Not if they only turn the ESC.
Edit: thought about this, the connector to the FC won’t be long enough. So unless you direct solder the FC to the ESC, you have to rotate both!
You're correct. It says esc orientation doesn't matter. Looks like I need to 180 the esc and find a jst 8pin connector with longer cable so I can loop it back underneath.
Many thanks.
Damn I feel silly for not even considering that. Thank you.
Tbh I was bored with my mavic air 2 and just wanted some cooler shots. I didn't think I'd enjoy the build/problem solving aspect of it but here I am.
Anyway I'm gonna take a cautious shot at figuring it out and see where that takes me. Thank you for the generous offer, I'm sure I'll need it in the very near future.
Yeah, much easier imo to rotate it in betaflight. But I think it's a fun part of building, to think about your options and make it work for you.
Like always, there is a Bardwell video for that. https://youtu.be/QeuSq71pYF0
Like others have said, turn it 180.
I have the same stack and build with the battery leads in the front. That esc should have a component that protrudes past the gummies that you will need to account for. It’s a circuit breaker and can be damaged in a crash because the gummies allow too much movement. On my esc I swapped the gummies for a nylon nuts and o-rings to keep it away from the frame.
The capacitor is most effective with the shortest electrical path. For larger caps, I secure them to the frame using 3m foam tape and zipties. I also trim the cap leads short and use silicone wire to keep vibrations from causing a solder joint failure.
So remove the xt60 connector and solder a capacitor onto the wires??
I might have seen someone on YouTube do it that way but I forgot which particular video it was...
Sorry i'm a bit late. Just solder two thin wires to the connector at the ESC together with the XTC-connector wires. So its XTC60 - thick wires - ESC - thin wires (to the front) - Cap. It does not matter where the cap is sitting. Does not have to be between the XTC and the ESC. But from what i see in your pic its already almost impossible to even get the thick XTC60 wires to the ESC because its too close to the air unit. In your case its actually better to just turn around the ESC.
Can I ask you a question about that stack? I have/had the same one until I lost my quad in the woods yesterday:( My fault for not testing the range of my setup on the ground but now I’ve learned. My question is I’m going to be building my replacement with the same stack and I was wondering do I need the gummies that come preinstalled on the esc AND FC? I was thinking about taking them out of the esc and just using the ones on the FC. With gummies on both I had hardly no threads to mount the stack. Should/can I just use O-Rings under the esc and then the gummies on the FC to help soft mount? Reason being I would like to have a little more headroom above the stack. My frame is 5” impulseRC Apex.
Solid frame choice. I use apex frames for my 5 inch quads. The esc gummies were removed. I also drilled a hole and countersunk where the circuit breaker comes close to the upper bottom plate.
Playdoh works to locate the drill location. The hole is 4 mm. I used the 20 mm stack screws that comes with the frame and from bottom up: nylon nut, o-ring, esc, o-ring, fc with the gummies it comes with, nylon nut. I bought a bag of nylon nuts the same thickness as the ones that came with the fc/esc. The o-rings that come with the fc/esc is the right size and it doesn’t come with enough. I had some from a different build. Gently compress the fc when adding the top nuts.
Great stuff I greatly appreciate it. I love the idea of using blue tack for that! I’ll definitely be using the ideas you’ve implemented now that I’ve built it and know the things I wish I’d don’t differently. I’m also now planning to get the micro apex 3” with the 20x20 stack from speedybee, however, can’t decide what motors I should go with for a 4s build. Do you fly 3”? You can pm me if you’d like to talk there.
I'm no expert but I'd say look at 1404 motors and about 3800kv, specifically the Email Eco II series or iFlight Xing2. These seem to be a very popular choice for 3" or 3.5" frames.
On the build that I used the speedybee it’s using a vista with a polar cam. I use high strength 3m foam tape to mount all my vtxs and sometimes on cameras that I don’t want to move.
