Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Instructions for assembling the bottom part of the drone. This includes the power distribution board, landing gear, and the rails to which other components can be attached later.
Each leg consists of two parts. The first is the horizontal part with the T-connector and foam protection. The second is the carbon fiber tube with the connector that can be mounted to the frame.
Begin by loosening the two hex screws on the side of the T-connector. You should now be able to put in the carbon fiber tube. Once it is inserted, you can tighten the two screws again. Do this for both legs.
Next, we will need the bottom plate of the frame. It is one of the two plates with the cut out areas as shown above. The bottom plate is the one with the circle shaped holes in the middle and on the sides, we will put the other one on top. Around the two circle shaped holes on the sides, there are four small holes for screws. The black M3 socket head cap screws go down these holes, and should screw directly into the leg mounts. Nuts are not needed for this part.
The T-connector is vulnerable to cracking with hard landings. We have found that adding a zip tie around the connector can help protect it. Alternatively, an extra-strong 3D printable T-connector and leg mount can be found in the replacement parts section.
Also consider using a threadlocking adhesive such as Loctite 243 for the legs. At the very least, check them regularly to make sure that there aren't any loose screws. Flight performance can be significantly decreased by a loose landing gear.
Next, we will install the power distribution board (PDB) onto the bottom plate. You should have a pre-soldered board included with your kit. It already has small connectors for your ESCs. It also has a yellow XT60 connector for the FMU power module (and battery).
The PDB is supplied and soldered by a 3rd party. Some HoverGames participants have noticed a white residue on the backside of the PDB. This may be flux residue leftover from soldering. We recommend cleaning this residue with alcohol first before installing in case this residue inadvertently causes corrosion over time.
Some Hovergames participants have chosen to protect the terminals even further by covering them with hot melt glue (glue-gun) or additional heatshrink. This seems like a reasonable positive idea.
There should be nylon spacers and nuts included with the unsoldered PDB. We will reuse these with the soldered PDB and install four of these spacers on top of the bottom plate. We will then use the remaining four spacers to keep the PDB in place.
Please check that the battery wires on the backside of the PDB do not touch the carbon fiber plate when installed. If necessary, trim the solder "nubs" with some side cutters.
There are eight holes for screws distributed in a circle around the center of the bottom plate. We will use the "diagonal" holes, so not the holes that are closest to the legs or the front/back of the plate. Put a spacer through from the top, and use a nut to keep it in place. It should be fine to tighten them by hand, it is not necessary to use the wrench.
You can now put the PDB on top, and use the other four spacers to keep the PDB in place. The orientation of the PDB does not matter a lot, but the XT60 connector should go through the larger hole at the back of the frame. We define the front of the drone as the side to which the weirdly shaped hole "points". Also see the picture below.
The next step is installing the rails. Other plates and components can easily be attached to them. These rails are a defacto standard of 60 mm spacing with 10 mm carbon fiber tubes, and you can find several 3D printable mounts which fit.
We have to install these rails now, because after the other components are installed the screws will be very difficult to get in place. We need the two 10 mm carbon tubes, the two plastic bags with tube mounts and rubber rings, and the small M2.5 screws. There is also a smaller carbon fiber plate included, typically used for camera mounting, that we will put on these rails.
First things first, put the rubber rings through the tube mounts, as shown in the picture below.
While there are multiple techniques possible to assemble this section, we have found the following method to be most convenient.
You can now gently slide these tube mounts onto the carbon rods. We found that this is easier than first installing the tube mounts on the bottom of the frame, and then forcing the carbon tube through them.
Slide the tube mounts on the carbon tube, such that on one side the screw holes in the tube mounts align with the holes in the big bottom plate of the drone. On the other side, the holes should match with the small plate. Also see the picture below.
We can now easily mount this onto the bottom plate, using either the small M2.5 socket head cap screws. The screws go down from the top, and should screw directly into the tube mounts. The extra tube mounts for the small plate should be at the front of the drone.
Finally, you can also mount the small plate. You either need the same M2.5 screws or the small countersunk screws that are included in newer kit. This plate could be used to mount a camera gimbal. Note that there is no camera or gimbal included in the drone kit.
