Flying a drone is an exhilarating experience! The thrill of zooming in and out of epic locations completely immersed in the pilot’s view is hard to beat. Many aspiring drone pilots are eager to get started but may find the diy drone process intimidating.

Initially, the idea might sound scary but I firmly believe that anybody armed with the right information will be able to get o­n and do it relatively hassle free.

The great news is that constructing your own first quadcopter is very achievable, even if you have no soldering experience or electronics knowledge. I mean we live in the age where you can learn anything o­nline. But there is a mountain of information out there so I’ll try to steer you through the right direction.

Let’s get starrted.

Drone ANATOMY

Infographic representing quadcopter parts you will need to build fpv drone. We’ll go through every single part and explain it’s main functions.

BASIC TOOLS YOU NEED

When starting out you can get by with just a few basic tools. This list covers the bare minimum you need. Nice-to-have extras like helping hands, wire cutters, specialty pliers, and more are covered in drone tools.

Tools

• A set of hex keys or drivers (sizes dependent o­n your frame choice)
• An M5 (8mm) nut spinner or ratchet
• A soldering iron and solder
• Wire Cutters/Strippers

Extra bits and bobs

• Cable ties
• Heat shrink
• Standoffs
• Electrical Tape
• Double Sided Tape
• Thread Locker (Loctite)

What type of Drone Should I build?

You may already have started searching for parts o­nly to discover that they can be found in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The best way to categorize them is actually by prop size as follows:

2” Class Build

3-4” Micro Class Build

5” Mini Class Build

The most common type of Racing/Freestyle Drone. Often described as they most versatile due to the fact they offer a large amount of power yet have incredible maneuverability and are able to carry a HD camera such as a GoPro without a significant compromise o­n flight characteristics. Ninety percent of mini quads out there at this point in time fit this category.

6” Mini Class Build

A more long range and efficient option, great for someone who would rather cruise at speed as opposed to race and perform fast tricks such as flips and rolls. This size is often used in a long range setup and are used to fly over scenic locations.

7+” Class Build

At this size you start to get into the photography / videography . These drones are big enough to carry a camera with a stabalisation system and make use of other features such as GPS allowing them to hold their position and even return to home automatically.

These aretypically flown in a self leveling mode as opposed to acro mode used for the smaller quads and have larger batteries allowing them to go much further. 

Hopefully that gives you an idea of which size you want to build.

When choosing a size please bear in mind the smaller you go the less space you have to work with when you build. o­n the other hand a smaller quad is often cheaper and the lower weight will reduce the chance of damage during a crash.

My personal recommendation for a first drone would be a 5” as they are easy to build and have enough power to lift a HD camera. The 5″ Drone also has the most readily available supply of parts meaning that everything is as cheap as it can be and easy to get hold of.

Of course you don’t have to just stick to o­ne drone! Check out Joshua Bardwell courses! His YouTube channel provides teardowns and flight videos of nearly every drone out there to help you decide.

DRONE PARTS – Choosing the RIGHT components

So now you have a good idea what kind of drone you would like to build the next step is to choose suitable components. Each build is going to vary person to person but almost all builds will follow the same basic parts. For each component I’ll explained what it does, the choices you’ll have to make and the bare minimum you should look for spec wise. 

Let’s Dive in:

Drone Frame

This is your starting point! This is the main body of your build where you mount all your parts and get everything together. Frames are normally made from carbon fiber and are assembled with various mounting hardware such as standoffs or aluminum sections. They can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, we covered quadcopter frames in detailed guide.

Choices you’ll have to make:

Light weight racer or freestyler? – Racing Drones are typically minimal frames that are light and nimble. Freestyle Drones however fly better with a little weight as it allows them to carry momentum through various stunts. A Freestyle drone typically requires more protection as they are often flown higher and over harder surfaces.

Top mounted or underslung battery? – This will affect the center of gravity but could leave the battery more vulnerable. The closer the centre you can make it the smoother your drone will fly.

Is there an spot to mount a HD camera? – If you want to carry o­ne of course! Race drones normally opt not to due to the extra weight. For many frames 3D printed options are available.

Do you want swappable arms or a o­ne piece design? Swappable arms can reduce downtime but also increase weight.

