I like micro quads, and the WalleFPV Lightning V3 is a type of quads that genuinely will get me excited. The Lightning V3 is just not a whole redesign. It’s an up to date model of the older Lightning2, with modifications to the body format, antenna design, prop choices, and general refinement, whereas protecting the identical core thought intact: a quiet, environment friendly, enjoyable, and light-weight park ripper. On this assessment, we are going to check out the {hardware}, flight efficiency, and whether or not it’s best to get it.
The place to Purchase
Get the WalleFPV Lightning V3 from:
It comes with these equipment:
- 2 units of HQ T2.2×1.6×3 props (8 in complete)
- 1 × M1.5 screwdriver
- 1 × Phillips screwdriver
- spare screws
- 2 × 3D-printed battery holders
Specs
- FC: JHEMCU G4 AIO
- Motors: 1003 10000KV brushless motors
- Receiver (non-compulsory): ELRS 2.4GHz, TBS Nano RX, PNP, TBS Nano RX (SE)
- VTX (non-compulsory): 250mW analog VTX, Walksnail Mini 1S Package, Walksnail Ascent Lite, HDZero Whoop V2 Bundle, DJI O4 Air Unit
- FPV Digicam (analog model): Caddx Child Ratel 2
- Battery Connector: XT30
- Advisable Batteries: GNB 2S 550mAh or 2S 720mAh
- Advisable Propellers: HQ T2.2×1.6×3 or GEMFAN 2023-3
- Onboard buzzer
- Weight:
- With out battery: 50.9g
- With 2S 550mAh LiHV: 79.3g
- With 2S 720mAh LiHV: 85.3g
Helps Each Analog and Digital FPV Methods
The Lightning V3 body is designed to help a variety of FPV methods, together with:
- Walksnail Mini 1S
- HDZero Whoop V2
- Walksnail Ascent Lite
- DJI O4 Lite Air Unit
- Analog
Nonetheless, WalleFPV recommends the analog model for the bottom weight and finest flight efficiency. It is usually the most affordable choice, in fact.
And that’s the model I’m reviewing right here.
I wished to suit the DJI O4 on this body, however sadly I discovered that the Flywoo wide-angle lens wouldn’t match contained in the digicam cage correctly. It is just too massive. That seems like a missed alternative, as a result of a light-weight sub-100g analog-style body that additionally labored completely with the wide-angle O4 Lite can be very compelling.
Design and Construct High quality
The WalleFPV Lightning3 is an incremental improve over the Lightning 2, which already had a repute as a easy, quiet micro quad that flies properly. So the objective right here appears to have been to enhance the formulation moderately than change it.
One of many largest bodily modifications from the older mannequin is the transfer to a real X body, which ought to provide higher freestyle dealing with and simpler PID tuning. The arms are additionally barely longer, permitting it to suit bigger 2.2-inch propellers. That may not sound like a lot, nevertheless it really will increase prop disc space considerably by over 20%, which ought to enhance effectivity and general flight really feel.
The longer arms add a bit of weight, so WalleFPV compensates by utilizing barely thinner carbon fiber plates. The unibody body makes use of 2.5mm carbon fiber, in comparison with the 3mm carbon on the earlier model, nevertheless it nonetheless feels fairly stiff.
The general body design stays very minimalist and streamlined. The physique makes use of CNC-machined aluminum alloy, and it’s mounted to the body with solely 4 screws, making it straightforward to take away for upkeep or restore.
The digicam is properly protected by the steel digicam cage, so there isn’t any longer a protruding lens protruding.
The XT30 connector is fastened in place on the rear, which helps forestall cable motion throughout flight and reduces the prospect of vibration reaching the gyro.
Additionally they upgraded the VTX antenna from a easy dipole to a correct circularly polarized antenna. This provides a few further grams, however in alternate you get higher video efficiency and higher vary. In my testing it has proven this quad is able to 500m+ vary with out difficulty.
You too can purchase the body package and construct your individual quad from scratch. The body package itself weighs solely 12.4g.