It might also be useful to apply a threadlocking adhesive (such as Loctite 243) to the screws for the rails and connected plates. In any case make sure to check the screws regularly, especially if you have any payload attached to these rails (such as a camera module).
This page will explain how to mount the ESCs, the FMU power module and the RC receiver module.
Before we continue, you should put the yellow XT60 connector through the hole closest to what will be the back of the drone. See the picture below.
The ESCs should come with pre-soldered bullet connectors on the red and black leads. Also, there should be four sets of three extension cables included, which go between the ESCs and the motors. Plug these extension cables into the ESCs first, if you didn't already plug them into the motors. In that case, you can connect them to the ESCs later when we install the arms onto the body of the frame.
Then, plug the red and black wires into the PDB and use some zipties to strap the ESCs to the bottom plate. You could also use the double sided foam tape / sticky pads. You can see four screws for mounting the arms in each corner, make sure you do not cover them with the ESCs.
You should install the ESCs in a similar way to what is shown in the picture below. This should still give you enough space to plug in the connectors.
The video above shows a slightly different distribution of the ESCs around the PDB. We believe this method is easier than the distribution shown below. We will adapt the written instructions and pictures soon. Please use the method as shown in the video for now.
The yellow XT60 connector coming from the PDB is now coming out at the bottom of the frame. You can plug the FMU power module (with black or yellow XT60 connectors) into this connector. Use a zip tie to strap the power module to the bottom of the frame. You should be able to use some of the slits at the front for this. When we are finished, the battery will be plugged into the other end of the power module.
Make sure to put the 6 pin JST-GH connector coming from the power module through the hole in the middle. We will plug this into the FMU (which will go on top) later. This cable will provide power to the FMU as well as voltage and current sensor data.
We will also mount the RC receiver module on the bottom. The receiver for the radio controller has two antennas that work best when under an angle. A 3D printed antenna mount is included in the kit. The antennas should fit right into it and can be attached to the rails.
If the antennas do not fit in the 3D printed mount, you might need to drill the holes in the mount slightly. Scraping off some of the 3D printed plastic on the inside with a screwdriver or sharp object also works.
A small cable with a 6 pin JST-GH connector one side and a 3 pin servo connector on the other side should be plugged into the receiver module. The pins are labeled i-BUS SERVO on the receiver. The signal wire (white) should be on the outside. See the picture below.
The antenna mount can be easily attached to the rails at the bottom of the drone. You can always move it over the small carbon tubes if the antennas are blocking a screw or nut.
You can fix the receiver module itself with a zip tie or some double sided foam tape/pads. Just like the cable coming from the power module, put the cable with JST-GH connector through the hole in the middle. This cable will plug into the FMU as well.
We have installed everything on the bottom of the drone, except for the battery plate. It consists of a carbon plate with two clamps that are put together with four small screws. It is easiest to put the clamps onto the rails first, then screw the carbon plate onto them. A velcro strap is included to keep the battery in place.
The screws that go into the battery plate could really use some threadlocking adhesive (e.g. Loctite 243). Also check these screws often! You don't want to lose your battery during flight.
This page shows how the FMU is installed in its 3D printed enclosure.
The FMU comes with a 3D printed enclosure, which still has to be assembled. It consists of a top part, a bottom part and a tiny reset button.
Slight warping of the plastic during storage may be easily corrected by running the enclosure under warm tap water and bending back into shape by hand.
You may find the FMU board still has Kapton tape covering the top of the connectors. (They look like translucent yellow orange stickers) You should remove this protective tape before installing the FMU inside the enclosure.
You may notice that two pins on the PWM servo-rail of the FMU are shorted with solder. This is intentional and ensures that the rightmost GND pin on the PWM servo-rail is correctly connected to the PCB ground. Both pins are GND signal. This is adjusted on "FMUK66E" and later boards, but it is completely fine if you see these two pins connected together on your board.
First, make sure the reset button is installed inside the enclosure. It should fit in a hole in the side, next to the hole for the micro USB connector.
