FPV Quad Build

[Exploding Fist]

Since I have all my components ordered and now I'm playing the waiting game, I would start my build thread to track my progress. The goal of this build is to construct an FPV quadcopter with two cameras (Gopro and CCD), 1.2Ghz video TX, night flying capable, and for now, a rudimentary OSD (just voltage display).

I wanted this frame to look sleek, hold a gopro up front without seeing parts of the quad, and have enough internal space to hold the number of components I'll be putting inside of this. I chose the HT-FPV frame from Hoverthings, which met all of my requirements. To keep with the theme, I'm going to be designing this to have all of the visible parts to be black, matching the frame.

Frame parts laid out:

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/frame2.jpg

Frame finished:

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/frame4.jpg

Hopefully I'll have everything but the motors and liPos next week, and the remainder the following week (I used slower shipping). After that I'll post updates on my build progress from here.

[Mark L @ FL]

With most controllers you should be able to get everything inside the main frame and arms and fairly clean and out of the way. If you need any ideas on placement let me know and I can send some pics.

[Exploding Fist]

Thanks.

I have most things imagined out, but we'll see what happens when it comes to putting it all together. The one thing I havn't done is figured out the best way to switch between cameras over RC (know a schematic for a switch?), and I still need to build those special antennas I see everywhere (I'll probably do that after I see what I get with stock).

Second I guess is where to put the GPS's to get the best signal. I want to have them near the body since putting them on a pole is just asking to lose them in a crash (and I will crash). I have one for the flight controller and one for the OSD.

[dege13]

TheFlyingRookie on YouTube has this same frame and lots of video of putting it together, trying two different motors, two different flight controllers, two different battery locations, ect. May help with your build.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFlyingRookie/videos

[Exploding Fist]

I'm in touch with a bunch of people flying with the frame including the designer (and flitelab here), so I should be okay. I saw one of these videos before, and I'll be honest, I couldn't stand listening to him talk. One of his videos is 18 minutes of him looking at a picture of a naza GPS speculating about it.

I think I'm done spending money on this thing for now at least. Buying the eagletree OSD last night was an impulse buy when I figured out how to get one for cheaper :F

I was only looking to buy Ferrite Rings :o

[dege13]

I do like watching TheFlyingRookie's videos. Sometimes I have to skip through the video. The Naza GPS video was the worst, not being a DJI fan, I agree.

I have not got an OSD yet. I have a lot to talk about on the topic, but basically, I am out of money for my build too until I get it flying and use all the stuff I have right now (camera mount, frame I am building from scratch with carbon fiber).... I know the feeling.

[Exploding Fist]

Yeah, everything combined really adds up. I'll likely be in my garage for a while putting this all together properly. I've taken the downtime to upgrade my Turnigy 9x a bit in the past 2 days. It now has a FrSky module and a back light. I read last night that I can use the USBASP I ordered to flash my ESCs to upgrade the 9x firmware with the open source er9x/open9x firmware.

I'll be reading up on that firmware to see if it's worth it for quads.

[dege13]

What mods have you done on your 9X? I sold my 9X with my last quad when I sold it. But I have another one on order from HobbyKing. Hope they get more stock soon.

A guy in the RCCanada forums started this thread on 9X mods:
http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=130373
I had the LCD backlight mod on my 9X but that was it. I am very interested in if the other firmwares will help with quadcopters/multirotors.

[Exploding Fist]

Only the FrSky telemetry module and the backlight so far. I got the FrSky module because it warns you when you're signal is fading, it apparently has greater range, is reported to be more secure, and you can program in failsafe responses (i.e. throttle to 30% when you lose connection with the RX). It has other telemetry modules but the OSD will do all that for me. I have parts on order to allow me to auto center both sticks if I choose to as well.

Hobbyking restocks them all the time, but they are sold almost the same day. They had the set about 3 weeks ago, and last week they had the 9x without the TX/RX module. I almost bought a second one as a spare (in case I break this one). :F You simply can't beat the price.

[Exploding Fist]

I've been considering what I would need to record the over the air video on my ground station. I'd like to avoid spending a lot of money on it because I will already be recording locally with the GoPro.

I was looking on kajiji today at cheap used cameras with NTSC inputs, and I remembered that I have an old Samsung SC-X210L camera sitting in my old technology/cable box that records 740x480 video to an SD card.

My mini project for now is going to see if I can hack this thing into accept NTSC video input. I think the battery doesn't hold a charge anymore, but I could always wire that directly. If it works I will need to buy or build a 12v to 3.7v converter. It's amazing that only 6 years ago this was seen as prime technology.

http://www.sexycameras.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Samsung-SC-X210L-Hands-Free-Camera.jpg

Does anyone know where to get decent cases of different sizes that have foam inside that you can cut or mold to whatever? You know, like the ones you see in the movies for guns.

I've seen people putting quads and groundstations in them, but the ones they use cost as much as a Quad. Anyone know of where to get them in Canada for a reasonable price? I was thinking of trying princess auto.

[Exploding Fist]

Just a quick update on my mini ground station project. I've managed to get the unit powered up and recording from a the 3.5mm video port. The little screen on this thing is pretty decent as well. Looks like the power port accepts 5v, so I should be able to cannibalize a cigarette to USB cable for the voltage converstion board to put between my 12v lipo and the unit. I only have a cable with a single audio channel, but I can change that later.

Test video: http://vimeo.com/44294355

[Exploding Fist]

It looks like most of my key items should arrive in the next few days. My USBASP programmer arrived today, so I decided plunge into modding my Turnigy 9x so that I can replace the stock firmware with open source custom firmware (er9x).

