Build Log – Arris X-Speed 250 Mini Quad

by Oscar

I was having a tough time deciding what parts to put into this frame. I have always wanted to build a mini quad that runs 20A ESCs and 6045 props on 4S, for some serious speed. However the Arris X-Speed 250 frame comes with a PDB that can only handle 40A of current. That means I will have to modify the PDB to add the extra capacity, e.g. adding additional power wires.

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Without changing too much from the original frame design, and attempt to keep the Arris flavour, I decided to go with 12A ESC and 5040 setup, which I have been running on the ZMR250.

One great thing about this build is the PDB which gives me very clean wiring and much slicker look. This frame is very spacious, fitting all my usual electronics isn’t difficult at all. But as I was building it, I found the PDB can still be improved in term of design and functionality. Small detail like the solder pad for FPV camera signal is at the bottom of the board, which it should really be on the top. It doesn’t have traces specifically for 5V and 12V that links from one end of the board to the other, which would make life much easier (and cleaner wirings). Hopefully they will get some feedbacks and start developing the next PDB revision :)

Check out the frame review.

My absolute maiden flight. Only flew 15 mins, and then it started pouring down with rain. Got some vibrations at high throttle, will tackle that next time. Also the FPV camera mounting suffers from vibration… kind of distracting as well (see last 30 seconds of video)

And second flight. After some tuning it’s now very locked in.

First of all solder ESCs to the PDB, and showing off some brand new cobra motors, wasn’t easy to get hold of these! Checked motor spin direction with servo tester, before finalizing motor/ESC soldering.

arris-x-speed-250-build-esc-pdb arris-x-speed-250-build-cobra-motors-new arris-x-speed-250-build-check-motor-rotation-spin-direction-servo-tester

I use cable tie to hold down the FC mounting plate, I didn’t like how flexible it was with the vibration damping balls. Mounted them on the arms and bottom plate. I didn’t cut the motor wires, so I just tuck it under the arms.

arris-x-speed-250-build-fc-flight-controller-mount arris-x-speed-250-build-arm-esc-wires-motor arris-x-speed-250-build-mounted esc motor pdb

I am mounting the FC with double sided sticky pads. Not sure what the frame designer was thinking, the middle spacer is in the way to possible FC USB connector locations. That means I have to finish configuring the Naze32 before mounting it.

arris-x-speed-250-build-flightcontroller-mounting-sticky-pad arris-x-speed-250-build-flightcontroller-mounting

Brushed the FPV camera with electrical liquid tape. And put hot glue over the resonator to protect those tiny legs as it’s pretty easy to snap one (which happend to me once).

arris-x-speed-250-build-fpv-camera-electrical-liquid-tape arris-x-speed-250-build-fpv-camera-electrical-liquid-tape-resonator-hot-glue

arris-x-speed-250-build-fpv-camera-electrical-liquid-tape-front-back arris-x-speed-250-build-fpv-camera-mounting

Now, working on the top plate. For video transmitter antenna mounting, I didn’t follow the manual, but using my favourite way – antenna extension lead. I cut the hole bigger on the top plate to fit the extension lead connector.

arris-x-speed-250-build-video-transmitter-vtx-antenna-extension-lead-mount-hole

arris-x-speed-250-build-video-transmitter-vtx-antenna-extension-lead-moun

Install the rest of the electronics: OSD, VTX, RX, voltage regulator (16V – 4S to 12V).

arris-x-speed-250-build-electronics-inside-space-cage

Checked everything seems working fine. Now, the RX antenna trick. And a shot of the angled FPV camera. Not quite tilted enough for my liking, but that’s the max angle it can offer. That’s it! Total weight is just under 600gram excluding LiPo (with Gopro)

arris-x-speed-250-build-radio-receiver-antenna arris-x-speed-250-build-fpv-camera-angle arris-x-speed-250-build-total-weight

And to find out the best place for my LiPo battery, I needed to find the balance point. And finally a trick to avoid balance plug get sucked by propellers.

arris-x-speed-250-build-balance-weight-cog-battery-position arris-x-speed-250-build-lipo battery-balance plug

A few more close up shots.

arris-x-speed-250-build-result-finish-side

arris-x-speed-250-build-result-finish-front

arris-x-speed-250-mini-quadcopter-quad-drone-side

arris-x-speed-250-mini-quadcopter-quad-drone

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19 comments

Regan Vowels 27th May 2016 - 11:07 pm

Hello Oscar,
Great blog and videos ! Love your work !
I’d like to ask you a question, if I made ?
I’v been running the Arris X speed since 2015 with dragonfly 1806-2300KV ” Great motor by the way” and a 12a dragonfly esc’s on 3S and 4S with no problem But having recently upgraded my motors to some Space one 2204 2300’s with Tattu 1300 4S 75C with some bearhug V2.0 18A esc’s, 1 wire flashed through cleanflight, flashed bLheli 14.5.
I do have the new PDB which is supposedly rated at 50a and I know the 18a esc’s and the 2204 motors along with the 4S battery is putting me over my allowed amps with this PDB, my escs are resetting with fast throttle response so I’m sure I’m putting to many amps through this PDB, with all that being said my question to you is, on your post about this frame you posted a pic of your PDB with big Lines of solder running down the board, was this to allow for more amps? I’d like to hear more about this and how you go about doing it, if this is the case, is it possible to use just some heavy gauge as opposed to soldering those lines?

Thanks,
Regan

Reply
Oscar 1st June 2016 - 2:31 pm

yes the big lines of solder bascially increased the cross section area of the conducting material, so allowing more current to pass.
You can use multiple wires to achieve the same effect yes :)

Reply
Regan 4th June 2016 - 6:10 pm

Thank you, Oscar. You da man !

