# Quadcopters and other tech toys?



## MannDude

My neighbor has a couple quadcopters and a RC Airplane he's restoring, some pretty neat stuff. Anyhow, today we were in the field near my house and he was messing with one of his quadcopters. Long story short, I want one now too. 

Was pretty impressed with the little one he had. Today was a bit windy but boy do those things fly. The larger one is very impressive looking but I don't think it's taken flight yet, a work in progress. I had him copy the footage over to my thumb drive so I could see if the playback was choppy on my computer, as it was his. Turns out to be isolated/choppy for him only. For a $65~ 'toy', the footage was actually pretty nice and the less than 3 minute long video I snagged from it was over 500Mb. Ignore the noise and my lack of editing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsVlBBwq7hI

Anyone else have one or can suggest one with a camera for $100~ or so?


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## Hxxx

Unable to see the video  ? all white.


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## ChrisM

hrr1963 said:


> Unable to see the video  ? all white.



Same, it has been that way for the last 2-3 months on vpsboard for videos.


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## yolo

hrr1963 said:


> Unable to see the video  ? all white.





Chris Miller said:


> Same, it has been that way for the last 2-3 months on vpsboard for videos.


I know for me on chrome this happens, and I have to click the shield in the URL bar and allow it to load unsecure content.


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## MannDude

hrr1963 said:


> Unable to see the video  ? all white.





yolo said:


> I know for me on chrome this happens, and I have to click the shield in the URL bar and allow it to load unsecure content.



No kidding? Never see that here... well hmmm...



Do you have to manually accept the certificate anytime there is a non-https element in the page?


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## HalfEatenPie

For those of you who can't see the video..

http://www.youtube.com/embed/TsVlBBwq7hI?html5=1&fs=1

Haha that's awesome.  Love the fat cat in the footage too haha.

It's honestly just the issue with non-https elements (especially from another domain) being sent via https. 

Anyways that footage reminds me of this I saw on reddit a while back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0xEfdK-D1c

(Reddit Thread link here)

This is what that guy films with. (and comment here) totals around 6k to 7k USD but looks like a ton of fun (and great footage).

Seriously... I would love to get into something like this.


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## trewq

I have been looking at getting into this for a while now. Just need to find the time.


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## Hxxx

@MannDude, where that footage was taken?

@HalfEatenPie  , thank you for the videos. The second video is pretty epic and sentimental. Great footage.


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## bpsRobert

http://www.area51drones.com/

These are great flying/video machines. auto stabilization, etc.


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## MannDude

bpsRobert said:


> http://www.area51drones.com/
> 
> These are great flying/video machines. auto stabilization, etc.


Yeah, but at $600 for the cheapest one... above what I want to spend


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## FLDataTeK

If your looking for one with a camera as part of the package then a WLToys V959 would be a good one to get.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZEALUK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AZEALUK&linkCode=as2&tag=hardphot-20

Or you can get a Syma X1 (same style as the V959 but without a camera) for $29.95 plus around $5 shipping then buy a 808 keychain camera and mount on the bottom like I did.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0096SJU3U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0096SJU3U&linkCode=as2&tag=hardphot-20

Here is my X1 flying on a windy day.

http://youtu.be/npyFyDfR4io

I just got done building a big one also.


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## ChrisM

@FLDataTeK How long does the battery last in the one you have?


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## MannDude

Well, I caved in and just purchased this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D3IN11Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AF3OSWQ0BTWJQ

Can't wait for it to arrive!


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## MartinD

7 minute flight time - that's going to get annoying really fast. Hope you bought more batteries!


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## H4G

It's not _very difficult_ to make one. For the past few weeks, I've been trying to source the correct parts and equipment needed to build one. The idea is a quadcopter with a gyro-camera mount on the bottom so as to do mount something like a Mark-III and record videos smoothly.


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## FLDataTeK

Chris Miller said:


> @FLDataTeK How long does the battery last in the one you have?


With my X1 I have 600mA batteries that I got for it and it will fly for around 15 minutes with no problem.  Thats with a larger battery and a 808 cam strapped to it.  Most of my videos on my channel are the Syma X1 with the cam on it.

On the stock battery you will get around 8-9 minutes of flight time.

MannDude I have one of those UDI 816a also and its fun for flying around the house but outside its a little underpowered flying in any kind of wind especially with the canopy on.

Scratch that.. I thought it was a 816a not a 818a..   That 818a looks like a rebadged v959.

If you want some larger batteries that will fit it get these.. Its what I run and they are nice batteries. They have more punch than the stock batteries. 

http://www.buddyrc.com/glacier-25c-600mah-1s.html

Here is a video of my big one (450mm frame) flying today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvE8Eg_hkyQ


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## matt[scrdspd]

Attaching a GoPro seems like the way to go if you actually want good quality video. 

Seeing this video [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkMiIT1VG98 ] a couple years back inspired me to want to buy one. I still have yet to make the move tho. The type I want seems to be in the $600-$1200 price range.


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## MannDude

I spent like 3 hours last night looking at some awesome subreddits. 

http://www.reddit.com/r/Multicopter

http://www.reddit.com/r/diydrones

http://www.reddit.com/r/fpv

I'm sure this summer I'll probably start building a nice one. I just want one now to play with in the backyard and to annoy the outside cat as he likes to chase them when they fly low.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LcukD93J44


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## FLDataTeK

Mine is just a crappy $8 808 cam. I have one of the not so good ones for now. I had bought a cheap one because it expected to crash and break it. Now that I have a better quad that can lift more I'll get a Mobius.

If you want good video get the 808 #16v2 with a 120 degree lens or get its bigger brother the Mobius.

Here is my brother flying his Skyhunter plane with the Mobius FPV (With video feed back to googles so he can fly the plane like he is in it)

http://youtu.be/UspqOy0Iiyk

Alot of people use the GoPro because it is small and does 60fps video very well on the higher end ones. But it also cost $399 for the highend ones.. The Mobius is $75-$85 and does 60fps at 720p and 30 fps at 1080p. More than enough for my needs.

Also weight comes into play..

GoPro: 138 grams

Mobius: 78 grams

808 #16v2: around 38 grams

X1 will carry the 808 #16v2 with no problems. The Mobius would be a little heavy for it and the GoPro forget it.


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## FLDataTeK

This is my current lineup.

UDI 816a (right)

Syma X1 (middle)

Custom Built 450mm (left)


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## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> This is my current lineup.
> 
> UDI 816a (right)
> 
> Syma X1 (middle)
> 
> Custom Built 450mm (left)


Nice!

Been having fun with my quadcopter and getting used to managing it. Unfortunately I am trying to diagnose why one of the motors have stopped working. It was flying just fine, and then I started to get the low-battery beeps and brought it back. Replaced the battery and all of a sudden the back left motor decided to not want to work. Think it may have gotten shorted out or something...

I've also just ordered a SK450 frame from HobbyKing and will start piecing it together as I learn more and decide exactly what it is that I want to do with mine. I'm thinking a slow/stable build would be best, especially since I do want to eventually attach a gimble for a GoPro or similar camera.

Will try to fix mine and practice with it more, out of the box it came poorly calibrated. I think one motor is spinning slightly slower than the rest. On a fresh start it immediately jumps backwards and to the right. After adjusting the trims, it's more controllable but still wants to rotate left and not want to hover or stay put at a particular height. Seems that no level of adjustment will correct this, even indoors where there is no wind. <shrugs>


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## MannDude

Just came in today. Still waiting for the rest to arrive from HobbyKing, though that could be next month before it arrives. Still need a few more parts that aren't on the other order, but hopefully will have it up and running by this time next month.


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## FLDataTeK

Sweet.. can't wait to see it flying.

If you need any pointers or questions about what to get or how it goes together just let me know and I'll point you in the right direction.

