Building custom 450 Quadcopter (Advice)

[Hamish]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently undergoing my first quadcopter project. I previously had one semi-working with minor faults and my battery has seemed to not work anymore. My parts are listed below of what i currently have.

-450 frame
-40A ESC Hobbywing
-Turnigy Multistar 2213-980Kv
-kk 2.1.5
-10x4.5'' props
-Flysky fs-t6

From this i want to know what battery would be best suited for my motor and efficiency. I was thinking a 4S 4500mah, but i would really like if someone could help me understand how to choose the battery given the specification of other parts i.e. motors and escs. Could you also explain how to charge and look after the battery to keep its efficiency and what chargers you recommend.

Also would you recommend i change the micro-controller to Adrupilot or learn via this and then upgrade later?

The problem i had previously is that the quadcopter spun in a anti-clockwise direction. Something wrong with the yaw, that i could not figure out. I bought new parts better than the chinese ones, to help rectify this issue, just waiting on the parts and needing help with choosing the right battery.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Hamish

 

[Jackson]

These are 3s/11v motors.

 

[Hamish]

So if max current of my motor is 15A, does that mean i'm limited with the type of battery i need i.e. i can't use a 6000mah 3s 10C?

 

[Hamish]

Also is the prop size correct?

Because my max amps is 15 am i limited to a certain prop size so i don't overheat my motor?

 

[Jackson]

"motor is 15A, does that mean i'm limited with the type of battery i need i.e. i can't use a 6000mah 3s 10C" be cutting it tight (works out to 60A @ 10C) but where did you find a 6000mAh with such a low C rating?

"amps is 15 am i limited to a certain prop size" prop size is usually determined by KV and volts, most manufacturers would provide more data than HK did.

Scroll down and you'll see a nice chart.
http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-SunnySky-X2212-KV980-Brushless-Motor-p-60600.html


Painless has many good vids.

 

[Hamish]

Do i want Amps x C to be > total max amp x 4 for motors or less.

i was just using a hypothetical for the battery. Thanks for the videos though they provide good info. Using ecalc i have some outcomes below.

 

[GJH105775]

Ah*C does in fact = amps supplied, if you go a little over that, it should be fine. This is because you are not drawing max amps for very long, and if you are your motors won't last long.


Take a look at this threadt I posted.

 

[GJH105775]

I just looked at your specs and noticed that you could go with bigger props. You could try experimenting with different sizes in the calculator. Get the size with the best efficiency, or thrust depending if your carrying a load.

 

[Hamish]

So i changed the prop size to 11x3 and got an efficiency of 75.3% @ maximum, do i want to increase size and decrease pitch? i noticed it improved hover time but decreased both flight time and mixed flight time. What effect does changing pitch have, does that only effect the climb rate? Sorry for all the questions just trying to learn to improve my quad-copter to optimize its performance and flight time.

 

[GJH105775]

Increased pitch will generally increase lift, but the biggest gain is that it will give your motors the ability to pull the quad faster with less speed. This could help wiht stability and the speed of the quad, providing the pitch is not too much, or the prop size is not too big. I use 4.7 pitch, and like them a lot more than 4.5.

 

[GJH105775]

Here is a little from a guide I am working on right now.

• Choosing props

• • Size
    • Bigger props require lower KV
  • Pitch
  • The pitch is the angle of the blade. Pitch is measured in how many inches the prop would move forward or backwards when it makes one revolution around the center axis, this is assuming there were no gravity and that the air were dense.
    

Number of blades.

• • Most multi-copters use 2 blade fixed pitch props, but it is common for 250 class multi-copters to use 3 blade propellers, as they allow the same thrust with an inch less diameter and do better when the craft needs to change directions quickly. It is not common practice, but there are multi-copters that use single blade propellers. This is done because fewer blades is more energy efficient, and therefore a single blade propeller is the most efficient design.