Reptile V500 Quadcopter Frame (HCRECO0002)

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admin
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Reptile V500 Quadcopter Frame (HCRECO0002)

Post by admin » Tue Jun 24, 2014 3:39 pm

Image

Description:

The Reptile V500 (HCRECO0002) is a low cost but big on features and versatility 500mm quadcopter frame. The two level design provides numerous options for mounting various electronics for you flight control system, battery, ESC's, and camera. It's strong ABS arms provide good protection from crashes or hard landings. Mounting points are provided for common types of brushless motors (see below) and fixing bolts are included as part for the kit. Please note that this is a kit of parts and requires assembly.

The Quadcopter Frame comes in kit form:
Image

Features:

Center lower plate: 1-4pcs 45 * 45mm flight control board (FF, kk, rabbit, pirate, MWC, etc.)
With extension board a paralel ESC or 4-in-1 ESC can be installed.
With mounting holes for Wireless Transmitter ,CCD,OSD,GPS antenna,special design for installing NAZA flight control (long hole left for VELCRO to fix the controller), holes for tall landing skids.
2200 mAh battery can be fixed at the end of the lower plate.
Center upper plate: with cross holes for mounting NAZA GPS and aluminium mounting plate (38 * 38/33 * 33) in front of it for FPV camera.
Transmitter or remote control receiver and other components can be set at the end of the plate.
Arms: similar arms to F450, F550
Biggest propeller can be used: 12-inch (10 inch recommended)
Recommended motors: 2212 2213 2216 4006 5005

Specifications:

Wheelbase: 500mm
Min Arm distance: 380mm
Max Arm distance: 480mm
MaterialGlassfiber+ ABS Plastic
Weight: 485g

We stock all items required to build a full V500 Quadcopter:
Image

Close-up of the centre of the Quadcopter frame with optional extras:
Image

syedamerali
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Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 12:28 pm

Re: Reptile V500 Quadcopter Frame (HCRECO0002)

Post by syedamerali » Thu Nov 06, 2014 2:54 pm

As per the picture one now has a frame with four motors with props. 4 motor controllers and other bits and bobs.
How does the copter fly and what is used for stabilisation?
What is required to fly it remotely?
A complete parts list with quantities as to what would make the copter fly and be controlled would be helpful - further how will it be powered; what would be the flying time on a full charge and what would be max payload?
I am not quite sure how to put together a flying and controllable copter with the description given above. Why do you not offer a complete flyable kit?

andrew
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Re: Reptile V500 Quadcopter Frame (HCRECO0002)

Post by andrew » Fri Nov 07, 2014 9:04 am

That's a lot of big questions packed into such a small paragraph. I'll break them up to answer them:

>How does the copter fly
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the first part of this question, do you mean how does it move in the different axis?
and what is used for stabilisation?
For stabilisation you need a flight controller board. The one we currently stock is the Cirus Multiwii (HCRECO0001). This board has an Arduino based microprocessor with triple axis accelerometers, gyros, compass, and a barometer to allow it to sense the current orientation of the copter and make automatic corrections. You do need to do some fine tuning to get this to work well.
What is required to fly it remotely?
The most common way is to use a standard radio controlled transmitter and receiver. I would advise against using one from a radio controlled car or boat and use one designed to be used with radio controlled aircraft. These range from 10's to 100's of pounds depending on their quality and functionality. I would consider getting one that has at least 6 channels so that you have some spare should you wish to add additional functions to your copter (the bare minimum the copter will need is 4, 5 if you want to be able to switch flight modes). I would also recommend that you get one that operates at 2.4GHz. Unfortunately most transmitters and receivers use proprietary systems so although most do operate at 2.4GHz you will need to make sure your choice of receiver works with your choice of transmitter. The transmitter and receiver can end up costing more than the copter depending on what you choose but keep in mind it can be moved across to any future modes you may buy.

Additionally you can also attach one of our Bluetooth slave modules that allows you to remotely tune the parameters and receive telemetry to a laptop or smart phone.
A complete parts list with quantities as to what would make the copter fly and be controlled would be helpful
This is also a tricky one to answer because it depends on what you plan to do with it but as a rough guide here is what you need:

1x V500 frame
4x Bushless motors as per image
4x Electronic speed controllers (ESC) as per image
4x Propellers (2 sets of 2 in opposite pairs)

If the above is purchased from us as per the image you should have all the screws, connectors, and heat shrink necessary to put this parts together.

