Welcome to my second build log!

After finishing the ArduCopter Build Log I decided to go for something real cheap.
I came across the MultiWii project coded by Alexinparis and supported by a huge number of subscribers who experimented with gyros and accelerometers from Wii Motion Plus and Nunchuck clones.

My aim was to build a complete copter for the price of a GAUI344 brain (210$) or the ArduCopter APM/IMU combo (220$). Here's what came out:




The image shows a previous frame which I used to test the components. See my new frame for AP/AV below.




Recommended reads! and main resources for informations on the MultiWii Copter:

ALEX' brand new site offers most informations needed to build a MultiWii copter:





IMPORTANT WARNING!
When using version 1.6 you can also arm/disarm the motors through the roll stick. Make sure you don't arm your motors accidently!




Alex' site focussed on Tri builds: http://radio-commande.com/internatio...icopter-design

Dedicated MultiWii thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1261382

Berkley's connections & components blog: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1340771

UndCon's MultiWii configurations via stick input: http://www.undcon.com/2010/09/24/mul...onfigurations/

420RcPilot's shield assembly blog: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1347925

Shikra's Blog for TriWiiCopter Configuration and Settings: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1348268





Pirate Menno aka joebarteam offers a great tutorial on PID tuning


Step-by-step instructions with videos!
Not only applicable for MegaPirates but for every multirotor aircraft needing tuning of the PIDs.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1521520







Here's another great build log in German language by BlueAngel2000:

http://www.fpv-community.de/comm/for...d.php?tid=2792






Spag's database and survey on WMC settings and PID tuning:



Add your finished, properly working MWC to the configuration database!
View responses here.
PM Spag if you have any questions/comments.





Norbert aka Norf started a Facebook Fanpage for MultiRotor Fans.



FB users know what to do.


Norf also started a Vimeo video page for MultiWii fans here:



http://vimeo.com/groups/mwc






Wanna show your MultiWii addiction?

Now you can:

Bob aka signguy and his daughter offer T-shirts in different colors with a MultiWii logo.



More info here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1383535






1. WHAT YOU NEED


Good and cheap replacement for the Wii Nunchuck (no more lottery!)





ELV Bosch BMA020 triple axis accelerometer breakout board:



The ELV breakout board is out of stock again.

http://www.elv.de/3-Achsen-Beschleun.../detail2_28515





ELV Bosch BMA020 triple axis accelerometer breakout board:



http://www.elv.de/output/controller....6&detail=30764


This is no group buy or collective order but a constant offer! As long as I'm in the mood...




http://www.elv.de/3-Achsen-Beschleun.../detail2_28515


ELV seems to have them in stock constantly now. I didn't have to wait more than 2-3 days on the last batches.

Since I have sent out nearly 300 items to over 100 people I think the "market" is quite saturated by these tiny boards, I only order small batches of ten as soon as I have new requests.

There was one major crack in the delivery chain when I ordered 50pcs for one batch and the next day the shop announced "available in 7 weeks".
Fortunately it melted down to less than 3 weeks...

I'm no dealer - and ELV in Germany is the only one producing and selling these kind of bobs - at horrible shipping prices (some countries aren't even covered) so I decided to order the BMAs from there, repack them and send them out at lowest priority airmail costs to serve the needs of foreign multirotorists.

Even German buyers pay more when they order directly from ELV (11€ instead of 9€) and some international buyers would have to pay up to 99€/138$ for shipping alone!
https://www.elv.de/output/controller.aspx?cid=172
Poor guys from Australia, New Zealand, Singapor, Mexico, Malaysia etc. would have had to pay 120$ for a single item - far out!

If I had to do this "service" for a living I would have starved long ago.

So I'd be happy if you'd feed me with some trader points. Thx!


And these are the RULES:

The Price is 9€ / 14$ shipped worldwide. The bobs come repacked in a simple envelope. I neither can offer warranty for the shipping nor the items themselves.


Send me a PM with "ELV BMA020" as subject with your real name, full postal address, your email and the desired amount of pcs.

I'll send you the confirmation and my PayPal account. Once you payed, you're on the list - first pay, first play.

Don't send me PMs with payment confirmations. I'll get them through PayPal anyway.

Don't confuse me with
- ordering and not paying
- paying and not ordering
- Cyrillic letters (it's damn hard for me to decipher names from Russian accounts)
- sending me money from a different PayPal account other than your own (and if you do so - leave a clear statement in PayPal!)

