Well actually this will be my second. The first one was crafted from aluminum bars and bolts, with an Arduino, a home made Arduino shield mad from from strip board and two 3-axis IMU’s (inertial measurement units) and a big dirty mess of wires housed in re-purposed Tupperware, that didnt fly for very long, or very high. So I have placed an order for my second Quadcopter which will be almost entirely made from store bought parts, So inessence my first real Quadcopter. My reasoning is that this will keep weight down and help keep the entire frame balanced. Ive included links to all the parts so if you want you can order them yourself and follow along with the build. All parts were sourced from Hobbyking as they seem to have the best prices and its just convenient to get it all at once.
- The Frame… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=22800&aff=338594
- The Flight Controller… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=21977&aff=338594
- The Flight Controller Programmer (for flashing and updating the MCU)… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=21321&aff=338594
- The Power Distribution Board… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=23140&aff=338594
- The Propellers… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=5247&aff=338594
- The Counter Rotating Propellers… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=5249&aff=338594
I already have batteries, ESC (electronic speed controller) & motor combos from the last build but these are no longer available, but to complete the list Id recommend the following combos:
- The Motor: Turnigy LD2840A… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=22846&aff=338594
- The ESC: TURNIGY Plush 40amp Speed Controller… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=2165&aff=338594
This Combo should give you about 3.2 kg worth of lift (not including Frame weight) theoretically, but will require a battery that can provide 160 Amps or more for that I would suggest a battery with a capacity of 4-5000mah and a C rating of 40-50. This battery would be more than adequate… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=19153&aff=338594
- The Motor: Turnigy 2830 Brushless… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=21637&aff=338594
- The ESC: HobbyKing 30A BlueSeries… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=13429&aff=338594
This Combo should give you about 3.6kg worth of lift and is a little more sparing on the amps. At full throttle it should only draw 72A with the ESC’s combined able to provide 120A. This should allow you to keep them cool while running. Id recommend a battery with a capacity of 2-3000Mah and a “C” rating of 40-50. the following would be more than adequate… http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=19123&aff=338594
Note: If your worried about your Li-Po battery of choice being able to provide the needed Amps, let me shed a little light on the cryptic ratings given to batteries and help you figure out what you need for your own setup. First things first, you don’t need to be an electronics whiz to figure this stuff out, just remember that in terms of current (think current of a river) 1000 Milli-amps = 1 Amp and Mah means milliamp hours ie. 1000mah will provide 1000 Milli-amps for an hour.
Your Li-Po battery will have several ratings, namely a “C” rating, a capacity rating in Mah (milliamp hours or Milli-amps for an hour) and an “S” count.
So a battery with 2000mah will provide 2000 Milli-amps for an hour or 1000 Milli-amps for 2 hours, 500 Milli-amps for 4 hours and so on.
The “C” rating means capacity in relation to the capacity rating “Mah”. So a battery with a 30C rating will provide 30 times its capacity.. for example a 2000mah battery with 30C will provide up to 60,000 Milli-amps (30 x 2000mah) but will drain the battery 30 times quicker.
The “S” count means number of cells, so 1S = 1 cell, 2S = 2 cells etc. Each cell has a voltage of 3.7 Volts. Thats where you get your voltage ratings of 2S or 7.4V, 3S or 11.1V etc.
Lets take for example a setup with 4 ESC’s with a rating of 20 Amps each, which means they’ll manage to provide your motors with up 20 Amps each for a total of 80 Amps drawn from the battery. That means for a battery with a 2000mah rating it will need a “C” rating of 40C (40 x 2000Mah) or more to provide 80 Amps or 80,000 Milli-amps. At the same time a battery with 4000Mah will only need a rating of 20 Amps (20 x 4000mah). Remember this means your battery will be maxed out and will heat up accordingly, so you’ll want to give yourself some head room. the more the better… Just don’t go crazy.
Your motors will also have a rating in amps which will need to be lower than your ESC’s rating. So if your motor says it draws a max of 20 Amps you will need an ESC that is rated higher than that. You could match the motor with a 20 Amp ESC but, that will mean your ESC will be working at its peak if your motor requires its max rating, meaning your ESC will heat up quickly. A good rule of thumb is that you should choose your ESC so that you have a good 10-20% head room from the motors max Amps drawn and give your battery a further 10% headroom from what the total max draw will be from your ESC’s and don’t max out your throttle all the time. Happy flying.
UAVme 