|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Mini-Review
WLtoys V929 Beetle Ladybird Quad Mini-Review
Some background of myself: I have never flown a quad before. My fleet consists of Jiuchon 9C002, WLtoys V911 and NE Solo Pro 180. I'm not an experience but a total newbie to quad flying. Please guide me if I make any errors. Thanks!
Let's get started! I ordered my V929 from BangGood.com and it was delivered to my door steps very quickly by DHL. Yes, it costs more but I just couldn't stand the wait! The box appeared to be slightly damaged, looks like something heavy had pressed on it. But the stuff inside looks ok. I took out the stuff and arranged them nicely for some photos. I also placed V911 items to show how big the quad is. E728 Transmitter It looks and feels just the transmitter for V911. The top-left corner button toggles between the following rates: 20%, 40%, 60% and 100% (Stunt Mode). When you move the stick, the LCD will show the channel number that is active. Here are the ranges for ailerons (channel 1), elevator (channel 2), rudder (channel 4): At 20%: all 3 channels 31% to 50% to 68% At 40%: aileron, elevator 27% to 50% to 72%; rudder 33% to 50% to 66% At 60%: aileron, elevator 16% to 50% 83%; rudder 25% to 50% to 75% At 100%: aileron, elevator 0% to 50% to 100%; rudder 5% to 50% 94% Battery comparison and power connector / socket Dimensions: 5.7 cm x 1.8 cm x 0.7 cm Charger Board Miscellaneous Flying Experiences I flew it in a small room as well as the outdoors with light winds. The quad is stable. At 20% rate, the quad is suitable for indoor flight. Controls feel sluggish and lags so you need to plan ahead. Do not turn away from the wall just before you hit it - it'll be too late! At 40% indoors might be a little too fast. At the outdoors, 40% is good for beginners like me to get warmed up but 60% is where the fun begins. At 40%, it is difficult to recover from "over steer". There were times that I applied too much elevator or aileron (at 40% sensitivity) but could not recover from it. This is likely caused by the sluggish behaviour as with setting to 20%. I did not have problems if I had set to 60%. I strongly recommend flying at 60% outdoors, the same reason why I fly my V911 at high rate outdoors. At 60%, I could pull off banked turns but they really need a lot of counter movements to maintain the desired trajectory. The quad is responsive at 100%. It feels a little more responsive (or sensitive) than 60% but be very careful with the aileron and elevator controls because it is at Stunt Mode, meaning the board upon receiving the respective stick movements, will automatically instruct the quad to flip. It's like the quad as a mind of its own. This is a problem if you are not familiar with the sensitivity of 100%. It is easy to apply too much stick movement to send the wrong signal to the quad and that sends it flipping. You can see this in my video. I pulled off some flips during my second flight. It was underwhelming. All I did was to let it rise to a sufficiently high altitude, switch to stunt mode, then apply full aileron. There wasn't anything difficult as it would automagically get back to its feet. I find sports flying much more fun. There were some crashes and I damaged one of the bottom landing skids. (Damaged) (Normal) I can't seem to bend the damaged part back to the original state. Piros are a little difficult to do. I tried piros at 60% and 100% and there didn't seem to be any difference in the spinning rate. As it spins, the quad might wobble (due to winds?) and it may get worse and if you do not stop or apply immediate correcting stick movements, the wobble will become a very big wobble and the quad may end up flying at the wrong way. I pulled off a couple of piros in my video too. I just did a second flight and tried piros again. It seemed ok, maybe because the winds have weakened. Banked turns are difficult. Maybe I'm just not used to it coz I had felt banked turns to be difficult for V911 too. As the quad is much heavier than the V911, the acceleration, deceleration, rate of drop in altitude, rate of increase in altitude, are very different. It seems to me that slight aileron stick movements is required to do banked turns; apply too much and the quad will be really hard to control. It speeds up much quicker as it exits a banked turn. You really need to be fast to apply the counter stick movements to slow it down. Similarly, you need to increase throttle slightly to prevent it from dropping too much altitude. I need a much bigger space to handle this quad than my V911. I did a second flight and tried banked turns. I took some time to get used to it. It is actually not too difficult! It is able to automatically level itself when you stop giving it stick movements but it is comparatively slower than the V911. If it needs to be stopped or slowed down, you should apply the opposite stick movements early. Pros + Affordable + Fun + Challenging + Very fast movement + Stable + Good battery capacity Cons - Fragile landing skid - Stunt mode is underwhelming - No LEDs (no night flying) - Canopy has a sad bug face Video (720p HD quality)
Onboard Video
References Components Diagram (taken from BangGood): WLtoys Homepage: http://www.wlmodel.com jameschen072 Comprehensive V929 Thread: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1658847 Flickr Photo Gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fyresg/...965464/detail/ |
||||||||||||||||
|
Last edited by FyreSG; Aug 05, 2012 at 12:46 AM.
