/rcg/ - Drone & Radio Control General

[Anonymous No.2809234]

In /rcg/ we discuss anything & everything remote controlled - multirotors, fixed wing, cars, rovers, helis, boats, submarines, battlebots, lawnmowers, etc.

>How do I get started with racing drones?
https://oscarliang.com/mini-quad-racing-guide/
https://www.fpvknowitall.com/ultimate-fpv-shopping-list/

> How to build a racing drone (16 part video series from Joshua Bardwell)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwoDb7WF6c8mWARrcxtX_G6yytK7QFHID

>What about planes?
https://www.flitetest.com/

>What about aerial photography, is DIY viable?
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 want a cheap RC training plane that is turnkey.
XK Beaver
Eachine Wing Dragon
OMPHobby T720
Hobbyzone Champ (used only)

>I want a good FPV fixed wing platform.
ZOHD Drift
Sonicmodell AR Wing
Finwing Albabird

>I want a basher fixed wing model for doing crazy shit that is easily repairable.
RCFactory, Hacker and other similar profile models

>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/@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

Previous: >>2792854

[Anonymous No.2809263]

>>2809234
Any materials that'd help to learn how to:
1) design and engineer drones like it's actually done by professionals? e.g. all the specialized moments of what there's to pay attention to for drones in terms of aerodynamics, frame requirements, weight distribution, satisfaction of customer needs, etc;
2) make the typical proper documentation of the project? I don't mean "standardized formatting" (since requirements tend to differ) as much as I mean "what's there to include".


Or, if we take this university project report as an example, what could be missing from it for it to be a solid, industry-tier report?
https://titula.universidadeuropea.com/bitstream/handle/20.500.12880/5207/tfg_JoseLuisGonzalezAlbarca.pdf
I already see that some of the good things it's missing are:
1) overview of local and international drone regulations;
2) simplified table of components that includes their price, weight, dimensions;
3) the estimation of assembly costs of one unit.
Anything else?

[Anonymous No.2809299]

>>2809136
remove it but solder an extension dongle

[Anonymous No.2809317]

>>2809263
> design and engineer drones like it's actually done by professionals? e.g. all the specialized moments of what there's to pay attention to for drones in terms of aerodynamics, frame requirements, weight distribution, satisfaction of customer needs, etc;
It depends on the type of drone and itspurpose. For your standard fpv quad, no one cares about that shit, just save weight

[Anonymous No.2809318]

>>2809263
If you're asking about engineering and producing commercial products like DJI, that probably involves the labor of (pulling a number out of thin air) like thirty different PHD-level specialists.

If you're asking about enterprise drones and big camera rigs, they're mostly building drones the same way we are but bigger, more redundancy in hardware/better flight controllers, MUCH higher budget, and often with some extra features like variable pitch props.

[Anonymous No.2809557]

ordered a jumper t20s for 70$ off aliexpress, upgrading from a jumper t light v2

[Anonymous No.2809665]

>>2805461
according to the rosser PID guide if i limit the motor output i can use higher voltage batteries with my motors.

i think if i just limit it so the maximum power the ESC can pump out to be the same as the maximum power on the data sheet of the engines it should be fine.

[Anonymous No.2809672]

>>2809665
That's mostly true, but definitely don't do something like 6S batteries on a kv meant for 2S. That's just asking for trouble.

[Anonymous No.2809702]

>>2809672
i wanna put 4s batteries on a quad whose motors say theyre rated for 12v maximum 8A. i think if i put it on a 75% limit there should be no issue (honestly i think im being too safe and i fan fully rip 4s on 3s motors but id like to see if the motors get super hot before i try this)(

[Anonymous No.2809860]

>>2809702
About the only way that should get hot is if your filtering sucks or your PIDs are set retardedly. One of the best things I learned was that PID and filter tunes on custom builds are stupid, and you should learn to do that yourself.