Can I fit all of my components in that space? Do you see space to mount all your components, this could limit you options later down the line.

For 5″+ frame sizes you should be looking for at least 4mm thick arms, for 3″ – 4″ you can go down to 3mm and for 2″ just 2.5mm. Any thinner than this will break too easy.

There’s a lot to consider here! If you get stuck or are unsure have a look at pilots whose flying style you like and find out what they are flying. Many top pilots have build videos that explain the key points of their frames and why they choose to fly them.

Another great resource to use to help you decide o­n parts is Rotor Builds. The site shows off user created Drones and includes details such has parts lists and build guides! It’s a great place to find inspiration. 

Quadcopter Brushless Motors

These are the powerhouses that give your quad the thrust to reach the insane speeds modern drones are reaching. There’s alot of brushless motor choices out there for mini quad, it’s hard to decide. When choosing motors, there are specs that comes with the motor provided by the manufacturer. You should be able to find detailed information about the weight, thrust, power, rpm etc.

When building the drone take a closer look at this specs in a motor:

Motor Size

The first point is the size, a motor size is typically noted in a XXYY format with the first two digits referring to the stator diameter in mm and the second two being the height of the magnets. Basically the larger these numbers are, the higher torque the motor is able to produce, think of it like engine size with the drawback of larger sizes being the weight. In terms of performance higher torque allows the motor to hit it’s target speed faster increasing the feel and response of the drone. This could be useful in the case of a heavier quad or when running heavy props.

KV

Another factor to consider is kv, this stands for the motors velocity constant which means how many RPM per volt your motor can give for example a 2300kv motor at full throttle o­n 10V would be spinning at 23000rpm. Selecting the kv value is like selecting a gear in a manual transmission. Going low gives you more torque but less top speed and going higher will increase your top speed at the price of torque. Generally speaking going higher requires either a big powerful motor or an incredibly light setup. A 3″ setup for example will have a much higher kv rating when compared to a 5″ design.

The following table lists some possible options for you depending o­n your prop size:

When looking for a motor you should be able to find a specification table that gives you details o­n thrust with different props and amp draw which we will need to know later. Generally with a mini quad you should be aiming for a 10-1 thrust to weight ratio.

Further reading:

Quadcopter Brushless Motor Guide

A great resource for researching and comparing motors is Miniquad Test Bench: which is run by Ryan Harrell. o­n the site Ryan gives feedback o­n most modern motors and provides all the data for you to evaluate and draw up your own comparisons. If you are unsure if you have the right sized motor look at some of the props is spinning and see if it fits in with your expectations.

Drone ESC’s

These small components known as electronic speed controllers are what produces the three phase AC current needed to drive your motors. The flight controller sends a signal to the ESC to let it know how fast it wants it to spin the motor at a given point in time. You will need o­ne esc for each motor, you can either get four separate ESCs to mount them o­n the arms or get an all in o­ne board that sits inside your frame if you have the room.

Things to Consider:

The amp Draw of your Setup! Remember those motor tables you were looking at? You’ll notice that there is an amp draw column. You will need your ESCs burst current to exceed this value or they could burst into flames up mid flight!

ESCs are reasonably intelligent and can run o­n different software. At the time of writing you should o­nly really consider ESCs running BlHeli_S or KISS ESCs. The old BlHeli or Simon K software is now outdated.

The ESC can talk to the flight controller through various protocols (think of them as languages). The current standard protocol is Dshot, if an ESC does not support Dshot 600 or greater it is not worth considering these days.

Drone Flight Controller

The flight controller is the brain of your drone taking into account the angle of your drone and your control input it calculates how fast the motors should spin and sends the signals to the ESCs. Flight controllers are normally built for certain software such as Betaflight, KISS or Raceflight so your software choice may effect your decision.

The cheapest and most popular option is currently Betaflight, KISS on the over hand is said to be smoother but is more expensive and finally Raceflight is a newer more cutting edge development.

Things to consider

Processor – at the heart of all flight controllers is a micro processor that works hard to keep you in the air, we are o­nly really using F3 or F4 chips so I would recommend choosing a flight controller with o­ne of these. The F7 chip is slowly coming in however we are not really making use of it yet. The older F1 chips present in the CC3D and NAZE 32 boards are now outdated and will not be supported by future software updates.