You won't get any personal confirmation that I sent out the items. Pleeeze follow the "Multirotor Swarming" thread. I'll keep you informed there!

I hope the rules are clear enough.





:: HARDWARE ::

Arduino Pro Mini 5V 16MHz


Sparkfun FTDI Basic USB Programmer


Wii Motion Plus (we need the gyros from this clone)


Wii Nunchuk (we need the accelerometer from this clone)


Some Pins and Cables (not mandatory - but recommended)







Other parts for my build:

Cheap Pentium 30Amp ESCs


EMAX CF2822 brushless motors


Dummy Camera Dome


Pre-built frame parts from 1hoch4 (another frame will follow soon)




These are the packages of the Wii clones. Made for WÜ! ;-)


More information on Wii components can be found in these wikis:

http://wiire.org/Main_Page



http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Main_Page





COSTS OF THE ARDUWiiNO NK

arduino pm 20$
programmer 15$
wii m+ 10$
nunchuck 5$
motors 40$
escs 40$
frame 55$
pins, cables 5$
dome 10$

sum ~ 200$

Depending on where you live prices may vary and you might have to add shipping costs, customs and tax.
If you already own a programming card you can leave it out. You could also build your own frame and/or use cheaper components to achieve even lower prices. You can leave out the pins and cables, too - but I recommend them for easier mounting.

Where to buy?

You can purchase most parts from Online Electronic Shops like Sparkfun (USA), Creatronic (Canada), CoolComponents (UK), Watterott (Germany) and different Ebay shops: Motion Plus :: Nunchuck

Arduino Retailers worldwide

I bought the Arduino, FTDI/USB programmer and cables/pins from Watterott http://www.watterott.com and the Wii stuff from the M&Mtrading Ebay store http://stores.ebay.de/mundmtrading

A wide range of Ebay stores offer different components:
Motion Plus from a Hongkong seller 10$
List of Nunchuck sales starting at 5$


UK Sellers:
Original Wii Motion Plus (UK, 10£)
Nunchuck clone (UK, 4£)






:: SOFTWARE ::

You need the MultiWii firmware from AlexinParis to upload it to the Arduino Pro Mini via Arduino 0021 software.



- Arduino 0021 :: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
- Troubleshooting for Arduino 0021: http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Troubleshooting



- New MultiWii v1.4 :: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...postcount=2410
Now with Y6 integrated and automatic camera tilt/roll compensation for quads!



- One folder contains the Arduino sketch, the other one contains the configurator GUI.

You eventually need drivers for the FTDI USB programmer.
You can find them for different OS here :: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm





Code Configuration made easy!
Dani's Online Configurator for the MultiWii now supports v1.5 & v1.6



http://ardupirates.net/config/MW_Config.php






:: BUILDING THE ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS ::

Note: Besides the original ones there are many different clones for Wii MP and Nunchuck available.
You may want to check first which one you need for your build.
Have a look at the attachments below.


Start with unmounting the Wii Clones from their cases. You can also unmount the joystick from the Nunchuck. Just rip off the parts from the board. If you want to use the original wires that come with the clones cut the cables as long as possible. I recommend to use these since there's much less soldering on the boards necessary. As soon as you're ready put a line of hot glue over the connection points like shown here:


This images shows the components from below


Note: You can cut or rip off unnecessary wires before you hot glue them ... or cut them later.
For the kind of Wii MPlus shown above you only need 4 wires RED - WHITE - BLUE - BLACK.
The Nunchuck only needs the 4 wires LIGHT RED - YELLOW - GREEN - BLACK

Then solder the pins onto your Arduino Pro Mini board:



Now either solder the required cables directly to the pins or use the above mentioned wires. In fact you can leave out the pins and connection wires but it makes it much easier if you need to unmount the components or add features later.





:: Connecting the Nunchuck ::

Tip: Before you solder on the Wii boards you can also leave the connector to the Nunchuck on the Wii MP. That way you could test several NKs before you start to disassemble them.
You can also use this construction for testing other accelerators later.







Connection diagram of all components


See more diagrams for different wirings in berkley's blog


Wiring of Rx and ESCs You only need one Y-connector to power the board and the receiver. Connect it to your front motor via pin #3. The other connectors from the ESCs go directly to pins #9,10,11 (signal wires usually white or orange)

Red = RAW
Black = GND

#3 = front motor
#9 = rear motor
#10 = right motor
#11 = left motor

Wiring of the receiver:
#2 = Throttle
#4 = Roll
#5 = Pitch
#6 = Yaw
#7 = Mode





Completed wiring of the 3 components. All components show the upper side. Original wires usually are connected on the lower side.



