Upgradebility compatibility question.

[MarkS]

Hi,
New to this forum. I have been playing around with a Hubsan 4X and have been planning to build a much larger more powerful quad. I hope to eventually mount a high quality camera for video and stills, but probably farther down the road. I have looked at a few different design ideas.

What I'm wanting to know is this......
1. Can I use a much more powerful motor and ESC set up than I really need to start with and just run it at a lower speed?
2. Are flight controllers compatible with all or most common motor and ESC set ups?
3. Can I use a battery pack that has much more than it needs to have in power output as well as mAh?
4. Can you run Lipo battery packs in parallel to increase flight time?

What I'm thinking is that I don't want to buy parts, build a quadcopter, and then have to change a whole bunch of parts further down the road when I want to mount a DSLR or some other heavy payload. I don't even know if this is a simple or complex question.

If you have upgraded from a lower power system to a high powered system, then you have a good idea of how to answer.

 

[John Doecliff]

1. I suppose but not really, do you mean start with a smaller frame then upgrade later with the same parts. I would just get something in the 450mm range and be done with it. The frame is the cheapest part.
2. yes
3.yes and no. voltage matters and high mAh battery's weigh more and that will cancel out the extra power.
4. Yes but the weight doubles so you still have issues. The bigger the frame/motor/prop/esc combination the more payload they can handle. A small quad will just become unstable.

 

[DerekJ]

Hey there.

I'm a complete rookie here but I think John makes a good point regarding a larger frame. Like you, I was looking for something that I could build onto as I become more proficient. I went with the HobbyKing x525 V3 frame. It's a 600mm frame and it's pretty stable. See my setup in my sig. As you can see, my AUW is only 1370g, which means I have a lot of headroom for when I eventually add my GPS, tall landing gear and a GoPro. I'm only 6 flights in but getting more proficient already as the larger size feels more solid and stable.