X550 resurrected

Done a few test flights with the X550 after replacing broken parts and it seem to fly as it should. Haven't tried anything GPS related yet but it spins like a cat and flies like a bird.

This is a short video from one of the first trial flights. The camera vibrates like crazy but you can still make something out after using the stabilizing enhancements thanks to YouTube. Guess I'll need to do something about this in the future.

It became self aware

Someone once said: -"Pictures or it didn't happen".

This is how to get prepared for flight. In addition to the quad and the transmitter, you need a laptop.

Everything is by this time wired. That's why you see the green light on the flight controller. It indicates that the GPS reports that it is locked on to a fixed position. The sonar is also connected and reports correctly.

 

Another picture..

So, you wanna see how it flies :) ? The video is rather short due to two factors.

• The battery of my mobile was at this time drained to 4%, hence keeping it short.
• The left down motor gets seriously overheated due to some fault. It may break down if its magnets gets loose. This could happen due to heat as they are glued on...

 Note that I show no hands as the quad loiters :)

One motor down..

Yesterday, I started trimming the AltHold function that relies on any altitude sensors. The sensor I have so far been using is the barometer, which is very noisy. That means it's less then perfect at holding it's altitude, but works +/- 1-2 meters.

Today, I thought of doing some more testing, maybe even try the AutoLand function as the AltHold seemed to work. However, after a few minutes of flying this happened..

 

One of the motors came off upon takeoff and took a piece of the radio antenna with it. The motors are fastened with two screws at the bottom and it seems as it came unscrewed, possibly due to vibrations. This seem to be the case for one other of the motors when I checked them all. It seems as checking the screws before going flying is a bullet on the pre-flight checklist.

Now, I only found one of the screws, which means, I have to get another somehow. Not sure if I should order a whole new frame as spare part or if I should try to find one in a local utility store. I'm going to try the second option tomorrow to see if they have any thing available that would work as a substitute.

Yes, there will be more videos. I have two that I filmed yesterday when doing some trimming but I haven't uploaded them to YouTube yet as my bandwidth is limited and the amount is not unlimited at the moment.

New video page

Short update, I've added a page with recorded videos in the list of pages to the right. Also, there is a new video available from earlier today :).

Lady bird flies with a new camera

I bought this Mini DVR 808 key chain camera a while ago as many RC model enthusiasts use them for cheap video recording.

It works fairly well and records in 720x480 with a pretty narrow angle lens. Having a wide eye lens would however have been ideal for this kind of video recording. There are however other cameras that feature that but not for less than $7.

I'd recommend removing the plastic container by unscrewing a couple of screws to reduce the weight of the camera. This is what I've done to fit it to the ladybird, still it feels like it's pretty overweight at the moment. I fitted the camera using Velcro to make it possible to remove the camera if desired.

This is my first attempt to do any kind of recording so please don't mind the quality :).

You might notice that the date and time annotation is upside down, that is because I had to mount the camera upside down on the Ladybird to be able to access the start/stop buttons. I then used the enhancement features from YouTube to rotate the screen :).

Cirus All-In-One Multiwii and MegaPirage flight controller

Today I made my first firmware build and fired up the Multiwii flight controller for the first timer. Here is a small sample of the feedback I got when I tried it out.

Only a short update today as I haven't been up to a lot yet other than this. I need to buy some "helping hands" in to start soldering connectors onto those ESC's. It's a common tool used when soldering as you often need a pair of extra hands. You can buy them online at Banggood but I think I'll buy them at a local hardware store as they don't cost much more over here.

A tribute to Team Black Sheep

Just shortly would like to share a video created by a team that both builds RC models and creates great videos. Team Black Sheep has both aeroplane and quadrocopter models for sale including complete FPV kits. I don't think I'll be looking at anything that advanced for any foreseeable future anyhow.

Enjoy!


Team Black Sheep website and web shop