Blog Article Continuation(s) Hubsan X4

The latest Hubsan Quads X4 has a prop guard which looks very light. You have to remove the blades to fit it. I should imagine that it will be appearing as a replacement part soon.

 

I should have mentioned that you can use small cable ties (zip ties), tied into the motor cowling. They then act as 'fend offs' and stop you from clipping objects with the rotors.
The second photo is of my YD-717 with a similar arrangement.

 

I saw Banggood has the "new" version

http://www.Banggood.com/Upgrade-Hubsan-X4-H107-2_4G-4CH-Remote-Control-RC-Quadcopter-p-71838.html

LEDs!

 

This is the list of spares for the Hubsan Quads X4 http://www.hubsan.com/products/SPARE_PARTS/parts_1531_1.htm which include the protection for the rotors and rubber feet which were 'missing' from the original release. I have not, as yet, found anyone selling the new spares. But I have to admit I haven't tried that hard.
I have had to buy a replacement board for one of my X4s. It is slightly different to the original. I am hoping to fire up the soldering iron tonight.

 

LOL. I wonder if anyone got the bullet for that gaffe?
I have just ordered some heli spares from Banggood and they gave me a 15% off voucher...............for ladies wear!!???

 

I just found this and thought I would share. The following is an undocumented ( for some bizarre reason.) procedure for calibrating your X4.

X4 calibration.
Switch to Mode 2
Power up and allow to bind
Press down on left stick to operate switch under it and hold it on
Wriggle right stick left/right
"Eye" lights will flash and calibration done.

Version 2
Power up and allow to bind.
Press and release right under stick switch to put it into "Expert" mode (says Expert in tiny letters on LCD and red LED flashes)
Hold full right rudder on left stick (care - no throttle as it is live)
While doing this wriggle right stick left/right
"Eye" lights will flash and calibration done.

There is a marked improvement when you do this.
Thanks to Dave Bran over at modelflying.co.uk for publishing this item.

 

Nice one webman. I felt I should have had some waccy baccy and some 70's music on the go when listening to the Taoist Flyer LOL. His reviews are great though.
Does anyone have the X4 LED version? Do the LEDS by the motors have resistors attached? I bought the latest board and it has solder pads for LEDs but I am not sure if I should add resistors if I fix some LEDS to the frame. I thought of drilling some holes in the frame for some LEDs as I have not found anyone selling the latest frame.

 

If (like me) you're too cheap to pop the $20 fo9r the "unique safety device" you may be able to make your own, depending on the design of your quad.

Cut the rings from an appropriately-sized soda bottle (not a water bottle: their bottoms are good for making canopies, but would be too flimsy to make the rings). I've discovered that a Dremel tool with a metal saw blade works much better than a knife for this, because you don't have to apply a lot of pressure to make the cut, so the bottle doesn't move around so much and make it hard to keep your cuts straight.

Then cut a piece of styrofoam that you can glue the rings to to keep them in place. When I try this for the V202, I'll hollow out the center, so the foam can sit on the frame and take the place of the canopy.

The protection won't be as good as the acrylic rings, but it'll be much less weight. And lots cheaper.

 

Sure, as soon as I actually do it

Right now, it's just an idea that I've thrown out in hopes that someone will either find it useful, or find it useless because I overlooked something.

Ran

 

Hi, I purchased the Hubsan Quads X4 a week or so ago... Being unable to work money is very tight so after reading many reviews on many different mini quads I decided the X4 was my best bet....... But here's the thing, from the get go out of the box I was unable to maintain a stable hover.... The X4 would lift up and slowly start drifting backwards and to the right, getting progressively worse the longer it was in flight.... I tried all the fixes I could find to reset the trim including changing the props for the spare set and making sure via spirit level the take off area was spot on level..... It did not matter what I did I could not trim this problem out...... So very disappointed I returned the little fellow..... Unfortunately the vendor had no more in stock, he did however give me two new sets of props and a trouble shooting and fix guide to try on the understanding if it failed to cure the problem he would exchange or refund the following week when he got his new stock.... I again changed the props and did everything on the guide but still had the backwards/right drift...... So logic told me it couldn't be the props, set up/calibration/trim or balance/extra weight as nothing has been added to the quad, that only left the TX board or motors...... Not wanting to take the X4 apart and void any warranty I decided to look at the motors and here is all I did..........

1. Removed front two props
2. Turned on and ran motors full speed for 20 secs to warm them up
3. Using a cocktail stick and oil from a hair clipper set (light non sticky) dripped a very small amount to the top of the prop shaft. Left it for 4-5 mins.....
4. Turned back on and ran motors very slowly for 20 secs, then full speed for 20 secs.
5. Cleaned any excess oil with a cotton bud slightly damp with white spirit and replaced the props.

I repeated the above on the back motors...... Reset the trims to centre and did the throttle bottom right/wiggle reset, and BINGO, it flew with one forward trim adjustment.... There is still some very, very slight drift but this is in no particular direction and is very easily controllable and something closer to the type of drift I expected. Also the X4 is so much quieter. Chuffed to bits, now to get down to learning to fly it properly instead of just hovering round my living room.

I explained the fix to the vendor who has offered to order me a set of replacement motors free of charge as he feels one or more of the motors might be slightly faulty and I will probably experience the problem again.... Hope this helps some one else......

 

Nice Fix, even better write up!!!

 

With a few extra batteries extended total flight time per session is an option. Any info available regarding max flight times before needing to give the motors a rest. Prefer to minimize the need for motor replacements. The 4 battery kit is allowing +30minutes of flight sessions. Wondering if I'm causing premature motor failure.