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/txmod0.jpg

I cut and stripped the ribbon, and soldered each wire to the proper location on the 9x main board.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/txmod1.jpg

Some people like to cut a hole and install a connection port on the back of the tx, but since I had a hole in the top from where I removed the original Antenna, I figured I'd just use that and save time.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/txmod2.jpg

Doesn't look terrible, but I'll probably make a cap for it eventually. The connections were done correctly, and I successfully backed up and replaced the stock firmware with er9x. I've only been playing with it for about 15 minutes, but I definetly like what I see. The available features in this firmware is said to bring this $50 TX into par with $900 TXs. I like the fact it's open source, and I've already replaced my splash screen.

That's it for tonight.

[Exploding Fist]

So a large number of my parts arrived yesterday, including the electronic speed controllers. It appears to be common knowledge that the stock firmware on shipped ESCs are designed more for RC planes than computer controlled multicopters. SimonK released firmware optimized for multirotors, for common ESCs that can be flashed on controller with a bit of hack work. I'll be putty a Naza controller in this, so it could definetly benifiet from the firmware update (as it supports a 400Hz update rate).

I ordered Mystery 30A Blue Series ESCs, which have the connection points for a USBASP programmer all over the board. This ruled out creating a quick connector to tap into the points with a cloths pin or something. I wanted to be able to reflash these as needed (i.e. better firmware is released) without having to resolder everything again. I do my own network wiring myself, so I have all the tools and a bunch of wires/jacks for Ethernet lying around. I opted to design a CAT-6 interface to the ESC.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/mystery3a-wiring.jpg

I made the above diagram to reference as I build the cables and connected them to the board/USBASP cable. I created a new wiring standard, but this could technically be extended with any existing CAT-6 cable (not sure why you would want to). Seems like a lot of effort, but it probably saved time as I was able to do this right the first time.

Here is the result.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/esc-flash.jpg

I successfully flashed all the ESCs, and will be able to connect them to the interface cable I made while they are installed in the drone for quick updates if needed. The connector weight ads a total of 3g per esc, which is fairly insignificant.

[Mark L @ FL]

Nicely done. However with the latest SimonK firmware the ESCs can now have a bootloader loaded the first time they are flashed to allow future programming via the servo plug using the Turnigy USB Linker. I have some on order to test this out on, but you can find more info here http://lazyzero.de/en/modellbau/kkmulticopterflashtool

[Exploding Fist]

Yeah, SimonK just mentioned that as well. I may grab one of those on a future order to see how well they work. Mainly I'd want to ensure I can flash non-SimonK firmware (even stock) if required before I'd consider removing the interface cable.

[dege13]

I really like the network cable. I think that is slick. Very clever use of the materials you (and I) have. :)

[buffythesaint]

Yeah, SimonK just mentioned that as well. I may grab one of those on a future order to see how well they work. Mainly I'd want to ensure I can flash non-SimonK firmware (even stock) if required before I'd consider removing the interface cable.

If the stock FW is locked, you won't be able to reflash back to stock FW. Once you flash, you can't go back. TC does have some copies of the stock FW but he won't give it out to anyone.

[Exploding Fist]

timecop seems to be an interesting fellow. I did read the flash from these ESCs and outputted them to a bin file before flashing, which seemed to work. I didn't try and restore it though.

[buffythesaint]

timecop seems to be an interesting fellow. I did read the flash from these ESCs and outputted them to a bin file before flashing, which seemed to work. I didn't try and restore it though.

No need to go back anyways. I have 6 of the same esc's flashed on my hexa. They are the 4feb2012 bin still. The changes with the new bin doesn't make it better for my setup, just the new bootloader. If it's working good, don't mess with it;-) The HK BS 30a esc's and the HK F-30a esc's are the best choice for reflashing, all nfets, external clock and pads. I just solder and remove after. After you solder one, the rest go very fast. BTW, don't adjust the fuses, they are good right out of the box.

[Mark L @ FL]

I made a simple pin adapter for flashing, plus a board to easily mount and test the ESCs before and after the flash.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kFQ-HRVXBFo/T85JQ1CBpuI/AAAAAAAAHVw/OihiPgzJmNQ/s640/2012-06-03%252013.24.08.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AycpwR-5LsE/T5wNzEv8kyI/AAAAAAAAHz0/5nLgPucKtBQ/s640/2012-04-28%252012.03.53.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5y3SgMgK1gw/T5wNvWNcIgI/AAAAAAAAHz4/x9XdsALeUeg/s640/2012-04-28%252012.04.26.jpg

[Mark L @ FL]

I normally use the F-30As or the RCTimer/Mystery/iPeakA ones work as well as they have pads in same order on the edge, but the F-30A are better overall as buffy stated, and the ones Simon recommends.

[Exploding Fist]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5y3SgMgK1gw/T5wNvWNcIgI/AAAAAAAAHz4/x9XdsALeUeg/s640/2012-04-28%252012.04.26.jpg

I was planning on making one of those until I realized that the connections were all over the place for this ESC http://fi.somethingawful.com/images/smilies/emot-v.gif

[Exploding Fist]

My Sunnysky X2212 980KV motors finally arrived, so I decided to test one of them out. I added connectors to my ESC, hooked it up, and then preceeded to calibrate the ESC.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/esc-cal1.jpg

I built my new prop balancer, drilled the bore to size, and then balanced a single prop.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/prop1.jpg

To see how well everything worked together. I installed the motor and prop on the hull, and gave it a littlre more than half power while holding the frame to prevent it from flipping over.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/esc-cal2.jpg

Seems really smooth. I need to use a spare motor to build me a DC powered fan http://www.custodela.com/p/smiles/emot-v.gif

The motors are a bit different than I expected, as the ones I ordered were supposed to have longer shafts and collets. Unfortunetly, because of this the spare shafts I ordered are way to long. Does anyone know where I can get shafts and c-clamps as spares for this motor?