[Anonymous No.2810171]

>>2809702
Maybe a real EE can backup or deny this, but wouldn't running a higher than intended kv motor put a lot of strain on the mosfets?
When you limit the throttle, you're not limiting the voltage, just the length of the full voltage pulses. I don't really see it being an issue motor side as it's still making the same heat as a 3s, but on the ESC side, the lower resistance (high kv) motors would make the mosfets work harder to control the current.
That being said, your situation is probably(?) fine, but I don't know how far you can stray off the spec sheet before it becomes unreliable.

[Anonymous No.2810492]

>>2810171
>When you limit the throttle, you're not limiting the voltage, just the length of the full voltage pulses

Not an electrical engineer but I believe that for the purposes of what we're doing limiting pulse length is pretty much the same as limiting peak voltage. I don't think it's possible to make broad deterministic statements about how the ESC fets will fare without detailed information about the circuit and the specific mosfets in use. I think most drone hobby pcbs -especially escs and aios - are designed with excess/misuse in mind. Like you can run the same motors and pcbs with both 40mm props and 3" props and probably be fine even though the 3" pushes exponentially more volume.

[Anonymous No.2810563]

updated this POS to the latest firmware and now it goes into 'turn off to save energy' screen after 5 mins of inactivity and beeps when it does so. so if im leaving it connected to the PSU it beeps every 5 mins

does anyone have this thing and know how to turn it off? or should i go searching for older firmware? i think the older versions have a narrower range of voltages you can charge/discharge to under the default LIPO/LION/LIHV profiles

[Anonymous No.2810568]

>>2810492
>40mm props and 3" props

what's wrong with you

[Anonymous No.2810576]

>>2810568
nta
It's some stupid bullshit that happened between tinywhoops and everything else. Tinywhoop props get measured in millimeters, and everything else gets measured in inches.

[Anonymous No.2810580]

>>2810563
Try pressing and holding the jog wheel with no batteries plugged in for the options and see if there's an option in there. Did the new firmware fix the stupid defaults for storage charging?

[Anonymous No.2810582]

>>2810580
i actually just found out that menu existed, no i dont see an option there to turn off this retarded shit. i mean if they wanna add battery saving to the firmware make it turn off the screen after 5 mins but it doesnt it stays in the save energy screen and beeps. its really distracting so i cant sleep in the same room if i leave it plugged in

as for storage charging for LIPO it allows you 3.75V to 3.95V. i actually didnt understand what the name (StoCHG) meant i should it was something about stopping charge. i used charge/discharge manually instead.

anyways ill try going 1 firmware version back and see if it still beeps

[Anonymous No.2810583]

My dad is moving and was somehow able to fit 12 helicopters in his car.

[Anonymous No.2810585]

>>2810583

[Anonymous No.2810586]

>>2810582
Fuck sake, I just wanna storage charge to 3.7 without screwing around...

[Anonymous No.2810588]

>>2810586
idk i always storage charged to 3.8. still they should give you a wide range.

for discharging batteries they let you go down to sub 3V like totally kill the battery why the fuck wont they let you StoCHG to 3.6 at least

[Anonymous No.2810606]

>>2810583
>>2810585

I've never taken the helipill, but I was admiring a blade eclipse 360 at the hobby store the other day. Why do you need 12 of them? Aren't they all used for pretty much the same zippyflippy LOS shenanigans?

[Anonymous No.2810609]

>>2810606
He has just collected these over the past 35 years or so. No, he does normal flying.

Here's a video of him : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOevMP-0PTw

[Anonymous No.2810622]

>>2810582
>cucked by firmware updates again
After my first elrs experience/nightmare I just started running things as they come and only update when they dont work.

[Anonymous No.2810702]

>>2810622
Why does everyone have a hard time with ELRS? I've found it to be among the easiest stuff to update and bind.

[Anonymous No.2810712]

>>2810609

Looks like a lot of fun anon. I enjoy cruising more than freestyle tricks too.

