my project of the past few months

[firehopper]

<< open source quadcopter.

http://aeroquad.com << if you want to check out what I followed, or sourcecode or even start your own.

[Mechatrommer]

nice! but just what happen to the copter... if it lost communication with remote controller? (suddenly, temporarily or permanently out of RF range) its the thing thats always in my mind for this type of remote control project, esp something equipped with gyro/accel and magneto meter sensed by programmable mcu.

[sonicj]

<< open source quadcopter.

http://aeroquad.com << if you want to check out what I followed, or sourcecode or even start your own.

good job! building something like this is a big commitment. a lot of time and research even if you follow a well documented project! congrats!

thats a big bird! what size motors / battery / esc did you go with?

i haven't started building a quad/tri yet... i have everything but the 3 or 4 matching motors. i'm leaning toward Shrediquette DLX. his DLXm is insane! i would build, but im trying to stick with 3s1p 2000mah sized models. cheaper if everything uses the same battery!
-sj

[sonicj]

nice! but just what happen to the copter... if it lost communication with remote controller? (suddenly, temporarily or permanently out of RF range) its the thing thats always in my mind for this type of remote control project, esp something equipped with gyro/accel and magneto meter sensed by programmable mcu.

the rf links are usually not the weak point. even the low end hobby grade gear will exceed visual range. if the link is dropped, it recovers very quickly in most cases. with diversity, dropouts are very rare. most often, its mechanically induced electrical failure that causes crashes. ie: wire fatigue, wicking, cold solder joints, connector vibrated out, poor crimping, etc.

heres a vid of my dad flying a 450 with mid-air loss of power. i think static was the culprit.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showatt.php?attachmentid=2727456&d=1251700771

[Mechatrommer]

the rf links are usually not the weak point.

just as contingency plan, so you have something to answer instead of diverting the question to the other fault. who knows, one transistor/component in the controller might fail. Cheers i have one suggestion, but until after the OP suggesting something, i would like to hear from him... the original maker.

[firehopper]

nice! but just what happen to the copter... if it lost communication with remote controller? (suddenly, temporarily or permanently out of RF range) its the thing thats always in my mind for this type of remote control project, esp something equipped with gyro/accel and magneto meter sensed by programmable mcu.

that all depends on the brand of controller.. some have built in failsafes, some do not, this one has a built in failsafe, but on most it will shut down and drop like a rock.

[firehopper]

<< open source quadcopter.

http://aeroquad.com << if you want to check out what I followed, or sourcecode or even start your own.

good job! building something like this is a big commitment. a lot of time and research even if you follow a well documented project! congrats!

thats a big bird! what size motors / battery / esc did you go with?

its a very big bird, from one prop tip to another proptip is roughly 60 inches. weighs in at roughly 2 lbs, and runs on 2 batteries, one to power just the esc's and motors, the other to power the Arduino mega, sensors, and rx.

motor battery is a turnigy 3s1p 3600mah 20-30c discharge battery.
controller battery is a unknown recycled 2 cell 2500 mah lipo I got out of something else.

Esc's are 4 rctimer 30 amp airplane esc's the props are APC 12x3.8 slow flyers, 2 normal props and 2 pusher props.

the motors are 4 tunigy 2217 16 turn 1050kv motors. the rest of my parts are mostly the same as the stuff recommended on the aeroquad site,
I'm using the older 1.7 aeroquad shield and sensors, need to upgrade eventually to the 2.0 mega shield since I'm using the mega in this, the mega shield is gonna run me another $200 for it and all the sensors to fill it out. I can get by with a smaller number of sensors at first though. and I might do that and get the extra sensors later. but first I want to get it flying nice like this
 

i haven't started building a quad/tri yet... i have everything but the 3 or 4 matching motors. i'm leaning toward Shrediquette DLX. his DLXm is insane! i would build, but im trying to stick with 3s1p 2000mah sized models. cheaper if everything uses the same battery!
-sj

[firehopper]

good job! building something like this is a big commitment. a lot of time and research even if you follow a well documented project! congrats!

it was a big commitment, most of it was waiting for parts, I was on hold for 4 months waiting for esc's

roughly 20 hours was spent when I did have all the parts putting it together. I'm still not 100% pleased with it, the booms wiggle back and forth a bit in the center pvc holder. so I have to figure out how I'm gonna fix that. (Maybe wood plugs in each end to give the bolts something to squish against. or fill it with epoxy. not sure yet.

