Starting my first build

Boy... I hear you on the HK thing. I got an order a couple weeks ago with two items missing. They were worth a total of less than six dollars and I spent over two hours on the phone and online Chat trying to wake them up. I had to take pictures of the parts I didn't have to. How stupid is that. Took pictures of the parts I did get, pictures of the box, and a picture of the shipping label, and finally fill out an RMA form with all the pictures attached. It was stupid and frustrating. Then three days later, after not hearing from them, I looked at the status of my RMA. The website said it was all processed and that they were waiting for my returned items. Grrrrrrr.... I was getting pretty pizzed by then. Got on Chat again and to shorten this story, they finally shipped my missing parts. If I had had any idea how this was going to go down, I'd have never called them the first time. I'm not willing to sell very much of my life and mental stability for six dollars. So the moral of the story is "check your status online" or you may wait forever for them to receive the parts you're not sending!

Couple of other comments... If I were you, I'd start out by setting up the software that's already loaded on your NAZE32. It may not be what you want to end up with, but starting out loading new firmware on an untested system sounds like a way to turn your hair gray. I'd minimize the variables until you get the basics working. If you do the stock firmware first, I'd suggest the Chrome software to set it up. I'm not a big Chrome fan, but it looks like the best choice for the NAZE right now and it works very well. As for your battery, the stock one is 2200mah and runs a very long time. I've never felt any need at all to upgrade to a LiPo. I'm sticking with the stock NIMH pack on the Taranis. If you do go for the LiPo, be aware that you have to use a very low "C" pack (like 3 or 4 C) or you might blow up the caps in the transmitter. The other downside to the LiPo is that you have to take it out to charge it. You can't use the internal charger without starting a fire. Lastly, now that you're about ready to rock and roll, I'll download my basic setups for quads and airplanes and post them on here for you to load into the transmitter. That should help get you started in the right direction. You'll also want to go online and download "Taranis_Amber_SoundPak_Full.zip) (about 15mb) and install it for a bigger/better vocabulary and overall better sound experience.

Keep at it and keep us updated on your progress. ...Tiger

I could really use those presets. Ive got the transmitter up and running. I think I have the receiver all hooked up correctly and it is bound, but I cant seem to get it to do anything now. I am guessing that I need to do a little setting up beyond just binding the receiver to the transmitter, but I am lost at this point. I am excited to get to know this receiver though. It looks like I can do some amazing stuff with it. Should I get openTX to set up the taranis? And if that is the case, do I just transfer over the files and then rebind the receiver to that model and then I am good to go? I feel like I am so close to take off I can barely stand it! Ive also downloaded the audio file you mentioned up above and I am guessing that also needs to go in through opentx. Id like to get up in the air by this Sunday and come and thank everyone in person for all the help.

Michael - I'm attaching my EEPROM image here. Best you DO NOT load any firmware or other stuff right now. You don't need any software to do anything. I think we need to talk on the phone at this point. Send me your number and how late I can call. Send it here or in a PM. I don't know what you do and don't know right now so it would be easier if I just walk you through a couple things.

Here is my EEPROM image. It will give you a working quadcopter and airplane as well as templates for making more of each. Oops... Looks like you can't upload a ".bin" file so I had to zip it. You'll have to unzip it. When we talk, I'll tell you how to get it into your Taranis in a jiffy.

...Tiger

So after a bunch of help from Tiger I've gotten the transmitter up and working like a charm. Did a test on the receiver with a little servo this afternoon and everything on that end is working beautifully! Now I need to figure out why the naze32 board is not taking the inputs from the receiver. Will be playing around with that tonight before I head back to work. Hopefully I can turn it into an expensive paper weight into an actual quadcopter. Tiger, thanks for all the help. I owe you a couple tacos from that place you guys mentioned before.

There are two Chrome browser based apps for the Naze32, CleanFllight and BaseFlight. Which one are you using? I would recommend you use CleanFlight since it is being more actively developed and might be a tad easier. You can read a bit on it here:
http://southernoregonrc.com/index.php?threads/naze-cleanflight-vs-baseflight.5355/

If you plug your Naze32 into the CleanFlight app you should be able to get basic communication going and also be able to setup and test your transmitter settings.

I haven't done anything to the software on the board so it should still be loaded up with baseflight. I got the board working though! I think I am really close to actually flying, just little things here and there that I need to take care of. I'm entering into a very busy 2 weeks with my work so I'll be working on it probably in 10 minute intervals here and there pretty much whenever I can.

Does anyone do anything special to protect the innards of your multicopters to protect it from the elements like dew on grass or sticks? Right now I've got mine set up bare bones and naked so all those electrical bits exposed to the elements makes me a little paranoid. I'll post some pics tonight hopefully during my break.

Michael - Sent you an email a few minutes ago and then came over here and found your comment above. The software I was talking about in the email (BaseFlight Configurator) runs on your PC and is used to configure your board. You're going to need it for sure. I'm not talking about changing the FIRMWARE on your board! The Configurator allows you to setup the configuration of your board and verify/setup operation of your switches and stuff like that. It also lets you tune the board (PID's and such). You don't even want to think about tuning at this stage, but you do need some of the other stuff.

Are you starting to get the feeling all this is a little more complicated than you thought?

...Tiger

Lol, it is definitely more difficult than I was expecting. I'm not shying away though. Every step closer to finishing I get a little more excited.

My goodness it feels like it has been an eternity. Have been weathering a storm at my work and ended up with a nice promotion. Only problem was that I had no time for anything else! Today though I grabbed my little quad I've been working on and set aside an hour of my day to work on it. So now for the actual big news that I am more excited about than my work life........ It flew! It was a short flight since my yaw and roll were reversed for some reason. Pitch was fine. It flew though, and for those few seconds that I had it hovering in my backyard were glorious! As soon as I can convince my wife that it isn't a death machine with spinning knives I'll take a little video and post it up.

Many thanks to Tiger. I honestly don't think I would have gotten anywhere near this point without a lot of help, and you were willing to help out a newb like me.

Michael - It has been an eternity! Wondered what was up many times, but figured I shouldn't bug you. So if you can hover, it means that the flight controller is correcting in the right direction. Sounds like all you need to do is some reversing on the transmitter side of things. That should just take a few seconds. Do make a video for us. We'd love to see what you're doing. Congratulations on that first flight!

...Tiger