Newbie-> from U818 to Bugs 3...and the learning to fly process for me

Wind even growing:

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Yes, I have experienced this drone flying in what was 20 mph winds (what I would call and extended gust). flew fine into it; returning was wild, and ended in forced landing :p

I think that FPV with some goggles would be really great. Looking forward to getting to that point. (The UDIC 818 I had was the FPV one. I couldn't do much while using the goggle with my even worse skill level at that time. I had my wife put it on while I flew it, and she got nauseous :cool:).
 
I am about ready to order the charging stuff. I will probably order 2 or 3 more batteries.

Should I consider any of the higher capacity batteries that show up for the Bugs 3 on Amazon? Or should I stick with the stock batteries?

On topic...

Wind was less and I got some time in this morning. No, didn't get by without crashes. It's interesting, I can get in 2-3 fair flights, then look like I just picked it up for the first time.
 
Roger EWing said:
I am about ready to order the charging stuff. I will probably order 2 or 3 more batteries.

Should I consider any of the higher capacity batteries that show up for the Bugs 3 on Amazon? Or should I stick with the stock batteries?

On topic...

Wind was less and I got some time in this morning. No, didn't get by without crashes. It's interesting, I can get in 2-3 fair flights, then look like I just picked it up for the first time.
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Up to you on the batteries. My guess is you're getting 15-17 minutes on the stock ones. If you're content with that, I'd hold off on investing in more stock ones (I think you have about 3 now?) until you start getting good and want to make what quad scream a bit. At that point, you can find 2700-3000mah 3S batteries which will work fine. The ones I'm using have pretty much the same length and width as the stock ones, they're just thicker. A short section of 1/4" fuel line from an auto parts store and some longer screws from the hardware store and you have standoffs that will let you use the 3S batteries.

Of course, at that point you have to remove the standoffs and change the screws back to use the stock batteries again. You will also want to go to tri-blade props with the 3S batteries, because the Bugs 3 doesn't handle rapid power changes well at all on 11.1V. It also gets what the Brits call "judder" (it shivers/shakes). The tri-props tame both of those issues, at some expense to flight time.
 
Roger EWing said:
... It's interesting, I can get in 2-3 fair flights, then look like I just picked it up for the first time.
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That's also normal. From an earlier comment I made: You will hit "fatigue" point where all your movements get bigger and all your mistakes are amplified. That what is happening after 2-3 flights. Take a breather...your brain is getting fatigued. :)
 
Today was pretty calm, and my flights went pretty good. Not perfect but definitely better.

I definitely notice I am having repeated nose down situations, related to when I turn around and go forward. It often continues down, even if pushing more forward on lift lever. I find if I stop the forward motion, it will stop heading to the ground and I can prevent a crash.
 
Remember that when you push the nose down, a % of your lift gets translated into forward motion, leaving less thrust along the vertical axis. All other things being equal, you will need to add some throttle as you transition into forward flight if you want to maintain the same altitude. In the end, it will become muscle memory.
 
Yes, I have figured that out, quite early. But it seems particularly worse when I make a turn and then move forward. I must be doing something else...maybe / likely pulling back on the up throttle while turning. Maybe I'm turning while going forward, as opposed to hovering...hard to tell when it's a ways away. But I am doing something that is tweaking it.
 
This morning the wind was close to nonexistent. I went through 2 batteries w/o 1 crash.

I was practicing with a bit more speed, and some altitude. For example, I probably have been trying to keep it at 20-25' (with wind taking it higher of course). Today I did quite a bit of flying with it maybe 40-50' up (estimates of course).

I also did some testing with banking, albeit very tight turns. Didn't seem to have problems with that.

I think I figured out the problems with it flying down and non-recovery that I spoke of earlier: I think it is happening when the battery is weaker, and before the low battery notification would come on. This morning, I had it go low later into a battery, kept it from crashing, hover, try to lift, but it would not clime. I'd land it, and take back off, and do ok and could repeat the problem. Very shortly after that the low battery indicator came on. As well, this was happening with it maybe 100' away from me.
 
What I said about needing a bit more throttle to maintain altitude when the nose is down is also true of adding roll (bank). Now you are distributing the thrust across three axes, so yes...it will need a bit more throttle to compensate. If you are seeing a difference toward the end of the battery, you're starting to get a feel for the quad. Those subtle signs are what you have to use to know when you're nearing low-voltage state on a quad that doesn't have the warning like on the Bugs 3.
 
Just a short update: Flew late today, and even into some darkness. Trying to get used to paying attention to the lights to know direction I am flying. The Bugs 3 has nice lit up LEDs on the bottom. The front 'headlight' led will be replaced with a camera...and I've been watching that during the day. Probably some new learning when that comes off.

It seems that the 'heading to the ground' problem starts maybe half way through the battery. When I first start flying, I don't much have the problem, but once it starts, I still can fly for a while.

With the winds, I'm getting just around 10 min. on a battery.

My charger equipment and 2 more batteries are on order.
 
For those who are new hoping to garner some info from this thread (if anyone), you may be wondering how much time I'm putting in and how that compares to progress. I really haven't been keeping strict track. But I just went through the thread, and I think I have gone through about 42 charges of batteries. So, that'd be maybe a bit over 420 minutes, which is 7 hours of flight practice.

I'm able to keep it in the air a lot compared to when I started. I can turn, and bank some (certainly no expert). I do still have some crashes, but more after battery lower than when first starting the flight.

