DJI Naza F450 Flamewheel Assembly
I can hardly call it a build log. The DJI Naza with the ARF F450 kit goes together in no time at all. The most time consuming part would have to be soldering the ESCs to the main board and that isn't very difficult with the well marked and laid out bottom board. The solder joints to the ESCs are bare and exposed so to prevent any inadvertent shorts, I used hot glue to insulate the connections.
- The kit comes with a couple of wires for you to solder your favourite type of battery connector to the main board with. Before insulating those connections, I also soldered the connections from the Versatile Unit (VU) to the same points.
- ESCs are cable tied directly to the frame. Just connect the three motor wires up any which way and test them for the righ direction later. You've got a 50/50 chance of getting it right.
- I mounted the Naza dead centre in the middle of the bottom board with the supplied foam tape. I ran the wires to the receiver through one of the holes and mounted the receiver on the bottom side of the bottom board. This was purely to reduce the clutter of the wires.
- I mounted the VU also on the bottom side of the bottom board. the idea here is that the VU LED displays important infomation by varying the colour and frequency of the flashing light. By mounting the VU there, as long as the quad is above eye-level and right way up, the light should be visible to the pilot.
- I didn't balance the props. I probably should but I stuck them straight on and I get great results anyway.
- Programming is fairly straightforward with the DJI Assistant software. One thing to take note of, initially I experimented with the X1 & X2 remote gain settings by assigning them to channels 6 & 7 on my Tx. I mistakenly increased the gains to maximum and on the first couple of flights, I was a bit disappointed with the vertical hold. It tended to drift up or down and compared to all the youtube videos I've watched, it was very disappointing. After checking the gain settings, I set them the same as "stockfoodpics" from youtube because he's using exactly the same equipment as me and getting great results with video from his GoPro camera. The settings are "Basic: 150 150? 100 120 & Atti: 70 70 "
Unpacking the Naza Controller
After 3 years of using a couple of MultiWii Paris boards (Version 2 & 4) on a whole variety of quads and tricopters (http://bit.ly/JZ1iDA) and tricopters, I've bought my first commercially made multirotor controller. The DJI Naza controller (http://bit.ly/JZ1S4r) along with an F450 Flamewheel frame. It's tempting to retrofit a couple of old Quads with the Naza to compare the performance between the MWC and Naza but I'm too keen to see the DJI controller and frame flying as one unit.
What comes in the little red box.
- The Main Control unit (MC). It's smaller than I expected with inputs at one end and outputs at the other
- The Versatile Unit (VU). Basically a voltage monitor, regulator and USB interface to programming the board.
- The USB cable. I was a little disappointed it uses a micro USB connection instead of the fairly standard mini USB connection. It just means I'm less likely to have a spare cable on hand if I misplace the DJI supplied one. I guarantee if you were at the flying field and needed a 'mini' USB cable that almost every product comes with and seem to be multiplying in my desk draw, someone would have one in their camera bag or portable hard disk....
- 3-PIN Servo cable (female to female) for connecting your receiver to the Naza controller. By the time you connect the four standard controls, plus mode switch, plus X1, X2 & X3 you'll use them all up.
- 3M Gummed paper for sticking the controller to your multirotor. It's not very thick. Not sure if I'll use the supplied stuff or my own.
Configuring the Naza.
- The first thing to do is download and install the DJI Naza Assistant Software. Registration and activation by email is required so the DJI overlords can keep track of everyone that has the privilege of using their hardware.
- While waiting a few seconds for the activation email I soldered an XT-60 connector to the VU and hooked up a 3S 2200 Lipo.
- I'll be using 'Quad-rotor X4' config.
- Receiver Type = "Tradition(al)"
- Calibration was pretty straightforward by banging the sticks to all possible end-points. At one point I did get a flashing red box saying "Config Error" but after a power cycle it went away.
- I've assigned Sticks monitor (X1 & X2) to my slidey switches on the LHS and RHS of my Futaba 10C Tx. From what I understand these channels can be used for inflight gain adjustment. I'm not convinced I'll use that much but we'll see.
That's about as far as I've got. Think I might start putting the frame together.
