/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>2751796
[2/2]
>I want a dirt cheap drone to fly around my yard/garden

Syma X5C

>I want a dirt cheap drone to fly inside my house

Eachine E010/Hubsan X4

>What are some good YouTube channels for learning or fun?

Joshua Bardwell - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX3eufnI7A2I7IkKHZn8KSQ
Painless360 - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp1vASX-fg959vRc1xowqpw
Flite Test - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zTuyWffK9ckEz1216noAw
Peter Sripol - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7yF9tV4xWEMZkel7q8La_w
RCModelReviews - https://www.youtube.com/user/rcmodelreviews
Xjet - https://www.youtube.com/@xjet
Andrew Newton - https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewNewton
RCGutt - https://www.youtube.com/@rcgutt/featured
Tail Heavy Productions - https://www.youtube.com/@TailHeavyProductions
Auggie Copter - https://www.youtube.com/@auggiecopter

>>2751798
based sticky poster. I was just getting some updated links.

Joshua Bardwell - https://www.youtube.com/@JoshuaBardwell
Painless360 - https://www.youtube.com/@Painless360
Flite Test - https://www.youtube.com/@FliteTest
Peter Sripol - https://www.youtube.com/@PeterSripol
RCModelReviews - https://www.youtube.com/@RCModelReviews
Andrew Newton - https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewNewton
RCGutt - https://www.youtube.com/@rcgutt
RC Test Flight - https://www.youtube.com/@rctestflight
Think Flight - https://www.youtube.com/@thinkflight
Tail Heavy Productions - https://www.youtube.com/@TailHeavyProductions

>>2751519
>>2751532
What power were you guys running HDZero at, and what distance did you lose signal at? You're going to fall short if you didn't unlock 1W.

>>2751842
bullshit. 200mW (so without any unlocking) will get you 1-2km without much image corruption
1W, especially in narrow bandwidth mode, will get you through >100m of dense wood tho

so it sounds like there's something wrong with their setup

>>2751842
200mW. The Race V2 couldn't even keep up with the cheap 100mW analog VTX when doing penetration testing. The 1W module was still falling behind the integrated VTX on the Happymodel X12. Was even helping HDZero with nice TrueRC antennas. It's either doing really well, or I'm fucking blind.

>>2752167
>something wrong
If there's defective hardware, that means I ended up with a bad VRX and a bad set of goggles, or my VTX units were all fucked. Speaking of which, I did have two defects that I ended up needing to get exchanged. A VTX that wasn't producing more than 5mW and the goggles came with loose optics and a fucked up RX that caused RGB pixels all over the place with perfect signal, but not on the external VRX.

>>2752222
my goggles had loose optics, too
you can't use a traditional power meter on digital VTXes, it will read way less. but 5mW sounds low

i'm more thinking about bad mounting of the VTX. like too close to carbon
happened when i first mounted the freestyle v1 and got bad breakup at 1km out. redid it and all is good now

>>2752227
The part was confirmed bad. It's not like it wasn't checked out. Heck, Divimath had me probe and test the heck out of it, and they even sent me an older unit to test against. The difference was huge when I had a working one. Still didn't stack up to analog in terms of signal reliability though. Believe me, I really wanted that system to work for me. I like the way Divimath does business, and I like the ideas behind their gear. Put nearly $1000 into wanting it to work, but there's a point at which a guy has to fuckin bail.

i'm practicing my soldering before i start building my first drone, can i get some advice on how to improve please?

>>2752501
lay your wire flat on the pad so you have more contact area
only strip just a little more insulation off than how big the pad is, thats too much bare wire(it'll work but theres more chance of a short).
pliers/forceps are your best friend
try to brace your arm on something solid to you can make finer movements to avoid slipping
it looks like you(maybe?) were jamming your wires down into the solder with force. just lay the wire ontop of the pretinned pad, when the solder flows it should sink down into the puddle on its own
hopefully your using a temp controlled iron, if not get one. they arent too expensive anymore and eliminate headaches tremendously
tin all your shit before you connect it
flux flux flux. use more than you think you need at first. once you get good you'll know how much is need to keep your board cleaner

just watch the bardwell video
https://youtu.be/GoPT69y98pY?si=s1TnOzGZByzXEfZA

>>2752528
thanks for the advice, ill get more practice.
>flux
i have it but haven't used yet.

>>2752537
only the top right joint with the red wire looks good
get the iron a little hotter, put solder on the pads fist, pre tin the wires, then push the wires on the pads with the iron
but yeah, the video above should explain everything

>>2752528
>>2752537
>flux flux flux

No no no.

More flux is not the solution for all soldering problems. And it definitely isn’t an alternative to learning & practising correct technique, which is what the issue is in these photos.

Extra flux is *very* rarely genuinely required. Using it all the time & coming to rely on it from the outset because you’ve never learned to solder properly is a harmful mindset to fall into - instead of addressing the actual issues with your soldering you just reach for the flux & expect it to work like some magical silver bullet.

For something like picrelated, which is very similar to what anon is practicing on, it would never even cross my mind to add extra flux. And if you look at something like that & think you need extra flux, you need to take a step back & practice more.

>>2752559
That image is probably fine, but I've never seen a soldering guide that said big fat balls are the goal. Maybe one of those solder joints was hot enough to flow onto the wire.

>>2752560
>Maybe one of those solder joints was hot enough to flow onto the wire.

That’s not how solder works.

>>2752562
maybe not, but if you like nice round balls...

>>2752581
Ignoring how overly juicy they are, I would rather see people learn from the outset how to controllably & repeatably make neat, tidy joints, rather than seeing them ‘learn’ the crutch of drowning everything in flux & ending up with a crusty mess.

>>2752581
How do you solder when the pad doesn't have a little hole?

>>2752581
>>2752591
Tin the pad, tin the wire. Then re-tin the tip of your iron & solder the pad & wire together.

Don’t try to solder a bare un-tinned wire to a bare un-tinned pad.

This image gets reposted everywhere soldering is discussed, but you’re right that it’s not particularly applicable to soldering wires to pads.

>>2752581
>adafruit
why do you need to solder everything they sell is modules that plug together and then get the arduino code off their website anyway.

>>2752592
Yeah I guess my mistake was using a tiny little quad as my first project and everything on the board was super small, tight, and close together. Probably too too challenging for an idiot like me to start with. I got it to work, but it was always sketchy...

>>2752597
Also I was using a fucking $9 iron from Amazon

>>2752597
For people who haven’t soldered before, building a micro quad with a tiny FC or building a bigger quad with a high-powered 4in1 ESC with a massive ground plane, are *incredibly* difficult introductions to soldering.

Don’t get discouraged, you’ve jumped straight in the deep end.

>>2752559
i'm struggling with tinning the wire before soldering.

>>2752603
wet (with solder) the tip of the iron a little, hold it against the wire and feed the solder between them

>>2752603
also clean up that flux with ethanol/propanol and a q-tip

>>2752603
and get silicone wire. not that cheap shit that melts

also i think i ruined my tip

>>2752603
Dip wire in liquid flux before tinning.

>>2752559
>Nooooo!
>You can't just make your soldering easier and better at the same time!

>>2752590
It's piss easy to just use a toothbrush and alcohol. I had this slathered in flux, then I just scrubbed and sprayed. Not a single bit of mess.

>>2752642
>adding extra steps to a process instead of just learning how to do it properly

>>2752645
There is absolutely zero reason why anybody who actually knows how to solder would add extra flux to any joint in that photo.

>>2752649
I think you're just being an elitist about it. The goal is to get good, functional joints. If you're doing it just to do it the hard way so you can try to brag later, that's not soldering anymore.

>>2752674
but he's right, even if the solder balls are a little on the excessive side
there's absolutely no point in applying extra flux if you use rosin core solder on a fresh joint
it's more for SMD/repair work

>>2752594
ok, retard.

is there a method to control a Drone Via WiFi? no I'm not talking about those remote controller that broadcast wifi signal to for drone to connect. I want to control a UGV via my Mesh network. I got a town wide 2.4/5/6Ghz WiFi network.

See pic related.

>>2752501
>>2752537
Soldering is easy you just need to understand what you're doing.
Solder sticks to solder way better than solder sticks to copper. Tin both the wires and the pads with YOUR solder before trying to stick them together. I've had some people think soldering is like painting solder onto the wires, this is not the case. When soldering you're trying to impregnate the wires with solder. Think of it like impregnating cloth with resin. Always use solder to conduct heat for you. Put solder onto your iron before putting your iron to the cable or pad. Once you think the cable/pad is heated then put your solder to the cable/pad and watch as your solder flows itself into the cable/pad.
I recommend you use ROSIN CORE solder.
You are soldering things so large that no flux is needed apart from the ROSIN CORE FLUX that should be inside your solder.
You only need flux if you are doing surface mount components. It is both easier and cleaner to forgo flux for rosin core solder in your application.

>>2752615
Looks fine, just clean it with copper wool

>>2752674
It’s not elitism or bragging, it’s simply encouraging people to actually address the problems with their technique or equipment choice & become better at soldering, rather than teaching them to just rely upon a band aid.

In the overwhelming majority of situations where I see people asking for help with their soldering, the actual root cause of their problem isn’t that they don’t have enough flux. Rather the problem is that their technique is poor or they are using the wrong equipment - trying to use a conical tip for everything is a super common issue I see.

When these people are told to add more flux, they may well end up with acceptable joints even with the wrong approach & the wrong equipment. But they don’t actually learn anything about soldering in the process & this will come back to bite them when they encounter situations where even drowning the joint in flux isn’t enough & using correct technique/equipment is actually required.

>>2752906
im pretty sure that what i have is rosin core solder, all of my soldering gear is from RDQ.
>>2752907
i have steel wool, so ill see what i can do.

>>2752928
Hey if they get things done, and their stuff works, who gives a fuck how they got there? All I'm hearing is autistic screeching about getting good results the "wrong" way. This is like complaining that somebody multiplies by writing the expression as addition. It's not the best, but it sure as hell works.

I should use better wires.

>>2753004
Be careful with steel wool, it can quickly take the coating off of the iron. People usually go with brass wool, or one of those brass or copper kitchen scrubbers because those are softer than the finish on a soldering iron.