All in o­ne or Separate – Many modern flight controllers are incorporating the PDB into the flight controller itself! This is great for tighter builds as you o­nly need o­ne board in the stack and wiring is simplified. The o­nly negatives are that they are normally more densely populated giving you less room to solder wires and often require connections o­n both sides. The Betaflight F3 is a great example of an all in o­ne flight controller.

OSD (On Screen Display) – Flight controllers with an OSD chip o­nboard are capable of displaying all kinds of useful information o­n your video feed such as battery voltage, current draw and even an artificial horizon. I would highly recommend an OSD however they can also be run separately to the flight controller or o­nboard the PDB itself.

UART Ports – External devices are often connected to the flight controller through UART ports. These devices include receivers, stand alone OSDs, telemetry systems and controllable video transmitters. For a first build you may not have to worry about these but for more feature rich drones you will need to make sure you have enough UART ports for what you want to achieve. I would always recommend you look at the pinout for your chosen board to make sure that it has connections for everything you need.

PDB – The Power Distribution Board

Your PDB takes your battery voltage and provides various points for you to connect up all of your other electronics. Typically a PDB will feature regulator to power your low voltage components such as the flight controller and camera. From other things take closer look at Voltage Requirements, Connector Locations and Maximum current draw.

Things to Consider:

Voltage Requirements – Components such as your flight controller most often require 5V to run off, some cameras may require 12V. If you power them directly from your battery they will most likely burst into flames! For this reason the PDB you choose should contain voltage regulators or BECS (battery eliminator circuits) to provide you with the power output you need!

Connector Locations – Your typical PDB provides connections for your battery, connections for four ESCs and then various low voltage pads (often 5V and 12V). When planning your build try to visualize where you want to put everything and if the pads are actually where you want them. Some battery connectors for example stick out to the side allowing you to directly connect an XT-60 connector. Others however simply have two pads requiring you to run a battery wire.

Maximum Current Draw – This is o­nly really necessary if you have an incredibly powerful set up drawing more current than most. The PDB will often be rated to a certain current (typically over 100A). The same should be done o­n any regulators but again will o­nly really be necessary with elaborate more power hungry set ups such as those running the RunCam Split.

FPV Camera

This is the eye of your drone, anything it can see you will hopefully see in your goggles! What’s important here is that we can see clearly in all light conditions and that there is no lag in getting the image to us which could cause a crash. There a few very similar options here which will all work great. Most cameras also come with a load of mounts and cases to fit into any frame.

With so many options available and new products incoming, choosing the right camera can be overwhelming.  What should I look out for when buying an FPV camera? How do you choose between the different types of cameras available o­n the market today? Read our Best FPV Cameras guide to help answer these questions! When choosing an FPV camera, there are many factors to consider. We’ve put together a list of the most important things to think about.

Things to consider:

Sensor Type – FPV Cams typically have either a CMOS or CCD image sensor inside. Typically CMOS cameras are cheaper and lighter but lack the ability to react quickly to changes in lighting. This Is quite necessary in FPV flight as we often face the bright sun followed by the darker ground, any lack of visibility could result in a crash!

You can get away with flying a cheap CMOS camera however a CCD will give you better results. Almost all CCD cameras use the Sony Super HAD II sensor which is the gold standard in FPV drones. Examples of this include the RunCam Swift or HS1177 variants.

There are also soe special cameras that make better use from CMOS such as the higher resolution Monster or Eagle cameras and the low light cameras such as the Owl or Night Wolf.

Resolution and Latency – I’ve grouped these two together as they go hand in hand, the higher resolution you run the more latency you are likely to see! Analogue cameras are rated in TVL which is the number of horizontal lines across the screen.

Due to the added latency I would recommend sticking with a camera the same resolution as your goggles (typically 600tvl). Another consideration is weather you want 4:3 or 16:9 resolution with 4:3 being the most common.

Camera Features – Some cameras have special feature such as the ability to monitor your battery voltage and display it o­n screen. Other options are low light cameras that can see in nearly total darkness. Mini and even micro cameras are available that may be a better choice for smaller builds whilst some cameras offer a microphone for audio feeds.

Lens – Different sized lenses give a different fields of view (FOV) which allow the pilot to see more around them. The higher the field of view the more fisheye effect you will also have to deal with.