[Exploding Fist]

It's been a while since I've given an update, mainly because my parts started to all arrive, and I've been busy actually building this thing.

I bought a power distribution board, but didn't like how it fit in this frame. I also don't like the idea of exposed connections sitting inside the drone, waiting to be short circuited. I opted to build a star config power harness centrally distributing power to all componants. Here is everything connected before I soldered it.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/power1.jpg

This is both positve and negative harnesses soldered and wrapped. It may be worth mentioning that the power meter that the battery is plugged into is an Eagle Tree module. I replace the deans connectors with bullets. I used all the heat shrink of that size on my ESCs, so I'm waiting on a new order of it to wrap that piece.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/power2.jpg

I'll be mounting a GoPro camera on the front. One of the reasons people don't like using GoPro cameras for FPV is that they don't give any warning when they are about to run out of batteries. People have said to lose a lot of expensive equipment that way :)

To avoid this problem, I split off power from an ESC BEC and made a plug/USB cable to connect to it. This provides the 5V needed to power the GoPro, saving the weight (and worry) of the battery.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/power3.jpg

Connected standard USB cable.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/power4.jpg

Here is the GoPro happily connected and recording with the battery next to it.

Next power modification I made was adding an RC controllable switch to a 12V line, and bound it to a channel. This will allow me to control head lights I'll be installing on the drone.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/power5.jpg

My Naza flight controller and GPS arrived. So I then focused my attention on getting that working, along with the core drive componants (video/lights are secondary).

I wired everything in. Using all 8 channels was a ton of RC wires.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/fml.jpg

I'll probably clean those up a bit, but I'll be moving things around later as I still need to add in all of the video componants later.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/rft.jpg

There is everything mounted and ready for the first flight test.

Tonight I took it up for a few tests. All of the core componants worked as expected, with no drive issues.

The GPS configuration is still not correct, and other tweaks will need to be made, but I've been able to keep it in the air and stable for about 5 minutes after losing 3 props in some early crashes :)

[dege13]

It looks good in all black. Stealthy :D

I like the GoPro 5v USB thing with no battery. I have never seen someone do it without the battery but I think that is a great idea. I would have done it but I don't have/use a GoPro. I have a ContourHD which turns off when powered by USB.

Can't wait to see it fly! Get some videos up :)

I ordered a programmer so I can flash my Turnigy 9X. I am really sick of the stock firmware, mostly I want to use the 3 position switch for my Flight Mode without the need to use Mixing. It likely doesn't help that I don't fully understand Mixing, but from my testing the Mixing has a bug with using Channel 5 as the Slave, and has a problem in one of the directions. Long story short, I will be using either Open9X or ER9X.

[Exploding Fist]

I'm using ER9X, and it's night and day. Setting up the 3 channel switch takes about 3 minutes. Setting up any switch (including the pots) to give the desired input/channel is trivial, or even multiple switches to a single channel (with different input ranges). The stock 9x firmware was just frustrating.

I strapped the GoPro on my head for the test flights so I could review them after to help with tweaking. Except for when I screamed 'NO!" right before it smashed into my fence, the video is rather uninteresting.

Once I get it stable and the camera(s) mounted, I'll be posting videos for sure.

[Exploding Fist]

Turns out I had the GPS mounted backwards. It makes sense now why I was getting an exponential drift. It was compensating in the wrong direction :)

You'd think the cable would be at the back http://www.custodela.com/p/smiles/emot-colbert.gif

Everything works perfectly now. I'm in love.

[dege13]

I feel your pain. I spent over an hour trying to figure out why I could not calibrate or use my ESCs with my APM2 only to realize I had them plugged into the wrong pins. APM2 has a LOT of accessory/expansion ports.
I am glad you got it working.
My build it still waiting on screws, nuts and wire from HobbyKing and GoodLuckBuy. I hope they will be in next week. If my cheap carbon fiber frame is the package I am picking up tomorrow then I'll use that till I get everything I need for my custom frame.

[Exploding Fist]

The worst part is always waiting :)

The GoPro on the front is great. But, if I slam into a pole, the GoPro will become a giant bumper :o

The GoPro case is way too large, and doesn't fit on the frame. There are various protection options, but after research I decided that the strongest and cheapest option would be to take an existing Outdoor case, and modify it so that it meets the protection needs of the camera (frontal impact). I cut away all but the front and border portions of the case. The total weight was 19.1g. Given that the battery is 25g, I'm still less than a normal unprotected GoPro.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/case.jpg

[Exploding Fist]

Here is a picture of the Drone in flight.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/f2.jpg

I'll post a video taken from the drone in an aerial test soon. I just need to cut it and upload it somewhere.

[Exploding Fist]

Video is up

https://vimeo.com/45414261/

This was LOS. The FPV gear will be installed later.

[RCcanuck]

Very very nice!

[Mark L @ FL]

Looks like it is coming together nice. Seems to be a fair bit of jello in the video however. Have you balanced the props?

[Exploding Fist]

I did before installing them originally, but they may need to be rebalanced as I've trimmed a wee bit of greenery. Best I could tell, the motors didn't require balancing.

The props are fairly cheap though as I expected to lose a bunch. If they arn't all identical and have slightly different thrust, even if they were balanced, wouldn't that cause some jello as well, or would the jello be slower?