>>2753004
>what i have is rosin core solder
If that's the case do not use flux, you do not need it unless you're doing surface mount chips.
>>2753064
You are heating the wires for too long. Even with the shittest plastic insulation you can solder a wire with no melting. You have to be quick and the insulation will recede about 1mm but it can be done. You can use tweezers to hold the cables but you really should be using your fingers. Feeling the heat will encourage you to solder faster. I am not joking here, I do not use tweezers unless I absolutely have to because my fingers will no fit in a gap. Learn to get burned, you will become better at soldering.
You also have too much solder on all the pads. Not by much but it is too much. Buy some solder wick, it's just flat copper braided cable impregnated with flux. It will suck up the excess solder. Unless you're doing through hole packages you don't need a solder sucker.
If you learn one thing from this, learn to solder fast. Be in and out with the heat in under 5 seconds. Probably more like 3 seconds.

>>2752928
>>2753039
There are people here who are trained professionals and were trained to solder by trained professionals.
You do not just drench something in flux and piss about with solder overheating things with the iron. You must know the process.
Tin everything first, this includes the wire & pad
Then place the wire onto the joint and apply heat to both the wire and pad (probably with a chisel tip). At this stage you should add a small amount of flux to help the solder heat both items. Always have solder on the end of your soldering iron - even when it's sat in the holder. It will help conduct heat very fast into everything it touches.
The second your items fuse together you should remove the heat otherwise you'll melt the insulation.
It's a simple technique and prevents you forming clouds of flux and having resin spitting at you while soldering. You also have more control, cleaner joints and use less solder which means your pads can be closer together without accidental bridging.
Just because someones technique "works" or "gets things done" doesn't mean it's right and doesn't mean they'll save time or resources. Taking 1 hour to learn how to solder properly will save them many hours worth of money when they inevitably damage a component from overheating or scraping away traces after bridging two pads.
It's not like we don't have the time to learn, we're hobbyists.

>>2753039
>Hey if they get things done, and their stuff works, who gives a fuck how they got there?

Honing proper technique benefits you in the long run. At the very least it cuts down the superfluous steps of adding & then cleaning flux.

Relying on flux to alleviate problems introduced by ignorance is bad form & we shouldn't encourage it of newcomers.

>>2753084
I can't get the solder on the wires, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

>Buy some solder wick
I already have a solder pump, as for too much solder, I didn't put enough at first so I decided to experiment a little.

>>2753173
Turn on your soldering iron. You want it around 350 Celsius.
Put solder on the tip of your soldering iron. Literally take the tip of your soldering iron and put the solder to it. The solder will melt to the iron.
Next, take your wire. Strip about 5mm off the end of it and twist it so the wires are nicely together.
Take your soldering iron (with the solder on the iron) and put it onto the wire. Immediately bring your ROSIN CORE SOLDER to the wire and touch the wire. The solder should flow immediately into the wire. Now take your iron away.
You should now have successfully tinned a wire.
PS. solder pumps suck outside of a very niche range of activities. Removing through hole components is one such activity.

>>2753195
thanks for the advice, I'll try to put it into practice.

and I need a LOT of practice.

>>2753064
I'm not sure how you got this kind of result. Some of the joints look like they weren't heated well enough, but the wires look like you gave them a taste of hell.

>>2751796
Currently in the midst of assembling my drone
Didn't know how the battery for my frsky taranis controller was supposed to be charged so I soldered an XT30 connector to one of the leads and it still isn't charging
Is there some why to jerry rig a AA battery pack to my controller or am I screwed?

Is a 2" toothpick small enough to fly out of my balcony to the park below? Or is it a better idea to make it a whoop so I don't injure anyone?

>>2753241
That's just shitty PVC insulation, that stuff melts if you just look at it wrong.

>>2753326
Did you read the instructions? Your Taranis probably doesn’t support internal LiPo charging.

I can transmit a carrier of a few KHz or MHz just by switching a GPIO pin sufficiently fast but how can I receive that carrier with the least amount of components?

Sorry if this question is irrelevant to this general or dumb, I'm trying to build an understanding about RF stuff

>>2753400
it will, but you'll crash it into the window because of updrafts, causing it to fall down multiple stories
so better get a whoop where you can bump into stuff without issues

>>2753326
>>2753434
the original X9D did. i bet the Lite does too

>>2752612
this

+do not overheat your tip
+lead solder works better. Before any OSHA inspector blow a fuse over this: lead is not cyanide. It litteraly took years of drinking daily water through lead pipe to have a significant impact on health. Don't solder where you sleep, exit the fumes, wash your hands and you'll be fine.

And I never bought flux, this is a big-chem scam, and it's probably more toxic than lead.

>>2753326
are you balance charging it?

>>2753458
check the ham radio general

>>2753515
>it's probably more toxic than lead.
but it smells so good

>>2753434
Unfortunately I lost it a while ago
>>2753533
Yes also it doesn't seem to be charging like my other batteries
I think the lead that I stuck the XT30 connector to was for discharging although I I couldn't observe it for long enough to tell for sure

>>2753503
The original X9D absolutely did not support
LiPo/LiFE charging. It only supported internal charging of the provided NiMH pack.

And that’s not a Lite, it’s a QX7.

>>2753700
There is no exclusivity on the direction charge will flow on the discharge lead. If the battery has more voltage, it discharges. If something else applies more voltage than it has, the battery charges. Think of batteries like flywheels and it'll make more sense.

>>2754092
nowhere did i hint on the type of battery it supports, did i?
just a general hint that it supported charging.
and if old remotes supported charging, why wouldn't newer ones?

instead taking time to write a "look how right i am"-post you could have provided actual information to the OP. especially as you have recolonized the particular remote

oh look, it does have a port. who would have thought

>>2754264
>nowhere did i hint on the type of battery it supports, did i?

Yes, you did.

>>2753434
>Your Taranis probably doesn’t support internal LiPo charging.

>>2753503
>the original X9D did. i bet the Lite does too

The extremely important point that you have completely missed is the *type* of battery that the internal charging feature supports.

The X9D only supported charging a NiMH battery. If you tried to charge a LiPo/LiFe battery inside the radio, it could cause serious damage to the battery &/or the radio.

From a quick Google it looks like the QX7 was exactly the same, at least for the original (eg non -S version).

If you don't know what you're talking about, maybe don't try shitting on people who do?

>>2754317
holy fuck you're autistic

>>2754323
You completely missed the point & made a fool of yourself in the process.

I wasn't telling OP that their radio doesn't have a charging port. I was telling them that the charging port can't be used to charge the type of battery they have. In fact it could destroy their radio if they tried it.

This isn't autism - it's a pretty fucking important point.

>you can't put diesel in your gas car
>>of course you can fill up that car, look it has a filler!
>yes but you can't put diesel in it
>>holy fuck you're autistic

This is perhaps one of the dumbest threads we've had in months.

>>2754333
>>you can't put diesel in your gas car
because electrons != electrons, right?

>This is perhaps one of the dumbest threads we've had in months.
you're right about that

>>2754337
Go stick a fork in a socket. I mean electrons are electrons so it’s just like touching an AA battery right?

more practice, thank you to the anon that explaind to me how to tin wire, still struggling a bit but im improving.

>>2754752
most of the joints still look too cold
and you didn't clean up the flux
what iron are you using and what is it set to?

>>2754752
These are looking better but as the other guy said the joints are too cold. You should try re-melting the joint.
Use a chisel tip on your soldering iron. It may seem large but you always want to use the largest tip you can get away with. The bigger the tip the faster it heats everything so the less melting you'll get of the insulation.
Buy some 99% isopropyl alcohol and some cotton buds then wipe down your board to get rid of the flux.

>>2754779
A toothbrush or a stiff childrens paintbrush work much better than cotton buds.

>>2754768
>>2754779

I use the SEQURE SI012 with the T12-B2 Tip at 350c i keep getting little spikes

i don't have anything to clean the flux with, i can't find anywhere to buy soldering supplies, which is why i use steel wool to clean my tip.

i did order different tips but i'm still waiting for them.

>>2754859
Dude is just starting out so this advice is not for him but for ppl in here that solder regularly: ultrasonic bath with Branson EC cleaner. An ultrasonic bath can be had pretty cheap nowadays; I got a large used one from china for a bit under $100 that can fit an atx motherboard. Branson EC is pricey but lasts a long time; it’s like $50 a quart but you dilute it to like 3% in distilled water so a quart lasts ages and a bath stays effective for awhile.
I solder a lot and it’s one of the better investments I’ve made. At the end of a day of making/repairing shit I don’t bother with scrubbing board, i just heat up the bath as I’m doing the last few, throw them in as I clean up the bench, then take them out after 20-30 minutes and let them dry overnight. They’re absolutely immaculate as a result, far cleaner than I could ever get them with a brush and iso or other solvents. And if I ever get a board that’s got corrosion or whatever I just plop it in and same deal although that burns through the solution much faster

>>2754893
looks ok
maby try 380 or even >400. it's not as important if your very fast
btw, i just wipe the tip on wet toilet paper or sponger. tip should be shiny after than and you don't want to brush of the coating with the steel wool

>>2754901
you recon you could ultrasonic clean a whole drone. like after soldering up the ESC?

Are T-tail pusher-configuration aircraft a bad setup? I've maybe seen the odd one or two planes like this but not one single fixed-wing drone/UAV, it's mostly just V-tails or H-tails. I get the simplicity and ease of construction of the last two, but performance-wise would there any issues with T-tail pushers?

>>2754980
They work, allow me to share this antique I flew back in 2011. It's a Skywalker, which was a huge deal back then and one of the early purpose-built UAS/FPV airframes.

There weren't major downsides to the tail, but it wasn't entirely ideal. I remember the horizontal stabilizer was prone to flex, which I eventually resolved by adding diagonal carbon support rods when I built another one. And even in the best case it's still not very structurally efficient, because the vertical stabilizer needs to be strong enough to support the horizontal.

What was nice about it was safety in belly landings. I eventually moved from the landing gear to a fiberglass belly pan, and with a T-tail you never had to worry about catching something in the grass (except for that pitot tube).

>>2754893
Just checking, are you using lead free solder by any chance? It is much harder to work with than lead solder.

>>2754901
Sounds great for boards on their own, but not particularly practical when building a quad considering most of the soldering is done in place on the frame. I wouldn’t want to submerge motors (with bearings) into the bath, nor components like buzzers, baros, etc. that shouldn’t be washed.

Pretty awkward to submerge an entire quad into a bath though. I don’t know how you build quads but most of my soldering is done in place on the frame, not separate.


especially if you have motors (bearings) or components that can’t be washed.

>>2754893 #
Just checking, are you using lead free solder by any chance? It is much harder to work with than lead solder.

>>2754901 #
Sounds great for boards on their own, but not particularly practical when building a quad considering most of the soldering is done in place on the frame. I wouldn’t want to submerge motors (with bearings) into the bath, nor components like buzzers, baros, etc. that shouldn’t be washed.

