend now, the sooner I can upgrade (and the less cash I throw out of the window for components I won't use for long)... Kind of a weird reasoning, I guess :-)

(21-Oct-2017, 06:51 AM)voodoo614 Wrote: Secondly, I think you battery is too heavy. It will slow your quad down, which is nice for beginners. But you will need to buy new batteries if you want more speed. I would go with 1300-1500 mah and add weight to slow down the quad a little bit.

I'm not sure I get it. Do you mean I should use a smaller battery and add extra weight to my quad, so that when I get more comfortable, I can remove the extra weight to gain speed?
Actually I was planning on using these batteries only to begin learning (with a good flight time), and once I want more performance out of my quad, switching to 4S batteries, which I'll already have a charger for (and triple-blade props, and probably later 2600KV motors). Does this seem like a good idea to you?
Reply
#4
You could add weight to slow things down a bit, but that would only make the quad fly like a boat. A better way is to configure your radio to restrict the maximum output from the throttle channel. The downside of doing this is that full power can sometimes be just what you need to power out of a mistake.

Using 3S will certainly reduce the amount of power that you have. You can always use them to power your goggles once you're ready to move up to 4S.

I agree that 1800mA/h batteries are far too large and they will make the quad handle badly. 1300mA/h would be just right on a quad this size.

Saying that a 4-in-1 ESC "also generates much less rotational inertia, as it's mounted super close to the center of mass and not on the arms" sounds good, but it's irrelevant. There's a motor at the end of each arm which weighs much more than an ESC! The downside of a 4-in-1, especially for a beginner, is that if you kill one of the ESCs because you failed to disarm quickly enough in a crash, you have to replace the entire 4-in-1 ESC. For a first craft, I'd strongly recommend that you use individual ESCs.

Cheap batteries are a false economy. We've seen some bad reports about ZOP batteries here and "ZOP" has a reputation of standing for Zero Output Power. Wink

I'd also watch out for the Omnibus clone if you are buying it from Banggood or Gearbest. The F4 Pro clones appear to use a very poor quality 3.3V regulator and many people have had problems with them.

The thing about your FPV camera isn't resolution, it's about how well the camera handles lighting changes. If you fly from sun into shade and your video feed goes dark for the second it takes a cheap camera to adjust exposure, you will probably have crashed by the time you can see again! FPV video isn't high resolution anyway - it's an analogue TV signal.

You will almost certainly want to upgrade your radio and FPV goggles if you stick with the hobby. If you get to that point, buy the best you can afford. Cutting corners on the two things you should only buy once just means that you'll end up wanting to upgrade again and end up spending what a really good radio and goggles would have cost you anyway.
[-] The following 1 user Likes unseen's post:
  • smalg
Reply
#5
Wow, so much valuable information, thank you unseen!

I don't want to sound stubborn, but I'm having trouble understanding why a 140g 1800mAh 3S battery would make a quad handle much worse than a 150-160g 4S 1300mAh battery. Sure it will have less power, but shouldn't a 450-ish grams (with battery) 5-inch quad handle decently? I do understand however that cheaping out on batteries is a bad idea. Do you have any brands to recommend? The Charsoon batteries seem higher quality and have good reviews.

Your comments regarding the ESC are definitely good points! I'll take your advice and go for separate ESCs, with a spare one to avoid being grounded for weeks when (not if!) I kill one of them. Again, do you have any brands / models to recommend?

Regarding the FC, although I'm used to buying vaping stuff on Chinese websites, it never occurred to me that these flight controllers could be clones! Fasttech, for example, always differentiates clones from authentic products with either an explicit "authentic" in the name or "<product name>-styled" (at least for vape stuff). I'm quite settled on the Omnibus F4 Pro (it has so much interesting features), do you know where I could find an authentic one? By the way I'm living in Canada, I don't know if this is relevant.

Now, regarding the FPV camera, I totally understand your point, and will invest in a better one. My girlfriend has been insisting that I should buy the RunCam Split that I want right away, so I might even do that. I'll also buy better goggles, probably the Eachine EV800D. These aren't top-notch, but should still be much better than those other 40 USD ones from GearBest, as I definitely can't afford $300+ goggles right now.

