Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

[d_brennen]

Interesting new 250 on Banggood - Walkera Runner 250. Bit of an odd one, but a good sign imo. Walkera, although a huge RC company, usually sell toy grade multis, mostly brushed/geared and generally a bit pants (again, imo) but this is a little special. It's a modular 250 "racing quad" (their words) which is pretty much snap fit, plug and play. All the bits are also on BG, adding an OSD is as simple as plugging it into the frame/PDB. Not bad prices either, especially with the Devo 7 TX bundled.

Not my cup of tea as I enjoy the plan/build/tweak/rebuild process as much as flying, but might be a good place to point newbies too.

What does everyone think of this category of multi-rotors being consumerised?

 

[Kanifee]

That multirotor is a heartache waiting to happen, i think any newbie using that is going to be put off the hobby quite quickly.

My observations.

Camera is unprotected from crashes.

esc's are unprotected and open to the elements, no heat shrink at all and are also in quite a precarious position

The landing gear is bolted to the battery tray, a good belly scuff or tree branch is going to put all sorts of stress on the bottom section, the torque applied to the extended leg combined with the weight of the battery on the tray is going to wreak havoc on the frame.

The mobius mount again sitting proud on the top of the frame looks as though it is just asking to be ripped off or bent in a good roll.

With the inclusion of gps and the set up of the frame it looks more like a quad for poncing about in open air rather than a racer, being marketed as a racer takes this from being a good offering to a poor product IMO

As i say, it looks like a complete bargain but for it's intended market it falls far far short and does not look any where near robust enough for someone starting out in the hobby who will be crashing a lot.

quite impressed with his velcro battery system though

Looking forward to getting my 250 out at the weekend, it has been at least 4 maybe 5 weeks since i have flown. still need to finish my tuning but if i remember correctly i was actually quite close to being done last time out.




**EDIT** My bad, the 'GPS' is actualy the tx antenna, its early everything else i said stands though.

 

[gandhi]

Didn't manage to get much done last night, was hoping to maiden it today but the missus had some weird idea that I might like to sit in the sun and drink wine with her instead of sitting in a cold, dark room hunched over a soldering iron. Weird.

Just stripped down the donor 250 for it's ESC's and rx and did a component test fit/logic check.





Need to drill a couple of holes in the top cover for the antenna pigtail and the wiring for the rear LED's. There's lots of nice touches with this frame like the wiring channels, mounting and access points for the FC and PDB, socket for the XT60 with grub screws to hold it in place, location for the VTX with access to DIP switches for channel allocation in the top cover.

I also calculated the CMIX for it, as it's not completely symmetrical;



To be honest, it's so close I doubt it will make much difference but I wanted to learn how to do it anyways!

 

[d_brennen]

That multirotor is a heartache waiting to happen, i think any newbie using that is going to be put off the hobby quite quickly.

My observations.

Camera is unprotected from crashes.

esc's are unprotected and open to the elements, no heat shrink at all and are also in quite a precarious position

The landing gear is bolted to the battery tray, a good belly scuff or tree branch is going to put all sorts of stress on the bottom section, the torque applied to the extended leg combined with the weight of the battery on the tray is going to wreak havoc on the frame.

The mobius mount again sitting proud on the top of the frame looks as though it is just asking to be ripped off or bent in a good roll.

With the inclusion of gps and the set up of the frame it looks more like a quad for poncing about in open air rather than a racer, being marketed as a racer takes this from being a good offering to a poor product IMO

As i say, it looks like a complete bargain but for it's intended market it falls far far short and does not look any where near robust enough for someone starting out in the hobby who will be crashing a lot.

quite impressed with his velcro battery system though

Looking forward to getting my 250 out at the weekend, it has been at least 4 maybe 5 weeks since i have flown. still need to finish my tuning but if i remember correctly i was actually quite close to being done last time out.

