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Build: ImmersionRC Xugong V2 Pro
We are addicts of the Xugong and this is our 3rd Xugong after the Xugong10 v1 and Xugong 8 v1 but we weren’t able to get it till recently as it’s popular after many has found out how small it is and travelling with it is a breeze but finally, ReadymadeRC stocked it, notified us and immediately, we placed an order. Today, it arrived.
Above: Why those motors mounts screws, we will never know. It’s too short!
Above: Side plates compared. V2 and Xugong 10 V1. The V2 is slightly taller.
With the V2, Immersion has made it even better with improvements on the PDB to integrate video camera switching, OSD in a nice red based board (officially these are stated OSD, Camera switch,GoPro Power Supply (5.0 V), GPS Interface, Current/Voltage Sensor, PPM in/out). It’s also a great system if you are already on ImmersionRC system, you’ll be familiar on the setup however, on the other hand, it does locks you to the brand. With ImmersionRC making some leading technologies and constantly improving on it, we think it’s not an issue. The below is an overview diagram from their documentation that’ll be easy to understand.
We can now strike of one of our dislikes in the Xugong10 build. The FR4. No more FR4, all carbon fiber now! We also opt to not get the gimbal as of yet and to utlises the existing Tarot T2-D gimbals that we have.
Conclusion
Nifty quad with built in Immersion ezOSD that folds small. Great for travelling.
Likes
– Carbon Fiber.
Dislikes
– As with all the other Xugong(s) not being able to shift the CG as and where we like it to maintain the CG at the flight controller. It’s either front heavy or more often, back heavy when we choose to fly even with the recommended Multistar 4S 5200 mAh lipo.
– A longer frame so the lipo do not stick out. At the expenses of weight.
Upgrades
– Maybe the T Motors Airgear 350 that runs 2213? This was poisoned by Jakub. Follow or (by the time we run this article) see his build at http://instagram.com/jimmacfx
– The same inabilitiy to balance the quad with the lipo if you want to use a huge one like we, preferring the 4S 5000mah Turnigy. They recommend a Multistar 5200mah (constant 10C) that we’ll try out soon but we fail to see how it will counter the weight of a gimbal installed at the front of the XugongV2.
Links:
Our Xugong 10 build
Our Xugong 8 build
ezOSD with a Mobius
Modifying the GoPro cable that’s supplied to take the mobius is straight forward. Yellow to yellow and black to black. just cut and solder them together.
Lipo size Compare
Below: The Zippy Compact 4S 5000 mAh
Below: The Multistar 10C 4S 5200 mAh
3 Sept 2015
Rebuilding started. Killed our Naza M V2, got a Taranis, some new EMAX 2216 and a new Flytrex for this rebuild. Ordered new frame plates from Red20RC.
17 Sept 2015
All Parts arrived. Motors took really long as it was out of stock and there’s a Version 2 of the popular EMAX 2216 810kv but we decided to stick to V1 as we already have a set of them and spares.
Top and bottom plates are awesome from Red20RC. After some discussion via email with Mike, he cut, packed and delivered the plates. The journey took about 10 days from Australia to Singapore. We ordered 2 sets of 1.5mm and 2mm ones. We started the rebuild with the 2mm ones of course.
18 Sept 2015
Found that the miniOSD is faulty, white dots appear all over the LCD screen. Darn…
Dec 2015
The weaker link, naturally. It’s where it starts to taper down for the battery compartment. #xugong #xugong10 #xugong #xugongprov2 #dji #nazamlite #mobius #emax #hobbyking #turnigy #9XR #red #carbonfiber #nazamlite #gps #fpv #gopro @skunkworxhobbies @red20rc A photo posted by =In The Course Of Work= (@itcow) on
What started as a “repairing” post on our Instagram got some great guys offering help on our frame.
Here, we present, The new and improved Xugong Pro V2 top and bottom plate with:
– 1.5mm and 2mm thickness. (original plates are 1.5mm thick)
– Bigger FC installation clearance on top plate
– Improved thickness on the taper tail end for Lipo on top plate making it more stiff
Price, USD 44 vs these USD60 for 1.5mm and USD70 for 2mm
Eletronics will be exactly the same, running Naza M V2, EMAX 2216 (v1), Multistar 1033 props, 5000 Multistar low C lipo or 5200 Zippy Compact weighing in at about 1.6kg for about 20 mins of flight.
We added isolation dampening from Banggood and it works. Extra plates are from Red20RC, if you have seen the previous build. It’s all above now.
Flight Video before and after the double plates were added.
Before
After
Build: ImmersionRC Xugong8
We like the Xugong 10 so much, we bought the 8 shortly after and it’s as awesome. Waiting for the Xugong Pro v2 to launch and making one more purchase. The Xugong seem is all we need to pack, go and fly. It’s small and the Xugong8 is even more impressive.
Purchased the “crash kit” and extra rubber balls and the red ones that’s suppose to be harder.
Same eggshell type tray in the box.
Size compared as seen on our Instagram account previously.
Going with a DJI Naza M Lite v2 first, would like to have the Naza M V2 from the Aliencopter soon after we tear that down.
Gotta change that blue GPS folding mount to a red one!