>>2754932
I second this
Wet sponge is the defacto standard for soldering irons. Steel wool is not used, brass wool is.
Just remember to tin your soldering tip before storing it so it doesn't rust.
Also, I've never heard of a battery powered soldering iron being good. Have times changed?

after 3 months I finally got my batteries but I'm not sure I'll be able to get off the ground with this one.

also switching the connector to a xt60 should be fine right?

>>2755651
lol, whyyy XD
but yeah, you will take off but performance won't be great. like throttle position >50%
you might have a hard time soldering those wires to an XT60 tho. try to be quick and do one cable at a time and isolate the fuck out of the other. you don't want them to touch

>>2755651
>switching the connector to a xt60
Your TS-whatever iron is not likely to work well here. Use a Weller or suchlike for this job.

>>2755651
i figured, bigger battery = more power, but i didn't expect it to be this big.
it weighs: 832g

>>2755651
meant for>>2755782

>>>/vg/465066473

>>2755016
this takes me back...
I had an skywalker 1680 with an Hobbyking APM 2.6 or something. It was my first Autopilot an my I did takequite some tim to finish it. Also i used OpenLRS wich was a hassle bak then. Anyhow it was great up until the apm decided to call it quits midflight and the whole thing desintegrated about 150m from myslef in some trees. I still have the wreck somewhere. Waiting to be ressurected some day.

Trying to Hookup my Frsky Taranis Q X7 to my TBS transceiver & receiver but the OpenTX firmware I need to load onto the sd card are no longer being hosted
Anywhere else I might be able to get the files

Building a volantex Ranger ex
Bought a 600kv motor and have modified mount to accomodate 12 inch prop. Plan to run 4x 6s liion pack in parallel for near 20000mah of modular capacity.I have built one of these packs using higher ampacity cells so I can fly relatively light. Rx and airspeed sensor will be embedded in the wing and laminated along with all other foam surfaces. Have replaced all servos with metal gear. I chose the matek h743 wing as the fc because of its redundant imus and large number of uarts. Using 1.2ghz vtx and flashing mavlink-rc elrs onto a 433mhz lora board for controller channel input and full mavlink telemetry/control at hopefully extreme distance. 2 GPS will be used for redundancy. Eventually would like to install a 3 axis gimbal and setup a HD video system like openHD for redundant video and control link.

Thanks for reading my blog

Appreciate any input you guys have or let me know if there is somewhere better I should post this to.

Newfag here.
Just today I got the idea that building a drone from parts would be cool. Last time I soldered was in uni 5 years ago. Being an autistic sperg, I mainly really wanna learn about the tech, piloting isn't even that interesting to me. Can I follow one of those 200$ diy tutorials on youtube or what would you recommend. I have very good computer programming knowledge, if that helps with something.

>>2756512
ArduPilot or INAV, and which wingspan variant?

Also, I think people go way overkill on the redundancy for FPV. It makes sense when your focus is mostly autonomous flight, where you're using a more serious controller and airframe. But for anything hand-launched and FPV, a single GPS and any flight controller is fine, especially if it's just for RTH and stabilization. If you really cared about hardware redundancy, you'd use a Cube instead of a Matek, for example.

>>2756771
>I have very good computer programming knowledge
Worthless
Importing 3GB of java libraries will not help you here.
Buy an ESP32 and learn to code on that. I hope you like C++ and reading datasheets.
For realsies if you want to learn the tech, you will need to learn microcontrollers. Start by learning how PWM works then write a uC app to scale up/down a PWM signal that you feed into a servo. Do that now, it'll cost you £3 for the ESP32 and £4 for a PWM servo. You'll also need to power the thing so you should buy a bench power supply (£60). You probably need an oscilloscope (£300 for a used tektronix), a soldering iron (£50 for a mid range one), some wires, some dupont connectors, a crimp tool, a brushless motor, a brushless motor ESC, a 3S battery, a 3S battery charger and a PWM RC transmitter/receiver 4 channel(£25), breadboard, side cutters, solder, solder wick, flux pen, 3d printer (optional)

I hope this helps.

>>2756864
Definitely ArduPilot, 2m wingspan.
I will mainly be flying in auto. I want to mess around with auto takeoff/ land and terrain following. I will use the included landing gear, but I think even at 3-4 kg I could possibly hand launch this plane. I was torn between the h743 and the cube mainly for the built in adsb receiver but the h743 was around 300$ cheaper.

>>2756771
If you want it simple, but not turn key, you can control drones with arduino. Some autistic youtuber wrote code on it, calls it Drehmflight VTOL on github. You'll need a Teensy MC, an IMU and a Radio, get something cheap like flysky. Then 4 Motors plus esc, banggood or aliexpress sells cheap packs. Lastly a big old LIPO battery, watch the cell count. And thats really all you need.

>>2756972
>flysky
Opinion discarded.

>>2757354
This nigga don't care about quality, does he? He cares about learning shit. So why should he waste the money on a Spektrum?

>>2757451
>Spektrum
Holy shit, get with the times!

>>2757549
I still have 72MHz crystals, get off my lawn.

>>2756972
>you can control drones with arduino

I mean that is (was) quite literally ArduPilot. The ‘Ardu’ part is because the code was originally written for the ATmega2560 as used by the Arduino Mega.

Anybody understand Ukranian?
https://youtu.be/_UG0iB1s-aM
https://youtu.be/IMKQ9oHAuIY
I'm really interested to know what kind of differences there are in builds between hobbyist drones and ones used for grenade drops in trench warfare

Anyone know the milliamp draw of the TBS crossfire nano? Can't find it anywhere. Will 800mA be enough?

>>2758183


TBS Crossfire Nano TX
Team BlackSheep
https://www.team-blacksheep.com › prod:xf_nano_tx
Technical specifications: ; Input Voltage, 6.0 - 13V ; Connector, USB-C ; Power consumption, 1.1W (@10mW) - 2W (@100mW) ; Dimensions, 65 x 42 x 25 mm (JR module ...

Volts and watts in the very first google hit. do your own math from there you simpleton.

>>2758172
looks like standard components for the diy ones.

the ones with the gimbal cameras are likely just dji drones with a servo for droping the payload.

>>2757684
ArduPilot is not simple

>>2758202
What are the criteria for ‘simple’?

Following the wiki to install & configure ArduPilot is a helluva lot simpler than writing your own Arduino flight control code from scratch, or trying to make somebody else’s hacks, undocumented, untested passion project work.

>>2758218
Hm, I dunno, I shyed away from it for some reason. Looks too "professional and advanced", you know? Im just know realizing how retarded this sounds.. Anyway, what do you think is the easiest/cheapest solution to stabilize a flying wing, nothing else?

>>2758239
You can buy ‘stabilisers’ which literally just stabilise & do absolutely nothing else.

However flight controllers are now so cheap it’s made standalone stabilisers a hard sell & they’re not particularly common anymore.

Even if you’re not interested in doing anything fancy, an actual flight controller gives you really useful things like GPS return-to-home & can display key information (like battery voltage) on the video feed if you decide to fit FPV equipment.

You can buy something like the SpeedyBee F405 Wing for $40 & that will run either ArduPilot or iNav (the latter is potentially more pleb friendly, especially if you’ve used Betaflight before).

>>2758239
a stabilizing receiver, a standalone one like the FliteTest Aura, or a regular flight controller. Buy the wing specific one like >>2758260 suggested and run iNav. There are setup guides from channels in the sticky.

>>2757684
>>2756972
>ArduPilot
that is really fucking cool, thanks man!

How does the GBU-39 glide?

It seems to be a pitcheron design with stabilizing fins on the back but the wings are quite narrow with barely any discernible airfoil. Do those horizontal support braces slide/rotate forward/backwards to tilt the wings, with those front rivets acting as fixed pivot points? Wouldn't that also sweep the wings and impact maneuverability?

>>2758851
>quite narrow with barely any discernible airfoil
VERY FAST

>>2758851
The wings are folded in to reduce storage space in the bomb bay, and unfold after launch. The tailfins are the control surfaces.

>>2758851
>wings are quite narrow
manned gliders have the same thin wings (aspect ratio). Those supports are also generating lift and >>2758873
>very fast

>>2758873
>>2758893
>>2758906
Ooh, now I see. That makes sense, I should've realized it sooner. Thanks!

i need a omni 5.8ghz rhcp antenna for transmitting fpv stuff.
which one would give me the longest range possible? cost and size arent really a concern

>>2759268
If you're set on an omni, the best antenna is going to be a matter of splitting hairs on things like transmission efficiency. There's only so much performance to be had when your gain is limited by that radiation pattern.

I don't think omni antennas ever get pricey enough for budget to come into play, but Lumenier AXII 2 is probably the best. Rush Cherry if you change your mind and do have a budget.

more practice, is this good enough to start building?
Also, how do I get rid of the ugly spikes I keep getting?

>>2759433
Looking fairly okay. Might try going a little hotter and expose less wire, but it's good enough to get you flying as is.

Will my motor get damaged if I use 6s batteries? (it's all I have)

>>2759456
Not necessarily. Try smaller props/lower throttle and work your way up to see if it gets warm too fast

>>2759456
i run those, but in 1500KV, on my 7" LR quad

>>2759456
You'll likely be fine, especially if you don't push it too hard. Set a throttle scale and maybe a motor limit if you're scared.

I'm wanting to build a small plane, in the range of 500-700 mm. A desktop fighter, so to speak. What size motor would you recommend? Most drone motors seem pretty heavy at 30 g, and I want to build a double engine

>>2759611
look into complete kits you can buy

for example i'm upgrading the Heewing Ranger T1 to VTOL and just got bigger motors: emax ecoII 2004 and they weight 16.4g. the original motors are much smaller

>>2759433
that's an improvement. Is that the same practice board? Because it still looks melty.

>>2759611
Select what size propellers you want first, that will affect motor selection. Look at ultra-micro (UMX) planes and see what size motors they're using. The UMX Timber uses a 1208 1900kv motor with a 5.5" x 2.5" prop. The UMX Twin Otter uses a 1206 7500kv motor with 80mm x 50mm props. If you haven't built or flown anything before, start with something simpler like a cub or a motor glider.

>>2759693
yea its the same one, its not melted i just need to clen up some of the flux.

anyway, i think it's best to wait until i get my new soldering tips before i continue with the ESC im not happy with how the battery connections came out.

>>2759946
don't worry anon, it took me a long time to be comfortable soldering on a flight controller.

