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Is there a good intermediate step between "cheap chinese electric" and "scale 2-stroke gas"? I've been wanting to get something bigger and heavier that's not quite so twitchy on the controls and has longer flight time. Gas 2 stroke seems to be the answer, but most everything seems to run just a little South of a grand and geared towards "EXTREME 3D NITRO!" What's a good thing to buy if one wanted to practice hovering at ground level for 30 minutes at a time?
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Jan 11, 2015 05:41
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The most popular flight camera on amazon right now is this thing: http://www.amazon.ca/UDI-RC-U818A-2-4GHz-Quadcopter/dp/B00D3IN11Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys&ie=UTF8&qid=1422579454&sr=1-1&keywords=camera+rc It's a really low barrier to entry, but the camera only does 640x480 and is stuck pointing straight ahead. If someone wanted to map out 24 hectares (59 acres) of boreal scrubland by walking around with a drone, sending it up to take a picture straight down and then stitching all the photos together into a bigassed panorama, could this thing do it?
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Jan 30, 2015 02:28
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ImplicitAssembler posted:You'd be better off with a CHDK compatible Canon point & shoot: Could you use that to tell a camera to take one picture every 5 seconds until it runs out of space?
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Jan 30, 2015 04:25
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I for one would like to learn a lot about heavyweight, long-endurance drones that are mostly battery that you could set to patrol over a fixed route and take a downward pointing photograph over fixed gps co-ordinates, and compare that to its previously taken photo, and send you an alarm if there are any significant differences. Also has anyone tried powering a drone with a lawnmower engine on the same shaft as a car alternator?
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Jan 30, 2015 08:01
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What about turning a quadcopter into a blimp by tying a balloon to it?
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Jan 31, 2015 01:14
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Ok I was planning to buy an RTF kit off amazon but now I must build this Polish flying contraption machine. I will refrain from calling it a Zeppelin out of respect. Is thermite still the best choice for painting? What about hydrofluoric acid? Have we decided whether rigid capsules of soft-vacuum were better than gasbags for compartmentation issues?
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Jan 31, 2015 05:30
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At what point do you decide to Go Big? After crashing my WL V913 into a tree I discovered that it's got software training wheels that limit the swash plate to slow flight. Great for flying indoors, but I wish I'd known to turn it off before crashing bellyfirst into a tree in a less than 10 km/h wind. I don't mind so much because a JJRC H8C just arrived in the mail and holy poo poo it's awesome. My thoughts on it (in order): "I wonder what it's pointing at?" "Battery is dead already?" "Hey I found my pickup truck. I wonder where that is?" and, "I need to investigate that thing closer next time I send it up. #1 and #3 can be worked around a little bit with a GoPro helmetcam and cross referenceing where it's pointed from my perspective vs. what's on video, but I really want to go FPV. This thread has indicated that as far as endurance goes, single rotor beats multi-rotor, and I remember from holding on to the landing gear with the throttle pegged, the WLV913 has pretty strong lift. I want to get it flying again and stick a GoPro to it. While researching repairs, I noted two things: 1. A parts kit costs nearly half as much as a brand new helicopter. 2. For the cost of a new helicopter, one could get a JJRC H9D, an RTF FPV drone. My biggest two gripes with the H8C are that it can't stay up for very long, and that I can't see what it's looking at while it's up. The H9D uses a 3.7V battery vs. the H8C's 7.4V, and has to run a video transmitter on top. I expect it's got shite for endurance. It seems to me that -if I could get the heli flying again- I could cannibalize the FPV equipment from a H9D, stick it under my V913 and have a single rotor FPV platform. But maybe instead of cannibalizing a perfectly good RTF drone and trying to repair a broken heli, it'd be better to build an entirely new platform. Maybe a gasser. I seem to have been bitten by some sort of bug; a terrible, expensive bug. Where do I go from here?