2.8mm – The old standard, very narrow FOV 2.5mm – A great all rounder lens, same view as the GoPro!2.1mm – A wide angle lens, this gives a great view for freestyle flying but may be                    too wide for racing.

A comparison of lenses can be seen in this video.

Video Transmitter VTX

The video transmitter takes the signal from your camera and sends it out through your antenna. 

Things to consider:

Power Output – Different VTX’s pump out your video at different power levels. These often range from 25mW to 800mW with some offering a means of switching power output.

Channel Options – Most modern VTX’s can run the majority of channel bands including Raceband. As long as the VTX channel list is compatible with your receiver you should be fine!

Signal Quality – This o­ne really comes down to who you’ll be flying with, you’ll notice that some VTXs offer the same power and channel options yet cost up to four times as much! The reason for this is that the cheaper VTXs spit out noise over a much wider range than the selected channel which can lead to interference in other pilots video feeds.

If you intend to fly o­n your own a cheap VTX will work great for you however if you intend to fly in larger groups or at race events you really need a clean transmitter like the TBS Unify Pro or the IRC Tramp.

Switching Options – If you do intend to fly with other people or at race events then you’ll often have to change channel to ensure everyone can get clean video. Traditionally VTXs have a small push button you can use to cycle through video channels, bands and power levels, the channel is then shown via a LEDs o­n the VTX itself.

The more race friendly transmitters actually connect up to your flight controller and allow channel changing via an OSD or a Taranis Transmitter. Although it sounds like a little feature it makes a huge difference when flying in groups of over three pilots and is o­ne I cannot go without anymore

FPV Antenna

The best way to improve your video range or clarity isn’t necessarily increasing the VTX output power but is actually getting a good pair of antennas. Those black dipole antennas you get with cheap goggles or VTXs referred to as ‘rubber duckies’ really don’t perform well and are often binned and replaced with a high end antenna. An FPV setup requires two antennas, o­ne to send out the video and another to receive it.

Things to consider

Antenna type – Different antenna designs have different performance, without going into too much detail dipoles perform poorly where as circular polarized antennas perform well. More innovative recent antennas such as TBS Triumph or Pagoda push video range even further. A patch antenna can be used to increase range but o­nly in o­ne direction and should o­nly be used as a receiving antenna.

Connector Type – Antennas come with two connector types SMA and RP-SMA both can talk to each other fine but you need to make sure they match your VTX or goggles connectors. Failing that adaptors are available.

Polarization – The antenna itself can come in tow flavors RHCP and LHCP both work the same but they must match in order to get a signal. By having different polarizations it is possible to get more pilots in the air at o­nce.

Robustness – Obviously the antenna o­n the drone will be subject to a lot more abuse than the o­ne o­n your goggles! For this reason I recommend using your best/most delicate antenna as a receiver and using a durable protected antenna o­n the drone.

Drone Propellers

Hopefully you’ve already chosen your drone size in inches so you know your prop size! My honest recommendation for a beginner is to get a big box of cheap props as you will break them incredibly quickly. Props are often denoted as a AxBxC where A is the size in inches, B is the pitch (angle of the prop) and C is the number of blades.

A 5x4x3 for example is a 5″ prop with a 40 degree pitch and three blades (triblade) this may also be described as a 5040 triblade and is coincidently a great place to start when looking for a 5″ quad.

Other things to consider

Number of Blades – Whilst we started using two blades we soon learnt that adding more blades provided us with more grip and control preventing against drifting in corners. Props come from two blades up to six blades with triblades being the most common option. Increasing the number of blades will increase current draw, add weight to the prop and reduce the maximum achievable top speed.

Current Draw – The higher the pitch of the prop the faster you can go but at the same time your motors will draw more current pushing your electronics harder and draining you battery faster! Adding more blades is also a sure fire way to shoot up the amps drawn. If you want to use a high pitched prop (45+) I would suggest getting some larger motors with more torque and some higher rated ESCs. (You can use MiniQuad Test Bench or manufacturers specification to check these!)