[buffythesaint]

Have you tried the Vibration app to balance your motors? If you have an iPhone or iPod, the app($5) will show the vibs in all three axis. Remove the props and just run one motor at a time. Place your phone on the arm, by the motor. Run the motor up and start recording the vibs. Just looking and listening won't do the best job. Now that you have a base vibration to work from, start adding a piece of tape to the motor bell and run the vib test again. Keep moving the tape around until the lowest vibs. Then add or remove tape to fine tune it. This method works well for all electric motors. If the motors are prebalanced, the app would confirm this.

[Exploding Fist]

Yeah I was considering doing that too. I don't have an iDevice so I'd need an app for Android.

[Exploding Fist]

Looks like Android has an application called "Vibrometer". Next time it's apart on my bench I'll give the motor test a whirl. I agree that there are significant vibrations, especially when hovering. They seem to be much less noticable when I kick up the throttle.

Gotta love the view though:

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ss/sunset.jpg

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ss/targetacquired.jpg

Flightlab. Do you have any recommendations for cases on transporting this thing?

[menace]

In True DIY spirit you can make your own custome carrying case:

Construct a plywood box made from 1/4" ply that is the dimension of the craft and possibly batteries and controller. Then follow this simple approach:

http://www.howtogeek.com/?post_type=post&p=95360

I've tried it with tools and it works fine--don't get the high expansion foam though as it would likely squish your bird !

[Mark L @ FL]

Flightlab. Do you have any recommendations for cases on transporting this thing?

Not offhand. I know some that have used a large low plastic rubbermade container in which it fit perfectly.

[Exploding Fist]

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1225182&SRCCODE=SHOPBOT&cm_mmc_o=2mHCjCmtB5_BfCjCVqHCjCdwwp

This would fit, but it's a tad expensive. That said, so is my drone. Hmmm...

I rebalanced my props and noticed one wasn't balanced (not sure what happened), while two others were very slightly unbalanced. Hopefully that helps with the jello. Otherwise when my video gear arrives I'll be taking everything apart and will test all of the motors.

I connected my gopro to my test circuit board and into my new fatshark dominator goggles. Works well. Next test will be to see if I can get my OSD to work in the middle.

[Exploding Fist]

So all of my LEDs finally arrived, so it was time to achieve two objectives:

1. Make it so during the day (or night) I can tell identify the back of the craft easily by red LEDs.
2. The ability to safely fly the aircraft at night. This requires:
a. Head lights
b. Orientation from below the craft for landing to identify the front and back, and to know where the arms extend (to avoid objects).

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/led1.jpg

I cut and soldered super bright red LED strips to the back arms. The main strip will be viewable from behind, and the 3 LEDs at the bottom will be viewable from below the craft.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/led2.jpg

Sticking with my objective to make sure I can remove arms if needed without having to remove solder, I built an LED harness to connect/power the LEDs on the arms.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/led3.jpg

I added 2x24 ultra bright white LEDs on the front to act as head lights. They are super bright. Simular to the back arms, I added 3 green LEDs to the bottom of each front arm to assist with viewing the aircraft from below at night. The front lights and green LEDs are turned on and off by my RC transmitter. The rear red LEDs are always on.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/led4.jpg

There are the rear LEDs completed.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/led6.jpg

View from below the aircraft.

It is worth noting that the voltage used for this test is at a 'low' voltage where I would be landing from a low battery. Full battery is brighter (12.5v).

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/led7.jpg

Test flight from behind.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/led8.jpg

Here is another angle.

I am extremely happy with the result. This thing is extremely easy to fly at night now. I'm hoping it's easier to quickly determine the orientation of the craft now during the day. The rear LEDs are more than bright enough to be visible in sun light.

My build will likely stall for a bit. The eagle tree OSD I bought doesn't seem to work, so I'll likely need to get it replaced. Could be a good thing since this gives me more time to get used to flying this LOS before I move to FPV.

I've ordered the large case I linked in my last post to store/transport this. I ended up getting it because I realized I'd never leave the house with it otherwise.

[menace]

Wow looks good. After flying one in a simulator it became very apparent to me how imprtant your light mod is. When this thing flies away, you should have no touble figuring out which end is which. Now you'll have to figure out how to handle those UFO phonecalls...

[Exploding Fist]

I hope not. UFO phone calls cause RF interference :)

[martinic]

Very nice build!

I had my GoPro HD powered off one of the BECs (Plush 25A ESC) and noticed that the ESC would get very hot at times. I suspect that I had a couple of thermal shutdowns too. I measured (with a ServoSense) the amperage pulled by the GoPro and it hit 2A under charging conditions. Not wanting my Camera to cause an ESC failure (anymore?), I installed a ParkBEC specifically to power the camera - no overheating and no more danger. Just something you might want to keep an eye on.

Also, how do you find the GoPro at night with you headlights? That's quite a novel approach! Most add a pilot camera with low light sensitivity capability. How are your results with your solution?

Thanks for the detailed build thread!

Calvin

[Exploding Fist]

I don't put the battery in the camera to save weight, so it won't draw the extra power for charging the battery. It is a good point though. I'm pretty sure that the BEC is rated for about 1A.

So far the light seems decent enough for a small area. For seeing trees in front of you, or other objects at night it's pretty good. In my area higher up the outside lights (street/building) are more than sufficient. The LEDs don't make a difference at that point, except for the navigation ones obviously.

[dege13]

I have flashed my Turnigy 9X with ER9x now. It is much better, more features and easier to setup. Thank for suggesting it as I had considered it before but never seriously.

