We built it, now we need help powering up

[dakotabenjamin]

As far as I can tell, everything here is correctly built. I can't find which output ports each ESC goes into the output of the controller, but I figured I'd put them anywhere until I get the whole thing to stop beeping.

I also got the transmitter matched with the receiver. Where do I go from here?

[dakotabenjamin]

Other Questions:

• What kind of configuration settings are needed in Mission Planner?
• How do we fit all the components on the board while maintaining a reasonable center of gravity?

[ivangayton]

Wow, this looks great! Yes, this looks well-built. You may need to trim your foam a bit more; I suspect that your props will be over the foam on the inside part of their travel, causing you to lose lift. You may want to move the spars further out as well; in general the further apart the motors are the more stable the quad will be.

Ok, a few answers:
First, here's the most important set of instructions for the software:

http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/initial-setup/

So you first need to install either Mission Planner (Windows) or APM Planner 2 (I use this as I'm on Linux). Either one will allow you to flash the firmware onto your autopilot using a USB cable. Instructions on the wiki.

Then you need to wire everything up (again, everything on the wiki, specifically here: http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/initial-setup/assembly-instructions/connecting-the-apm2/)

Keep following the ArduCopter wiki, step by step. It's pretty generic, not specific to any particular hardware, though of course you are using the APM rather than the PixHawk (the wiki is increasingly built around the PixHawk, but the APM is perfectly capable and much cheaper so for now I'm still using it).

As for Center of Gravity, I tend to put my flight controller dead centre, and the battery just behind it (see the photo here https://github.com/ivangayton/OpenUAV/blob/master/Photos/IBGL0125%20Whole%20quad%20with%20parts%20laid%20out.jpg). Of course, this puts the centre of gravity toward the rear of the quad. The quad can handle a bit of that, but of course it means your rear motors are working harder. I usually mount my camera way up front, which counterbalances the battery, and has the added bonus of, if I want to film facing forward, getting the camera well out in front and taking less pictures of propellers and more of the scenery. So, provided you want to mount a camera (which in my case often amounts to a cellphone hanging over the front edge facing down), the rear-mounted battery is actually an advantage.

I strongly recommend putting some dampening foam under your spar mounts and flight controller. Vibration is bad! Cheapo packing foam is fine. or upholstery foam (I got all the dampening foam I could ever use for free from an upholstery shop, which had an unlimited supply of odd-sized off-cuts.

We should talk: I'm happy to help with setup and it'll be easier if we can chat on the phone or Skype. Stephen has my email/number!
Ivan