/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1534711
>>>/toy/

>>1534778
>>>/fuckoff/

I had an RC car when I was like 8.

But I really dont see any reason to get one now that we have quads.

The sky is your race track now.

>>1534874
You know if you had semi-pro-looking design made out of 20x20 aluminum extrusions you could make a ton of money doing industrial inspections and shit?

Just like quads. Has anyone in /rcg/ ever made money with their quads?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeKDWWHH1-w

>>1534917
I think everyone's dream is to make money off a hobby, mine included. Im just autistic enough to make it happen somehow though so we'll see what the future holds.

>>1534874
I already have a dozen quads & several wings, I fancied a change. Cars also seem better suited to winter in Scotland than quads/wings - removing mud from motors gets really boring & flying in the wind we always seem to have here just gets tiring.

>>1534917
>Has anyone in /rcg/ ever made money with their quads?

Yes, I've been doing it 2-3 years under PfCO/NQE in the UK. It's not as fun nor as easy nor as lucrative as you might think.

>>1534778
>>1534874
Funny enough I saw a youtube video in the last week or so where a professional drone operation company employs a custom RC car with a gimbal on top of it for commercial filming and shit.

>>1534778
>>1534874
>sky rats talking shit
Don't you have an airport or 3 to shutdown

>>1534917
I work as a testing contractor that does 3rd party commissioning and engineering for utilities and power plants. A couple of our guys bought/built a massive hex-coptor with a DSLR on a gimbal to do inspections on hard to reach sections of high voltage line. We never make more than a couple grand on any given job but it gets us out of the office and floats our T&M rate. I’ll get some pictures next time we take it out.

As a COMPLETE NOVICE, how would I go about building and flying a FPV rc plane setup on a SUB 200 budget?

I mean like
>$100 rc plane
>camera on plane broadcasting to FPV goggles
>I throw rc plane, switch to rc goggles, and fly the plane

If anyone knows any really in depth guides tailored to noobs who want to achieve this, I'd appreciate it!

>>1535607
1/2

First of all, you'll need a transmitter, go for the Q X7, which retails for ~100$ and you can use it for basically anything that is remote controlled (but doesn't use some random proprietary shit) and you'll find that it will be able to accommodate your future needs if you continue with the hobby.

Personally, I don't have any experience building rc planes, but from what I know, you'll need:

>appropriate brushless motor(s) for your setup, as well as the appropriate propellers for them
>a appropriate ESC to drive that motor (the ESC must be for brushless motors and have the correct amp rating for your use case)
>a LiPo battery with a appropriate C rating (basically a C rating that will be higher than the maximum amount of current that your plane will ever need, say if your plane draws like 10 amps maximum, I'd suggest going with a 15-20C rating battery, because C ratings are a guesstimation at best - chinese random ass branded batteries have C rating that can be blown out of proportion, invest in a good battery - burst C rating is the maximum current you can draw from your battery for ~10s. It must NEVER be equal to the maximum amount of current that your plane will ever need, it needs to be equal to the base C rating, otherwise you risk puffing your battery and or fucking up your plane)
>servos to control the ailerons and other control surfaces of your craft
>you can build almost the entire body of you plane from foam to build the body as well as a foam cutting tool (you could use a 9V battery along with a thin wire, but I've never tried something like that so ymmv)
>a receiver that goes onto your plane and receives the commands from your radio and turns them into servo commands etc

>>1535607
>>1535652
2/2

Here's a vid for a cheap and fun plane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKt6bt6I1Is&ab_channel=SammSheperd

Check out his channel as well, he made a lot of videos on how to build rc stuff and cheap rc plane, it will help you a lot.

Hope my advice wasn't too shitty, and someone who has actually made a plane before can give you some better advice than I did.

You can order most of the parts needed from HobbyKing, but beware, their customer support can be pretty terrible.

I can't help you with the FPV part much, but I'm sure you'll need a camera and a VTX (video transmitter) to send the video feed to your goggles, and for that, you may also need to add a Power Distribution Board, or PDB to your build (basically a board that takes the battery voltage and usually steps it down, to say 5V, so that you can use components that can't handle battery voltage).

Hope I helped, but I'd suggest asking someone else as well.

>>1535652
Ah I already have a plane given as a Christmas present, an FMS MOA, but thank you! I wanna just mod it into fpv but have no idea where to start or what to buy

I would absolutely love to build my own plane some day (maybe a balsa p38) and just fly around like this https://youtu.be/crWSUR4pOfc

>>1535675
you should've mentioned that before. Do you have a transmitter, battery charger, etc? Pic somewhat related, went for cheap as I could find, but can't really recommend the shitbox goggles.

>>1535695
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32738863196.html?trace=wwwdetail2mobilesitedetail&productId=32738863196&productSubject=2016-New-Arrival-Eachine-TX02-Super-Mini-AIO-5-8G-40CH-200mW-VTX-600TVL-1-4

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32739150206.html?trace=wwwdetail2mobilesitedetail&productId=32739150206&productSubject=New-Arrival-Eachine-EV800-5-Inches-800x480-FPV-Video-Goggles-5-8G-40CH-Raceband-Auto-Searching

I (THINK) that these two would work together, and all I need to do is find a battery for the camera, and somehow mount that on the plane ensuring that the centre of gravity remains the same.

Or would it be better if I used the parts you linked and built the fpv module myself?

>>1535707
They should, as long as the frequency is the same. The camera can be powered by a PDB

>>1535713
Pdb is a, a kind of lipo battery?

>>1535742
Power distribution board.

>>1535742
your Lipo will power a PDB/Power Distribution board. this basically allows a number of things to be powered such as escs, cameras, flight controllers, cameras and more.

>>1535751
>>1535748
Gotcha, so I can prob just slap it in there somewhere. Thank you!

>>1535753
>>1535751
>>1535707
Oh, how would I find out what range this camera/goggle setup will comfortably operate in? And what could I do to boost it?

>>1535754
200mw is/was the standard transmitter power, but 600mw is becoming more common on switchable VTX's. 200mw should be all you need if you're flying in a field. You can improve your performance by using a patch antenna, this is a directional antenna that should be pointed at the plane, but if you're flying circles around yourself a circular polarized antenna is best. If you can afford it, get goggles/receiver with diversity, this will switch between 2 antennas to give you the best signal from each (ideally use 1 CP and one Patch)

Also, that all-in-one camera/vtx can be powered by a 1 cell LiPo. That might be easier than wiring up a PDB and the Moa glider should have plenty of room inside it. Always wanted one of those gull-wing gliders.

>>1535695
>D4R

I don't even know why they still sell those. Buy a X4R instead.

When would I want to use a 3 blade propeller for fixed wing? If I'm using, say, a 9x6 2 blade, would a 9x6 3 blade overwork my engine/require more amperage? Any negative effects? I know a single blade is most efficient but uncommon in cheap rc.

>>1535804
>gull wing gliders
yeah its a real beauty, likes to cruise, you only need to bank the wing a smidge and it turns on a coin edge, you have a shit ton of elevator to play with too - I think this guy sold me on it

https://youtu.be/2kDXsq3DTxo

but I'm a long way from flying like he is

>>1536171
listen to this anon, I threw that list together way too quick. There's an S-Bus version of the X4R so if you wanted to add a flight controller later on, you can keep the same Rx.

>>1535655
Oh how sad, that guy passed away a few months ago.

>>1536336
ikr

>>1536345

F

What should I be looking at if I want as much range as possible engine, prop and battery wise on an RC plane?

Scratch building with a friend, never done this before, so far it's basically a tape covered piece of foam with a 120cm wing span. The plan is to control it via an on board raspberry pi and a laptop and be able to fly it beyond visual range. Any tips would be appreciated.

>he still isn't using a monocoque frame

>>1536345
F

>>1536749
You should be looking at the first post, build something simple that flies, and learn how to control it before you attempt to make your own control system for high endurance BVLOS. If you want to build out of foamboard or Depron, check FliteTest or the Scratch Built Foamies section on RCGroups.

I want to build a synchropter. It'd be my first RC helicopter project, but I have plenty of prior experience from car and quad mods, so I don't think I'll be way in over my head. I've found videos from a decade ago of people modding Align Trex450 helis into synchropters, but since these are from the time when gyros were first beginning to replace flybars, and everyone seemed to be doing it as a "fuck you" to gyros, they're not super relevant any more. My idea is to run two rotors mounted at a 30 degree angle from each other off of a single brushless motor, which would drive a small gear onto a large gear on the shaft of one rotor, like how most helis do it. The rotors would then have equally large gears meshing at some point so both rotors are driven at the same RPM. The chassis would initially be 3D printed, but once I have a good design I'd upgrade to CNC router cut aluminium. The rotor and swash assemblies would be 450 size spare parts from eBay, since I don't consider myself anywhere near a good enough engineer to come up with that stuff for myself. My controller would be a homemade Ardupilot, since the rotor assembly requires six servo channels, the ESC one channel, and I plan to eventually put a camera pan-tilt platform on there for an additional two channels. I also want it to be flyable like a quad, since I'm not very good at 3D helicopter flight yet and kind of want a handicap mode. Anyone spot any obvious problems with this plan?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSWwMdO_U84 is a video of some other guy doing a similar project.

>>1536753
I can't find a big enough vacuum former
>>1536749
Long thin wings, big propeller, efficient engine

DJI is 100% superior and cannot be beaten for the price by a DIY. That being said what exactly is used in DIY camera rigs to give them HD video FPV?

>>1536929
Depends on budget. At the very bottom end you might find some random Chinabrand wifi video dongles that 'work', moving up into proper hobby budget you have systems like FPV Blue, when you reach entry level for 'professional' stuff you have offerings from Connex & interesting systems like Emlid Edge which actually integrate flight & video systems, then when you move into proper big boy territory you're looking at SDI transmitter setups for thousands (Teradek, Paralinx, IDX) or in-house transmission/control systems from cinema camera manufacturers themselves (eg Arri have the WVT-1 which is $5000 just for the transmitter).

>>1536771
Do people actually DIY these things? Fuck me that looks like a small fuckup in the timing of those rotors would send shrapnel from them not unlike a frag grenade.

>>1536929
HD FPV is overpriced and unnecessary. 5.8GHz analog video is only so good, but it's more than enough for keeping the motherfucker in the air, stable, safe, doing tricks, whatever you may need. Arial cinemetography is almost never piloted using the actual production quality video. That being said, DJI does have a nice setup for entry level filming/photography and
>>1536929
Is 100% right.

First quadcopter build question: I have everything soldered on to the flight controller and I have made sure that my FPV transmitter and my FPV headset are on the same frequency. I only have static being displayed on the headset (appears different from static on any other frequency). Do you think this is an issue with my camera or am I fucking something else up?

>>1537043
If the static looks different on the correct frequency, or frequencies close to it, in my experience, your VTX is dead.

For future references never plug your quad in if you dont have an antenna on the VTX.

>>1537074
Got it. I have a cheaper spare laying around so I will try that. Thanks!

>>1537074
>never plug your quad in if you dont have an antenna on the VTX
I get you, but why not?