Now, the FMU can be installed into the bottom part of the enclosure with four short screws (7 mm). You may only have one type of screw with your case, which is fine as well. Just use four of the included screws and be gentle when tightening them into the plastic. Do not overtighten.
After the FMU is installed and screwed down to the bottom part, you can put the top part of the case in place and turn the whole enclosure upside down. You need two short screws (7 mm) and two longer screws (about 10 mm) to keep the two halves together. The short screws should go in the holes close to the servo-rail of the FMU. The longer ones go in the holes near the SD card slot. Again, if you have only one type of screw with your case, that is fine as well. Just be gentle when tightening the screws.
Once the FMU is inside the enclosure, you should insert the microSD card! Flight log data will be kept on this SD card and it contains very useful information for analyzing flight performance. It's also a very nice tool when you are having issues, the logs provide detailed data about what is going on.
In normal operation the FMU may generate an error and/or refuse to arm without the SDCARD in place.
To get started, we will first assemble the motor mounts and arms.
If you purchased a drone kit in late 2021 or 2022, you will receive the new 5010-750kV motors. These motors use a different type of propellor and propellor attachment mechanism. Please pay attention to the updated pictures below for the new motors. NOTE These 5010 motors use only CW mounting propeller screws. This is accepted in the industry. Please however be certain to mount the correct CW or CCW propellers and be extra careful ensuring the nuts on the CCW propellers are tighened very securely to avoid accidental unscrewing. Check nuts regularly and before flight. See also our notes under Safety section for additional general precautions.
The four motor mounts go on the end of the arms (carbon fiber tubes). Each one consists of two small carbon fiber plates, four tube clamps (the arch-shaped parts), and four long M2.5 screws with locknuts (with an elastic ring inside). Additionally, you need the motor itself and four short M3 screws from the labeled bag.
When watching the video below, please use the updated instructions below to attach each motor.
The new motors for late 2021/2022 require some assembly. Please follow the images below to assemble.
In late 2021/early 2022, some kits do not include the silver M3 screws. You will need these screws to mount the motors. You will need to source some M3x5mm screws for this step. We apologize for the inconvenience.
First, you should organize the parts that come in the package for each motor. The package should include 4 black M3 screws, 4 silver M3 screws, a washer, a hub, and a cap.
Install the hub to the top of the motor using the 4 included black M3 screws.
Add the washer and the cap to the hub.
Use the video below to get an idea of how to attach the motor. It takes 4 screws on the bottom just like the previous model. You will find that the motor blocks the nuts for the comlete motor mount package. We suggest using the included wrench to tighten these down, rather than the nut driver shown in the video.
For the motors, make sure that you are using the +/- 5 mm long silver M3 screws from the separate package with the label saying to use these screws for mounting the motors. Do not use the longer M3 screws included with the frame, these screws may go in too deep and can damage the motor windings. The black screws included with the motors might be safe to use, but be careful.
The first step is to mount the motors onto the carbon plates. You need a carbon plate and four M3 screws for this. Make sure the three motor wires come out on one of the short sides of the carbon fiber plate. Repeat this step until you have all four motors mounted. Make sure you tighten the screws appropriately, because it will be hard to access the screws later.
While we have not seen many problems in practice, you may still want to consider using a threadlocking adhesive such as Loctite 243. This will make sure that the motor mount screws don't come loose due to vibrations. It is also recommended to check all screws regularly to ensure they haven't come loose.
Note that the main body screws for the arm clamps have nylon locking nuts and are not really affected as much by the vibrations.
For the next step, we need: four tube clamps, the other carbon plate, four long M2.5 screws and the locknuts.
The screws go through the holes in the corners of the carbon fiber plate.
Then on each side, slide *two* tube clamps (forming a circle) over top of the screws The carbon fiber arms will fit between these clamps.
Finally, the remaining carbon fiber plate goes on the part of the screw left sticking out. A locknut goes on the end. Tighten the nuts slightly by hand, so they don't fall off. You don't have to fully tighten them with a wrench yet, because we have to put the carbon fiber tubes through first, and then we will tighten it around the tube.
