Wednesday 10 April 2013

Taking Stock

I've now decided on all the specific parts of the drone.  A big thank you to the eCalcs website in helping me with all the calculations!

So the decision:

Motors: 
High torque is good for efficiency.  I learn electric motors are measured in turns per volt, so a nice low kv motor will be fine :)  This is complicated only by the number of manufacturers out there! The good side is healthy competition so these great motors are not too expensive!

It's a bit "suck it and see" however the eCalc website tells me the Turnigy Park450 motor is good.  It's on the higher price side $16.45, that's OK as I'd rather have a good flight time and reliable motor!

Battery:
Here's the compromise already.  In a previous post I'd decided the battery.  On reflection I think two 5000mAh batteries are too heavy, so then I looked at 4000mAh.  Great, I looked at my lovely spreadsheet and found the right battery, wrong.  The 4000mAh battery was out of stock as was the 5000mAh battery :(

The compromise, I've gone for two Zippy 3700mAh batteries.  What does that mean?  Roughly 1.5 mins less flight time.  Never mind, at least I'll have the batteries soon for development rather than waiting.
One thing to note, the Zippy brand from Hobbyking are the lowest quality so will give up at around 100 charges ... but they are the lightest!

Electronic Speed Control
These control the motors from my Gadgeteer board.  It needs to respond quickly to powering up the motors, with a low internal resistance to save power and avoid overheating.

I've chosen the Hobbyking Blue Series 20A, motors go up to 14A.  Why this model?  It's meant to be a fast responding ESC and light weight.  We'll see.  It's on the higher price side at $10.37 however this might just keep the drone from crashing!


Propellers 
Easy one.  The eCalcs says for my drones weight with the particular motor I'll have that 10" propellers are best.  Ideally I'd like black propellers however they were out of stock, lovely bright green ones instead.  I'm sure I'll get used to it!

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