[Anonymous No.2810762]

How stiff are tinywhoop frames? They look extremely flexible on video, and I'm trying to come up with a minimalist toothpick frame for my 1s build

[Anonymous No.2810778]

>>2810702
Yeah it's weird, I thought it would be a complete nightmare but it's super convenient so far. Though I've heard the PWN receiver has some minor issue with chapter 5 according to painless.

[Anonymous No.2810790]

>>2809234
"High speed" UAV footage makes me fucking puke, most of the operators suck shit. It's not fucking parkour. Think Navi in the OOT intro instead.

[Anonymous No.2810794]

>>2810702
my whoop wont automatically connect sometimes and I'm forced to connect the battery three times and bind. admittedly I need to setup passphrases, update my radio, and my quad. but I'm lazy and new to flight rc, I'd rather get irl flight time than fuck with the software right now.
when it does work, +9/10 times, it's as easy as my RTR surface shit.

[Anonymous No.2810798]

>>2810794
On some models, the 3x plug didn't get me where I wanted to be, so I just wait on the 60 second swap to Wi-Fi mode and set the bind phase with my phone. After binding, I make sure to change the init rate for instant connection as I run everything on 50Hz. I always opt for more penetration.

[Anonymous No.2810831]

>>2810794
i dont get how this happens im still using the same phrase in my ELRS configurator that i first used the first time i flashed a receiver. i never had a problem and i must have used like 6 elrs modules by now including builtin SPI, builtin UART and external uart.

>>2810762
my betafpv 85pro frame is a bit thicker and stiffer but the 65mm stuff is usually a lot less stiff. the whole point is stiffness is not as beneficial at this size since your prop frequency is super high. the point of them is you can easily abrorb crashes, flip over and go back to flying without having to go pick up the drone or switch props.

personally i think whoops are a lot more fun than toothpicks at this size, the first one i got is the mobeetle which comes with both a whoop frame and a carbon fiber toothpick frame and i quickly stopped using the toothpick frame

[Anonymous No.2810875]

>>2810702

Binding a new receiver with FrSky
>connect receiver to radio
>flash the one firmware file I downloaded years ago that just lives on my radio & gets used for every single receiver I buy
>power cycle receiver while pressing bind button

Binding a new receiver with ELRS
>power up receiver
>connect to receiver wireless hotspot with phone/iPad
>set receiver wireless settings, binding phrase, model match ID
>power cycle receiver so it connects to home WiFi
>move to computer, open ELRS configurator
>find out there's an update to the configurator, download it & install it
>select correct version, target, binding phrase, etc.
>wait for it to download the source from the Internet & build the firmware from scratch
>hope it finds the receiver & flashes it
>power up radio, open ELRS Lua script
>try to remember what packet rate & telemetry ratio to use
>forget to set model match in the radio, waste 10 minutes trying to figure out why it's not working

Don't get me wrong, I use & love ELRS. But it took me the best part of an hour sat at my computer with the wiki open to figure it all out. I have never needed a wiki for a RC link before.

And even now I know what I'm doing, I can't bind a new receiver without access to both my phone/iPad & my computer with an Internet connection. With a FrSky receiver, I could literally take it out the packaging while at the field & have it updated, bound & flying with nothing more than my radio.

[Anonymous No.2810908]

>>2810875
>open configurator
>flash the receiver with the same phrase saved on my configurator
>it just werks with my radio

and i dont think the packet rate of telenmetry ratio matters it all works automatically. the only important thing about this is you gotta load the ELRS configuration for your packet rate in the betaflight presets if you want the idea betaflight feedforward for ultra responsiveness but otherwise it doesnt matter

[Anonymous No.2810926]

>>2810908
>open configurator

So straight away you need a computer running companion software, just to flash a receiver. Many people would consider that a big step back in terms of complexity compared to previous systems.

>and i dont think the packet rate of telenmetry ratio matters it all works automatically

If you want to use something like the yaapu script for ArduPilot it matters a lot.

[Anonymous No.2810932]

>>2810798
>I always opt for more penetration.