Last question: are FlySky (and sister brands) radios that bad? They're not the most feature-packed radios on the market, but apart from that, I can't seem to find any real complaints about them, and it looks like lots of people are still using them (and liking them) after a couple of years..?

Anyway, thanks again for all your feedback :-)
[-] The following 1 user Likes smalg's post:
  • unseen
Reply
#6
Hiya smalg, I'm in Ottawa myself! I think Unseen was suggesting avoiding 3S batteries entirely, I have about 9 3S batteries that are now collecting dust after about 3 uses each...The only ones I use are tattu r-line 75C (good) and 95C (perfect) 1300 and 1550 mAh and the difference is significant.

The runcam split 2 is out btw, the changes are mostly fixing the (big) problems though, otherwise the performance is supposed to be similar.

A barometer is an interesting feature, though 90m ( the legal altitude limit here in canada) is pretty high, I don't run one even though I have a few of the bosch 0.01m accuracy SPI ones that I could use. And an SD card for blackbox is not that necessary, as once blackbox tuning is finished you wont need it again. For me the most important attribute to an FC is reliability. Crashing due to hardware failure suuuuucks.

Lastly, bullnose props are the worst for efficiency. I've read good things about the new cyclone 5040C props, and the HQ 5x4x3v1s (which the brand new 5040C's are supposed to spank) are great from my own experience. I also love the cyclone 5045C though they are supposedly not as efficient as the new 5040C.
Flying: Talon 6S 6" 2407s 381g no bat, Martian 3, 5" 2205s sooo heavy + gopro session 5 573g AUW, Aurora 5" 2205s 280g no bat, Druckbaer 3" 1404s 172g AUW 3S 550, BQE Megapixel 2.5" 1107s 139g AUW 3S 550, BabyHawk R 2.5" 164g AUW 3S 550 (stock except microeagle, CRSF, 2.5" arms) and maybe 3 more, for now...
 




Reply
#7
(22-Oct-2017, 12:20 AM)smalg Wrote: I don't want to sound stubborn, but I'm having trouble understanding why a 140g 1800mAh 3S battery would make a quad handle much worse than a 150-160g 4S 1300mAh battery. Sure it will have less power, but shouldn't a 450-ish grams (with battery) 5-inch quad handle decently? I do understand however that cheaping out on batteries is a bad idea. Do you have any brands to recommend? The Charsoon batteries seem higher quality and have good reviews.

You explained the reason in your own post. 3S will produce less power than 4S. So, something that handles well with 4S power and a battery that weighs 150g will handle much more poorly on a 3S battery of the same weight.

I personally use mostly Turnigy Nanotech and Gens Ace Tattu batteries. This is largely down to the choices that are available to me locally. In general, if you buy brand name batteries from respected vendors, you'll get reliable batteries with acceptable quality.

(22-Oct-2017, 12:20 AM)smalg Wrote: Your comments regarding the ESC are definitely good points! I'll take your advice and go for separate ESCs, with a spare one to avoid being grounded for weeks when (not if!) I kill one of them. Again, do you have any brands / models to recommend?

The Racerstar RS20A and RS30A v2 BLHeli_S ESCs from Banggood are rebranded Cicada ESCs. They are excellent and in my experience, they just work and keep on working. Superb value for money.

When you buy motors and ESCs, it's always a good idea to order one spare of each. Both can be damaged in crashes and if you have to wait six weeks for a replacement and you only have one quad, you're grounded for six weeks.

(22-Oct-2017, 12:20 AM)smalg Wrote: Regarding the FC, although I'm used to buying vaping stuff on Chinese websites, it never occurred to me that these flight controllers could be clones! Fasttech, for example, always differentiates clones from authentic products with either an explicit "authentic" in the name or "<product name>-styled" (at least for vape stuff). I'm quite settled on the Omnibus F4 Pro (it has so much interesting features), do you know where I could find an authentic one? By the way I'm living in Canada, I don't know if this is relevant.