[Mechatrommer]

"but on most it will shut down and drop like a rock"

well, thats the answer! let me tell you a secret that i've keep holding in my mind. why dont you program the Arduino/receiver, to guide the copter back home in case no RF transmission is detected. assuming from its calculation that even if it reach the home and still no rf, then it will slowly land. that could be a cool failsafe feature on the copter/receiver side to tell the world, but programming effort is required! if it want to drop, let it drop at home, sure you dont want it to drop anywhere else that the kid found it think santa has give him a gift toy from the sky. just a thought

[Time]

You generally dont see someone flying their quadcopter 100 feet in the air 400 yards away.  They are meant to be operated with high precision in tight quarters usually.

[Mechatrommer]

the failsafe can detect battery depletion too! and can you increase the movement response? something like this ... haha, Time did it first! i was about to provide the link from a thread here https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=914.msg11502#msg11502

[firehopper]

"but on most it will shut down and drop like a rock"

well, thats the answer! let me tell you a secret that i've keep holding in my mind. why dont you program the Arduino/receiver, to guide the copter back home in case no RF transmission is detected. assuming from its calculation that even if it reach the home and still no rf, then it will slowly land. that could be a cool failsafe feature on the copter/receiver side to tell the world, but programming effort is required! if it want to drop, let it drop at home, sure you dont want it to drop anywhere else that the kid found it think santa has give him a gift toy from the sky. just a thought

eventually it could do that, mine does not have the required sensors to do that yet.

[sonicj]

good job! building something like this is a big commitment. a lot of time and research even if you follow a well documented project! congrats!

it was a big commitment, most of it was waiting for parts, I was on hold for 4 months waiting for esc's

roughly 20 hours was spent when I did have all the parts putting it together. I'm still not 100% pleased with it, the booms wiggle back and forth a bit in the center pvc holder. so I have to figure out how I'm gonna fix that. (Maybe wood plugs in each end to give the bolts something to squish against. or fill it with epoxy. not sure yet.

cool. do you have a equipment list for your build?  i thought aeroquad merged with arducopter?

i have some ideas for the center hub for mine, i just need a mill. 
-sj

[firehopper]

cool. do you have a equipment list for your build?  i thought aeroquad merged with arducopter?

i have some ideas for the center hub for mine, i just need a mill. 
-sj

lets see, 4 trex 600 clone tailbooms, 1 - 1/2 pvc 4 way, 1 aluminum project lid from rs, 1 thin plywood board 1/8th inch thick, 1 trex 600 clone landing gear.
3/4" aluminum c rail.
1 arduino mega
1 aeroquad shield 1.7
1 sparkfun 5dof imu
1 sparkfun ixz500
4 rctimer 30 amp brushless esc's
4 turnigy 2217 16 turn 1050kv brushless motors
2 12x3.8 slow flyer apc props
2 12x3.8 slow flyer pusher apc props
1 turnigy 3cell 3600mah 25c battery.


then for controll you just need a 6 chan rc transmitter/reciever combo, dont matter what freq, or even how fancy it is. a standard bare bones non computer will work just fine.

I'm using a Hitec Aurora 9 9 chan 2.4ghz model, cause thats what I had on hand

[PetrosA]

You generally dont see someone flying their quadcopter 100 feet in the air 400 yards away.  They are meant to be operated with high precision in tight quarters usually.

I guess we all have our preconceived notions of what people do with them. That video looks like a DoD research ad to me . Most of the people I know who build quad copters are photographers looking to do unique panoramas and group portraits. I've seen some really neat footage taken with high quality cameras in both video mode and panorama mode. Seeing from the horizon to the ground with no obstructions through a 6mm lens is pretty cool!

