550 Pilot's lounge

[OI Photography]

We asked for it and we got it

Welcome to the spot for current and prospective Flamewheel 550 owners to gab, share knowledge and experience and show off their hex's.

I'll get the full details of mine posted soon, but to start things off here's a few beauty shots I've made along the way:

Album of the initial build (some components and mounting locations may have changed since): http://imgur.com/a/3ybOO

I'd like to start by inviting all current 550 owners to share what batteries they're using and whatever results they've had with them, either now or whenever there's new info. There's a lot more options available in both 3S and 4S flavors, since we're far less restricted on battery weight and dimensions, so that will be valuable feedback for all of us

 

[PJA]

Some nice pics of your f550 there, OI...

As you can see, I'm ready to build mine... Hopefully I'll have it up and flying soon...

 

[TassieJon]

Nice build!

I got a 550 a couple of months ago with all the usual extras....Zenmuse gimbal, Gopro, FPV gear and Flytrex..
but am frustrated with the limited flight time.

Im using Turnigy 4s 5000A batteries which give me 4 mins max.
Flying with stock DJI motors and props.
They are quite heavy....570gm, and even though I got delivery of a parallel connector yesterday, I reckon the flight times wont be much longer at all with two batteries on board.

What batteries do you use? Is there any other way I can improve flight time?

 

[ladykate]

Nice build!

I got a 550 a couple of months ago with all the usual extras....Zenmuse gimbal, Gopro, FPV gear and Flytrex..
but am frustrated with the limited flight time.

Im using Turnigy 4s 5000A batteries which give me 4 mins max.
Flying with stock DJI motors and props.
They are quite heavy....570gm, and even though I got delivery of a parallel connector yesterday, I reckon the flight times wont be much longer at all with two batteries on board.

What batteries do you use? Is there any other way I can improve flight time?

I'm using the Storm 3S 5500 mah (a single battery) - I'm getting just under 9 minutes in very cold weather. Mine is also loaded similar to yours except no Flytrex...

 

[Hiway]

After much debate with myself, and seeing as how I can already tell I will outgrow the Phantom in a year or so if not sooner, I have been leaning in this direction- it seems to have a lot of available user support (which I prefer to dealer) and it also strikes me as a solid long term platform for aerial cinematography ranging from amateur to pro. The stability and quality of footage I have seen is spectacular.

I have to ask o photography; what made you choose the 550?

 

[FangsCPO]

Nice build!

I got a 550 a couple of months ago with all the usual extras....Zenmuse gimbal, Gopro, FPV gear and Flytrex..
but am frustrated with the limited flight time.

Im using Turnigy 4s 5000A batteries which give me 4 mins max.
Flying with stock DJI motors and props.
They are quite heavy....570gm, and even though I got delivery of a parallel connector yesterday, I reckon the flight times wont be much longer at all with two batteries on board.

What batteries do you use? Is there any other way I can improve flight time?

Only 4 minutes!!! I've been reading that you can get 9 minutes. That's a big differnce. Is something wrong?? I got this bird because I thought I could fly a little longer. Hopefully I can figure out how to make go for at least 10 minutes. If not, I'm going to be bummed about this purchase.

 

[OI Photography]

Nice build!

I got a 550 a couple of months ago with all the usual extras....Zenmuse gimbal, Gopro, FPV gear and Flytrex..
but am frustrated with the limited flight time.

Im using Turnigy 4s 5000A batteries which give me 4 mins max.
Flying with stock DJI motors and props.
They are quite heavy....570gm, and even though I got delivery of a parallel connector yesterday, I reckon the flight times wont be much longer at all with two batteries on board.

What batteries do you use? Is there any other way I can improve flight time?

Have you changed the battery setting in the NAZA to reflect the fact you're using 4S batts instead of 3S? If that's set correctly, then there's something else affecting your flight times...you should be able to get more than that off a 4s 5000mAh batt with a mostly-stock 550. And, I know you can get 5000/5200mAh 4S batts closer to 500g, I'll post the links in a bit for the ones I've tried so far.

