Page 60 - Build Your Own Quadcopter_ Power Up Your Designs with the Parallax Elev-8

Chapter 3: Building the Ele v-8 39

My recommendation is to purchase the Spektrum DX-8 R/C transmitter and the
matching AR8000 receiver. Figure 3.8 shows a photo of the AR8000 receiver. You can find a
photo of the DX-8 transmitter in Chapter 2, Figure 2-9.
The DX8/AR8000 combination is somewhat expensive; however, you will not be sorry
to have purchased this set. The transmitter is excellent, and it comes with many features,
some of which you will use immediately and others that will be available as you progress in
your experience and training. The transmitter and receiver make eight control channels
available, which is plenty to meet your immediate and future requirements. It is really not to
your advantage to buy equipment that just meets your current needs. You would only be
delaying a future purchase needed to keep up with your changing requirements.
The LiPo battery is a choice that is a much less challenging decision. The costs are quite
reasonable for a variety of the batteries. My initial recommendation would be a three-cell
LiPo battery with a 30C rating. The three cells are important because they set the overall
voltage at 11.1 VDC (nominal). This is the minimum necessary to adequately power the
motors and electronics onboard the Elev-8. The 30C is a capacity rating that will power
the quadcopter for almost 20 flight minutes. It is always a tradeoff between weight and
capacity, but I have found the 30C rating to be a sweet spot for this particular quadcopter.
Figure 3.9 is a photo of the LiPo battery used in my Elev-8 build.
Purchasing a good quality LiPo battery charger is also required. LiPo batteries must be
charged using a charger designed for their particular chemistry.

Warning: Do not use an automotive type of charger with a LiPo battery. Attempting to do so will
likely cause the battery to flame and produce a lot of toxic smoke.

Quality LiPo chargers have a balancing circuit that ensures that each cell is appropriately
charged at the level it requires. It would be prudent to spend a little extra money on a high-

Figure 3.8 Spektrum AR8000 R/C receiver.