I finally got my FTDI and USBASP programmers so yesterday I enabled CPPM on my FrSky reciever so now I only have to use one servo cable and it also enabled RSSI so I can feed it into OSD.

Then today I flashed my Turnigy 9x radio with er9x firmware and started flashing my ESC's with SimonK firmware so my FY-450 should fly a little better after I am done.

The next items is to get better motors (SunnySky 2212-11 980kV) and to order my FPV rx/tx gear and Mobius camera.


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## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> Sweet.. can't wait to see it flying.
> 
> If you need any pointers or questions about what to get or how it goes together just let me know and I'll point you in the right direction.
> 
> I finally got my FTDI and USBASP programmers so yesterday I enabled CPPM on my FrSky reciever so now I only have to use one servo cable and it also enabled RSSI so I can feed it into OSD.
> 
> Then today I flashed my Turnigy 9x radio with er9x firmware and started flashing my ESC's with SimonK firmware so my FY-450 should fly a little better after I am done.
> 
> The next items is to get better motors (SunnySky 2212-11 980kV) and to order my FPV rx/tx gear and Mobius camera.


Sounds nice. I can't wait to get it up in the air either 

Well, my package is finally in the USA now.

So, got that SK450 frame already. The rest of the build includes:


Lower PCB main frame for the SK450
KK2.1.5 FCB
Multistar MT2213-935K motors with 10-4.5 props
Still need a lot of things, batteries, radio, speed controllers, etc. Was thinking of getting the Q-Brain speed controller for clean wiring but after realizing the potential for catastrophic failure (If one ESC dies, they all die) I decided I'd rather just buy 4 individual ones. Thinking I'll go with the Afro 20amp ones, seem well reviewed. I also need to get some spare parts, just to have on hand. Figure a couple spare arms, a spare motor and some props will be handy. May buy a couple meters of different colored LEDs too, just for help with visual orientation when in the air and to pimp it out, ha.

After I get it all built, calibrated and flying decently I will eventually add some FPV gear... at least that is the plan.


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## MannDude

Got more parts on my desk that need to be put on, but waiting on other parts that are coming tomorrow. Anyhow, it's taking shape:


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## FLDataTeK

Looking good so far..

I actually had a ESC fail the other day and it crashed and broke two arms. So now I am waiting on my replacement arms to get here.

I also ordered FPV gear so I am waiting on that also.


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## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> Looking good so far..
> 
> I actually had a ESC fail the other day and it crashed and broke two arms. So now I am waiting on my replacement arms to get here.
> 
> I also ordered FPV gear so I am waiting on that also.


Yikes, that stinks about the crash.

I still need some various plugs/connectors and wires so haven't really done anything yet other than put the motors and props on to take a photo. I think I can get the rest from Amazon, at least I hope so. Tired of HobbyKing, takes too long.


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## FLDataTeK

MannDude said:


> Yikes, that stinks about the crash.
> 
> I still need some various plugs/connectors and wires so haven't really done anything yet other than put the motors and props on to take a photo. I think I can get the rest from Amazon, at least I hope so. Tired of HobbyKing, takes too long.


HobbyKing also has a US warehouse you can buy from. Its a little bit more but you can get items in as fast as 2-3 days.

Here are the two spots you can change to the US warehouse.


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## MannDude

Yep, I know. I order from the US warehouse but it still usually takes a day or two for them to actually ship the item, then another 2-3 (business days) for it to arrive from Washington.

I'm a tad confused now as what is left that I need to get a proper setup. I have most the hardware, minus some needed wires, plugs and connectors. I'll post a hardware list later, and try to narrow down what else I need. Been a bit busy lately so haven't looked into it fully just yet, but I haven't started soldering things to the power distribution board yet so I'm not beyond the point of no return yet. Still need soldering paste and a third arm would probably be beneficial too. 

For your build, did you use bullet connectors or solder the ESCs direct to to the motor and power distribution board? Seems to be a personal preference from what I've read, as some claim they only do bullet connectors to make it easy to swap items out while others say it poses a risk of having them come disconnected due to vibration (even with shrink wrapping) and that desoldering doesn't take that long anyway... I'm leaning towards bullet connectors myself simply because it's my first build and it seems that I'd prefer to be able to easily swap an item out if/when I break it but haven't decided yet.

It's also interesting just how many items I've received with absolutely zero documentation. Flight control board? No documentation. LIPo battery, no documentation or safety information (which is alarming considering how dangerous they can be). Power distribution board... no documentation... I mean, all of this information is available online but it's just interesting to note anyway. If you're not watching YouTube videos or browsing specific forums to build one of these you'd be lost or would damage parts.


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## FLDataTeK

My frame had the power distro built into the lower board so I soldered the power leads to the ESC's directly to the board. Then on the side that goes to the motors I did use bullet connectors so that I could remove the motors easily.

You will most likely need to get things like servo cables to go from the RX to the flight controller. I used 10cm servo cables so anything longer gets messy quick when you have a bunch of them.  You will need at least 4 of them (one for each channel) I'd suggest getting a 10 pack so you have enough for 8 channels and two spares.

This is where I got my servo cables from.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-10CM-Male-to-Male-Servo-Lead-quadcopter-tricopter-kk-multiwii-naze32-rbw/221444149422?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222006%26algo%3DSIC.FITP%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D23309%26meid%3D7277421741020580819%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D9834%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D221420394221


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## MannDude

Well, I got her all put together about 5 hours ago. Haven't taken it out for a flight yet as it's too wet and I still need to adjust the settings on the FCB based on some suggestions I found online and tweak it. Though, a function test without the props on shows that everything works as intended. All the motors start-up at the same time and respond as they should.

Maiden flight will probably be next weekend since the weather is looking grim this week and due to my work/sleep schedule since I am pretty much busy or asleep during daylight hours.



Not the prettiest job in the world, but it works.



I cleaned up the ESC wiring after this, as well as attached a low voltage alarm to an arm.  (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/catalog/22749.jpg )



Luckily, my father had some spare bulllet connectors and heat shrink. I took this over to his place to assemble.



I also have another battery strap that I'll use for the other direction as well, though just the one worked fine during initial power up and function testing.



The kk2.1.5 flight control board. Still need to update the firmware and do some adjustments based on recommended values for this size quad that was listed elsewhere on the web.



Bullet connectors on everything... these are hard to detach. Unsure why some folks are against using them claiming that vibration from the motors will cause them to disconnect. I had to detach and reconnect two inputs for two different motors to get them to spin the proper way and it was difficult pulling them apart. I don't think motor vibration will cause them to separate... (At least I hope not!)

.

Not the prettiest soldering job, but it works. Foolishly though I added a male connector to the power distribution board instead of a female one. So any new battery I buy I'll have to use a male-to-female adapter because we goofed.



Since I didn't have my radio and receiver yet, yanked this from a quad he's working on for the initial testing. It does what it is supposed to do.


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## FLDataTeK

Looks pretty good..

I'd probably put some heat shrink on those bullets on the main board just in case one lets loose a little and touches that metal strip below the bullet connector.

I ordered a deadcat frame today plus a new ESC to replace the flaky one that caused my crash last week also ordered a USB video capture cable so I can use my netbook as my screen for FPV. My video TX and RX have both arrived along with one of my camera's for FPV.

So hopefully everything will be here soon and I can get back in the air.


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## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> Looks pretty good..
> 
> I'd probably put some heat shrink on those bullets on the main board just in case one lets loose a little and touches that metal strip below the bullet connector.
> 
> I ordered a deadcat frame today plus a new ESC to replace the flaky one that caused my crash last week also ordered a USB video capture cable so I can use my netbook as my screen for FPV. My video TX and RX have both arrived along with one of my camera's for FPV.
> 
> So hopefully everything will be here soon and I can get back in the air.


Yeah, I thought about that after it was already too late. Probably just electrical tape for now... It won't be the prettiest job in the world but it'll work.

