I’ve seen several videos now showing people running two separate packs in parallel.
I suppose it makes sense in case cells fail.
2 Likes
Apologies if you’ve mentioned this above already and I’ve missed it, but are you planning on buying or building your Li-ion packs?
I’m intrigued to try some myself, both on my quad and also a couple of planes. I’m not hugely enthusiastic about soldering up my own though and I’ve struggled to find many ready-made packs. Those I have seen have been like £60 or something crazy. That would more than double the value of some of my planes!
Yes, both Karl @notveryprettyboy and I are building 18650 or maybe 20700 packs
I’ve been doing so for a few years now
I always spot weld mine although Karl has been trying the solder option.
That is spot weld the power bars I solder the balance wires to the bars so no heat gets into the cells.
3 Likes
I did make a 6s 2p pack from old laptop liions. But it sagged with a 10a draw to 2.5 volts per cell. I’ll use it as a field charger. But they were soldered. I used a hot iron and they soldered fine, although I’m not sure if I damaged the cells a little.
I think the spot weld method is probably better if the strips can carry the current
2 Likes
The introduction to this is interesting @notveryprettyboy 
2 Likes
He’s got the mag pretty close to everything and low down… 
1 Like
Yep, but he’s moving stuff around, it’s a build series apparently 
2 Likes
UAV Tech’s videos helped me understand the whole blackbox jargon, and his templates are awesome. Would recommend anyone with a quad larger than 5" to watch this guys videos, as tuning a 7" quad is not the easiest of tasks!
2 Likes
@notveryprettyboy
just what you ordered.
1 Like
Oooh, I really wanna try INAV on a quad. I guess that’s as good an excuse as any to buy another…
2 Likes
Cool.
Here’s a useful tip from maestro JB @notveryprettyboy
“I didn’t know you could do that”
3 Likes
@notveryprettyboy
These are the new motors I’ve just fitted to my 7" 'Bluebird,
1 Like
@notveryprettyboy
You need to get some 
I’ve seen someone use these on a fb group. Been toying with the idea of putting my 1500kv onto my 5" for 6s build when the current motors pack up. Then changing my 7" to a bigger motor like these.
1 Like
Time for an update…
Whilst @notveryprettyboy 's build, running BF, is streaking across the clouds making an awesome sound like it’s carrying it’s own tunnel with it…
Mine has been a pain in the ass.
Navigation flight mode problems with iNav which I could not resolve, so moved over to Ardupoilot.
Much more succesfull, however yesterday due to some unknown issue with an esc connection the FC caught fire, literally, @notveryprettyboy has the video to prove it
So I’m changing the FC but with a different thought train this time.
Ardupilot likes a vibration free environment and has the built in tools to display the vibration in all three axis to help eredicate them.
Last build I used an ‘all-in-one’ (AIO) Kakute F7 board and whilst it’s more compact to use an AIO I’m wondering how good the anti-vibration on the IMU is when although the board is mounted in ‘soft grommets’ there are 8 ESC power cables, 2 main battery cables and all the sensor wires connected directly to the FC and therefore transmitting vibrations to the board.
So the replacement will be a ‘power distribution board’ (PDB) handling all the battery and ESC heavy wiring with a flexi ribbon cable connecting the four motor signals and power signals to the FC. The other signals, RX, GPS etc… will connect using 30awg silicon wire with anti-stress loops.
This should allow the FC to absorb any frame vibrations from it’s four corner mounts and give smooth IMU (accel and gyro) values.
I’ll include foam for smoothness of the baro air pressure but in such a way as not to increase mechanical vibrations to it.
I’ll be using these Mateks units as the F405-STD is compatible with Ardupilot.
I’ll let you know how I get on. aiming to have it re-built for Big Club Meet 3-4 July 2021
4 Likes
Did you soft mount your FC? If you’re getting severe vibration on all axis then you either have something wrong with your gyro, or you have a motor issue, ie bent prop or worn motor. If I remember correctly you have the FR7 frame so resonance is unlikely to be an issues. Be cautious with Matek FC’s also, when I first got into the hobby I heard they were the dogs bo**ocks, so I bought a F722-SE for my LR build and had gyro issues that I could not tune out, and bought a second one thinking I had somehow accidentally damaged the gyro when soldering. But my second one also had gyro issues, both times confirmed with black box logging, I believe it is basically the same Dual gyro as the Lumenier LUX F7. So I swapped out for Kakute F7 V2’s and have not had any issues. Is flying sweet now and locked in.
It was a Kakute with the IMU soft mounted with ribbon cable
The Matek 405-STD I’ve got on it now is performing great, with care that the board wasn’t restricted by heavy wires etc.
Pleased for you, mine was pretty good yesterday until I slammed into the side of the viaduct 
How are you both getting on with these? Any further thoughts or tips for other potential 7" builders?
I just picked up a set of 7" TBS Source One V4 arms cheap in a sale. Yep, just the arms, that’s all I have - no frame yet or any motors or electronics. Gotta start somewhere, right?! 
Hopefully I’ll gradually pick up some bits and pieces over the next couple of months and put it together slowly, so as not to notice the financial hit quite so much. I’m undecided on BF vs INAV. I really like the idea of INAV - I use it on all my wings - and would love to have position hold and proper RTH modes on a quad. I don’t want to sacrifice the buttery smooth handling of BF though. There are hundreds of great tuning guides for getting the best out of Betaflight, not so much for INAV.
I’ve been looking around for some Emax ECO 2807s (6S versions) - everywhere in the UK seems to be out of stock at the moment. Any decent alternatives? I can hang around and wait for them to come back in stock I guess, there’s no massive rush.
Think I’ll stick with Tracer for the control link. I know it’s not propper long range like Crossfire, but the Tracer LoRa features look like they’re due soon which should increase range and, in reality, 1-2km gives me the jitters anyway. I’m more interested in cinematic cruising than heading to some snowcapped peak 10km away.
As for FC/ESC, I’ll probably just see what combined stacks are available for decent money as and when I’m ready to buy. The Diatone Mamba stuff looks ok.
Apologies for the ramble, just getting some ideas down ‘on paper’ at this stage. Will start another thread when I have a few more bits.
oh, just spotted this bit 