Hi y'all,
Just finished building my first multicopter and got the first opportunity today to try and get it in the air. But no such luck, it appears as if there's not enough power to get the quad airborne. Increasing throttle to max just gives enough power to hop a a few centimeters off the ground.

I'm using a Crius AIOP FC and got a 'pre-selected parts' beginner's kit from RCTimer so I had the least chance of mismatching stuff. It's an RM450 V2 frame with 2212/930KV brushless outrunners and 30A ESC's - here's the complete setup.

It's using RCTimers 2200mAh 15C batteries which were the highest capacity they had available, but I'm thinking they just don't have what it takes. I did use the online RC calc to check but is wasn't possible to fill in exact matches to my kit so I'm unsure about the results.

Before I waste a bunch of money on better batteries that might not have any effect, any idea's? All help is appreciated.

Try bigger props, you should be able to get 1147s on there with no problem. If your motors get too hot, you will need to put more powerful ones one.

I've never appreciated 2212 motors, the 2216 size is a much better bet.

I can't see how the battery is the problem, unless it is a dud.

Check the motor direction, props and so on. They recommend 30A ESCs for the motors, so they probably pull around 15-20A or so. Unless their numbers are way off. Your battery probably can't take it. 15C isn't much.

EDIT: Poster above, you sure about that? That battery can deliver around 34 amps or so at most, it's really operating at the limit if it has to power 4 motors.

Originally Posted by WiseDuck

Check the motor direction, props and so on. They recommend 30A ESCs for the motors, so they probably pull around 15-20A or so. Unless their numbers are way off. Your battery probably can't take it. 15C isn't much.

EDIT: Poster above, you sure about that? That battery can deliver around 34 amps or so at most, it's really operating at the limit if it has to power 4 motors.

Thanks for the input guys.

Motordirection and props are connected properly as in as much that if I roll or pitch or yaw, the hopter will tilt in the appropriate direction. It just can't get enough lift to get airborne.

The parts were preselected by RCTimer and I'm assuming they were matched up properly. Also because it's not a matter of responsiveness but seemingly just plain power I'm doubtful that larger props will solve whatever is at the root of the problem.

Should it make a difference if I hookup two 15C's in parallel? I tried that but it didn't do anything for liftpower..

You should record a video of it. This doesn't sound right.

Poster above, you sure about that? That battery can deliver around 34 amps or so at most, it's really operating at the limit if it has to power 4 motors.

Would not have thought that 2212 motors could draw that much current, for this payload, but if they are very inefficient motors or there is something else sucking current, yes its possible.

Check motors and ESCs for excess heat, which is a sign that high current is being pulled but not translated into lifting energy.

Originally Posted by RHTizzy

Hi y'all,
Just finished building my first multicopter and got the first opportunity today to try and get it in the air. But no such luck, it appears as if there's not enough power to get the quad airborne. Increasing throttle to max just gives enough power to hop a a few centimeters off the ground.

I'm using a Crius AIOP FC and got a 'pre-selected parts' beginner's kit from RCTimer so I had the least chance of mismatching stuff. It's an RM450 V2 frame with 2212/930KV brushless outrunners and 30A ESC's - here's the complete setup.

It's using RCTimers 2200mAh 15C batteries which were the highest capacity they had available, but I'm thinking they just don't have what it takes. I did use the online RC calc to check but is wasn't possible to fill in exact matches to my kit so I'm unsure about the results.

Before I waste a bunch of money on better batteries that might not have any effect, any idea's? All help is appreciated.

That setup will fly fine. I'm a big fan of those motors on quads under 1kg, they give great flight duration, and are really robust.

Is your battery definitely a 3S, not a 2S?

Those frames are quite vibration-prone. We've seen many cases of new builds not flying because of too much vibration. You may want to enable a LPF in the multiwii.

Originally Posted by TS00

Those frames are quite vibration-prone.

And MWC are particularly sensitive to vibrations.
I have met the same problem with too flexible aluminium flat arms.

True that. Set the LPF to 42. Put the FC on some fairly rigid foam, it cannot be too soft or the FC will move around and get many false readings.

It must be pretty bad if it won't lift of at all. One quad I have did jump up and down a bit before it was tuned properly, now it doesn't. (F330)

Originally Posted by WiseDuck

It must be pretty bad if it won't lift of at all. One quad I have did jump up and down a bit before it was tuned properly, now it doesn't. (F330)

I can't remember who it was, but we had one user recently who had everything fine, except for too much vibration. It just wouldn't lift at all until he reduced it.

Sorry, haven't been able to get back on this until now. The all in one ESC calibration method I used is the one recommended by the Paris guys (almost at the bottom of the page) and is actually one cable connected to throttle which connects all ESC's at once, here's a picture. Could that be the problem?
As for vibrations, I probably haven't really balanced my props. I had a balancing setup for a previous hobby (AR Drone) but it's no good for these props as the shaft holes are too large. Is there a handy way of doing it?

What's an LPF btw?

Battery is 11.1v 3S 2200mAh 15C, I used two in parallel.

Originally Posted by RHTizzy

Sorry, haven't been able to get back on this until now. The all in one ESC calibration method I used is the one recommended by the Paris guys (almost at the bottom of the page) and is actually one cable connected to throttle which connects all ESC's at once, here's a picture. Could that be the problem?

No, nothing wrong with calibrating like that, makes life easier.

Is your battery definitely 3S?

Ooh, you were too quick for me. I read through the rest of the thread working my way up and added some answers to the post. Here they are again.

As for vibrations, I probably haven't really balanced my props. I had a balancing setup for a previous hobby (AR Drone) but it's no good for these props as the shaft holes are too large. Is there a handy way of doing it?

What's an LPF btw?

Battery is 11.1v 3S 2200mAh 15C, I used two in parallel.

First, try it with one single battery, see what happens.

LPF- low pass filter, so that the gyro ignores vibrations.

I don't like that approach myself, preferring to reduce vibrations instead.

A coarse balance is really all you need. Just get a rod, mount it horizontally (tape it to a table), and put the props on the rod. I use 3mm CF rod, but anything smooth will do.

I did start off with a single but as that didn't look like it could reach I used a double.

I'll try and find a suitable rod to balance the props but it'll have to be tomorrow as things are going dark here in the lowlands. Thanks a stack for your input! I'll post back when I've done some proper balancing.