Mind sharing your FPV setup? Would be interesting to see it. The goal with mine is to convert it to an FPV setup as well, but only after I get the hang of flying this one.


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## vpsmt

check out this quadcopter:

http://www.banggood.com/Syma-X5C-2_4G-4-Channel-Remote-Control-RC-Quadcopter-p-913827.html

w/2megapixel camera for less than $70.

Best deal IMO


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## SPINIKR-RO

Interesting thread, I may have to get back into it. I purchased one right when they started to becoem popular and it lasted all of about 3 flights until I broke it and was to lazy to fix.

Is battery life any better on these things? Mine was like 7-10 minutes if lucky.


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## FLDataTeK

I rebuilt my FY-450 yesterday and changed a few things around. I had forgot I had an extra set of center frame parts so I replaced the broken ones with the spares.

I also soldered the bullet connectors directly to the ESC's to get rid of the short piece of wire and clean up the arm a little. Now the motors plug directly into the ESC's. Then I reheat shrank the ESC's after they were all flashed with SimonK firmware.

I do have a deadcat frame coming and things are going to be even more cleaned up. I have some techflex coming so that will clean up the wiring alot.






The heat shrinked ESC's with the bullets attached. Also put a little bit of foam padding under the ESC for vibration. The heat sink part of the ESC will be cut out to exspose the heat sink one I move everything over to the new frame. But as is the ESC's only get luke warm anyways.


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## FLDataTeK

SPINIKR-RO said:


> Interesting thread, I may have to get back into it. I purchased one right when they started to becoem popular and it lasted all of about 3 flights until I broke it and was to lazy to fix.
> 
> Is battery life any better on these things? Mine was like 7-10 minutes if lucky.



Depends on the weight of the quad and what voltage and size of battery your running, what motors your running.. Lots of things factor into flight times.

But as an example with my quad it weighs 1kg (2.2lbs) and runs 3S (11.1 volt) 2200mah batteries with 1000kv motors with 10x4.5 props and I get around 8-10 minutes of flight per battery.

Now if I was to only change the battery I could get 15-20 minutes of flight time by going to a 5000mah battery but that is alot more weight to carry (about 528 grams) so would fly a little more sluggish than it would with the smaller battery.


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## FLDataTeK

Well my FPV gear has arrived and I installed it today. I did a short flight with it and it is definatelty different. I keep wanting to look up at the quad instead of the screen.

Here is my monitor/DVR setup.






And my Quad with the cam on top and VTX on the back (antenna pointed down). I added some landing legs to get me up a little so I can mount the battery undernieth instead of on top.


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## iWF-Jacob

While I don't have a quadcopter, I most certainly have helicopters. My newest one is a Trex 450 Plus DFC. I love those things, I have a nice lineup of three helicopters. A Trex 450 Plus DFC (DFC basically means no flybar, direct flight control so it's all gyros) which is obviously a 450 scale. I also have a 350 and a 250 scale, though those have kind of gone by the wayside as I try to master around the world with my new 450. I got tick-tocks down pat, but around the world with this guy is pretty challenging.


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## MannDude

I finally got mine flying over the weekend!



Of course, had a couple crashes too. Nothing some zipties, wooden dowels and paitence can't fix. View the complete album here: http://imgur.com/a/KtzvI

Took it out flying on my lunch break yesterday evening and it flew really well that time. I still need to tweak the settings so I can get a nice, slow and steady flight out of it. The idea is that I could walk behind it and fly it slowly if I wished to. No worries, got some spare parts coming in (Well, an entirely knew SK450 frame).


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## HalfEatenPie

FLDataTeK said:


> Here is my monitor/DVR setup.


I HAVE THAT EXACT USB ADAPTER! 

Just wanted to let people know.  That is all.  

That USB Adapter is pretty terrible in terms of resolution, but it gets the job done for a cheap price.


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## FLDataTeK

HalfEatenPie said:


> I HAVE THAT EXACT USB ADAPTER!
> 
> Just wanted to let people know.  That is all.
> 
> That USB Adapter is pretty terrible in terms of resolution, but it gets the job done for a cheap price.



Yeah its just OK.. But the cam I have to fly the quad with is not very high rez either so it doesn't matter much. The main thing is I can see where I am going and I can also record my flight for later review.

I'll get a Mobius camera soon and it will be better rez.

MannDude are you on rcforums.com? I sware I have seen your crash repair pics already somewhere else.


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## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> MannDude are you on rcforums.com? I sware I have seen your crash repair pics already somewhere else.


I am, but did not post them there. I did post on /r/multicopter and https://www.facebook.com/groups/FPVRC/


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## FLDataTeK

MannDude said:


> I am, but did not post them there. I did post on /r/multicopter and https://www.facebook.com/groups/FPVRC/



Oh ok thats where I saw it.. I am a member of that group also.


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## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> Oh ok thats where I saw it.. I am a member of that group also.


Oh nice. Comically my father is too, he's actually helped me with mine and I've helped him with his. We met  up on my lunch break yesterday to fly in the field behind his house and he had his first flight on his new one, and I had my second. Though his quad is still a bit unstable, though that may be due to his custom landing gear and gimble in the front making the weight uneven. Unsure. His board probably needs adjusted too. Finally got his Q-Brain figured out though so it doesn't just flip over anymore, so that's a start.

I also ordered a second SK450 frame from eBay... hoping it comes as pictured as it had red and white arms in the photo description. I can't find replacement arms for mine, so having a set of extras AND red ones to help with orientation will be great. While the wood dowels and zip-ties help keep the arm in place it's certainly not preferred. 

Also finally have some different props coming in too. I ordered some green ones a couple weeks ago, but can't use them as I wasn't aware of the difference between DJI style props and regular ones. My motors are slotted for DJI style... so... needless to say I now have a cubic-assload of props.


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## FLDataTeK

A few more pics of my quad.. Taken with something other than my cell phone..






The cam I am using as my FPV "driving" cam. Only a 420 lines of rez cam but plenty for driving the quad with. It has a 120 degree FOV.






The backend with my Boscam 351 video transmitter.






My FrSky reciever under the back of the quad.  Specs say 3km (about 1.8 miles) range out of the box. People have been getting up to 80km (about 50 miles) out of them with good antenna setups. Not bad for a $65 tx/rx set. I am using SUM-PPM so I only have to use one servo cable between the RX and my flight controller.






This is the Boscam 805 video reciever velcroed to the back of the monitor on my netbook. Its powered by three 1S 600maH batteries wired in series to give me 12 volts. This setup was choosen because otherwise I have to use one of my much larger 2200maH 3S batteries. Then it is fed into a EzCap USB capture and runs the stock capture software that came with it.  Not the best quality but more than good enough to fly by.






All my wires are just kinda shoved in there right now. Once my deadcat frame gets here I'll tidy everything up and techflex all the cables. It will be a very clean build once its done.


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## HalfEatenPie

@FLDataTeK That is just beautiful.  

This just really wants me to get in on the quadcopter hobby haha.


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## FLDataTeK

HalfEatenPie said:


> @FLDataTeK That is just beautiful.
> 
> This just really wants me to get in on the quadcopter hobby haha.


It can be addicting. But lots of fun also.


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## FLDataTeK

Well I had my first real FPV flight with my 450 today.. Everything went very well except landing. I let off on the throttle when I was a little higher up than I thought. So i dropped the quad from about a foot or so up. Luckily my landing gear took the punishment.

I flew out about 300 meters or so past the football field and over the road and then flew over trees. Then circled back around and came back. Granted it wasn't a far test but I am not sure of the distance of the VTX yet so I felt it was a decent test. Especially since I am using the provided "ducky" antenna's that come with the Boscam 805 and 351.

Overall everything went very well.. I had excellent signal the whole way except when I flew behind me and I had my truck in the way then I got fuzzy and had to turn around and get back in front of my truck. ( I was sitting under the back hatch with it open over me).

