Official GAUI 330X-S Build Thread/ Tips & Tricks

[Empire Hobby Tech]

Hello Fellow HeliFreaks!

Allow me to introduce myself,
I am a member of the Empire Hobby Staff, and I've been assigned to better help and support customers on some of our hot new products, like the Gaui 330X-S Quadcopter!

Empire Hobby prides itself on outstanding, and revolutionary customer service in the Hobby industry... we're modelers too!

So as the official exclusive importer for the Gaui line here in the USA, we thought it would be nice to step up and support the product in these forums, which are buzzing with excitement and curiousity.


We'll start our first endeavour here, with the massively popular Gaui 330X-S Quadcopter. For those of you interested in getting one, or for those of you who may have questions in the construction of this model, we hope the following video will help answer some of them.

Anything else, just post the Q?
We'll be sure to answer quickly and accurately.

Enjoy your Quads,

Team Empire

http://www.vimeo.com/14783968

[torana74]

Thank you very much for putting that up.Very informative. I've been interested in these for a while but wasn't entirely sure of what was required,how it worked, went together etc.

Looks like a good fun unit and will be great for aerials at the field.

Order coming :)

What batt packs are recommended??

Vas

[MrWolf]

I use a 2200mah 3s but I have tried up to a 3600mah 3s for more flight time.

[Empire Hobby Tech]

We've flown the Quad on everything from 2s 1100's to 3s 5000's!!! :shock::shock::shock:

The thing is designed to carry some payload, so when you're not carrying cameras or equipment, load it up! Although my preffered battery for aerobatic flight (flips, rolls, high-power climbouts) is a 3s 2100. Perfect blend of power and 10+ minutes of aggressive flying! :YeaBaby:

Cheers,
Team Empire

[dl_killen]

I set up my quad today and realize that when slowly advancing the throttle motor #4 lags noticeably behind the others and doesn't start to rotate until more throttle is inputted:confused:.
Do the ESC's need to be set up individually?

[Empire Hobby Tech]

Ya know, that's actually not too uncommon.
However, it is a misconception that people have that all four motors need to turn at the same speed when firing it up.

Although they should generally all fire up around the same throttle setting, it's okay if one or more start speeding up/slowing down a little more than the others. Once you start rolling in the power and get it airborne, the Gyro takes over and everything is good in 330X land :thumbup:

However, if your motor is not responding to the point where it becomes impossible to get off the ground, I would reset the programming/calibration on all four of your motors:

--- Verify that your throttle travel is set at 100%, then turn your radio off.

--- Turn your radio back on, and push the throttle to full.

--- Plug in the Quad's flight pack.... it should beep at you to tell you it's got power.

--- As soon as you hear it power up, roll the throttle back down to zero.

--- It should at this point initialize the speed controls and beep the amount of cells you're running... (2 beeps for a 2s; 3 beeps for a 3s).

--- Unplug the Quad, and reduce your max throttle travel to 80%.

That should get all four esc's/motors on the same playing field.


Team Empire

[Empire Hobby Tech]

Ya know, that's actually not too uncommon.
However, it is a misconception that people have that all four motors need to turn at the same speed when firing it up.

Although they should generally all fire up around the same throttle setting, it's okay if one or more start speeding up/slowing down a little more than the others. Once you start rolling in the power and get it airborne, the Gyro takes over and everything is good in 330X land :thumbup:

However, if your motor is not responding to the point where it becomes impossible to get off the ground, I would reset the programming/calibration on all four of your motors:

--- Verify that your throttle travel is set at 100%, then turn your radio off.

--- Turn your radio back on, and push the throttle to full.

--- Plug in the Quad's flight pack.... it should beep at you to tell you it's got power.

--- As soon as you hear it power up, roll the throttle back down to zero.

--- It should at this point initialize the speed controls and beep the amount of cells you're running... (2 beeps for a 2s; 3 beeps for a 3s).

--- Unplug the Quad, and reduce your max throttle travel to 80%.

That should get all four esc's/motors on the same playing field.


