AK-475
Introduction:
After the escs died on both of my ET457s, I wanted to rebuild them on a lighter frame.
Components:
LDARC 1104 7500kv motors
Gemfan 3018 props
Crazybee F4 v3 10a ESCSkystars Kramam 15a AIOFrsky D8 receiver
Eachine TX06
AK123 frame with Betafpv canopy
Conclusion:
At 56g dry, it is a bit lighter than the original. The frame seems to be missing some motor protection, so I'm a bit worried about that. We'll have to see how it goes.
Update 11/21/19 - One word - WOW! Given the kv, I thought there was a chance it may also fly well on 2s. I gave that a try first and was absolutely floored by the performance. The control was absolutely amazing with the 3018 props. To be honest, I was expecting this to be a lighter version of the ET457, but with the decreased weight and change of props, this is my new favorite ultralight 3". To be sure, I flew this back to back with this on 2s against the 1204 and mamba 1105s on 3s, but this definitely had more control than both of those. The 1204s have more control down low, but didn't have much top end while the 1105s had enough power to stop me on dives. However, this one had the best of both worlds even on 2s. The control was good all the way through even though flight times on my older 2s 450mahs were 2.5-3mins. I'm pretty sure better batteries would give at least 3 mins of solid performance.
Naturally, I tried it next on 3s. The 2s tune was near perfect on defaults. I had to just lower Ps by a couple points each. 3s pids were way too high and I had to knock Ps down from 50 to the low 20s. Ds were also knocked way down as a result. It flew well on 3s 300mahs (2 min flight times), but 550mahs were too heavy. I think 350mahs 3s or maybe even 450mahs would be a good compromise.
Update 11/7/19 - The crazybee board keeps disarming and showing "RX LOSS" after arming. Also, it is no longer able to connect to betaflight. There is definitely something wrong with the board.
Update 12/10/19 - I was going to replace the board, but decided to see if it was an electrical issue by snipping the camera power lead. Once the camera was off, the board was able to connect to betaflight again and was also able to arm without losing RX. Now I'm wondering if there is a bug in the Betaflight vtx code.
Update 12/24/19 - updated to the beefier betafpv canopy after destroying the camera. Weight is now 58g.
Update 12/27/19 - broke another camera even with the beefier betafpv canopy. It took many more hits before it finally broke though, so I'm going to keep testing the canopy some more for now.
Update 1/4/20 - board was showing "no gyro", so I reseated the chip with the hot air station. seems to be working again after that.
Update 1/11/20 - Added a power regulator for the camera since I started getting brown outs. Also replaced the camera due to more crashes into the batting cage.
Update 1/12/20 - Broke a motor today and the arm crack that I tried to fix with super glue snapped further. This is starting to feel like an old car now in that something is always breaking on it. However, with all the flights that went into it along with all the hard crashes, I guess I shouldn't expect anymore.
Update 1/14/20 - Replaced motor 4 since the internal shaft got bent.
Update 1/23/20 - Crazybee F4 finally died. ESC 4 died on what was a remarkably light crash. Replaced it with a skystars board instead now and it is 60g dry.
Update 2/12/20 - replaced motor 3 since it wasn't as smooth as the others. It was still flyable, but I decided not to risk the board on it.
Update 4/12/20 - after a hard crash into a light pole, both the frame and FC died. I can't believe it lasted as long as it did.
Update 4/20/20 - I thought the FC died, but it turns out the negative lead was cut inside the shielding. After replacing it, it's working like normal again.
Update 9/6/20 - Swapped out the camera. Old one still worked, but the smartaudio wire broke off.
Update 9/26/20 - Flight controller not recognizing receiver. Since the usb port is busted, it's hard to diagnose, so I'll be taking this apart for parts.