There are many friends asking what is the cheapest way to enter in the multi rotor world.
Let's do some numbers based on a quadcopter running
multiwii firmware:
1 x
Arduino Pro Mini (18,95$)
1 x FTDI
programmer (14,95$)
(Sparkfun shipment = 8.94$)
1 x
WiiMotionPlus (19.99$)
1 x
Nunchuk (19.99$)
1 x
Board for connecting all the multiwii stuff (14,95$ + shipment 3$)
You need a radio: the cheap turnigy
radio from hobbyking (53,79$ + shipment 17$)
You also need a charger for your batteries:
1 x
charger + 1 x
power supply (22.99 + 9.99 = 32.98$)
Some common materials for the center plates and arms:
1 x
G10 center plate (7$ + shipment 8.46$)
1 x aluminum square tube 12x10mm, 2,82$
Now, you can choose the size of your quadcopter:
- Let's imagine you want to build a tiny size quadcopter (25cm motor to motor)
4 x Motors, Turnigy 1811-2000 (31.96$)
4 x ESC, Plush 6A (29.64$)
1 x Battery, Rhino 610mah (5.29$)
(Hobbyking shipment = 9.99$)
4 x Props, 3-blade 5x3 CW and CCW (3.22$ + shipment 3.56$)
- Maybe you want a medium size quadcopter (40cm motor to motor)
4 x Motors, KDA 20-26M (45,24$)
4 x ESC, 18A (44,2$)
1 x Battery, 2200 mah (16,48$)
4 x Props, 8x4 CW and CCW (4.56$)
(Hobbyking shipment = 14.99$)
- Or you need more power and want a big size quadcopter (60cm motor to motor)
4 x Motors, KDA 20-22L (51.52$)
4 x ESC, Plush 25A (47.24$)
1 x Battery, 3000 mah (24.32$)
4 x Props, 10x6 (2.93$)
(Hobbyking shipment 17.95$)
TOTAL Tiny = 306.48$ (215 euros)
TOTAL Medium = 348.29$ (245 euros)
TOTAL Big = 366.78$ (258 euros)
Of course, there are expensive alternatives like replacing the arduino pro mini with a
flyduino, replacing the WMP+/Nunchunk with Jussi's
FreeFlighImu or using the Diydrones
APM/Oilpan.
Note1:
All conversions have been made using dolar-euro rate at 1.42
Note2:
Some users point me to the
OpenPilot control board that is also in the 100$ range.
