Hah… had the same ordeal a while back to change batteries of a very similar model to that… Everything to make consumers buy a new kit instead of just making it easy to swap batteries for a few quid… greedy bastards
Tell you what though, having had experienced some maintenance on the drones definitely gave me much more confidence to open it up and do the job…
Lucky you then. I had to open pretty much like in your picture just to access the batteries, and then de-solder them, solder the new ones back and close everything up again… totally unnecessary.
New outfit for the crux yet again… Since I put the turtle on it , the setup was too tall and I felt like the turtle board was a bit to exposed. Had a go on Tinkercad to put something together and came up with a design, which should protect it a bit better. Having installed it now, there are a few things I think could change to make it a bit lighter mainly, but will stay with this for now. The weight is exactly the same as with the high stack version. Will test how it feels on air tomorrow.
Shout out to @Steviegeek for the quality print
This is how it was:
Finally finished the rebuild. Moved the UMT CineFlea on to a Twiglet 2.5" Frame. I am still not entirely happy with it, but it flies. Need to put QS on it and tune it a bit. Also needs the HQ 2.5x2x3 props I have to be put on it. Looking to take it out tomorrow and get some proper test flights.
Hoping to get some 3S Lipos by Friday for a quick rip down at Matlock. If it’s a good day i will bail out to the van and recharge them for a second session. Hoping my 300W Inverter will run my mains charger. The B6 isn’t operational right now due to some wiring issues. if not I will recharge the 2S Lipos and use the 85.
I am kind of tempted to buy another one and do another modified build. Maybe a 3". I don’t have any love for the original design, but @DaveJaVu seems to like his. I found it far too heavy.
Going to try 2.5x2x3 props tomorrow and order some 2.5x3x3 props and some 550 3S Lipos and see how much difference that makes. According to the spec sheet those motors can spin GF 3018 bi blades and 2020 4 blade (the ones in the picture). So 2.5x2x3 should be fine for 2S and probably 3S. i won’t know until I get it in the air tomorrow afternoon and do some tests. I’m thinking put the 2.5s on, set a motor limit of 80% and go fly, then if the max amps used is ok, increase to 85% and repeat. If it flies ok on them and doesn’t create massive amp draws, then they will become my main go to props for this build.
In the future I want to replace the vtx board. it’s one of those types with the outside of the holes cut away. Feels really loose. i’ve kind of over-engineered the bolts and used a number of nylon nuts on each component, before finishing it with the nyloc’s. But it shouldn’t fall apart in a hurry.
Why not check the amp draw on the bench with betaflight?
Test one motor at a time if needed and just hold it down firmly by holding the other arms, its not going to fly off or anything. Set it up so that the prop of the motor being tested has some space beneath it, like at the edge of the bench/table for example. That way you save time by getting the readings and making the necessary configurations instead of trying to figure everything during flight.
TBH a testing rig is on my list of to do’s. I was originally thinking of soldering an esc into the cheapest FC I can find and putting a multimeter inline in between VBat and the ESC. Then using croc clips or a motor connector to hook the motor on to the ESC.
For now I am going to try and get a few flights in on these 2.5x2x3 props and see what it feels like. From my hover test yesterday on a 660 Lipo, I think it will be a pretty good at 100% on 2S and probably far crazier on 3S. I hope the CNHL 3S 550 Lipos turn up tomorrow. Probably looking to fly no more than 10 packs on Friday. This week has been a bit of a train wreck for me.
So will let you know how it flies and hopefully have some DVR footage, not of me crashing.
Was having a look at those CNHL packs as well. One thing I didn’t like is that they are much heavier than the GNB counterpart. They would lower the thrust-weight ratio I want to test out and reduce/restrict changes on the build, so might skip them for now.
Only 2g heavier. On my build i am generating somewhere around 500g of thrust at 100%, with an AUW of around 85g, on 2S. On 3S, I might have to add more of a limit, but since amps scale down generally in relation to voltage, maybe not too much.
I’m not really worried about the weight per se, yes it weighs 11g more than the GNB 2S 660, but it’s 3S, so it’s an entire order more powerful, which should make up for that extra bit of weight. The build will still be sub 100g.
But it might not work on your build with the 5A esc. I think if you had a 12A on that build then yes, probably. Are your 1104’s rated for 3S?
I stand corrected.
When I checked them I only saw the 650 variant, which is 70g (go figure), whilst the gnb sits at 49g.
On the 550 and below the weight difference is much smaller and acceptable indeed. Good to know bc on my GNB analysis I did the 550 seem to be the best middle ground for the build , so if the tests work out I’ll pick some of these as they are cheaper (although lower C rating).
Funny thing is the cnhl 450 (49g) is heavier than the 550 (45g). How does that work out? lol
Both motor and FC are rated for 3s so in theory its doable. On paper the amp draw on 3" at max voltage is 5A. so this would be at the limit with no margin. Based on what I saw on paper for the 2s and on bench tests, if the 3s works out similarly it will be doable without motor output cap. Worst case I’ll cut it down a bit to make it work.
who’s this guy? 
