Quad RCH 250 Quad

Tony

Staff member
Whatup everyone. I'm sure you have all seen the build video of this little guy (it has a lot of names since it's a clone of a few different quads) but this is the quad that I purchased from Ebay to see if it would do any good, adn I have been quite surprised. Besides the ESC that I fried (tried to solder new wires onto it and put a little too much heat into the board), this thing has been flawless. And I'm still running the CC3D with the stock firmware. I did have to do some adjusting to the PID settings, but it's pretty darn stable now.

This is the platform that I'm going to use in all upcoming videos on FPV gear. In fact, I have a few of them here now that I need to shoot some video on. However, there is something major wrong with the VTX, and you will see what that is in the video on it hehe.

So I just took this quad outside with said VTX on it to see how it would fly and see how hot the VTX would get. Even though I didn't have a VRX setup, it was still transmitting. I'm happy to say that it didn't get that hot for a 600mw VTX.

The other thing that I tested was the CoG with this VTX on there. And again, it was good.

I also needed to test the battery that I flew on it. You see, when I did the runcam video, I used this battery on the quad. Well, I thought something went wrong with a piece of equipment (VTX, camera, whatever) but it turns out, the battery voltage got so low that it couldn't power anything. This was a couple weeks ago, maybe 3 and I hadn't done anything but check it a couple weeks to to make sure there was still voltage in it. There was, but it was wicked low.

To this morning, I decided to go ahead and put it on the charger. I was already charging a 2200 on my icharger, so I decided to use the DP6 that I use as a backup (I have two of them if you remember). I plugged it in and hit go, and it said Voltage Low. Crap!!! So I waited until the 2200 was done and I sorta 'juiced' the 1300 pack and hit play again, this time it went.

Disclaimer: I will not say what 'juiced' means because doing it is HIGHLY DANGEROUS and should not be done by anyone! Do as I say, not as I do lol.

But it went. I was charging it at 5 amps (it's rated for it) and it got done in record time. I thought there was no way that it was done. So I put it on the quad and went out flying. And I'm not talking about just hovering around. I'm talking quite a few full throttle passes making those props scream! lol. It actually flew a full 5 minutes and still had plenty of power left.

I will be watching this pack really close to see if it puffs up. If it does, I know this puff is from misuse and not just age (which is what my other packs suffer from, they are OLD! lol). So if this one does puff, it will definitely have a nail driven through it. But for now, it's a pretty good pack.

5 minutes of spirited flight with a 600mw VTX running and a camera on a pack that was WAY over discharged. I accept that lol.
 

Tony

Staff member
Nope, no video. And there is not going to be any. The VRX that I have will not work with any of the VTX's that I have. So the whole FPV thing is a bust. I tried and it didn't work out.
 

Tony

Staff member
VTX's are cheap ones for review. Just don't have the cash to get a good one. And the VRX is the ImmersionRC 5800DUO V3. Thought it was the 32 channel version, but it's not, it's only a 7 channel and NONE of the bands work with the VTX's that I have. $85 down the drain.
 

Tony

Staff member
so I just installed a new flight controller in my quad. Did the video on setting it up (basic) then I went outside and crashed the crap out of it. Moral of the story, raise your roll rates and/or get a LOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT HIGHER!!! It hit the ground with a HUGE thump. Not sure if the mic picked it up or not. We will find out....
 

Tony

Staff member
So Matt came down today and crashed the CRAP out of my quad... I mean, WOW :shocked:

We started out just flying around getting him used to FPV (which I was able to talk him into and he flew FPV for the first time) and then we started testing some antennas. We decided on the last battery that we were going ot fly (it's always that last friggin battery, just ONE MORE PACK he said...) that we were going to record the flight to do a comparison on different antennas.

He takes it up and he is getting a little too comfortable with it and ends up going over the neighbors house and almost crashing into their trees. then he ends up over the field behind the neighbors house... But he punched it and was able to get control and kept flying it around.

Then, on the far corner of my property we hear a POP and the thing complete changes sound. At this time I also lost signal to the video feed. I tell him to bring it down (I expected him to just cut the throttle) and he slowly starts to come down, but this thing is a hand full. It ends up drifting right into the VERY TOP OF A TREE... :facepalm:

So we walk over there and try to find it, can't see it. Matt walks back to get teh Tx and by arming it the props automatically spin and we locate it. But, it's wrapped around a limb and will not come down. Thankfully my old neighbor was here and he looked at us and said (well, I guess I'm the skinniest guy here) and starts going up the tree. We finally get it knocked loose and it gets stuck on the lower limbs. Matt was able to knock it out of there and I caught it.