How are things going with your FPV quad? I have not seen any FPV videos from you yet ;)

[Exploding Fist]

Yeah, you'll love the simplicity of complicated things more and more as you use it.

The FPV portion hit a bit of a hick up. The 1.2Ghz RX/TX took forever to get here, and I found out last week that my OSD/Logger were both defective. I RMAed them and they said they'll be shipping me new ones shortly at their cost, which is good. The RX/TX has arrived, so I can at least start getting the video stuff plugged into my development circuit board for testing. Hopefully within the next 2 weeks i'll be done.

My case for the drone has arrived too, and the thing is a monster :F

[Exploding Fist]

So my OSD hardware came back from RMA, and all of the items I shipped back to them appear to be fully functional now (logger, OSD, and altimeter). That said, the GPS that feeds telemetry information does not appear to be getting any satelite locks. I probably need to play a bit more before I declare a problem there.

I broke out my experimental board and attached all of the electrical and video inputs to the board. I have a feed from both the front mounted gopro, as well as my CCD camera (which will be downward facing). Both cameras attach to a 3-way camera switcher, which then outputs the video signal to the OSD. The OSD then connects into the 1w 1.2Ghz video transmitter. The video receiver connects back into the goggles, displaying the video. Everything is working perfectly, with the exception of the camera switcher, which I've yet to figure out how to switch between signals (-125 to 125 weights do nothing). I guess I'll need to crack the manual. I'm really hoping the GPS isn't defective, since that would mean every single eagletree part I originally ordered was DOA.

Besides troubleshooting the two outstanding problems, my next step will be to hook my old camcorder into the ground station side for recording/displaying (tiny LCD) video on that end.

Here is a pic if my tangled mess of connections.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/videoexp.jpg

[Exploding Fist]

Long time since I've updated. Mainly because I've been waiting for parts to come back from RMA, and I went away on a business trip recently.

To kick things off, I began work on my ground station. For now, the ground station will be wired somewhat messily as the cable lengths will be made long. The reason for this is I'm unsure what I want this to look like end state, so for now I'll be putting it into a shoulder bag that I'll carry around with me during my flights.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid1.jpg

The ground station will be powered by a 12v LiPo. The first obsticle is that the only way I can record video in is to have the camcorder I had lying around powered by 120V plug, or by battery. THe battery barely holds a charge, and I don't want to rely on it, so I had to hack a better solution together.

The included adapter outputs about 5v to the camera. So my strategy was to remove the power brick and make a 12v -> 5V converter instead to power the camera from the Lipo. I did this on the drone with a BEC, but I wanted to go with a cheaper (free option). I have a bunch of car sig socket to USB plugs lying around, and they convert 12v to 5v, so I decided to try and McGyver one of those.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid2.jpg

That is a converter opened up.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid3.jpg

Modded. Easy as makin' toast!

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid10.jpg

This is everything wired together. The only thing missing is the AV cables to the camcorder, which is obviously trivial. I added a voltage monitor so it'll make really loud noises when the battery runs low so I know I need to get back into LOS (or land).

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid4.jpg

I removed the bulky case from the video TX. Instead of using the 3mm headphone style jack cable included with the TX, I mapped the connections and wired the audio/video/power inputs directly to the board, attaching servo connectors to the end of the cables to link back to the drone systems.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid5.jpg

I shrink wrapped the video TX, and cut a hole where the heat sink is to let it dissipate the air when in flight.

http://www.robertblake.ca/p/vs/vid6.jpg

To clean the power input from ESC noise, I crafted a ferret ring with a 1000uf capacitor after the ring.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid7.jpg

Completed filter.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid8.jpg

I did a lot of rewiring and labelling, as well as creating standard servo connectors for each video input, power, and output between the camera, OSD, and video TX. The switch on the side there controls power to the video transmitter, as I don't really want it on when the drone is sitting on the ground. This will ensure I can get a faster GPS lock, avoid sucking power for no reason, and to help prevent extra heat build up. I would have put the switch on my transmitter, but with the extra camera I'll be adding later, I'm out of channels.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/vid9.jpg

This is everything put back together. It's worth noting that I've moved a number of components to the second level. This was done to make space below, and to remove a number of cables I had between the TX and Flight Controller between levels. Both USB interfaces for the flight controller and OSD are now firmly mounted and assessable, which should make reconfiguring and extracting logs much easier moving forward.

I'll be painting or coating the GPS on the top so that it is black. The OSD GPS is mounted temporarily as I wanted to ensure it was working before rewrapping it and installing it properly (it does work).

[Exploding Fist]

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/case2.jpg

The foam needs a bit of work, but now I can take this thing out somewhere to properly fly it.

[menace]

Very nice build! I think you have now reached the level where you have to send us money in the mail so we don't tell your wife how much all this stuff REALLY costs ;)

What kind of weight are you at with the finished RTF drone? how's it handle? I popped a 3s 5000 pack onto mine and it was like trying to fly a brick (which I guess it sort of was)

[Exploding Fist]

What, you don't know where to get all your parts free?!? Being serious though, compared to anything sold by vendors with anywhere near this level of technology, this thing is extremely cheap. For the educational value of designing/assembling this thing, it's worth it for just that alone. The hobby has given me an excuse to get back into electronics and basic electrical engineering, which I've been away from for many years now. I've managed to knock off the rust, and learn a ton.

It is 1.7KG, and I'll probably be adding about 50-75g more. I may eventually remove a few dozen grams by replacing some of the bullets with solder joints, but we'll see.

It's about 200g heavier than I originally expected, but it is a fully loaded drone.