Another oops on my part. Turns out most of the copters my friends are using are octocopters - not quad copters.

[.o:0|O|0:o.]

Nice stuff! How high can these things fly? I would love to build something like that.

(At one point I was going to make some form of weather balloon with camera, sensors and radio link, but I live in a busy city under a flight path and you have to inform the authorities if you want to launch something into the airspace...)

Excellent stuff.

.o:0|O|0:o.

[sonicj]

Nice stuff! How high can these things fly? I would love to build something like that.

well beyond visual range.

not sure about fpv w/quad... probably about the same as a plane, a couple thousand feet if you are good.
-sj

[sonicj]

lets see, 4 trex 600 clone tailbooms, 1 - 1/2 pvc 4 way, 1 aluminum project lid from rs, 1 thin plywood board 1/8th inch thick, 1 trex 600 clone landing gear.
3/4" aluminum c rail.
1 arduino mega
1 aeroquad shield 1.7
1 sparkfun 5dof imu
1 sparkfun ixz500
4 rctimer 30 amp brushless esc's
4 turnigy 2217 16 turn 1050kv brushless motors
2 12x3.8 slow flyer apc props
2 12x3.8 slow flyer pusher apc props
1 turnigy 3cell 3600mah 25c battery.


then for controll you just need a 6 chan rc transmitter/reciever combo, dont matter what freq, or even how fancy it is. a standard bare bones non computer will work just fine.

I'm using a Hitec Aurora 9 9 chan 2.4ghz model, cause thats what I had on hand

thats a whole lotta bird!    i don't think i'll ever try one that big, but i would like to pick up a 600 at some point!

i take it this isn't you 1st and only model if you have an aurora... ?  i fly spektrum. its aight.
-sj

[Mechatrommer]

according to my math...
4x30amp esc = 120A
3x3.6AH batt = 10.8AH
this thing will fly only for about 10.8AH/120A = 0.09H = 5.4 minutes?
at maximum throttle, and... ideally?

[sonicj]

you don't add the mah for series cells. 3600mah = 3.6ah

120a is a max rating. id guess hes probably pulling about 40a or so. 10 min sounds about right.
-sj

[Mechatrommer]

you don't add the mah for series cells. 3600mah = 3.6ah

i thought it is 3 units in parallel, now its worst than my calc. this thing cannot do evasive action for a long time, its more towards... "comfort cruising experience" i think.

[firehopper]

thats a whole lotta bird!    i don't think i'll ever try one that big, but i would like to pick up a 600 at some point!

i take it this isn't you 1st and only model if you have an aurora... ?  i fly spektrum. its aight.
-sj

no its not
I have 2 edf jets, a cessna 182, a pterodactl, a mini ultra stick, then 3 tiny park flyers, and a tiny rc heli
I also have a spektrum dx7 for use in my park flyers and cessna

<< the one edf jet twin powered its power hungry though..
you can hear it screaming

[firehopper]

according to my math...
4x30amp esc = 120A
3x3.6AH batt = 10.8AH
this thing will fly only for about 10.8AH/120A = 0.09H = 5.4 minutes?
at maximum throttle, and... ideally?

well according to the amp meter I put on it, I was pulling about 20amps at hover.. I'll have to put it on again to make sure..
I have a eagle tree datalogger

just checked, average of about 20 amps in flight.

[sonicj]

i would turn that f15 into a lawn dart if i was on the sticks. 

so no scratch builds other than the aeroquad eh?  my best flying plane is made out of about $3 worth of dollartree foamboard.

i killed my dx7 upgrading the power regulator... everything went smooth, current consumption went from like 160mah down to like 60mah, then i pulled the probe off the battery instead of powering down with the switch. low voltage took out the eprom. 

heres a transmitter i built. its got a acrylic base & lcd now though. rf deck is a spektrum dm9. a much more "intuitive" interface.

you tried fpv yet?
-sj

[sonicj]

here ya go shafri. you'll like this one. this guy is a badass!