There are two ways to assemble the motor mounts. While having the screws come down from the top, with the locknuts on the bottom makes logical sense as you would probably only lose the nut if it comes loose during flight. However, it can also be convenient to put the screws up from the bottom. In this case, you put the screws through the "bottom plate" first, with the tube clamps going on top. The advantage is you can then put this structure on the table and put the plate with motor on top of it.
Serviceability is also a bit easier since the Motor plate is easy to put on and off without disturbing the screws and clamp portion. This is nice if you are building multiple drones kits, or when you have to take them apart often. Similarly "up" going screws are especially useful for the clamps in the middle main body part of the drone. These are built in a similar way as these motor mounts. The disadvantage is that you are likely to lose both the screw and the nut in case it comes loose. Ultimately, it comes down to preference.
You can now insert the carbon fiber tubes between the tube clamps. The motor mounts should be on the end of the tube. The tube should extend slightly beyond the motor mount, but a few millimeters should be enough. The motor wires should be on the opposite side of the carbon fiber tubes. These wires will later plug into extension cables that will come from inside the carbon tubes. Once the tube is inserted, you can tighten the screws using a hex key and a wrench.
This guide will instruct you to put the ESCs inside the drone frame. Extension cables are provided for this. It looks a lot cleaner. However, it is also possible to put the ESCs on the arms. This is a bit easier to do, but doesn't look as nice. You can also experiment with other configurations, such as putting the ESCs underneath the motor mounts.
If you look carefully, you can see that two motors have a notch on top of the shaft. The other two motors have a flat top. This is an indication of the direction in which the motor is supposed to rotate, and the threading on the shaft corresponds to this.
We will come back to this later. Just keep in mind that there are motors that are supposed to rotate clockwise, and motors that should rotate counter clockwise.
You can choose to insert the extension wires into the tubes already. These wires will plug into the ESCs (electronic speed controllers) that we will put inside the center of the drone frame in a later part.
Before we put the last parts of the frame together, we should install some components on the top plate. We will install vibration dampers, the GPS mount, telemetry radio and the FMU itself.
First the FMU mount should be put together. It's a small carbon fiber part and it should come with four black vibration damping rubbers. You should put these rubbers through big holes in the corners of the carbon, as shown below.
There are four similar holes at the corners of the big gap in the middle of the top plate. You should also put the rubbers through these holes, as shown below. Note that they do not exactly align, there will be some tension on the rubbers. This will help dampen the vibrations.
The GPS and its mount consist of several parts. The GPS should come with a short and a long rod. We recommend to use the shorter one, because it won't vibrate as much as the longer rod. However, many successful tests were done with the long one as well, so ultimately it comes down to personal preference. The longer one is useful when you get too much interference from the other electronics on the drone.
You will need a 1.5 mm hex/Allen key for the very small screws that keep the rod in place. There are 2.0 and 2.55 mm hex keys included in the kit, but not 1.5 mm! (Recent kits that include a hexdriver set that should work) Also, some GPS mounts have a Phillips/Pozidriv screw instead of 2.5 mm hex screw. You might need an additional screwdriver for this as well.
A small part that will hold the rod should be screwed onto the cross-shaped base, using a hex screw.
The rod can be inserted into this piece and will be kept in place with a tiny hex screw.
You should put the big "cone" over the rod, you can screw this onto the base.
The "cone" may feel tight when screwing down. Some people have found that they need to file the edge of the head of the tilt-hinge screw to improve this situation.
On top, you should have a big flat piece, which is also kept in place with a tiny hex screw.
With the included double sided tape, you can install the GPS itself on top. Make sure the arrow on the GPS aligns with one of the "arms" of the cross-shaped base. It doesn't have to be perfect, you will be able to slightly rotate the GPS after loosening the small screw in the top part of the mount.
There may still be a bit of play in the GPS mast after the nut is tightened. You can improve this by adding a bit of clear tape around the hole where the mast enters the 'cone', or by adding some tape under the cone itself. Alternatively you may want to check if the head of the screw on the tilt mechanism is sticking out a bit too far. Filing the edge of this screw head may allow the cone to tighten on a bit better.
