New flyer here

Just got into drones a bit, spur of the moment.

Had a cheap rc helicopter, a family member accidentally broke, half asleep looking online and with cupon's, picked up an HS400 for a little more than $60 on Amazon.

Got it yesturday, charged it up, a couple walk behind flights and by trial and error and youtube learned more than the manual had.

Since it was raining, went with a friend to train her horse and get some practice in an indoor arena, between 4 batteries, 2 cheap ones for 4min flight and the 2 that came for about 8min each, only lightly brushed the wall once.

Feeling a little bit comfortable keeping in speed one till I get alot more practice.

Since it rains alot here, picked up a JJRC H31 which should arrive tomorrow and they seem durable and I won't feel so bad crashing a cheaper drone while learning.

I got extra batteries for them, on the slow shipping have a Furibee F36 for indoor practice.

Given I use 18650 batteries for all kinds of things, I'm thinking about possible building a bigger battery for the HS400.

I've been in possession of a drone for only 24hrs now, I work 6 days a week so finding a good day to fly is harder, which is why a H31 and F36 was ordered for practice rather than practice with only the HS400

Looking for advise and tips.

The H31 looks cool like a gas.


Welcome to the forum and good luck.

I may have to slow down a bit, since things arrive on the slow boat, I made another purchase,

JJRC H47 plus.

Spare batteries and charger, spare parts for other drones, and because if not used for the drone I have other uses, a 5.8g camera/transmitter and receiver/display.

Played with the HS400 in the driveway last night, discovered the lights are not very visible. Likely to disassemble some low voltage LED lights and install some better lights on the HS400 and possibly others...

Can anyone tell me the type of battery connector on the HS400, I'm looking to get spares.

That's called an HXT connector. Search on Amazon for "Syma X8C battery", since they use the same connector and battery size.

Is that the 4mm HXT connector?

On a side note, my H31 arrived tonight, assembled the landing gear and prop guards, charged the battery, and while probably not the best idea, did a test flight.

Reason for probably not a good idea, heavy rain, dark, wind gusts, small fly area...

I stayed under the eve of the house, flew at most 15' in front, a little altitude and a gust of wind, almost crashed it on the roof.

I still have lots to practice, just trying to hover was difficult, but that probably had more to do with the downpour and wind gusts. Still, with rain forcast for the next 10 days, should make for some good practice and training.

Made sure to quickly cut power in for a crash as I have heard that not doing so will damage the motors and gears...

Got to learn the controller buttons.

Having fun, I have lots to learn.

I think it's the 4mm HXT connector, but I'm not sure and I haven't seen the 3.5mm and 4mm side by side to compare. I can tell you that the X8 series batteries will work, so whichever one that is....

I work 5-6days, I take a kwad or 2 in now & again & go flying on my break on some open land next door. Chase all the seagulls onto the car park so they poop all over the managers cars.

mozquito1 said:

I work 5-6days, I take a kwad or 2 in now & again & go flying on my break on some open land next door. Chase all the seagulls onto the car park so they poop all over the managers cars.

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Unfortunately that's not really an option for me right now, I work installing and servicing Satellite TV and don't know where I will be every day till I get my next work order.

My supervisor flies drones and when I half joked about the possibility to bringing one to work, he changed subjects....

Would be nice if I could bring one to work.

Do you get a break, do you pass open fields. Sod him.

mozquito1 said:

Do you get a break, do you pass open fields. Sod him.

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I do get breaks but at customer homes and flying a drone camera or not could land some complaints.

. So you got to take a break @ a customers house. As a customer I wouldn't be happy with that unless it's an all day thing. Unless your van has GPS, save the break till you pass a park & change your top. A break is a break you are entitled to & here in the UK you can do what you want.

My manager asked me to bring mine in. So any chance there is flying weather now, I'm flying. They can't stop me.

mozquito1 said:

My manager asked me to bring mine in. So any chance there is flying weather now, I'm flying. They can't stop me.

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Being here in the Pacific NW, I bought a waterproof rated drone for use in the rain so will see how waterproof it really is. JJR/C H31.

Steven Campbell said:

Unfortunately that's not really an option for me right now, I work installing and servicing Satellite TV and don't know where I will be every day till I get my next work order.

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I'm a Sat Installer Tech too (AT&T) ... Don't fly at any CX's house by any means, but there's nothing that says if you happen to pass an enticing
place to fly that you can't "stretch" your ETA a little bit to get some flight time in.

Gyro Doctor said:

I'm a Sat Installer Tech too (AT&T) ... Don't fly at any CX's house by any means, but there's nothing that says if you happen to pass an enticing
place to fly that you can't "stretch" your ETA a little bit to get some flight time in.

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AT&T as well, Legacy Directv.

No intentions on flying at customer homes.

Do you mean stretch the ETC instead of the ETA?

Steven Campbell said:

Do you mean stretch the ETC instead of the ETA?

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No, for several reasons: On site you're working and ONLY working. Plus you don't want to ruin your hourly income average by adding time
on to any jobs (which affects your offsite earnings). Also, it's against the rules.
Adding to any ETA though is entirely permissible (stopping to gas up, doing paperwork, communicating with fellow techs, reorganizing van,
pre-checking inventory, etc, etc) and (if you don't tell I won't) getting in some flying time

Just wanted to clarify.

I don't extend ETC for anything other than the actual job taking longer. My efficency is in the toilet but that is due to a lot of contractors, retailers, and door to door salesman who do only enough work for things to work while they are there and SC are turned into full install rebuilds.

We were moved to hourly here so no more SMA.

Odds are if I do find a place to fly, it will either be on lunch or idle time when no work is available, but here at 6 days a week 10+ hours a day, I have not had idle time in months.

Steven Campbell said:

at 6 days a week 10+ hours a day, I have not had idle time in months.

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Same here .... idle time? What is this thing "idle time" you speak of? ... lol ...

Took my H31 to work as I was headed to an area where work tends to be lighter with tons of open areas... Well, ended up driving all over for an over 12hrs work day.

Met another tech before heading home, he saw the H31 in basic take off and 4' of flight and asked me to order him one.


Learned a decent lesson tonight, flew the H31 down the driveway, decided on speed 3 but flew at a hight of 2' to avoid going to high and loosing it.. Well, full throttle forward drops the drone so additional throttle to keep the low altitude. End of the driveway, got to reverse course, unfortunately that throttle up to hold altitude launches this little drone in no time.

I work 48hrs. 8-5:30pm
A typical summer day, I'm up @ 5am take 8lipos out till abt 7:15. Goto work. With another 4 Lipo's. Fly them @ dinner. Then recharge them & another 4 if I can.
Go flying after work. Then if I feel like it I can ask the mrs to put some on charge, nip home & get em & come back for another hour. So a good day is about 3hrs flight time.