>>2759962
im gonna keep practising, im way too worried about destroying it.

How many people actually have a radio license? Is it useful? If I can self-study I might get one just to have zero worry of any hassles and to know what I'm actually doing with my dusty Baofeng.

>>2760365
I do, or rather did, since I haven't renewed it yet (it expired after 10 years).

I only got one so I could legally operate on a naval airbase for a UAS competition I participated in back then. The test is incredibly easy to pass, but the license itself doesn't really do anything. So long as you're not annoying the few boomers left that will foxhunt you for fun, you really don't need one.

>>2759985
Use a lot of flux. IDon't let a joint smoke for too long. Once you burn all the flux by heating it for too long, the solder will not flow. You need to add flux for it to start flowing. It's best to apply flux when the joint is cold because it will give you a good signal of when the joint is getting hot enough, and if you apply it on a hot joint it burns up quick and the joint gets a lot cooler suddenly. If you run out of flux and your solder has stopped smoking, get it off the part and start again with fresh solder. Never underestimate the quantity of flux required. Refer to Louis Rossmann videos to get an idea on how to use flux, he tends to use flux liberally on all sorts of very delicate hardware.

When I thought my joints looked like shit and blamed it on the tip, I really only had to git gud.

>>2760395
If you’re still drowning everything in flux to get passable joints, you still have a long way to go to git gud.

>>2760454
Flux is cheap. Time is not. :)

>>2760365
I have one because I was trying to be a good boy before I learned that the entire government is a clown show. Waste of my time and money. Just don't bother anyone and nobody will ever bother you about it.

>>2760454
If I get results, the fuck do I care? That board can learn to swim.

>>2760458
>>2760486
>why learn to ride a bike properly if you can just keep the training wheels on forever

>>2760458
>>2760486
we already had the same exact discussion in the upper half of this thread
flux is for when you have no idea what you're doing (or for hot air SMD work)

>>2760508
You'd shit on somebody for results just because they don't do it your way? You must have a lot of friends!
>>2760510
Half a thread of that? Isn't this supposed to be about RC in here?

>>2760614
I’d shit on somebody for teaching bad, lazy habits to others.

>>2760632
Show your work.

>>2760484
a Ham license in the US? I was in the same boat as >>2760484. It's pointless for FPV and really for most radio shit too. No one will card you and you'd have to really be interfering with something else hard before the ham boomers even notice. The FAA really expects local cops to enforce remote ID lmao.

Studying for it is actually helpful because most of the test is about the fundamentals of electronics and radios, but I'm never going to try to call the ISS with my UV-5R. And FPV is basically illegal anyway, but no one cares.

>>2758186
I meant the rx dumbass. Why would I care about draw for the tx?

>>2760614
>do it your way?
Elderfag here, soldering since 1976. He's right and you're not. He fucks and you fuck up. Git bettah.

>>2760637
>but the joints are too big!

I like the aesthetics of big juicy joints. And regardless, I still wouldn't use extra flux even if I was going for smaller joints.

>>2760734
You're worried the RX is going to pull over 800mA? The fuck you think it's doing?

>>2760966
>You're worried the RX is going to pull over 800mA? The fuck you think it's doing?

Meant for >>2760728 obviously.

>>2760734
Haha, been doing it the hard way for 50 years. Stay mad, you old fart. By the way, electric is better than ICE, and it's going to keep getting better.

>>2760968
>Stay mad
Ooooh, the song of the loser. Ya gonna call me Hitler next? Pic related, it's ewe.

>>2760966
One could argue that especially in this case every gram counts. Those joints don't look half bad, still you could probably sqeeze out a couple of grams by using less solder or wire with thinner insulation.

>>2761315
In my case a few grams is usually completely negligible.

>>2761451
Ah well, I thought they're some ultralights.
Nevermind then.

>>2761018
first joint cold af

>>2761525
That’s a sheep.

>>2761538
Arthritis.

Why did no one tell me there's finally a multiprotocol/ELRS surface radio now, I've been waiting for years.

>>2761624
It's not like it was a secret. That thing got advertised by everyone.

>>2761018
Please stop posting your fap folder.

>>2751796
>Buy a DJI if what you actually want is to take good photos/videos, go DIY if what you actually want is a fun project.
I was thinking of getting the DJI FPV, but would I be able to use the goggles and controller with DIY drones?

>>2761948
if you get the dji o3 air unit then yeah, but you can only use it for dji video.

>>2762119
Yeah, I wanted to get an o3 unit to mount on a smaller drone.

How long do you guys let your Li-Pos ferment before reaching optimum voltage?

>>2762167
How small? DJI makes some of the chunkiest VTXs on the market.

>>2762279
I was thinking the Pavo Pico.

>>2762251
If you’re trying to dispose of lipos by putting them in saltwater, it’s a fucking stupid idea.

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/salt-water-lipo-disposal-bad-idea-or-really-bad-idea.12467

>>2762290
Welp, lipos are puffed like crazy so I wasn't planning on discharging them, crazy how many articles suggest to do it.

>>2762251
As long as it takes to shoot them or hit it with a nail in a board.

>>2762283
It'll work, but it's going to fly like a brick.

Should I make an R/C blimp for indoor flying. I was thinking of doing a scale model of the Goodyear Blimp for kicks and giggles.

>>2762478
sure. make a Hindenburg filled with hydrogen

Does the RadioMaster Zorro and the boxer have the same model LCD screen?
I am going to get a zorro, but I want to try an OLED mod, or just switch the LCD screen color.

>>2752559
those are some ugly ball joint. You lose your right to preach. Over heated iron is the culprit.

>>2762292
Build a campfire somewhere safe and then set up a drone drop rig so you can drop your old lipos into the fire and pretend it's an enemy tank.

>>2762401
Any better suggestions?

>>2762611
>Over heated iron is the culprit.

Lol nope. Like I said, it's mainly aesthetic choice. For joints like that I run 340-360.

>>2762766
i doubt you did that on purpose. Looks like you were in a hurry to get the thing going. The yellow wire on the left is the only one with a decent joint. tin the wires, use more flux, heat the pad and wire evenly before using solder.

>>2762753
Lighter video system or bigger quad. 36.5g is a fucking ton to put on that poor little thing.

>>2762778
> Looks like you were in a hurry to get the thing going.

You couldn’t possibly be more wrong. That particular build probably took at least 6 months, from first starting the design for the carbon parts to actually flying it. I don’t rush things.

>>2762401
I have one and it flies fine. not going to fly like a analogue tinywhoop, but can do some acro no probs

33.4g 1s 65mm tinywhoop that can shoot 4k30 2.5k50 with a harkeye thumb 4k. just tested it its a bit sluggish and weak but works and the big camera only cuts the flight time by 1/3 relative to the runcam nano

i think this would work well with a naked runcam thumb or this camera on a 2s 85mm whoop

The wait for my Uhu Por is killing me... I just want to fly my Fokker.

If I wanted to broadcast a 5.8ghz video of my PC screen so I could just use my goggles as a screen, are there any ready made hardware solutions that would do that?
Would the FCC fist my butthole without any lubricant?

>>2764152
>Would the FCC fist my butthole without any lubricant?

why would they when Miracast, Chromecast, Airdroid cast, Airplay, Wifi Direct, etc, exist?
if the goggles have hdmi input, then it's easy to buy an inexpensive receiver.

>>2764222
I have no idea man I'm new to this stuff.

>HDMI input
No sir. That's why I was wondering if I could get some ghetto broadcast setup so I could use them wirelessly.

>>2764531
Are you talking about using analogue FPV goggles to view your computer screen? You know that’s going to look like absolute ass, right?

>>2764152
get an hdmi-to-analog converter and put that into a vtx

i did that the other way to use my nreal-air AR goggles as FPV goggles. they have an adapter which can take an HDMI signal

>>2751796
Hello anons, newfag here
I recently finished my first basic bitch fpv build and after the honeymoon period I've been starting to work on fixing all the little problems that I've come across.
One problem that is extremely persistent and difficult to research about is a weird clicking/grinding noise that the motors make.
Throttle and yaw do not cause the sound, only pitch and roll.
I tried a bunch of things, double checked to make sure my motors weren't out of phase, mounting screws weren't coming loose, firmware was all lined up right, etc etc.
I eventually found a post on reddit about how a guy solved a similar problem by reducing the packet rate on his radio to 500hz. I tried that and it sorta worked but it didn't completely remove the problem.
When I fly again I'm going to try with these two settings changed since betaflight suggests it for 500hz.
Any leads on this would be appreciated.

>>2764849
>to use my nreal-air AR goggles as FPV goggles
How well did they work for FPV? I have a pair of Airs I rarely use that I was thinking I could repurpose for FPV. Is the FoV decent enough?

>>2764702
Yeah. I want to fly in a sim but see it through my goggles for better practice.

>>2764849
That's sick. Thanks for the tip, anon.

>>2765042
its workable, main problem vs traditional fpv goggles was not having a way to block out the world while using it but i can print a light blocker for it once i get my non transperant TPU (i only have transperant tpu now)
i was planning on having the VRX magnetically attached to my goggles and having the analog-to-hdmi and hdmi-to-nreal_usbc adapters along with batteries in my pocket

since then i built this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXwiZFD6-yc
and it works on the bench and gives me good digital video. i havent tested it yet on my big drone yet tho i kinda got into tinywhoops in the meantime but once i have some time on a weekend i wanna test my big 7inch quad with the openIPC digital video setup. once i know it works well ill make a mobile setup for it

I seem to get better results when I heat up the iron to 450c and touch the pad itself instead of pressing down on the wire

>>2765751
>instead of pressing down on the wire

WHAT!!
there's no ''touch this instead of that''
first first thing every noob learns about soldering is you heat BOTH parts
it's like you're trying to re-invent the wheel
by making it square
(nice results, tho. doubleplusgood)

>>2765751
>touch the pad itself instead of pressing down on the wire
oof
like the other guy said, you should be holding the iron to everything you want to heat up at the same time.
Chisel tips exist for a reason. Tinning your soldering iron will help you conduct heat into both the pad and the wire quicker. Hopefully soon you'll be able to solder without melting the insulation.
Just watch this guy, forgive him for being australian. Start on part 2 if you only want to learn technique but part 1 is a good watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Sb21qbpEQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYz5nIHH0iY

>>2765768
>>2766052
I may be stupid...

also I somehow managed to destroy the top left pad with the green wire when I tagged on it to see if it would come off but it ripped the pad itself.

OKay so what's the point of FPV googles if there is only a single camera so you don't see 3d anyway? Wouldnt a decent phone screen be just enough to fly deliciously?