Hopefully soon I'll pick up some cloverleaf antenna's but for now the ducky's seem to be doing pretty decent range as I am sure I could push my distance further without any issues.


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## MannDude

Update time.

I couldn't find any replacement arms for the SK450 frame, so ordered an entirely new SK450 frame from eBay that also included some red arms. Now, instead of having all white arms and all black propellers which made judging orientation difficult (Plus my eyes are horrible, really need new glasses) the front of the quad is red and green and I have two foam neon yellow balls in the front as well.  I need to get some large googly eyes to put on the foam balls too... just because. 

Going to make some food then head outside and see how it flies now that it doesn't have an arm pieced together with wooden dowels that had flex going left/right.

Also probably going to flash the KK2.1.5 board tonight and put new firmware on there, likely Stevie's Beginner Firmware but we'll see.


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## FLDataTeK

Good to hear you go it fixed.

That is one of the downsides of that SK450 frame is that standard DJI-450 arms that can be found everywhere cheap will not fit it.

My DeadCat frame finally arrived today so I'll rebuild mine on Monday into the new frame.

My next purchase will be some additional batteries. Probably some 4S 5000mah to get some extended flight times.


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## FLDataTeK

Well my deadcat frame came in and I was able to build it up today.

First few test flights were pretty good, a little twichy so some tuning will need to be done.

Here are a few pics of the new frame.






The two antenna for the controller RX and then the video TX antenna in the back.











And its final form...


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## MannDude

Looking good! Does the position change of the arms impact it's control a whole lot?

I need to get some more flight time this week, but sort of wanting to flash new firmware on the board first... though it appears I can't find the _proper_ firmware for the cheap Chinese flashing tool I have. 



> If you have a USBtiny the flashtool newer than 0.33 and older than 0.63 beta 11 will not work with until you replace the avrdude.exe and avrdude.conf in the folder /lib/avrdude/windows/ with the one in this download


So, I think I need to do that and try again. Looking forward to better self-level calculations. I was having issues with the quad continually drifting forward in self-level mode, so adjusted the trim pitch to a positive value as it was set to the stock value of zero. It seemed to be doing much better. Then out of nowhere it seemed to be set too high, as it'd drift backwards slightly and was over compensation. So re-adjusted, would hover, would drift, would re-adjust. It got to the point where it was back to zero (where it was originally, and where it was drifting forward) but now it was drifting backwards. Entered the negative values. Balance hadn't changed, I've got the the battery secured so it hadn't shifted or anything. Wonkiness. Also adjusted the trim on the radio, although everything was zeroed out on the board properly as it should have been. <shrugs>

I hear the Stevie's firmware update is much better and handles self-level much better. Hoping it'll be an improvement over the stock KK2.1.5 firmware.

I need to spend more time with it and more time reading up. It does fly pretty stable now compared to the first few flights, but still not as well as I'd like it to (yet).


----------



## FLDataTeK

It mainly just gives more space between the arms and props in the front for video filming with wide angle lenses so you don't have them in the video.

It also gives more space to put stuff because its a larger frame even though it still uses the arms for the 450mm frame.

I have tons of space in it where I was starting to get cramped on the normal 450mm frame once I put the FPV gear on it.

My weight did increase from 1kg to 1.2kg so it is a little heavier. But other than that the flight controller sees it as a standard X quad so it is no different there.

I still need to get my GPS unit and Mobius camera plus some larger batteries and some circular polarized antennas for my video TX and RX for better range and get rid of any multipathing.


----------



## MannDude

I've got my Mobius 1080p action camera now, mounted it (poorly) to the quad and took some video today. Little screengab from earlier:



I should have adjusted the settings to account for the overcast. Would share the video but need to splice/upload and it's not very impressive as I'm still learning. Also, didn't want to take the quad too high as it was pretty windy and I have trees around me. 

EDIT: Deadcat conversion will be in this week as well as some other minor little goodies.


----------



## FLDataTeK

MannDude said:


> I've got my Mobius 1080p action camera now, mounted it (poorly) to the quad and took some video today. Little screengab from earlier:
> 
> 
> 
> I should have adjusted the settings to account for the overcast. Would share the video but need to splice/upload and it's not very impressive as I'm still learning. Also, didn't want to take the quad too high as it was pretty windy and I have trees around me.
> 
> EDIT: Deadcat conversion will be in this week as well as some other minor little goodies.



Sweet.. I need to pickup a mobius also.

But I did pickup two 5000mah 4S batteries , a 12 volt uBEC and some HK DIY FPV goggles.

The goggles are on the slow boat from China but the batteries are here and are sweet... My first flight I got 19:53 minutes flight time before the voltage alarm went off. So I am totally impressed with them. Best $25 I have spent so far.

Here is the stuff I got..

DIY Goggles: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=53706&aff=1289329

5000mah 4S batteries: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=18631&aff=1289329

12 volt uBEC: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=35672&aff=1289329


----------



## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> Sweet.. I need to pickup a mobius also.
> 
> But I did pickup two 5000mah 4S batteries , a 12 volt uBEC and some HK DIY FPV goggles.
> 
> The goggles are on the slow boat from China but the batteries are here and are sweet... My first flight I got 19:53 minutes flight time before the voltage alarm went off. So I am totally impressed with them. Best $25 I have spent so far.
> 
> Here is the stuff I got..
> 
> DIY Goggles: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=53706&aff=1289329
> 
> 5000mah 4S batteries: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=18631&aff=1289329
> 
> 12 volt uBEC: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=35672&aff=1289329


Awesome! That's great flight time. I've actually not measured my flight times yet, though it should be less than usual as I swapped my 10" props for 8" ones, and it flys sooo much better now, which is strange I think considering I'm using 930kv motors but I'm still a newb to this.Sort of swapped them out on a whim and was impressed. I purchased some 9" carbon props to meet in the middle, but it flies too uncontrollably with them. They're 'DJI style', but I've found that they don't fit snug on the shaft on the motor... but I also can't get any shim/adapter in there either to correct this. I think the instability was due to them not being perfectly center, so I may need to sand down the inside or modify a shim to get them to work properly.

Let me know how you like those goggles. I've been wanting to order them, but need to find other things to add to my international order list to justify the shipping cost first.


----------



## MannDude

Nice day for flying.


----------



## MannDude

Sun is going down a bit, but captured this earlier as well.


----------



## FLDataTeK

I think those DJI props do not have round holes, I think are 'keyed' on two sides so you may need to drill the hole out so its completely round.

I use HQProps 9x5E props and they worked ok on 3 cell batteries but were a little under powered but now that I am on 4 cell batteries they are perfect and have lots of power.

If I were you I would probably try a HQProps 9x4.5 MR (multirotor) prop.

You can pick them up from RTFQ for $5.00 per set (2).

http://witespyquad.gostorego.com/propellers/hq-prop-9x45-carbon-composite-prop.html

The HQProps are very well made and are typically balanced better than most props strait out of the package.

Now I am in the process of building a 250mm Carbon Fiber mini H quad..  Parts should start arriving in a week or two..


----------



## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> I think those DJI props do not have round holes, I think are 'keyed' on two sides so you may need to drill the hole out so its completely round.
> 
> I use HQProps 9x5E props and they worked ok on 3 cell batteries but were a little under powered but now that I am on 4 cell batteries they are perfect and have lots of power.
> 
> If I were you I would probably try a HQProps 9x4.5 MR (multirotor) prop.
> 
> You can pick them up from RTFQ for $5.00 per set (2).
> 
> http://witespyquad.gostorego.com/propellers/hq-prop-9x45-carbon-composite-prop.html
> 
> The HQProps are very well made and are typically balanced better than most props strait out of the package.
> 
> Now I am in the process of building a 250mm Carbon Fiber mini H quad..  Parts should start arriving in a week or two..