>>1537091
I dont know the science but basically all the power the VTX is giving off cant go anywhere without an antenna, so it just fries it. I killed a VTX like a week ago doing just that funny enough.

>>1536771
>build something simple that flies
Already there, the XPS foam (5mm) I'm using is so light you can just take a sheet of it and bevel the edges and you get a wing. I've used the "armin" wing technique, essentially folding the foam over itself and using thin pieces of foam between them to get the right camber and add strength. The thing is quite rigid I have to say, did some testing by throwing it at a wall and bending it at extreme angles and the single 60cm wing can support upwards of 2kg (no idea how much as it was bending a lot at that point and I don't want to break it just yet) and that's without a spar.

Essentially the thing is meant to be a glider that will get a powerpack later on so I'm on the same page as you as far as that goes. In that regard making it fly should not be that much of a problem as I'm making it perfectly symmetrical and following various youtubers, articles and general advice I'm getting. The CG is pretty much the most important thing, get that right and it will fly if you give it enough speed.

>>1536851
I already know that big props are the way to go, however, how does one decide upon what size prop to use and how many blades ti should have. I assume 3 finned props are more efficient as well? So, I should be picking out a motor and based on that I should be picking up a prop, correct? Any suggestions regarding what kind of motor should I be getting?

120cm(wingspan)x18cm(chord with ailerons)x3cm(wing thickness at its peak)
This should be more than good enough judging by what other people are making.

>>1537016
The pilot seldom uses a HD feed, but the camera operator always does. You literally can't do things like focus pull without a feed that actually shows enough detail to see what's in focus.

Even for hobbyist grade stuff where you're shooting fixed focus, a HD feed is still a massive boon over analogue FPV. This is one of the (many) reasons that trying to DIY something comparable to a Phantom/Mavic is pointless, because the cost of just a HD video setup will cost more than a second hand DJI.

>>1537185
>I assume 3 finned props are more efficient as well?

The general trend is that 2 blades are the most efficient.

Is it possible to DIY long distance (7 - 10 km; 5 miles range) plane/drone? I don't think live camera stream is an option but GPS would be necessary. Also able to carry small stuff.

>inb4 drugs

>>1537250
Yes. If it can be made you can DIY. Besides, 10km is not that much, saw this guy build a solar powered plane and he kept it in the air for several hours.

People have been building actual DIY aircraft so the sky is the limit if you don't mind the pun.

>>1537267
Flying outside of visual range is illegal in a lot of places though.

>>1537250
7-10km is fairly trivial for a plane. You'd want a 900MHz control system like FrSky R9, then even just 5.8GHz video would suffice if you chose antennas sensibly & maybe invested in an antenna tracker for your groundstation. Arduplane (or even iNav) will take care of all your GPS requirements.

7-10km for a multirotor would be a very difficult project in comparison, they simply don't have even remotely the same endurance as planes.

>>1537284
Dunno but I don't care in the least if I'm being honest.

>>1537185
You're off to a good start. Check out eCalc, there is a prop size calculator there. Also, several threads about power calculation on RCGroups. I've built a couple of planes that size in the past, you're probably looking at a 1000-1400kv motor swinging a 9-11" prop. Depends on specific kv, motor size and battery.

>>1537292
So drugs?

Building an AUV, my motors don't always kick on at appropriate time (one or two may lag to turn on). I am using bluetooth to turn on 6 2000Kv out runner motors with a 2S 1000 mah cell. The escs are 10 amp max each. Are the capacitors too small on each motor? Or is the discharge rate possible culprit?

>>1537476
Nice 3D print job but I don't understand what this is?

>>1537507
...He literally wrote what it is... "AUV" is a kind of submarine robot.

>>1537476
Just a random guess, it's either the bluetooth, your ESCs need calibrating, or the controller you're using doesnt support 6 motors.

Redpill me on active freewheeling.

>>1536753
That's a dragon dildo.

>>1534944
Cars are EXTREMELY boring if you are the only one with one. If you have at least one friend with a car they are a blast.

>>1537610
This. Quads are definitely more fun solo, but you're more careful around other people's quads than you are around other people's cars, and there's not really any quad equivalent of a dirt track with jumps and tight corners.

How good are these racing quads at precise movement and positioning? I'm thinking of getting into drones like this, but I'm less interested in zooming around a field and more interested in zooming around the interior of my house, where precise movement is more important than raw speed.

>>1537629
Appallingly bad. Racing quads are made to fly fast and react quickly, they're not for fine maneuvering. You could tune the electronics to make them decent at it, but then you still have a fragile and overpowered thing, if a gyro fails, it breaks a prop or just bumps into something it'll blast off at full speed straight through your TV.

If you want to get started flying around indoors, go to Walmart and buy one of those Wifi video $50 quads. It'll control softly enough to fly stably and easily, the camera will be good enough to have some fun with it, and it can even fly outdoors on a calm day. Also doesn't make you spend thousands on a hobby you might not even like.

>>1537631
You're retarded.
>>1537629
In terms of flying vehicles quadcopters are literally designed to be precise. But you arent going to be flying a full blown 5" in the house. Most people buy what we call a whoop to fly indoors. Recently theres been a craze with brushless whoops, but personally I think they are a bit too zippy for indoor flight. If you are solely interested in flying indoors look at the Eachine E013. Comes with an indoor quad, proprietary remote, and a set of goggles, both banggood and Amazon have it but Amazons is a bit more expensive. If I were you Id pick up a 1s LiPo charger capable of charging more thyan 1 battery, some spare props, spare motors, and a spare frame for the quad. I

All in youll spend around $100, those goggles will work if you decide to get another quad. Only real issue is the remote is like I said proprietary, so if it shits out on you the quad wont work.

Another option is to get a Taranis QX7, a whoop from Betaflight or something, and some $100 or so goggles with diversity. In this case youll likely never have to replace the remote or goggles, and any other quad you ever buy compatible with Frsky protocol will work with the remote. And if you decide you dont like it you can sell them.

>>1537631
>>1537634

I was actually just about to ask about the Eachine E013, I saw it in a hobby shop recently, the full package with the goggles. The whoop style quads are what I'd be interested in initially. Thanks for the tip

>>1537635
Like I said if you are SOLELY interested in whoops that Eachine is just fine, youll likely replace parts eventually but youd do that with a $200 whoop too. If however you plan on branching into full 2-6" quadcopters youll want to start with the Taranis and something like the E013 but bind and fly. Reason being is the goggles that come with that Eachine arent great, they work for, but thats it. If you get more into this youll be sitting around with those wishing you could fly more than 100m. As I mentioned the QX7 is the most popular transmitter in this hobby, and $100 will buy you some half decent diversity goggles you wont really NEED to replace.

Basically what Im saying is its up to whether you want to spend $100 on the E013 right now, and then spend $200 more, plus quad cost, on a different transmitter and goggles when you get into the bigger stuff. Or spend $300 now and never have to upgrade the transmitter or goggles.

I'll probably go for the latter option simply to reduce the amount of accessories I have lying around gathering dust.
What does "diversity" goggles mean? They support different radio technologies?

>>1537639
Diversity uses 2 antennas to give you the picture in the goggles. Most people attach and omnidirectional antenna, meaning it picks up signal from all directions, and a patch antenna, which only picks up a strong signal in a cone directly in front of the antenna. The goggles pick up both signals and display you the best one, thus better video. Basically diversity goggles have WAY better range than non.

>>1537634
>>1537635

>Recently theres been a craze with brushless whoops, but personally I think they are a bit too zippy for indoor flight.

1S brushless whoops fly very similar to 1S brushed whoops - they're not really that much zippier desu, they just fly 'better' for sake of a better word. Picrelated was when I first got my UR65, feels very similar to flying an E010 whoop.

>youd do that with a $200 whoop too

How do you spend $200 on a whoop? Or are you talking about the whole package with radio & goggles? Because even the newest & best brushless whoops (like the Emax Tinyhawk) are <$100.

>>1537639
>What does "diversity" goggles mean?

Diversity means it has two receivers, each with its own antenna, & switches automatically between them depending which has the best signal. Normally you would have an omnidirectional antenna on one receiver & a directional antenna on the other.

>>1537643
None of my brushed whoops are nearly as fast as my Snapper6, and it can be way harder to control too.

Maybe I just got a bad one, I was talking about the 2s craze anyways.

>>1537657
2S is a completely different beast - I personally wouldn't even think of trying to fly 2S in my apartment & I've been flying for years.

>>1537658
I dont much get the craze to be honest. The entire point seems to me that they have something that looks like a whoop but performs like a 3", all while using 0803 motors. Seems to me they are just signing up for having a bunch of broken shit sitting around. The 2s batteries used by 2 and 3" quads are usually of higher quality than those shitty little 1s sticks that are mass produced with little QC at this point. Motors will last longer, and they dont use everything in an AIO so you can replace parts.

>>1537643
shiiiiet, i want this sort of thing on a rc car. is vibration really that hard to handle?

>>1537767
Not him but these FPV systems are starting to be used on every manner of RC vehicle, so I dont think vibration is an issue. That being said under ideal circumstances our quads dont vibrate at a frequency low enough to see on those cameras. The VTXs however, at least in my experience, are one of the componants like an ESC that just decides to shit out one day. So I wouldnt trust them much in a car that will be taking hard hits. No telling if the stuff can last the shock 12 dozen times per battery.

>>1537770
oh id want to build some sorta gas rc, i dont like the idea of batteries and having to charge them. and i wouldnt be racing or really stunting much with them either. i wanna build one from scratch and mess around with the design more then having an actual good design.

>>1537772
I've run a FPV camera on a RC tank with a direct drive upgrade and it worked fine. You'll probably get more bumps with cars since they don't have the same kind of suspension a tank has, but it's fine. Depending on how you attach the camera it might vibrate loose, but the camera itself won't break.

>>1537767
Mine (OP) is even designed to be fitted with a FPV camera, by unscrewing the head of the driver & replacing it with a camera. Didn't get a chance to try it at the weekend, was too hungover, but looking forward to trying it this weekend.

>>1537598
pls respond

>>1537821
well the biggest fundamental problem with active freewheeling i

>>1537807
Kinda strange seeing one of these at 90 degrees.

>>1536929
>DJI is 100% superior and cannot be beaten for the price by a DIY
is this true?

>>1538263
If you want a flying camera, yes.

First build I've done entirely myself, how'd I do?

>>1538746
How many pounds of cargo can it lift?

>>1538750
At least 1.

>>1538746
Your soldering definitely has room for improvement, but that just comes with practice.

>>1535695
I think you can get imax 6 on hobbyking or ali (knockoff) cheaper and it works the same (i've used 2 pieces for over 2 years without a problem)
I'd also suggest grabbing ev800 (not d) and getting a achilees/eachine module for diversity (you have to mod the goggles, google it or find it on youtube, easy to do). You can use the module later if you upgrade to fatsharks and the goggles have better resolution come with dvr and you can use them as monitor on your taranis.

>>1538955
Yea I notice that myself. That joint on right isnt too bad up close but the one of the left actually got fucked up by the top plate. Plugged the build in without everything screwed down and the top plate fell off and shorted on something and that 5v joint. Got some smoke and sparks, honestly might be what killed my VTX.

