Welcome to FPVDronePilots!
Join our free FPV drone community today!
Sign up

New to drones, from TN

Chris_A

Active Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2021
Messages
38
Reaction score
28
Age
46
Location
West Tennessee
I heard about this fine community from a FB post so I thought I'd take a peek.
My transition into the drone world came via rc trucks, then (powered) gliders. When I lived in Monterey, CA a few years ago, gliders on the beach were amazing. I'd fly the same dunes that parasailers launched from and routinely flew for more than 45 minutes a pack. But then life brought me out to Tennessee and flying powered gliders was substantially more difficult. The reason I didn't get into freestyle drones in CA was the wind where I lived but out here is a different story.
So I jumped in. Unfortunately with both feet.
Bought all new gear and hardware down to the TS100 soldering iron. Nazgul5 5" quad, Taranis X9 lite Tx, Skyzone 02x goggles, even eight battery packs!
In no way shape or form was I ready. After discovering I had to update everything I had to go buy a new laptop. Pretty sure I screwed up the firmware updates. Downloaded the drivers to flash the FC but still cant seem to flash and a plethora of other reasons why this quad still hasn't spun up a motor, much less flown.
At 43 years old and being an industrial mechanic, I do believe this hobby is well within my skillset. I've joined this fourm to learn, and more importantly (when the time comes) to teach others. My brother flys a DJI, and my niece is thinking about getting to the hobby too so I'm super excited to be here!
Thanks everyone
Chris_A
 
Thanks @Donnie Baker and @HighTechPauper
Last night I finally got her off the ground! Reflashed the esc's (again) and we were in business. After sorting prop orientation and motor direction I was standing in my front yard hovering and feeling proud.
Now, how do I tell my wife I flew it in the house and tore up a window shade in the den? I know it was stupid but I was way too excited to have the darn thing working. I guess she's getting new window treatments, lol!
 
Welcome to the forum Chris_A. If you have a question try using the search function and if can't find the information you need ask the guys here. I'm still pretty new but there's some pilots here who are wizards.
Best of luck to you and safe flying.
 
Welcome to the forum and to flying quads. I am in the Nashville area...
Awesome! Maybe we'll be able to get together sometime when I get better at flying. So far I've destroyed two balance ports, six Rx antennas, two Rx's, two complete sets of props, and a motor. Also I'm pretty sure I wrecked my VTx as about 45 seconds into a flight I lost video feed but I'm not sure as that was the last time I saw that quad. I've spent 4 hours walking that field looking for her but she's nowhere to be found. So the money I was going to spend upgrading to a Radiomaster tx16 just went to a new quad that'll be here this week along with a r-xsr reciever.
Good times.
 
Sorry for your loss Chris, I think most of us have lost at least one. :(
Thanks HTP, I chalk it up to learning. I'm a touch hard headed and as I said in a previous post I like to jump in with both feet. I'm bound and determined to get good at fpv freestyle so this is the price I pay.
One thing I am having a hard time with is getting my transmitter to hook up to my computer so I can use it as a controller but I'll figure that out eventually too.
 
Thie controller connected to PC thing is likely that the driver is not correct, there was a procedure to fix it but I can't seem to put my finger on it at the moment, will keep looking. One way to tell if it is that is to look in the PC's attached devices when the controller is plugged up to see if it shows up as a USB Joystick, if not then the wrong driver got picked by the PC and it isn't something you did. I will keep looking for the info.
 
That video seems slightly different to what I did when mine wasn't working after a windows update... I will keep looking for the procedure I followed. I know I put it in a thread here on the forum but I can't find it now, search function is always dependent on what I search for so I am sure I am just looking for it wrong.
 
Awesome! Maybe we'll be able to get together sometime when I get better at flying. So far I've destroyed two balance ports, six Rx antennas, two Rx's, two complete sets of props, and a motor. Also I'm pretty sure I wrecked my VTx as about 45 seconds into a flight I lost video feed but I'm not sure as that was the last time I saw that quad. I've spent 4 hours walking that field looking for her but she's nowhere to be found. So the money I was going to spend upgrading to a Radiomaster tx16 just went to a new quad that'll be here this week along with a r-xsr reciever.
Good times.
Welcome to the forum.

It won't help in this case, but you should always have your DVR running in your goggles, if they have that capability. If you crash and can't find the quad, or even remember where exactly you were when it crashed, the video on the DVR can help you narrow down where to look. I was flying a Tinyhawk around my yard last year and crashed into a tree. I walked up into the backyard where I thought it crashed, but couldn't find it. Eventually looked at the video from the goggles and saw that it was actually in a tree in the front yard, nowhere close to where I'd been looking.

Also, an add-on buzzer module can help locate a lost quad. I put one on my 5" build and have used it when it was stuck in a tree, but I couldn't see it. You can use Betaflight to set up the motors to work as a buzzer. But it's not nearly as loud as a separate module.

Yeah, I hit the trees a lot. :rolleyes:
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrmund
Welcome to the forum.

It won't help in this case, but you should always have your DVR running in your goggles, if they have that capability. If you crash and can't find the quad, or even remember where exactly you were when it crashed, the video on the DVR can help you narrow down where to look. :rolleyes:
In my confusion about what had just happened I didn't stop the recording, I either powered down the goggles or just unplugged them. When it dawned on me to review the footage, my goggles just said "no file". I did set up the motors to buzz but those were about worthless, and thats even IF I still had battery powering the quad. The only buzzer I have right now is one of those battery checker types that I used on fixed wing. A new buzzer is on my short list for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: okw
Put some reflective tape in different places on your new qwad. I you lose it you be able to go back and find it with a flashlight.
I learned that on this forum, saved me once so far
 
Put some reflective tape in different places on your new qwad. I you lose it you be able to go back and find it with a flashlight.
I learned that on this forum, saved me once so far
That is actually darn good thinkin', I'll do that!
I also have a question...
So I downloaded/bought Velocidrone and after playing with it a couple times I feel like I fly better with the real thing vs. on a sim. That leads me to believe that either I might have my settings (on the sim) wrong or that I'm just that bad in real life. Maybe I should chose a different model? I'm trying to mimic the real thing. Obviously I still have so much to learn so I'll be putting in a lot of stick time on the sim before I take the new quad back out, but any insight is appreciated.
 
It is difficult to match with any precision the same physics of real life in the sim. It can be done with time and alot of tweaking. I have done this to match one of my 5in quads with good results. The reality is that all quads have slightly or not so slightly flight characteristics that would also need tweaking to match it in the sim. The fact that the sim doesn't match real life exactly is not as big of an issue as some might think. When you start to train your brain for flying FPV, it actually helps alot to fly different quads with vastly different characteristics. This helps your brain learn to quickly readjust to flying various quads and builds your skill more quickly in my opinion. Incorporating drills into your learning also helps to train your brain of the handling of different quads. Even for many, hovering in angle mode is a great start. Then learning throttle control and its effects on acceleration, stoping and turning with yaw only or yaw and roll mixed together foe more aggressive turns. Learning acro is easy once you have a feel for the sticks and the rates you are flying and flying angle or horizon mode is a good way to safely explore the stick feel on as a beginner. There are alot of people that discourage angle mode to start because they think it forms bad habbits, but any stick time is working at training your brain.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrmund and Chris_A

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
6,012
Messages
44,355
Members
5,308
Latest member
darshan rajput