Reason: Added Outdoor Flight #4 video
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Part 2: Flying with the V911 Transmitter
Mods for V929
Batteries - "Tigers EFLB 5001S"; "ForceHobby EFLB 5001S"; "Turnigy nano-tech 600mah 1S 35~70C NE106118"; "Syma S032G-20; "Solo Pro 328 NE411930001A"; "Intellect 1S 550mAh 25C O-IT1S1P055025A"; "Hyperion 550" Landing gear - stock ones are rigid and does not absorb impact. It is possible to use cable ties to create springy, bouncy legs for the Beetle. Example here (length 2.5mm x 100mm) and here and here. Paper canopy - while the bug face may appear cute, it may not be visible from far. Thankfully we can make paper canopies for the Beetle. Google for "paper canopy mqx" or get some really good ones here: a Helifreak forum post, TDR canopy. and Darsh Read up on useful paper canopy notes from Daryoon. Making the front more obvious - partially complete and majority complete. Covered black bug face of the canopy Cosmetic enhancements - Add stripes to your propellers! Paint the landing skids or add tail fin like this! LEDs - Youtube video and here. Turnigy ER9X Transmitter - Mode 1 Configuration by Del-Dredd. Mode 2 Configuration by Cloudflying. Turnigy 9X Transmitter - Binding procedure by Daryoon. Configuration by Del-Dredd. Carrying Case - Cloudflying bought the case from Harbor Freight Replacing Broken Booms - here Wiki - On V929 Board Revisions - Thanks to Heli Pad V911 Transmitter with V929 Beetle The V911 Transmitter is able to bind to the quad. Simply power on the quad then power on the transmitter and after a few seconds, you're good to go! There are only two rates for this TX: low and high. At low rate, the TX it is not equivalent to the rate of 20% on the E728. I find it more difficult to manage the quad indoors as I am used to flying it at 20%. If you intend to fly the quad indoors, you should not use the V911 transmitter. I'd say the low rate feels like 40%, or maybe somewhere in the middle... 50%. At high rate, the TX feels really sensitive. It is 100% and is able to perform flips. As with the E728 TX, using this mode is pretty difficult if you're a newbie. Verdict: Get the RTF instead of a BNF.. E728 Transmitter with V911 4CH FP Helicopter I did the test outdoors with light winds. At 20%, the helicopter is unable to handle light winds as it will be sent away in the direction of the wind. At 40%, it is just slightly better, but not able to resist the wind. At 60%, it behaves very differently. It is able to fly nicely in the wind. Definitely not like high rate on the V911 TX, but it is good enough. In fact, I think at 60% it performed better than the stock TX set to high rate. The helicopter will not be pushed over the limit during FFF or banked turns. It will stay in its designated path nicely. Of course, the trade off is that it moves slower. When there is a gust of wind, the V911 at 60% will not be able to resist it. At 100%, it feels just like high rate on the stock V911 TX. However, the rudder is extremely sensitive! I couldn't do proper banked turns because of the super sensitive rudder. Refer to my first post on the channel 1, 2 and 4 ranges, you can compare against the stock V911 TX ranges here: Low rate: aileron, elevator 3 bars; rudder 2 bars High rate: all 3 channels 4 bars I think 4 bars on the V911 TX = 100%, then the equivalent range (in terms of E728) is 0% to 50% to 100% I think 3 bars on the V911 TX = 75%, then the equivalent range (in terms of E728) is 12.5% to 50% to 87.5% I think 2 bars on the V911 TX = 50%, then the equivalent range (in terms of E728) is 25% to 50% to 75% Verdict: The E728 transmitter will be good enough for your V911 for most of the time. If you like very high speed flight, then you should stick to your V911 transmitter. |
|
Last edited by FyreSG; Oct 13, 2012 at 07:42 AM.
