My Brushless Crazyflie Build

Discussions and questions about the Crazyflie Nano Quadcopter
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akbarhash
Beginner
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:19 am

My Brushless Crazyflie Build

Post by akbarhash »

Hi, guys here I am going to document the build of my Crazyflie 2.0 controlled Brushless Quad.
Theoretically you could follow this to make a quad of any size.
First Here is a Semi Finished Build Photo.

Image

Here is the link to a Google Docs Spreadsheet to list all the components that I bought online for this build. It includes links and prices.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... twqrh1m-Y/.

Now I will list the main components.
1. Crazyflie 2.0
2. Logic Level Converter.
3. Turnigy Plush 10 amp ESC.
4. Sunnysky x1306s 3100kv motors.
5. Armattan 170 mm frame.
6. 1000mAh mylipo.de 2S(7.4V) battery.
7. 4045 Props from myrcmart.
8. Wires & Cables and Plugs are given in detail in the spreadsheet some are extra you can buy as per your needs.

Next up is the power loom construction. I can never explain it better than this video.
https://vimeo.com/89350073
This is a part of a series of seven videos which are all awesome and should be watched.

Next up Voltages.
Battery supplies 7.4 V.
All ESC’s have the three wires stripped down to only signal wire and only one has the 5V and GRND wire connected. This is what supplies the 5V to the logic level converter. You can use this method if your ESC comes with a BEC or just use a 5V step down separately.(For further details)
The Logic Level Converter steps down to 3.3 V which is then supplied to the Crazyflie 2.0.

Next how the signal moves.

The pwm signal is produced for each motor at 3.3 V from the crazyflie 2.0 which gets pulled up using 470Ohm to 5V using the logic level converter.
Next this PWM signal is sent to the ESC which converts it to AC signal that runs the motors.

Next up the I used the micro JST 2 mm 2 pin cable given in the spreadsheet.
I then checked the motor output with a multimeter and found that the clockwise motors output PWM signal on the black wire and the anti clockwise signals output signal on the red wire.
So I cut out one of the wires on each of the cables then attached the plugs with the black wires to the clockwise motor outputs and the plugs with the red wires to the anticlockwise motor outputs.

Next I soldered the wires to the logic level converter on the 3.3 V side beginning with the motors m1 m2 m3 m4 so the wires would output on the 5V side in the same order. I also added two wires for grnd and 3.3V output for powering the crazyflie. I used a cable with a walkera plug because I still want this to be able to switch back to a normal coreless motor if I want to. If you are decided on a brushless build then you could solder them directly

Next I soldered some 90 degree pins onto the output side of the logic level converter this would then go to the respective ESC input pins. I also soldered the right angle pins to the 5V and the ground pins. One of the escs the one on motor 1 will be supplying the 5V for the logic level converter which is then stepped down to 3.3 V and supplied to the crazyflie.

In my case I then soldered the motor wires directly to the esc outputs because I may not change the esc and the motor on this frame.

Next up I would like to thank the crazyflie team for the work that has already been done. Creating the brushless firmware was as simple as it can be. All that needed to be done was to add a single line of code.

Once the code was done I flashed it to the Crazyflie 2.0. It is working and flying now. I think I have to tune the PIDS a bit thats why I call this a semi final build.

Thanks for reading.

I will put up more photos soon not taken with a potato. Also waiting for their build blog post from the crazyflie team.
tobias
Bitcraze
Posts: 2339
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:17 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: My Brushless Crazyflie Build

Post by tobias »

Great build log, thanks for sharing! I would be really nice to see it in action!
akbarhash
Beginner
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:19 am

Re: My Brushless Crazyflie Build

Post by akbarhash »

As promised more photos. With some descriptions.
Please ask if anything needs to be explained.
http://imgur.com/a/HfDea/
This time I used my good camera.
Now trying to get that video.
ender2017
Beginner
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 8:00 pm

Re: My Brushless Crazyflie Build

Post by ender2017 »

Hey,

I was wondering if you could give me a little information on how you used the logic level converter along with the Crazyflie 2.0. Did you have any trouble using all four motors with it? Have you tried using this set up on a larger quad than the one you built?

Thanks in advance
H0stname
Member
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2017 5:44 am

Re: My Brushless Crazyflie Build

Post by H0stname »

I have all the parts I need, some are similar to yours. I notice you don't appear to be using the big quad deck?? I am surprised to see this upon further examination. It looks like you have connected the motor outputs directly to the logic level converter and/or ESCs?

Mine will be a bit different, but I definitely plan on using the big quad deck attached to crazyflie for my controller/remote
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