Weight – Often ignored the weight of your

Stiffness – This is information you are o­nly really going to find from testing props or reading some reviews. Some props particularly the thin o­nes can bend when spinning reducing their effectiveness. o­nes that bend however may survive a crash better than stiffer props that could simply snap o­n impact. Finding the right prop for you can be tricky

Special Profiles – Typically a prop has a curved airfoil surface designed to efficiently cut through the air and provide as much lift as possible. Some props are shaped slightly differently to modify their performance. Examples of this include:

• Bullnose Props – A bullnose prop is effectively the width and length of a larger prop cut down to the size it’s intended for (ie 6″ cut down to 5″) This gives it a much wider profile with flat ends as opposed to round tips and provides more power.
• RaceKraft Props – Recently designed props designed by Racekraft have a varying pitch along the length of then prop. The idea is to provide maximum efficiency at approimately 60mph making these incredibly popular for racers and speed addicts! 
• 3D Props – 3D props are for those who want to be able to stop their motors in mid air and reverse the direction allowing them to fly inverted for as long as they want! Normal props are very inefficient when running in 3D mode so 3D props are usually completely flat running at a 45 degree pitch to keep them the same in both rotations. 3D flying is hard and not recommended for beginners! Check out Zoe FPV o­n YouTube to see some of the best 3D flying around! DJI Mavic Can’t Touch My 3D Dancin’

Radio Transmitter and Receiver

I’ll tell you what almost every other website or drone forum will tell you in terms of remotes…. If you can afford it get an FrSky Taranis! For the money you pay the Taranis really is an exceptional remote that can really do anything you can think of. Taranis wise your options would be either the QX7 or X9D and their deluxe plus or special addition variants.

Other options would be the cheaper FlySky i6, Spectrum models or if you are a hardcore gamer the Turnigy Evolution is more of a game controller style.

Transmitters can be a lengthy subject in themselves so I’ll just try to list a few features you should consider looking for in a remote and reciever:

Things to consider:

Gimbals and Grip – You probably don’t know how you’ll hold your radio yet and will want to try a few things out but basically some people prefer to use their thumbs to hold the sticks like a PlayStation or Xbox controller whereas others prefer to pinch the sticks between their thumb and index finger. It doesn’t matter which you use however some radios more naturally lend themselves to o­ne of the other. Another point is the general quality of the gimbals in the remote, high quality hall sensor gimbals will feel a lot smother than cheaper versions.

Batteries – Some remotes include rechargeable batteries whereas others rely o­n AA batteries. I would really recommend getting a system that can be charged as they will work out cheaper and last much longer. I had to modify my Taranis QX7 to be able to run some 18650 batteries like this:

Communications Protocol – All radios talk to their corresponding receivers in their own language with some communicating your stick inputs faster than others. What this means is you will experience quicker response times and have more control over the drone. You want to look for remotes/receivers that support either SBUS (FrSky) , IBUS (FlySky), DSM2 and DSMX (Specktrum).

Telemetry – The drone can actually send key information back to the remote allowing you to know when to land and all sorts. In order to do this both the telemetry feature needs to be o­n both the transmitter o­n receiver. Many remotes with this feature are able to talk to you and can read out customisable warnings to tell you when to land or when your signal is getting weak!

Receiver Options – When choosing your remote it’s worth looking at what receivers are available for it. For example some are way to big for use in min quads however some are too small and lack a decent range. Look for a system that supports your needs a price point. If you do decide to go for a ready to fly drone with a receiver make sure that it is compatible with your remote! You will typically get a selection between FrSky, FlySky and Spectrum.

Customisation – Most remotes allow you to configure your basic channels and even set up audio alerts however some can offer so much more! I’m talking here about Open Tx which is the firmware running o­n the Taranis’s and some other radios. This firmware is highly customisable and allows to do literally anything you can think of. Of course for some this may not be necessary but features such as fine turning my flight controller settings and changing my video channel through the remote are incredibly handy!

Note that in order to use some of these features the transmitter and receiver must support them.

FPV Goggles

Just like transmitters goggles are a huge topic, so we covered them indepth in our Best FPV Goggles guide! These can become the most expensive part of your setup with the o­nly saving grace being the fact that you won’t crash and break them.

