Skip to main content

Building a Quadcopter - Part 2

It's been over 2 months since I posted the first post on building a quadcopter (link). You would've thought that I must have completed the build by now. But actually, I couldn't do much. Mainly because that my transmitter shipment got late.

As you remember, I ordered a HK-T6Av2 from HobbyKing (link) (Actually, a friend ordered it for me as a gift). It was shipped on 21st March. Usually takes less than a month to arrive. But since I didn't receive it until 25th April, I made a complaint to HobbyKing. They said they'd start an investigation on it. On 11th May, the Hong Kong Post mail tracking reported that the parcel was returned to sender. Why was it returned? no one knows...
Anyway, I contacted HobbyKing again and they said they can arrange it to be resent once it reaches their warehouse. The parcel reached them on 25th May and it was re-shipped on 31st. It finally arrived about a week ago....

So, here it is...
It's finally arrived...

I have to say, even though it has been through a transit of two months, it was in perfect working order.



The package contained all that was stated, Transmitter, Receiver and the Bind Plug.

Receiver and the Bind Plug
Now, the first thing to do was to 'bind' the receiver to the transmitter. Usually, the receiver that comes with the transmitter is already bind. But it's always better to bind it again, just in case.

Here is the binding procedure
  1. Install the batteries to the transmitter. Don't turn on yet
  2. Install the bind plug to the Bat port of the receiver 
  3. Give power to the receiver through any of the other ports. It's better to provide power through an ESC because it's regulated. The receiver LED bill start blinking meaning it's going in to bind mode.
  4. Press and hold the Bind Button of the transmitter and switch it on
  5. Observe the receiver LED. When it stops blinking, the bind was successful (Note: the manual says it can take up to 10 seconds for the bind. mine took about 2 seconds)
  6. Release the bind button on the transmitter and remove the bind plug and the battery from receiver.
  7. Connect a servo and power on the receiver again and test if it's working.
  8. If the test fails, repeat 1-7.
Important Note: After the binding process, always power on the transmitter before powering the receiver. And turn off the transmitter after powering off the receiver.

Here's how to plug the bind plug
How to install the bind plug

And here's the pinout of the receiver
Receiver pinout (Signal, +, -)


I found the Manual for the transmitter. Download it from this link - HK-T6 Manual

I still haven't ordered the USB cable for the transmitter, so can't test any config functions. But now that I got this, it's time to go ahead with the quad build.

I would like to give special thanks to my good friend Anushka Perera for this awesome gift. Thank you :)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Selecting the Correct Gauge Wires for your RC Models

When we are building RC models (aircrafts, multicopters etc.), something we typically overlook is what type of wires to use to distribute power in them. Usually, we try to reduce the weight of the model, so we tend to go with smaller wires. But, we cant expect to put in small circuit-wires and have them handle the amount of power needed. If you look at the wires that comes in the output leads of a Li-Po, or the wires that comes on a standard XT Jack, you'll notice that they're quite huge. Large gauge wires on a Li-Po and XT connectors These need to be huge to handle the amount of amperage that goes through them. So, we should also consider the amperage, and the length of wire needed when selecting the size (gauge) of the wires.

What do the prop size numbers mean?

Have you been trying to shop for propellers - either online or at a hobby shop - and got confused of the numbering used to denote the size of the propellers? You see things like " 10 x 4.5 CW ", or " 8055 CCW ". What do these numbers mean? A 8 x 4.5 CW and CCW Propeller Set It's actually quite simple once you figure it out. The first number denotes the diameter of the prop (length from tip-to-tip). The second number denotes the pitch of the prop. Here, the pitch is denoted as a length, not a angle. Let's see how that works.

Make Your Own Jupmer Wires for Electronic Breadboard

Note: After starting the 'Tips and Tricks' section I wanted to do my own 'tutorial'. So, here's my first attempt of it. Hope you all find this useful, and sorry about the low quality of the photographs, my camera is just a 2MP. If you, like me, like to experiment with electronics, then you'd probably use an electronic breadboard (also known as protoboard or project-board). These allow you to construct and test circuits without the need to permanently soldering the components. The problem with these is that you have to use wires to connect the components across the bus lines. We normally use single core circuit wires for this purpose, but they tend to bend, break and get stuck in the breadboard when used repeatedly. This may cause short circuiting the bus lines and could be the failure of your circuit. A better option would be to buy a 'Breadboard Jumper Wire' kit, such as this. A Breadboard Jumper Wire Kit These have sets of wire of differ...