Reason: Added tips on improving visuals
|
|
|
|
Just a few observations:
1. It really looks like a direct copy of an MQx. Even the board and battery are the same. 2. It should respond much faster than a V911. It has no mechanical linkage to move. But, from what you describe, 100% may be more than 100%. At true 100%, an MQx needs 10 - 15 feet to flip. 3. Your observations about banked turns are consistent with the handling of most quads; it is different and you do have to work at it. 4. Most quads don't do piros well. Your V929 piros very much like an MQx. It's better if all of the blades are balanced and tracking. But, that's really hard to accomplish with very flexible plastic blades. 5. The landing/gear pod on the MQx is extremely hard and strong plastic. It would require a very hard crash to break one and you would do a lot more damage than just the pod. 6. Pay particular attention to the right front motor. The early MQx models had a problem with brush failure on this motor. |
|
Last edited by Balr14; Jun 27, 2012 at 09:26 AM.
|
|
|
|
Thanks for your reply, Balr14. Here are my replies.
2. The V929 also needs 10 to 15 feet to flip. It's like a pre-programmed routine - if ((stunt_mode) && aileron > 60%) flip(); And when flip() is called, everything works like magic. During normal flight I couldn't apply aileron or elevator for more than (approx) 60% or risk triggering flip(). When performing banked turns with 100%, this could be a hazard. 5. The bottom landing gear cover did not break but was bent. It made the quad look a little awkward but having it bent is better than having a damaged the main gear. |
|
|
|
|
|
I don't think the landing gear on the MQx will bend.
After a closer look at your board, the electronics and wiring are quite different than the MQx. There's a lot more on your board. Too bad there are no markings on it. So, you can actually flip while turning? I'll bet you will be doing that like a pro in two weeks. |
|
|
|
|
|
I didn't try flipping while turning. Maybe I'll try it the next time. I thought about it - actually it is like what you said - flying a quad is not too hard. At my second battery, I could pull off banked turns. I just need to get used to the speed at which things are happening.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Quote:
Can I suggest trying this on the landing gear to a) protect it from smacking onto concrete when you close the throttle too quickly (you will) and b) give you height for a keyfob camera. |
|
|
||
|
||
|
Quote:
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
What do u mean by stunt mode is underwhelming?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, actually someone did something kinda similar on a Parrot AR.Done and I adapted it.
Anyway, before you do onboard video you must balance your props, or your first video will look like you're underwater. Accepted method is: Pull the gears off the shafts just enough to stop them engaging with the motors. I grasp the prop where it meets the top bearing and sort of roll and pinch with my first finger and thumb to squeeze the prop shaft out at the top about 5mm. Your props will now spin freely and you can balance them. Clear household tape in about small 1/2" squares applied to the underside of the ends of the 'light' prop until you get them to sit horizontal. As they get closer to being balanced, the friction in the bearings will make it harder to get them to move, so tappity-tap-tap on the leg to break that friction and the slightly heavier one will come down and you can add that last little bit of tape to the lighter one. You're half done. From the photos, it looks like the screws holding the props on the shafts are much bigger than those on the Blade, so you'll have a heavy side to the shaft. Apply layers of heavier electrical tape cut into little 2mmx2mm squares to the lighter side of the shaft. Or maybe a drop of cement. Let it dry, check again, it will get lighter as it dries. Push your gears back onto the shafts when done. Not too tight, you want about 0.3mm of slack or the bearings will bind. Pinch that shaft out a bit to loosen it and jiggle it up and down to check you've got a slight clearance. Worry about oiling the bearings another time. Do NOT use WD-40, that's like anti-oil. |
|
Last edited by Brandigan; Aug 14, 2012 at 03:26 PM.
Reason: Added the bit about tapping to break the friction
|
Thread Tools | |
Similar Threads | |||||
Category | Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
ladybird beetle/gws easybug | nebuchadnezzar | Foamies (Kits) | 3 | Jan 28, 2020 06:39 PM | |
Mini-Review | WLToys Beetle quad review | jameschen072 | Mini Multirotor Drones | 5149 | Oct 29, 2014 01:57 AM |
New Product | WLToys Ladybird Large BRF$30; RTF$39 | lao | Micro Helis | 7 | Jun 02, 2012 10:22 PM |