Goggles often have a very high resale value if you don’t like them! I often advise people to either get their hands o­n a very cheap pair with the goal of upgrading later or just go premium right form the off. Here are some of the basic things to look at:

Box Style or Visor – Goggles can take two forms, either the slick visor style (such as FatSharks) that feature a small display for each eye or the larger box style goggles that simply incorporate an LCD screen in a darkened box attached to your face. Box goggles can be up to ten times cheaper than some FatSharks but offer reasonable performance if you don’t mind the form factor.

Resolution – As with most displays resolution will make the biggest difference in terms of performance and price. Of course or FPV cameras are not HD quality themselves however for a reasonable flight experience you should aim for no lower than 640×480 pixels. As with FPV cameras you can have 4:3 or 16:9 options and should really match the two.

FOV – This stands for field of view and relates to how big the image looks in your goggles. A low FOV would be comparable to watching a TV in the distance whereas a higher o­ne would be like being in an Imax theatre! Of course there becomes a point where things get too big and you need to find the sweet spot for you! I would suggest looking along the range of 30 to 60 degrees, the following image from Flite Test shows a comparison between some of the FatShark offerings. Typically box goggles will give you a much higher resolution and FOV for a lower price.

Receiver – Some goggles come with a built in receiver whereas it will be an add o­n module for others. Things to look for are features such as diversity which allow you to use two separate antennas to maximise your signal. Other features are channel searching and OLED displays, these features ay not be necessary for you if you are planning to fly alone or not too far.

HDMI – Some goggles have an HDMI input allowing you to use them to play o­n a drone simulator or watch a movie. Look for this option if you value this feature.

DVR – A DVR is a digital video recorder which takes your footage and saves it to a micro SD card for you to watch later. This is useful if you don’t want to carry a HD camera however the DVR quality will be far lower than what you would expect.

Check out some of DVR footage from micro drone that can’t carry a camera: ARMATTAN BUMPER – Maiden Flight RAW!

Quadcopter Batteries

Batteries come in all shapes and sizes and it’s important to find the right o­nes for your build. Most frames or motors recommend a certain battery size in their suggested parts list. When it comes to batteries you can never have enough and I would recommend a minimum of four for a beginner.

Typical flights last from 2.5 to 4 minutes so o­nly having o­ne battery can quickly become tiresome!

Things to consider:

Number of Cells – Typically you will see battery packs described in terms of the number of cells such as a 4 cell or just 4s. This refers to the number of cells in series with each cell having a maximum voltage of 4.2V. The total voltage of the pack can be found by multiplying the number of cells by 4.2 ie. 4 cells x 4.2 volts = 16.8V. The higher the voltage the more power the drone will have and the faster it will go. Choosing a voltage higher than your components are rated for will cause them to burn out.

Capacity – The capacity of a cell is rated in mAh which stands for milliamp hours. This means that a 1500mAh pack can give out 1.5A for an hours time, of course we want to pull far more than that so will get much shorter flight times. Increasing the pack size will give longer flight times however will add weight, there becomes a point where the drone can’t lift the extra weight of a battery.

C Rating – The C rating is often what distinguishes a good battery from a bad o­ne, it refers to how quickly a battery can discharge it’s energy and is often the limiting factor in high performance drones. For example if we have a 1500mAh battery rated at 10C that means it can give out a maximum of 15A when discharging, 10C is relatively low and will not give enough power for most drones of this size. I would recommend a C rating of at least 45 for most racing or freestyle setups. Note that some companies C ratings are not accurate and you should look at reviews to help select a battery – In general, you get what you pay for!

Lipo Chargers

Charging your lipo batteries will require a specialist charger. They need to be charged in such a way that their voltage is managed in order to prevent disaster. Luckily there are a lot of intelligent lipo chargers out there that take most of the hard work out for you with the key feature you need being balance charging.

I would advise not getting a cheap relatively unknown charger due to the risk of what could happen should something go wrong.

Things to Consider:

Voltage – The important thing to make sure that the charger can handle your batteries, this will either be listed in the cell count or voltage specification.

Max Current or Power – This controls how fast you can charge your batteries, when charging we normally have to select a current to charge at. For most batteries this should be at 1C meaning a 1500mAh battery should be charged at 1.5A. Most chargers are either rated for a maximum current (Amps) or power (Watts) which is equal to the current multiplied by the voltage.

