LitterBug's RCExplorer Mini Tricopter Build thread

[Kevin_Erik]

Figured about as much…

The torque any good with the F40’s ?

Note: If you are watching your current as you throttle up, you’ll see if the motors are struggling torque-wise vs the RPM’s you’d expect to see. A motor thats over torqued would draw excess current to compensate for the lack of torque.

[LitterBug]

Video from a “high” throttle cruse and a full throttle punch out at the end. Running KingKong 6040×2 props, this thing sounds scary!

Firmware used on this flight: @jihlein’s dRonin Wired branch with the TriFlight 0.5 tail routines merged.

Cheers!
LitterBug

[Kevin_Erik]

Looked like you had about 7 Amps draw to maintain flight, which is really good. Its amazing that your draw is so low at higher throttle as I was seeing 125 Amps using 2550kv motor @ 4S and 80-90’ish Amps using the 1900kv motors @ 6S.

Two things…

Your wash / oscillations maybe a bit more manageable with 3-bladed props vs the 2-bladed. While it doesn’t help your efficiency, it does allow the Copter to have significantly more bite. 6x4x3 or 6×4.5×3 are ideal. (DAL props are great)

The battery voltage dropped rather quickly so I am thinking your using < 1000mAh Lipo? Possible that stepping up to a higher mAh LiPo would give you more airtime for the weight gained.

[LitterBug]

I’m just doing proof of concept with this in it’s current(pun intended) configuration. Intentionally switched to 2 bladed props to reduce amps in case something went horribly wrong. I will be switching back to 3 bladed props eventually. This was done with a 6S 1000mah battery, which is the equivalent to 4S 1500mah Watt/Hour wise. In theory, should have same flight time with same Watt hour rating. Running at high throttle and getting 3+ minutes isn’t too shabby.

This is a just temporary distraction to the final end game for this build. Needed a test bed for 4S motors running on 6S with FC reduced to 66.6% max pwm, and since this was all ready to go, it made sense to use it instead of building another rig to do this test. End goal will be to get the F80 1900kv motors on, with a slightly longer rear arm so I can also bump prop length up to 7 or 8 inches. Battery choice is undecided at this point, but will be needing something with higher capacity and C rating than these to get full power capability out of the F80 1900kv motors.

[LitterBug]

My buddy caught a slow-mo video of a high speed pass in front of the flight line tonight. Had NO idea I was tipping that far forward. LOL

Cheers!
LitterBug

[Kevin_Erik]

Thing I have noticed about tilting over so far is that the Yaw ends up being controlled via the roll controls rather than the tail.

[LitterBug]

Building an RCExplorer Mini Tri on steroids.

Frame: RCE Explorer Mini Tricopter (rear boom extended 1″ to allow 8″ props)
FC/OSD: AirDTF Seppuku
Firmware: dRonin (with TriFlight 0.5 routines merged)
RX: FrSky R-XSR
PDB: Matek FCHUB-A5
ESCs: Aikon AK32
UBEC: RMRC 6V 3A (servo power)
Servo: BlueBird A207 (feedback wire added)
Tilt: Impossible Tilt https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1035497
Motors: T-Motor F80 1900kv
Props various 6-8″
Batts: various 4-6S
FPV Gear: TBD

Pics and video soon……..

[Kevin_Erik]

Being that your customizing a large part of the Tricopter, how about building it inverted?

[LitterBug]

My other Mini Tri is very smooth/stable and I am not interested in an inverted build at all. Will be adding GPS and long range radios eventually. Working on testing the impossible tilt and baby impossible tilts.

LB

[Kevin_Erik]

Sorry i meant just the tail inverted.

[LitterBug]

No interest. Maybe you should start your own thread and do it yourself.

[Kevin_Erik]

ok sourpuss

[LitterBug]

–<< I must Fly more >>–

Shutting up and flying ….

[LitterBug]

Making progress. Test fitting 7 inch props. Can slide rear boom out to fit 8″.

[LitterBug]

I’m 90% done with the mini2 build. Far enough along now to do LOS flights, but will probably finish the FPV pod work first before doing any flight testing. I’ve printed a second pod so I can easily swap between rip-and-tear short range 2.4/5.8 gear and long range 900/1.3 /low light/nav gear.

Had Mini1 out to the field last night for some ImpossiTilt and firmware testing under very windy/gusty conditions. Got a longer rear bolt in the tilt which allowed the “ny” of the Nyloc to work. Still running the V1 F40 2300kv motors on 6S with max power reduced to 4S with no issues even running full throttle. Switched back to HQ 6×4.5×3 props which got rid of the bad vibes I was having with some other props I was trying. Right now Mini1 is my favorite Tri to Fly. Flew four different combinations of flight modes on dRonin. Native PID acro, LQG Acro, PID with TriFlight, and LQG with TriFlight. The dRonin autotune and LQG flight mode makes some really great improvements on how quick and smooth rapid transitions start and stop with basically 0 manual config/tuning. And the TriFlight routines keep the yaw in check over the whole throttle range including Punchouts and throttle chops. Great merge of both and they are working well together.

Gotta get the Film developed and edited…

Cheers!
LitterBug

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