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Feb 15, 2015 15:44
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What do you guys use for cameras? Prices on helipal.com range from over $200 to upwards of $1000 for an fpv system that does not appear to include a camera. Like this thing: http://www.helipal.com/storm-all-in-one-fpv-combo.html ($311). But then you get guys like this that include the camera, the transmitter, the receiver, and a quadcopter for less than $200: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/JJRC-H9D-2-4...=item19f9f6617d ($150) There's a variable I'm not seeing here.
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Feb 16, 2015 22:34
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Thank you for replying, first off. I appreciate that citizens of the United States are very concerned with the new proposed FAA regulations and said have come to dominate recent discussions. So, thank you. That said, regarding cameras and transmitters: Can you recommend a good rig combo? Or even a good retailer? A lot of the stuff I've found seems overpriced. A camera/transmitter/receiver shouldn't cost more than a camera/transmitter/receiver/screen/drone/battery/controller, even if all of the latter are of the lowest possible quality. That said, your rundown of ground setups is insightful. I don't need a monitor and ground power isn't really an issue. I plan to survey a local area and I've a TV screen handy. Also I've a laptop handy, and if there's any expensive hardware that can be supplanted by cheap software, I can likely make use of it. Background: I own an area in Ontario which is supposed to be covered in trees. The government wants it to be covered in trees so badly that they are offering grants to see that it's made so: http://www.treesontario.ca/programs/index.php/fifty_million I need to define an area in which I plan to have trees planted and provide proof that I'm not cutting them down for lumber for a period of 15 years. My area used to be cow pasture and all I've got at the moment is a lot of prickly ash, red cedar/juniper, and mosquitoes. It'd be better for everyone if I had pine, maple, and spruce. Some people are making a commitment to hire out bush pilots to come and survey their land 4 times a year for 15 years. I say, "gently caress that. I'll do it myself." The government of Canada will pay me $1.17 per tree that I can prove I plant. If I can drive down the costs of proof low enough, I can buy up more land and poo poo trees all over it. I'm really not interested in 3D flips and extreme action sports. I want to monitor 58 acres for rogue lumberjacks and ruminants. But I've got to know what I'm pointed at. Surely there's got to be an FPV solution I can fly from my desk. This is the area I'm talking about by the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nQOhJt1EM
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Feb 17, 2015 02:49
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32MB OF ESRAM posted:I think FPV setups require you to have a clear line of transmission between your tx and rx. Trees and phone poles won't give you a lot of trouble, but the wall of a building might. Do you NEED FPV? If you own the land can you not use a flight controller with a GPS and just program it to fly autonomously around your property taking photos/videos? Or are there people potentially underneath? Is that ardupilot software DRM tied with any specific drone? I'll torrent anything, but rocksmith has taught me to be wary of hardware drm. Similarly, the cheapest fpv package was cheaper than the cheapest gps package. I hope nobody is insulted that I bought a JJRD H9D. But, speaking of their products, I just crashed an H8C and it turns out that their hollow propeller shafts bend really easily and that maybe I should've spent more money short-term than less money longterm. Where do you buy replacement parts for these?
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Feb 23, 2015 04:14
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Speaking of homebuilt stuff (That elastic band around the motor is fantastic by the way), is there any reason not to build a fixed wing FPV drone around a pulsejet?
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Mar 9, 2015 08:19
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Nerobro posted:How long of a list do you want? Thank you! That's thoughtful, but my requirements are different. I will explain (my perceived) differences between my goals and those of most people. I would appreciate if you could update your opinion as well with regards to my goals/requirements. 1. The aircraft is intended to operate as surveillance and notification that our "No Hunting/Trespassing" sings are -in fact- actively enforced and that "we intend to press charges if we see you but would just as soon you hosed off so we hadn't bother". 2. This is a valid point and I will think on it. 3... .... well poo poo. What's the next-noisiest to a pulsejet thing that you can imagine flying?
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Mar 11, 2015 04:24
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Yeah but it'll mean an alternator which means (at least) a gas turbo and probably at least a bridge rectifier + small battery and a parasite DC circuit for running the cassette+whatever to run the speaker. And then also you've got a speaker hangining out of your fuselage, and also you've got to supply the extra thrust to lift said speaker. Is a pulsejet really that much shittier?