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Bobby T. 29th October 2015 - 6:15 pm

Hey Oscar,
I have the same Arris X-Speed frame for 2204 motors. However, the ESCs are too big to fit inside the quadcopter legs. I was wondering if you have any suggestions as to where a good place to put the ESCs. I am using Andoer Hobby Wing Skywalker 40A brushless ESCs with BEC

Thanks,
Bobby T.

Reply
Oscar 30th October 2015 - 9:52 am

if it’s too big, maybe just mount it on the arm?

Reply
Jeremy Becker 29th July 2015 - 8:11 pm

Hi Oscar,
I have the arris x speed 250, and I want more speed out of it. What kind of wiring do I need to do to handle a 4s? Thanks for the blog, there’s not allot of info out there on this quad.

Reply
Oscar 30th July 2015 - 11:04 am

Hi Jeremy, sorry not sure what you mean for “wiring”, do you mean the wire AWG for power distribution? In this post I was running 4S.
check out this post for more info on wire AWG.

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Roger Paull 12th January 2016 - 2:55 am

when running a 4s just make sure the pdb can handle the amperage your gonna pull, and don’t use the 5v out from the ESCs unless they specifically say they are designed for 4s, which they usually aren’t. make sure to power your flight controller with 5v from a reliable source like the arris pdb 5v out.

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Doug 27th June 2015 - 7:42 am

I received my Arris X-Speed 250 kit. I am a newbie and I know I took on a huge task but I am wondering if there are any more “instructions” than the 2 page exploded diagram that came with the beast. There is basically NOTHING about the integrated board and the smaller parts have no parts list. Are there any instructions to come with this!?

Thank goodness for this build log or I’d truly be lost!

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Oscar 1st July 2015 - 1:26 am

i do agree the instructions were a little bit vague, i emailed them several times to find out half of the information that was missing.

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Ambient Flight 27th May 2015 - 2:51 pm

Nicely done. I’m building 3S on the same frame and also had questions regarding the included PDB. I see a 5v output so I assume that’s correct? I don’t see anything in the PDB which could step it down so wondering if that works. I’m wondering how to get 5v to my Acro Naze32. The others are all obviously 12v if running 3S.

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Oscar 28th May 2015 - 9:24 am

thanks :)
No it’s only a label, it does not actually output anything. I think they want you to run 5V on it with your own voltage regulator.
In your case, you need to power your Naze32 with the ESC BEC, or a separate UBEC.

Reply
Gryffin 21st May 2015 - 7:18 am

Hi,

Nice build log!

I am looking at using this frame in a build, and of course want to go 4s for the extra power and speed. My build list has basically the same items as what you have done with the X-speed, so I thought you might be able to tell me if the PDB has a 12v out for the fpv camera, or will I need to wire in a step-down voltage regulator.

Also, what battery size would you recomend?

Thanks

Reply
Oscar 26th May 2015 - 9:11 am

oops sorry i missed your comment :)
to your question, now it doesn’t have built-in voltage regulator, you will need to have your own :)
For my setup, between 1300mah to 1800mah are good :)

Reply
Steve 18th May 2015 - 7:39 pm

Thanks for the reply! I will try the Hobbyking BlueSeries 12A then. :)
I am curious how my quad will fly!

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steve 17th May 2015 - 8:30 pm

Hey,

very nice build log. I am curious with which ESCs did you have the best experience so far? Your mad a blog entry about different comoponents I’ve seen that. But I am interested in your oppinion. :)

I am building a race quad atm. with Tiger Motor MN1806 2300KV and I think about which ESCs I should try.
In this build you used the blue series 12A, you had good experience with them? Is there any difference to e.g. Afro 12A (performance wise)?

And what do you favour atm BLHeli or SimonK?

Thanks!

Reply
Oscar 18th May 2015 - 3:18 pm

I have been using Hobbyking Blue Series 12A ESCs for almost a year now, I am still convinced they are one of the most reliable and best value ESCs for mini quad :)
Currently I prefer BLHeli firmware.

Reply
steve 25th May 2015 - 7:15 pm

Hello Oscar,
meanwhile my parts arrived I assembled everything today. But I had some problem with the Blue Series 12A, maybe you know whats up there. I flashed the Blue 12A with the BLHeli 13.2 FW. After assembling and powering up everything they didn’t beep nothing and I wasn’t able to learn throttle either so I rechecked everything but it was fine. Then I tried to use the Afro USB Linker but I couldn’t get a connection whatsoever. So I used the flashed to read the config which worked fine and I reflashed them still the same no beep not powering up the motors nothing. If I only connected one ESC it beeped but no throttle calibration and also not spinning the motor. So I gave it a try to reflash them with simonk and voila it worked! They beeped calibration worked etc. So I thought what the heck I reflashed them with BLHeli via the Afro USB Linker and they also worked with BLHeli, beeping throttle calibration worked etc. The only difference now is the SimonK Bootloader. Did you have that issue yet? What did I do wrong? And another thing I also wanted to try the oneshot when I activate oneshot the motors kinda beep every few seconds and they move a few degrees e.g. 45° as if they want to spin up and then stop again. Its only when oneshot is activated. Do you know what that is and how I can fix that to use oneshot?
Thanks! Steve

Reply
Oscar 25th May 2015 - 10:33 pm

Hi Steve,
sorry the catcha plugin didn’t work earlier. To your questions.

I have not tried BLHeli 13.2 FW, only 13.1… maybe there is something wrong with that latest firmware? well at least you got it working in the end!
yes the that’s normal. to avoid that problem, set your min_command to 970 that should fix the issue. At least that did for me.

thanks
Oscar

Reply