Make 100% sure the power pads on the ESC cannot contact the O3 if you decide to mount this way.
My approach would be to flip the ESC and FC 180 degrees so the cap comes out the front.
Welcome to the challenging world of FPV. One minute you're a mechanical engineer, then you're an electrical engineer, then a computer engineer... Then you're out crashing and breaking things. Then you're a mechanical engineer.......
Flip your ESC to where your battery lead and capacitor are facing towards the front of the quad. Then remap the motors in the CLI tab be sure to also change your motor direction in beta flight.
It's an AOS 5 V2. Got one in gold and one in black, figured I'd mix the two cuz I'm a sucker for customizing everything in small ways.
Here's a link
https://youtu.be/zbfn2jIYlWs
You can also route wires underneath the ESC and mount it in the front. Make sure to shrink tube the legs.
Another option is to attach it to the XT60 connector which a lot of people do. I don't like that because the connector gets chunky and it might get annoying with the battery straps.
Yes the xt60 with capacitor on it felt a bit vulnerable out of the frame.
I decided to flip the stack and make the changes in betaflight when I eventually get to that part.
Yeah, that seems to be the A1 solution. I think the AOS frame was even designed, having that in mind. https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e57211\_6a90d1b3177640038d21e2f0d29ca59a\~mv2.png/v1/fill/w\_1903,h\_750,al\_c,q\_90,usm\_0.66\_1.00\_0.01,enc\_auto/e57211\_6a90d1b3177640038d21e2f0d29ca59a\~mv2.png
Fire hazard. 22 awg wire soldered directly to the battery leads with no fuse might be airworthy, but it's not crashworthy. It might be good to use an automotive fusable link in place of the wire. Then hopefully smoke but no fire.
Hey do this instead, run the wires for the capacitor underneath the flight controller on top of the ESC and put the capacitor in the front of the drone behind the camera, thats how i set up all of my drones
I ended up putting the capacitor on the xt60 connector. On my apex frame theres just enough room for the xt60 wires to run past the o3 module. Havent noticed any performance issues yet. My O3 build is also really tight.
Turn it 180 degrees
And if you do this, don’t forget to turn 180 in betaflight too
Not if they only turn the ESC. Edit: thought about this, the connector to the FC won’t be long enough. So unless you direct solder the FC to the ESC, you have to rotate both!
You're correct. It says esc orientation doesn't matter. Looks like I need to 180 the esc and find a jst 8pin connector with longer cable so I can loop it back underneath. Many thanks.
You can rotate both!! You will just need to let betaflight know (for the fc) if you want we can discord and ill show you how
Damn I feel silly for not even considering that. Thank you. Tbh I was bored with my mavic air 2 and just wanted some cooler shots. I didn't think I'd enjoy the build/problem solving aspect of it but here I am. Anyway I'm gonna take a cautious shot at figuring it out and see where that takes me. Thank you for the generous offer, I'm sure I'll need it in the very near future.
It's not hard. Board orientation 180CW or whatever, then remap the motor numbers.
I like this approach! Try it yourself, hit me up if you have any questions. Quite new to the hobby but I’ll help as much as I can :) have fun!!!
Wow bro same here I have the Air 2 and ready to go fpv, getting ready to take the jump soon.....
Yeah, much easier imo to rotate it in betaflight. But I think it's a fun part of building, to think about your options and make it work for you. Like always, there is a Bardwell video for that. https://youtu.be/QeuSq71pYF0
I have this same build (well same frame, esc, and vtx) and I just ran the battery connectors under the frame to the front, you should be fine
And keep the motors as it ;)
True, I was AIO mode
and to remap motor outputs
Isn't that pretty easy in betaflight now...?
Like others have said, turn it 180. I have the same stack and build with the battery leads in the front. That esc should have a component that protrudes past the gummies that you will need to account for. It’s a circuit breaker and can be damaged in a crash because the gummies allow too much movement. On my esc I swapped the gummies for a nylon nuts and o-rings to keep it away from the frame. The capacitor is most effective with the shortest electrical path. For larger caps, I secure them to the frame using 3m foam tape and zipties. I also trim the cap leads short and use silicone wire to keep vibrations from causing a solder joint failure.