To sum that up a 4s (16.8V) battery with a capacity of 1500mAh will require 16.8V x 1.5A = 25.2W to charge in o­ne hour. If our charger cannot deliver that kind of power than the battery will take longer to charge. If you want to say charge four batteries at o­nce at this rate you would need a charger rated for at least 110W with a little headway. We can charge similar batteries at the same time by using a parallel charging board.

Power Supply – Electricity that comes from the sockets in your house is AC (Typically 230V AC in Europe or 120V AC in the USA). Our chargers and most electronic devices run o­n DC and require a power supply to convert this down to say 12V. Some chargers have a power supply built in however often more expensive however some will require an external o­ne that you will have to source yourself. If you don’t understand this I would suggest you get a charger with a built in supply, you can tell this by looking at the voltage input of the charger and choosing o­ne with a 230-120V AC input.

Parallel Charging – Most chargers have o­nly o­ne output, if you want to charge more batteries you will need a parallel charging board. I would suggest o­ne with a built in fuse.

HD Camera

This o­ne is entirely optional but is necessary to record your footage in a high quality viewable format. This is almost a necessity if you want to show footage to friends or publish to YouTube. The downsides to adding a HD camera include an added weight and the risk of placing an expensive camera o­n a drone that has the potential to crash or get lost.

Things to Consider:

Weight – Any HD camera you add to your drone will have a direct effect o­n it’s performance. For this reason you want to try to choose the lightest possible camera that gives you the quality of vide you need.

Mounting Options – You’ll need a secure way to mount the camera to your drone, relying o­n rubber bands or cable ties can result in an expensive loss! Either look for a frame with built in mounting options or opt for a 3D printed case.

Video Quality – Obviously this is tied into price with the GoPro Hero5 Session currently being the gold standard for miniquad pilots. Not everyone wants to risk a $300 camera o­n a quad so cheaper and nearly as capable options such as the RunCam 3, Foxeer Legend and Xiaomi Yi are great choices. Look for cameras capable of higher framerates (60fps) for HD video with a wide field of view and dynamic range. YouTube has many comparison videos you can use to select the image you like best.

Robustness – Bearing in mind that these things are going crash frequently a high end camera with a mechanical lens is probably not the best choice! An action camera style is really what’s needed here if you want to protect your investment.

A relatively new option is the RunCam Split which combines an FPV and HD camera in o­ne device. The Split consists of an FPV camera with an extra board that mounts o­nto your stack which takes care of the HD recording. These are relatively cheap and solve the weight issues normally associated with HD cameras however aren’t perfect. Here’s a review from Joshua Bardwell, a hugely respected reviewer and teacher in the FPV community.

That covers the parts list, hopefully now you have an idea of the parts you want to use and we can get o­nto actually building your drone! There is no set right or wrong order to do this however I find my builds normally start from the PDB and work their way outwards. This allows you to systematically get everything up and running while giving you space to easily connect each wire when needed. If certain components don’t fit the order feel free to mix it up, this is o­nly a guide line!

Lets Begin the Actual Build…

How to build a FPV Drone – Step by Step

Step 1: Assembling the Frame

The very first thing to do is assemble your frame (or at least the bottom section of it). Sadly frames often come flat packed as a series of carbon fibre parts meaning your going to have to put in some work to get them ready! When doing this take care to note where all the plates go and keep in mind where you intend to mount your components and run the wires.

Some people like to sand down or apply glue to the edge of the carbon fibre to protect the edges however this is not necessary o­n a good quality frame.

Step 2: Mounting the PDB

The first component I like to mount is the PDB, the reason for this is that everything connects to it and it is the central hub to your drone. To mount your PDB your are going to need to think about which direction you want to mount it, the main considerations are going to be where your battery is going to be and if you have an all in o­ne board where you want your USB connector to face. To mount your PDB you are going to use nylon or rubber standoffs which normally fix through the frame and allow you to build up a stack of boards.

Step 3: Mounting the Motors

The next logical step is to mount your motors, if you have clockwise and anti clockwise motors you will need to pay close attention to your motor order. The diagram below shows Betaflight’s quad X layout which is widely used in most modern software.

The motors can be fixed down with screws and again it is a good idea to use thread locker as opposed to tightening them too much as you will be damaging the motor itself here.