>>2766266
Even with two cameras you wouldn’t see 3D, unless you were flying a micro quad through tree branches. Things have to be really close for stereopsis to be noticeable.

The main purpose for goggles is immersion. Ease of seeing the screen(s) even in bright light is an added bonus.

I often fly my planes from a LCD, not goggles, because I like to swap between flying LOS at shorter ranges. Even then you wouldn’t usually want to use a phone though, as there is a lot of latency with any sort of phone-based solution - an actual ‘FPV LCD’ has the same negligible latency as goggles.

>>2766085
you assumed that PCB pads are multi use?
You know what they say, assuming something makes an ass out of you and the PCB.
PCB pads are thin sheets of copper glued to a resin or paper board base. They will take the heat from soldering only a few times.
The good news is they're repairable, the bad news is you're gonna have to learn another skill. It's probably easiest to buy several new ones if they're cheap. If they're not cheap... lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xty1G5UBYb0

>>2766272
you could do a 7 inch deadcat, distance between the two front motors of mine is 26cm which is like 3.7 times the human distance between the eyes (~7cm). put 2 cams on the two arms connected to 2 VTX modules or something that can merge the signal between the two

>>2766300
And you still wouldn’t get hardly any discernible stereopsis when flying in the vast majority of the sorts of places you’d fly a 7”.

It’s been done before, there have even been aRTF models sold. It’s just kinda pointless & adds a lot of cost/weight/complexity/etc.

>>2761624
>look it up on some RC forum
>all the RC racing boomers are seething about the controller, OpenTX and ELRS.
Why are they like this?

>>2766465
I find that when most men hit a certain age, they refuse to accept anything new, even if there are no objective reasons. They stop changing and adapting, doomed to live their life in whatever time they're stuck in. Just remember what became of them so that you can get stuck in the habit of adapting.

>>2766465
because they spent a lot of money on previous thing and are upset that current thing is better. Electronics will always become outdated. Either keep what you have if it works, I am keeping my QX7 and just adding an ELRS module, or sell it at a discount (or give it away) to someone new to the hobby and buy something new.

>>2763273
Are you using the DJI controller and goggles with it? I'm wondering if I should just get a used DJI FPV kit to use with the Pico or similar cinewhoop.

>>2765362
theyre selling the openipc air unit for 90$
>The UltraSight is a single double-sided miniature printed circuit board compatible in size with the Gibbon system (20mm x 20mm holes) containing a powerful transmitter (20-30 dBm), enabling long range and reliable signal, all while supporting resolutions up to 4k and frame rates up to 120fps !

>>2766793
>all while supporting resolutions up to 4k and frame rates up to 120fps !
I'll have to look up videos, this sounds excellent

>>2766806
its this thinghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X88YiQlCzDo
i actually flew my openipc setup (same IMX415 camera, SSC338 board, 8812AU wifi module as this air unit but on different boards, bought from aliexpresas) yesterday on my 7 inch quad. it seemed fine in the test flight there was no noticeable latency while flying fairly slowly

ive only tried 1080p 50fps so far at 2 Mbps bitrate. but there's people messing around with the settings getting impressive 40ms latencies in their telgram
https://t.me/c/1809358416/1/61148

the specs on this thing seem similar to stuff like dji o3 but you can SSH into the board and change all the settings to whatever you want

I'm thinking of getting into the FPV hobby but I'm a brokie college student.
I plan on buying a controller and a sim first, but afterwards (if I like and stick with it), should I buy a prebuilt drone, a kit, or build my own drone?
Should I save up for the best or go with a cheaper option?

How can I tell which flight controllers are compatible with Ardupilot?
I'm trying to convert a scratch built wing

>>2767790
in terms of drones id say get a tinywhoop (tiny drone with ducts around the fans) like a mobula 6 analog (they just released the 2024 version). its so small and quiet you can fly it in your room/dorm and you can crash it all day with no damage unlike big drones. you dont have to go to a dedicated place to fly it and its so small you can pretty much fly it in public and no one cares.

its not ideal outside if theres wind but ive flown em outside too and its servicable. also the batteries and charger are the cheapest.

as for the radio i use a jumper t lite elrs but if i was buying one today id get a radiomaster pocket elrs. (keep in mind you need 18650 batteries for both which are not included with the radio)

you connect them via usb to your pc, click a setting on the radio that pops up and you can play fpv sims on steam
>>2767873
on the site there's a list
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-autopilots.html
i ordered a speedybee wing for mine

>>2767881
I've got a speedybee 405 in my cart, should I pull the trigger?

>>2767886
F4 boards are missing some ArduPilot features because they don’t have enough flash. Check the list before you buy anything.

https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-limited-firmware.html#common-limited-firmware

>>2767886
here's the missing features of ardupilot with the f405 mini:
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/binary-features.html#feature-speedybeef405mini
i honestly dont know what most of this is but i only fly betaflight/inav

i think you're probably fine with it
heres the adrucopter page for it
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-speedybeef4-v3.html

>>2767881
I checked out the Happymodel Mobula8 Digital and it seems pretty nice, especially since it's only 85 pounds, but that's the Lite version. I assume it doesn't include the camera?
There is also a DJI O3 and a HDZERO version. Some of these also have a TBS? Which one of them should I get, once I decide to? I don't really know the difference.
I already ordered the Radiomaster pocket plus batteries for sims.

>>2768329
the lite has no video system and expects you to add a O3
also the O3 version is like twice as heavy as hdzero/WS versions. which just sucks for a whoop
but the quad itself is great and i enjoy the hdzero version

>>2768329
get analog everything digital costs a fuckton more (you said you were brokie)
TBS is the radio link type (protocol that communicated from the controller in your hands to your drone, both sides must support the same protocol), id recommend going for an ELRS drone and ELRS radio. ELRS protocol is open, reliable in my experience and made by lots of companies

id say
>mobeetle,mobula 6/7/8 drone with ELRS radio + analog video
>jumper t lite/radiomaster pocket radio controller, ELRS version
>eachine EV800DM/betafpv vr03 analog goggles
>1s/2s batteries for the drone, 1/2 18650 batteries for the controller, whatever cheap charger you can find

>>2768473
The Mobula 6 comes with comes with a basic charger that should get him started without much hassle. Mobeetle seems also a good choice as it has several frames, so it gives an option to try flying both ducted and ductless. For whoops, pretty much any analog goggle would suffice, but an internal DVR and removable screen are pretty handy for troubleshooting. Also pic related seems like a nice charger that can go up to 6S if there's ever a wish to upgrade, it would just need an adapter for 1S batteries. Whoop only multichargers seem like a waste.

t. OG Mobula 6 owner

>>2768492
wait what?? that ISDT charger doesn't support discharge and storage modes!
better go with https://oscarliang.com/skyrc-b6neo-lipo-charger/

what do the big heavy battle bots generally use for wheel motors? I'm guessing it's something like washing machine motors directly driving wheels but I can't seem to find anything.

>>2768543
Electric wheelchair/mobility scooter motors. Washing machine motors are fucking huge (in terms of diameter), they get used for DIY e-bikes.

What is your longest distance flight?
you guys ever go out of state?

>>2768681
55km, but that was work not hobby.

>>2768539
I recommended that one because people have had problems with that SkyRC charger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iOVhe1HOB0
While the 608PD doesn't have discharge mode you can use a lipo to charge your phone/laptop/etc which is kinda like a discharge mode, just more involved. Here's the most in depth review I found of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gak0VXulSV4

>>2768492
it has the usb charger that breaks out into 6 1s lipos. i got the mobeetle and yea you can go toothpick mode with the carbon frame if you want. but if he gets a mobula 8 (which im getting right now) he'll need a charger.

>>2768539
yea that sucks, i got a toolkitrc m6d which has a discharge mode but i mainly use a JHEMCU Ruibet LIPO Discharger 2s-6s. i have a pair theyre small and cheap + show the voltage so i can just carry them in my lipo bag and connect any unused/underused lipos after a flight. much easier to just connect packs to a discharger and throw em in the bag than go come and connect them to a charger

>>2768681
longest ive done is ~1km with a quad. but these days you can do video/control links of 25km+ with directional antennas heres one guy doing it
https://youtu.be/-AeKldKGVhg?si=Av1KHwBU48TET_7Z

>>2768665
Is there like a battle bot store? I mean it's been 25 years and most of them use the same or similar components right? It seems like there should be a centralized location where you could get 80% of your core components together (motors, hydraulics, and components) by now.

>>2768716
*I mean I've found andymark on my own but surely there are others.

did i fuck up?

>>2768681
5 miles on a 7 inch quad. Can likely do better if I ignore the altitude restriction, but my video link was degrading due to trees breaking line of sight.

>>2768762
You'll have to tell us when you get it.

>>2768762
their domain only talks about security cameras and there's no information about this system in particular. How the hell did you decide on this? What makes it special?

>>2768807
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Wz9oAK5z4
ive flown an openipc quad but its kinda big with thing whing i can put an openipc system on a 3 inch quad.

the domain talks about security cameras but they have FPV firmware for some. ive tried the SigmaStar SSC338Q board with an IMX415 camera and a 8812AU wifi which is the exact things theyre putting ono this AIO system.

i have the exact setup he has here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXwiZFD6-yc
with the video receiver board from this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJQIoBKjVE

Hey you guys,

it has always been my dream to take to the skies and fly above the clouds. Are there fpv systems supoporting such a range?

>>2768845
video systems as well as airframes, I should specify

>>2768845
of course
some clouds aren't that high anyway

>>2768845
I imagine so but I also imagine the FAA would eat your ass for breakfast if you were flying up that high with an unmanned aircraft.
Would be cool, still....

>>2768845
>move to colorado
>go up a 14er
>take off above the clouds

>>2768939
Only if they know about it. I've seen many people surf the clouds in the states. They're still uploading to this day. I imagine it's pretty easy to get away with if you simply do it in the boonies.

new to this hobby and still experimenting with stickends. I used a ps4 controller for all my sims, so I'm accustomed to the shorter ones, but I really like the smoothness of 80mm rods...
Setup in the pic allows me to hold the tx with my left hand while having a pinch grip, pretty neat! And foam is a lot more comfy than being stabbed in the thumb.
What setup/grip are you guys running (and what kind of flying do you do)?

>>2768845
Yes, check out arxangelrc on YouTube.

>>2764849
I did this same thing. 25mw, shoved it into a file cabinet for that extra crunch.

>>2769106
because you want to recreate 'realistic' analog video glitching?