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Mar 11, 2015 05:13
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I saw a thing that does pitch and yaw. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__75930__HD_FPV_Camera_System_With_32ch_5_8GHz_Transmitter_and_Pan_and_Tilt_Function_Black_.html And I thought to myself, "The Oculus rift also does pitch and yaw. Does it exist yet?" Has anyone got head tracking to work with FPV gimbals? Surely I'm not the first person to think of this. You could probably get like a blimp and rent time on a VR spot to people over the internet.
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Mar 22, 2015 05:25
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Arrest that rear end! posted:Yes, it's been a thing (mainly with fixed wing craft) for quite a while. The higher end Fatshark goggles and the Skyzones have head tracking built in, you just need a camera on a pan & tilt servo and something to control it. Really? poo poo, really? gently caress. Is there a general rundown/idiots guide on the internet? I want to ask a lot of questions but I think I'm not the first. Can they land? Can parachutes be opened via radio control? What about via accelerators? Is it legal to put an ELT in one in case you lose it? Are they necessarily constrained to one specific platform? I have specific interests.
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Mar 25, 2015 05:37
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Apologies. I should have been more specific. My interest in pulsejets is due to them being cheap. They're the cheapest gas-burning engine. If one goes valveless, there are no moving parts to fail. Valveless pulsejets are elegant, like something Tesla might have designed. No, I don't want to go fast. I want a pig. I want fuel-laden glider with big wings stuffed with fuel that just barely has enough thrust to get off the ground, but stays up like rocks don't. (Like this guy did but not electric and also not a 450 3D heli because because gently caress if I can afford a T-rex. I want something which can loiter, all day today, all day tomorrow, and all next week. I want a geostationary satellite in aircraft form. Actually, I want a blimp. Or a zeppelin. Yeah. A loving FPV zeppelin. Do those exist yet? How are we coming along with integrating photovoltaics into aircraft fuselages? DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Mar 26, 2015 |
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Mar 26, 2015 02:57
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I just bought a JJRC H9D and it's got all that jank stacked in the center. I have to unpower the camera before I handshake the controller/receivers or it won't move an inch. Spread those fuckers out and put some tinfoil between them.
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Mar 26, 2015 05:21
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:It seems like the square-cube law is helping you in zeppelins as they get bigger instead of hurting you like heavier-than-air craft. Unfortunately vacuum buoyancy doesn't work (Yet. Also, it may never work). The idea has been kicking around for a few hundred years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_airship) but nothing practical has yet come from it.
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Mar 27, 2015 09:00
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DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Apr 4, 2015 |
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Mar 28, 2015 02:57
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DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Apr 4, 2015 |
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Mar 31, 2015 22:57
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DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 09:02 on Apr 4, 2015 |
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Apr 1, 2015 04:16
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DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 09:02 on Apr 4, 2015 |
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Apr 3, 2015 04:32
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Golluk posted:You can also get boards with 4 ESC in one. Of course if one fails, you're likely replacing all of them. Holy poo poo. Thank you for the newbie questions. I will try to follow: 1. Undecided. As I gain knowledge, I grow critical of prepackaged boxes. They increasingly seem to be built as cheaply as possible. I am dimly aware that I've spent upwards of $400 on 3 separate drones, only to end up with zero capable of doing what I want, which is mapping a property, while allowing the owner to zoom in at will on interesting features, not get blown away in 35km/h winds, and be undamaged after a water or hard landing, while requiring as little 'down-the-road' maintenance as possible. If I could get something that I could pass to my geriatric senile father and say, "here you go dad. Look at all those trees and rocks you own" and then come back in 15 years and find it still not broken due to software lockouts on doing something stupid and requiring zero maintenance, I'd be willing to spend about 500,000₩ ($575). 2. This is intended strictly for endurance. It would ideally perform as does the camera in a video game. Its goal is to fly around and look at things. Its goal is not to look cool or do neat tricks. 3. Yes! But only because they look cool mechanically and do neat physics things when they fly. (For the record I own an autococker). 4. Yes! But only because bearings fail eventually and so do reed valves. Tesla abhorred metal springs. Are brushless motors really that great? Why don't the same principals apply to gas engines? I've never seen an electric system that could offer better power density than a two-stroke motor. 4. LOS takeoff/landing. FPV everything else. Imagine being able to loiter about as though one were a zeppelin, but able to wander effortlessly great distance as though a cloud. Imagine you could stay up forever, but also being able to swoop down and shriek at things while making GBS threads on them and then flying away because you're an rear end in a top hat and you enjoy tormenting people. How would you build that?