[Anonymous No.2810939]

>>2810875
>Binding a new receiver with ELRS
1. open up LUA script on radio and enter bind mode
2. connect battery to copter 3 times
3. done

[Anonymous No.2810959]

>>2810939
this is only with 3.4
>>2810926
yea youre right. i guess it doesnt matter to me as much since i always flash everything i receive to the last version and flashing my phrase into it just goes along with that.

but you could always just wait a minute without connecting and the ELRS receiver switches to wifi mode where you can connect to it via any phone,computer and change the settings/phrase. ive even done this on my car's android media computer once.

now you got like 3 methods of binding receivers and all are not really complicated

[Anonymous No.2810960]

>>2810939
If you don’t mind running old firmware on your receivers.

I’m not aware of any way to update ELRS receiver firmware using just your radio, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

[Anonymous No.2811070]

>>2810702
my first quad, i followed bardwell's tutorial, ended up bricking one receiver, got the second to work after like a hour, then realized i didnt have to endure any of that fuckery in the first place. thats why i dont bother to update anything

[Anonymous No.2811109]

>>2810960
I'd say to give it time. These devs are pretty much giving us everything under the sun so far. Just takes dev time.

[Anonymous No.2811114]

>>2811070
Sometimes Bardwell's advice isn't the best. He can be quite opinionated and will often ignore superior alternatives because he doesn't like them for whatever reason. Aside from setting my mind phrase, I also enter my home network credentials. By doing this, I can update with one press of a button when the model is near my home access point. Can update my entire fleet in under five minutes.

[Anonymous No.2811117]

>>2811114
>mind phrase
bind phrase...

[Anonymous No.2811123]

>>2811117
>mind phrase

Just because you don't know yours...

[Anonymous No.2811138]

>>2809234
Hello /rcg/, I don't need help or nothing but would like to let you guys know that I will be able to install the last part(vtx) of my first drone this Friday. I've got a lot of hours on the simulator so I am excited to try it out in real life. I might report back. Have a nice one!

[Anonymous No.2811519]

>>2811138
congrats, report back and tell us how it went

[Anonymous No.2811521]

>>2810583
Based
I decided I was never going to fly RC helicopters after trying them out in simulators and also finding out how expensive they are
Really cool but just not for me

[Anonymous No.2811562]

>>2810583
I crashed one into the snow and was never able to ge it to fly again :(
Helis are too complicated for me

[Anonymous No.2811698]

Pour brake fluid to destroy paint.
Pour a smelly liquid bellow the windshield.
Drop a brick on it.
Drop a brick on his hood.

The new age has come.

[Anonymous No.2811702]

>>2811698
i dont get it

[Anonymous No.2811704]

>>2811702
THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE A PLEB! The new age of revenge has come! Smart people ruling savages from above!

[Anonymous No.2812117]

Thinking of buying the Walksnail Goggles X along with a RTF WS quad to really test out the WS system. But they are teasing some supposed new 20KM range thing being released in August so maybe I should wait.
According to Bardwell this is probably just an upgrade to a new "artosyn" manufactured chip. Does anyone know what the artosyn chip actually does and what improvements the new one has?

[Anonymous No.2812119]

>>2810583
Reminds me of being a kid and my grandfather driving to visit us once a year with his car full of planes. Good memories.

[Anonymous No.2812145]

>>2812117
It's merely an upgrade of what we're already doing. Personally, I've held off on getting the Goggles X unit due to piles of stupid design flaws. Their system is pretty good and I've done 5 miles on the standalone VRX, but I'm not spending premium money on a beta test. If they get their act together, sure I'll pay for a new goggle.

[Anonymous No.2812171]

>>2812145
do you know if there's any difference in latency between the standalone VRX and the Goggles?
I want to get the best possible setup here to give it a fair test. I thought maybe the VRX would have additional latency due to having to use HDMI. I previously tried the VRX over a year ago and wasn't particularly impressed with camera quality, latency or penetration vs analog. But I wanna give it another shot in case it has improved
what goggles are you using?