Wires coming from WMP going to Arduino:

Red (VCC) = 12
Black = GND
White (SDA) = A4
Blue (SCL) = A5





Wiring overview for WMP & NK by speto_sk

Clone WM+ "IN&PA-V1.6B."

CONECTOR:
________
| 1 3 5 |
| 2 4 6 |
|__---__|

* 1 (Black) - VCC
* 2 (Red) - SLC
* 3 (White) - NC
* 4 (Silver) - NC
* 5 (Green) - SDA
* 6 (Blue) - GND

PCB :
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
1|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|7

* 1 (Black) - VCC
* 2 (Red) - SCL
* 3 (White) - NC
* 4 (Silver) - NC
* 5 (Green) - SDA
* 6 (Blue) - GND


Clone NK "GHO901B-PCB1" V1.0 from 18.11.2010

CONECTOR:
________
| 1 3 5 |
| 2 4 6 |
|__---__|

* 1 (Yellow) - VCC
* 2 (Blue) - SLC
* 3 (Green) - NC
* 4 (-----) - NC
* 5 (White) - SDA
* 6 (Red) - GND

PCB :
_ _ _ _ _ _ 
1|_|_ _ _ _ _|6

* 1 (Yellow) - VCC
* 2 (Green) - NC
* 3 (Blue) - SCL
* 4 (White) - SDA
* 5 (Red) - GND
* 6 (----) - NC

NOTE: Instead of mounting the parts like I did you can also buy (or build) a nice shield for the components like 420RcPilot did:


You'll find a complete assembly turorial in 420RcPilot's blog here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1347925




You can now purchase a round shield designed by warthox
and manufactured by AlouetteIII at the MultiWiiCopter store here:







First attempt: Compact but too many wires and heavy connectors




Second attempt: Less wires and cleaner build. Dampening is the key!



Some foamy material used to dampen the components. Make sure the boards are isolated from each other!



Foam case open



Foam case closed



Y - connector for the ESC and Rx. You only need 1 of them. I connected it to pin #3 for my front motor.



Alternative mounting of the components


See more breakout boards in the attachments






:: UPLOADING THE FIRMWARE TO THE ARDUINO ::

Connecting the FTDI Basic USB Programmer



When you connect the programmer for the first time you might be asked for a driver - if you haven't already installed the above mentioned - then do it now.

Start Arduino and set the preferred settings for your COM Port and Board in the "Tools" menu and set the path of your sketch file under "Files -> Preferences".



Load the MultiWiiV1.3 from the "File -> Sketchbook" menu.
You need to uncomment one of the following lines first by deleting 2 slashes:

//#define MINTHROTTLE 1310 // for Turnigy Plush ESCs 10A
//#define MINTHROTTLE 1120 // for Super Simple ESCs 10A

I had to set the MINTHROTTLE to 1150 to get my motors started.
Change the other parameters so they fit your needs. After setting the appropriate values go to "File -> Save" and then click the upload button (arrow right).


Video Tutorial: HowTo upload the file with Arduino

Programming the Arduino - T-Wii Copter (4 min 0 sec)

When done, start the MultiWii Configurator. On the upper left click on your COM Port and press the "Start" button. After that click on "Read" so you can see the parameters of your setup. When moving the board you should see the values change accordingly.
You can adjust the settings by left clicking on it and then either type the values or click and hold the mouse button and shove it to the left or right. After you're done, click on "Write" to save the values.



Adjust the settings step by step until you have a nice and stable flight. You can switch the flight modes "Acro" (gyros only) or "Stable" (Nunchuck involved) on your transmitter channel 5 (usually AUX1 or Gain).

For troubleshooting go here:
http://radio-commande.com/internatio...icopter-design





:: ADDENDUM ::

CREDITS
Special thanks go out to:

Alexinparis - inventor of the MultiWii Tri- & Quadrocopter
Warthox and Norf - for their excellent flight videos
Berkley - for his helpful illustrations and diagrams
Frank T. - for bringing me on the right track
Signguy - for creating beautiful decals for my ArduWiino
UndCon - for his MultiWii configuration tutorial

... and to anybody else who contributed to this great initiative!