Turns out, the issue was a prop that broke. Just friggin broke off one side of the prop. The vibration caused the power wire to come unplugged from the VTX. I spin it up on the ground and put it about 6" in the air to see what it was like, and the other side of the prop comes off. Never did find that part lol.

So I look for my other props (had 6030's on it and wanted to try 6040's) and I can't find them anywhere. I have no idea where they are. But the props off the Runner 250 fit. Fantastic. I put it back up and it flies pretty good. Not as good as I hoped, but pretty good.

So Matt crashed the crap out of my quad, got it stuck in a tree and then stole my reactor for my aquarium and left... lmao. What a friggin day... And yes, I have all of it on video, kind of. There is no sound. And this was a straight LOS flight since we didn't know what the antennas were going to do. Which is why he almost lost it over the neighbors house. If it would have been FPV, it would have been fine.

And we also verified the old VTX I have is complete crap and was the cause of all of the issues that I was having before. We tried both Rx's that I have (cheap single and a cheap diversity) and never could get it to lose signal. All in all, it was quite an interesting day to say the least.
 

Tony

Staff member
He was going to take it home, but he had to stop by Lowes and get some tubing for the reactor and didn't want it in his truck when he was in the store (not that I can blame him). So yes, I still have his 550 lmao. I need to thread lock the tail blades on it and put the little thing back in the air. Same with Murphy. But damn this little quad was fun today!!!
 

Tony

Staff member
Well, I took the 250 out for a flight today. If any of you are in or around the Oklahoma area (Rodney, you know what I'm talking about) you know this was a bonehead move. But, had to do something to try and get these videos done. And for those of you that are not around here, the wind is BLOWING!!! I said no once already today, but this thing was crying at me to put it in the air... so I did...

To start off with I have been messing with this thing all day. Well, not just the quad but everything. I needed to find a way to get my video from a single Rx then split it so that one feed could go to my cheap-ass goggles and the other feed could go to my computer. Sounds simple enough until you realize that I do not have a long 4 pin cord to run from the Rx to the video input device, be it the cheap-ass goggles or my computer. So I worked to rig something up for the time being. And after figuring out I had to short the audio ports to gain ground for the video (3 pin into 4 pin, or vice versa doesn't play well together), I had it working. The video was washed out on the computer, but it was somewhat decent.

So after all of that work, I decided to go ahead and take the cheap-ass goggles, the quad, the DX9 and the long power cord I made for the cheap-ass goggles outside to "test" :chuckles:

I get out there and I decide I had better do a LOS flight just to make sure everything is okay and I'm not going to die from teh wind. I did, and it went well even though now the quad had a right drift to it... Damn clone boards.

It was time!

I landed the quad in a short patch of grass, put the cheap-ass goggles on and holy crap this camera is MUCH BETTER than the one that is on the runner 250. Much wider FOV. But with a wide FOV, you also don't know just how close you are to things... Who cares, lets fly.

I forgot to mention, the Rx was on the goggles with a 2200mah 3s pack sitting on my deck next to me. No base station just yet.

So I have the cheap-ass goggles on, FOV looks fantastic, I flip off hold (I armed it) and hit the throttle and I'm in the air. I do some very slow circuits and it becomes VERY apparent that this wider lens is going to be an issue. And it was...

I start flying pretty fast and I make a left bank turn to come in front of the trees in my front yard. I realize they are coming up very fast so I lowered the throttle and ducked under them and flew under every single one of them at a pretty good rate of speed. Oh yea, Head size just doubled!!! lmao.

So I keep flying like that, faster, higher, lower, then I do a fast banked turn around the tree that is in the middle of the yard that killed the RCH Edge 540. Oh Yeah, Head of MAX SIZE!!!

So I keep pushing it, I went out into the field next to my house, hard banked turn, hauling ass back towards me and there it is, fence post... I hit the throttle and pulled back bringing the quad within inches of the post, but missed it. Okay, I have to get back down to the ground and do some more of this low level flying!!! This is badass. So I nose down, hit the throttle and right here the camera bit me in the ass. The ground came up HOLY S*** FAST. Yup, crashed the crap out of it. Head deflated like a balloon you forgot to tie off then let go of...

And this is why I love these 250 quads. I went out and got it out of the tall grass and set it back down in the one patch of short grass and it was ready to fly again. So I take off and start off like I did last time, just putting around. Cool, things are great. So I decide to go back out to the field, hard bank, then instead of going under the tree in the middle of the yard, I want to go above and around it. So I do. And it was perfect.

Until...

