This week I am building a new 5″ quad that runs 6S LiPo. The goal of this build is to test new technologies of a few products, and new features in Betaflight. There are new 6S LiPo I will be testing on this build too.
6S 5″ mini quad is becoming common in FPV. When I first tested it back in early 2018, I wrote an article explaining the benefits of 6S over 4S.
Parts List
- Frame: Speedybee FS225
- FC: CLRacing F7 V2
- ESC: HGLRC Forward 65A 4in1 ESC
- Motors: DYS Wei 2207 1750KV ($10 each!)
- Props: HQ 5.1×4.1×3
- FPV Camera: Runcam Phoenix Oscar Edition
- VTX: AKK X2 Ultimate
- VTX Antenna: Speedybee 2dBi
- Receiver: R-XSR
Frame
I got this 5″ frame from Speedybee, called FS225. Here is the product page.
It’s clear they put in a lot of effort in this product. Really nice packaging, and the quality of the parts is just top notch. A very well designed and made frame.
The bottom plates design reminds me of the ImpulseRC Reverb, which is frankly slightly confusing to assemble, also partly due to the over-simplified manual. But it’s a sick looking frame!
The frame comes in a fancy packaging. All the carbon fibre arms and plates have nice round edges.
It also comes with 3D printed parts for the antennas and XT60 connector which I forgot to show in the pictures.
Motor and ESC
The only spare motors I have that can handle 6S are these DYS Wei 2207 1750KV (product page: https://amzn.to/2lSDxJG). They are not the best motors, but they are some of the cheapest you can get that performs okay.
The ESC is the Forward 65A 4in1 from HGLRC (product page: https://bit.ly/2MBbydG). I was considering a lighter option but it’s rated for 40A only. I had some bad experience running 30A-40A 4in1 ESC on 6S, so I decided to go a bit higher on amp rating this time just in case.
When soldering the motor wires to the 4in1 ESC, I routed the wires around the standoffs. The wires are slightly longer but it looks neat.
Flight Controller
Not much to say about the CLRacing F7 V2 FC (product page: https://amzn.to/33WhHXp), it’s simply one of the easiest FC to use. However in the new version they added a few more solder jumpers you must bridge beforehand, and if you forget something wouldn’t work. Just make sure you follow the manual to the letter when setting it up.
The FC I have here is the Dual Gyro version that does “gyro fusion”, unfortunately it doesn’t support RPM filter. To get RPM filter to work, I have to disable one of the gyro’s in CLI, so I’d have to choose between “dual gyro” or “RPM filter”. I will test both technologies to see if I could notice a difference.
The Rest of the Quad – Camera, VTX, RX
Using my favourite FPV camera the Runcam Phoenix (product page: https://bit.ly/2JJoe03). The FS225 frame supports micro camera so it’s a perfect fit.
I am using the AKK X2 Ultimate VTX (product page: http://bit.ly/2HYfkvE). No particular reason, it’s the only spare VTX i have that can do higher than 200mW. It has SmartAudio, and 800mW capable but I doubt I would ever need that. :)
The radio receiver is the boring Frsky R-XSR, but I flashed the latest ACCESS FPort firmware to it, so I get to try the supposedly low latency ACCESS protocol with my new radio – the Taranis X9D+ 2019 SE. And I must say, FPort is so easy to use! This tutorial explains how to setup FPort.
If you have an ACCESS compatible radio, you can also update your R-XSR to try it. Here is how to flash receiver firmware.
All up weight without battery is 380g.
Few More Shots
7 comments
Hi Oscar,
The Speedy Bee frame looks great, I’m thinking of getting it. I have a 16x19mm bolt pattern on my motors, do you know if these will fit?
Thanks
Yes it will work.
I was thinking of using that combination of fc and esc, how do you connect the fc and esc by welding cable to cable?
no, just use a ribbon cable. But you might need to swap the wires around for the correct order.
Hi Oscar,
RPM filter is actually supported in dual gyro mode in Betaflight from 4.1. The gyro filtering code has been refactored and merged into master as per this PR: https://github.com/betaflight/betaflight/pull/8778
You’re probably using BF 4.1 anyways as RPM filter implementation in 4.0 should be considered as “transitional”.
You can use it by flashing BF 4.1 RC2 which is available today for example or simply go for the latest Dev build.
Cheers,
Azik
Nice looking build.
But you forgot a self contained buzzer like the Hellgate or Vifly Finder.
I don’t get why people still build miniquads without that extra safety against a lost drone.
I only use self powered buzzers on long range rigs :) For convenience a simple buzzer is more than sufficient on a quad I just fly around in the park :)