[Exploding Fist]

One major issue I've been having is that my flight controller (Naza) GPS has been horrible at getting locks. If it ever does manage to get proper satellite lock, or close to it, the second I turn on my camera and take off, it drops the lock once again. Sometimes this has some very weird results, such as forceful drifting in a random direction until you switch out of GPS mode. I became more annoyed when I got my Telemetry GPS operational, where it had 7-10 sats locked no problem. I did some digging, research, and spoke to some others with a simular problem, and then began experimenting.

It seems that the Naza GPS is as sensitive to EM interferance as a pregnant woman with PMS (if this was possible) would be sensitive to the world.

After playing around for a while, the solution I came up with was moving the GPS to a front arm away from the core electronics, and putting a ferret filter on both ends of the GPS cable. Lock times now happen fairly quickly, and I don't seem to lose the lock as easily with significant EM changes.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/emgps.jpg

With the GPS problems, I was being cautious in my tests by not taking my aircraft high up. After a number of successful tests after the change, I took it to the park and gave it a whirl up to 400 meters (1300 feet).

Here is the video with a basic instrument overlay: https://vimeo.com/48280702

[menace]

Very nice--I really like that instrument overlay feature--I'm going to have to re-read your thread to figure out all the equipment you have loaded onto your bird..

[trevlan]

nice location, i was at the crooked cue just yesterday.

[trevlan]

So all of my LEDs finally arrived,
http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/led3.jpg

I added 2x24 ultra bright white LEDs on the front to act as head lights. They are super bright. Simular to the back arms, I added 3 green LEDs to the bottom of each front arm to assist with viewing the aircraft from below at night. The front lights and green LEDs are turned on and off by my RC transmitter. The rear red LEDs are always on.

.

where did you get the 2x22 leds from?

[trevlan]

It is 1.7KG, and I'll probably be adding about 50-75g more. I may eventually remove a few dozen grams by replacing some of the bullets with solder joints, but we'll see.

.

mine is about 2.3kg with the gopro, hexa f550 and gimbal.

we should meet up and do some flying, i should be getting my fatsharks classic today.
would love some tips and tricks on fpv.

[Exploding Fist]

Very nice--I really like that instrument overlay feature--I'm going to have to re-read your thread to figure out all the equipment you have loaded onto your bird..

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my thread (I've tried to avoid mentioning vendors in case parts turn out to be garbage), but I'm using the eagle tree system for logging/telemetry/OSD. For basic power logging (Volts/Amps/mAH used) I've found places you can order them for as little as $46. It's a modular system so you can buy other sensors/stuff for it, but the logger is the key componant.

where did you get the 2x22 leds from?

I ordered them from one of those Chinese sites for a really good price. If you're interested in getting them, I could go back and find a link.


mine is about 2.3kg with the gopro, hexa f550 and gimbal.

we should meet up and do some flying, i should be getting my fatsharks classic today.
would love some tips and tricks on fpv.

I can't garentee I'd be a wealth of information considering I havn't really flown FPV except for some basic tests the other day, but I have done a considerable amount of research.

I'll probably be doing some really soon though since I solved one issue I was having last night where splitting video/audio to two devices at my ground station was destroying the signal. I may just ditch ground recording for now and just go with goggles since the ideal solution to my problem appears to be $80 :)

Are you in the area?

[trevlan]

yes, please if you dont mind send me the link for the lights.

yes, im close by square one. and i think the same day you were flying down at the port credit area, i was in the crooked cue having a few pints....lol

[Exploding Fist]

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/520392776-Free-shipping-brand-new-5pcs-24-SMD-5050-LED-reading-Panel-Car-interior-auto-white-Light-wholesalers.html

There you go. They are $2 cheaper than when i ordered too.

[trevlan]

thanks E-fist i will check them out.

[Exploding Fist]

So after flying in FPV a few times, it has become clearly evident that GoPro is a giant glob of fecal matter for the job. There are bars at the top and bottom of the screen, you get issues with the sun, and low light (night) flying is impractical as it doesn't adjust for the dark.

So, I decided that I'm going to use a CCD camera for FPV, and only use the GoPro for recording. That said, I made it so I can easily swap cameras with standard servo connectors.

Not only did I want to install the CCD camera for FPV, I wanted to be able to control it so that it can either be forward facing, or downward facing. Having a stable FPV quad is nice, but only being able to view the ground when hurling across the sky isn't ideal. Landing or any kind of decending in FPV is a bad idea, since I'd probably hit a tree (or myself). Coming up with a way to keep the GoPro mounted, and have a controllable CCD camera on my frame was a bit of a mind f@3k. Every idea I came up with either had a huge drawback (I.e. it wouldn't work), or I would have the camera in an awkward position that would break the first time the aircraft landed on its head.

I almost settled with McGyver attaching the camera next to the GoPro on the USB power input, and give up on looking down for now, but then I realized I could make an easier sacrifice. I like how my frame looks because of the low profile for both aesthetics and easy of flight. If I sacrificed this design requirement instead, I could mount the camera below the GoPro.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ccd0.jpg

So I installed legs. I can't say it looks better, but it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. I'm sure after a few days after I get used to it, it'll grow on me.

With that done, I had to construct the gimble and make it rotate. This was far more complicated than I thought it was. I avoided the whole RC plane thing, so I don't have a ton of experience with servos. It turns out the servo I have could not be made to rotate the gimble the 90 degrees I wanted. I realized that if the servo arm was longer, the it would be able to move the gimble the amount I wanted. So I took two servo arms and molded them into one long servo arm. (bottom)

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ccd1.jpg

After fiddling for a while, I got the servo installed and configured to move the gimble the range I wanted.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ccd2.jpg

Forward

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ccd3.jpg

and downward.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ccd4.jpg

I prepped the camera for installation, and fiddled around with placement position. Once I was happy with where things would go, I put everything in place.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ccd5.jpg

Camera Forward.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/ccd6.jpg

Camera downward. Woot.