For the flight controller as mentioned above we sell the Cirus Multi Wii (HCRECO0001)
Although not necessary I would also recommend purchasing a power distribution board (HCRECO0003) that will allow you to route power from the battery to the 4 ESC's easily. This sits below the MultiWii controller board.

You will also need a standard RC transmitter and receiver as mentions above which we do not currently stock.

The last thing you need is a battery and charger. Multicopters, as do most types of RC Aircraft, require a lot of power. You'll need to purchase at least one Lithium Polymer (LiPo) battery. We don't currently stock these but you can find them all over places like eBay and Amazon. I would recommend this to be a 3 cell 11.1V battery with a capacity of at least 2150mAh. The other thing to look for on these batteries is their discharge capacity. This is important. It is usually given in a C rating. For example a battery with a 30C continuous rating can supply a continuous current of 30 x its charge which for a 2150mAh battery would mean a discharge capacity of 30 x 2.150A = 64.5 Amps. This sounds a lot but as I said, multi-copters are very power hungry and I would not consider a battery with a lower rating then this. Be carfull of cheap brands, they do tend to lie about their discharge ratings. That said there are lots of cheap bargain batteries out their that work well.
further how will it be powered;
See above
what would be the flying time on a full charge
This is completely dependant on your choice of Li-Po battery, weight of the model, choice of motors, how you fly it, etc. But as a rough idea a 2150mAh 3C 11.1V battery which is a relatively small capacity for this type of aircraft will give you about 10 minutes of flight time.
and what would be max payload?
This is also dependant of the above choices but with the components we supply you should be able to lift a small camera with a pan and tilt head with ease.
I am not quite sure how to put together a flying and controllable copter with the description given above.
What you need to keep in mind is that these models are not toys and there is a learning curve involved in being able to build and fly them. A lot of manufacturers advertise their models as being ready to fly out of the box but this is almost never the case and usually require a leaning process and lots of fine tuning to get them to fly. I would recommend reading up on various RC forums such as RC Universe. There are also a mass of helpful videos on youtube. One youtube user (painless360) has some great instructional videos. Here is his video for wiring the MultiWii board up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-vDhhyKWho

Why do you not offer a complete flyable kit?
This is something we will consider if this product continues to be popular. One thing that may be of help to you is you take a look at our product page for the frame here:

http://hobbycomponents.com/index.php/re ... frame.html

You will see various suggestions for accessories down the right hand side which will all work together.
Comments made by this poster do not necessarily reflect the views of Hobby Components Ltd.

carbon6t
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Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:40 pm

Re: Reptile V500 Quadcopter Frame (HCRECO0002)

Post by carbon6t » Fri Mar 11, 2016 2:40 pm

We built a quadcopter based on this chassis at Stockport College. I thought you might like to see the results. We're very pleased with the results. It flies and is very stable and when we had the odd bump the frame survived without any damage.

Here's some footage of our quadcopter flying:

http://1drv.ms/1UYebTa

NB We flew responsibly, away from roads, and made sure there was no one around when we flew. There is no camera on our quadcopter and we didn't get within 50m of anyone or anything over which we did not have control. We stayed below tree top height.

I would just add - buy plenty of spare propeller blades! :D

Jeff
Last edited by carbon6t on Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

andrew
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Re: Reptile V500 Quadcopter Frame (HCRECO0002)

Post by andrew » Sat Mar 12, 2016 11:03 am

Great video. Looking at the time between us dispatching your order and this post, my guess is you built it in a day?
Comments made by this poster do not necessarily reflect the views of Hobby Components Ltd.

carbon6t
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:40 pm

Re: Reptile V500 Quadcopter Frame (HCRECO0002)

Post by carbon6t » Sat Mar 12, 2016 4:17 pm

We didn't manage to build this one in a day, this was our first quadcopter; it took a little time to acquire the necessary knowledge to build a functioning one - but I'm pleased to say that it did fly first time.

It took a while to trim the various PID parameters in the feedback control loop in the flight controller to get it to fly in a stable way. This was aided by using your Bluetooth master/slave module to link the flight controller wirelessly to a PC or an android phone - using software on both to trim and upload the parameters.

We liked your frame so much that we ordered a second one :D - the order that you mentioned. We're using it to help engage the students in programming - via programming of the Arduino design inspired flight controller - we have lots of experience of Arduino.

The second drone? Yes, I think we could build it in a day, now we know how :D We're hoping to have it flying in time for an event in the college at the end of March.

The next step in development of our quadcopter will be to add an FPV (first person video) camera. Who knows we might start FPV quadcopter racing next :D

Jeff

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