>>2769106
To my eyes, all of the FPV sims have a sort of plasticky look about them even when I use my goggles. Your method does a fine job of scraping away that fakey sheen. I'm definitely gonna try this. Kudos.
>>2769174
Haters gonna hate while Anon innovates.

Surface friends: Should I get an SCX24 or FCX24? I want a tiny truck to crawl around the house but also hopefully bash a little.

accidently ran a vtx without an antenna a couple of times while i was testing it. it was at 1000mW but it didnt get too hot, how likely is it that i broke it?

>>2769474
theres no way to tell i think most of em have a temp sensor that reduces the power if it gets too hot
you'd have to test it

>>2769513
The overwhelming majority of them have no temp control whatsoever.

antennas on my mobeetle broke off and got lost
i soldered a pair of wires of the same length but i feel like they kinda suck as antennas.
what should i put there instead? should i buy like 0.5mm enameled copper wire or something for it?

>>2769531
i think i had an AIO where ive read that the output power was temperature limited i assumed they were all like that.

>>2769537
Is the wire *exactly* the same length as the unshielded part of the original antenna?

Temperature limiting is still fairly uncommon. It always used to be a big selling feature of the expensive IRC Tramp & Tramp Mini that they actually had temp limiting. One of the primary reasons Betaflight introduced pitmode was to stop VTX baking themselves when sat on the ground with no airflow.

>>2769544
i assumed theyre were 1/4 wavelengh antennas i did 30mm on the 2.4ghz elrs antenna and 13mm on the 5.8ghz video antenna but idk how precisely i cut them i think its +-1mm accurate

the wire i used is
>26 AWG Flexible silicone wire
>Temperature: -60 degrees to 200 degrees-
>Diameter of each copper wire: 0.08mm
>Core: 30 strands (0.15 mm2)
>Outer diameter: 1.5mm

but will i get better reception if i did like a solid 0.4mm copper wire? the wire i used is also fairly flexible wheres the original copper antennas were fairly stiff

>>2769546
I would definitely try solid wire, I’ve never seen stranded used for an antenna.

>>2769546
I hadn't even considered that. Now you've got me wondering.

What sort of FPV drone would you get if you wanted to annoy/scare birds away from your fruit trees?

About to finish building my first flying wing (or wing of any kind). It's a 3D printed Nano Gremlin.

How fucked am I?

>>2769771
Why in the world wouldn't you buy a trainer first? Especially if you're using a flight controller (or even something like SAFE) as a crutch. That's a surefire way to stunt your growth and never learn how to actually fly.

>>2769810
I guess because I already built more than 5 quads and can already do anything I could ever want (movement wise) with those. I'm interested in fixed wing for their long range, autonomous capabilities
>SAFE
Ok boomer, I'm using INAV and the first auto launch will probably put the plane into the ground and I'll come crying like a little bitch

>>2769810
Are you solderfag? Are you going to tell us there's only one right way to fly airplanes now? Flight controllers allow for manual mode. Fucking narcissists...

>>2769737
probably something bigger than them because if its a 65mm whoop they might attack it like some birds attack quads.

you could get a camera drone like some dji quad because you can do an automated waypoint mission where you dont have to pilot it

>>2769771
im in the same situation but with a zohd250 dart. and the fullsize speedybee wing FC (which in retrospect might have been a mistake because its too big and i dont need most of it's features)

im kinda scared to launch it because by the time it starts flying its already far and i cant just drop it into the grass like a quad. i dont want it flying into the road or anyones house

>>2769904
Everybody in this thread who has flown fixed wing will agree that learning to fly fixed wing with a 3D printed plane that will explode into a million pieces in the first crash is a fucking awful idea.

>>2769954
I agree, but that is not what >>2769810 said. He was talking about >muh manual mode

>>2769904
>>2769987
You don't want a flight controller at all for your first flights. Not because of any boomer or whatever name-calling, but because you don't need it. Rather than worrying about tuning or using stabilizing modes, just fly the plane. And if something goes wrong, you don't need to worry about breaking a flight controller or an FPV setup. It's just foam that you can glue back together. This also why trainers are often self-leveling, 3-channel setups; they're simple and forgiving.

On top of that, relying on stabilization (yes, even SAFE) teaches you bad habits, and doesn't let you learn how to fly a plane yourself. If you're going to do fixed-wing FPV, you want to at least know how the control surfaces work before you try to fly through a monitor or goggles. It also means you'll have a better shot of recovering if you need to land the plane in an emergency, especially if it's a LoS landing.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with stabilization, flight controllers, or any other modern aids. The problem is jumping right into the deep end with a 3D printed plane and a full flight controller setup as his first time.

openipc on nreal airs
there's some bug that the top of the image shows up on the bottom too (which doesnt happen on other HDMI screens) but other than that it works

im gonna get black TPU material this week and ill print lightblockers for it

does anyone have experiance with AT32 F435 flight controllers?
i got an the neutronrc 5 in 1 AIO with an internal ELRS radio which works in AT-Betaflight firmware but when i try to run it on INAV it wont recognize the radio

>>2769995
Youd be right If we were talking about normal planes that are sufficiently stable, but I highly doubt hell get good results without a gyro on a flying wing, with high WCL on top of that... I'd recommend building a normal plane first, but it's 3d printed, he can gnaw his teeth on that without losing much money

Sketch on my iPad to a finished physical part in under an hour, the future isn't all bad.

>>2770454
nice
I still refuse to get it. The FAA can suck my nuts I dont even fly above treetop level 99% of the time

>>2770582
That's GPS, not RID.

>Beautiful weather
>Perfect day to take a walk or something
>Sit outside
>Strap screen to face
>Loaf while performing "outdoor activities"
God, I love this hobby. At least crashing makes me move a little.

>>2770454
those insets are always a pain in the ass for me, what are you mounting this on? above the top plate of the drone frame?

>>2770702
i mean you are walking outside when you're when going to the place where you're flying the thing. honestly if i wasnt flying my quad in the forest i would be sitting on my ass playing video games

>>2770750
It mounts flush to the underside of the top plate.

How can I detect a low-voltage cutoff happening in an RC car ESC ? The documentation of my RC car says that on low voltage a LED on the receiver will begin flashing rapidly. But how does that help me know there's a low voltage if the car is too far away for me to see the LED. Is there a way to detect it electronically so I can send an alert back to myself ?

Also, how is low voltage/unsafe battery fuckery dealt with generally in remotely driven vehicles?

>>2770799
Many car ESCs will either cut power to the motor, or will enter a limp mode for a short while before then cutting power to the motor, which makes it super obvious. YMMV of course.

Did my first esc today, yeah... it's bad the solder didn't want to melt even at 450c

>>2770863
>solder didn't want to melt
I see green (copper oxide) in half of your joints. Clean and tin your wires first.

>>2770863
Here's some feedback.
Try remelting all the joints and buying some better solder. Lead solder will be better at this point.
If your solder doesn't want to melt then something is wrong with the soldering iron. Is the tip clean? Does the tip have corrosion or carbon on it? It should be bare steel. You should be using a tip that is BIGGER than the pad you're soldering to. If you literally cannot find a bigger tip then use the largest one you can get. It can be thermodynamically impossible to solder if you have a small tip.
>>2770878
It looks like the blue is a reflection from something

>>2770900
>It can be thermodynamically impossible to solder if you have a small tip.
that might be it, i'll try different tips.

>>2770863
Let me guess, you were using a conical tip?

>>2770930
i tried a bevel tip and a scalpel tip.

>>2770948
show your tips

>>2770799
Most decent RC's now have a "limp" mode where you'll lose power but still have just enough to drive it back before the motor dies completely, the servos and fans will still run but they take so little power it's not worth worrying about. You're pretty safe where low voltage is concerned.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Pls help.
I'm trying to set up my first drone (darwin baby ape) and I have a Zorro 4in1 radio. In the radio's "internal RF" settings I have flysky A2 selected and PWM,IBUS as the subtype.
I can bind to the drone and the radio reports that it's getting telemetry, but when I try to do my betaflight setup the drone detects nothing from the controller at all. Moving the sticks, flipping switches, or pressing buttons doesn't register in the receiver menu.

What do I do? Pic is betaflight and the receiver I got.

>>2771109
Show how it's wired.

>>2771123
This plug came preinstalled on the drone.

>>2770765
damn how big is your frame it looks fuckhuge, whats the purpose of the drone?
>>2770863
you should tin both sides first and its more about just sheer power than tip temp since it cools so fast when touching something with lots of heat capacity. usually my pinecil at 50W 320c is enough. a clean fat tip also helps

>>2771127
I bet that yellow wire goes to a sbus pad, not a ibus pad.

>>2771130
Shit, you're right. It says SBUS under there. I guess I just need a different receiver, then.

>>2771131
The flight controller almost certainly supports ibus via a different pad.

>>2771128
It’s a 10” chonker, it has no purpose other than fun.

>>2771014
I showed you my tips please respond.

>>2771182
top and right look ok and should work just fine
bottom one is way too oxidated. try cleaning it by wiping it with a wet cloth, acetone or downing it in flux while it's heated up
tips should look like shiny metal

now describe your technique. and read up what's written in this thread above. like tining the tip first, etc

>>2771306
I'm the same anon that was using the practice board.
rhe ESC behaved differently from the practice pads, that's something I still need to work on.
On another note, the flight controller seems to be going much better.

>>2771344
that actually looks nice
the reason the ESC is harder to solder is because the traces are much wider so the whole thing will have a huge thermal mass. the iron will have a harder time to keeping up as well as conducting the heat through the tip into the board. that just sucks the heat away
so if the tips are fine then you need a better iron

>>2771344
The ESC has much bigger traces/planes in it than either the practice board or the FC - it needs to in order to handle the amount of current. Anything like that is more tricky to solder, because the iron can struggle to maintain its temperature when it comes into contact with such a large amount of metal. Cranking up the temperature won’t help if the iron doesn’t have sufficient power (watts) to actually maintain that temperature & getting good heat transfer via correct tip choice & good technique becomes even more important.

Newbie question here, but I finally got my controller setup for the simulator, and I pretty much just barreled through the tutorial flinging myself from objective to objective without any precise control. How the FUCK can I learn to use such tiny movements on the control sticks? Do I have to use a pinch grip, or will my thumbs just learn it after enough practice? It feels like trying to thread a needle with barbecue tongs while hanging upside down from a ceiling fan.

>>2771448
pinching will have better control. And just do simple things first. Then keep doing them, it takes a lot of practice.

