Home Forums Everything about the Tricopter V4 Help With Wiring

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  • #9016
    RCJim
    Participant

    I built my tricopter just like David should in the build video, but I’m worried every time I fold up the tricopter the wiring in the body is going to fray or snap. It’s pretty cramped in there. What’s the best way to get all the wiring in the body so it’s safe and protected?

    #9017
    Michar
    Participant

    if you leave enough slack in the wire coming from the arms it will work just fine.

    #9020
    Terje
    Moderator

    Take the top plate off and “mount” the components temporarily on the bottom frame plate by passing the screws through from the underside. Now fold the arms as they would be when the tricopter is folded up. Make sure they don’t stick up beyond the 10mm the frame allows for. Put i bit of wire mesh guard around the wires most prone to being frayed. Put a piece of wire mesh guard around the servo/signal wires and if possible route them to the top plate through the openings in front of the booms rather than behind (where they might get pinched). Now place the top frame plate on the screws and one at a time move the screws from the underside to the top side. Worked for me.

    #9022
    RCJim
    Participant

    Thanks Terje I’ll try you suggestion.

    #9079
    Drew
    Participant

    Speaking of wiring, I’m in the process of soldering the extensions to my ESCs. Needless to say, I’m not an expert. Having trouble with the small gauge wires (pic below). Rosin getting all over the ESC and making a real mess when trying to lay solder on board. Any thoughts?

    #9080
    Drew
    Participant
    #9081
    hsamuels
    Participant

    Clean the board with isopropyl alchohol and a small, stiff brush. Use lead-based solder. And read up on how to solder!

    #9082
    Terje
    Moderator

    The ESCs are pretty hard to solder on if you don’t have a soldering station with adjustable heat range. You end up slowly heating the entire ESC and cooling the soldering iron making it very difficult to do a nice solder point. I had to crank my soldering station up to 800F to get quick and decent solder points on the ESCs.

    Heat and remove the existing lead free solder with a soldering iron and a desoldering pump. Apply lead based solder to both wires and solder points on the ESC. Heat both ESC and wire at the same time to create a nice solder point.

    #9104
    Plano Chad
    Participant

    Drew,
    I’m no soldering expert by any means but I learned quite a bit soldering up my ESCs for the Tri-copter. I did invest in a Weller WES51 adjustable heat soldering station (I needed one anyway). I agree with Terje. I used a fairly high heat to try to get my work done quickly before the board became overheated. I tinned the three servo leads and melted small dabs of 60/40 rosin core solder onto each of the three pads being careful not to allow them to bleed over to each other. Then, holding one wire at a time, I laid the wire on top of the blob of solder and heated the wire until it sunk down into the solder, then removed heat. You’ll have to hold the wire in place with two fingers for a second until the solder hardens, then move on to the next wire. By the way, as Terje mentioned, if you don’t already have a desoldering pump, I recommend you pick one up. I’d never used one before until the Tri-copter. They’re cheap and I’m impressed with how useful they are for sucking the old solder off the ESC boards. Good Luck!

    #9266
    hsamuels
    Participant

    Terje, that wire mesh guard comes in sizes from 3mm-10mm. Is that the maximum diameter of the mesh when compressed to insert wires, or it is the diameter of the mesh in its ‘resting’ position?

    #9267
    Terje
    Moderator

    That is the diameter in its resting position. Actually it is its “diameter” when pressed flat and not expanded at all. 6mm wire mesh will easily hold 3x 18AWG+ 2x servo leads. I use a lighter on the ends before expanding the mesh to avoid it falling apart (unraveling?). I use only 3 and 6mm wire mesh.

    #9269
    hsamuels
    Participant

    Thank you! I was also going to ask if it really was the diameter, or the width of the flattened material. But I figured that you would be clear about it.

    #9310
    Robert C
    Participant

    I ordered a lot of new wires and wiring materials, I think I will start a new thread with a tutorial how to get it all in properly when it arrives. If anyone actually wants to see that?

    Btw, I also tried to put the sleeving of a rope around the wires, it is a really nice sleeve, like the best you will ever get, but it’s too thick to get every wire sleeved like that.

    #9393
    Drew
    Participant

    hsamuels, Terje, Plano Chad,

    Thank you for the suggestions. I cleaned the board with an alcohol pad, cranked up my WLC100 with fine tip and dabbed 60/40 on each pad. The solder ran smooth. I think this time went better (pic attached)

    http://s28.postimg.org/dnpse2n25/IMG_0433.jpg

    I’m going to hold off on soldering anything else to the ESCs, for now. I made some bullet connector extensions and am going to use the plastic clips that already come on the small guage extensions. I know this will be messy and don’t know if it will fit through the booms, but I guess I could always go back and solder to ESCs.

    Sorry for the late response, work is getting in the way of fun time. Thanks again.

    #9396
    hsamuels
    Participant

    Drew, soldering gets a lot better with practice. Why don’t you pull a board out of an old piece of electronics and use it for practice?

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