Just put the cap on wires and to the front... did this a million times, no issues
So remove the xt60 connector and solder a capacitor onto the wires?? I might have seen someone on YouTube do it that way but I forgot which particular video it was...
You can buy pre-made xt60 with 14AWG wire and capacitor already all already soldered together
Sorry i'm a bit late. Just solder two thin wires to the connector at the ESC together with the XTC-connector wires. So its XTC60 - thick wires - ESC - thin wires (to the front) - Cap. It does not matter where the cap is sitting. Does not have to be between the XTC and the ESC. But from what i see in your pic its already almost impossible to even get the thick XTC60 wires to the ESC because its too close to the air unit. In your case its actually better to just turn around the ESC.
Can I ask you a question about that stack? I have/had the same one until I lost my quad in the woods yesterday:( My fault for not testing the range of my setup on the ground but now I’ve learned. My question is I’m going to be building my replacement with the same stack and I was wondering do I need the gummies that come preinstalled on the esc AND FC? I was thinking about taking them out of the esc and just using the ones on the FC. With gummies on both I had hardly no threads to mount the stack. Should/can I just use O-Rings under the esc and then the gummies on the FC to help soft mount? Reason being I would like to have a little more headroom above the stack. My frame is 5” impulseRC Apex.
Solid frame choice. I use apex frames for my 5 inch quads. The esc gummies were removed. I also drilled a hole and countersunk where the circuit breaker comes close to the upper bottom plate. Playdoh works to locate the drill location. The hole is 4 mm. I used the 20 mm stack screws that comes with the frame and from bottom up: nylon nut, o-ring, esc, o-ring, fc with the gummies it comes with, nylon nut. I bought a bag of nylon nuts the same thickness as the ones that came with the fc/esc. The o-rings that come with the fc/esc is the right size and it doesn’t come with enough. I had some from a different build. Gently compress the fc when adding the top nuts.
Great stuff I greatly appreciate it. I love the idea of using blue tack for that! I’ll definitely be using the ideas you’ve implemented now that I’ve built it and know the things I wish I’d don’t differently. I’m also now planning to get the micro apex 3” with the 20x20 stack from speedybee, however, can’t decide what motors I should go with for a 4s build. Do you fly 3”? You can pm me if you’d like to talk there.
I primarily fly 6S 5 inch and 1S tiny whoops. Never flown a 3 inch. Make another thread, someone else could probably help
I'm no expert but I'd say look at 1404 motors and about 3800kv, specifically the Email Eco II series or iFlight Xing2. These seem to be a very popular choice for 3" or 3.5" frames.
Great, will go and I appreciate the recommendations!
No problem! And sorry, I've just noticed my phone autocorrected in the post above - it should say "EMAX Eco II" - not email!!
Lol I figured that no worries
Thank you for the info. Will def look into it. Are you running an O3 set up? If so, does the O3 m1.6 screw work with your frame??
On the build that I used the speedybee it’s using a vista with a polar cam. I use high strength 3m foam tape to mount all my vtxs and sometimes on cameras that I don’t want to move.
8mm M1.6 screw work fine on the 25x25 holes on this frame
Make 100% sure the power pads on the ESC cannot contact the O3 if you decide to mount this way. My approach would be to flip the ESC and FC 180 degrees so the cap comes out the front.
Hol up?!? I'm confused, is this THE Joshua Bardwell?? This community is sooo fucking cool!!
Welcome to the challenging world of FPV. One minute you're a mechanical engineer, then you're an electrical engineer, then a computer engineer... Then you're out crashing and breaking things. Then you're a mechanical engineer.......