>>2771139
There's nothing labeled IBUS on the board diagram. I googled it and some guy on Reddit said he simply moved the SBUS wire to the RX1 pad and it works with IBUS.
Does that sounds right? I don't know enough about the subject to know if that's strange or not.

>>2771457
Pinching it is then. I'll keep at it, thanks anon!

>>2771492
Really wish I had three thumbs so I could map the throttle to its own control. It's not very intuitive connected to the raw.

>>2771515
*Yaw

>>2771515
It's weird at first, but you'll get the hang of it.

>>2771515
if you had a controller with scroll wheels you could probably do that in betaflight.

>>2771527
I think I'm starting to. Still find myself either losing altitude or zooming into the sky when turning.
>>2771534
There's an idea! But I would still need a third thumb. Currently using the Radiomaster Pocket.

>>2771139
>>2771488
I moved the wire to the RX1 pad and it's working now. Thanks for the input, anon. r8 my awful solder job (this is the second time I've touched an iron).

>>2771488
is that a baby ape? i have the same quad and the manual says the sbus input goes to uart1-RX

https://darwinfpv.com/cdn/shop/products/7_8852d2dd-097f-42b5-8fc7-e7b278a35494.png?v=1635408361&width=1000

honestly idk if this is right im using an ELRS radio with my baby ape
>>2771515
i feel like it makes sense for planes more than it does for quads because in planes you do most of your hard turning with the right stick.

with quads i feel like every time im doing a yaw turn my throttle/altitude control suffers a bit and i make the quad drop/climb a little bit but you get used to it and its far better than it was when i first started flying quads

>>2771585
Yep it's a baby ape. I didn't have the manual but I found the recommendation elsewhere and it's working properly now that I've soldered it to RX1. Guess I'll be finding a spot for my its maiden flight soon.

>>2771590
yea i got it dirt cheap on aliepress, pretty good deal for the price.

only 2 UARTs is kinda limiting if i wanna add a GPS id have to disconnect my VTX control to connect a GPS but the manual says you can use another pin as softserial. i think i can connect the VTX control to the softserial and the GPS to UART2.

>>2752559
too much solder on those joints

>>2771572
Can you adjust the throttle tension? If it's really loose, it's hard to keep the throttle steady.

I’m a robotics teacher in the south at a school with no money that I’ve been funding myself because I care about dem kidz.

Is there a turn key remote control motor and steering kit I could throw into a 3D printed chassis? I’ve developed a real love for my Ender 3 and new V400 but don’t trust the retards to use breadboards or solder.

Anything that can be remotely controlled preferably from a non-phone or tablet interface as firewall issues and student access is a fucking nightmare.

>>2771448
I'm flying thumbs. Took a bit but I got there. It's much like riding a bicycle for the first time. No balance or coordination to speak of. After a year it's like you've always been doing it.

>>2771629
I would avoid 3D printed planes to learn on. You can make planes from Dollar Tree foam board that will survive a crash much better.
https://store.flitetest.com/ft-mighty-mini-tiny-tutor-starter-bundle/

Ok you faggots, I'm about to do something really stupid and build a 3inch INAV quad under 100g, since now you can finally do waypoint missions without a magnetometer (FINALLY, ffs).
What is the lightest AIO that is supported by INAV 7?
>16x16, 20x20, 25x25 all fine
>2s compatible
>has onboard OSD
>bonus if ELRS or VTX integrated
>double bonus if below 100$

>>2771748
forgot the most important thing
>must have a free UART for GPS!

>>2771748
i bought a NeutronRC AT32F435 mini AIO intending to do something similar. its a 1-3s AIO with a VTX and internal ELRS, 6 UARTS. fairly cheap too only the firmware support isnt that great. supposedly it should support inav and betaflight but i couldnt get the itnernal elrs to work in inav and only managed to get stuff working using their custom betaflight version (called ATbetaflight).


i think with INAV and some connector remapping in the CLI i can get the internal UART ELRS to work . and i can disable the barometer and use it's I2C pads for the compass (never actually tried it but saw some forumpost saying its possible). the sketchy firmware is why im not currently recommanding it fully but give it a look

>>2771770
>the sketchy firmware is why im not currently recommanding it fully but give it a look
The number of broken out UARTs is great for the price but I don't think I can handle something is sketchy as this
>install le custom driver
>download le sketchy bf fork
Man, they should offer some proper documentation and help the BF & INAV devs get this to work

>>2771657
I was just posting a print I made recently; what I would make is a 3D printed RC car but I don’t know what the simplest method of getting functional electronics is.

>>2771880
>what I would make is a 3D printed RC car
I've done this actually, pic related. The electronics for a cheap car are really easy. It's just a motor, ESC, steering servo, battery, and receiver. If you have nothing at all to start, you'll also need a charger and radio.

Since these are all "dumb" electronics compared to quadcopters and the like, they're really cheap. For example, a radio and receiver combo is just $28. A simple battery charger is $8. A motor and ESC combo is $34. Altogether, it's around $100 to start from scratch for something 1/10 scale.

>>2771896
What resources could I follow for this build? Keep in mind I’m a total novice to this and just figured out 3D printing.

>>2771925
Everything is here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1193309

For the major parts I used, punch these into https://hobbyking.com/
>9114000042-0
>9202000001-3
>NC4200.2S2P.65
>9912000059-0
The bearings, fasteners, and small pieces you can buy in a hardware kit from the Thingiverse description.

If you use TPU tires like I did, you'll also want to print slower gears: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2352724

>>2771933
I really appreciate that, man. You’ve made a bunch of nerds in a broke assed public school very happy.

>>2771648
>>2771623
>>2771585
I find myself switching between thumbs and a pinch, but it's starting to feel like I know what I am doing! Though the tight indoor spaces in the simulator are still giving me trouble. But at least my practice is paying off!

>>2771986
got used to it just flying a tinywhoop in my yard into gaps between chair legs,tables and between tree branches.

use the OSD to display your throttle while cruising at the typical speed you cruise at and note it at the start and end of your flight. then go into betaflight configurator in your drone and adjust your throttle curve so it's flatter between those 2 numbers (say between 35% throttle and 50%). this way you can make very small height adjustments with your throttle instead of jerking the quad up/down hard if it's linear

what rates do you thumbers use?
I'm at Actual: 50, 350, 0.5 for roll/pitch. 50, 500, .25 for yaw.
Still learning so I'll ramp up eventually. Slow, but controllable.

>>2771811
The Betaflight devs are already working on proper AT32 support, it’s slated for 4.5. The manufacturers who are selling AT32 based FCs already are kinda jumping the gun a bit.

>>2772014
Let's hope Pawel gets his hands on some...

Successful maiden on betaflight this morning (was previously on ardupilot), but damn do I wish I had nicer places to fly nearby. Unless I drive for over an hour, all I have is a muddy featureless field.

And fuck me these old FPV cameras are trash, I have no idea how we used to fly with these. The HDR is almost nonexistent.

about to print out some new props for a small r/c boat, do you have experience with foil types?
ive made some for a fixed wing and that worked okayish, but so far idk what pitch to use for water.

>>2772013
pic is what is use on a darwinfpv baby ape but my other stuff has the same rates
>>2772014
i saw a BF and inav target on the page selling the FC i assumed all that shit was working so i ordered one
i might try fucking around with pin remapping to maybe fix the issue with the internal elrs not workinig but realistically ill just fly my other drones until they release a good version fort AT32

>>2772825
that thing looks gigantic for the payload of a small camera. do you cut the carbon yourself ?. you could probably put a full DSLR on it
also what cells are you using in those battery packs?

>>2772913
>>2772913
I have never done anything like that myself, but rctestflight has some videos where he tries out some designs/materials. May be worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvjTr4lNbuU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ZYL0GYw6E

>>2772932
>that thing looks gigantic for the payload of a small camera.

It's just for fun, I'm under no delusion that it has any semblance of practicality.

>do you cut the carbon yourself

No. I print mock-ups in PLA to check fit/clearance, then send away to have it cut.

>what cells are you using in those battery packs?

Samsung 30T. Not an ideal choice, but I got a good wholesale deal.

>>2771748
you can get basically a whole quad for that price. i got the baby ape + ELRS radio for US $77.35.

i switched the antenna,camera and added a gps this week, it flies pretty damn well.

>>2772825
do you have a youtube channel? I want to see that thing fly

>>2772825
is that the control radio antenna under the camera?
i think if you're using a linear polarized antenna you want its poles to point up/down since itts the direction where you're unlikely to be where's how you put it if you're at the edge of the radio range and you turn the drone sideways you might lose control.

>>2772982
i wish people would look into antenna theory a little
it's so cringe when they put their dipoles horizontally on the quads _and_ on the controller.

another thing is insisting on google antennas with high gain and then looking at the ground

wooden quad anon is also placing his other antennas (vtx, gs) plane. not caring about inclination on forward flight. ok for a mostly hovering arducopter build but not for BF fpv flying

well, it's not an optimal setup, but I'm gonna test out some 2" props. 1203 5500kv.

>>2772982
>>2773026
What's cringe is people who obsess over theory & call out anybody who doesn't follow a theoretically ideal implementation, completely failing to consider that just maybe other people also understand this incredibly basic RF theory & have actually made a conscious compromise for purely practical purposes.

Of course I know that in an ideal situation a dipole should be vertical. But for this quad that I will realistically only ever fly a few hundred meters, it quite simply doesn't matter.

Back when more people flew 868/915MHz almost every dipole on a race/freestyle quad was mounted horizontally, because the compromise in reception was more than acceptable for the practical benefit of not needing to mount a 6" antenna vertically on a palm-sized quad. Even with these smaller 2.4GHz dipoles it's still a lot more practical in many circumstances to mount them horizontally.

Horizontal dipoles aren't ideal, but in the real world you often don't need ideal.

>wooden quad anon is also placing his other antennas (vtx, gs) plane. not caring about inclination on forward flight.

For the purposes of yesterday's 3 minute test flight that never exceeded 100m the angle of that antenna is completely inconsequential.

What would happen if I misswire the GPS or antenna? The diagram is a bit confusing and I'm worried about damaging something

>>2773224
If you get tx/rx backwards it just won't work. If you connect 5v/gnd to the wrong place you could fry the gps, your flight controller, etc.

Post the diagram.

>>2773233
The wires on the GPS are colored differently.

>>2773237
colors don't matter. Look at the labels on the pinout diagram. Post your specific GPS.

>>2773233
>>2773237
Wrong diagram, sorry.
This is it.

>>2773239
I'll check the specific model when I get home.