Team Empire

[Olivier06]

I heard about some people fitting some larger props on the quad (10 - 11 inch) - see (Averticalview.com).

I was wondering if anyone has tried it, and how it affect the load arrying apacity / flight time of the quad.

I am hesitating between getting an X330 from Gaui or a x650 from xaircraft (http://tienda.stockrc.com/XAircraft-X650/en?ObjectPath=/Shops/eb0140/Categories/XAircraft_X6X0)...

[Empire Hobby Tech]

Ya know, that's actually not too uncommon.
However, it is a misconception that people have that all four motors need to turn at the same speed when firing it up.

Although they should generally all fire up around the same throttle setting, it's okay if one or more start speeding up/slowing down a little more than the others. Once you start rolling in the power and get it airborne, the Gyro takes over and everything is good in 330X land :thumbup:

However, if your motor is not responding to the point where it becomes impossible to get off the ground, I would reset the programming/calibration on all four of your motors:

--- Verify that your throttle travel is set at 100%, then turn your radio off.

--- Turn your radio back on, and push the throttle to full.

--- Plug in the Quad's flight pack.... it should beep at you to tell you it's got power.

--- As soon as you hear it power up, roll the throttle back down to zero.

--- It should at this point initialize the speed controls and beep the amount of cells you're running... (2 beeps for a 2s; 3 beeps for a 3s).

--- Unplug the Quad, and reduce your max throttle travel to 80%.

That should get all four esc's/motors on the same playing field.


Team Empire

[MrWolf]

I had to set all my ESC's individually, plugged one at a time into the GU-344. I could not get them set properly when doing them all at once. It's a pain, but you only have to do it once!

[Empire Hobby Tech]

Hmmm...
I haven't tried bigger props yet. I'm actually pretty pleased with the amount of weight the 330X can carry and still have spiffy performance.

Check out this video! Guy lifts a 1lb. 3oz. rock with some power to spare :banana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnYqWwJCwko

[MrWolf]

Here's a tip: Check your props! Got about 50+ flights on the airframe and even though I loctited them (the spinners) and checked them regularly one came off today just at landing. Flipped over and broke a couple of props, no big deal. Put the new ones on, checked the others and hit the air. Bang! 3 feet up I blew another prop. WTF? Turns out I overtighened the spinners and cracked all the props.
Mental note: Loctite and finger tighten only!
I'm checking everything now.
Note: The new landing gear (Infinity-Hobby) is a lot tougher than it looks.

[rernewe]

Hi, can someone suggest where I can purchase one in Canada? I'm in the Toronto Ontario area. I can order online from the U.S. if needed.

thanks

Ross

[MrWolf]

RCFlightStore in Vancouver has them. Free expedited shipping in Canada too.
http://www.rcflightstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=188_104_259&products_id=3109&osCsid=788855ef3ccc91d0d3186e8266bc5a0c

[rernewe]

thanks, much appreciated!!!!!!!

[MrWolf]

I recommend you try a set of the yellow props too. I use them on the front of my quad, they are very visible so you can drop the ball!

[Empire Hobby Tech]

Here's a vid we shot back a few weeks using the brand new Gaui 330X camera mount!

Nothing too big and flashy... just a simple point 'n shoot camera. Can you imagine how much cooler it will be once I get a GoPro HD on this thing?!? :shock:

Enjoy!

Team Empire

http://vimeo.com/16875493

[mbsteed]

This is a newbie questions. I have just finished a Guai 330X build and am trying to set it up on DX6i. The basic settings are straight forward but I am trying to put the gyro Gain into a switch in plane mode. I know where the wires go but not sure how to setup the transmitter. How would you do that? I have been through all the DX6i manual and can't seem to see a way. I don't see a gear option on the DX6i menu. I am relatively new to this stuff.

[mbsteed]

Okay I have answered my own question. The Gear setting (5th channel) is on the travel adjust menu and is linked to the Gear switch on the DX6i - not the Gyro switch which I was expecting.