They don't, but my motors are DJI style so I've been trying to find props specific for it. Though the carbon ones I bought, although they're DJI style and slotted, produce pretty unstable flights. Unsure why, really. The props I have on now are non DJI style, but I can use the thinnest shim/adapter available and wedge them on the motor real tight and flying with those are great. At some point in the future, no time soon, I'll get some different motors so I can use my existing ones on a tri-copter project... but it's not really a big issue yet and I really have no interest in spending that money.

I'll tell you what though, I am very happy with that Mobius camera. The footage is great. I'm trying to eliminate the jello in the footage but all in all it's not super bad. I've got some ideas and some stuff laying around the house that may help eliminate it. I'll upload some footage soon.

Next on the list is getting an FPV setup. Unsure of my total flight time, but really getting the hang of flying my SK450 and even after the deadcat conversion it's flying pretty solid right now. I have a good area near me for practice, and while it's mostly open space there are a few trees here and there which would make for a good FPV challenge, just doing low flights through the tree line. Though evveenntually, need to pack the car up and hit up a nearby state park or some other nice scenic places


----------



## Aldryic C'boas

And after seeing this video... I think I'll probably start looking into these as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KZ3jgbbmI


----------



## MannDude

Aldryic C said:


> And after seeing this video... I think I'll probably start looking into these as well.
> 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KZ3jgbbmI


Do it. It's quite fun and I'm happy to find a hobby that combines my love for technology with something that is 'hands on'. 



That's the most recent update of my quad. Now have a lot of room to mount some goodies. 

I have the camera mounted where it is, because I get better / less shakey-footage there. When fine tuning the settings and getting used to the dead-cat conversion kit, I did a nose dive and broke the turnbuckles that helped prevent the front in from shaking too much in flight, so need to figure something out as an alternative. =/


----------



## FLDataTeK

Well keep in mind that both motors and props do not come very balanced so you need to balance both to get rid of the jello.

Search Youtube for videos on how to balance them.. There is two methods for motors... The vibration app on your phone and the laser pointer method.

Also to help get rid of jello some people have been using something called "Moon Gel". Its sold at music stores and is used on drum sets. Its a square pad made of material simular to the toy you used to get out of the coin operated machine that kinda looks like a hand and you throw it out and it sticks to things.

Here is a video showing it.   

http://youtu.be/5mFbmjGpp9M

That guy has alot of decent videos.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Painless360

Also on your mobious instead of recording at 1080p 30 fps change it to 720p 60 FPS and that will reduce the jello alot as its less visable at higher framerates.


----------



## ThePrimeHost

My wife got me an Parrot AR 2.0 drone the father's day before last and it's a blast.  12 - 15 min avg battery life and you fly via an android or i-device. The only real limiation is that it uses wifi for a signal as opposed to a standard radio frequency so I'm nervous about sending it up "too" high.  Still, the first person real time view is pretty awesome.

Parrot's "Bebop" drone should be out later this year and they offer a wifi extender.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZdSMAG90Rs


----------



## MannDude

I've got a good package coming today. Need to cobble and wire everything in tomorrow when I have the time... Time for some backyard FPV  (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GGC60N2/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 , http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G3ED5VS/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and of course: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BIUZ99S/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Probably use laptop or bring a monitor out to the garage for the video feed, also have a little 7" screen out there already that can be used for this as well. May eventually get something a bit more dedicated for FPV, but for now this is just for testing.

Also got a good box of props from http://www.quadrysteria.com/ . I ordered on Sunday, they had it shipped by noon Monday and it traveled across the country and made it to me by Wednesday. HobbyKing probably wouldn't have even shipped by the time these were delivered.


----------



## HalfEatenPie

FLDataTeK said:


> Well my deadcat frame came in and I was able to build it up today.
> 
> First few test flights were pretty good, a little twichy so some tuning will need to be done.
> 
> Here are a few pics of the new frame.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The two antenna for the controller RX and then the video TX antenna in the back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And its final form...


Dead cat frame eh?

The design reminds me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMfgJo1I010


----------



## MannDude

Tomorrow's project: FPV


----------



## FLDataTeK

MannDude said:


> Tomorrow's project: FPV



That is the same video rx/tx set I have.  I flew right at 1/3 of a mile (1750 feet) with it on Friday. I am still using the crappy stock whip antenna. But it works well.

Oh and a new addition has arrived... Still waiting on some parts so I can start the build.

Here is my Carbon Fiber Mini-H Quad frame..  



If your looking for a cheap set of goggles get the HobbyKing DIY goggles.. For $29 you can't beat it.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=53706&aff=1289329

if you want to see my video of my slightly modified set check out the video.  

http://youtu.be/THtC_sVnRko


----------



## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> That is the same video rx/tx set I have.  I flew right at 1/3 of a mile (1750 feet) with it on Friday. I am still using the crappy stock whip antenna. But it works well.
> 
> Oh and a new addition has arrived... Still waiting on some parts so I can start the build.
> 
> Here is my Carbon Fiber Mini-H Quad frame..
> 
> 
> 
> If your looking for a cheap set of goggles get the HobbyKing DIY goggles.. For $29 you can't beat it.
> 
> http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=53706&aff=1289329
> 
> if you want to see my video of my slightly modified set check out the video.
> 
> http://youtu.be/THtC_sVnRko



Nice! Good looking frame, too. Looking forward to seeing it all built up. Eventually I'm either going to build an FPV mini-quad, or a tricopter. I'm leaning towards the min-quad because, gosh, they just look like so much damn fun!

I had a little crash today that actually did something for me that I intended to do myself. My quad is out in the garage or I'd snap a picture, but that front plate on the deadcat conversion... never was a big fan of it's size. I mount my Mobius above it, and it gets a good shot without propellers in the video. Anyhow, was having some fun today doing fast, low flying across the field. Decided to film one, and well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtY-2pL8v3E

Guess I got a little brave and a little too low. Only made it like 30 feet before I crashed... haha. Was having some high speed fun today. Anyhow, that crash was caused by that front plate on the deadcat conversion from snagging the ground. It broke clean off about 2" up from the rest of the frame and I was planning on actually cutting it off in about that same spot, so I'm not mad. Still have plenty of room to mount what I want on the remainder of the plate if I wish, like my FPV camera. Since the weather was nice today, and supposed to rain tomorrow I figured I'll tinker on the FPV setup then. 

EDIT: Unsure why YouTube kills the video quality so much. Raw footage looks good on my PC, even the exported file (though noticeably less nice) looks decent. YT, even in HD looks like shit


----------



## FLDataTeK

Yep you needed to throttle up some to maintain your altitude.

At least it broke off where you were gonna cut it anyways.

Yeah Youtube jacks with the video quality when it reencodes the video.


----------



## MannDude

FLDataTeK said:


> Yep you needed to throttle up some to maintain your altitude.
> 
> At least it broke off where you were gonna cut it anyways.
> 
> Yeah Youtube jacks with the video quality when it reencodes the video.


Yeah, I know. The point was to go fast and low. I just.... got too low 

Update:





The three blade props are on there right now as they're the only ones I have that are work out a big box of props I recently purchased... The other ones don't work due to the motors I have. I had some cheap Gemfans that worked fine with the DJI style motors even though they weren't DJI props... just using the shim/adapters that come with them for a snug fit. The new box of props, ha. Have some 10X4.7's (for example) that are too thick. They fit on the motor shaft fine but I can't tighten them down as only about two threads stick up above them. Then, I got some carbon mixed 9X4.5's.... the opening on the bottom of those are too _small_ to fit over the raised area that all other props fit snuggly over (with or without an adapter/shim)... Also got some 9X4.7's with the same problem as the 10X4.7's (too thick). These tri-blade ones are nice though. I know they're not as effecient, but they work.

I have a prop balancer, but of course it itself is unbalanced so right now it's absolutely useless until I can get it balanced. Frustrating hobby sometimes.

Since it was around 11PM when I got FPV working and it had just rained, tomorrow I'll be having my FPV maiden flight. Tested the range earlier by walking down the alley behind my house and walked two blocks. My laptop/ground-station was inside the garage and the transmitter/camera signal would have been inbetween a person, trees and perhaps a shed or two. Didn't go any further but likely could have.

You can also see where the plate broke off in my last crash... it was pretty clean of a break but I'd had prefer it broke off just a little further up. Next on the to-do list is likely get new motors so I can stop being limited in prop selection and save mine for a tricopter build or something. Other than that, all I want to do is build a gimbal for my mobius and I'll be pretty happy.


----------



## MannDude

Just had my first FPV flight...

It's different. Will be better this weekend when I can drag some chairs and table out to the field because it was a weird setup this evening. Surprised I can stream back to my laptop with no lag, and even capture the stream at the same time. I may upload a snip of the FPV capture.


----------



## FLDataTeK

Here is one of my flights with my mini... Man that thing is fun...

Already broke an arm...    But have another frame on the way so I will have spare parts.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVeJLQfExho


----------



## MannDude

At 1:51 and 3:29 I yelled, "Ohh!!" Some close calls


----------



## FLDataTeK

MannDude said:


> At 1:51 and 3:29 I yelled, "Ohh!!" Some close calls


LOL yeah a little close..

But this little quad has tons of power to punch out pretty fast. 

I got some 6" props in the mail today that should add 150 grams more thrust per motor than the 5x3 props I am running now.  Then the next quest is to bump up to 4S batteries for even more power.

Your quad is looking good.. How you liking the FPV experience?  Takes a little getting used too.


----------



## MannDude

Had some fun today...







Got another battery on the way, too. Got a 4500 mAh pack to try out from eBay... unknown brand (http://www.ebay.com/itm/161374696520?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649) , so will see how it goes...


----------



## catatonic

BBC Click had an episode on drones yesterday. iPlayer link


----------



## MannDude

Gimbal and skids on the way.


----------



## nunim

What's the total cost of putting one of these together, including camera?


----------



## MannDude

nunim said:


> What's the total cost of putting one of these together, including camera?


Depends greatly... I'd have a few hundred to drop to get started and a lot of patience. I swear, nothing comes with instructions and something you may think is relatively simple takes hours of research to get it to work properly. I think that's half the fun, though. I'm not for sure what I have in mine, money wise. I'd rather not know.

Speaking of money and money-pits:



Some new updates. Namely, 4 new motors. I couldn't stand the damn Multistar ones since the shaft was cut for DJI style props. I was having issues getting proper fitting on them, even when I purchased DJI specific props. Pain in the ass. Had a box of props that I couldn't properly use, so replaced them with Sunnksky 960kv one. This also allowed me to use some 10X4.7 props that did not work on the old motors as the hub is too tall. It's a tight fit, but they work with these motors. (The old motors I will probably use on a tri-copter build).

Other upgrade includes two new items that arrived today that I am excited about: Landing skid, and the Tarot 2D gimbal for the GoPro, but I purchased a 3D printed Mobius adapter for it.

MUCH FRUSTRATION today, when like most things.... shit just doesn't work as advertised. Very frustrating. The seller of the gimbal specifically advertises and recommends the landing skid for use on any non-DJI Phantom craft. So I think, "Awesome! They're _made_ for each other. This is the obvious landing skid for me since it so clearly works with this gimbal without issue!"

Well, it works, but not after some frustration. See below:



Obviously it was intended to be used with much larger booms that are spaced closer together_. _So, that's one way for me to not re-order things from your eBay store by exaggerating the compatibility of one item just to sell different item it supposedly works with great. Not a huge deal, I've come to expect this with this hobby and as usual, had to craft my own solution. The solution included cutting up the rubber end pieces / caps for the end of the booms as they were obviously thicker than the boom itself, wrap those fuckers in duct-tape strips to make them even thicker, disregard assembly instructions for the skids and use one piece to place in front of the gimbal with me squeezing the two booms in the front to make them narrower/closer together while I tightened down the fasteners. So now, the gimbal is on there in a fashion I'd consider to be semi-safe. I don't expect it to fall off in flight now, and may secure it further with a combination of cussing, zip-ties, anger, and glue. 

Oh yeah, did I mention the landing skid doesn't assemble directly out of the box? I had to sand the booms down to try to get them to fit. When that didn't work, I had to use my knife to shave a bit of material out of the 'clips' so I could assemble the bottom of the legs. Up top, they worked without modification. Down below, the 'clips' were designed for slightly smaller diameter booms or something. Always something!

So now I get figure out how to get the gimbal working. The one page document that arrived with it that is in Chinese with very very vague English words on it does not help. Luckily I watched YouTube video for assembly, and now need to get it powered on the first time and tested. With that said, wish me luck


----------



## MannDude

Went and flew at an AMA field today. No one was there, I was hoping someone would ask if I was a member so I could flash my card. Oh well. First time I've been there and it was fun!



Was trying FPV out again, had my Mobius on my gimbal and my father's SJ4000 up top.



Nice field. I can't wait to fly there when I get around to building a FPV glider! 



Our setups. Mine is the larger one, had to swap out props after a crash... sort of hard to land with the landing skid attatched when you're landing far from you. I didn't realize I was still moving forward so when I had come to the ground, flipped forward and broke a prop. Lot easier to land near myself...


----------



## MannDude

Time to build a miniquad!

I want my big quad to just be stable, slow, and used for aerial photography and filming. This miniquad is going to be something I can fly fast and abuse!

Just ordered this frame last night: http://www.ebay.com/itm/390928742118?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I've got a ton of nylon screws, nuts and fasteners. Will use those instead of what is included so crashes will break the connections instead of breaking the actual arms and what not. My father who is into this stuff as well is actually building a mini-quad now too... so on the weekends we'll have to get together and race them somewhere


----------



## NullMind

I have been resisting to get myself a frame to build or a RTR, last time I got into RC and RC Choppers it cost me a pretty penny, I tend to get obsessed 

But the DJI Phantom has been calling my name ...


----------



## MannDude

NullMind said:


> I have been resisting to get myself a frame to build or a RTR, last time I got into RC and RC Choppers it cost me a pretty penny, I tend to get obsessed
> 
> But the DJI Phantom has been calling my name ...


If you like to tinker, build one. 

I just started building a new quad today, a little FPV mini quad. Going to use this for FPV racing while wearing video goggles and just having fun flying around fast 

Still a work in progress as I've only got the frame in today. Everything else shown is just there for an example of placement.



Side by side my other one (Though I have removed the landing skid and gimbal as I was re-adjusting the settings over the weekend for better flight)


----------



## MannDude

My soldering sucks. I need more practice and better tools though.

Had to use my $8 soldering iron as the one I normally use was broke, and that board is about the size of a half-dollar coin. That's just the battery leads for the mini-quad, I didn't take a photo of the soldered on xt60 connector on the other end, but I used shrink wrap over those so you'd not be able to see the solder joint anyway.

My solder job looks bad but it'll work. I'll do more soldering on it later, still no ESCs yet which is the bulk of the work but I can connect some leads for LED lights and solder the pins on the Naze32 FC board. It's just the board and a bag of pins like this (not my photo, but too lazy to get mine out and take a photo. Will share end-result later)


----------



## Francisco

Honestly it looks like your solder isn't getting hot enough or that you're heating the wrong part 

Isn't it that you're supposed to heat the points and not the component/wire, that way you don't damage it?

This is all very tempting but like @NullMind i'd probably blow a ton of cash just because

i'd obsess over it for a while.

Francisco


----------



## MannDude

Francisco said:


> Honestly it looks like your solder isn't getting hot enough or that you're heating the wrong part
> 
> 
> Isn't it that you're supposed to heat the points and not the component/wire, that way you don't damage it?
> 
> 
> This is all very tempting but like @NullMind i'd probably blow a ton of cash just because
> 
> 
> i'd obsess over it for a while.
> 
> 
> Francisco


Well, I was stuck using my $8 crappy soldering iron instead of the big solder gun. Since it was such a small part what I was doing, and it's probably not proper was heating a bead up and then trying to 'paint it on', so to speak to spread it out. I was trying to be very careful to not get too much on or have the positive and negative sides touch.

I've honestly never really looked into it or read or watched and instruction. I just hold the part I am soldering in a 3rd arm device, heat the iron/gun up until it'll melt the solder and then heat up the exposed wire a bit and get some solder mixed in and solder that bitch to wherever it's going. On my big quad it seemed to work, but I had a better soldering iron and larger parts and areas. Most of that was just soldering bullet connectors on cables though.

I can always redo it if needed. I'm investing in a proper soldering station soon since it's become apparent it's something I'm going to need.

Anyhow, speaking of quads: My big one was flying real well today. Finally got it tuned well and balanced properly with the gimbal/camera and skid on it. Here are some still frames taken from recorded video earlier:


----------



## MannDude

Maiden flight is tomorrow on my newly built FPV mini quad!

Still gotta tune the settings but the wiring and build is good to go, the rest is software side. Glad that soldering is done, spent like 5 damn hours doing that. It still looks rough but I didn't trim wires to size. Will do that some other time.

All I gotta do now is ensure that the motors are spinning the right way, heat shrink over the connectors, zip tie stuff down to make it look cleaner, update the firmware on the FC board and pray that it doesn't fly away on me tomorrow!


----------



## MannDude

Turns out my father and I both got our miniquads in the air the same weekend. I had my first succesful maiden yesterday, his was today. We flew earlier and I took this of our minis next to each other:



Mine on the left, his on the right. 

These mini quads are hella fun.


----------



## MannDude

Here is a still from today's earlier FPV flight. Was my first 'real' FPV flight where I couldn't see the quad at all even if I wanted to, navigated only from live video feed that was being transmitted to my laptop.



I also learned how to do barrel rolls today. 

Video later.


----------



## MannDude




----------



## nunim

Seems no one is able to give me an approximate cost...  I see pre-built models like the Parrot for around $300 on Amazon but I'd assume that it's inferior in performance/functionality compared to what you built.  

Is building from parts anywhere near comparable..?  

What do the cameras run for? I believe that would be most expensive single component. 

I know some of the pre-built models use Blueooth/WIFI to communicate with the tablet/phone/PC, which makes me think the range would be pretty poor.

Are the self-built models using a 2.4GHz wireless camera?  What about controls, are you using a standard 4 channel hobby controller or some sort of wireless PC/tablet interface?  What's the max range for video/control like?  

I would assume you need the video signal in order to pilot the drone beyond visual range/behind an obstruction so the effective range would be limited by video.

I'm interested in building one, as people keep bugging me for Christmas ideas(this or a 3D printer), seems like it'd make a nice hobby.

One more question, how's the durability in regards to landing?  I'm sure that everyone's had some failed landings.  Are drones like one of those cheap plastic helicopters that are busted after a hard landing or two?

Do you know of a good how-to online or parts guide?


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## MannDude

nunim said:


> Seems no one is able to give me an approximate cost...  I see pre-built models like the Parrot for around $300 on Amazon but I'd assume that it's inferior in performance/functionality compared to what you built.
> 
> Is building from parts anywhere near comparable..?
> 
> What do the cameras run for? I believe that would be most expensive single component.
> 
> I know some of the pre-built models use Blueooth/WIFI to communicate with the tablet/phone/PC, which makes me think the range would be pretty poor.
> 
> Are the self-built models using a 2.4GHz wireless camera?  What about controls, are you using a standard 4 channel hobby controller or some sort of wireless PC/tablet interface?  What's the max range for video/control like?
> 
> I would assume you need the video signal in order to pilot the drone beyond visual range/behind an obstruction so the effective range would be limited by video.
> 
> I'm interested in building one, as people keep bugging me for Christmas ideas(this or a 3D printer), seems like it'd make a nice hobby.
> 
> One more question, how's the durability in regards to landing?  I'm sure that everyone's had some failed landings.  Are drones like one of those cheap plastic helicopters that are busted after a hard landing or two?
> 
> Do you know of a good how-to online or parts guide?



I'll try to give a run down of my mini-quad since it was most recently built. The cost may differ slightly, this is from memory:


Carbon fiber frame: $50 (Some cheaper, some more expensive)
Motors: $25~ each, X4 (Some cheaper, some more expensive. I bought a premium brand motor on sale for 40% off)
Flight controller: $25~ (A couple are cheaper, some much more expensive. This is a pretty basic flight controller that doesn't have all the bells and whistles)
Power Distribution Board: $8 (Optional, but very useful. You can solder everything together without it if you want, but I prefer using one)
ESC/Electronic Speed Controlers: I think these were $15 each, X4. (One for each motor. Some cheaper, some more expensive)
FPV Camera: $30~, I think. It's a Sony CCD 600TVL camera. If you have an old surveilance camera, you can yank the camera and sensor from it, it's the same.
HD Camera: $80 (1080P Mobius action camera is what I have. GoPros are more expensive. Video quality is similar in good light, GoPro has better transitions from light to shadow, but didn't seem worth the extra cost to me).
Propellers: Cheap. You're going to want to buy a ton of them anyway. The props for a mini quad are about a dollar a pop or something like.
FPV transmitter/receiver: I bought a $65 5.8Ghz Boscam package from Amazon and got some cloverleaf antennas for about $30 to replace the whip antennas that were included.
Radio/receiver: I bought a real low end, probably as low as you can go, $30~ combo from Hobby King. I'm going to upgrade this soon though as I need more channels and want to use it interchangeably between devices as I'll soon be building an FPV glider too. These can be as cheap as what I have to hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

You'll also need odds and ends, things like additional batteries, good battery charger, I recommend a LiPo bag for safe storage of batteries, soldering iron and accessories if you don't already have one/some, things like heat shrink and bullet connectors, other random connectors like xt60 connectors and JST connectors, random wire gauges, etc. A _good_ propeller balancer is a must on a big quad. Makes the world of difference in flight.

Some of that I had on my big quad and pulled off to put on the mini (FPV gear), some of it I share with it (camera and radio receiver) and what not. The propellers on the big quad are more expensive, but costs should be about the same, give or take.

You can also build your own frame out of hobby wood and what not too. You're going to crash, break props and arms and what not on a big quad. I've already abused the mini quad pretty good and it's so small and stiff and strong that it's not had any issues.

I'd get a cheap one from Amazon to start with, something you can learn on and abuse. I'd rather break an $80 toy than break/lose/destroy my first custom built one. I flew my toy one around for a bit before I decided to dive in and it certainly helped, even though I broke an arm on my big quad the first day I flew it. Nothing some zipties and wooden dowels couldn't fix. I later bought another frame for spare parts, but haven't broken any arms since then... but still good to have. Never know!


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## MannDude

Should check out: http://www.reddit.com/r/multicopter which is a pretty good resource and helped get me started and acquainted with the hobby.

It's pretty fun. I go over to my father's on the weekends and we usually fly around since he's into it to (got me into it, actually). Makes for a good time. Both of us have a 450 sized quad and a small 250 sized quad. We've been talking about doing some FPV racing, though I need a better FPV setup since I use my laptop via a USB/AV converter... he just ordered some FPV goggles and I'll probably tear apart an old 7" portable DVD player so I can yank out the screen and figure out how to wire it into a new case to display real-time flight footage.


