Tridge,
This is the battery meant for the stock bays in the FF6. It is what I use. The SKU # is 912700001-0. The price ranges from $32 down to $17 on sale or about half price.
Multistar High Capacity 5200mAh 3S 10C Multi-Rotor Lipo Pack
thanks, that is the one I’m using. I guess I just got a bad batch!
Well,some of us from multirotors know these as Multisags Tridge.Useful weight saving over higher discharge packs but not exactly as cute as a kitten.I’ve had balance leads dissolve (they just disappeared one night) but not had one let me down yet.It can get a bit scary monitoring the voltages on one of these when in flight though (as you’ve found) but they recover very quickly once landed.I’ve not heard of one letting anyone down due to low voltage but I don’t get out much.I’ve switched to the Turnigy Graphenes for my bigger copters.
I own the same batteries that are absolutely not good for high C discharge.
You should consider at best as 4 C as burst and 2 C for continuous discharge.
I can also confirm these batteries are just plain duds, to put it nicely.
Originally performing well but on regular use they suffer from cells going bad, premature voltage sag, and reduced capacity.
This was typically under 4C loads.
Voltage sag is so bad that it takes as little as 10 seconds from the usual battery warning voltage to no power to stabilise.
Cheap, yes, in the true sense of the word.
Just to compare the values from our vectored tri-tiltrotor VTOL “Mozart”:
Lipo: SLS Quantum 3700 mAh 40/80C 4s
2,5 kg TOW
Hover: 470-570 Watt
Plane (50 kmh/14ms/27kn/31mph) 150 Watt
Rolf
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Keep in mind that the FireFLY6 DIY15 quickly went to using the 3s Lipo packs in series in the more efficient DIY30 6s version. It can carry a 2.5lb payload for mapping, video, or FPV. It would be great to see some manufacturer release a payload-capable QuadPlane-ready or Tilt-rotor ready ARF.
With some new 4Ah 30C batteries we had some successful flights today with the FireFlyY6
First a hover test:
then first transition flight:
We also did a couple of auto missions. Unfortunately the video isn’t complete for that, but I’ll try to piece something together. In the AUTO mission it has quite a lot of instability during the landing descent. I’m still looking at what caused that.
Many thanks to Andy Trench for supplying the FireFlyY6 to test with!
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Tridge,
Congratulations!
Was the FF6 pointed into the wind during the landing descent? It really hates wind at its back.
I would love to see you post some more details including the .param file. Are you using v3.8.0 firmware? What battery packs did you choose that fit in the stock bays? Was your transition flight from QSTABILIZE to FBWA or Manual?
I flew my FF6 DIY15 last weekend and one of my main beefs is that the pilot is limited to a minimal roll angle requiring very large shallow turns. This makes it tough to fly in smaller fields.
I am ready to convert my DIY15 model and then later on try converting my DIY25.
It wasn’t, and I did suspect that was a large part of the problem. I did enable the weathervaning (using Q_WVANE_GAIN of 0.1), but that wasn’t enough to bring it into the wind. Part of that is probably that I need higher yaw gains, but I also wonder if the shape of the firefly tends to make it weathercock with the nose out of the wind (due to wind drag on the nose).
I used 3.8.1 firmware (the flight was part of my pre-release testing of 3.8.1).
My full parameter set is here:
http://uav.tridgell.net/tmp/firefly6.parm
but as I improve the tuning I’ll add it to the frame parameters in the main git tree.
First transition was from QHOVER to FBWA then FBWA back to QHOVER after a few circuits. The 2nd and 3rd flight it was a full AUTO takeoff and auto transition.
The transitions were no problem at all.
I plan on adding differential thrust for faster turns on tiltrotors soon. We already have it for dual-motor fixed wing, it just needs some mixing work to make it work for tiltrotors.
Sounds good!
Thanks, Tridge. Just curious about the question above since those battery bays limit your choices.
Cheers!
I used this battery:
it fits nicely in the bays
Hello,
I have received my Pixhawk, and started to setup, but immediately meet with an issue. I cannot set Q_FRAME_CLASS to 0 (Quad). If I set it, after the reboot it changes back to 1 (Hexa). I can set all others (1-4), and they stay in, except 0. Is it maybe a bug?
ArduPlane V3.8.1
MP 1.3.49
Thanks
Laszlo
my apologies, that is a documentation bug leftover from 3.7.x. In previous firmware Q_FRAME_CLASS of 0 meant quad, now 1 is quad. I have fixed the documentation.
Super, thanks Tridge.
Who can update it in the MP? If you do this set in the Standard Parameters screen, you can select the name (Quad), not the number, then the MP will try to set 0. If you go to the Full Parameter List, or Full Parameter Tree, the option column tells 0:Quad. I am sure it will confuse other beginners as well 
Laszlo
that is strange, as MP should be getting the docs from the same place as the online docs:
http://ardupilot.org/plane/docs/parameters.html#q-frame-class-frame-class
if you do have the latest version of MP, could you open an issue?
I pushed the Check for updates button in the help menu, and I have the latest MP. Do I have to check for BETA update?
Ok, I will open an issue. First I will search for, how to do it.
you shouldn’t need to, no
I’ve just checked with MP here, and it is indeed incorrect. I’ll open an issue.
I’ve opened an issue:
Ok, thanks. I will not open then.