So, I setup my 330X as per the build instructions. I did initialize the ESCs all at once and it worked fine but the sounds were a bit different from what the manual described.
I setup my Dx6i according the settings found here:

http://www.buzzflyer.co.uk/gaui-330x-spektrum-dx6i.asp

This worked great. It hovered very stable.

One difference between the notes above and the manual: the manual suggests starting with 50% gain but the web site suggest 40%. I had a crash and the 330X ate the blinds in our kitchen - the wife was not too pleased. I then reset everything according to the manual (including the wife) (with 50% gain on the gyro and huge for my wife) and wow, that did not work well at all. That caused the 330X to want to flip over. Setting the gain back to 40% rectified the issue - it took awhile but the wife finally starting hovering well too. I will probably play with the gain number to fine tune it. ...it only required minimal trim.

I will post a video once I have a chance.

Oh, one other thing, after my crash two of the propellers came off with no damage. I put those back with an extra bit of locktite. I had heard through this forum that locktite caused problems with the blades (made them weak) so I was careful to check for excess. I even took the nuts off and wiped up excess locktite. However, when I went to start to spool it up the next day, both of the blades broke right down the middle. On close inspection you can literally see where the locktite penetrated and compromised the plastic.

My recommendation is to hand tighten those blade nuts but don't use locktite, better yet find some of those nylon lined nuts that are self locking, as suggested else where.

[mbsteed]

Here is the result of my Guai 330X build after fine tuning with trim. I had spent numerous months building and rebuilding 450 size helis - got about 5 minutes of good hovering in before a screw came out and destroyed all my efforts, could never seem to get those adjusted properly. The 330X has a been a much better experience.

Gaui 330X Build

[mbsteed]

For folks having trouble getting the ESCs initialized properly, I read on another forum that one approach that worked was to plug the ESCs directly into the RX rather than going through the control unit and do them one at a time, then stick them back into the control unit.

If your blades are coming up to speed at different times, it might worth a try:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1229089&page=156

[MrWolf]

I read on another forum that one approach that worked was to plug the ESCs directly into the RX rather than going through the control unit and do them one at a time, then stick them back into the control unit.

If your blades are coming up to speed at different times, it might worth a try:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1229089&page=156
+1
I had to do this before I could get all my motors to spool up at the same time. A REALLY important step!

Looks like your 330XS fly's pretty well! Nice that you have a gym to fly in for the winter.

[mbsteed]

Yes,

My setup is working quite well. I have noticed one odd behavior; sometimes right after I have given it throttle to raise it up, it inexplicably begins to descend, like it has lost power - I have to give it a lot more throttle to compensate. Not sure what would cause that - perhaps a battery with fluctuating power?

[ErichF]

Got mine together last week. Weather here isn't been great this weekend, but I have gotten out and done about 20 flights in the backyard.

I will be slowly adding the gear for an FPV setup. As you can see in the pics, for now I have attached a set of landing gear from on old Blade 400. I like these because they keep the frame up off the ground high enough to attach the battery to the bottom. I will go to an Infinity-Hobby style landing gear when I get my GoPro HD.

A couple items I have found:

1 - Calibrate the ESCs with the green GAIN wire disconnected from the RX, and with the GAIN Trim Pot on the 344 Gyro fully Counter-Clockwise. Once calibrated, you can leave the GAIN Trim Pot where it is, and plug in the Green GAIN wire into the RX. Set your Gain channel to around 40-45% to start, on both sides of the switch position. Then fine tune in flight tests.

2 - You can recalibrate the horizontal position on the gyro by switching the Cruise/Hover mode (Gain Channel) switch back and forth from Cruise to Hover and Back (Red to Green to Red). I found that sometimes during flight in windy conditions or when maneuvering a lot, the gyro will drift from horizontal. I land it on a level piece of ground, flip the gain switch back and forth, and then take off again. The gyro then flies a lot better. This calibration is also part of my preflight. Just before takeoff, I'll flip the switch back and forth and go.

[SFACV]

ErichF

Interesting choice of receivers for your Quad. I thought it was overkill when I stuck a 6008 on mine. :) Looks good though, enjoy.