Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Associate
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Runcam eagle 2 so it should take up to 36v. The VTx is a cheap chinese one (GTX226 5.8G) so maybe it's drawing too much power or something? It does get very warm. It's a relatively cheap build so I'm not suprised there are random issues cropping up...probably shouldn't have scrimped on the FC and vtx :rolleyes:

Turns out it was a power issue - spent all day today rebuilding with a regulated PDB so I have proper 5v and 12v rails for the cam and VTx respectively, works a charm now :)

Edit: spoke too soon :o:(
 
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Associate
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It dies within a minute or two. I'll do more testing today and give that a go. It doesn't even need to be flying, just plugging in with no props sitting on the desk :/

Still having fun with the cam and goggles though - goggles on, hold camera on shoulder, other arm in front of you, instant real life FPS game :)
 
Caporegime
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Haha, yeah it's amusing, can literally out it on anything as long as you don't mind a battery hanging off the back.

Does it do it with every battery? Only other thing you can do is a continuity test but I'd have expected something to fry if it was that
 
Associate
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Think i've solved it - soldered the power for the RX to the PDB 5v because the 5v on the FC SBUS was flaky. Lesson learnt: cheap chinese FCs need to be paired with a proper PDB!
 

GeX

GeX

Soldato
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Well whilst going through all the setup I realised I had no current sensor connected, and thought I'd bought a PDB without one. Turns out, I didn't and the PDB has one.
Took the stack apart again and removed 90deg pins from the FC you can see in the last picture (battery voltage monitor), added a 3 pin connector for voltage and current sense. I'm not yet keen on soldering each board wire to wire, so having a connector on the wire is handy for me.
 
Soldato
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In prep for an up coming holiday (main reason I bought the Spark) I took it out this weekend to practice flying near/over a beach, definitely not the most interesting of videos but the little drone surprised me again with its capability.

 
Soldato
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I'm off to Madeira on Saturday, and in two minds as to whether to take the Mavic. The laws are quite relaxed, pretty similar to the UK, and some of the scenery looks quite interesting. That's countered by pretty constant windy weather. I'm not too interested in video, and not sure I can be bothered for a handful of pictures.

I took it but only flew a handful of times. Good results though.

DJI_0039 by Greg Kingston, on Flickr

DJI_0036 by Greg Kingston, on Flickr

DJI_0023 by Greg Kingston, on Flickr
 
Soldato
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Had a quick bash of the mavic today (shows I need to get some filters haha!) did a gimble calibration, IMU and compass was about 150ft up I think in sight but I was watching the screen on my ipad then I thought OMG not again "bird strike" but then it sorted itself out, cant of hit anything could it? looked up immediately and didn't see any birds etc, was quite breezy but for the remainder of the flight it seemed fine.....

Could it be an issue with the gimble itself?

https://youtu.be/OS3Kdwlaur0

(sorry cant figure out how to embed the link itself)
 
Associate
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Are the any benefits from mounting the battery on top of the quad rather than underneath?
I'm down to the last bit of my build and hopefully will be taking it up for a test flight this weekend. I've been fiddling with cleanflight and got the switches and stick inputs set up. Just need to do the motor calibration, but my batteries will only arrive today.
 

GeX

GeX

Soldato
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Crash protection for the battery, maybe and that's it. I think.

Depends on the frame, with mine it can only be mounted underneath and doing that gives you a lower centre of gravity. This makes it more stable, and also when you crash it should land battery side down rather than prop side down.

Which FC are you using? I've gone with Betaflight on mine. Switch setup, I've done very similar to as described in https://youtu.be/f40mXxzU4hY?t=15m54s which gives me 'fuel' warnings and voltage readout.
 
Associate
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I'm using a sp racing evo (clone/copy/ripoff). I'm toying with switching to betaflight, but I just want to get it into the air at this point! I can always fiddle later.
I've got a switch for arming, a 3 position switch for flight mode, only set to allow angle and horizon at the moment. And another switch to set off the buzzer just because I can!

In your vid they have mounted the bat on the top. Might try there and see what I think.

Oh and I don't have a telemetry remote so can only get voltage through the swift 2's OSD

Cheers.
 
Soldato
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just bought a few pairs of different strength reading glasses for £1 each...what a difference when soldering...any uncertainty is gone, can see the board/points in perfect detail

was getting to the point of dreading soldering a connector/antenna back on the E011 but not now!
 
Soldato
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I got that exact one but it's a bit limited and the clamps are a bit strong/too jaggy for really thin wires like the ones on the tiny whoop sized camera/connector (possibly all FPV cams have very thin wires?)

magnifying glass helped but messed up coordination and was just getting stressful!.... the glasses make everything clear at a certain distance and don't mess up coordination....I obv need to go to the optician but was great to see the board in detail
 
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