>>1538970
>I'd also suggest grabbing ev800 (not d)

The EV800 (non D) has a weird aspect ratio (5:3 or 15:9) which means it sucks for 4:3 cameras but is passable for 16:9 cameras. I didn't know this when I bought it & found it unusable for all of my models because they're all 4:3. It's okay for spectators, but awful for actually flying.

The EV800D can actually swap between aspect ratios iirc.

>>1539051
You've just learned the important lesson that carbon fibre conducts electricity :)

>>1539099
didn't know it has aspect ratio problems. I do know that ev800d had dvr and diversity problems, that's why i suggested making a mod with dvr and external diversity module cause you can use it later.

>>1539099
Nah I knew it was conductive, top plate just kinda slid off and made a connection between one of the standoffs and that positive wire. It was being held one by the VTX wires, as the VTX was sticky taped to the top plate.

Decided my first big project of 2019 will be to update the oldschool Flite Test Anycopter/Electrohub design, something I've been toying with for over a year. All the same arm angle possibilities as the original, but with 3x sets of mounting positions for modern electronics (20x20 in the front & back, both 20x20 & 30.5x30.5 in the middle) plus miniquad style top (& optionally bottom) plates for batteries &/or payloads.

Just finished 3D printing the first prototype to investigate clearances etc. & realised I definitely need to rethink the standoffs.

Once I'm happy with the design I'll find somebody in Shenzhen to CNC it out of carbon fibre for me & get some appropriately longer/thicker wooden dowels (maybe switching to square carbon fibre booms like my RCExplorer tricopter eventually) then I'm going to build a Y6 with the new blue Sunnysky 2212/1400kv once they arrive from aliexpress.

What features/considerations would you have if you were designing a frame?

>>1539179
Goodluckbuy has a bunch of square carbon fiber tubing sizes.

>>1539189
The issue is that nearly all square carbon fibre tubing is pulltruded, so it sucks for this sort of use. The RCExplorer stuff is uncommon in that it's not pulltruded, but it's also only available in 10mm & specific lengths. I'll definitely just stick to hardwood dowel to begin with.

With correct wiring would it be possible to use a dji wifi module on a custom drone? So I could use use the dji controller?

I want to get into flying FPV drones. My plan is to get a Taranis Q X7 and a whoop to start. I was thinking the AcroBee for the whoop.

I was thinking about getting the Wizard X220HV as a budget miniquad once I get good at flying the whoop. Is this a good idea?

>>1539283
Start with the whoop.

Okay, this thing is crazy fun - especially with a beach & a friend with a dog :3

>>1539283
>>1539414

I wish I never bought my whoop. Its just a cat toy.

The real fun is with the 5 inch quad and you connect your radio to the Simulator to practice and get good.

>>1539724
You must not be somewhere with a severe winter. Only thing i wish is that whoops were a bit more durable, all the shit I run into flying in my house.

>>1539724
You can't fly a 5" in your apartment nor in the pub with friends. Of course I'd rather fly 5", but that's not always possible.

>>1539472
How do you like fpv cars? I was talking to my dad about getting one and he thinks it would be boring compared to the planes. Beautiful area you got there.

>>1539967
The car was great fun with FPV on smoother ground, but on bumpy ground it was a bit too bouncy & your low perspective means you can't see far enough in front of you over bumps. Definitely the sort of thing I'll do both with FPV & without, whilst quads I fly exclusively FPV.

Gotta say I find FPV planes pretty boring compared to quads though. Planes are great for just cruising, but tree gapping etc. with quads is way more 'fun'.

>>1539984
Move your camera forward. You can see a lot of the hood of the car, which isn't very useful. Move the camera forward and you'll see the bumps better.

>>1539986
It needs to be higher, not further forward - the issue is not being able to see the bumps in the distance, not when they're already close enough to be obstructed by the hood. And there's no way to move the camera higher without having it stick out the top where it would break off in the first roll.

I'm an EE student in my final year, and I like making PCB's. For my final project I've decided to build a flight controller, the twist being that it has an ESP8266 on board, so you can tune Betaflight wirelessly. If you could design your own flight controller, what other features would it have?
I might consider selling finished boards if there is demand.

>>1540066
Who's going to produce these boards for you? You either make them with your own PCB router and get a product too expensive to compete with the Chinese ardupilots, or you pay the Chinese to make it for you and end up with two dozen clones right off the bat.

>>1540076
I produce the pcb's in China, yes, but I do my own assembly. Hand placing SMD's is tedious, but I can get people to help until we get an Pick-and-place. If they only get the gerber files, they don't have the bom for it. It would be kinda hard to guess all components based only on the footprints.
I plan on kinda cloning a design, so I guess it's fair game. Besides, it's just a school/portofolio project, and I wanna set up the workflow+equipment for an PCB design/assembly company, so I don't really mind if I get cloned.

>>1539984
Wow that looks fun!
I'm poor and live in an urban area where it's illegal to fly unless i drive out 200km away. So scratch-built planes are really attractive to me.

>>1540099
It would be hard to guess the correct components, but they're pretty damn good at guessing adequate components. There's a reason Chinese 3D printers have a habit of burning down, they copy Reprap developed boards with components similar enough that the arduino runs, but different enough that they have to disable basically all the software safeties to not get thermal warnings and shutdowns. You'll run into the same thing.

>>1540066
>PCB's
PBC's what?
EE student that can't speak fucking english our schools are a disgrace

>>1540113
I don't think they would do that for a small run like mine. I'm thinking 10-100 boards. But you're right, cloning is a problem that I'm gonna run into. Sooner or later I'm gonna have to deal with it, and I'd rather have the experience early on, so I can adapt in the future.
>>1540114
PCB as in Printed Circuit Board. I don't know what the fuck is a PBC. And don't worry, English is my second language, I'm not tainting "your schools" with my disgrace.

Just bought a drone. Laws are stupidly restrictive up here in leafland for drones. I now need to register my drone, but not my rifle? The fuck?

Anywho, tips on flying for beginners?

>>1539283
This was what I bought, real nice. Took a bit of fiddling to get it working.

>>1540114
>>1540147

that pedantic ass was bitching about your incorrect apostrophe; PCB's means that something belongs to the PCB, like "the PCB's traces were wrong". plurals never use apostrophes, so clownboy was triggered because you didn't use "PCBs".

>>1540155
>Anywho, tips on flying for beginners?

Flying a quad or copter is basically the opposite of flying a fixed wing aircraft.

With a fixed wing aircraft, you roll (bank) onto the heading you want and yaw to correct your vector.

While flying a copter, you yaw onto the heading you want and then roll to correct your vector.

If you're so new to flight that that makes no sense, just make sure to turn your camera to the direction you want to fly BEFORE making any other adjustments. So if you want to change course and fly to your right, you turn right and then roll right.

>>1540066
>might try to sell them
You'll get shit from Speedybee.

>>1540066
You're not going to drive motors with that board, are you? What are the dpak/to252 pads for?

>>1540099
>but I can get people to help until we get an Pick-and-place

If it's a lot of boards you can have the PCBA done in china too, if it's like 5 it's better if you do it yourself. Ignore the folks saying there will be a dozen clones, the chinese won't bother with your board unless it's already popular.

But yeah gotta reevaluate exactly what you're trying to achieve with your design

>>1540147
Oh yeah, that's not really enough boards that you need to worry. So what if they start copying, you've already sold your fifty boards and have the paperwork to show employers that you did something.

I gave up on testing my future quad via bluetooth, so instead I'll get a Turnigy 9x and a couple of receivers. Besides the receiver, the other thing I need to make the quad fly are a flight controller, 4 ESC's, the motors and a battery?

>>1540305
Either spend a little bit more to get a QX7, or save money by buying FlySky. The 9X exists at an awkward price point where it's not super cheap, but it's also not quite good enough to make it worth buying over stuff that is super cheap.

>>1540276
This is why I asked you guys. I wanna know what the community wants. I might still keep the feature tho. Mine uses a different technology, but that's a clear competitor.

>>1540292
That's an old board. It's an ESC I built for some contest. I know ESPs and switching inductive loads don't mix.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n76iMTHXuE

>>1540160
I'll remember that. Thanks. I wish people wouldn't get caught up so much in technicalities. We'd all get a lot more done.

>>1540298
I've worked with china before, hopefully that will be the case.
It's just that I have a neat reflow oven and this way I get more material for the paper.

>>1540299
I already have a big corporate job, and I have to admit It's cushy, but man is it boring. I'm gonna try and have a second startup. Someone once said that your first three tries end badly, so I'm gonna fail anyway, why not start early?

Flying FPV makes me happy like nothing else. My skillset and circumstance allows me to contribute something back to the community. I want to design a board that will fly. I don't really care if it's a flight controller or a VTX. So if any of you has any problems, gripes or even mild annoyances with the current setup, let me know. I'd be glad to try my best and fix it.

>>1540334
You should design a flexible board, and flexible carbon. So instead of everything smashing up when you crash, it just bounces off and you can keep flying.

>>1540316
This.
The FS-i6 was my first tx and it was great to get started with. But when I was able to do flips/rolls and wanted more channels (turtle mode + idle up + disarm + beeper) I figured I should get a big boy tx. Then I was kicking myself for not just spending $45 more on the QX7 in the first place. The gimbals, switches, and upgradability are a massive improvement. But yeah, either choice is good. I still use the flysky for my cars since the receivers were just laying around.

>>1539283
Whoops (and other 1-2S ducted quads) are great if you want to fly indoors. You will most likely not have fun flying outdoors. I would say buy the QX7, practice on Velocidrone, and spend $40-60 more on a 5” quad.

>>1536336
Damn, a buddy of mine from the army ate a tree at high speed on his bike after starting a drone channel himself. Weird.

>>1540334
>It's just that I have a neat reflow oven and this way I get more material for the paper.
That's noice, which one do you have?

>>1540334
>I wanna know what the community wants
Order this board from Aliexpress and see if you can run some quad firmware on it (you can), then you take design notes from it, like: it has headers for bluetooth, NRF24L01 and ESP01 but you don't need to use either of them at all times. What is bad about it is the pin configuration, it isn't the same S V G standard of flight controllers. It also has stuff like eeprom and an micro-sd card slot which I'm not sure if it's useful for flight controller usage (it could be)

>>1539744

I live in Michigan and we get a lot of snow.

But I fly anyway. I stand at my backdoor and fly in my backyard of about 2 acre. I have train tracks behind my yard that I fly also.

So I fly more than most people in the snow with my 5 inch quad. The trick is to not crash in the snow. Because usually I have to let my quad dry out totally if that happens.

But I dont crash much anyway, I know my yard and where all the branches are.

>>1540633
>So I fly more than most people in the snow with my 5 inch quad.

You're also incredibly lucky to have so much space you can fly in without even leaving your house. For those of us that live in apartment blocks in the middle of cities, Whoops are great for winter.

>>1540649
That's your own fault for choosing to live in some shitty city, buddy.

>>1540653
Because city living obviously has no benefits.

>>1540654
None that I can see, no.