I decided I wanted to piro around, nose down and try to fly back under it the opposite way. Guess what this wide FOV will not show you... It will not show you what is BEHIND YOU! lmao.

As I made the turn to go under the tree and quickly drop altitude, I didn't realize I had that much speed, adn when I cranked it around to drop, I was still going backwards, but the camera wouldn't show that because of the wide FOV. Guess what... I backed that ass right up into a tree... She dropped to the ground like a rock!!!

Walk of shame :sad2:

I put it back up in the air the third time because these quads are awesome and still not a scratch on it. This time, I tried to go back under the trees like I did before and caught a branch. Wasn't going fast, wasn't doing anything like before, I just didn't see the friggin thing lmao.

So yea, that battery was pretty good. But that wind! Holy crap it was pushing me around the whole friggin time. So much so that any video I would have got would have been horrible. I have not worked on my PID settings so those being too high compounded by the wind that was kicking my ass all over the place, yea, there is no video today.... It sucks but I don't want people getting sick all over their keyboard and blaming me lmao.

Maybe next weekend. My job sucks...
 

Stambo

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you enjoyed yourself despite the wind.
Now you are starting to see the real appeal of these things.
High speed low altitude proximity FPV flying really gets you buzzing.
I always say it's the best adrenaline sport you can do without putting your body on the line.
As for crashing, you will do plenty of that, but as you have found, these things tend to be pretty resilient.
Just make sure you have plenty of you chosen props spare.
I consider props as a consumable, I generally buy 40 or 50 at a time. :)

I have 2 suggestions for you,
1. Pick a camera FOV and stick with it, this way you get used to what you are seeing and learn to judge distance better.
Changing to different FOVs all the time will just stuff you up.

2. Get used to flying ACRO. Once you do and you get those PIDs dialled in, the wind will have less influence and your flights will get smoother.
ACRO is much more like flying a 6 channel heli, it pretty much stays where you put it. Once you do it, self level will seem so robotic.
It's not so hard to change, do your first few packs at altitude and then come down slowly, you will never regret it.

I tend to charge a couple of packs so that I just have to use them within a day or 3.
That way if it looks a little too windy, I still fly.
Afterwards I wonder what I was worried about.
I have flown heli's and fixed wing but a 250 size quad is the only thing I will fly when it's "too windy" for anything else. :)
 
Last edited:

Tony

Staff member
Here is the story on the camera.

Last weekend when Matt was down here crashing the crap out of this quad in the VERY TOP of a tree, I tried to put the runcam swift on the quad for him to do his first fpv flight with. I could get the "www.Rc-help.com" to show up at the bottom of the screen, but the image was trash. An I could not figure out what was wrong. So I had this other camera from the runner 250 and it worked.

It turned out the VTX that I have puts out 4.92 volts to the camera. The runcam needs 5v-17v and that .08 volt was enough to kill the signal. But the 12v camera from the runner 250 worked just fine. It didn't make any sense. But once I took the plug out of the VTX and plugged it into an empty port on the Naze32 the camera worked perfectly.

I'm going to stick with the runcam swift. I just wish it had the IR filter on it. Might need to get an IR lens since I don't fly in low light.

and yes, acro is coming. eventually lol.
 

Tony

Staff member
Nah, I'm not scared of it. I do fly in acro just not on video. Angle or Horizon makes for a much better video.
 

Tony

Staff member
Just put on some 5x4.5x3 Gemfan props on the quad. It's faster and quieter, much more punch, a lot more lift and a lot of fun. I'm thinking I'm going to have an issue flying through the trees now...
 

Tasajara

Active Member
Are you saying you don't fly in Acro ??? Tony.... Man I don't see how you do the auto level on FPV. Auto level would make me crash, or just drive me crazy.
I like when I get the quad at the right pitch if I let off on the stick it don't always go flat, especially in turns..

Just go for it on Acro.... it's like taking the training wheels off more freedom of movement.

I don't ever worry about the wind with quads, Only time the wind matters is when I fly my light 3D planes, they get blown around a lot.
 
Last edited:

Tony

Staff member
Great, now I have someone else hounding me about flying acro hahahaha. Fine, I will start flying acro in the next video. I just received some new cables in to hopefully improve the video quality that I record. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow morning before we start the server work and get a few flights in and shoot a couple videos. Here's hoping.
 

Tony

Staff member
Went out this morning to see if the new cables would give a better video quality than I had before. Answer... Nope. Same crap quality, same washed out images, same crap video. One break, that is all I ask for. As with the last time, I guess this is the end of my FPV adventure. It was fun while it lasted. Who am I kidding, it's been a nightmare...
 
Top Bottom