Parts Shut Look
Be aware that the body solely helps motors with a 3-screw mounting sample. That’s okay as a result of many 1003-size motors these days provide each 3-screw and 4-screw mounting choices.
The motors are 1003 10000KV. In line with WalleFPV, they consider these are the optimum selection for two.2-inch propellers, providing a superb stability between energy and flight time on 2S. If you need extra energy and responsiveness, you would improve to 1203 or 1204 motors, however that may come at the price of elevated weight, increased present draw, and shorter flight time.
The Lightning3 comes with HQ T2.2×1.6×3 propellers. These are an incredible selection when you prioritize effectivity, low noise, and smoothness. In the event you favor extra energy, you would strive the Gemfan 2023-3, which has a bigger blade floor space and can also be extra sturdy in crashes. Nonetheless, the tiny 1003 motors are already battling the lighter HQ props, so I’m not certain it might be a good suggestion to make use of the heavier Gemfan props.
The props are press-fit and held on by friction. It’s a very tight match, which is an effective factor as a result of they’re unlikely to come back off throughout flight, nevertheless it additionally makes them a bit difficult to take away whenever you need to change them. I like to recommend utilizing a correct prop removing device to keep away from damaging the motor: https://oscarliang.com/tiny-whoop-propeller-removal-tool/. In the event you drive them off repeatedly, the motor shaft could ultimately slip contained in the motor bell (the shaft is simply glued to the bell).
There’s additionally an RGB LED board on the rear, which makes the quad stand out visually at evening. Out of the field, it shows purple when disarmed and blue when armed. The LEDs might be configured in Betaflight for various show modes.
The Lightning3 additionally comes geared up with a buzzer, which makes it a lot simpler to seek out whenever you crash in grass.
One draw back is that the FC nonetheless makes use of micro USB as a substitute of USB-C. It isn’t a deal breaker, however on a brand new launch it positively feels dated.
Battery Selections
Batteries aren’t included, so you’ll need to get your individual.
WalleFPV recommends 2S 550mAh and 2S 720mAh LiHV packs, and each appear to work properly.
Weight
- 50.9g dry
- 79.3g with a GNB 2S 550mAh
- 85.3g with a GNB 2S 720mAh
Even with the bigger battery, the Lightning V3 stays comfortably beneath 100g, which is a giant promoting level in at the moment’s regulatory surroundings.
Personally, I favor the 2S 720mAh. Not solely does it give longer flight time, it additionally suffers much less from voltage sag. The 2S 550mAh packs are lighter, and you may positively really feel the distinction within the air — the quad feels extra nimble. However the voltage sag will get fairly unhealthy within the final third of the pack, so I used to be continuously getting low-voltage warnings within the OSD and from the beeper, and it didn’t have a lot punch left both. If that’s the battery you determine to make use of, be certain that to decrease the low-voltage alarm in Betaflight.
Be aware that you simply want totally different 3D-printed TPU battery holders for these batteries, which I discover barely much less handy than utilizing easy LiPo straps if you wish to change between totally different battery sizes. And you’re additionally compelled to make use of batteries of those particular sizes too.
- 2S 550mAh: 17.7mm x 11.8mm (width x peak)
- 2S 720mAh: 17.7mm x 14.7mm (width x peak)
One other factor to be conscious of is that, when inserting the battery, the screws on the underside of the body press barely towards it. I want WalleFPV had included some foam tape for the underside of the body to assist forestall the screws from puncturing the battery in a crash or exhausting touchdown.
Flight Efficiency
The quad hovers at round 30% throttle.
It doesn’t have GPS, so I can solely estimate the highest pace, which I might say is round 100-110km/h (60-70mph).
With a 2S 550mAh LiHV battery, you get round 4 minutes of flight time, whereas a 2S 720mAh provides round 5 to six minutes.
My first impression was that the Lightning3 feels fairly floaty. Flips and rolls really feel a bit mushy and fewer snappy than I anticipated. There’s additionally fairly a little bit of prop wash when doing sharp turns or recovering from dives. I believe the principle cause is that the motors are only a tad small for two.2-inch props. Maybe 1203 or 1204 motors would have been a better option if the objective was most energy and freestyle efficiency.
