Awesome. Cheers im going to make a similar setup tonight

Originally Posted by DroneBuilder

Despite my wife's best efforts today, I found time to work with my buddy's RCTimer S800 clone and get it in the air today.

We had flown it before, and it was AWFUL, and he was thinking "wow - what a waste of $900." But then we remembered that we never calibrated the esc's throttle range. (It was also windy when it was flown last, I wonder if the wind was the problem since I think big slow props do not like wind.)

Being a little lazy, we built the little jig shown in the attached photo so that we could calibrate all six of them at once! Just one servo wire from the RX throttle channel connects to the jig, then all six servo wires (the ones that connect to M1-M6 on the S800) connect to the jig on one end, and the M1-M6 pins on the S800. Power up the TX, push throttle to its highest point, power up the S800, hear two beeps (in unison, from all six esc's), move throttle to its lowest point, hear a single beep (in unison, from all six esc's) and done!

A little black duct tape (duck tape to most southerners) on the left side of the Naza to protect against light-induced altitude problems and we were ready to lift off.

We put gains on two knobs on the transmitter - one knob for "attitude mode - pitch and roll" and another for pitch and roll in Basic Mode.

After a couple minutes of tuning basic gains, we switched over to "attitude mode". We tweaked settings up and down, and had to deal with the copter wanting to drift a little to the left, but overall the bird was remarkably stable! Imagine our surprise when we reconnected to The Naza assistant and found that atti gain ended up EXACTLY on 100%! Interestingly, for our preferences - basic gains went all the way up to 225%!

A video of the bird hovering smooth (but boring) is below. It is just a lousy iPhone video, but I think it shows what folks are looking for!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbEyHq8lngI

We already have the CF sleeve kit purchased, since there was so much talk of wobbly arms. But I gotta admit, this bird flew really stable! I think if we were to add a little expo to the sticks and spend a little more time fine-tuning the gains then this bird is ready to carry a camera!

So it appears that this frame sold by RCTimer is, in fact, worthy of its name! Can't wait to slap an Alexmos SBGC-based gimbal underneath it and shoot some video. Plus, we'll probably install the CF sleeve mod later, too.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the vid!!!

What's the longest flight time have you got so far?

Originally Posted by DroneBuilder

The Naza assistant and found that atti gain ended up EXACTLY on 100%! Interestingly, for our preferences - basic gains went all the way up to 225%!

Originally Posted by Aaalie

I feel a little irritated, so do not take this as a personal "assault", but I think people have to read better before posting. Some good topics turn out to drown in repeated questions.

I don't see a question in there?

@Dronebuilder, thanks for the video, the led lights on the arms look random vs the original from a orientation point of view

Originally Posted by Jdmagoo

What's the longest flight time have you got so far?

I have not yet timed the flights. And I keep landing or otherwise getting interrupted, but if I had to guess I would say that I am getting about 17 minutes with 2x5,000mah 6S. That said, I am not using the battery protection built into the Naza. Instead, I plug in a lipo alarm that is similar to this one. It seems to start beeping (crazy loud) when cells get to about 3.6 or 3.4v.

Rain and wind have set in around Middle Tennessee, so further tests have been postponed.

Originally Posted by koolkiwikat

@Dronebuilder, thanks for the video, the led lights on the arms look random vs the original from a orientation point of view

Yes - It seems that one difference between the DJI version and teh RCTimer version is that the RCTimer version uses red led's for all counter-clockwise arms and green for all clockwise arms. It was mentioned earlier on this thread that RCTimer may soon offer the kit with proper LED indicators - that is, they may change the kit so that one of the counterclockwise arms glows green and two clockwise arms glow red. As for me, I'll just resolder some LED's.

We have now installed the Naza GPS, but the weather prevents any testing.

Originally Posted by DroneBuilder

I have not yet timed the flights. And I keep landing or otherwise getting interrupted, but if I had to guess I would say that I am getting about 17 minutes with 2x5,000mah 6S. That said, I am not using the battery protection built into the Naza. Instead, I plug in a lipo alarm that is similar to this one. It seems to start beeping (crazy loud) when cells get to about 3.6 or 3.4v.

Rain and wind have set in around Middle Tennessee, so further tests have been postponed.



Yes - It seems that one difference between the DJI version and the RCTimer version is that the RCTimer version uses red led's for all counter-clockwise arms and green for all clockwise arms. It was mentioned earlier on this thread that RCTimer may soon offer the kit with proper LED indicators - that is, they may change the kit so that one of the counterclockwise arms glows green and two clockwise arms glow red. As for me, I'll just resolder some LED's.

