Wednesday, April 29, 2015

ZMR250 : Qbrain20amp with Emax2204 spinning 6045 props


One of the first flights .... yip stacked it. Was doing some lazy flips, a couple of doubles then dumb thumbed it on the layout of a double ..... !!




This build is a little bit of an experiment.
I wanted to run 2204 motors, but most need 20amp ESC to be safe, So I thought I would use a Qbrain to make a tidy build.

Yes I know it will be on the heavy side, But it wont be running any FPV gear, Just wanted a faster mini acro LOS and motors that could really drive some 6045 props. I used the ZMR frame .. because I had one.

I chose to go with the EMAX2204 motors, They may not be the best but they were the most efficient. So if using the Qbrain did make it to heavy I can still convert and run 12amp ESCs.

First I stripped one of my ZMRs and then did a test fit of the props.


Yes 6045 will fit fine.




Next steps was to strip it down so I could replace the ESCs.


New toys, EMAX 2204 2000kv and  6045 props


Of course a D4RII

I have read that the EMAX motor can be prone to motor wire pull, I took of the bells and then 2part epoxied the wires. This took a little bit of time, but well worth the effort.




While they were curing I started on the mounting of the QBrian, I unscrewed the plastic cover and drill the 35mm hole pattern form the ZME frame. This had the Qbrain dead center to the COG.


Test fitting one of the EMAX motors to get an idea of wire lengths.


Using 10mm spacers gave just enough room to fit the Qbrain between the plates.


Next the Qbrain plastic cover was 3M double sided down and also zip-tied





QBrain screwed back together and in place. The next step was to cut the wires to length and solder on all those 2mm bullet connectors. 



I was curious to see how much the wires that were cut off weighted .. 37g


All the wired cut ready for the bullet connectors 



Soldering and more soldering. The motors and the ESCs.


Once the motors were done I shortened the signal wires. I did this be desoldering from the board shorting the wires the re-soldering them back.


Nice tidy wiring.


Weight with just the motors and ESC.


Time to mount the naze32



I routed the power wires and added some JST plugs for lights, vBat to the naze32.


Test fit for the wires.  


Now adding the D4Rii, I will be using PPM & telemetry for battery voltage warning via the Taranis.
Wiring all finished. I also cleaned up the power lead with some heat shrink.


The moment of truth. 350g with out battery. 


I designed these alternatives to my other mounts, But Im pretty sure the first major smack into tarmac and they will be toast, and then the motor wont be secure. 


New LED mounts, I had to extend the rear one since I have the power lead coming out the back. 


Lights all hooked up. 


All wired up and no place to go. 


I tried something new on this build. I used plastic core-flute to create a boxed is section to hid the electronics.








All up weight 434... a little heavy.


UPDATE :

After a rather heavy crash the new arm protectors exploded, and left the motor loose, so I reverted back to the previous version of the ZMR arm protectors. 

3D files
You can download the .stl files for the 3D printed parts. Please feel free to use them for you own person use.  

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:563190


It sure has enough power, I think that the Qbrain is hindering the acro performance. I will look to either turn this into a full on acro with a new frame, or convert to a FPV rig.