**EDIT** My bad, the 'GPS' is actualy the tx antenna, its early everything else i said stands though.

Some good points. The belly tray does look a weak point but I'd argue that bare ESCs aren't a problem. I've been running naked EMAX 12a ESCs on my 250 for an age. Mobius mounts on nearly all 250s are just slapped on top and the flight cam is a cased tilt jobbie, so will likely just be knocked skewwiff in a crash.

In any case, I think it's a pretty good first try at plug and play, especially like how all the components are cased and just bolt onto the frame and plug in. Like I said before, its not something for me or probably most people who in this thread or scouring RCGroups

 

[DJMK4]

Had a little sort out on my 250 yesterday, trying to sort the FPV out, as when I fly I think its causing some white lines on the VTX output as since installing the vtx with the pigtail its loose rather than zipped down, I may still use a small zip tie.

 

[Brutal biff]

Can anyone help me with regards to fpv interference my fpv kit came from hobbyking yesterday but I'm getting intermittent interference

The screen will come up with static for 1 to 3 seconds then the picture will come up perfect for about 20 secs then repeat

I'm using this kit on a hex f550

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/..._Video_TX_RX_CP_Antennas_and_Camera_PNF_.html

thanks

 

[lolage]

Unfinished version of a video I'm working on, shot with a Phantom3 Pro.

 

[Tackle_Berry]

Also Ash, if you ping me your address I'll try and get these in the post on Monday for you....

Came today, thanks for that really appreciate it, now time to try these indestructible DAL props (once I have soldered my D4R-II jumper on)

 

[d_brennen]

Can anyone help me with regards to fpv interference my fpv kit came from hobbyking yesterday but I'm getting intermittent interference

The screen will come up with static for 1 to 3 seconds then the picture will come up perfect for about 20 secs then repeat

I'm using this kit on a hex f550

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/..._Video_TX_RX_CP_Antennas_and_Camera_PNF_.html

thanks

Are you sure your VTX and VRX are on the same channel? 5.8GHz can stomp over close by frequencies at close range. Another thought for an intermittent problem would be a lose connection somewhere. Might be worth going over all the cable connections to make sure there'd a good contact and where possible visually inspect solder joins for anything that looks wrong

 

[gandhi]

Had a little sort out on my 250 yesterday, trying to sort the FPV out, as when I fly I think its causing some white lines on the VTX output as since installing the vtx with the pigtail its loose rather than zipped down, I may still use a small zip tie.

Weirdly, the same thing happened to mine. I'm using a Boscam TS351 VTX though. Not the usual power interference of lots of little lines either but big jaggy ones. It did appear to be power related though as it increased with throttle. Never got the chance to solve it as fragged the 250 now but it started happening after a crash so I suspect a loose connection/broken something/etc.

Can anyone help me with regards to fpv interference my fpv kit came from hobbyking yesterday but I'm getting intermittent interference

The screen will come up with static for 1 to 3 seconds then the picture will come up perfect for about 20 secs then repeat

I'm using this kit on a hex f550

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/..._Video_TX_RX_CP_Antennas_and_Camera_PNF_.html

thanks

Is this whilst in flight or just sat on the ground?
Does the static fade in/out or suddenly cut out/in?
Does it increase or decrease with throttle?

If it's in flight, it's normal to lose signal if there are obstacles in the way or if you start getting multipath interference although it tends to fade in/out if that's the case. If it's suddenly cutting in or our, it could be a loose connection or a voltage drop.

 

[Brutal biff]

It's the same fault regardless if it's on the ground motors running or stopped 100 meters or 6 inches away

It's only on connector blocks at the moment as a temporary measure ill solder it up tonight see if that kills the interference

I assumed the problem would lie with everything on the copter being fed off the same battery was contemplating getting a ferrite ring on the tx supply cable

 

[DJMK4]

Weirdly, the same thing happened to mine. I'm using a Boscam TS351 VTX though. Not the usual power interference of lots of little lines either but big jaggy ones. It did appear to be power related though as it increased with throttle. Never got the chance to solve it as fragged the 250 now but it started happening after a crash so I suspect a loose connection/broken something/etc.

