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Elendil004 posted:I was flying out over a beach to get a shot of a house that showed the beach as well when a small cessna came barreling down the beach at about 40 feet. Fast too, normally I can hear a plane or helicopter coming and will ground the drone until I can see whats up. All I had time to do here was come to a stable hover and pray. That is too bad. Did you get a reg# of the Cessna? I have a question regarding the new DJI updates. Supposedly the smart battery now has the ability to automatically discharge after 10 days of storage and load balance the cells. Question I have is this: How does an uninstalled battery speed up discharge?
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Oct 31, 2014 19:56
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It definitely has to have some sort of microcontroller in there and supporting electronics, plus away to burn off the power. The most likely method of discharging I can think of is just burning it off as heat at a slow rate.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:13
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 Finally got round to finishing this off (well, almost, I still need to make the wiring more tidy, I'm still deciding where to place everything). It's a 3DR franken-X8; I liked the look of their X8-RTF, but wanted to try building one from a load of existing parts (basically a pixhawk and the motors/escs from my first two quad builds). I bought the DIY 3DR quad frame, which seems to be more or less identical to the X8. My ESC cables seem to be a lot shorter than theirs, hence having them strapped to the arms rather than tucked neatly away in the body. I happened to have four 900KV motors (on the top, 10 inch props), and four 1200KV motors (on the bottom, 8 inch props). My thinking is that the air is going to be pushed down through the propellers on the bottom by those on the top, so having the faster motors on the bottom will be more efficient (let me know if this is dumb). I might swap out for all 900KVs in the future, but from the brief maiden flight I gave it, it at least gets in the air; if anyone knows more about this I'd be keen to hear opinions!
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Nov 1, 2014 14:35
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You're thinking is definitely along the right track. The theory is that with identical motors and props top and bottom the top motor ends up doing 10-15% more work than the bottom motor because like you say the prop wash from the top motors is affecting the bottom motors. In order to get the efficiency back the goal is for the top and bottom motors to each do 50% of the work. In order to get the bottom motor to do more work the most common method is to put a prop of the same size, but with more pitch on the bottom. Now the bottom motor is able to take better advantage of the moving air from above. Your idea might work well, but you might also test with the same props top and bottom, the bottom motors are higher kv and therefore will spin faster than the top motors for the same voltage which may get you the same effect as larger pitch. Much experimenting is required in any case with coaxial multirotors.
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Nov 1, 2014 17:48
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Dunno if I posted it here, but here's the closest call I've had, from a few months back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjSf43fhGco Was moving myself out of the frame, so lost sight of the drone for a second, heard it chipping limbs and powered out quickly. No damage, just lot of nerves.
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Nov 1, 2014 18:38
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Last night was our fiscal year end and we all stayed late at the office. It was unseasonably gorgeous outside, 20C and only the very slightest hint of a breeze so I brought the Phantom out for a bit of night flying in the industrial park where my office is located. Night video isn't as crisp as day (I am sure at least partially my fault for not tweaking the camera settings) but I took a still photo by fluke which turned out OK. You can just make out the gang from the shop in the darkness watching near the overhead door at center right near the sodium light. Got it up to about 400'+ and those nav/status lights are clear & bright as hell. I am sure I could have had it to its max ceiling of 500M (approx 1650') and been able to make it out just fine. 
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Nov 2, 2014 01:12
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Elendil004 posted:I was flying out over a beach to get a shot of a house that showed the beach as well when a small cessna came barreling down the beach at about 40 feet. Fast too, normally I can hear a plane or helicopter coming and will ground the drone until I can see whats up. All I had time to do here was come to a stable hover and pray. In all reality here, even if he hit your drone, he should be 100% at fault for flying so low and close to people\buildings. If the media or FAA try to spin this against you then that's messed up and all the rules I learned as a PP are apparently open to interpretation... As for the latest DJI updates, I applied all of them but the main FW to my P2 and everything works great. I am keeping FW3.0 on my P2 as I don't want the performance reductions of the 3.4 or newer FW since I need the speed and it flies great. Most of the other perks are all for the Vision + anyway. I would guess the smart battery could just turn itself on and use the led lights to discharge slowly. Some are saying it uses the load balancing to bleed it off as heat so I guess we will have to wait and see.