I still don't have muscle memory with the controller. When I turn around and am heading toward me, quite often when I want to turn left I actually turn right..although I now am able to correct quickly w/o panic and complete loss of the unit.

On another note, I do have interest in getting the FAA license. I suspect that'll be a lot of studying.
 
Roger EWing said:
Trying to get used to paying attention to the lights to know direction I am flying.
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Grab a can of fluorescent green spray paint. You can spray the 2 front legs and if you are using the prop guards also paint the fronts. I'd flash the props too, mostly the bottoms.
 
Jackson said:
Grab a can of fluorescent green spray paint. You can spray the 2 front legs and if you are using the prop guards also paint the fronts. I'd flash the props too, mostly the bottoms.
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Sounds good. Will that help in daytime? My impression is the lights on the drone are very helpful at night. Less so in day.

Today I flew pretty good at first half of each battery. Today I found that if I got pretty close to the ground probably around half battery it would be slow to climb. In once it was 2-3 feet off the ground and would not gain altitude. I reset the controller and it did better...but wasn't long before same situation. I plan to really study the altitude thing. Like I said...at first part of the battery I could fly pretty good. When the altitude problems start that's when I have issues. I'm getting better at recognizing its just going to be hard to get back up, so I land it, then take back off again...at which point it goes up.

Another thing that is happening occasionally, I believe, is stalling out. I'll share some more thoughts on that after a little more focus on it.

I'm rambling....I'll sign off for now.
 
KentA said:
And then balance the props.
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I asked about that earlier and got no response.

I'm on my second set of props. My learning process has been quite hard on them...well...the whole unit has taken quite a beating. :rolleyes:

The props are a bit bent at the ends too. I wonder what type of difference there is in response to throttles if the props are in balance.

Battery Charger...parallel charging...wow!

I got the Imax charger today. AFter today's flight, I studied up to hopefully do it right, and charged the batteries. It only took one hour to charge all 3. They are stock 1800s. Does that sound right? The charger that came with the Bugs took 5 hours to charge 1 battery.
 
Roger EWing said:
I asked about that earlier and got no response.

I'm on my second set of props. My learning process has been quite hard on them...well...the whole unit has taken quite a beating. :rolleyes:

The props are a bit bent at the ends too. I wonder what type of difference there is in response to throttles if the props are in balance.

Battery Charger...parallel charging...wow!

I got the Imax charger today. AFter today's flight, I studied up to hopefully do it right, and charged the batteries. It only took one hour to charge all 3. They are stock 1800s. Does that sound right? The charger that came with the Bugs took 5 hours to charge 1 battery.
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You can do a YouTube search on balancing props and it should explain everything. Balancing props is always a good idea. New props frequently are not the same weight. Also, I would invest in some new props and change them. Bent props aren't helping either your motor life or flight stability. The Bugs 3 props are the same as the ones on the Hubsan H501S, so search both to get the best deal.

Charging in about an hour sounds right. It sounds like you already know this, but you should charge the batteries at or below 1C: 1800mah = charge at 1800mA, which = 1.8 amps. For charging 3 at a time, 1.8 x 3 = charge at 5.4 amps.
 
Ok. First, a very short vid:


So here's my thoughts: Of course, the beating this thing has taken has been hard on it. The props have gotten damaged quickly, certainly out of balance, etc. I can't see what would be causing catches and clicks in the motor, per the video. The motor in the video is the one I had replaced once already.

Those following along in this thread will recall I did a video of another that was a bit 'clicky'. I am guilty of not having replaced that.

So, I understand why they could / should be messed up. I don't understand what is happening that causes those clicks. When I turn it by hand, I can feel what feels like it's sort of grabbing at each magnet inside the motor.

All that aside, I am going to refurbish the unit. I am pretty sure that a lot of my precent problems with bringing it up in height, and dropping out of the sky is related to the motors and props. This morning I had it giving me problems within 3 minutes of take off. None of the 3 batteries reached the point that the low battery warning would go off. Within 5, and less than 9 minutes, it would barely lift off the ground.

I came back home, and discovered how really bad one of the motors was. So, I'm thinking a lot of my recent problems is related to to that.

So, I am ordering 2 new motors, and another set of props (will get extra too). And I'm ordering a balancing kit.

I'm going to park until I get the refurb done. (Oh, also, I am ordering a new body top. One of the corners broke off.

I'm hoping that the refurb, and what I do realize is improved skills, will get me to the point I can keep from punishing the drone so bad.

Question on balancing...

I've seen three different suggestions for how to make the balance: one was putting small piecy of tapae on the end of the blade; one was putting small amount of epoxy on the end (I think that method would be slow...waiting for drying, etc.); and one was sanding on the heavy side.

Any recommendations on method?

(Some of this talk in this thread could qualify for separate thread. But then, I'm thinking maybe if anyone other fresh newbies follow this thread, it may be an overall help to their learning curve).
 
I wouldn't fuss with the epoxy method for the same reason you mentioned. I personally use fine emery cloth to sand mine. The tape method works well, also.
 
Just a quick update...nothing much to update on.

I made the mistake of ordering the parts from Gearbest...which sent tracking number on the 9th. Still shows as shipment info sent to Fedex. I need to learn to avoid Chinese suppliers.

On another note, I sprung for the on-sale refurbished Mavic Pro. Sure is easy to fly, and with what I've learned so far, it has been very helpful. That being said I do not plan to abandon the Bugs 3. I am hoping to find some folks around to do some Drone Racing with.

I'll post back once I get the Bugs back up.
 
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