I think it may just maybe a case of some movement in the pigtal bulkhead where it screws on to my frame plate, maybe some glue on the bulkhead.

Also a ziptie on the vtx to stop it moving about.


Its occurred to me today that iv not flown my dji f450 in a while

 

[phantomflyer]

Any idea on the waiting time for PFAW at the mo, my application is about to be sent off

 

[doofer]

Anyone seen the (Fake) Video of the plane landing getting its Winglet destroyed by a wayward 'Drone'?

Can't link to it here as it contains a word that would make some of the moderators here swoon away in shock and horror and I'm not one of the chosen few who get away with doing stuff like that Anyway, it sure paints 'Drones' in a very bad picture for the hundreds of thousands that will see it and not immediately realise it's a fake and start screaming for immediate 'Drone' banning.

 

[Scuzi]

Anyone seen the (Fake) Video of the plane landing getting its Winglet destroyed by a wayward 'Drone'?

Can't link to it here as it contains a word that would make some of the moderators here swoon away in shock and horror and I'm not one of the chosen few who get away with doing stuff like that Anyway, it sure paints 'Drones' in a very bad picture for the hundreds of thousands that will see it and not immediately realise it's a fake and start screaming for immediate 'Drone' banning.

It's a hot topic in the world of aviation. There is a lot of activity going on to understand the risk posed by RPAS, largely driven by the significant increase in sighting reports (of blatant non-conformance) by pilots. Airport authorities and airlines are very nervous about the potential for disruption as well as collision. There are idiots out there who are either ignorant or who know the score but choose not to comply with the rules (few in this thread!) and the number and type of reports is starting to build a fairly comprehensive risk picture. It's these people who will ruin it for all of the responsible operators and it's these people who need to be reported and stopped.

 

[d_brennen]

It's the same fault regardless if it's on the ground motors running or stopped 100 meters or 6 inches away

It's only on connector blocks at the moment as a temporary measure ill solder it up tonight see if that kills the interference

I assumed the problem would lie with everything on the copter being fed off the same battery was contemplating getting a ferrite ring on the tx supply cable

Can you temporally power the cam and VTX from a dedicated battery? I see no reason why an inactive multirotor should interfere with an FPV setup, but you never know

 

[[TW]Taggart]

It's the same fault regardless if it's on the ground motors running or stopped 100 meters or 6 inches away

It's only on connector blocks at the moment as a temporary measure ill solder it up tonight see if that kills the interference

I assumed the problem would lie with everything on the copter being fed off the same battery was contemplating getting a ferrite ring on the tx supply cable

U will need a power cleaner if you run fpv and motors off the same battery. the common one runs of the balance lead http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...d_FPV_Transmitter_Power_Supply_2S_3S_4S_.html

failing that check the aerials aren't back to front(tx on rx etc)

 

[Rilot]

Any idea on the waiting time for PFAW at the mo, my application is about to be sent off

12 weeks apparently according to the guys at ARPAS.

 

[Rilot]

Anyone seen the (Fake) Video of the plane landing getting its Winglet destroyed by a wayward 'Drone'?

Can't link to it here as it contains a word that would make some of the moderators here swoon away in shock and horror and I'm not one of the chosen few who get away with doing stuff like that Anyway, it sure paints 'Drones' in a very bad picture for the hundreds of thousands that will see it and not immediately realise it's a fake and start screaming for immediate 'Drone' banning.

Yeah, seen it. It's extremely irresponsible of the person who created it. Give it a couple of days and it will be all over the Daily Mail. They don't care whether it's fake or not.

 

[Ur round next]

A picture i took today from the Inspire edited using Lightroom 6



Here is a before and after shot