[Anonymous No.2812213]

>>2812171
Running over HDMI does incur a touch of latency, but it varies from person to person on how noticeable it'll be. I can't feel it at all. Using the Sky04X V2 goggles with it.

[Anonymous No.2812222]

got my jumper t20 for 68$, ordered a bag for it because i saw pic related in a review but it arrived with a bag.

seems like a good deal for a 1W radio

[Anonymous No.2812224]

>>2812222
kinda nice

[Anonymous No.2812258]

>>2812222
How's it feel to use so far?

[Anonymous No.2812263]

>>2812258
ive only done 1 pack with my whoop around the room with it so far after flashing the latest edgetx and elrs. i mainly got it for the 1W power but the thing im most impressed by is the gimbals. upgrading from the jumper t lite these feel much better. i kinda dismissed gimbal snobbery but i kind of get some of it now

[Anonymous No.2812341]

>>2812263
Thanks for the info. I rarely think to replace any of my core gear, but it's good to have an idea of what's out there in case I want to.

[Anonymous No.2812637]

can i drill out a 1.5mm shaft prop for 2mm shaft motors or will it not hold?

[Anonymous No.2812649]

>>2812637
Props are cheap. Give it a try.

[Anonymous No.2812852]

>>2811138
I am back
4 runs, 3 crashes.

The first run I panicked and crashed it into some deck furniture in my backyard. No damage.

The second run, I left put mode on by accident and started losing signal so I panicked as it started going fuzzy and ran it into some rocks right next to me. I was flying over a park so I did not want it to get lost. Propellers a little roughed up but very usable.

Third run. The golden run. Everything went right, did flips and went ~500ft out. Scared my mom and neighbors. Landed perfectly. It was awesome.

Fourth run. The worst, left it on put mode before confidently taking off at max speed. Visual signal immediately cut out over the park and it dropped 150ft into a dumpster. One of the motors is locked up now b/c it got a dent. The propellers are all shot now. It'll be a week before parts come. I also have poison ivy rashes from retrieving the drone now lol

It was a lot of fun but leaving it in pitmode is something I'll never forget now. Flying is awesome thanks /rcg/

[Anonymous No.2812957]

>>2812852
Might I suggest skipping pit mode and using low power disarm instead? Aside from that, glad to hear you're enjoying flying!

[Anonymous No.2812964]

>>2812852
Congrats anon
Please don't fly near any other people. Consider that you may need to disarm at any point, and consider where momentum would take it if you did.

[Anonymous No.2813105]

building a drone from aliexpress components was pretty easy
frame, motors, esc stack, receiver, vcr, camera, battery, easy peasy

rc cars, like drift cars, is another story.
pretty much a noob in this regard, so I'm not even sure where to start.
and since it seems more niche than drones, I'm having a hard time finding guides.
can someone point me in the right direction?

[Anonymous No.2813166]

>>2813105
I hear you there. So far, all I've managed for ground use is a tank. It removes the need for all the fancy steering joints, and combines that function into the propulsion. Could 3D print stuff, but I know 3D printed parts are super fragile on impact unless it's TPU. Not really well suited for structure as it's too soft. The frames that are sold tend to be fairly expensive. Ground stuff is a challenge.

[Anonymous No.2813189]

>>2813105
for surface stuff I normally go for RTR, keeps it simple and I change shit later when I break things or feel the need for an upgrade. I did put together a TT02 kit and bought some drift tires, but it's not a proper drift setup.
bunch of companies make full chassis kits you put together for drift/road cars, redcat RDS comes to mind for a drift chassis (not shilling but it is $50 off today), then get your own body + electronics.
even if you want to build up a short course truck from scratch, pretty much everything is going to be focused around the big brands' vehicles, tekin, arrma, traxxas, associated, etc. and at that point you could have bought a RTR, roller, or kit, or a used bare chassis for less money. a used 2wd slash chassis, as an example, goes for like $80-130 on ebay everyday. I've even seen used ones on faceberg marketplace with all their electronics go for $150.

