I’m here again, i think i’ll change my name to Green Grass…lol anyway guys, can anyone help lol building a 550 copter round about 1678g is their any rules to what flight controller to use? do i use a APM 2.8 or can i use a Matek F405-STD BetaFlight STM32F405 Flight Controller+Matek FCHUB-6S Hub Power Distribution Board? or can anyone guild me into a topic on drone test please…
Either will work.
But it depends on the features that you are looking for.
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Thank you for your reply DoomedFPV (y) i’m not into racing, just free style, i was thinking just with altitude hold and return to home, i’m not planning on fitting a camera just yet, may do later when i’vegot my head a round it all…lol if i ever will…lol… so is their anything that you could recommend please? or would the above be ok?
Ive build a 8 inch approx 500 mm. i use f3 board with baro and a gps compas combo, with i-nav. flies great i-nav takes a little setting up to use acro as its more for gps.
however gps hold on basic setup is rock solid. RTH always within a meter and it disarms after landing.
TBH if your going freestyle and a newbie betaflight is poss the way to go.
If you need to just fly around with the security of RTH I-NAV is the chosen one.
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Thanks Dale589 
for your feed back (y) so is it just because you used a f3 board because of the size 8 inch quad?, i can’t seem to find much info about what FC, PDB, 4in 1 esc i can use in what size quad, i’m trying to build a 550, total weight is about 1678g, i don’t understand why i have to use? or do i have to use? an APM 2.8, DJI Naza or a Pixhawk in this build? i’ll have a look at I-Nav, cheers for your time, have a nice day…
Wow i think you have a problem not knowing what you want.
1 do you want a GPS quad
2 do you want to fly freestyle
if you want a bit of both use I-NAV with a F3 4 or 7 board make sure FC board as Baro.
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Great Dale589, thanks for your help, i know what i want but i don’t understand about FC’s all i can find is all about small racing quads builds, i know they look fun, but i’m know where near flying one…lol so i’ll just want one to fly around with, i dont understand why APM 2.8, Pixhawk or Naza is better for bigger quads or are they? is their any set rules for what FC i can use in a 550mm frame?..i bet your thinking, whats this nobhead on about…lol sorry i’m just a Newbie 
if i don’t ask you pro’s at this game, who else can i find out from…
…lol
get yourself one of these Matek F722-STD Flight Controller with Built-In OSD
and one of these Matek FCHUB-6S (184A Current Sensor and BEC)
perfect for just flying around. if you want GPS just add later.
if your a newb please take some advice stay away from cheep 30 amp ebay ESCs. get some decent BLheli ones.
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Cheers Dale589 and thanks for the advise, can you advise me to what 4in 1 esc board i can use with the Matek F722-std, FCHUB-6s or have i got to use 4 BLheli esc’s? i would like to fit a 4in1 30A or 35A if possible with this setup, i never touch ebay, to many scammers on their…thanks again Dale (y)
I still use single ESCs as i use the PDB and FC above, plus if ESC goes down its easier to replace 1.
if going to use all in one i dont think you need pdb as they have bec to power FC,only problem there is they all seem to be 5 v only.
using PDB and single ESCs, i see the benefit of 5 v and 10 v BECs for FC, cam and VTX, nice clean image, ive never had lines on fpv feed, using the above parts you only need 2 small wires soldered to FC as the included ribbon does everything else. also Ive seen once an all in one esc fry and it took the FC with it.
I know there are others out there who swear by all in ones, just not my thing.
hope your less confused.com
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Hi Dale589, sorry to trouble you again, i know i’m a pain in the…you know where…lol but can you recommend a set of those BLheli ESC’s please, i think 30A should be ok?.. i filled in the info in eCalc and that was fine with 20A but how true it is i don’t know???.. anyway i’ve done a rough weight estimation of all the parts needed, frame is 420g, one motor 4006 380kv 68g, prop’s CF/FC/PCB about 150g, battery 640g, about 1500g total, ok then Dale, thanks alot for your help and time, byeeee
I use the top ones as 32 bit where not around when i got those.
only ever had 1 fry but was flying in very damp conditions.
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Cheers Dale589…i’ll order five just in case one does go down then…lol thanks for your help again Dale… 
Don’t even think about using an APM. It is obsolete and is no longer supported by ArduPilot. The last version of ArcuCopter for the APM is AC3.2.1. Currently ArduCopter is up to AC 3.6.5 and AC3.6.6-rc2 is in beta testing. APM uses and old AtMega 8-bit processor with limited memory for storing flight data logs. APM is hard pressed when full logging is enabled.
With that said, ArduCopter has been ported to “some” of the current F4 boards, but you need to check here Blog - ArduPilot Discourse to find out if the Matek board is supported.
FWIW, FC choice can be either a matter of personal preference, or it may be an important design decision that is driven by what the aircraft mission is.
If you just want to fly and do some occasional video or still shots, the Matec running CleanFlight or even BetaFlight should be fine. If you want that plus some GPS functionality like RTL and Position Hold, the Matek running iNav would work. I’ve taken decent video with a simple 500 class quad with an old KK2.1.5 FC. If, on the other hand, you want a full featured autonomous aerial photography rig, I’d go with a Pixhawk running ArduCopter.
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And for my tuppence worth; I’m using Navio2 on a Raspberry Pi for a 550 hexacopter build 
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Thanks very much for your message Clifton_Hipsher the only reason i was thinking of the APM 2.8 was i watched a video on youtube, i think the guy is called Painless…lol, ‘‘does alot of great detailed videos’’ he was recommending it…lol ha, till i looked at the date of the video…2014 i thought OMG that’s history…lol since then, he has done a up date, and he as spread the word too…lol now hes raving about the Pixhawk 2 or 4? not sure as i haven’t been on their for a bit, geee but the price…lol thanks for the link Clifton, i’ll check it later, once again thanks for your great help 
…
GrandFromage ha i haven’t heard that saying since i was a kid and that’s going back a few years…lol i’m sorry but ‘‘Navio2 on a Raspberry Pi’’ I’m sure it works but i haven’t a clue what it means, i will check it out later tho’, OK Grand thanks for your help too have a nice day…
Hi Den, Have a look at this for a better explanation 
https://emlid.com/introducing-navio2/
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I use for a S550 the DJI Naza V2 for picture and video. E302 motor 800kV. it runs pretty smooth and of course the settings are pretty straight forward. With a 4s 3200 battery i get around 9min with a 9" propeller. I think it we9ght press than 1.5 kg. I added also a retract gear
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Cheers Ernade, you say you put 9" prop’s on a S550 rig?.. up the battery and smack some 14.4.7 prop’s on, why did you smack 9" props on a S550 rig?..