>>2773244
looks like it's the iFlight M10, the wiring diagram from iFlight's website is wrong, the one from the flight controller you posted is correct. Tx on the FC needs to go to Rx on the GPS and Tx on the GPS needs to go to Rx on the FC. Also, it's labeled on the bottom of the GPS module, so it looks like you at least have power and ground correct.
https://shop.iflight.com/BLITZ-M10-GPS-V2-Pro2124

>>2773026
t makes sense if you have antenna diversity like putting both antennas horizontally on 2 arms at 90 degrees to eachother.
you're still wasting antenna power going up/down much more but you can save space/mounting for a vertical antenna.

>>2773171
yea its just a very obvious waste of RF power thats very easy to fix, for quads where im totally unconcerned with the control link i just put something like pic related on

>>2773327
>diversity on 2 arms
very true. that's how i do it on my acro quads.
zero chance of pointing nulls at each other and even in level flight the antennas aren't at a 90º. so not resulting in that 30dB polarity mismatch penalty.

>>2773250
upon closer inspection there's clearly marking for the wires.
now i need to match the wires with the pads.

I am new to this shit.
I picked up a used rotorriot prebuilt with a DJI air unit. How do I rewire this shit with an aftermarket receiver so I can fly it without a DJI controller? I have DJI goggles and I've managed to bind it to them just fine.
Google says the yellow and brown wires from the air unit are the ones that you want to leave disconnected if you're not using the air unit receiver but idk what to do from there.

>>2773647
Don't even bother disconnecting anything. Just wire a fresh receiver on and tell your flight controller to use it instead.

>>2773647
look up the flight controller on the drone you got. pic related is one of the rotorriot drone's flight controllers.

you need to buy any ELRS 2.4ghz RX module (this is the most common link these days) and solder it on to the flight controller.
this pic shows TBS nano RX and smartport RX but ELRS RX is similar.
here's a drone build video where he does this part
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz7bdXWKC1Q

once you connected the new radio you just go into the betaflight configurator , ports tab. and there you select which set of UART pins you use for radio

>>2773667
Oh I didn't realize that was even an option. I figured it'd just have to be disconnected.

>>2773780
That makes sense, thanks Anon. Why ELRS specifically though? I don't have an ELRS radio but I could get a module for it if needed I guess but I'd rather not if I can avoid it.
I'm trying to figure out what the flight controller board is exactly. It has HW906(?)_YT4_V2.1 printed on it.
I think that means it's a hobbywing F4 variant but I am having trouble finding the exact one.

>>2773816
Yo, wtf is that soldering? That's house fire tier right there!

>>2773816
what radio do you have then? i just said elrs because you said you're new and its the most common and reliable link right now.


googeling the writing on the board gets you to this
https://www.hobbywing.com/en/index.php/products/xrotor-micro-flight-controller-f4-g2172.html
the manual is
https://www.hobbywing.com/en/uploads/file/20221024/8fd5ac69da8b2c227449156a792d3271.pdf

also the TX3 RX3 uarts on your board look kinda like a mess. the two solders on the bottom pads. it looks like the wires are fairly loose and might touch eachother when the drone is moving and fuck up the signal.

anyways just find another radio and solder it to UART 1 RX/TX

>>2773817
I know, I hadn't even looked at it until now. I assume the previous owner soldered this with a red hot safety pin and parkinsons or something.
I should probably resolder some of this shit before it becomes a problem.

>>2773819
Radiomaster zorro 4in1.
Thanks for the resources, anon. Much appreciated.

>>2773819
So I'd be soldering the yellow wire to RX1 but what about the other two? Would that be the ground pad on the left side and I'm just assuming the 3.3v pad for the red wire?

>>2773932
never used one of these, googled the name and pic comes up. just solder the yellow one to an RX pad. theres also a pic down there on how to set it up inside betaflight.

>>2773932
>what about the other two?
every component requires power, its usually 5v. red wire is the positive lead that goes to a 5v pad on the flight controller and black goes to a negative/ground/GND pad

>>2773938
>>2773932
forgot the link
https://www.unmannedtechshop.co.uk/product/fli14-mini-flysky-receiver-w-rssi-osd-diversity/

>>2773938
>>2773941
Thanks, Anon. I had just sort of assumed it wasn't 5v.

These wires are very small and I think they're not really making contact despite being soldered to the pads. The receiver won't power up when I plug the USB in.
I think I'll give this another shot later and just pull the wires, strip them some more, try to wind them up a bit and pre tin them before trying again.

>>2773978
Wait nvm it powers up when the battery is connected. We're so back.

>>2773983
Good, the first thing to come to mind wasn't retarded. Even my little 1S only connects sporadically without a battery in.

>>2773989
Okay so I've bound the receiver to my controller and that seems to be good. When I go into Betaflight though the software doesn't seem to be reading any input from the receiver despite following the info here >>2773941
I cannot pick the AUX10 setting under the RSSI channel, though. It just says "disabled" in the dropdown. Going over to the ports tab I see that UART 1 and 3 are enabled by default, which makes sense since the DJI unit is wired to 3. After disabling 3 and switching 1 to IBUS I still get nothing.
If I switch back to CSRF I get a signal on the chart back in the receiver tab which I assume is just the software detecting the DJI unit. This keeps reporting even with UART 3 disabled though? Not sure what to make of that.

>>2774003
Wait, did you end up wiring it to pads that had the same UART connections as the plug? Can't have multiple things chatting up the same line with the exception of I2C pads.

>>2774018
I clipped the connector off one end of the plug and soldered the wires to the empty pads on the board. I didn't remove any of the wires that were already soldered to the other pads.
The other anon told me not to bother with removing any DJI wires, but like I said they're not connected to any of the same things.

>>2774022
>>2774018
Wait I think I got it. Looking at the FC manual again I don't see anything about IBUS being mentioned anywhere. I guess it just has no Ibus support? That would explain it.
Welp. Anyone want to recommend an SBUS receiver?

>>2774041
ELRS also supports SBUS.

>>2774041
IBUS is a firmware thing: "hardware support" is just "having a free UART".
double check your wiring and settings.

>>2774045
I moved one of the DJI wires over so it wouldn't touch the RX1 wire and I think my solder joints on everything is pretty secure. Like I said it powers up and binds to my radio.

>>2774070
Here's my betaflight settings. Left side is when it's set to CSRF which I assume is just the Air Unit doing its thing. Right side and bottom is what happens when I switch to IBUS. No option to select the channel I want and nothing is showing on the graphs.
I have resoldered the RX1 wire three times now and even though it's ugly I'm pretty sure the connection should be secure.

>>2774074
unckeck MSP for uart 1, it cant be both.

>>2774079
Under ports? If I do that it disables UART 1 automatically.

>>2774081
what do you mean "disables"?

>>2774083
I mean when I save and reboot after setting Peripherals to "disabled" UART 1 is toggled off. If I toggle UART 1 back on and then save & reboot it's toggled off again.

>>2774084
lol i didnt even notice that. you cant have "everything" on the same uart. youre lucky when you can do "two" things at once, i guess you can have both the air unit and MSP but thats it. try disabling everything except serial RX and im pretty sure the controls will work just fine. then move the serial RX to uart 3 or 6

>>2774090
I don't understand. The only thing I have soldered to RX1 is the receiver wire. The air unit is soldered to TX3 and RX3.
What would I be moving exactly? (I don't even know what MSP is)

>>2774092
MSP is the configurator. usually the MSP uart is the "emergency configurator" for when you break off the USB port. or maybe something needs to speak to your flight configurator in which case it uses MSP to do so.

if your air unit is connected to uart 3 then why is uart 3 configured to do literally nothing? enable VTX on uart 3, disable it on uart 1 along with MSP.

>>2774094
>flight configurator
flight controller*

>>2774094
>if your air unit is connected to uart 3 then why is uart 3 configured to do literally nothing?
I have no idea whatsoever man. This is my first time working with something like this.
-----
I can enable UART 1 and UART 3 + put the MSP/VTX peripheral on UART 3, but when I do, Betaflight will not let me enable Serial RX for UART 1. If I do that, it just disables everything upon reboot.
Do I need to change the configuration/MSP channels?

>>2774096
try this:
for uart 1: disable *everything* that isnt serial RX.
for uart 3: enable MSP and VTX

>>2774099
It allowed me to keep these settings on reboot but still nothing on the receiver graph.

>>2774096
>I can enable UART 1 and UART 3
like this^ doesnt mean anything. im guessing you think the first toggle is necessary, its not. the first toggle is MSP.
if you check something then its enabled: if you only check "serial RX" then the uart is enabled, and acting as serial RX

>>2774103
Oh, I see. So UART 1 should be functional with just Serial RX toggled if it's actually getting a signal?

>>2774102
yeah ok this configuration looks good...
so what controller/receiver do you have...? is it configured to output IBUS, and if so are you using the right pin?

>>2774104
yup

>>2774105
I have a radiomaster zorro 4in1 with >>2773938 as my receiver. I have the RX wire soldered to the RX1 pad on the FC and the ground and power wires soldered up as well. My controller is set to Flysky2A with PWM,IBUS as the subtype.
The FC manual is here >>2773819

>>2774109
Btw my controller is bound to the receiver and my zorro will loudly state "telemetry lost" when the drone is powered down so they are talking to eachother in some way, I guess.

>>2774109
>>2774110
okay.. yeah. didnt bother reading the thread sorry. kinda hard to imagine youd be using the wrong pin

ok so what you wanna do is hook it up to your oscilloscope and analyze the waveform. just kidding.

so its that exact receiver, and it has only 3 pins right? not 4? no TX pin? sorry seeing someone say "i hooked up RX to RX" gives me vietnam flashbacks.

>>2774112
I don't think it does. I have a pic of it here >>2773932
It came with a connector on the other end of the tricolor wires there that I clipped off so I could solder them to the pads.

>>2774113
>no TX pin
i meant rx. the rx would be for telemery stuff
yeah no it has 3 pin. again, hard to imagine youre using the wrong pin.
ok... does your flight controller have an "sbus" jumper somewhere? or maybe go to CLI, type in "resource" and check for an inverter?

>>2774120
It has an SBUS pad but that's occupied by an Air Unit wire atm. Another anon earlier told me to ignore it and solder to the RX1, so that was what I did.
The FC manual says this --
" SBUS: SBUS signal input (the SBUS port has a built-in signal inverter, so if signals need to be inverted,
please connect the signal wire to this SBUS port. In case signals needn’t be inverted or your receiver has an
inverter, then please connect the signal wrie to the Rx of UART1/UART3/UART6.)"