Just finished my Flamewheel 450

[supergravy]

This is my first outdoor flight with it! I strapped a Drift HD170 on top of the battery pack to record the big moment. Really can't believe how nice this thing flys and very excited to put a better camera underneath.

Assembly went very smooth thanks to a lot of reading of various forum posts (thank you posters) and google. I am hooked!

fw450.flv (3 min 54 sec)

[Z06 Tony]

DJI makes quality stuff. I have built and flown the F330F450,F550 w/Naza and 5 Wookong-M's and all flew sweet. I love the F330 on 4s.
You can get free shipping on all the DJI multirotor stuff here-> www.rc-drones.com

[smankleo]

Hove you any video on board with F550 and what camera mount you used ?

[Av8Chuck]

That was a great first flight. You really got some altitude, especially for a first flight.

Where you in manual or Attitude mode?

[supergravy]

Originally Posted by Av8Chuck

That was a great first flight. You really got some altitude, especially for a first flight.

Where you in manual or Attitude mode?

Just a few weeks prior to building the F450, I had been getting a lot of practice with my T-Rex 450 at high altitude - it was a handful for sure. Very difficult to judge if the heli was rising and no self stabilizing.

So when I got the Flamewheel built and did a few test hovers in the garage, I could see how awesome it was going to be for taking the camera up. I had my gains mostly dialed in before I left the garage and had tested the failsafe setup and altitude hold - all were great. I could hardly wait to take her up a ways so on the maiden this was the result.

Coming from a helicopter the quad was immediately confidence inspiring as you can simply put it into Attitude mode, punch the throttle and eventually set the throttle at 50%. It will just ride around in the wind with minimal input needed. I really like it!

I have since changed my throttle cut mode to "intelligent" and am getting much faster and smoother descents now. Finding if i just drop the throttle this thing falls quite smoothly and does a great job staying level. Just be ready to throttle up when it gets close to ground.

[supergravy]

Got a rare flight in the sun yesterday and am giving vimeo a try.

[Av8Chuck]

Ok, there's no way your in Oregon, there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Even from about 700 feet..

Great footage. I have a couple of questions:

What frame rate does the Drift HD170 shoot in? Was that 60 frames per second?

Are you using a 3s of 4s battery? With Which props?

A question for Z06 Tony, is that your phone number on the RC-Drones website?

Great music...

[supergravy]

Thanks AV8Chuck! As a side not you are now responsible for me ordering up a UAP1 frame, and I am stoked. I asked you a bunch of questions on another forum but got everything figured out so if you happen to see the post go ahead and ignore.

Yes, the sun has been even more elusive then usual this year in Oregon. The morning of that video it clouded up about an hour later.

I have been using the Drift in 720p mode at 60 fps. It will do 1080 but only at 30fps, which in my opinion doesn't come out as well with all the movement. Yesterday I took my first still photos with the Drift and they came out better then expected. Pretty happy with this camera for $160. With that said I have a Replay XD1080 arriving today! It is lighter and not less fish-eyed then the Drift of GoPro.

As of the time of these videos I was using Turnigy 3S 2200 40C batteries, which were giving me a comfortable 7 mins of flight with the Drift strapped on top. I have since built a frame underneath which added some weight so I have begun experimenting with batteries and props. I am now trying 4s batteries ranging in size from 3000mh 40C to 5300mh 30C - the flamewheel really rips with these batteries. Climb is strong even in ATTI mode.

As for the props, I have been using the DJI 8" exclusively. I did experiment a little with the 10" props yesterday but it seemed a little floaty and more sensitive to the wind with them on. DJI says to use the 8" props with 4S so I am sticking with them for now. I have 9x4.7 APC slo flyers on the way.

On another note I saw Av8Chuck's video regarding motor shutoff in intelligent mode. Not sure if you have resolved this but my unit works exactly as described in intelligent mode with atti - I drop my throttle to zero all the time when the quad is up really high. I really like how it drops so perfectly in ATTI mode and the motors have never shut off on me. I throttle back up just as it is about the hit. After watching your video I did experiment though and found the motor will cutoff just as you described if the quad isn't changing altitude (as in me holding and waving it around). The modes aren't the best but they workable if your quad is heavy enough. I think you nailed it when you said that your hex had too much power to weight keeping you near the 10% mark while not changing altitude.

I love my Flamewheel and NAZA controller. I will be putting another NAZA on the UAP1 as well. This is an addicitive hobby for sure!

Thanks for watching and the comments.

[Z06 Tony]

Originally Posted by Av8Chuck

Ok, there's no way your in Oregon, there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Even from about 700 feet..

Great footage. I have a couple of questions:

What frame rate does the Drift HD170 shoot in? Was that 60 frames per second?

Are you using a 3s of 4s battery? With Which props?

A question for Z06 Tony, is that your phone number on the RC-Drones website?

Great music...

Yes that is me.

[supergravy]

I made a mount/landing gear out of wood and got the camera underneath the Flamewheel. I am very happy with the results as seems to be taming most of the vibrations, giving me one of my smoothest videos yet. This flight is with the stock "8 props.