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Nov 2, 2014 02:20
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slidebite posted:Last night was our fiscal year end and we all stayed late at the office. It was unseasonably gorgeous outside, 20C and only the very slightest hint of a breeze so I brought the Phantom out for a bit of night flying in the industrial park where my office is located. Night video isn't as crisp as day (I am sure at least partially my fault for not tweaking the camera settings) but I took a still photo by fluke which turned out OK. You can just make out the gang from the shop in the darkness watching near the overhead door at center right near the sodium light. This photo is seriously loving cool. If you get the chance to take more like them in the future, please do 
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Nov 2, 2014 04:31
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I had to replace another motor, which came in on Friday, so I took the quad out for a couple batteries worth of flying. Sadly, it's windy down here at the moment, and was gusting upwards of 20 knots yesterday when I was flying... It makes things interesting. Anyone with a KK board: What settings do you use for height dampening? I learned to fly with it off of course, but fiddling with it, seems to just make the thing LESS likely to hold a hover. I brought it inside, and was instantly able to hold a perfect hover with zero dampening, but when I turned it up a bit (15 gain, 15 limit,) it started wandering, and any throttle change would just cause it to wander in the other direction. How is this setting supposed to work? I know it's not barometric hold, but what is it supposed to do? FPV question: I think I've settled on an RX/TX pair, from ImmersionRC, and a GoPro as my camera. With that sort of setup, do you generally let the GoPro run on its internal battery, or do you put a transformer (or a second battery, I suppose,) on board to give you a 5v source?
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Nov 2, 2014 17:26
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I use the gopros battery. I run an hd hero 1, so battery life on that is much longer than anything I might be flying.
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Nov 2, 2014 18:14
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Elendil004 posted:I was flying out over a beach to get a shot of a house that showed the beach as well when a small cessna came barreling down the beach at about 40 feet. Fast too, normally I can hear a plane or helicopter coming and will ground the drone until I can see whats up. All I had time to do here was come to a stable hover and pray. I've had helicopters fly well below 400 foot over our land from the power plant a few miles away. We have severely rolling hills but, they are higher anyway to begin with. I have no idea if thats legal or ok, but I've not had issues with them yet. I don't even know how I should establish my 400 ft ceiling with our hills (I just go by my starting point for reference)
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Nov 3, 2014 00:26
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T1g4h posted:This photo is seriously loving cool. If you get the chance to take more like them in the future, please do  Won't be doing much flying at all now for a few months though since winter has pretty much arrived. If we have a really nice day of +10 I might break it out, but other than that I think the Phantom is probably going to be laid up until March or so at this point. 
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Nov 3, 2014 03:09
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A Yolo Wizard posted:I've had helicopters fly well below 400 foot over our land from the power plant a few miles away. We have severely rolling hills but, they are higher anyway to begin with. I have no idea if thats legal or ok, but I've not had issues with them yet. I don't even know how I should establish my 400 ft ceiling with our hills (I just go by my starting point for reference) From memory helicopters have a rule exception that their minimum altitude is as low as is safe to fly or something like that. It gives them a lot of leeway.