We also suggest to remove the piece of heatshrink (or cloth tape) at the end of the GPS cable, just before the connector. Be *very* careful to not cut the wires! The reason for this is that this heatshrink itself is quite stiff and in some cases this could cause mechanical vibrations in the GPS mount to be transmitted by the cable to the FMU.
It is also recommended to use small cable ties to hold it down to the top plate in order to further isolate the cable and mast from the FMU.
Once it's assembled, the GPS mount can be installed onto the top plate. It's easier to do this now, because you can easily access the bottom side of this plate.
Earlier, on the bottom plate, we defined the front as the side pointed to by the weirdly shaped gap in the plate. The gap with the little notch or triangle. We will also use this to define front for the top plate. We will install the GPS on the right side of the plate, and the arrow on the GPS should point towards the front of the drone. Also see the picture below.
There should be screws and nuts included with the GPS. You can use the slits on the side of the plate to put the screws through. On some top plates there will be exact holes to mount to. We have used only three screws, which should be enough. If you put a washer in between, you might also be able to use the fourth screw.
The GPS module consists of a GPS receiver and a magnetometer (compass). There are also a few LEDs on the module: a RGB status led, a small GPS fix led which indicates if the GPS reception is good enough, and a switch LED which can be pressed and acts as a safety switch for arming your drone.
Note the GPS module serves multiple purposes. There is an ARMING SWITCH as part of the light-up "ARMED" LED that needs to be pressed before flight.
The telemetry radio can be installed on the left side of the plate (the opposite side of the GPS). Use a ziptie or some double sided foam tape. Make sure both the JST-GH and Micro USB connectors remain easily accessible. You will use the JST-GH to connect the radio to the FMU, and you might need the micro USB to connect it to your computer to update the radio firmware.
Be careful that you don't cover the screw holes for the arms with the telemetry radio or its antenna. There are four in each corner of the plate.
You can mount the FMU with some sticky pads. Later, we will plug in all the wires and use some zip ties to secure them.
This page provides an overview of how to connect all wires to the FMU.
We are almost ready. We only need to connect the wires to the right connectors on the FMU. A diagram showing all port locations is available below. is also available in the technical reference section.
There are four connectors that you should plug in. The 6 pin POWER IN connector at the top right. Below that is the 10 pin GPS connector. On the left side is the 6 pin TELEM connector for the telemetry radio. And below the GPS there is also the 5 pin RC IN connector for the RC receiver.
The servorail pinout is shown in the diagram below. If you have a BEC (not included in the standard HoverGames kits), it should be connected to the leftmost pins. The ESCs should be connected to the first four sets of pins on the right side.
The +5V rail can only be powered with an external BEC (not included). The FMUK66 itself does not provide any power to these pins.
The order in which the ESCs should be connected to the servo rail is given by the diagram below. The red arrow indicates the front of the drone. Because the ESCs are mounted in a very tight space, it might be hard to find which wire is coming from which ESC, and which ESC is connected to which motor.
If you followed the assembly instructions on the previous pages, the position of the ESCs should correspond to the table below. If you are not sure if you followed the previous instructions correctly, you might want to have a good look at where the wires are going, and write down which motor they control.
When inserting the connectors to the servorail, the black (ground) wires should be on top, and the white (signal) wires on the bottom. The BEC doesn't have a white wire, but it has a red wire, which goes in the middle. It will provide 5V power to all pins in the middle row. However, the ESCs included in the HoverGames drone kit already receive power directly from the PDB and therefore don't have a wire that connects to the middle pins of the servo rail.
At this point, the drone should look similar to the picture below.
Finally, you can use some zip ties to make sure the propellers won't cut through any loose wires. You could already install the propellers, but you might have to remove them again later. The propellers with black nuts go on the clockwise rotating motors (with a notch on the shaft), the propellers with silver nuts go on the counter clockwise rotating motors.
