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Drone the third - The copter stays on the ground, I go up the walls

29.4.2020

Translation: machine translated

It's milking the mice. After I wrecked the flight controller and had my colleague Kevin make me special mounts, my DIY racing drone still remains on the ground.

The new flight controller and the matching 3-cell batteries have arrived. Great, I can finally continue tinkering with my racing drone. I solder the cables for the motors and the air unit to the flight controller. I install the carbon fibre plate and the 3D-printed brackets from my colleague Kevin Hofer for the antennas and the camera have also found their way to me and are mounted.

Background information
Drone number two: A trip into prototyping with a crash landing
by Kevin Hofer

I connect the battery. It beeps, blue and red LEDs flash. A first step has been taken.

Troubleshooting the first

A DIY racing drone is definitely not a plug-and-play product. Because of the countless videos I've already watched, I know what I still have to do. The copter has to be configured and programmed. To do this, I download the software Betaflight. I stumble for the first time when connecting the flight controller to the PC using the micro USB cable. My Mac won't recognise the flight controller. All the tips from the Internet and co. are of no use. Desperate, I try another micro-USB cable - and lo and behold: the connection works.

It flashes and the connection to the computer is established

Joshua Bardwell, an American YouTuber, explains the procedure step by step in his videos. Even a complete beginner like me understands it.

Troubleshooting the second - that too

With the remote control and air unit connected, I programme settings such as Arming - which switches on the motors for the flight - Angle mode - which keeps the drone stable in the air thanks to gyroscope support - or Turtle mode - which allows the drone to be turned over from the back. The motors react to my inputs via the remote control and do what they are supposed to do. At some point, nothing works anymore. The battery seems to be empty. I plug it into the charger. It's not charging! The display shows "Can't Charge Battery". Oh great!"
My colleague Tino Kälin always proves to be a great help. We quickly find out that one or even several cells in the battery are broken. Once again, bad luck is on my side.

Troubleshooting the third - I'm climbing the walls

Luckily, I have a second battery to hand and can continue with various tests and settings in Betaflight. Everything works. I switch on the drone by toggling the "SC switch" and the four motors start to turn slightly. If I move the throttle lever for the thrust forwards, the speed of the motors increases. Only one motor turns in the wrong direction. I change the direction of rotation with BLHeli. Alternatively, I could also change the direction of rotation by re-soldering. I am confident. Tomorrow I'll fly the drone somewhere in a large field. You can dream, after all.

I connect the copter to the battery again the next day. Only two of the four motors are still turning. WTF? I can't explain it. I didn't notice any smoke, fire or a bang. A never-ending search for faults begins. Did I do something wrong when I changed the direction of rotation? Are the solder joints not clean? Is the new carbon fibre plate causing problems? Have the motors broken? I undo all my previous changes, load new and old firmware onto the flight controller, re-solder the motors and spend hours on the phone with Tino. Nothing helps. I'm at my wit's end and find myself thinking about giving up.

I'm afraid that my flight controller has broken again and I'm fantasising about a new model. Unfortunately, the current one is no longer available.

What should I do? Do you have an idea? Then please write it in the comments column or send me an e-mail. In the meantime, I'll keep trying. Maybe with a new flight controller.

Lessons learnt so far

A flight controller that caught fire because the batteries were too powerful or the current problems with the motors. It all adds up. So far I've had to buy the following new components:

RC batteries

CHF28.90

Swaytronic Battery

11.10 V, 1500 mAh

RC helicopter accessories

Hglrc F4 Zeus

Instructional money paid: 186 francs (3 batteries and 1 flight controller). I'm afraid that with my current problems there will be more to come.

So that you don't miss out if I do take off, follow me as an author by clicking on "Follow author" on my author profile.

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Manuel Wenk

Communications Manager

Manuel.Wenk@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a Multimedia Producer, preparing multimedia content and knowing about cutting-edge technology is my business. My main focus at digitec is producing videos. I can’t wait to try out new products such as cameras, drones or smartphones as soon as they’re launched. This is where being at the source comes in rather handy. When I’m not working, I’m probably skiing, biking or hiking – the mountains are my place to be.

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