• AeroDrone Thunder
• Radio Controller with DVR screen and mount
• “Start Here” box:
  • Welcome note
  • Propeller set (2 red, 2 blue)
  • Lithium-Polymer (Li-Po) battery
  • Li-Po battery charger
  • Li-Po battery charger power cable
  • Micro-USB cable
  • DVR screen charger
  • RC bind plug
  • Alan key
  • 8mm Spanner
  • Li-Po battery charger instruction manual
  • DVR user manual
  • Spektrum Radio Warranty Card

Regulations

For rules on the safe operation of drones, please refer to the CASA Important Safety Information pamphlet in the ‘Start Here’ Box. Alternatively, it can be downloaded here: CASA Important Safety Information.

More information can be found on the Know Your Drone website.

LiPo Battery Safety

• Bask Aerospace Li-Po Material Safety Data Sheet
• Bask Aerospace How To Safely Handle Li-Po Batteries

Next, the RC Controller can be turned on. To do this and for more information on the DX6i RC Controller, please download the following documents:

• DX6i RC Controller Map
• DX6i Quick Start Guide
• DX6i Manual

DVR Screen

For charging and operating instructions, please refer to the Wireless Mini DVR User Manual included in the box.

The DVR is set to Channel 8 by default. This is the channel at which the video transmitter onboard the drone broadcasts live-stream video captured by the onboard camera.

Attaching the Battery

1. Turn the drone upside down and place the battery between the strap, ensuring that the battery label faces up, as shown in the image.
   Ensure that the battery connector is facing towards the rear (tail) of the drone and opposite to the drone’s power connector (the thick red and black cables with yellow connector)
2. Slide the battery to the centre and tighten the strap, as shown in the image.
   
   NOTE – It is essential that the battery is placed in the correct orientation and is centred, or else there will be an uneven weight distribution across the drone, resulting in decreased flight performance.

Powering the Drone

Before connecting, ensure the transmitter and screen are ON.

When the drone is powered up, a musical tone will be heard (an ascending tone followed by an elongated tone). If any other tone is heard, unplug and reconnect the battery, or please refer to Troubleshooting.

Arming the Drone

Ensure the battery is connected and the transmitter is turned ON. When first connecting the battery do not move the drone and wait for 10 seconds while sensors are being calibrated.

Put the throttle to zero by pushing the left stick all the way down.

Then push it to the right and hold it there for 5 seconds.  The drone should now be ARMED.

For safety reasons, the drone will DISARM automatically after 15 seconds.

Prepare for testing.

Testing the Throttle

Place the drone in a safe location, away from obstacles

Throttle up slightly by pushing the left stick forward and check to see if all motors spin at the same rate.

YES, motors spin – Proceed.

NO, motors do not spin – Repeat the ARMING procedure and try again. If they still do not spin, please refer to Troubleshooting.

Disarming the Drone

The drone should now be DISARMED.

To DISARM, put the throttle to zero by pushing the left stick down all the way.

Then push it to the left, hold it there for 2 seconds and it should be DISARMED.

Throttle up slightly to check if it has been DISARMED. If the motors spin, repeat the DISARMING procedure and try again.

Propellers

The propeller direction is colour coded:

• BLUE = Clockwise rotation
• RED = Counter-Clockwise rotation

Mounting the Propellers

1. Take off the nut and washer from each motor.
2. Place the propellers onto the motors as shown in the images below. Red to red, blue to blue and ensure the “top” label is facing up.
3. Use a little force to push the propeller onto the motor.
4. Fix the washer and nut back on to the motor.
5. Tighten the nut with the included spanner.
   NOTE – The propellers must be securely fixed to the motors; however, over-tightening may result in prop-adaptor threads being stripped.
   

The Final Assembly

Failsafes

Battery Fail-safe

The battery fail-safe will trigger in two instances:

• Low Voltage: When the battery voltage drops below 10.5 V.
• Max Current: When the total current drawn by the system during flight exceeds 4000mA.

RC Controller Fail-safe

If the connection is lost between the RC Controller and the drone, the fail-safe is triggered. In this instance, RTL is automatically initiated.

• If the drone is within 5 metres of the pilot, the drone will automatically LAND on the spot.
• If the transmitter and receiver regain connection and the fail-safe clears, the drone will remain in its current flight mode.
• The drone will NOT automatically return to the flight mode that was active before the fail-safe was triggered. For example, the drone is in Stabilize mode and the connection is suddenly lost.  This would trigger the fail-safe and the flight mode would then automatically change to RTL. Even after the RC controller and drone regained contact, the drone would remain in RTL.

Flight Modes

Stabilise

• Stabilise mode is the primary operating mode for flying and can be considered the “manual” flight mode.
• Stabilise is good for learning to control the drone and general flying.
• The drone self-levels the roll and pitch axis and allows the pilot to control the throttle.
• The lean angle of the drone is controlled by the roll and pitch input from the pilot. When the roll and pitch stick is released, the drone will level itself automatically.
• If it is a windy day, the roll and pitch need to be regularly adjusted to keep the drone in place.
• Yaw input controls the rate of change of heading. When the yaw stick is released, the drone will maintain its heading.
• The throttle controls the average motor speed, which means the throttle must be constantly adjusted to maintain altitude.
• If the throttle stick is pushed down to “zero”, the motors will spin at the minimum rate. And if this is done while the drone is in the air, it will lose attitude control and tumble.
• If the tilt angle of the drone changes, the throttle sent to the motors is adjusted automatically so that less work is required to correct the changes in the attitude of the drone. Therefore, the throttle will increase as the drone tilts over more.
• It is VERY important to easily and rapidly switch back to Stabilise mode from any other mode to regain control from any unexpected or undesirable flight behaviour.

Loiter

• This mode automatically attempts to maintain the current location, heading and altitude.
• In Loiter, the control sticks can manually adjust the drone’s location.
• The roll and pitch control sticks can adjust the horizontal location. When the sticks are released, the drone will slow to a stop.
• The throttle stick controls the altitude.
• The heading is set with the yaw control stick.

Return to Launch (RTL)

• When RTL mode is selected, the drone will return to the home location.
• By default the drone will first rise to at least 15 metres before returning home, or it will maintain the current altitude if it is higher.
• RTL will command the drone to return to the home position, meaning that it will return to the location where it was FIRST ARMED.
• Therefore, the home position is always supposed to be the drone’s actual GPS takeoff location, unobstructed and away from people.
• For this APM, if you get GPS lock and then ARM the drone, the home position is the location the drone was in when it was FIRST ARMED.
• This means that if an RTL is executed, it will return to the location where it was FIRST ARMED.