You probably still have the extension cables coming out of the carbon tubes. Unless you have already verified that all motors are rotating in the right direction, you should leave it like that for now. You can put the wires into the tubes later, after spinning the motors for the first time.
You should insert the microSD card into the FMU if you haven't already done so!
This section guides you through the assembly of the drone kit with the LJI X4 500 drone frame.
This section is a complete guide on how to build the HoverGames drone with the LJI X4 500 drone frame. It is recommended to read this guide thoroughly and in order. You should start with mounting the motors, and finish with connecting all wires to the FMU (flight management unit).
The guide originally consisted of text and pictures. Videos are now available as well. It is recommended to use the videos together with the written instructions, to make sure you are not missing any information.
Please in case anything is missing, unclear or if you have any feedback.
When you are setting up the software you should take the propellers off for your own safety. It is a good idea to only have the propellers installed when you are ready to fly. Also have a look at our section about .
Motor number | Motor position | ESC position | PWM wire coming from |
1 | Front right | Right | Back right |
2 | Back left | Left | Front left |
3 | Front left | Front | Front right |
4 | Back right | Back | Back left |
This page explains how to mount the top plate and arms, as well as plugging in the motor cables.
We will first install the top plate and the tube clamps, in between which the carbon tubes will be kept in place. These are the same tube clamps as used for the motor mounts.
It's easiest to put the plate on top of the ESCs, it should be fairly level. Then, start on one side. Put two tube clamps in between the plates, put the screws through and put the nuts on by hand. You don't have to tighten them with a wrench yet. Make sure the three extension cables coming from the ESC are put through the middle.
Before you put the top plate on, it is convenient to pull al signal cables coming from the ESCs (black and white) to the back. If possible, already pull them through the gap in the top plate below the servorail of the FMU.
Also, you should try to pull the cable coming from the RC receiver through the gap underneath the FMU, from the the right side. The cable coming from the FMU power module should go through the gap in front of the FMU.
It will be a lot easier if you do this now, the cables might be hard to access when everything is in place.
Repeat this seven more times, until in each corner you have two sets of tube clamps. Make sure the ESC extension cables are routed through the holes in between the clamps.
When we first put together the arms, it was explained that there are clockwise rotating motors and counter clockwise rotating motors. At this point, you have to be careful. You have two arms with a clockwise (CW) rotating motor (with a notch on top of the shaft), and two arms with a counter clockwise (CCW) rotating motor (flat top).
Absolutely make sure you have the right motors in the right spot. The threading on the shafts of the motors matters, you will only be able to install CW propellers on a CW motor shaft.
The motors should be mounted according to the following diagram. The CW rotating motors with a notch should go on the front left and back right of the drone. The CCW rotating motors without this notch should be on the front right and back left.
If we look at the figure above, the green motors (3 and 4) should have a notch on top of their shaft. The shaft of the blue motors (1 and 2) should have a flat top.
Once you are absolutely sure that you have the right arm, you can put the extension cables inside of the tube, and put the tube it in between the clamps. On the inside, make sure the carbon tube aligns with the clamps. It's also okay if it slightly extends beyond the clamps, then just make sure this is the case for all four arms.
Make sure the motor is pointing upward and is not askew. You can then tighten the screws that go through the tube clamps, using a hex key and a wrench. Repeat this process for all four arms. Make sure at all times that you use an arm with a motor that is made to rotate in the right direction!
The extension cables should come out slightly at the end of the arm. You can plug in the motor wires, the order does not really matter. However, if the motor happens to be turning the wrong direction (note that this is independent of whether the motor is SUPPOSED to rotate that way), you only have to swap two of the wires, and it should then rotate in the other direction.
Note the motors used in recent kits may have three different colored wires for each of the motor phases instead of all black. This doesn't matter. You can still swap any two of the three (colored) wires in order to change motor direction
It's best to leave the cables like this for now. After you have been able to run the motors for the first time, you can verify whether all motors are rotating in the right direction, and change the cables if necessary. After that, you can push them inside the carbon fiber tube. You might have to pull gently from inside the frame. It can be a bit hard to access, but you can also use some pliers, as long as you are careful.
