TEST: Eachine E012, the micro tinywhoop

[Drone News]

INTRODUCTION

The Eachine E012 is a nanoquadcopter but skrinking the tinywhoop design with a ducted propguard system boosting powerlift performances in theory. The E012 is a typical indoors machine and the big open question will be to see if a FPV rig can be installed on it. Let’s discover first the machine.

BOX CONTENT

+ 1 x Eachine E012
+ 1 x 1S 200mAh LiPo with 1.25mm microJST connector
+ 1 x Transmitter (using 2xAAA batteries not included)
+ 1 x USB charging cable
+ 4 x Spare props (2 CW, 2 CCW)
+ 1 x Instruction manual (English)

OVERVIEW

The E012 is a 45mm machine, ultra tiny ald lightweight when you grab it into your hands.

It’s really more similar in size will a nano than a tinywhoop…. why in term of design the copy is obvious.

-FRONT VIEW

Very usefull: A white LED light is present on front to help to keep your orientation for your LoS flights!!!

-SIDE VIEW

-REAR VIEW

-UPPER VIEW

-BOTTOM VIEW

With the battery installed

0612 motors are well jailed into these transparent pods…. but one open question: can we replace them with some 0615 motors ?

-WEIGHT

16.6g in total weight represents just 1.5 more than classic nano’s

Motors and props

No surprize, they installed some brushed coreless 6mmx12mm motors.

We have some super tiny but pitchy 26mm props

LiPo

Announced to be a 200mAh 1S LIpo but no real visible and written indications on the battery. No discharge mentioned too.

Disassembling

Just unclips the three plastic tab latterally and rear to open the machine

We have a 2-in-1 MCU+2.4G receiver HS6208Q and a M688 for the 6-axis stabilization.

The 2.4G antenna is a little bit long but in another hand the antenna mod will be more easy to do.

Transmitter

A basic nano transmitter … no super compatible with large hands. Two AA batteries are required but rechargeable models are working with.

For the radio part, we have a HS62000 chip. You can find full specification here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/2y7bcu0n0u8i1ak/HS6200_DataSheet_v2.3_20141016.pdf

According to the pdf, the max output power is +8dBm (10^(8/10) = 6.3mW)… so far from the 100mW allowed in the 2.4G band). The control range without antenna’s mods can be relatively short.

UNBOXING, ANALYSIS AND DEMO FLIGHT

First of all, you need first to plug the battery connector before to insert the battery into the tray… since the LiPo is too long. I deeply regret the absence of a small powerswitch…. Second remark, the failsafe test takes 8 secpnds before motors are stopped !!!! It’s a lot and the machine can achieve a lot of distance during these 20s.

At take off, the machine hovers easily you can feel immediatly more power than classic nanos. The high pitch profile of the props and the ducted system probably help a lot. The machine is super stable and docile from the first speed mode…. From intermediate, the yaw rate is more compatible for indoors practice and the third speed mode shows obviously the more sporty attitude … It’s faster but it’s not an ultra sporty machine… For outdoors flights, the machine won’t resist from just a moderate Wind. For 360 degrees flips, you need first the machine stabilized, no real possibility to perform some while moving forward for example. I am positively surprized by the flight time, between 4min30 up to 5min not bad for such size. Thanls to the duct/prop guard system the machine is ultra durable and can bounce versus walls/obstacle while being in the air.

CONCLUSIONS

A nice shrinked tinywhoop nano machine super durable and strong with three well tuned speed modes. The light effects are nice a good thing to help you to keep orientation. I regret the absence of a powerswitch and the intruction of a new radio protocol…. In order to have a hope to mod this machine into an FPV plateform, I think 0612 motors must be replaced with some 0615 models… (if they could be jailed into the motor’s pods)

PROS

+ Super stable machine
+ More thrust than corresponding nano’s
+ Nice and well tuned speed modes
+ Between 4min30-5min of flight time
+ Nice light colors

CONS

– No powerswitch
– 8s of potential flyaway
– Need to connect first the battery then to insert the battery into the tray
– YaP (Yet another Protocol)

This quadcopter have been courtesy provided by Banggood in order to make a fair and not biased review. I would like to thank them for this attitude.
You can find it actually for 16USD at https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-E012-Mini-2_4G-4CH-6-Axis-Headless-Mode-LED-Light-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-1148469.html

Cet article TEST: Eachine E012, the micro tinywhoop est apparu en premier sur Drone-Maniac !!!!!!!.

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