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Nov 3, 2014 19:23
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 My dad is an enabler, but the good kind. We've both been talking about picking up a helicopter to play around with, since they've gotten fairly cheap and easy to fly. Today while I was at work, he went and picked up a pair of $50 coaxials from Wal Mart. They're 16" long, actual radio control instead of IR, and meant to be flown outside. I've been hovering it around the living room and it's a blast. Doesn't handle wind very well, so i'm gonna have to wait for a calmer day. Wind is currently varying between 12 - 17mph so this thing goes wherever the breeze tells it right now. Overall, it's pretty fun. And hilarious, because now I have to rethink my Christmast gift
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Nov 3, 2014 22:48
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If you want another gift, there are some fun little quads in the $50-$100 range. I like the Blade Nano QX and the Hubsan X4. Other goons likely have otehr recommendations. They're a bit smaller (4-5 inches long?) and better for inside use or low-wind outside use, but it'll help you see the difference between quads and heli's. Plus the X4 has a camera (even if I haven't figured out how to use it).
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Nov 3, 2014 22:51
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Arcturas posted:If you want another gift, there are some fun little quads in the $50-$100 range. I like the Blade Nano QX and the Hubsan X4. Other goons likely have otehr recommendations. They're a bit smaller (4-5 inches long?) and better for inside use or low-wind outside use, but it'll help you see the difference between quads and heli's. Plus the X4 has a camera (even if I haven't figured out how to use it). Those recommendations are perfect. You can't go wrong with the Hubsan x4. They are WAY easier to fly than those copters as well.
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Nov 4, 2014 19:18
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Cannon_Fodder posted:Those recommendations are perfect. You can't go wrong with the Hubsan x4. They are WAY easier to fly than those copters as well. Yes, the Hubsan X4 is the shiznit. Be sure to get the rotor guard/shield thingy and some extra props. That rotor guard is great. It turns mishaps into experiment with walls.
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Nov 4, 2014 20:22
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You can buy them on amazon for a couple bucks so there is not much harm, but some people do report handling quirks when running the prop protectors. Personally I don't run any and I am still on the original props even though I have crashed it pretty good a few times 
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Nov 4, 2014 20:46
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Mom and I were actually looking at the Traxxas LaTrax Alias, since it's somewhat bigger and you can mount a camera to it. Are those worth it, or would an X4 just be better overall? I've heard something about the Aliases going through motors.
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Nov 4, 2014 21:35
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patentmagus posted:Yes, the Hubsan X4 is the shiznit. Be sure to get the rotor guard/shield thingy and some extra props. That rotor guard is great. It turns mishaps into experiment with walls. Also, watch a youtube video or read the manual. There's a bunch of cool settings, including newbie mode, which I totally disregarded.
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Nov 4, 2014 22:47
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T1g4h posted:Mom and I were actually looking at the Traxxas LaTrax Alias, since it's somewhat bigger and you can mount a camera to it. Are those worth it, or would an X4 just be better overall? I've heard something about the Aliases going through motors. I've never flown those but the youtube vids I've seen looks good. They make an X4 with a camera too if that interests you, but keep in mind cameras while cool will add weight and it is noticed. If you really want a camera the Helimax 1sq is an option too.
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Nov 5, 2014 15:20
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T1g4h posted:Mom and I were actually looking at the Traxxas LaTrax Alias, since it's somewhat bigger and you can mount a camera to it. Are those worth it, or would an X4 just be better overall? I've heard something about the Aliases going through motors. The X4 without camera costs maybe 1/4 of the alias. Buy a couple. Crash them. slidebite posted:You can buy them on amazon for a couple bucks so there is not much harm, but some people do report handling quirks when running the prop protectors. I go through props even with the guard. On the other hand, I am buzzing the thing through obstacles n' stuff. I like the guard because it lets me do things like bounce the copter around a corner. It really opens up a whole new ways to fly that would be impossible otherwise.
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Nov 6, 2014 01:16
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Welp, it was bound to happen. http://www.highsnobiety.com/2014/11/05/watch-the-official-trailer-for-drone-boning-the-first-drone-shot-porn/
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Nov 6, 2014 05:20
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Transport Canada greatly relaxes the rules for commercial UAVs http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=900449
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Nov 7, 2014 21:04
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 It will be interesting to see what the exceptions for needing a sfoc in the 2-25kg range are. I wonder what the FAA thinks when they see this.