Now for control. I bound a switch to have the camera face forward (switch off), or to go to the position of one of my controller pots (switch on). This way I could move the camera exactly where I want it, or freelook around, but when I want to look forward again, I can just flick the switch off.

I made a quick video: https://vimeo.com/48860168

[NinjaToes]

Excellent thread and build. Love your setup, contacted Mark today and I'm going to try and replicate your build. Your LED setup is awesome :rock: I can see myself pulling out some hairs with all the wiring that needs to be done :yikes:

Cheers

JP

[Exploding Fist]

Excellent thread and build. Love your setup, contacted Mark today and I'm going to try and replicate your build. Your LED setup is awesome :rock: I can see myself pulling out some hairs with all the wiring that needs to be done :yikes:

Cheers

JP

I appreciate it. Yeah, it is a lot of soldering to do right. I used a ton of connectors since I wanted to be able to disconnect stuff as needed (i.e. replacing an arm). I got my wife a label maker so I could label all of the connectors. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

[Exploding Fist]

So this is a big milestone update for me. I still have a ton of work to do, but today I officially met all of my original objectives and nice to haves when first starting this project.

I added a A/V hub to my ground station that also allows for other future expansions. For now, its purpose is to allow me to record video and view the video with my goggles. Unforunetly if there is a lot of distortion, the recorder stops recording automatically, so I'm not sure how long I'll be using this. My stock video antenna doesn't help, but that'll be my next upgrade I work on.

For now, here is the maiden FPV video using my new CCD camera on a controllable gimble. All of my telemetry gear has been finalized (except one temperature sensor I'll be adding) to give me the heads up display: https://vimeo.com/49137511

I've also spent a bit of time working on some cosmetic changes, to make the drone to look consistant as originally desired. I've also tweaked some things to remove the remaining jello I was having. I'll be making a few more minor changes, but I'm really happy with it right now. I've taken some higher resolution shots at different angles to give you a better look.

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/fi1.jpg

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/fi2.jpg

http://www.custodela.com/p/vs/fi3.jpg

Besides getting some good flying time in (hopefully). My next objectives will be to further reduce interference between the componants (especially the vTX), and to build tuned video antennas to (hopefully) get rid of all the noise you see in the above video.

[NinjaToes]

Hi EF

Did your get your red and green led's from the same place as you got these ?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/led-auto-lamp-free-shipping-wholesale-5pcs-lot-Panel-5050-SMD-module-24-LED-Interior-Light/520392776.html

Also can you give me a break down of what you have on your quad for electronics etc...

Would love to have a breakdown on your ground station also.

I should have mine in my hands on Friday. Can't wait to start building or where to start :shock:


Any info you can provide me would be most helpful and appreciated

JP

[Exploding Fist]

Hi EF

Did your get your red and green led's from the same place as you got these ?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/led-auto-lamp-free-shipping-wholesale-5pcs-lot-Panel-5050-SMD-module-24-LED-Interior-Light/520392776.html

Also can you give me a break down of what you have on your quad for electronics etc...

Would love to have a breakdown on your ground station also.

I should have mine in my hands on Friday. Can't wait to start building or where to start :shock:


Any info you can provide me would be most helpful and appreciated

JP


Yes, those are the LEDs I used for the head lights. The connectors are useful as you can make the pads detachable.

Essential Aircraft componants:
- SunnySky 980kv Motors
- Hobbyking/Mystery 30A ESCs flashed with SimonK firmware.
- 5000mAH 3S 25C Lipos (tight fit on this frame).
- Naza+GPS
- FrSky RX/TX
- EagleTree gear - Logger/OSD/Altimiter/GPS
- 1045 props
- 1w 1.2Ghz vTX
- Gopro/600TLV CCD Cam


I wouldn't call my groundstation complete, as I'm not really sure at this point exactly what I want it to look like end state. More specifically, I'm unsure if I'm going to end up with a backpack so I can be mobile, a stationary system, or a combination of both (a backpack that can plug into a stationary system).

So for now I have a temporary setup where I have an arm bag that contains the vRX, power harness, 5v power transformer (car USB plug), Eagle Tree groundstation (only using for splitting a/v out, but it has lots of features that would be useful for a stationary ground station), an old camcorder that allows for A/V in recording, and Fatshark goggles (dominator).

After a bunch of flights and some research/experimentation I'll probably make my decition on where to go next. The arm bag isn't a good solution at all as it takes a lot of additional time to keep everything untangled, and I have long wires for the goggles/camcorder to give me options down the road.

I'm considering buying an old netbook and putting it in a case. I need to determine if the crappy hardware can record video (I have a USB A/V in dongle). If so, then I'd get the added bonus of live telemetry data, and the ability to manage my componants on the field.

[buffythesaint]

I've recently worked on my GS so it's a quick and easy setup. I prefer a monitor but I do have googles for a more remote location. A backpack idea is great also. It would work good for some humping to a great location for some flying.

[NinjaToes]

Hey EP,

Could you provide me with links where you purchased these items ? Did you buy these items in Canada ? I want to make sure before I click purchase now :D

EagleTree gear - Logger/OSD/Altimiter/GPS
1w 1.2Ghz vTX
600TLV CCD Cam

This is going to be more costly than I had originally thought ;) You can PM the info if you wish, in case you do not want to post the links in your thread.