[Anonymous No.2813212]

>>2813189
Hey, this is the tankfag. Do you know of someplace to learn terminology and various standards to use for these things? That was my hangup on learning planes. Everyone was already established and using terms I didn't know, so trying to learn anything was difficult. Guessing RTR is Ready To Roll, but what is a slash chassis or a short course truck?

[Anonymous No.2813261]

>>2813212
RTR means Ready To Run, you just need batteries to go, which is what the drift rc guy should consider imo, remember you can always swap the bodies to whatever you want.

[Anonymous No.2813284]

>>2813212
>learn terminology and various standards...on learning planes
sorry, I can't help much on that I'm pretty new to air/multirotor rc stuff too. search engines are your friend.

picrel is a Traxxas Slash, it's a short course truck style rc.
https://traxxas.com/products/landing/slash-4x4-bl-2s/ https://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/slash-2wd-brushless has a bunch of pics, there's 2wd and 4wd versions with different motor+ESC (electronic speed controller) setups.

the other anon is right about RTR, but sometimes it's used as "ready to race" (but still ready to run) as so many hobby shops or whatever will have a stock class for certain vehicles. slash class races are pretty popular here in burgerland since they're cheap and parts are very easy to get. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfI3Ok67HZc&t=38s
I could talk shit on traxxas for a good while, but I do love blasting around my buddy's 2wd slash.


are the tank plans online? that thing looks neat

[Anonymous No.2813302]

>>2813284
>>2813261
Thanks for the info! No worries about planes as that's already sorted last year. I'm trying to branch into ground stuff now.

As for the tank, look up the RD9000 on Thingiverse. The original design is decent enough, but definitely use the revised gears and maybe even print them at 99% scale. The revised wide tread is better too as I found the original to be ultra tight. I cooked up a little FPV pod to fit the canopy as it's kinda hard to mount a camera in just a hole. Some of the M3 screws it needs are like 35mm long, but it never gets mentioned. Definitely get a variety pack! Running mine off of 2S at half channel weight for now. Not sure if the motors will take continuous operation at 100% without burning up. Just barely got it done so my tests are limited. The designer recommends 100% infill on nearly everything, but I'm beginning to think it would be faster and cheaper to just glue in lead weights as solid infill doesn't do a ton for the strength, but it definitely needs the weight.

[Anonymous No.2813353]

1/3
A long time ago here, I posted my home made underwater FPV ROV/submarine. It worked, it was cool, then it got cold and life got busy so I shelved it for a time. Life recently got less busy and the weather picked up so I decided to dust it off and do a systems check of it before putting it back in the water.

Here's it in better days underwater

[Anonymous No.2813354]

>>2813353
2/3

And it caught fire. Some electrical wiring on one of the ESCs shorted and lit the wiring on fire. I managed to get the fire out pretty quickly, but the damage was in the area between the drybox of the sub and the outside water, meaning all the sealant between the dry and wet areas needed to be ripped out to change the wires. Pain the ass, but whatever. The submarine is connected to the RTX and VTX through 100ft of CAT5 cable.

This then got me thinking... there are a lot of batteries down in this thing and above water. There are x5 12V 3S (x4 motors + underwater spotlights) in the water plus x4 AA batteries (camera). The batteries are in the submarine dry area because trying to transmit the power through 100ft of CAT5 cable was not tenable. Above water there is a 9V attached to the VTX and another 6V on the RTX. Motors designated as M1, M2, etc. Signal lines as S1, etc. (Sv is video signal).

I'm not an electrical engineer by trade (as you can tell from my great circuit diagram), but can anyone think of some alterations to the system that might make it function better?