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Nov 7, 2014 22:51
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slidebite posted:I've never flown those but the youtube vids I've seen looks good. Awesome, I'll look into the Helimax then! I know that drones without cameras are cheaper, but one of the big cool factors dad likes when it comes to drones are the camera setups that you can use to get aerial video. That's part of the reason he's been looking into them, so I'm trying to stick to stuff with cameras already on them or, like the Alias, ones that you can easily get a camera for Also, i'm really not sure how to feel about that Drone Boning trailer. That's... certainly something.
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Nov 7, 2014 23:22
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mashed_penguin posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOR38552MJA
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Nov 7, 2014 23:36
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Neat, thanks for the link.
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Nov 7, 2014 23:38
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Transport Canada greatly relaxes the rules for commercial UAVs While making them terrible for hobbyists.... "including requirements to operate within visual line-of-sight, maximum altitudes and away from built-up areas" So I can fly over a farmers field...One, and it can't be too big.
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Nov 9, 2014 01:22
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Golluk posted:"including requirements to operate within visual line-of-sight, maximum altitudes and away from built-up areas" Did they not have requirements like this before? This seems pretty reasonable.
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Nov 9, 2014 05:13
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Scottw330 posted:Did they not have requirements like this before? This seems pretty reasonable. If it's for recreational purposes, anything is fair game as long as you are under 35kg and not doing anything stupid near an aerodrome. The new regulation changes seem to be more for commercial operators, but I can't find any concrete details as to what the changes will actually entail other than the adjusted prerequisites for when an operator's certificate is required for commercial use.
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Nov 9, 2014 05:46
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Oh good. Looks like your correct and I misread that. They still suggest flying in daylight, within line of sight, no closer than 100' to buildings, and stay under 90 meters. Those sound like suggestions and how not to have fun.
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Nov 9, 2014 06:21
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Golluk posted:Oh good. Looks like your correct and I misread that. They still suggest flying in daylight, within line of sight, no closer than 100' to buildings, and stay under 90 meters. Erhh, it's common sense. You're frankly stupid if you fly over other peoples property or any kind of gathering.
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Nov 9, 2014 08:35
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Erhh, it's common sense. You're frankly stupid if you fly over other peoples property or any kind of gathering. Flying "over" crowds is tricky because people want to move to stand under you and gawk while you spend time trying to offset yourself so if you come hurtling out of the air you don't bean anyone. The raw footage of any of my event videos is at least 40 percent looking straight down.
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Nov 9, 2014 17:20
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Erhh, it's common sense. You're frankly stupid if you fly over other peoples property or any kind of gathering. On the other end of the spectrum, I have a specific quad that has about 25 hours and over 200km traveled distance without a single glitch, parts failure, or crash. Seems pretty safe to fly over people to me.
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Nov 10, 2014 20:49
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Vitamin J posted:Really? Why's that? What if you're getting paid to film that property? What if the people want you to fly over them? What if everyone is knowledgeable about drones and the hazards they pose and don't object? Golluk was referring to hobbyists. If you are getting paid, you are no longer a hobbyist and hopefully have taken proper safety precautions and carry liability insurance.
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Nov 10, 2014 21:04
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Think of hobbyists as the filthy console peasants of the drone world. edit: though to be fair, most commercial users are nearly as bad or worse.
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Nov 10, 2014 21:50
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Golluk was referring to hobbyists. If you are getting paid, you are no longer a hobbyist and hopefully have taken proper safety precautions and carry liability insurance.
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Nov 11, 2014 04:07
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I skipped the hobby phase and if commercial was magically fully illegal forever I'd sell my gear and never look back.
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Nov 11, 2014 04:46
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Elendil004 posted:Think of hobbyists as the filthy console peasants of the drone world. I saw that corridor digital vid (top down shooter) and the making of mentioned a company that helped them get acquainted to the s900, Octofilms Aerial and well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjqDysqmvXg&t=26s lmao
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Nov 11, 2014 05:50
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