>>1540657
I'm glad for you.

Starting to like the design now. Gave up on multiple stacks, turns out the length is actually the same as a Flowride baseplate & it was just the overall size that made me think I had more room to play with.

Changed up the battery strap slots so I can mount two packs sideways as well as the normal one lengthways (while keeping a 1/4" hole perfectly central for attaching payloads), plus it turns out the generic folding GPS stalk fits perfectly on any unused arm position. Same plate underneath, so batteries/payloads can go top or bottom or both.

Need to grab some thicker dowel next to check all the clearances still work

Not sure on what RC system I'm going to put in it yet, might build my own Arduino system to save on weight or use a FrSky G-RX6

>>1540761
FrSky make receivers as light as 0.7g, how are you going to save weight by building your own? What am I missing here.

>>1540916
Its more so I can add additional functions if I wanted, like regulated, built-in glow plug power, lights, duct control, etc.

>>1540924
Ah, so more along the lines of an actual flight controller, rather than just a receiver.

>>1534711
Would you all consider this an ok beginner/intermediate project?
I've installed pocket doors before. I'd also prefer not to use an air compressor.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLMmMy-AXy0

>>1540761
D or H

>>1540925
Yep, basically. I like the idea of doing it all myself too, makes it more of a project
>>1541177
It's a D kit but a actually want to try and put an A type canopy on it

Retarded question:
How many solar cells (the ones that are readily available and are not sold for a fuckton of money) would you need in order to extend the flight time of your quadcopter by a significant margin?

Legit question:
Is 3d printing a plane and then mounting solar cells to its wings feasible?
Or mounting solar cells to a rc plane in general in terms of cost, durability and flight time.

>>1541370
>How many solar cells (the ones that are readily available and are not sold for a fuckton of money) would you need in order to extend the flight time of your quadcopter by a significant margin?

There is no such thing as a solar cell that produces more power than it will consume from a multirotor due to its weight.

>Is 3d printing a plane and then mounting solar cells to its wings feasible?
>Or mounting solar cells to a rc plane in general in terms of cost, durability and flight time.

I think solar cells on a large foam plane are viable. 3D printing planes doesn't really make sense, because foam is both lighter & better suited (more impact resistant, etc.).

However if it's just long flight times you want, you can achieve that with a sensible plane design & a big chunk of 18650s. I'm not sure if solar cells are actually useful in real world scenarios, unless all you're doing is chasing endurance records.

>>1541370
RCTest Flight has a few versions of planes with solar cells.

https://youtu.be/8q48mNIfB80

>>1541372
>>1541422
if I were to make the structural parts of the wing from carbon fiber, is there something like a pack of carbon fiber wing ribs and spars for them that you can use to make your own custom wing, or do I have to start from scratch?

>>1541370
>Is 3d printing a plane and then mounting solar cells to its wings feasible?
Not really

If you 3D print things like joints and connectors and make your wings on a hotwire machine then yes it's feasible, but 3D printed stuff ends up being too heavy and not so strong

>>1540669
>b-b-but it's impossible to make a wooden quad!

How are you going to balance the motors so it doesn't spin?

>>1541493
The first build is going to be a Y6. The other option for a three-armed 'copter is a tricopter, which has the tail motor mounted on a servo tilt mechanism. But I already have a tricopter, so I fancy a Y6 now.

>>1541473
Most foam planes have carbon spars. If you're building a wing with material stretched over ribs, the ribs are usually plywood (laser cut, etc.). I'm not sure if carbon fibre really has any advantages over plywood in that sort of situation & it would end up hilariously expensive (you'd be wasting a ridiculous amount of carbon fibre by cutting lots of empty hoops out of the sheets & probably having to discard the middles).

Is this kind of flying wing any good?

I bought a Tamiya Super Hornet second-hand for next to nothing (not my picture, I don't have the box but it's the same thing)

it's a little beaten up and some of the stickers are peeling but it came with a radio and it doesn't seem broken. however I'm a complete novice and I need some help to get it going.

which battery charger do I need to buy? does it depend which battery is inside? I checked and the battery just a big blue brick stamped with the year 1996

>>1541525
is the battery even working to begin with?

>>1541550
I have no idea. is it better to just buy a new battery + charger combo? I assume it's probably dead if it's that old, right?

maybe if I take it to a hobby shop they can test it for me.

>>1541558
>>1541525
Buy yourself a new battery. Even if it can be charged it's a fire hazard, that old. It's a 7.2V motor, so a 2S LiPo should be a drop-in replacement. Buy yourself a charger on ali, buy a battery similar size as the old one with 2S capacity, Discharge (c rating) isn't important since this is a car and LiPos are almost always made for quads, which draw way more power, so they'll all be overpowered. Save the old battery, you might need to cut the connector off and solder it onto the new battery.

>>1541566
>>1541525
Also, get yourself one of these bad boys. It'll beep loudly when the battery needs to be charged, helps you not ruin the battery by over-discharging it. It's a "lipo warning buzzer", you can find them in any RC or airsoft hobby shop, they cost nothing.

>>1534874
Racing, suspension tuning, skate park jumping, etc?

>>1541566
Technically you can buy a pack with too shit of a C rating for a car, a low capacity 20C hooked up to a 3660 can 4 pole motor in a heavy 4x4 will not be happy.

>>1540669
Look at that arm sandwich plate.

Anyone here have experience developin on top of MAVLink? A bit overwhelmed looking at the docs

Not gonna lie, this is a pretty nice frame, and it's a clone.

>>1537643
whats the fpv camera seen here? i want to get myself a long distance fpv i can mess around with and put on various things and i actually really like the grainy low quality look this gives. whats a decent one for a decent price?

if I use 2x3S 5000mAh batteries instead of 1x4S 5000mAh ecalc gives me 5-6 more minutes of hover time. Should I go for it?

>>1541816
Remember the 'copter will fly quite differently (probably worse) on 3S compared to 4S. Why not look for a single 7-8000mAh 4S? It's the same capacity as 2x 5000mAh 3S & you'll save weight on cables/connectors.

And the mixed flight value is more indicative of real life than the hover flight time, unless you literally plan to just hover.

>>1541753
Anything from Foxeer's or Runcam's current lineups is fine. All FPV cameras look grainy & low quality, especially in the dark.

>>1541821
ecalc also says that if I use a 10k mAh battery and get almost double the flight time.

It doesn't seem right, would it even be able to lift the thing?

Also I get max power over the motor limit (i'm not using the exact ones i put on ecalc, but a knock off of those) even with my current battery, should I be worried? It surpasses the motor limit by about 50W.

>>1541824
What is it you're actually building?

You need to look at & understand more than just flight time for eCalc to be useful. Things like the thrust to weight are extremely important - double the flight time is useless if it reduces thrust to weight under ~2:1.

>>1541828
thrust to weight is 2.5 wit the 10k battery and 2.8 with the 8k one.

i just want to have as long of a flight time as possible. I tried reducing its weight but it's not like I have anything to remove in order to do so.

How are foam core kits mass produced? I assume it's with the same kind of machine used to make cardboard boxes. Also why do they have such a bad autonomy if they're so light and more efficient than quads?

>>1540669
You could cut portions of that circle if you're not bolting anything here and either shave off a few grams or thicken the rest by 2 or 3 layers

>>1541909
The whole idea is that it lets you build all sorts of different 'copters just by changing how many arms you use & what angles you mount them at. It can do three arm designs (tricopter, coaxial Y6), 4 arm designs (X, Plus & deadcat, for either quad or coaxial octo), 5 arm designs (dragonfly), 6 arm designs (flat hex) & 8 arm designs (flat octo). It's essentially the Flite Test Anycopter but more up-to-date.

>>1541906
What do you mean by autonomy in this context? I would guess that mass produced stuff uses some sort of robotic hot needle/wire/knife machine.

>>1541906
The flite test kits are laser cut. These are foam board, not foam core. Foam core is hot wire cut.

The difference being that foam board is flat, then folded to shape while foam core is cut to shape and then sheeted with balsa.

>>1541932
If you search foam board and foam core, you'll find the same kind of board that consists of two layers of paper and one of depron. You can't cut it on a hotwire because of the paper. What you can cut on a hotwire are pure foam blocks/boards.

>>1541913
Flight time. Quads get like 15 minutes, those foam planes get 15 minutes too

Noob question, are all the FPV goggles using the same communication protocol/standard? It's just a case of picking the right tx/rx channel, right?

>>1542042
Most FPV is analogue 5.8GHz, so it's just a matter of matching band/channel (which just means 'frequency'). The only exception is digital HD systems, which each have their own protocol.

>>1540305
don't get it unless you can get it under 50usd and be prepared to mod it to er9x/opentx. As the >>1540316
said, either get a qx7 for 100usd or wait for x9+ on discount (i got mine for 145usd).
>>1540595
stmf4 discovery can run ardupilot code and even has tutorials how to run it. Hell, i ran qx7 code on a nucleo board so it all depends how much time/knowledge/experience/will you have to do a thing like that. I'd suggest getting a nucleo/discovery board instead of chink stm32 for beginners (i have blue pills and stm32f4 from chinks but it's hard to start if you don't know how)

IT BEGINS

>>1542177
>box goggles


Just kidding. That’s a good start. Hopefully you get hooked.

>>1542177
How much does this cost?

>>1542184
About 100 bucks

>>1542184
For entry level goggles, you may want to look at the fat shark recon v2. $30 cheaper, higher fidelity receiver, more comfortable on your face, and actual customer support.
>but muh diversity
Antenna diversity is only marginally better than no diversity.

>>1542214
EV800D has real diversity, it's not antenna diversity.

>>1542227
Fuck me, I guess I was thinking of the 100. Might have to get one for my son.

Which aliexpress seller should I get my components from?

My transmitter is here, so I need

- Flight controller
- Props , 5 inches
- 2204 motors + ESC's
- Battery

Am I forgetting something?

This looks like it could carry around a 5.56 machinegun

>>1542602
Use banggood if possible, their shipping options are way better than aliexpress.

>>1542604
And? It also probably has a flight time of ~8 minutes.

I'm trying to get into self constructed RC planes, what kind of foam is the best for that kind of stuff and what can i do to make the surfaces as resilient as possible? I want to make a blended wing body.

>>1542690
Moulded EPP is the best, but the moulds are very expensive to manufacture (only viable for mass produced commercial designs). For hot-wire cut DIY designs you can laminate them with film & an iron.

>>1542694
I was thinking about hot wire cutting everything and using several templates for fuselage and wings. Also how to make a battery powered hot wire cutter for smaller cuts? I really don't want to fuck around with the mains.

>>1542748
Flite Test has your back mang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi3CAtpvJJs

>>1542666
So instead put a 9mm on it and a bunch of extra batteries with a servo-activated quick release. Drain a pack, drop it, start draining the next one, like how rockets drop stages.

Tfw I'm getting pretty happy with the design but I timed it perfectly to get screwed on the components & carbon CNC because of Chinese new year delays ;_;

Are lighter than air drones regulated the same way as quadcopters? Will the FAA be on my ass for flying a helium balloon?

