Q800 Hexacopter Build

Build Log
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This post will document a recent Q800 Build that I did.

Frame Parts

Flight Controller

Other Stuff

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Mounting to motors, I routed the cables through the tubes.

To mount the ESC, I mounted 4 of them on the bottom plate as shown

The other two are mounted on between the two plates. I did this so that the ESC’s dont get in the way but the arms are still able to fold away.

Not sure if this is the best way to do it, but it works well for me for now!

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I then proceeded to mount the ardupilot mega 2.6 board using some stackup plates and spacers as shown. The nice thing about mounting the GPS onto a carbon fiber plate is that the CF blocks lots of EMF so the compass/GPS should get interference free readings!

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I also added a MB1200 Sonar, but had trouble finding a good place to mount it so I 3D printed a mount for it to clip onto the load booms.


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**hi I have build same hexacopter . Only different I use a 6200 mha 4s battery . But my hexacopter suddenly yesterday started to try flipping backwards … Was a bit winder than usual . Can you let me know what pids you had to change for the ardupilot 2.6 I use the hexacopter x frame version 3.01 and default parameter and only fly stabilise so far . Thanks for the help . Daniel

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Hi

Are you using the same 850Kv motors with 10 inch props too? If so the default PID’s should work just fine as thats what I was using. :question:

The flipping issue you are talking about with your hexacopter, did this start since the beginning of the flight? Or develop suddenly? Also have you had other successful flights? What flight mode where you in?

Some other things to check :ballot_box_with_check:

  • Check the signal wires on the power distribution board to make sure they are oriented correctly. If you’ve reversed two, it will cause ArduCopter to flip. This should be noticeable by doing the hand test as well. (It should have also shown up in the Motors test above)
  • Was the APM stable and flat for the whole calibration routine at startup? Was it stable and flat during the setup process? (If need be, do it again)
  • Did you calibrate your ESCs? They should all start together when you advance the throttle
  • Did you setup and test your radio? Run test/radio to see. Pitch, Roll, Throttle and Yaw should all be 0 or near zero (60 or less).
  • Have you checked all your sensors in the Mission Planner or CLI Test/IMU menu to make sure the hardware is working right?

Apologies for all the questions but abit hard to know what the issue is exactly with more details :smile:

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Thanks for the reply I have rechecked everything and found that a bit too much vibration I will have to find a way to fix this . Also can you tell me if I need to have one of the esc positive line still on I have cut the positive on the other 5 but kept one live . Is this right ?? Or I don’t need any if using the 3dr power module ??

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One last think ! What changes will I have to make to apm setup if using the 880kv motors with 12x45 blades ?? Thanks appreciated

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You might want to look at the vibration damping post for more info

There is much speculation about this, If you remove the power jumper JP1 then you dont need to remove/cut the power line fro your ESC. But this will the separate the voltage from the output rail from the rest of the APM, so you cant power APM via your ESC (you will need to use your power module) If you are not using the power module then its probably best to remove the red wire from all but 1 ESC (dont cut it but rather undo the clip so you can re-use the ESC)

Since the 880Kv motors and 12inch props are more powerful you might need to dial down some of the gains slightly, however in general it should be fine on defaults, start with defaults on your first flight and work from there :wink:

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Many thankz what valud should I dial down ?? I really appreciate your help

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I am going to start my q800 build next week I hope but was wondering what sort of flight times you get with the 4s 5A battery and 850kv motors?

I have been messing about with eCalc but would be good to get real world figures to do a comparison with the virtual ones.

I am torn between the 850kv/10x5 prop and 880kv/12x5 prop and 3s/4s, I have a boat load of 3s already so that would save me a bit of cash :smiley:

If I understand it correctly, the 12x5 prop will give me longer hover times but probably less agility and shorter high power flight time?

According to eCalc with the 880kv/ 12x5/ 3s (2 x 4ah in parallel giving 8ah) I should get about 15 minutes hover (I don’t do much above 50% throttle cos I am a wimp) and about 11 mins with an extra 500g strapped to it (gopro, gimbal, fpv) - does this sound realistic?