[Anonymous No.2813355]

>>2813354
3/3

Subby in dry dock

[Anonymous No.2813373]

>Go out flying for the first time in a while
>Light wind throwing my Mobula 7 around, but nothing too major
>Feeling confident, decide to turn on the recorder and do some sick stuntz
>Immediately bounce off the pole for an overhang I flew under
>Land upside down on a storage shed behind a presumably locked gate and next to a wall
>Turtle mode does nothing
>Power down and prepare myself to become walrus Sam Fisher
>Look again and my drone had fallen off the roof and landed right side up
Thank fuck, that was close. It was a public building at a park so my little climb probably wouldn't have been too bad if someone raised a fuss, but man.

[Anonymous No.2813399]

>>2813355
Those antennas that come with the EV800DM are absolute trash, you deserve better.

Cute cat!

[Anonymous No.2813483]

>>2813353
cool af
is this video with the spotlight? either the water is too murky or the spotlight is weak or something
>>2813373
75mm quads are like that they give you confidence to fly near people/houses but then shit like this happens. turtle mode and a tiny battery beeper on my quad + a cheap fishing net on a telescoping rod saved me many times.

[Anonymous No.2813504]

Anyone into FE boats in here? Just did a full overhaul on my Revolt 30. New ESC, motor, servo. Currently trimmed out running 50 mph on 4S. Thinking of getting a 3S pack to pair with a 2S for 5S running. May hit 60 mph, which I dont think the fiberglass hull could handle any more speed than that.

[Anonymous No.2813526]

>>2813483
My beeper is barely loud enough to be useful, but the quad is so optimized I'm not going going to screw with it. I sure won't be building anything that doesn't include one though. A net on a stick is exactly what I needed though, I'll have to get on that.

[Anonymous No.2813700]

Praying that this shielded wire solves all my gps troubles...
I went ahead and grounded both sides, but is there any actual value in that? I heard that only grounding one side turns the shield into an antenna, making the EMI worse, but I have nothing to back that up.

[Anonymous No.2813703]

>>2813700
>but I have nothing to back that up.
Bonding one side makes it the same potential. Bonding both sides allows current to flow.
Current creates an electromagnetic field. You probably want to avoid that.

[Anonymous No.2813704]

>>2813703
Ok! That's good to know. Since it's easy enough to disconnect, I'll test it both ways and see what works best. But I'll start with one side bonded.

[Anonymous No.2813706]

>>2812957
I considered binding pit mode to the same switch as my arm but this idea is a lot more elegant. I did it and it works like a charm. Thanks!

[Anonymous No.2813712]

>>2813504
I personally am not but don't let that keep you from posting, I like reading what anons are up to.

[Anonymous No.2813724]

>>2813399
They are, but I stand right beside the VTX so I don't need better.

>>2813483
>is this video with the spotlight?
Yes, it was in a dirty river harbor. I was hoping to get the subby fixed up and go explore a shipwreck in clear water in a few weeks

[Anonymous No.2813725]

>>2813724
>shipwreck in clear water in a few weeks
Forgot to attach

[Anonymous No.2813744]

>>2813700
i dont think you need to connect the gps side to ground i just think the shielding needs to be connected to the battery's ground, i think if you connect both sides that creates a loop which could be a reasonator or something idk, people say to avoid 'ground loops'.

what helped me with GPS problems:
>braiding the wires together with ground , i think this makes sure that any outside interference affects both wires at once and gets cancelled out
>moving the GPS braid away from the FC's/ESC's chips, some generate noise
>just switching UARTs on the FC, some UART's work better than others , im not sure why
>tiny capacitor on the GPS's power pads

im sure you could diagnose all these problems better with a osciloscope or something where you could see the noise but i dont have one and these are the anecdotal things ive read that worked for me

[Anonymous No.2813764]

I figured it'd be better to ask here than /ham/, but is there a practical reason for long antennas anymore?

[Anonymous No.2813802]

>>2813700
>>2813744
Different anon, I did actually resort to using an oscilloscope to track down my GPS problem a few years ago. Turns out the RC receiver was creating a lot of noise on the 5V rail whenever my transmitter was connected, which manifested as the GPS never exceeding 5 or 6 satellites. I swapped the GPS power over to the 5V output from the VTX & suddenly I got 20+ satellites.