Oh and what voltage are these ? 5000mAH 3S 25C. Sorry for asking so many questions :wstupid: But I want to get this right :thanks:

[Mark L @ FL]

Pop me an email regarding eagle tree, I may be able to help you :-)

[Exploding Fist]

Hey EP,

Could you provide me with links where you purchased these items ? Did you buy these items in Canada ? I want to make sure before I click purchase now :D

EagleTree gear - Logger/OSD/Altimiter/GPS
1w 1.2Ghz vTX
600TLV CCD Cam

This is going to be more costly than I had originally thought ;) You can PM the info if you wish, in case you do not want to post the links in your thread.

Oh and what voltage are these ? 5000mAH 3S 25C. Sorry for asking so many questions :wstupid: But I want to get this right :thanks:

Eagle Tree: http://rcsearch.info/hobbyking/buddy/?cid=173#catalog (Hobbyking, but MUCH CHEAPER if you use the combo prices (doesn't require buying stuff as a combo, it's kind of a loop hole)).

vTX: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/wireless-AV-transmitter-and-receiver-1-2GHz-15CH-1000mW-400M-1500M/537368541.html Cheapest I could find, and it took a while to arrive. This is bigger than I expected so I had to remove the case. If I did it again I might consider a 800mw to save some size. With this you NEEEED a high pass filter. This shits interferance all over the GPS/2.4Ghz receiver.

Camera: http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/600TVL-SONY-SUPER-HAD-CCD-D%252dWDR-Color-Board-Camera-OSD-Menu-2.8mm-lens.html - This is a really good price. Pick up some spare lenses as well. The case you can get for it is extremely heavy. I bought two and will not be using them.

Note that all of these parts are shipped from China, not Canada. It will take time and require customs inspection. Your right, all of this really added up and got expensive. I decided that wait times were worth saving a lot of money.

If you want to order locally, I can't help with that. flightlab (great if he has the stuff you want in stock) and or http://www.nghobbies.com/ (http://www.nghobbies.com/cart/) (havn't tried them personally as I only learned about them recently) might be a good bet. The only thing I ordered locally (from flightlab) was the frame.

I should also note that the eagle tree gear I ordered from hobby king was all defective except for the GPS. I had to ship it back to the manufacterer in the US under RMA to get them to diagnose and replace the gear (they shipped it back to me for free). Probably not relevant, but worth noting as it added a lot of time to the build. Buying stuff from China is risky in that if something doesn't work, you're pretty much on your own. Eagletree has been good to deal with on the problems and seem to be receptive to ideas and feedback for firmware improvements. They are already working on a feature addition and a bug fix (minor) from my feedback.

3 cell batteries are 12v (9v empty and 12.6v full). Good voltage as the LEDs and video gear all run on 12v.


I've recently worked on my GS so it's a quick and easy setup. I prefer a monitor but I do have googles for a more remote location. A backpack idea is great also. It would work good for some humping to a great location for some flying.

That looks neat. I'm really trying to avoid having a lot of stuff to carry around for the GS, since my drone case is already massive. I'll probably end up going the route of building a backpack with an external port that allows me to hook up a laptop (maybe even a directional antenna).

[NinjaToes]

Hey Exploding Fist,

Do you still have the link to where you purchased your LED strips ? I've seen a few places but yours seem to have black covering in between your led's.

[Exploding Fist]

Hey Exploding Fist,

Do you still have the link to where you purchased your LED strips ? I've seen a few places but yours seem to have black covering in between your led's.

Which strips are you referring to, the red/green ones?

[NinjaToes]

yes sir

[Exploding Fist]

yes sir

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-lot-free-shipping-High-brightness-5050-SMD-30CM-12-LED-waterproof-flexible-led-strip-TL008p/519711808.html

[NinjaToes]

Is one lot enough or should I get 2 ?

[Exploding Fist]

If you just want them on the back one lot will do. If you want some on the bottom, you'll need 2.

[NinjaToes]

thanks for the info :cheers:

[Exploding Fist]

So I grounded myself during the Winter, because flying in the winter is terrible especially since batteries hate the cold. So, now that it is warm it is time to get cracking again.

First thing I did was rig my 9x transmitter to accept Life batteries so I can stop fiddling with AAs.

Second was to improve the video. Last year a built a cloverleaf and scew planer antenna for the FPV system, but there were a few issues.

1. The antennas wern't tuned for the channels I ended up using
2. The wire used for the antenna was too thin
3. It was my first time, so that's never the best. Mainly, the angles of each leaf were definitely not 120 degrees (more like 90).

I managed to find some copper plated steel that was the right thickness, so I gave it a go. The cloverleaf came together quite easily. I properly measured the angles this time with a protractor. The hardest part is that the receiver of my system requires RG6 cable, and RG6 shielding does not stick to solder at all. So I had to wrap the shielding in wire strans, then coat the strans with solder.

http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=202448&dateline=1368162351

My table looked like I blew up a T-1000, but it works well. With that solved, the rest went together quite easily.

http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=202449&dateline=1368162351
http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=202450&dateline=1368162351

Here is the finished product.

http://custodela.com/p/vs/a3.jpg

The ground test shows a much more stable signal, and the wires a definitely stiffer and more held in place. Now I just need to build a SWR meter to do engineer quality tests :P

Here is a shot of it installed when I was doing my ground test.

http://custodela.com/p/vs/ainstalled.jpg

I'll probably eventually build a few spares, since you can see if it lands on its head the antenna is probably going to have a bad day. Definitely the primary drawback of going 1.3Ghz for video is the required size of the antenna.