We have now installed the Naza GPS, but the weather prevents any testing.

Why does the LED light matter. I rather have their R&D work on the arms---NO FLEX

Originally Posted by DroneBuilder

I have not yet timed the flights. And I keep landing or otherwise getting interrupted, but if I had to guess I would say that I am getting about 17 minutes with 2x5,000mah 6S. That said, I am not using the battery protection built into the Naza. Instead, I plug in a lipo alarm that is similar to this one. It seems to start beeping (crazy loud) when cells get to about 3.6 or 3.4v.

With 2x 10,000mah 3S (1.4 kg) and a gopro as load (battery consumption "followed" by a power sensor on RoyalPro Multiplex) I reach flights of 14 to 16 min (stopping at 20% remaining capacity which seems to be the best to protect the life of the batteries)

ive noticed some change in the arms of rctimer. The Old? arms are less stiffer as Aaalie has shown. Now i have 5 other arms that are much stiffer even with the powercables out. Also they glued the connector so you cant remove it anymore.

Originally Posted by ThomB

ive noticed some change in the arms of rctimer. The Old? arms are less stiffer as Aaalie has shown. Now i have 5 other arms that are much stiffer even with the powercables out. Also they glued the connector so you cant remove it anymore.

Hello. Although I rarely post, I thought I would confirm your suspicions. I bought a rctimer s800 the moment they were available, and actually had several problems, one of them being the arms were not stiff enough, a lousy motor on one arm, missing struts for the landing gear, and stripped out holes for some of the pieces of the landing bolts. Although I wrote them several times, they never sent replacement parts, although they did answer emails in a way that was totally indecipherable!

On a whim, (i must be nuts) I ordered a second rctimer s800 and it was a completely different story, the arms are stiffer the motors smooth, all the pieces in the box... probably better quality control..

Although the arms are stiffer (I vibration tested the old vs new and all the new ones were about 60-70% lower on the vibration scale) I am flying a AV130 and after balancing and reblancing motors, switching to xoar props, balancing those too, I still have too much jello.

My final go will be the kopterworx anti-vibration struts AND the seacraft stiffeners AND the cinestar vibration isolators which are all ordered and enroute. If that doesn´t do it, I´m going back to my trusty (and ugly) old mikrokopter quad....

I use the naza GPS, for about 50-60 flights and it works flawlessly with the (nightmare!) Photohigher skyline rsgs for stabilization which is now decently tuned.

Has anyone flying with a Zenmuse on board? I'm thinking of ordering one and was wondering how it handled the load?

Originally Posted by Johndk

Hello. Although I rarely post, I thought I would confirm your suspicions. I bought a rctimer s800 the moment they were available, and actually had several problems, one of them being the arms were not stiff enough, a lousy motor on one arm, missing struts for the landing gear, and stripped out holes for some of the pieces of the landing bolts. Although I wrote them several times, they never sent replacement parts, although they did answer emails in a way that was totally indecipherable!

On a whim, (i must be nuts) I ordered a second rctimer s800 and it was a completely different story, the arms are stiffer the motors smooth, all the pieces in the box... probably better quality control..

Although the arms are stiffer (I vibration tested the old vs new and all the new ones were about 60-70% lower on the vibration scale) I am flying a AV130 and after balancing and reblancing motors, switching to xoar props, balancing those too, I still have too much jello.

My final go will be the kopterworx anti-vibration struts AND the seacraft stiffeners AND the cinestar vibration isolators which are all ordered and enroute. If that doesn´t do it, I´m going back to my trusty (and ugly) old mikrokopter quad....

I use the naza GPS, for about 50-60 flights and it works flawlessly with the (nightmare!) Photohigher skyline rsgs for stabilization which is now decently tuned.

try the carbon wrap on the arms this is really a game changer!

Johndk,

I think that you will find that the Secraft Brackets will be the best bang for the buck.....we have three sets on order and are looking forward to installing them.

We have done two sets of arms with the CF Sleeve and it will make the arms very rigid. Unless everything is completely balanced, the changes will probably not afect ALL of the vibrations. Each change that you make, changes the symetry of the machine, whether it be the RCTimer Clone or the actual DJI S800......

A quick question..can the DX8 support the s-800 as well as a futaba 8ch system?

Yes...both Radio Systems can fly the S800 perfectly fine...when you add the Zenmuse is when you need all of the additional channels...

Hope I interpreted your question correctly....

Originally Posted by heli001

Yes...both Radio Systems can fly the S800 perfectly fine...when you add the Zenmuse is when you need all of the additional channels...

Hope I interpreted your question correctly....

Yes, thanks very much.