>>1541525
Depending on how old it is, the speed controller may be a servo controlling a pointer that switches a big resistor. Find an electronic speed controller to match your battery instead.

>>1542888
Regulated the same way? Yes.
Enforced the same way? More or less.
Enforced at all? Hardly ever.
Don't be an asshole about your flying (stay away from stuff like schools, airports or soccer moms) and you won't have the police called on you, don't get the police called on you and it'll be fine.

Don't buy 5 blade EDFs they are less efficient. For an EDF more blades = more efficient. For a propeller there is no difference though.

>>1543164
Efficiency depends on a lot of things like power/weight ratio, air intake area, angle of attack, blade profile, air speed, and operating RPM range. To say all 5-blade EDFs are less efficient than all 8/10-blade EDFs for all applications is just not true. For instance at high load AND high speed they are more efficient, especially while accelerating.

>>1534711
>Buy a DJI if what you actually want is to take good photos/videos
Anyone here got any experience with Parrot? Aside from not having obstacle avoidance I really like the Anafi more but I get mixed reviews

Why do fixed-wing aircraft need so much space to land?
If they're small and light, why couldn't the following procedure be used to land?
>get close to ground
>roll 180° to the side so that the UAV is flying upside down
>turn yaw/pitch 180° so that the UAV is flying upright, but with the thrust opposite to its direction of travel
>start accelerating until airspeed is zero
With proper control software, you could get vy = 0 at the instant it touches the ground.

>>1543248
>air intake area
Disc loading doesn't actually determine efficiency, it dictates thrust to power ratio. EDFs have worse thrust to power ratio which is why they aren't used on drones but their efficiency is actually better than propellers.
>power/weight ratio
>angle of attack
>blade profile
Well for two EDFs with the same motor, blade profile and angle of attack the 5 blade will be less efficient. The reason is that during my research I found that they have higher induced drag.
>For instance at high load AND high speed they are more efficient, especially while accelerating.
I did all of my research on static thrust so I can't comment on that.

>>1543346
Do you even know how wings work?

Another interesting I found during my research is that ducting a propeller confers no benefit whatsoever if the propeller is designed properly. So don't bother unless you just want to make it kid safe

>>1543351
Yeah, but with enough force it shouldn't be a problem.
You roll, then turn 180° (yaw would put much less stress on it). If done properly, you would end up with the aircraft's nose pointed slightly up and the aircraft pointing exactly opposite to the direction of travel.
If the angle is right, then going full throttle would stop it just before it hits the ground.

>>1543353
Surely the plane would just crash into the ground? If it's upside down the wings are now producing downforce. Pretty sure this is also violating the conservation of momentum law somehow.

>>1543346
You're talking about a tailsitter. It's rather too finicky to actually be useful, afaik.

>>1543355
It would, but it's doing so at ~0 velocity.
>If it's upside down the wings are now producing downforce
Doesn't matter, it would just be so for a few seconds.
>>1543357
Basically yes, but it would land belly-down.

>>1543361
hmm ok

>>1543355
You can fly inverted, you just need to hold some down elevator. However, >>1543346 seems to think the plane will be able to rotate while still traveling in the original direction. Here are some marginally useful alternatives to reducing landing area: parachute, spoilers, airbrake, reversing ESCs.

Does an entire antenna have to be clear of the carbon or just the active part? Im reading a 200mw 5.8ghz VTX should be able to get at least a mile or so of range but flying in the field behind my house Im lucky to get 1/4 of that on 600mw.

>>1543394
>(You) seems to think the plane will be able to rotate while still traveling in the original direction.
Why can't it?

Yes, reversing ESCs would work pretty much the same way. You'd head for the ground, then put it in reverse. If properly timed, you would end up with v = 0 at h = 0.

>>1535695
>$26 receiver
>$115 transmitter
Why not just use cell phones?
Unlimited calls for $15 a month is commonplace, 50 kbit/s will be more than enough for a few commands, the software for it is already there, and there's no range limitation as long as you have 2G service.

Two used burner phones are much, much cheaper than $141.
You could even use it for FPV. It won't be pretty but it will be reliable.
See pic related. VP8 encoding, 21 kbit/s, 24 fps.
If you'd use real 3G data, then it would obviously be good, but that's expensive.

>>1543434
>Why can't it?
Because the plane travels in the direction it's turning. You could possibly put the plane into a controlled flat spin and land it that way, too.

>>1543444
because latency, mostly. I've seen this video before, I'm sure there's others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuYeJ5dss60

>>1543444
Cellular control is already used for some long-range semi-autonomous survey platforms, but for something like a miniquad it's completely unusable. A proper hobby transmitter & receiver has an end-to-end latency of under 20ms.

>>1543532
>the plane travels in the direction it's turning
Does it? I've seen videos of planes spinning.
>You could possibly put the plane into a controlled flat spin and land it that way, too.
Yeah, that's what I mean. That or reverse thrust.

>>1543620
>latency
But that's using data. I mean using phone audio. Considering you can get creative with the encoding, you should be able to get an even lower latency.

I'm currently using 4G tethering for internet, and my ping is 48 ms. That's including the delay of the cheapo android phone.

Why does it have to be so low? I've played first-person shooters with 100 ms ping, and it wasn't great but it was decently playable.

>>1543650
Even using phone audio you're never going to get latency down as low as an actual hobby radio. So why would anybody even consider it, when a perfectly adequate hobby transmitter & receiver can be bought for $41?

You're talking about buying two phones, paying for two SIM services/contracts, buying/building actual physical controls to attach to the 'transmitting' phone (or were you planning to fly a race quad using a numpad?), developing your own modulation/demodulation layer to integrate the 'receiving' phone to a flight controller, then strapping a big heavy phone to an aerial platform where weight is usually the biggest concern? Some hobby receivers literally weigh less than a gram.

As I said, cellular control makes sense for some platforms like long-range survey, but for the post you originally quoted which is just a race wing, it's a laughable idea.

>>1543352
Why do you think all whoop props look identical?

>>1543423
Get the active part as far away from the carbon as possible, touching is terrible but being close may cause interference as well. That being said, the shielded part can touch the frame with no issues. A large part of the problem is other shit (battery, props, the whole frame, etc) being between your antennas. It sucks for crashes, but putting the antenna straight up out the top seems to work best for me, I just have to remember not to fly directly overhead. Some other tips for improved video/video range: throw a large low-ESR capacitor across battery terminals on the FC to filter motor noise. You can also plop your quad on the opposite side of a large field and have a friend run through all the transmit channels to see which one looks best. Not sure if it’s an antenna issue or something with the transmitter or receiver but some frequencies just perform better than others on my gear.

>>1543675
>some frequencies just perform better than others on my gear

The transmit power of VTX varies between frequencies.

>>1543686
Not sure how but I somehow ended up using 5765 on everything I own. Im surprised to find out thats not the absolute worst frequency to use, thats usually how shit works for me.

>>1543692
>Im surprised to find out thats not the absolute worst frequency to use

That picture is just for one VTX, they're not all the same.

>>1543361
You want it to do a backflip and flop onto the ground?
Gee, I wonder why aircraft carriers don't do that. They don't actually need those long runways!

>>1543666
>So why would anybody even consider it, when a perfectly adequate hobby transmitter & receiver can be bought for $41?
Infinite range, cost savings.
>You're talking about buying two phones, paying for two SIM services/contracts, buying/building actual physical controls to attach to the 'transmitting' phone (or were you planning to fly a race quad using a numpad?), developing your own modulation/demodulation layer to integrate the 'receiving' phone to a flight controller, then strapping a big heavy phone to an aerial platform where weight is usually the biggest concern? Some hobby receivers literally weigh less than a gram.
You're right, it would probably not be much of a gain to do odd stuff with the modulation layer. But if you don't do that, it's much cheaper than you describe.

>buy a GSM module
>get a SIM card without charging it so it only can receive calls
>use a computer's 3.5mm input/output and your personal phone as transmitter
>use microcontroller to demodulate from audio out

A small GSM module isn't very heavy. A RDA 6626e or SIM800L doesn't weight much more than a gram.

I didn't reply to anything regarding a race wing.
>how would I go about building and flying a FPV rc plane setup on a SUB 200 budget
>I would absolutely love to build my own plane some day (maybe a balsa p38) and just fly around like this

>>1543724
For aircraft carriers, their planes are much heavier. There are much lower tolerances and much more inertia.

>>1543731
>Infinite range

You don't need more range than 2.4GHz/900MHz unless you're doing something like super long range survey.

>cost savings

How? Your setup undoubtedly costs more than $41 even before taking the monthly costs into account. And that's not considering the substantial amount of time required to actually set something like that up, compared to plug & play of actual hobby RC gear.

>I didn't reply to anything regarding a race wing.

I'm talking about this reply >>1543444 to this post >>1535695 which is clearly a 3-channel race wing shopping list.

GSM only makes sense in situations where 2.4GHz/900MHz isn't sufficient. In every other situation it's just laughable levels of complexity & cost (both time & money).

>>1543737
Don't bother with that other anon, you'll have a stroke. It's typical /diy/.
>I've never done this before, why won't my crazy ideas work?

I'm the anon that posted the shipping list.

>>1543737
>You don't need more range than 2.4GHz/900MHz unless you're doing something like super long range survey.
Yeah, but for that you need powerful receivers.

Why would my setup cost more than $41?

Assuming you already have a computer, you need two GSM chips ($2-3 each), and some type of video encoding+modem chip. A cheap SBC ($10) or a microcontroller (less) is enough.

The monthly costs are zero, if you already have a phone to transmit with. If not, they are $10 a month for infinite drones.

>that's not considering the substantial amount of time required to actually set something like that up, compared to plug & play of actual hobby RC gear.
Not that much needed, and it would be an interesting project. It would be much cheaper than your shopping list.

>>1543765
>Yeah, but for that you need powerful receivers.

You need a <$20, <1g receiver. They're good for 30-40km.

>Why would my setup cost more than $41?
>Assuming you already have all this stuff & the expertise to pull off a project like this

Kek.

>Not that much needed, and it would be an interesting project. It would be much cheaper than your shopping list.

It would be an interesting project, but ultimately dumb as fuck for 99.9% of people, including the person you first responded to, who should just spend $41 (or even $150) on an actual hobby radio & receiver that they can just plug in & start flying with, rather than embarking on a convoluted project that will taken them dozens of hours of work & in the end not actually provide any benefits to them.

This actually worked better than I thought it would. Ofc the gimbal is now full of sand, but eh.

>>1540761 here, I'm looking for some good lightweight servos to run the thing. Preferably not plastic geared and 9g or less. Anybody have recommendations?

how much would you estimate it would cost to make the cheapest ghetto/garrys mod drone powerful enough to carry a man

I could even pass this off as race quad footage, to somebody that didn't know any better :3

>>1544338
How much does a visit to the emergency room cost where you live?

>>1544440

that's actually a beautiful video due to the evening light. land based RC videos sometimes work really well if you have a chase car to show the main car drifting and sliding, or just throwing water and dirt, which hopefully doesn't ruin the chase cam lens.

video saved.

tangent time: I don't have any toys so I just dream, but I wonder if it would be cool to have two or more cars with steerable FPV that rotates when you move your head, like you're in the car and you look to the side and the camera pans like you're the driver, which you are since you have the controls.