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Apr 3, 2015 06:19
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What's 2nd best then?
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Apr 3, 2015 07:29
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DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Apr 4, 2015 |
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Apr 4, 2015 04:23
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I want to build an aerial videography/photography platform around the Lotus frame. I want to be able to land on water (if I have to), and be smart enough to not have to. Requirements:
Rapid Evasion/mobility is not required. Stationkeeping [regardless of (reasonable) windspeed] is required. Could you please tell me, what sort of flight controller would you recommend?
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Apr 9, 2015 07:43
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You're right about not being able to put a gimbal under the lotus frame. Also, the Mariner is a too expensive gimmick for a "just in case" feature. The APM brain is impressive. Is there anywhere cheaper than $319 to get a Cheerson CX-20 / Quanum Nova? Looking forward, if I'm still doing this in 3 years, I'll probably get more enjoyment out of a zoom camera than being able to land on water. That said, are there any sensors which could have improved stability in high-wind such as in this video?
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Apr 10, 2015 03:21
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If I wanted to add telemetry data to a Cheerson CX-20, am I best off with a FrSky transmitter?
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Apr 13, 2015 06:17
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A Yolo Wizard posted:not all cx-20 use apm. make sure you choose the open source version http://www.banggood.com/Cheerson-CX20-Opensource-Version-AutoPathfinder-Quadcopter-RTF-p-932145.html If this turns out not to be open source, I will be asking for a refund. helno posted:They have really good telemetry. Bookmarking this for later use. Thank you for the information. Edit: Which website is recommended for impartial write-ups/comparisons of transmitters? I'm trying to reconcile $196 with $324. Sub edit: I can't see why Devos are cheaper than FrSkys. Do they suck? DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Apr 14, 2015 |
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Apr 14, 2015 05:50
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Thanks. I'll read up on RCgroups. They steered me towards the CX-20/Quanum Nova vs. the Walkera X350. (Prices are based on geolocation. My prices are generally in Canadian. ) I'll keep that in mind about FrSky. People who care to do a good job are important.
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Apr 14, 2015 08:34
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That is a lot of good information concentrated in very few posts. Thank you. I think I'll hold off on the FrSky for now. It seems it might be overkill to put a $300 controller on a $300 flight drone when I haven't yet even got a gimbal. But telemetry is important, even if I have to solder electronics. I read that when it comes to radio waves, there is a tradeoff between frequency and range. http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/some-tips-on-picking-frequencies posted:In general, the lower the frequency the longer the range [...] So I understand that, all else being equal, lower frequencies should be better. But, the author goes on to make some points about frequency crowding. And now I must consider the implications of that. For a rural location, is 433MHz or 915MHz better? Many of my neighbors have telephones. Most have electricity. I'm informed that the municipality plans to attract a cellular telephone tower sometime this decade. But I suspect the single greatest local RF source will remain 2-stroke outboard sparkplugs. Gasser pilots have to deal with interference from their engines. Do they have a favoured frequency? Or does it not matter?
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Apr 16, 2015 03:44
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The Hubsan certainly can. But with DJI I'd want to check if your location has been added to the do-not-fly list. Is your track within 10km of any airports? I've a CX-20 arriving soon and apparantly I haven't spent enough money yet so I'm looking at camera/gimbals. http://www.banggood.com/FPV-14-Sony-700TVL-HD-Zoom-Camera-For-1_2G5_8G-Telemetry-p-935033.html Does anyone make gimbals for formfactors other than gopro/ilook?
