Hello,
I’m getting ready to build my first copter in about 8 years.. I did a lot with micro (3”) copters back then. And, that’s probably the size I’m going to build now, too.
Is anyone building drones that size? If so, can you recommend a flight controller? I’m not sure what’s good now. It was quite a journey back then.. (Some FC’s were great. Others were not).
Thank you!
The Matek H743-Mini isn’t available any longer unfortunately. That has worked well for me. There is the Kakute H7-Mini V1.5 which I have not used but it looks capable. And F4 based FC’s…
Do the old f4 boards have limitations now w/ newer versions of copter? I remember starting to hit a wall w/ them years ago.
I might be building a 4” copter, which opens up a few more options.. It won’t necessarily have to be that small square form factor. Something like the control zero would probably fit in that frame.. Although it’s quite expensive.
The Matek H743-Mini v3 is back in stock. UK vendors.
I see it on aliexpress, too.. So maybe still an option.
This I believe depends on what you want to fit in these 3".
One of my quads is a relatively lightweight 2" machine, which due to its size and weight does not even have a compass. This absolutely mandates AIO solutions, and there are none built around H743 processors (counterexample below in the thread), but there are some based on F405, so I fly one of these boards from Flywoo. This can even run fast rates at 1kHz very reliably when one tweaks hwdef a bit (to make sure there is only one IMU). But 8Mb of logging space makes tuning somewhat more tedious.
Of course F405 only has 1Mb of flash, but if you don’t have anything really posh, you can still fit all you need for a small machine.
Yes, but as @MaxBuzz says perhaps you don’t need what’s missing.
There would be no choice for me there other than the TBS Lucid H7 right now. Well featured, performance for me has been great and the price is right. And not that many would care on the forum here but you can get an NDAA compliant version for not much if any more.
I have a Lucid H743 sitting around for a future build, but I’m failry certian that it is 30mm mounting. The great thing about the Matek mini is that is has H743, 20mm mounting, and CAN. Consider this 25mm AIO: MicoAir743v2-AIO-45A - Flight Controller - MicoAir Tech
However, the MicroAir AIO has dual BMI gyros, and so I believe that it has limited gyro sampling rates, but not certian about this. The Matek mini would be a no comprimise option, but it is 2x the cost.
It is. I was responding to his question about a 4" build FC.
I have successfully built 2 and 3.5 inch with Kakute mini. They are solid FCs. I have tried SpeedyBee 405 AIO, but could not get the logs.
I am now trying a FLYWOO GOKU GN745 AIO. I am working with the community to get it up and running.
I’ve got a 3” on the go right now with the Flywoo Goku GN745. Trying to keep it sub 250. So far so good, but my only beef is the lack of memory or SD card for logs and scripts.
I’ve also used the Micoair F743 AIO. Seemed to work fine, but I’m running LiIon batterys on this build and min ESC voltage wasn’t low enough for me.
I have a matek mini, in my collection! Looks like I was thinking about building a drone during Covid, heh.. I have a bag of parts from 2020 I had completely forgotten about.
Can anyone recommend a small GPS? The ones I used to use aren’t available anymore. I see a few options available now… But that was another thing where some were great and others were not. So, if anyone has a micro GPS they like, let me know.
Thanks a LOT for the replies. Glad to see the helpful community here hasn’t changed.
The Matek M10 w/compass is a great unit for the size and price. Does what you expect and they’ve been reliable for me. I’ve been using Matek M8 and M10 GNSS modules for a bunch of years and they’ve just worked.
I have a Flywoo GM10 w/compass. It “works”, technically. The Matek will get a reasonable position in my house, on my workbench, in the basement with only a window view of the sky. The Flywoo… it’s 2.6 grams. Outside, clear view of the sky, yeah eventually it will get a position but you need to be patient.
The Matek m8 is what I have been using on my older drones. I can’t find anyone w/ stock of the Matek GPS’s in the US. I might just have to order it overseas and wait for shipping.
And thanks, the Flywoo is one of the options I can find.. I won’t bother trying it.
Another cheap module that I only planned on using temporarily is the MicoAir MG-A01 with a 25x25 patch. ~$25. It’s still on the last 7" I built as it performs pretty well.
What firmware do you use for the flywoo board?
And, by kakute mini, do you mean the older F7 or the hew H7? If it’s the new one, do you know if you have v1.3 or v1.5 w/ the CM-42688-P IMU? (I’m wondering if the arducopter firmware supports the newest 1.5 version of the board)
It does. From the HWDEF file
one IMU v1.1 mpu6000, v1.5 icm42688
IMU Invensense SPI:mpu6000 ROTATION_YAW_180
IMU Invensensev3 SPI:icm42688 ROTATION_PITCH_180_YAW_90
Thank you, Dave.
Has anyone built w/ the older Kakute F7 board and had problems with it? I did have problems.. I just read through my thread about it from 2019/2020. It was getting a lot of noise on the accelerometers causing it to lean badly. My copter was the worst, but others tried the board and also noticed issues with it. Other FC’s on the same copter were fine, so I eventually gave up on the Kakute F7’s.
I’m wondering if the problems were eventually figured out and fixed, or if others have successfully used that board since Arducopter v4.0. I’ve got 3 sitting here.