>>1544338
You'll get off cheaper building your own ultralight than anything quad-like. Paragliders can be built with old motorcycle engines and bicycle frames for example.

>>1544448
That's not evening light, that was midday in Scotland. No joke. The wind chill from the 40mph wind was great as well :3

has anyone here ever made their own RC transmitter? i feel like its just a collection of potentiometers that get linearized inputs output via the transmitter, the ones im seeing online are so expensive . and if i make my own i could make literal pedals and a yoke or maybe even take an existing flight simulator setup and have it output the necessary signals. im sure there is so much im not considering, someone please crush my dreams.

>>1545186
https://youtu.be/-BDCmwNssiw

>>1545186
Again, you can buy a decent transmitter with an included receiver for $41. How cheap do you want this stuff to be? How much cheaper do you really think you could make a comparable one yourself?

is 4mm balsa too thick for wing ribs?

>>1541523
Its aspect ratio sucks ass.

>>1545352
Doesn't really matter all that much, the ribs only contribute a small bit to the total mass because the bulk goes to the shrinking foil.
But you can get away with making them really thin as they don't do much to the structural integrity.

>>1537292
Same. It's about the personal challenge for me. Fuck the rules in that case.

>>1545768
This is exactly the sort of douchebag mentality that will ruin this hobby for everybody.

>>1545835
If I cant do as I please then the hobby is already ruined. I have zero interest in WVR manual control. It's all about long range autonomous swarms to me. See if I can get some footage of the pipeline in mexico and then self destruct the drone so the FAA cant follow it back to me.

can anyone link me a good tutorial/components for a remote control and a chip (with adjustable speed)?all I get is "how to make/assemble a rc car".and if possible for the chip to be as small as possible

>>1545940
No, because your idea is shit. Buy a commercial solution for cheaper than your homebrew idea, or figure it out on your own.

>>1545940
>a remote control and a chip

What does this mean? Do you mean a receiver? With PWM output? If these are the terms you've been searching for, it's no surprise you haven't been finding the results you want.

I'm not sure I even care how well this thing flies in the end, because no matter what it's going to look super cool.

could I get away with using a 6mm copper tube as a wing spar? and what are some relatively cheap and readily available alternatives to that apart from balsa, carbon fiber, and fiberglass?

>>1546096
Aircraft grade aluminum would be better.

>>1546099
>Aircraft grade aluminum
where the fuck can I buy that though

>>1546099
>>1546101
Aluminium hard enough to not instantly bend is not 'cheap and readily available'.

>>1546096
Why not just use carbon fiber, it's not like it's expensive nor hard to come by.

>>1537476
Bluetooth won't work under water. Water absorbs most high frequency radio waves.

>>1546096
why would you not use carbon fiber or fiberglass? If you're looking in a hardware store, skip the copper tube and grab a few of those poles that mark the edge of your driveway. They're fiberglass (or fiber reinforced plastic or something) and only $2. I've used them for spars before.

>>1542177

Update

Got the $15 tx02 mounted in my shitty MOA! I must say while the range and latency is astonishing, I am frightened by the lack of detail fucking up my flying this thing, I feel like it's going to be easy to find myself lost in my surroundings. Next time I will definitely try to aquire something clearer.

>>1546150
The FPV feed transmitted from these cameras barely gets better with even the most detailed of cameras.

>>1546118
But I haven't found any place that sells carbon fiber ribs or spars or some kind of carbon fiber tube. I don't want to pay a fortune for custom milled parts.

>>1546127
no way my hardware store sells that kind of stuff.

>>1546312
>But I haven't found any place that sells carbon fiber ribs or spars or some kind of carbon fiber tube

Literally just put 'carbon fiber spar' or 'carbon fiber rod' into google. This isn't hard.

>>1546313
Literary no results

And there's no way in this shithole I live in there's a shop that makes carbon fiber parts.

The only way of getting carbon fiber parts in my hand is from some chinkshit site, but I am really concerned about the thing arriving in one piece. The post service here blows big time and no one there cares about stuff not getting torn apart.

Does anyone have any advice or have seen a viable diy build for a cheap, effective drone/camera setup for photogrammetry?

>>1546109
>>1546101
I managed to buy some from an Indian armoursmith on ebay. I asked if he could sell me some metal plate directly and asked for 3x 20x20x2mm plates of 2024 aluminium and he said "sure, ten dollars extra please". Not sure if aluminium really is that cheap over there or if he just stole some stuff from work or something like that, but you can get these things by asking. I'm not entirely sure it really is 2024, but it's the strongest piece of aluminium I've ever used so I sort of think it might be.

>>1546316
>>1546329
If you're in a really backwater country with no money you could even consider something like bamboo canes?

>>1546327
Second hand DJI. Don't underestimate the importance of the automated software & how it integrates with the drone - something like DroneDeploy saves you so much time it's well worth it.

>>1546312
What country? These vague answers don't help. Just buy from hobbyking or banggood, they'll ship anywhere. You probably won't find carbon fiber wing ribs because that's not a common building technique.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Blazer-International-Driveway-Marker-48-in-Round-Fiberglass-Rod-Orange-381ODM/202498049

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/carbon-fiber-rod-solid-2-0x750mm.html?___store=en_us

>>1546327
chdk enabled camera with pixhawk.
Concerning frames, I'm currently testing on a alien h7 quad and volantex ranger 2 different cameras, optical flow, lidar and software so I will have more info in some time when the weather is hotter/stops raining/snowing.
It all depends on your budget and needs, I'm not a fan of dji as >>1546343
recommends and have no experience with them but all I can see in my country are dji, pixhawk based wings/drones and geoskan drones from russia (they have out of the box solutions for mapping) but the price is not hobby level anymore.
Painless360 recently made a video about a cheap fixed wing for mapping and arxangelRC has nice videos about fixed wings for mappings so I suggest you check them out (I think he recommends believer platform).

>>1546349
I (>>1546343) have done photogrammetry with both DJI quads & pixhawk/arducopter quads & the former when combined with a software solution like DroneDeploy (or even DJI's own PC Ground Station, though I haven't personally tried that) is just such a simple, streamlined, turnkey solution compared to the latter. You can fly the mission, drag & drop the photos from the SD card to the browser, go to lunch & when you come back you have models ready & waiting.

I was doing this from a commercial position though, where time is money & I just wanted something that worked, rather than a fun /diy/ project to tweak with. If >>1546327 is doing this more for fun than for money then the arducopter approach will be a lot more fun than just loading up DroneDeploy & pressing [Go!].

Obviously for larger areas you're going to want fixed wing & DJI will be no good there.

>>1546344
>>1546343
>>1546329
I am making the wing ribs in Fusion 360 right now, will 3D print them and I'll prolly end up buying carbon fiber tubes from HK. What do you guys think?

>>1546357
The ribs will be much better cut from plywood.

>>1546360
the local carpentry shop will prolly charge me a fuckton of money for this, prolly not worth the cost desu.

>>1546362
>>1546360
also, I will have two spars, one with a 8mm OD and one with a 6mm OD, is it too much?

>>1546362
Couldn't you cut them out of plywood yourself? All you really need is a figure, scroll or jig saw and a printer (the old fashioned paper kind). Just print the shape you need, glue it to the plywood, and cut it out.

>>1546362
>prolly charge me a fuckton of money for this, prolly

Do you "prolly" fags actually say prolly IRL? You managed to type carpentry, why not "carpy".

>>1546369
I don't own any power tools, nor have a shed to work in.

>>1546372
imagine being offended by an abbreviation

>>1546373
>>1546369
>>1546362
>>1546360
Honestly, 3D printed stuff is alright. Just don't use PLA, since the stuff melts in summer heat and sunlight and that's what your plane will be in most of the time. Use ABS or even better PETG (a bit more flex), and print it with 100% walls (set wall line width to five metres or something like that) and it should be more than strong enough.

>>1546363
How big is the wing?

>>1546372
They prolly do.

>>1546375
No way PLA would start to melt with air streaming over it from flight.

>>1546513
yeah but it will if you say leave it in your car during noon in a hot sunny summer day

>>1546393
prolly a meter long with a chord length of around ~18cm.

forget my previous post, I am now thinking of a 14mm OD tube as the main spar, a 8mm OD at the leading edge and a 6mm at the trailing edge.

should I use a dual 12mm tubes as wing spars? I'm worried about the wings getting twisted but I have no experience whatsoever building planes.

>>1546517
Well yea but heat kills lipos too so you shouldn't be leaving RC shit in a hot car anyways.

>>1534711
how likely is it to get caught when ignoring 250g limit for non-registering/fpv flying without a spotter? I honestly hate the government and their stupid bullshit laws.

>>1534711
tweetFPV is missing from youtube channel list: https://www.youtube.com/user/dansz24/videos

>>1534943
I made my old hobby into a career (programming). This pretty much destroyed the hobby for me and I hate it now. Won't make that mistake again. Any hobby (or activity you enjoy) becomes soul sucking hell when you turn it into a job.

>>1546597
Not very likely at all, unless you fly near an airport, in which case they're grabbing you even if you do register after the hassle England just had.

>>1546600
It helps if you're just autistic enough. I've worked office jobs, customer service, outdoors, grocery stores, whatever. They all made me nuts and depressed. I honestly think I could be happy for at least awhile just building quads.
>>1546597
Depends on what cou they you're in. As far as I know US cops dont give a single fuck until someone complains. Cops in my area have WAY better shit to do.

>>1546537
That's a bit overkill. You should be fine with 8 or 10mm. Are you using a covering film or foam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqV6woMt3VY

>>1546597
There's essentially no enforcement unless you do something really stupid.

>>1540155
download a simulator (velocidrone or liftoff) and practice there. you can attach your tx to your PC and use it as a controller in those sims.

>>1544440
now remake fury road with rc cars

>>1546604
>>1546605
>>1546606
thanks, anons. ofc I'm not a retard who's going to do fly overs at the local airport or shit like that. just want to go into the field and fly some FPV without being molested by cops and without having to bring a spotter faggot along.

>>1546606
covering film

>>1546613
Cops don't give a shit, they have more important things to do. If you're American there are niggers to beat up, if you're British there are people posting anti-tranny shit on Facebook to imprison and spoons to confiscate.

>>1546608
>you can attach your tx to your PC and use it as a controller in those sims
By buying a 700 dollar Spectrum to USB cable, sure.

>>1546618
>they have more important things to do
I would think so. But here (in Germany) they have two options: Either they fight real crime or they molest otherwise law abiding citizens who break some bullshit laws (like posting nasty words on facebook). Guess what they prefer to do. Yup, they molest citizens because the real criminals tend to fight back and cause trouble.

>>1546621
A $100 frsky Q X7 does the trick, too. Anything running OpenTX really.

>>1546622
>Germany
Oh damn. I'm sorry, I didn't know.

>>1546621
The little OrangeRX dongle I use with Velocidrone and my DX8 is like $12...

Gotta be smarter than what you're working with anon.