We really like the size but the space within the Xugong8 is like the Xugong10, it’s oddly hard to balance the whole quad. We always like the Naza to sit right in the center with proper Center of Gravity (CG) with front and back balanced. To achieve that, the lipo has to be mounted below the whole quad meaning the Xugong has to be modded to be taller. We hope to keep it at this size.
First Flight
We’ll be able to move the electronics like the LED module, PMU and Frsky D4R II receiver into the current lipo compartment too if we move the lipo to the bottom.
You can add a gimbal to the front to add weight to it and try to balance it. We flew it with Emax 2213 935kv motors, 8 inch propellers, a gopro3 black in the underwater housing and it lasted about 10.5 mins on a Turnigy 3S 20-30C 2650mah lipo.
Conclude, you can’t find a better travel quad as of Jan 2015. The arms folding mechanism is simply well thought through and is genius! It unpacks, unfold the arms in seconds and ready to fly. No screws and nuts to fiddle with or to tighten before you can fly like the Aliencopter 430mm we have! It makes it a pain when we tried flying the Aliencopter at St John’s Island/ Kusu Island we simply stop disassembling it and hung it outside the bag. It’s sure to raise questions and unwanted attention at certain areas to fly.
The 8 inch version of the Xugong is really small for it’s class, when folded (and we’ve looked at what is available and tried just about all of them backwards folding, fold inwards etc etc) and we see ourselves travelling with it overseas even.
Links:
Our Xugong 10 build
Xugong Pro V2 build
Discussion – http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068755
We bought at – http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=76_310&products_id=2145
Build: Aliencoptor 430mm
The Hobbyking Aliencoptor 430mm is one of the nicest frame thus far that we have built.
Following from Hobbyking product page. This is the 430mm version. Aliencopter has another 470mm version that folds slightly different here. Here for people who can’t see the page. We still cannot figure why they don’t like traffic from Singapore.
It got us getting out Paypal account ready when we recently crashed the F330. Got another team member, the Mrs. to rebuilt that while this Aliencopter gets built too.
The manual is horrible. So here’s better pics! We can’t vouch for better words but it sure is better with the original manual having little and quite useless instructions.
Top Chamber
Build up the top chamber first and the stand offs. Leave the upper most plate off for Flight Controller installation.
Put in the 8 red standoffs. We swop out the screws after the first few flights. They are simply too short to be able to hold the top plate nicely and it keeps coming off ripping the threads away from the tip of the short screws.
Arms
Install the standoffs on the arms. Note that these 4 standoffs are packed separated from the above 8 pieces with it’s corresponding screws.
Install the motors. We migrated some DJI 2212 from the last Reptile Build here. It already has nice long cables that we tuck below the arms then back up again, later to the ESCs. We removed the DJI and mounted EMAX as the DJI can’t take some standard propellors the emax could. The center hub was thicker at 10mm.
Run the cables on the outside so when folded, the cables dont come into place and get sliced.
Bottom Assembly
Install all the teeny tiny screws and standoffs on the bottom plate. We like to have the “arrow” design pointing forward but it’s no difference since it’s a quad. If you have any preference like us, you have to decide now so it’s tidy.
Power Power Power
Install the PDB. We made use of the existing one from myrcmart since it’s a nicely solder with 4 x 30A Opto from DJI. Just made use of some standoffs. There are some transparent nylon screws with nylon nuts and standoffs. These are all for the Aliencopter PDB that came with it. Do not use metal standoffs. We skip using the provided one as we have existing ones. The provided Aliencopter one has blue LEDs like what we ordered separately from Goodluckbuy and installed on our Alien560mm.
Put in the bottom plate 2. We only screw in 2 center screws right in the middle for now for adjustment. Layout the ESCs. Put in the arms Screw in all bottom screws. Completed.
In the field
We brought this quad to St John’s Island and the neighboring island and it’s a blast to fly it around but the constant dismantling and assembling of the arms is really frustrating.
Being on the island, we decided to simply strap it on the bag and walk around with it out of the bag, assembled and ready to fly. It doesn’t cause much alarm with the whole quad in the open as these island are only full of anglers and a few tourists.
Jetty on Kusu Island. #instashot #nocrop #sj4000 #mobius #emax #gopro #turnigy #9XR #fpv #hobbyking #aliencopter 430mm #stjohnisland #kusuisland #tarot #gimbal #t2d A video posted by =In The Course Of Work= (@itcow) on
Gimbal
Our contraption works great using only cable ties, strapping the dismantled Tarot T2-D gimbal to the front of the whole quad.
We used the Hobbyking single cable to do “traditional” setup of the Naza M V2.
End
The most irritatant was the constant assembly of the arms and dismantling of the arms. The size is generally the same as compared to the ATG 12 inch foldable quadcopter but the ATG using Tarot type catches that do not require removing screws to be ready to fly.
Next up
– 3D Printed front gimbal mount to replace the zip ties
– Repositioning of the GPS, video transmitter and receiver into the cage
overall more space at the back for the GPS and the Lipo can be pushed all the way to the back to counter the weight of the gimbal at the front
– Try out with 9047 and 1045 propellors hoping to get a little more flight time. We average 10.5 mins now with the gimbal and a Turnigy 5000 mah lipo
9047 props