It was a pain to diagnose, because the GPS worked perfectly when I powered up the quad at home *without* my radio switched on just to test the GPS was working. But then when I got to the field the following day to actually fly the thing & turned my radio on, that killed the GPS.

[Anonymous No.2813804]

>>2813764
The length of the active section of an antenna is a product of the wavelength. These days most people use 2.4GHz for control links & a 1/4 or 1/5 wave antenna for 2.4GHz is less than an inch long.

If you use 868/915MHz you will find that the common half wave dipoles are nearly 6” long.

And if you look at photos of ancient RC gear where people are using 27MHz the antennas are several feet long.

So antennas are shorter these days because we’re using higher frequencies. Physics, mang.

[Anonymous No.2813855]

>>2813802
idk i always connect both GPS and receiver to pads that power on from usb. this way i can test out the radio and telemetry without taking off and if i leave the quad on my window with usb power and les it pick up sats it will lock 5 times faster when i go to fly that day (i think it downloads the 'gps almanac' or something and keeps it in memory)

i do a test on the window to see that it locks with the FC/radio on and later i test it if it loses GPS when hovering outside (test ESC/VTX interference). some FCs just have noisy 5v pads

[Anonymous No.2813856]

>>2813744
All good tips, especially about switching UARTS. I'm not trying to go too crazy over it, I just want a few sats!!
>>2813802
I have the gps & rx on the same 4v5 rail, so I'm definitely suspicious that I might have your same situation.
High time for me to buy an oscilloscope and figure it out.

[Anonymous No.2813858]

>>2813802
Dang, I had never considered the other stuff sharing the rail! You may have just convinced me to buy a low grade O-scope.

[Anonymous No.2813883]

>>2813858
It was a weird one to diagnose, took me ages to realise that the only difference was whether my radio was on or not & then at first I couldn't think of any reason why that might make a difference.

Found the photo, 48mV peak to peak of ripple. Cheap scope from banggood, did the job fine.

[Anonymous No.2813889]

>>2813856
>>2813858
cheaper to try different pads or slap a capacitor on that rail. i think scopes are a thing thats not worth investing in unless you're gonna get one of the fancy ones

[Anonymous No.2813915]

>>2813889
Except why would I (>>2813883) have thought to try an entirely different 5V regulator, especially when everything else running on that regulator was working fine?

[Anonymous No.2813918]

>>2813915
just to try different pads if the gps sucks

[Anonymous No.2813954]

>>2813700
hint: it won't
the biggest source is the (digital) VTX, not even the radiating antenna and the only thing that helps is separation

unmount the GPS, connect it to your computer and watch the signal strength while moving it around near your powered quad

[Anonymous No.2813994]

>>2813918
Trying different 5V pads on the FC achieves nothing if the problem is noise on the FC's 5V rail.

[Anonymous No.2814208]

>>2813802
>>2813883
any good noob guides on doing this sort of thing? Have never used an oscilloscope before...

[Anonymous No.2814241]

>>2814208
For finding a noisy signal, you just hook your power up to the scope and look for what makes more wiggles. A flat line is ideal as it means the power is very constant. Imagine you're trying to hit a specific spot with water from a garden house, but some jackass keeps turning the spigot. It would be very difficult to be accurate. It's the same with sensitive electronics. A GPS relies on very precise timings to figure out what the fuck is going on, but with some noisy device screwing with its power, it can't run its clock or receiver very accurately.

[Anonymous No.2814390]

>>2814241
thanks my nigga

[Anonymous No.2814402]

>>2814241
Don’t you just wire a capacitor in parallel to clean the power signal?

[Anonymous No.2814475]

>>2814402
That can help to dampen the ripple by soaking up the peaks. Works best when using capacitors with a low ESR. Doesn't fix it if it's seriously bad though.

[Anonymous No.2814494]

>>2809234
Why does that building look like a Doom level?