Quad What am Eye doing here???

[EyeStation]

Venturing into a part of the forum that I have not posted in before. At least not with anything more than a voyeuristic post.
Well, I stumbled across a little sumptin' that was in a price range that seemed worth a try.
An unfinished HK kit, the Bumblebee 550. Saw on the HK site the kit goes for $200+ and you need to buy the controller, ESC's and RX.
I managed to get the kit in this condition,



"Flight board Hobby King KK 2.0 , with a Q Brain 4x 20 amp esc also included is a NIB spectrum 6 channel receiver.
This has been assembled but never ran or powered up"

The seller says the motor to ESC wires will need to be extended, but that seems common.
Bought the sucker for &150 shipped.

I looked at this thinking if I don't like it I can dump it on my brother who has the FPV bug buzzing around in his head.

Any words of wisdom on this craft? I know I should have asked first, but the weather has had me indoors for too long and somehow buying something always breaks the cabin fever.

 

[Stambo]

Congrats on the purchase.

First thing to order is a usb asp programmer if you don't already have one.
Flash that KK2 to 1.5 or 1.6 firmware.
That way the autolevel will actually work and once it is set up you don't have to continuously correct to keep it still.

Don't know a thing about the qbrain but I do know kk2s work better with a simonk flashed esc.

What size motors and props?
What are you going to run it on 3s or 4s?

This thing when it's properly set up will be easier to fly than a heli.

A friend was going to sell his quad because it didn't fly proper.
Gave it to me for a week and now he loves it.

 

[EyeStation]

Thats awesome news. Not sure about the batteries and other things yet. Stupid me with an impulse buy. Glad to hear this is not a really cheap knock off.
As for USB flash ability, I have a few dongles from both my onroad days and a few of these aircraft ESC's. Not sure how dedicated these connections are, But I am taking your software update to heart.
It should be at my door by this coming Thursday. I can check out what the electronics actually are. I believe it is the stock HK kit for motors and props.
And i happened across another purchase yesterday that may suit this thing well towards a FPV,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/301086483224?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I guess the only thing that comes to mind at the start is if the 20 A ESC's will cut it with any extra weight on this puppy.

- - - Updated - - -

 

[Stambo]

Better off with a dedicated FPV cam or something like this if you want to fly and record at the same time.
A lot lighter and smaller.
I use this but it's a bit more expensive.
As far as FPV goes there is a lot of research to get what you want.
What is right for me may not suit you.
You can start with a basic kit and build from there.

Stick the FPV gear on your buggy first so you get a taste of it.

To work out whether your ESCs are good enough, secure your quad down, put an ammeter on the battery feed and bring the throttle up briefly.
BE CAREFUL, wear safety glasses if your meter cannot be seen from far enough away or does not have a peak hold feature.
Divide the total by 4 and there is your max figure.

 

[Derek]

Very very cool buddy! I love the look and the size of that quad. Very nice! I want a quad or a tri in such a bad way. Just not sure if I want to buy one or build one. Both methods have their advantages. I look forward to seeing some footage of this quad flying!

 

[wolfman76]

Personally i would ditch the qbrain esc and upgrade to 4 30amp afro esc's... they come preinstalled with simonk software.... i just would not trust an esc with all 4 inn one unit if one goes out it is coming down...

 

[EyeStation]

FPV is a long way off for me. The Sony cam was a pickup for flight filming not for FPV specifically. I have had the itch, as Derek does, and saw something that fit in my "Impulse Buy" price range.
Being an HK model, I don't know what mess I got into for getting replacement parts. So, time will tell how and where this winds up. If i get bored with normal flight and lose the FPV bug, It will go off to my brother.

 

[Graham Lawrie]

Brilliant purchase Looks a good deal cant wait for your first video

 

[Stambo]

Personally i would ditch the qbrain esc and upgrade to 4 30amp afro esc's... they come preinstalled with simonk software.... i just would not trust an esc with all 4 inn one unit if one goes out it is coming down...

As far as a quad goes, if a single ESC goes out it is still coming down.
I agree as far as replacing it is concerned but more because it is only 20 amp and may not be up to the task on a heavier quad.
As far as reliability is concerned, to me it is unknown and again to me that would be another factor.

 

[EyeStation]

Well gang, I got the Bumblebee wired up and am now going through the setup.
I have the receiver check done to correctly display the proper directions , and have subtrim'd all the channels to zero using the same display.
My motor configuration is set got Quad-X, and Load setup is correct for each of the motors, starting with M1 front left, M2 front right, M3 rear right and M4 rear left.
When I throttle up and stick left aileron, the left side motors speed up, right aileron rev's up the right side motors. The same for the elevator, forward stick rev's the front set and backward rev's the rear set.
Lifting the quad and tilting it produces the reverse correction from the gyros.
Also the Mixing Editor has the proper polarity for Aileron roll commands and Elevator pitch commands for teach motor in the assigned position.
Oh, and the KK2.0 is mounted with the switches towards the back of the Quad and the sensors towards the front.
Any suggestions?
[video=youtube_share;3W0CIQSbcw0]http://youtu.be/3W0CIQSbcw0[/video]

 

[EyeStation]

You know, sometimes all it takes is to sit back and look over things once again.
Throughout this wiring, I did not have the Bumblebee manual. Well went to the HK site and DL'd that multilingual manual. Low and behold, the motor configuration is counter clockwise from the front right motor. Even though I have my motors wired up as the KK2.0 configuration shows on the LCD.
Gonna have to pull the wires through the arms and rotate this Brain(?) around.
Does this sound like I am on the right track?