 

[JTheed]

Hey F-550 Flyers,

Great to see this new Forum for us to talk in. I just got started or should I say BIT HARD, by the RC Copter bug just a few months ago. I bought my first Phantom back in December 2013 and now have 2 Phantoms and 1 Flame Wheel F550. I bought my F-550 as a kit with the DJI motors and ESC's. I also purchased the NAZA M V2 Controller and a Landing Gear. Don't have any pictures yet, but it sure was hard to fly at night. Now, it has LED lights going all around the arms in 3 colors, Red, Blue and Green. I bought them off of Amazon. They were all 16.4 Feet of lights with an Adhesive Tape backing. You can cut them where shown (There are small Scissor Icons on the strips showing you where you can cut them. ) You can then solder on new leads to use the remaining elsewhere.

Link to LED Lights: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Q8YRYY/ref ... 25410_item

Link to Landing Gear: http://www.ebay.com/itm/251273667813?ss ... 1497.l2649

Don't have the weights yet, but with 2 2700 3S Mad Dog Batteries, I'm getting about 10 mins flight time with FPV, GIMBAL and GoPro 3 attached. The LED Lights and FPV I run off of a separate battery, which is a small 750mah S3 battery.

 

[labmansid]

Just curious, but what places do you guys suggest getting a 550 from?

 

[FangsCPO]

Just curious, but what places do you guys suggest getting a 550 from?

I got the RTF from Heli-Pal. I found the price great with what it came with and it was already assembled...but that's just me. Check them out.

 

[kamkilla]

I should of never even looked at the 550 or the 450 this is getting expensive..... hey do you all have cases for these?

 

[ladykate]

No case. Big box.

 

[FangsCPO]

Wow!!! This bird is awesome. I just flew my maiden voyage from my back yard. I'm very impressed with the smoothness of it. I haven't plugged it to check the Naza M or iOSD software status. For now, it did okay. Just a quick flight around the house in my area. The gimbal is so smooth. I'm also impressed that the props don't seem to require balancing but I'm still going to check out their status tonight.

Here's a stupid question, where do I plug in to update the Naza firmware...is it thru the Remote LED??

 

[OI Photography]

Here's a stupid question, where do I plug in to update the Naza firmware...is it thru the Remote LED??

Yep!

 

[FangsCPO]

This is my first flight with this bird. I was just testing her out and seeing how things worked. So far, so good. I'm looking forward to getting use to flying this baby around. The FPV (First Person View" System is pretty cool. It's great being able to get a bird's eye view as your flying but it does take some time getting us to it.

Here's my F550 first video. Enjoy!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KvB_e_uahg[/youtube]

 

[rmklaw]

I have a Phantom Vision and a Phantom 2/GoPro, but love my F550 with Ground Station.

 

[PJA]

Did anyone use this service yesterday?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbtWczEXGmc[/youtube]


EDIT: The FAA steps in again...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...ex.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[chopperflyer]

Just curious, but what places do you guys suggest getting a 550 from?

until we know which country you are in hard job giving a straight answer. It would help to add country or state to profile.

 

[lgeist]

Just curious, but what places do you guys suggest getting a 550 from?

I got the RTF from Heli-Pal. I found the price great with what it came with and it was already assembled...but that's just me. Check them out.

I'm considering a 550 as well. My only concern with Helipal is theirs comes with the Devo transmitter and I read on another Devo distributors website that it has a range of "Up to 500 feet". Anyone know if that is accurate? If so, I might opt to pay a little more and purchase from Atlanta Hobby and get the DX-7 or DX-8.

 

[ladykate]

I've had mine a little farther and have had no problems. Will be back in town next week and check out the usable range (I don't go for distance, usually, will put it out to a 1000 feet or so and see if what you say is true).


BTW: surrounding issues are a big influence. I just flew my P2 at a fireworks display at a fairgrounds that was fairly remote from anything. However, I was losing video and getting dubious distance from just a few hundred feet. I lost video entirely at 50 meters - we're talking zero output/black screen! I was worried that I had a problem but I just flew the P2 out in the Mojave desert and it was clear as a bell for video and transmitter range.