With that stated, these 1003 motors are completely high-quality for cruising, and nonetheless able to fundamental freestyle, whereas additionally being extra environment friendly. Balanced efficiency appears to be the principle focus of this quad.
To make the flight really feel extra vivid, it’s also possible to strive customary 2-inch props, which provides it a barely totally different character immediately:
- a bit extra agile
- a bit extra responsive and snappier
- however barely much less environment friendly
The drone itself is kind of strong. I had a couple of minor crashes and it held up properly, other than a couple of bent HQ props. The blades bend fairly simply, however you may normally simply bend them again into form.
The buzzer is such a godsend. The grass grows very tall in the summertime the place I fly, and it might have been virtually not possible to seek out the quad after a crash and not using a correct buzzer.
One other essential consideration is noise. The Lightning3 is basically quiet — you may barely hear it from 50 meters away. That makes it good for flying in an area park. A quiet drone is simpler to fly in small areas, much less prone to annoy individuals, and customarily feels extra informal and approachable.
Customized PID Tune
The actual bottleneck to flight efficiency is the small motor dimension, however for my part the quad may nonetheless profit from a customized tune.
The Lightning 3 comes with a really conservative tune. Filters are principally left at default values, and the PID values are fairly low for a 2-inch quad. There’s positively room for enchancment.
There’s 8MB of flash reminiscence for Blackbox logging, so you may tune it if you would like. Listed here are my tuning tutorials: https://oscarliang.com/pid-filter-tuning-blackbox/
I plan to create a customized tune for this quad, and whereas I’m at it I’ll in all probability additionally replace it to the newest Betaflight model. I’ll share that on my Patreon later: TBA
Betaflight Setup
Firmware:
- The FC goal is JHEG474, and it got here loaded with Betaflight 4.5.2. The unique CLI diff might be discovered right here.
- ESC firmware is Z-H-30 – Bluejay, 0.18, 48kHz
- Onboard ExpressLRS receiver: JHEMCU 2.4GHz Lite RX (Firmware V3.x.x).
- Propellers mounting: motors are reversed route.
To setup for first flight, I did the next:
- Bind ELRS Receiver: Plug within the USB cable to the flight controller, the onboard ELRS receiver will go into WiFi mode after ready a minute. Be a part of the WiFi community “ExpressLRS_RX”, go to 10.0.0.10 in your browser, and enter bind phrase. And binding was completed. For extra element: https://oscarliang.com/bind-expresslrs-receivers/#Methodology-3-Coming into-Bind-Phrase-in-Net-UI
- Presets tab: make a backup of the present settings (press the Backup button); Load ExpressLRS preset based mostly in your ELRS packet charges, easy methods to do: https://oscarliang.com/rc-link-preset-betaflight/
- Receiver tab: allow Telemetry
- Modes tab in Betaflight Configurator: Configure the switches for arming, angle mode, and beeper. For some cause WalleFPV doesn’t suggest enabling turtle mode (flip over after crash), perhaps to stop burning the motor or ESC.
- OSD tab: choose HD Video Format, and cargo my CLI settings: https://oscarliang.com/betaflight-osd/#Analog-without-GPS.
- PID Tuning tab: set your individual charges, right here’s my charges for reference: https://oscarliang.com/charges/#My-Charges
- Change amperage sensor scale to 410 within the Energy and Battery tab
For reference, right here’s what the UART used for:
- UART1: not used
- UART2: SmartAudio (VTX)
- UART3: Serial RX (ExpressLRS receiver)
Ultimate Verdict: Who Is This For?
If you need one thing enjoyable to fly open air, however not so highly effective that it attracts an excessive amount of consideration, then the Lightning V3 seems to be like a really interesting choice.
Uncooked energy is just not its largest power — the motors are a bit of on the small aspect, and the dealing with feels a bit mushy. However its largest strengths are that it’s inexpensive, discreet, quiet, and sufficiently small to fly virtually anyplace open air.
Get the WalleFPV Lightning V3 from:
