I HAVE THAT EXACT USB ADAPTER!Here is my monitor/DVR setup.
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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Quadcopters and other tech toys?
- Thread starter MannDude
- Start date
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.
I am, but did not post them there. I did post on /r/multicopter and https://www.facebook.com/groups/FPVRC/
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.
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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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.
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.
It can be addicting. But lots of fun also.
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.
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.
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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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.
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.
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...
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...
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.
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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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
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.
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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..
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..