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## nunim

MannDude said:


> Should check out: http://www.reddit.com/r/multicopter which is a pretty good resource and helped get me started and acquainted with the hobby.
> 
> It's pretty fun. I go over to my father's on the weekends and we usually fly around since he's into it to (got me into it, actually). Makes for a good time. Both of us have a 450 sized quad and a small 250 sized quad. We've been talking about doing some FPV racing, though I need a better FPV setup since I use my laptop via a USB/AV converter... he just ordered some FPV goggles and I'll probably tear apart an old 7" portable DVD player so I can yank out the screen and figure out how to wire it into a new case to display real-time flight footage.


Thanks for the information, there's a ton that I'd  need to research.

What's the range like on your mini-quad?  Are you using a wireless camera transmitter, does it have a HDMI output or something?

What's the typical flight time/charge time for a mini quad?


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## TurnkeyInternet

those look awesome.  I got hooked almost 2 year ago when watching "King of the Nerds" on TBS and they had a competition flying Parrot AR DRone's around an obstacle course using an iphone  and FPV on the iphone.  After breaking and reparing 2 of them over the years, i'm planning to graduate up to to something more commercial grade.  Then as I look out the window today, its snowing in NY so think that dream may be waiting for spring.


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## MannDude

So, I've got a sonar module to play with now and got a couple motor servos that I may use to control the angle of the FPV camera. Got a couple open aux channels that I can use to (hopefully) turn it left/right or up/down when in flight. Might be more practical on my big quad than my small quad but will be fun to play with.

Trying now to determine why my Mobius is acting like it's dead. Took it apart, checked the ribbon cables and anything soldered within incase anything came disconnected. I do believe it was working fine but last month I was flying fast and low in the woods and came in contact with the ground. The quad did a few somersaults and when I went back inside to change the broken propellers and review the footage, I noticed it hadn't recorded anything. After that it just has been acting like there was a bad firmware update but I hadn't touched the firmware on the camera, so unsure what happened. Still looking into it. =/


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## MannDude

Got this sweet pistol case for Christmas that makes for a good quad holder. Should be much easier to move it around safely. Also got that directional antena which will be fun to play with, will need to do some range tests. I may add a screen to the box also, behind the top layer of foam and mod the entire box for FPV operations. We'll see though.


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## MannDude

Just got back in from flying. Waiting for some of those cheap Quantum FPV goggles to arrive, but was able to use a pair belonging to someone else today and was flying FPV with those. Still a bit strange flying this way and I need to get things locked in more as maintaining consistent altitude is difficult...

I think this weekend if I find the time I'll dust off the sonar module I have and solder some stuff together and get it working. Ideally I'll set a limit of 2 or 3 feet so that I can avoid the ground when flying FPV and doing low proximity flights. I've got some trees in a field near me that are spaced about 8 feet apart from each other that I was flying through. When turning around to pass back through them my altitude always drops and I ht the ground earlier, breaking a prop. =/


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## MannDude

FPV goggles will be here on Monday. Woop woop. Some stuff from today...


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## MannDude

I need to dust off the big quad since it has the gimbal and would be a lot better for aerial photos but had fun today messing around in the field not far from me and flying the mini around.


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## MannDude

I won't let this thread die.

I did this earlier on my lunch break. Got a new 1.8mm lense in the mail today for a CCD camera. Put it on my little Sony 700TVL CCD camera on my quadcopter that I use for FPV. I like the results!

Stock wideangle lense:



New fisheye lense:



And yes, that is my bathroom, lol.

I need to cut some of the hotglue from the fresnel lense inserted in the body of these DIY FPV goggles I'm working with.


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## MannDude

These goggles are hilarious. I need to cut all the wires to length and resolder the connections and cut off some of that wire weight. I'm not even going to attempt to mount a battery to this beast and will be alright with keeping it in a shirt or jacket pocket.

Talk about ghetto:


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## fixidixi

what the hell is that ^^?


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## clarity

That's him wearing the googles.


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## MannDude

fixidixi said:


> what the hell is that ^^?


There is a 4.3" screen in the black box, connected to a 5.8Ghz receiver for video feed. My quadcopter has a little Sony CCD camera board like the one shown below that is wired to a transmitter.

This allows me to fly and navigate the quadcopter based on 'what it sees' instead of my direct line of sight. Good for racing and when flying outside of your direct light of sight as well.



Previously was streaming the data back to my latop for FPV but there is a bit of a delay when doing so since I was using a USB a/v device.


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## MannDude

I've had this sonar module for about 4 months now. Since this weekend will be too cold to fly I figure I'll work on cleaning up the wiring on the FPV goggles and getting this wired up and configured.

I like how the module looks like Johny 5....



It should be actually quite easy to get setup and configure. Just need to solder some leads from those 4 pins to pre-existing pins on the flight control board. The software I use to tune/configure/tweak settings on that board is already pre-configured to accept sonar modules so it should (hopefully) be pretty straight forward.

This will be used to assist with collision avoidance with... the ground. 

Unsure how fast/responsive it will be but I'm hoping that when doing low proximity flying this will assist maintaining some minimal distance from the ground and want to do some tests where hills/slopes are invovled.

I've seen tests where this same module was used to have a quad 'climb stairs' without additional throttle input from the operator to make it increase it's height. It just detects the distance from the ground and automatically adjusts motor speed to maintain a set distance.


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## yomero

I didn't know this thread existed. Sounds like really funny stuff.

I am not good doing this kind of things, but I wonder if I can get some of this pieces at Mexico to build something like that


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## MannDude

yomero said:


> I didn't know this thread existed. Sounds like really funny stuff.
> 
> I am not good doing this kind of things, but I wonder if I can get some of this pieces at Mexico to build something like that


I'm sure you can find a little mini quadcopter toy that is basic to get you started. If you have fun with that then you can certainly build your own. I'm surprised by how simple it is and how large of an RC community exists for such a thing. It's a lot of fun and will teach you some new skills. I know a little bit about electricity and how to solder now, for example. Those are things I did not know before. Now I'm interested in radio frequencies and would even like to get  into Amateur/HAM Radio. 

If I can do it, anyone can. Tons to learn, but you don't need to know it all to get off the ground.


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## MannDude

Happy with this one.

Also flew through a lot of trees today. Broke a lot of props but pushed myself. Went under some benches too


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## splitice

Took my little quadcopter out for some night flying with a mate who just got a new quadcopter (one of many). There was a bit of wind later in the night (there was a few trips between home to charge and to the near by park) and I managed to get picked up by the wind (TBH I was up a bit too high for the conditions and descending rapidly and moving sideways trying to avoid the road) and stuck reasonably high in a tree.

Got it down in true engineering fashion (and, with a fair bit of swearing).

The photos are a but poor, Nexus 5 has a pretty poor camera in low light.












My review for this drone should really be the battery lasts a long time idle, i.e when stuck in a tree.


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## MannDude

Did you buy a completed quadcopter or build one? If completed, what did you buy?

I've not flown in forever. I'd still like to build an octo-copter... They're much more reliable in high winds.


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## splitice

I bought a Syma X5C, a cheap chinese unit.






I might get something more serious one day, but for now this is quite fun enough.


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## ChrisM

I am really wanting to build a Quadcopter now for some reason. 

Don't know where I would fly it though since I moved to Alabama.


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## PureVoltage

I've got a few different drones however a great one is the following.

http://coptershop.com/collections/drones/products/estes-proto-x-nano-r-c-quadcopter

Very cheap and has the same controls like the larger versions minus a camera however at $30 it's a blast.

I have the AR.drone2.0 and it's not nearly as fun as the little ones. It's amazing how much our technology has advanced over the years.


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## MannDude

Was wondering why I couldn't get FPV to work. Looks like a wire broke and shorted on my carbon frame that leads to the transmitter. Uhg. These are tiny little wires with virtually no slack and soldering them are a PITA.

Getting my stuff charged up though now so I can get a flight in later.


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## ChrisM

Drone Registration it's coming!

http://gizmodo.com/report-drone-owners-will-now-have-to-register-with-the-1737038255


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