The Omnibus range of flight controllers are designed and manufactured by Airbot. See the Airbot site for details. They also have partnerships with vendors and when I order a flight controller from them, it ships from their partner in Germany.

I am completely against what sites like Fasttech do. The e-cig business was started by many one man bands where a talented guy invested his time and money into designing great products for their fellow vapers. Many of these people went out of business because of the Chinese cloners. How would you feel if you'd put your heart and soul into designing and manufacturing a great new atomiser only to see a Chinese copy of it appear on Fasttech one month after launch at 1/5 of the price you can make it for?

(22-Oct-2017, 12:20 AM)smalg Wrote: Last question: are FlySky (and sister brands) radios that bad? They're not the most feature-packed radios on the market, but apart from that, I can't seem to find any real complaints about them, and it looks like lots of people are still using them (and liking them) after a couple of years..?

There's nothing wrong with the FlySky radios per se. In the early days when the FS-i6 first came out, the receivers were huge and often too large to fit in a smaller quad. That's not so much of an issue these days with all the third party receivers that support the FlySky radio protocol.

The biggest problem with the FS-i6 and derivatives is the limited switches. They have three two position switches and one three position switch. This can often become a limiting factor when you want to do more advanced things with your radio.

Personally, I don't like the firmware on the FlySky radios much. It's not particularly intuitive and compared to radios running open source firmware like OpenTX on the FrSky and DeviationTX on the Walkera Devo radios, it has nowhere near the same flexibility.

(22-Oct-2017, 03:07 AM)McDee Wrote: I think Unseen was suggesting avoiding 3S batteries entirely

No, I wasn't.

There's nothing wrong with using a few 3S batteries while learning to fly as the reduced power will slow things down.
[-] The following 1 user Likes unseen's post:
  • McDee
Reply
#8
I think everyone else answered the batteries question for you.

As far as FPV camera, the one you mentioned is very poor when it comes to image quality. I put one on a micro build. I could never quite get it to a good focus. The lens wasn't sharp. And the dark to light transition was terrible. Things in shadows were impossible to see. I couldn't replace it fast enough.

FYI, if you are expecting HD from any FPV you will be disappointed. Think old SD TV.
[-] The following 1 user Likes voodoo614's post:
  • unseen
Reply
#9
(22-Oct-2017, 08:38 AM)unseen Wrote: No, I wasn't.

There's nothing wrong with using a few 3S batteries while learning to fly as the reduced power will slow things down.
 
Unseen, I apologize for the incorrect assumption. 

Apparently the lower power benefit for new pilots can be somewhat provided on 4S (provided you are running an OPEN TX radio). The method is not straight forward but for someone watching their spending it should be much less expensive in the long term. 

Flying: Talon 6S 6" 2407s 381g no bat, Martian 3, 5" 2205s sooo heavy + gopro session 5 573g AUW, Aurora 5" 2205s 280g no bat, Druckbaer 3" 1404s 172g AUW 3S 550, BQE Megapixel 2.5" 1107s 139g AUW 3S 550, BabyHawk R 2.5" 164g AUW 3S 550 (stock except microeagle, CRSF, 2.5" arms) and maybe 3 more, for now...
 




[-] The following 1 user Likes McDee's post:
  • unseen
Reply


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Need advice getting back into building quadcopters Radworm 50 828 11 hours ago
Last Post: Pathfinder075
  First Build - prevent antenna chop? JohnnyCornRocket 5 128 Yesterday, 02:16 PM
Last Post: iFly4rotors
  Best Battery Option for Build - Begginer Arkadius27 7 151 19-Mar-2024, 04:40 PM
Last Post: Pathfinder075
  Anyone ever X-Ray a quad? Rob Axel 0 78 18-Mar-2024, 06:54 PM
Last Post: Rob Axel
  Where do I start PID tuning this quad? relentlesstech 15 228 17-Mar-2024, 05:22 PM
Last Post: Rob Axel


Login to remove this ad | Register Here