 

[Stambo]

You know, sometimes all it takes is to sit back and look over things once again.
Throughout this wiring, I did not have the Bumblebee manual. Well went to the HK site and DL'd that multilingual manual. Low and behold, the motor configuration is counter clockwise from the front right motor. Even though I have my motors wired up as the KK2.0 configuration shows on the LCD.
Gonna have to pull the wires through the arms and rotate this Brain(?) around.
Does this sound like I am on the right track?

For some reason your video does not load for me.
My suggestion is, pull the servo leads from the KK2.
Do you have a servo tester?
Hook the servo tester (or a receiver) to each servo lead and identify which motor runs.
Then hook them as the KK2 wants.
Ignore everything else number wise, what the KK2 needs to know is when it sends a signal to LF motor it will respond and so will each of the others.

 

[EyeStation]

Labels are there to be seen, right?
My mistake was how I had the Q-Brain mounted. When I placed it on the bottom of the lower plate, I installed it with the label facing down. I think it was printed with the idea of this being placed on top of the frame and not the underside. So I flipped the Brain to be Label side up, and the wiring follows through as expected. All the motors are spinning the correct way, the gyro correction is the correct direction and all my stick controls work as expected...........On the bench without props.
I will see when I get home what it does with blades on.

 

[Stambo]

Good that you have it sorted.
My solution would have had the same result, but that was assuming the Qbrain was labeled differently, not incorrectly installed.
Must be nearly maiden time.
When it comes to setting up KK2, look up Dhdsracer on YouTube.
He has some of the best KK2 setup videos out there.
How have you mounted the KK2?
They don't like vibrations so make sure your props are well balanced.
I have a video of doing this with a laser, while the props are mounted.
That way you balance the motors and props as an assembly.
I can link it if you like.
Then it's just a case of tweaking your gains until it flies right.
Good luck, looking forward to the videos.

 

[EyeStation]

Got it squared away enough to start tweaking the TX.
Thanks for the help and interest Stambo. I will be watching those suggested KK videos you pointed out.
Here is proof I am getting somewhere.
[video=youtube_share;zh0MN1Eh4BA]http://youtu.be/zh0MN1Eh4BA[/video]

And a look at the KK mount. And the Q-Brain below, (mistakenly referred to as the KK in the video)
[video=youtube_share;myFkwXgS2Hc]http://youtu.be/myFkwXgS2Hc[/video]

 

[Stambo]

That looks great so far.
That is how I mount my KK2s.
Seems to work fine. I assume it is ds taped to the inside of that box.
Even that rx floating around can upset things so you need to secure it somehow.
Once you start tweaking gains and things it will get easier to maintain a hover, but where you are flying it is pointless even trying.
You get so much turbulence off those props that it will mess with any settings you try to do.
Walls and furniture in a smallish room reflect the air straight back at the quad. (ask me how I know )
You need a nice still day outside and at least a couple or 5 batteries.
But it looks like you are getting there.
Keep at it, you'll be throwing it around in no time.

 

[EyeStation]

Got it light up a bit with seven 12volt waterproof RGB LED Modules.
Gonna have to see if I like the tail light configuration after I see it up above my head.
[video=youtube_share;6sUk7V4KFF0]http://youtu.be/6sUk7V4KFF0[/video]

 

[EyeStation]

And a bit of Lighted hover. You were absolutely right about the crazy winds in this little room. You can watch the guitar strap beating against the wall. Once I get it to about chest high, I can notice the stability change for the better.
[video=youtube_share;aE8MP8MhlBk]http://youtu.be/aE8MP8MhlBk[/video]

 

[Stambo]

Thats lookin pretty good already. Be interesting to see it outside with some room.
Do you have autolevel on?
Have you updated the firmware?
If not, do yourself a favour and update to 1.5 or 1.6 firmware.
It is a huge improvement.
It makes autolevel work really well.
I rarely if ever fly a KK2 without autolevel on.
I have it hooked to a switch which turns it on by default, if you want to turn it off you can.

 

[EyeStation]

Well got the HK gimbbal for the Bumblebee and set my Cannon Power Shot digital camera on it for a test. I think I nailed the COG, just had a bit of trouble getting it started, lol. Next test I'll get the camera off of the Auto setting.
[video=youtube_share;HvWy8NPqbec]http://youtu.be/HvWy8NPqbec[/video]