>>1546621
or don't be special and buy a bundle on banggood for a few bucks with cracked simulators

https://www.banggood.com/All-In-One-Gold-FPV-Simulator-V2-For-XTR-G7-Aerofly-FMS-PhoenixRC-VRC-Freerider-Hotprops-Liftoff-p-1107661.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

>>1546614
You'll be fine with the bigger spars. You can always tone down V2 once you get the first version working.

>>1546653
Only 2 of those sims are for quads and they both suck?

>>1546605
>I honestly think I could be happy for at least awhile just building quads.

Except the only jobs 'building quads' are in China paying $1 a week.

>>1546621
>>1546653
Or just buy a radio with a USB socket on the back. Seriously wtf guys.

>>1546656
you can probably download other online, realflight is a nice simulator for wings and you have to have a dongle which this dongle simulates thus works without a problem. I thought the main problem was not being able to connect your TX to pc without spending a lot of money

>>1546658
I mean there are American companies that do premade quads but the chances of them having an opening, chances of me finding it, and chances of getting it are all slim to none. As of right now I work on computers, my other hobby, and simply have plans to buy the parts to build a quad and sell it online for enough to build another and $20 profit.

>>1546658
as i said here>>1546661
I fly in realflight and you have to have their dongle or a chink cracked version of the dongle to use it.
I have taranis and still use the dongle since I make a model for different simulators (quad, wing, car, games). Never tested in in usb joystick mode except on linux to test sitl simulators and ROS

>>1546661
OrangeRX makes dongles for almost all protocols and sells them on every Chinese website and some others. Dude just needs to dump his spare chromosome if he thinks sim use is $700.

>>1546668
I agree, even cheap HK and flysky controllers work if they have ppm output and most do.
Still there is a problem of finding a perfect simulator for your needs and I just use what was given on the cd

>>1546673
People need to get the idea out of their head that Flysky is a low budget otherwise garbage TX. The vast majority in difference of price between say an i6s and an X9D is the software. The Frsky of course has all sorts of customization options and control options and you can make the radio sound like a pornstar, whereas the flysky you make a model, bind, and fly. I'm almost positive my Flysky radio has more range than my DX8, which admittedly would be because I put a 9db antenna on it that I haven't gotten around to doing to the DX8. Literally the biggest downside of Flysky is the massive receivers, but they still have that tiny non diversity one.

>>1546677
I'm not talking smack about them, just comparing the price ranges.
I've flown on hktx6 which had garbage gimbals and garbage software for calibration on the pc (never could center it and the values were just jumping like crazy) and th9x which i modded and flashed opentx/er9x which ended up costing the same as the hktx6 but the quality and functions were something completely different.
Th9x is great if you can get it cheap, but since frsky has entered with 100usd pornstar radios you can't really argue that in the long run maybe it's better to just pay a few bucks more so you don't have to change in the future? I have no idea how the spektrum or other radios stand since I'm fairly happy with my choice.
I jumped on taranis since er9x/opentx for th9x didn't have telemetry enabled options on some modules without heavy tinkering (frsky telemetry protocol and ardupilot telemetry) while it works mostly out of the box on qx7 or x9+, also lua scripting which really did come in handy.
Also range can be improved either with mods ot external modules, still to this day can't understand why on th9x the module is "fixed" to the case unless you desolder the antenna.

>>1546667
Ah, you're talking about some oldschool simulator peddled by a partnership with Horizon. I assumed we were talking about modern FPV quad sims like LiftOff & the DRL Sim, which are the go-to for people wanting to learn rate/acro mode FPV quad flight with a direct USB connection to a Taranis.

>>1546677
The Spektrum protocol is trash compared to FrSky's, there's a reason so many people refer to Spektrum as 'team failsafe'. Spektrum stuff is hilariously overpriced for its features/performance/etc. & honestly I think the only reason they're still in business is because of their partnership with Horizon that allows them to flog outdated crap to clueless people that walk into their local hobby store which is full of obsolete stuff. I can't remember if it was last thread where somebody said their local hobby store owner had never even heard of FrSky. Probably the same sort of place that will sell you a Naze32 for $50 & Gemfan 5030 props for $8 a set.

FlySky is solid for budget stuff though, there's good reason I've been singing the praises of the $40 FS-i6 in this thread - if you don't want to spend $100 on a QX7 there really isn't anything else you should consider.

>>1546687
Been in the hobby for a little over a year and Ive honestly never heard "team failsafe" but Ill give you one thing, before I learned proper antenna placement o the quad I got a failsafe with my DX8 15 feet behind my shoulder. After I fixed all my antennas though I havent had an issue. You are correct on pricing though, shits ridiculous. Its also funny you mention selling shit to hobby store visiters when they dont know better. All my FPV stuff, which is a DX8, three 5" quads, 2 Inductrix, and some Spectrum Focal V2s I got from a craigslist trade. And I know for a fact the guy got it all from a Hobbytown USA store.

You should know however that Hobbytown is updating their stock finally. They still sell Spektrum stuff at hilarious prices of course but the last one I went to had modern Gemfan and Dal cyclone props, and a couple diatone BNFs.

>>1540066
ur putting mpu6050s or something on it?

>>1546664
maybe start your own quad building company then?

>>1546687
(((local hobbystores))) are such a joke. luckily it's only a few years till the boomers running them either retire or die

>>1546664
Your $20 profit will instantly disappear when the buyer crashes it & accuses your build of being at fault & demands a free repair.

>>1546945
Act like Id do it or be liable to. Its not a business, itd be buying the parts and selling it on the facebook FPV group or some shit. Trades of that manner are considered legally final basically the second the exhange is made. Once the quad is in the mail and the money is sent the only thing a buyer can do is complain to paypal which usually requires sufficient evidence of fraud. Worst case scenario I get scammed once by one of the rare shitstains that sneak into that sale group.

Is it bad that in order to keep the compass mod within the acceptable values, I've put 2 magnets near the GPS module? I tried advanced calibration many times with no success.

>>1546949
You obviously don't have much experience with PayPal if you don't think they'll immediately screw you over in a situation like that.

>>1546961
>is it bad
Not unless you want your compass to work.
Magnets shouldn’t have any effect on the GPS module.

>>1547035
but I keep getting a low mod value no matter what

>Magnets shouldn’t have any effect on the GPS module.

im talking about the compass that is integrated to the GPS module

>>1547045
If you want the compass to work, why the actual fuck would you put magnets near to it? Seriously, wat.

>>1547064
the manufacturer himself tells you to degauss the compass by hovering a magnet over it and then redo the calibration, both of which I did with no results.

> why the actual fuck would you put magnets near to it

because without the magnet it will trigger an error

>>1547066
You are taking the magnets away again before starting the calibration, right...?

>>1534711
eurobros, where do you get your shit from? banggood? because findind anything in a EU online shop is pretty impossible. most of them look half dead and 80% of their listings are "sold out" or "ships in 30 days".
I want to build a 3" or 4" quad and sourcing the parts from eu shops is a nightmare. I could go to banggood and get everything in one place but then again I have no idea what shit the chinks would send me.

>>1547076
yes

>>1547110
I (UK) use Banggood for the majority of my stuff. Avoid the free shipping (takes 3-4 weeks) & go with 'priority direct mail' which generally arrives within 10 days.

>>1534711
Question nerds: Would it be possible to do a drone powered by a mini turbine or would a mini turbine yield less power/speed than a prop rotors? *at that small of scale* We'll say like a foot long tops.

>>1547252
Props > Ducted fans
Turbines are good in jets because you can push a lot of oxygen and fuel together and get high expansion ratios in the "nozzle". This doesn't apply to electric stuff.
Unless of course you mean an actual jet engine, in which case you can get real speedy real quick, propellers also add a lot more drag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPGDAZyQ44k

>>1547252
Theres a video on youtube of a gentleman making a quad out of 4 leafblowers. Took him like a year considering he made molds and hand laid carbon fiber sheets to make the ducting but it flies. Sounds 4x louder than a leafblower for some reason though.

how do I use GPS data from USB GPS connected into raspberry Pi for the pixhawk?

pic related

I have a 6 way 1s charger that can do 0.2a or 0.6a, my batteries are rated for 0.5 "max. Will that extra .1 actually matter?

>>1547349
No, wont hurt. I guessing they are 500mah and are recommend 1c charging? Anyway, 1c charging max for lipos is a lie. jut think about it, most of these lipo can be discharged at 40c but suddenly its too hard for them to charge at 1c? bull, 2 and 3c charging is fine.

>>1547345
what are you trying to do? Why would you not just use the Pix with GPS?

>>1547454
well because the GPS i'm using is a marine grade and only connects to USB, it contains GPS and sonar data and I need that sonar data to be streamed via radio UART to be recorded on Matlab

pic related: garmin 580/585

Last week sand, this week snow. For a cheap car it's handling stuff just fine.

>>1547547
I'm confused. Where are you recording the sonar data? On the Pixhawk as part of dataflash? Or on the ground? Or on the Pi?

>>1547588
Sonar data is recorded in RPi and streamed to Matlab program on ground control via USB UART on channel 2 (raw sonar data), so it's both.
RPi as mavproxy, connected via GPIO UART to Pixhawk, and controlled/programmed by qsgroundcontrol via USB UART 1 on channel 1.
GPS and sonar data provided by Garmin connected to via USBto raspberry pi. i want raspberry pi to send its GPS data to pixhawk or pixhawk itself requesting GPS data from raspberry pi via mavlink protocol that is connected to.
I can buy another cheap serial GPS for the Pixhawk, but that is a waste of money, since I got myself a 800bucks of accurate marine GPS and Sonar system. I just want to make use of this high precision GPS device

>>1547603
Could you not just send the raw NMEA messages from the Pi to the GPS UART on the Pixhawk? Forget about mavlink etc. & just have the Pi essentially pretend that it is a direct connected GPS module? Considering what you've set up so far you obviously know what you're doing so writing a simple script to do that would be easy.

>>1547615
Yes, I was thinking about that desu. Basically, I will forward NMEA messages to GPS port on Pixhawk from RPi. I'm obviously need another USB to Serial to connect into GPS port (since RPi only got single hardware UART)

>>1547620
edit: youre right. I just need to feed GPS data to Pixelhawk GPS port and connect radio UART directly to telemetry port.
no need to fuss around with mavlink/Mavproxy

>>1547623
>edit

are there any cheaper, decent alternatives with the same form factor as the H3-3D/H4-3D?

and if not, what's the best place to buy a H3-3D or a H4-3D?

>>1547721
If it's just a basic GoPro gimbal you want, the cheap ones from Tarot are fine. The config software is a bit confusing, but the performance is fine.

>>1547732
link for that?

Also, what do the dji gimbals do better? I'll be pairing it with a naza m v2, does that make any difference?

