thavermin
Member
I thought I'd share some of my limited experience with 250 FPV racing quads so that hopefully some of you can learn from my mistakes and save yourself some frustration and expense.
I've been flying an emax 250 (clone) for about 4 months now and have started having some fairly fast paced races and inevitably a lot of high speed crashes in a forest near my home. So far I've broken 2 arms, 2 motors, an ESC, 2 FPV transmitters and had to retire a few propellers. In that time I've learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do - but I know there is still far more to learn.
The following tips are based upon a single series of events (failures) caused by one little wire not being placed correctly... one... little... wire...
I learned a lot that day...
I had just finished building a 250 quad for my friends birthday present and it was the finest work I'd done so far. All of the wires were as short as they could be. The soldering joints were clean and I'd remembered to put the heat shrink on every time... Everything was placed in such a way to be easily disassembled. It was clean, simple and beautiful. I was a bit jealous of my friends new toy so I decided to fix my quad up and give it the minimalist treatment too. By the time I was halfway through my build I was getting tired of building and wanted to fly. So I quickly added in the FPV, connected the radio receiver and went out for a fly.
Tip 1: Don't rush your build!
It doesn't matter if you're building a quad from scratch, replacing a component or doing repairs - pay attention and don't rush. Even after building, repairing and replacing multiple quads and components and thinking I was infallible - I made the embarrassing error of soldering my FPV power supply to two + connections, instead of + and -.... Yes... I know.... I'm an idiot. On the positive side (no pun intended) I did learn that doing this will not damage your FPV transmitter (well at least it didn't damage mine).
Tip 2: Always check that everything is working before leaving home! Especially after repairs!
When it comes to my experience with quads so far - there are few things more disappointing than charging all of your batteries, packing your kit and going out for a flight only to find that something isn't working. If I had checked my FPV before leaving home I could have sat down and retraced my steps to find the problem.
Tip 3: The simplest solution is usually the right one!
When my FPV didn't work I started troubleshooting. The lights on the transmitter weren't on so I figured it was either broken or it wasn't getting power. I traced the power cable back to the PDB to check for damaged wires and peeked in through the gap in the frame to see if my soldering joints had broken loose from the PDB. The wires were fine and the soldering joints were still solid so I immediately assumed that the transmitter must have been damaged. Maybe I had accidentally plugged in the battery without the antenna on?
I had a portable soldering iron with me... If I had checked where the wires were connected instead of just glancing at the connections I would have seen my error, fixed it and been FPV flying in 5 minutes. Instead I considered it unrepairable in the field and decided to fly visually instead.
Tip 4: Don't fly angry (recklessly)!
By this time I was pretty upset with myself for not checking everything before I left home - and after walking 30 minutes to our flying spot expecting to have a race with my friend I was definitely not content with simply going home or hovering around while my friend raced around our track. So I decided to do some flips and rolls.
Now, I can flip and roll in FPV adequately but I'd never tried it visually. But of course I was angry at the prospect of having to walk home, go out and buy a new FPV transmitter and then do more repairs. So I was determined to get some fun out of the day. Needless to say I crashed it every time. I did manage to flip it once but I lost control in the recovery and powered into the rocky ground. Undeterred, I went to pick it up to try again and... of course... one of the arms had snapped. Perfect...
Utterly defeated I slinked home, gently placed my quad down and after a few expletives and a slammed door I was on my way to buy replacement parts. Upon returning I began the fix. I had purchased thicker arms so I chose to replace each arm. I pulled off the lower frame exposing the PDB and the arms and began swapping them out. It wasn't until I had finished all 4 arms that I looked at the PDB and noticed my error. I swapped the incorrectly placed wire and tested the old FPV transmitter. It worked... I slowly sat back in my chair, put my hands over my eyes and with a mixture of relief, frustration and shame said to myself "at least you've learned your lesson".
I've been flying an emax 250 (clone) for about 4 months now and have started having some fairly fast paced races and inevitably a lot of high speed crashes in a forest near my home. So far I've broken 2 arms, 2 motors, an ESC, 2 FPV transmitters and had to retire a few propellers. In that time I've learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do - but I know there is still far more to learn.
The following tips are based upon a single series of events (failures) caused by one little wire not being placed correctly... one... little... wire...
I learned a lot that day...
I had just finished building a 250 quad for my friends birthday present and it was the finest work I'd done so far. All of the wires were as short as they could be. The soldering joints were clean and I'd remembered to put the heat shrink on every time... Everything was placed in such a way to be easily disassembled. It was clean, simple and beautiful. I was a bit jealous of my friends new toy so I decided to fix my quad up and give it the minimalist treatment too. By the time I was halfway through my build I was getting tired of building and wanted to fly. So I quickly added in the FPV, connected the radio receiver and went out for a fly.
Tip 1: Don't rush your build!
It doesn't matter if you're building a quad from scratch, replacing a component or doing repairs - pay attention and don't rush. Even after building, repairing and replacing multiple quads and components and thinking I was infallible - I made the embarrassing error of soldering my FPV power supply to two + connections, instead of + and -.... Yes... I know.... I'm an idiot. On the positive side (no pun intended) I did learn that doing this will not damage your FPV transmitter (well at least it didn't damage mine).
Tip 2: Always check that everything is working before leaving home! Especially after repairs!
When it comes to my experience with quads so far - there are few things more disappointing than charging all of your batteries, packing your kit and going out for a flight only to find that something isn't working. If I had checked my FPV before leaving home I could have sat down and retraced my steps to find the problem.
Tip 3: The simplest solution is usually the right one!
When my FPV didn't work I started troubleshooting. The lights on the transmitter weren't on so I figured it was either broken or it wasn't getting power. I traced the power cable back to the PDB to check for damaged wires and peeked in through the gap in the frame to see if my soldering joints had broken loose from the PDB. The wires were fine and the soldering joints were still solid so I immediately assumed that the transmitter must have been damaged. Maybe I had accidentally plugged in the battery without the antenna on?
I had a portable soldering iron with me... If I had checked where the wires were connected instead of just glancing at the connections I would have seen my error, fixed it and been FPV flying in 5 minutes. Instead I considered it unrepairable in the field and decided to fly visually instead.
Tip 4: Don't fly angry (recklessly)!
By this time I was pretty upset with myself for not checking everything before I left home - and after walking 30 minutes to our flying spot expecting to have a race with my friend I was definitely not content with simply going home or hovering around while my friend raced around our track. So I decided to do some flips and rolls.
Now, I can flip and roll in FPV adequately but I'd never tried it visually. But of course I was angry at the prospect of having to walk home, go out and buy a new FPV transmitter and then do more repairs. So I was determined to get some fun out of the day. Needless to say I crashed it every time. I did manage to flip it once but I lost control in the recovery and powered into the rocky ground. Undeterred, I went to pick it up to try again and... of course... one of the arms had snapped. Perfect...
Utterly defeated I slinked home, gently placed my quad down and after a few expletives and a slammed door I was on my way to buy replacement parts. Upon returning I began the fix. I had purchased thicker arms so I chose to replace each arm. I pulled off the lower frame exposing the PDB and the arms and began swapping them out. It wasn't until I had finished all 4 arms that I looked at the PDB and noticed my error. I swapped the incorrectly placed wire and tested the old FPV transmitter. It worked... I slowly sat back in my chair, put my hands over my eyes and with a mixture of relief, frustration and shame said to myself "at least you've learned your lesson".