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Apr 20, 2015 04:10
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Does anyone know what languages the APM flight controller uses? I heard it's neither BASIC nor HTML, which are the only things I (can pretend to) know. Is it C? C++? LISP? People say, "learn java because it's easy," but I'd never use it so there's no incentive. But being able to program a flight drone might be incentive enough. Any ideas what languages they use?
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Apr 23, 2015 02:28
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Oh. That was easy I guess. I just thought about how computers were in the mid-90's where you couldn't just plug in a mouse and expect it to work without restarting vs. today where you can plug in a web-cam, take a picture, then put it on a usb stick. Attaching telemetry and sensors doesn't require coding? I'm really, genuinely curious how a drone knows "these wires are a GPS" and "these wires go to motors." If "how computers learn vestibular & kinesthetic senses" is taught in middle school, I'm sorry. But when I was a kid you only needed to know Wheels, Wedges, Pulleys, and Screws. Electricity was a "thing" that "other people" "did". So, I'm not up to date. Sorry. Like, humans are really able to synergize senses. Everyone knows about the Vestibulo Ocular-reflex. But we can do more poo poo like duct taping motors to ourselves to know where we're going. This is just a side-effect of our somatic sense interacting with said vestibular and kinesthetic senses and some Very Clever Software. But as far as I knew only humans contained said Very Clever Software. Can we just strap poo poo to drones and they'll know what to do with it? I didn't know we had Self-Learning AIs yet. poo poo. Edit: I look at flying like this and wonder how one's drone knows whether it's got one of these in it. DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Apr 23, 2015 |
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Apr 23, 2015 05:04
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Oh, that's cool. I just figured it would be hard since these are obviously so cool but they're not everywhere, so I'm like, "Clearly there has to be some hidden barrier to entry!" Like, you guys are experts and stuff. But to someone just coming in, this seems like wizardry.
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Apr 23, 2015 06:48
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Hey since you guys are building EXPERIMENTAL FPV QUADS FROM THE FUTURE I have a suggestion for you: Barometers suck and so does lidar. I want a system where I drop a radio source on the ground, and a detector on the flight drone and have it triangulate and do math and poo poo instead of rely on the capricious atmosphere and uneven surface. Also your pay is pretty nice actually but nobody signs "additional duties as assigned" without defining broad and strict limitations. Nobody wants "cleaning the work area at the end of the day" tacked on their contract. Hire a janitor.
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Apr 27, 2015 04:00
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Can APM handle a second GPS out of the box?
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Apr 27, 2015 05:34
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ease posted:The guys that are doing Lidar survey rigs are using RTK gps. RTK is a little more insane mode of differential, because you are tuning into the carrier wave itself to get a range. Capable receivers are from $2-20k. This gives you about 1cm accuracy horizontally, and 2cm vertically. I use a setup at work, and when I let it sit for 15 minutes I frequently get results around 3mm of accuracy XYZ. Obviously a moving vehicle won't, but it's enough to fly through gaps and what not. But it's also sensitive. What are you going to do when your 40k flying machine loses lock and flies into the ocean? Thanks. That sounds like a technology to keep an eye on for a while. Do you know roughly how fast the prices are coming down? A Yolo Wizard posted:the newest version of arducopter / arduplane should support multiple gps for redundancy.
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Apr 28, 2015 07:03
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Are self-tightening propellors ala: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/4PC-9443-Sel...=item2ee033655e well-regarded? My flight drone just fell out of the sky on account of one of the props came loose mid flight. I'm glad all those trees were there to brake its fall. With toy sized flight drones props coming loose wasn't a thing I had to think about. I checked the nuts on the 3 that were still on and they were loose, too. Are there any other issues that crop-up with the 350 sized quads that aren't common among the smaller ones? (GPS assisted flight is awesome. I still can't get over how I can just park it mid-air and have it stay there. But there's not much the autopilot can do when a prop flies off). But anyways, self-tightening propellors. Yay or nay?
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May 3, 2015 01:20
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 19:11 |
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Cool beans.
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May 3, 2015 02:07
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