Additional connection diagrams can be found in berkley's blog





CAMERA STABILIZATION

Here's a quick video of the working camera stabilization. Atm I have only a tilt servo connected but roll also works:

MultiWii - Automatic Camera Stabilizer (0 min 47 sec)

Thanks to Alex who made this possible!

Here's the code and some instructions from Alex:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...postcount=1380





Jakub's Frames:

Jakub is a nice guy from Krakow in Poland. He sells his standard quad frame for 59$ plus decent shipping fees worldwide.
His brand new store offers a large amout of different frames (from Tris to Hexa) now: http://www.quadframe.com

Some samples:




He's also very active in the RCG forums and you can read a thread about his new creations here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1310314


Video of Jakub's frame assembly:

Foldable quadcopter frame assembly manual (4 min 25 sec)

Another 50$ frame for AP/AV for my ArduWiino:



It's made of parts from a German Ebay seller:
He also has decent prices for hexa and octo builds.








Flight videos will follow asap.

Having seen the weather forecast I decided to steal some of warthox' indoor/outdoor flight videos. MultiWii with gyros only!

quadro copter - in & outdoor fun (3 min 30 sec)

KK (blue and red leds) and MultiWii (red led) side by side.


This indoor/onboard MultiWiideo is by Norbert aka "Norf":

MultiWiiCopter Indoor / Onboard (3 min 5 sec)

Have Fun!


Written by Norbert Machinek on 11/03/2010

Looking Good.

Hi Norbert.


This look very nice, and much cheaper than ArduMegaPilot.
Will follow thisblog and maybe I build a Arduwiino when I got up Arducoptern in the air.
I wish you good luck with this Build blog.

Regards from Kenneth

Subscribed also!!

Very nice job on the step by step.
Subscribed!

Norbert,

Another fine job here! I have been following the other thread but it is quite fragmented. what I really needed was a good concise thread like your arducopter thread to follow! Now all I will need is for your installer package to be made ready! 'Hint, Hint'

I really would like to build one of these but I am working on a prototype kit to sell. Maybe after the next airshow, I will pick up what I need to just get started.. I really would like to learn this Arduino stuff, could be fun with my Technology Students!

Keep up the good work and I will keep watching!

Thanks for this nice new build log, Norbert!
Just suscribed!

Bastien

Outstanding! Thank you..

Excellent, very helpful as I have just tried out the GUI myself.

Verry good blog!! after I'm read all 116pages from below resource
http://radio-commande.com/internatio...icopter-design
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1261382

You can summary in 1page and verry clear in detail , Thank you for buid this blog +^_^+

Currently I'm fly Tricopter by using 4 gyro , but after I read all above resource and your blog I will start buiding new frame and also I already ordered Druminov + WMP on yesterday.

great tutorial, thanks

could you go over how to set up the bec's and the rx. I see the wiring diagram but it doesnt make sense to me. I need detailed pics of the wiring.

I understand that the bec'c have 5v coming out of them, then where do they go....where do i get power to the cards? and from what
sorry so confused

Nice tutorial - I have used the "multi" for a while on my Tricopter and will move it to my T-copter

It is also Also in use on my Quadcopter

read more at:
www.undcon.com

Hello my friend now i see what your up to you know now i will have to build one of these neat little quads. and your blog is A number one you make it so easy for us to build now i just have to start ordering the parts i need and here we go again Tom

I just started the blog yesterday and I already see overwhelming response.

As I'm a noob myself I try to focus on step-by-step instructions for adopters who don't have much experience in building quadcopters.

The MultiWii is a wide and inexpensive item and I was surprised how easy it was to build. There's less soldering and programming required than in many other projects.

So it's ideal for noobs who dare to swing the soldering iron and try to build a cheap quad on their own.

Based on well tested and approved components like the Arduino you can build a brain with Invensense gyros and accelerometers for around 35$. If you add the FTDI/USB programmer you'll get away with ~ 50$.

I know that especially the different Wii clones on the market are rather confusing for beginners. Also tried to make the wiring as clear and easy as possible.

Already added some more info and illustrations as requested.
If you see any lacks or confusing/unclear info or have something to contribute to the project - keep it coming!

Happy building & flying to y'all!

Norbert

CAN YOU GIVE A BETTER WIRE DIAGRAM WITH ALL THE WIRES.
I understand the bec's have more than one wire out.....pics of your wiring will answer my question i think

Y - connector for the ESC and Rx
what does this connect to? or is it power coming from one or all esc's?