>>1547737
This is the one that I have (non affiliate links)

https://www.banggood.com/Tarot-GOPRO-3D-Metal-CNC-3-Axis-Brushless-Gimbal-PTZ-for-GOPRO-4-3-3-FPV-Quadcopter-TL3T01-p-1044458.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

There is an even cheaper one (just under $100) but I have no personal experience with it

https://www.banggood.com/Tarot-T4-3D-Dual-Shock-Absorber-3-Axis-Gimbal-PTZ-for-Gopro-Hero4-3-3-FPV-Quadcopter-TL3D02-p-1044459.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

I honestly don't know what (if anything) the DJI ones do differently. The Tarot one I have has a connector to run power to the camera & to get video from the camera (I had it connected to a video switcher & then the VTX, so I could switch between a forward-facing FPV camera & the gimbal camera) & it has two servo inputs to control the pan & tilt. Maybe the DJI one has some automated movements if you pair it with a DJI flight controller?

If this is how fast a cheap 2S car can go, I don't think I even want to try it on 3S.

>>1547620
>>1547623
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

:)

>>1542622
because half of their packages never arrive

>>1548375
I made my first ever order with AliExpress a few weeks ago, seller tried to scam me & I had to get the money back via a dispute. Not a great first impression...

>>1548396
>implying you would get the money back on banggood

if you only had to fly your plane using one of roll, pitch or yaw control apart from thrust, which one would it be?

>>1548396
This but unironically. I ordered a chassis from a guy on Ali, he messaged me two hours later asking me to request to cancel the order because he was out of stock. After I'd done that and checked ebay instead I went back to Ali and found he'd reposted the chassis 50% more expensive.

>>1548399
I (>>1548396) have 45 orders with banggood & their support has been solid so far. One of the few places these sorts of outfits (banggood, gearbest, etc.) can actually compete with each other is on customer service, because otherwise they're all just selling the same stuff for the same price.

And ofc you pay on banggood with PayPal, who will always bend over backwards to side with buyers instead of sellers when it comes to disputes.

>>1548404
How would that even work, surely you always need minimum two channels in addition to thrust.

>>1548417
why should ali expose their sellers to buyer scams when their own dispute system is fair enough

>ecalc gives a negative efficiency value

I've only flown DJI drones with all the included training wheels up to now, how hard will the transition to FPV drones fuck me?

>>1548375
it depends in what country you live, always pay for tracking info, with no tracking you're looking for trouble, also during christmas, 11.11, chink NY and other events it's common for packages to get lost.

>>1548396
chinks will always try to scam you somehow, if you buy stuff with that in mind you'll do great. I had over 100 orders and there are sometimes bad experiences (returning tablet to china, asking for refund, invalid tracking numbers and other chinkery). I advise you to visit csg on /g/ or just buy and get some experience not to be scammed, it's not nuclear science.
>>1548399
never go through banggood for refund, only paypal and it works 100% of the time. Banggood doesn't sanction your account if that's what you're afraid of. Their customer service are bots and subhumans who can't understand english, you're just wasting time. Use paypal like a normal person and pay a buck extra for tracking (insurance fee that they will reship if lost is a scam, don't pay that, just use paypal)
>>1548425
there has been recent influx of talking that ali is rigging the disputes in favor of sellers, haven't had any problems yet but I've seen on csg people getting chinked on disputes and I've come across few russkie forums saying the same stuff

>>1548465
>with all the included training wheels up to now
>how hard will the transition to FPV drones fuck me?

prolly pretty hard

try flying the drones you already own without any training wheels would be my two cents, but keep in mind you may end up damaging them.

>>1548469
I don't think you can even turn them off.

Plan right now is to start off with one of those tiny whoop style drones and learn on them.

>>1548470
never owned a dji drone, or know about how their software works, so you prolly know better.

sounds like a great idea.

you can also try a sim if you can use a dji controller with them or have got one lying around. or you could just buy a Q X7 and use that instead, you'll be needing it anyway if you plan to fly your own fpv quads.

>>1548467
>never go through banggood for refund, only paypal and it works 100% of the time
>Their customer service are bots and subhumans who can't understand english

Immediately crying to PayPal without even attempting to work with banggood's own support will eventually come back & bite you, especially if you do it multiple times. Banggood support is surprisingly decent & 9 times out of 10 they will just resend anything worth <$70 or so (I forget the exact amount, but it's an official threshold they are open about) as long as you spend the 30 seconds it takes to jump through the hoop to take a photo/video for them, even if it seems stupid. A friend of mine was asked to provide a photo when reporting an item missing from a delivery (so literally a photo of nothing) but you just know it's some underpaid rep on the other end that simply needs to tick a box on their form to say you provided a photo before the system will automatically authorise the resend, so you just do it.

You should only go to PayPal if/when banggood refuse to handle your ticket appropriately. If you buy a pint of milk from the grocery store & discover when you get home that it's sour, you just take it back to the grocery store so they can give you a new one, you don't call up your credit card company to do a chargeback.

Eurobros, how bad does customs fuck you on chink purchases that ship from China? I don't know why those fucking slants can stock FPV shit in their euro warehouses.

>>1548474
I send a ticket plus mail when i detect a problem. But usually the response is "wait for 48 hours, wait some more, the tracking number is XXXXX" with no solution.
I've ordered from EU warehouse zohd nano talon and the tracking number showed that the item was returned to banggood, after reporting that to them I received a response that it's my fault (even if it didn't leave the country and postNL messed up the package) and they would refund me only the plane, not the shipping (around 15 eur). That happened one more time cause I was dumb enough thinking it was a one time thing, with the same response, where tracking showed that it was clearly never sent to my country.
I had the same thing with them on tablet return when the tablet was faulty, they only offered me a 50% off if I buy another one. Don't think I just immediatelly jump to paypal, I wait for 2 days and if it's automated response or I see that the persons didn't read the ticket/mail I go for paypal.
They only refunded me when the package didn't arrive for 45 days or the tracking showed that the package was lost/destroyed/badly delivered/returned from CN warehouse.
>>1548476
Very badly, I pay 25% of the item value and shipping, plus 3 euro summons to customs and around 10 euros fees of them "opening" the package.
Banggood added and option to refund customs tax so it's worth checkin out. Also banggood sometimes does know to send via Belgium where they change the sticker on the package which makes it look like it was from EU (had it happen several times on bigger packages).
But except that, it's a lottery, making false receipt can get you in a lot of trouble and custom workers know how to browse aliexpress and other sites now.

>>1548476
if you get caught

pretty fucking bad desu

>>1548480
to add to the first story of EU warehouse problem, they lied that there was attempted delivery on sunday (which nobody does in my country) and when it "failed" they've sent it back to netherlands the same day without trying to deliver again or leaving it in storage with notification to pick it up. Banggood insisted I didn't respond to the postman/delivery and it was my fault, 2 times in a row and the tablet refund/resending was a nightmare especially after EU laws that state that you can't send batteries and only DHL can do that for if I recall correctly was 40 eur or more. As luck would have it, paypal offers i think up to 6 times per year additional return shipping fee sum of up to 20 usd (something around that sum) so if anybody is returning anything, use it cause chinks don't pay the full sum of return shipping.

>>1548480
>>1548485

Thanks anon. For now I think I'll support my local mom & pop RC models shop, they seem to sell the basic bitch stuff like the QX7 and starter BNF microquads.

>>1548480
Your bad experiences in your country does not mean that you should tell _everybody_ to not even try their support & immediately run to PayPal. Other people, myself included, have had nothing but good experiences with their support & haven't needed PayPal to step in yet.

>>1548476
I've done 45 orders from banggood CN/HK warehouses to the UK, ranging from a few USD to over 400 USD per order, I've never paid customs on any. They always laughably undervalue unless you opt for expensive EMS shipping.

>>1548491
Sounds like you're one of the lucky ones, whose local store doesn't just stock obsolete crap from last millenium.

Can we have a new thread?

>>1548467
>Banggood doesn't sanction your account if that's what you're afraid of. Their customer service are bots and subhumans who can't understand english, you're just wasting time
and thats why you use ali you shitstain so neither the seller or the buyer gets chinked or paypal'd

>>1548500
what does my country have to do with bad banggood support?
EU as a whole can't return batteries via regular post and you have to go to DHL or DPD or other costly alternatives.
Also the package was messed up via postNL in Netherlands which also makes no connection to my country.
>>1548747
ali doesn't have everything, also it's nice to know if the product fails or arrives doa you can ship it back with paypal return shipping help. Alis sellers are mostly the same with standard automated responses with a really few sellers that actually respond with chingrish and reading comprehension. Banggood uses automated customer service for all of their "VIP" levels and as I said, it's a lottery when they refund or will just tell you to wait for a month. I'm not the only one with the same problems, you can read on their forums and online about the same problems, sometimes you get lucky and no problems arise, sometimes they will try to chink you, be it ali or banggood. I'm just saying to the guy that he better be prepared for any possible outcome

>>1548787
implying you'd actually ship back chinkshit

>>1548799
if i don't ship back i don't get the money back?

I don't comprehend your logic except that you are mad about something

>>1548800
The logic is that you're going to incur a loss just to ship back the item.

>tfw plane doesn't fly right off the hand like all the YouTube videos
Im afraid to toss it

>>1548808
yes if you don't use paypal refund shipping and the item has no batteries inside.
I only buy batteries from hobbyking and some german dude lipoworld since if the battery is dead they just ship a new one if you show the cell is dead.
I've sent several things back if the paypal or ali dispute system asked me to do since the seller offered no partial refund and it's better to reduce the losses to minimum

>>1548817
Toss it.

Any of you guys use self-made Li-ion battery packs using 18650 cells? How is the performance? Do you set the soft-cutoff voltage on your ESC to a lower value like 2.8V/cell? Seems like at 3000mAh per 18650 cell its much more efficient than LiPo batteries and also a log cheaper.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGZXchnYdOs

>>1548900
>8800mAh 18650 generic chink cell
>not 1 but 3 of them
>bunch of electrical tape holding the thing together

what a great way to set your house on fire

>>1548904
Yeah I know you need to beware of obviously fake capacity chink sellers. But if you just look at reviews of people testing the capacity on Ali or something its easy to figure out. 3000mAh is easy to find real ones of. In any case these self-made packs are supposed to be something around 50% more energy/weight efficient compared to LiPo, so if you're not super afraid of HouseFire (tm) its cool to check out.

>>1548896
last time it only went as far as i tossed it then broke the prop and the wing on fall
the other time the front off the motor ripped off along with it's shaft when i used a slightly bigger prop
but it never took off

>>1548911
>>1548904
>>1548900
18650 have higher energy density but lower current capacity. They're a good option for lower power applications like many fixed wing, but they don't cut it for higher power applications like most multirotors.

Also, if you're discharging at a low C rate both Li-Ion & LiPo can safely discharge down to the same voltage (2.8-3.0V) because they're the same chemistry (the difference is liquid vs polymer electrolyte, not the chemistry). The reason we don't tend to discharge LiPo down as far as Li-Ion is because we tend to use LiPo in high C discharge situations.

>>1548918
You need to post more info than "I once had a plane and it didn't fly." I've had a bunch of planes die on takeoff for one reason or another. I try to never repeat the same failure. Give us some more info and maybe we can help.

Customs declaration makes this sound more like a sex toy than a quad frame.

Thread is about to fall off the bottom of the board.

>>1549558
>>1549558
>>1549558