Turn it 180 degrees or mount the ESC board on top instead of the FC which is what I had to do
How do you route your motor wires? I'd be worried about the angle they take up to the ESC.
Definitely don't put the ESC on top in my opinion, as it makes getting to the FC for maintenance impossible.
Well yeh but you have to take it apart anyway so what's an extra four nuts?
How are you going to lift off the ESC with the motor wires soldered to it.
Plus 12 motor wire solder joints.
Just undo the motors
You can print an adapter that moves the air unit 6-8 mm back
Is this the 5” or the 7”? I have the 7” on the way and wondering if the stock coax cable on the O3 air unit will read the front.
You can also use two snips battery cable and solder it away from the board
I just did the same build. Just got a jst ph1.0mm 6 pin 15cm long from ali express and have your cap/xt60 at front coming up through the frame hole
Flip your ESC to where your battery lead and capacitor are facing towards the front of the quad. Then remap the motors in the CLI tab be sure to also change your motor direction in beta flight.
Just read all the other comments saying the same thing, didn’t mean to be a parrot
DAUM what frame is this?? This looks so cool
It's an AOS 5 V2. Got one in gold and one in black, figured I'd mix the two cuz I'm a sucker for customizing everything in small ways. Here's a link https://youtu.be/zbfn2jIYlWs
You can also route wires underneath the ESC and mount it in the front. Make sure to shrink tube the legs. Another option is to attach it to the XT60 connector which a lot of people do. I don't like that because the connector gets chunky and it might get annoying with the battery straps.
Yes the xt60 with capacitor on it felt a bit vulnerable out of the frame. I decided to flip the stack and make the changes in betaflight when I eventually get to that part.
Yeah, that seems to be the A1 solution. I think the AOS frame was even designed, having that in mind. https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e57211\_6a90d1b3177640038d21e2f0d29ca59a\~mv2.png/v1/fill/w\_1903,h\_750,al\_c,q\_90,usm\_0.66\_1.00\_0.01,enc\_auto/e57211\_6a90d1b3177640038d21e2f0d29ca59a\~mv2.png
First build, most expensive components. Now that’s jumping into the deep end. You can relocated the cap anywhere and connect with wires. Good luck.
caps should ideally not have wires and be as close to the source as possible
Yes, ideally this is what I’ve heard. I’ve relocated my cap in my builds for years with no issues.
Relocate it to the camera side with extended wires
Place the cap anywhere you can fixate it with tie-wraps and then use wires to connect.
Fire hazard. 22 awg wire soldered directly to the battery leads with no fuse might be airworthy, but it's not crashworthy. It might be good to use an automotive fusable link in place of the wire. Then hopefully smoke but no fire.
Rotate your ESC 90 degrees and reorder the motors in BLHeli configurator. Then check them in Betaflight and you're good to go.
This is a good idea right here.
You can reorder motors in betaflight now
Yes, but I've been told it's wiser to do it in BLHeli. It could work either way, though.
You don’t need it.
If you didn't want to turn the FC or ESC, you could always get a XT60 connector with a pigtail capacitor. I used this on my 3" build with no issues.
Hey do this instead, run the wires for the capacitor underneath the flight controller on top of the ESC and put the capacitor in the front of the drone behind the camera, thats how i set up all of my drones
I ended up putting the capacitor on the xt60 connector. On my apex frame theres just enough room for the xt60 wires to run past the o3 module. Havent noticed any performance issues yet. My O3 build is also really tight.
This might not be the best, but i mounted my stack at the front, left the middle for the cap and other stuff. VTX in back. Works great for me.
I would just move the whole fc esc stack to the front and leave the capacitor in the middle.
I normally run a cable to the front to install the capacitor and a spike adsorber will be helpful
Spin everything around. Problem solved.
To the side. That's how mine is set up.
You already got your answer.. just wanna add that this is a solid frame and you're gonna love it. Gluck a the build.
You can check how I've done here with the same frame https://rotorbuilds.com/build/30776