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Incoming total newbie post. I have some general questions. I've been watching far, far too much PeterSirpol and RCTestFlight etc lately Can someone explain how these things work exactly? I've done some servo robotics BS (tower pro sg-90s and some larger servos but I've bought more than my fair share of 10-packs of sg-90s along with servo testers) in the past so I have a little background, but I was using 2.4ghz bluetooth to control the robot not uh, traditional RC stuff. This is what I understand: Some sort of standard radio controller like you might see a super nerd with Standard radio receiver to ??? Ardupilot device (Pixhawk 2.4.8?) Some sort of motor controller The actual motor/servo uhh or better yet screenshot from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAu6jkgACoc (click to embiggen)  This seems deceptively simple 1. standard radio controller? 2. towerpro sg-90 or compatible 3. is this the radio reciever? radio antenna? looks like it could be gps but I doubt it 4. high amp motor controller for brushless dc motor 5. looks like a medium amp mutli-volt to 5v adapter for the pixhawk 6. pixhawk 7. piezo buzzer If I wanted to do an RC sailboat I don't need item #4, but everything else is required/reccomended? Sailboats just use two servos, one for steering, and another to control continious rotation servo as a winch for the sail control lines. Looks like the #1 spektrum controller starts at... $200? $230 for the dx7s? can I buy a used uh, 4 channel controller for $30? how many channels will I need, what "Standards" do these things use. It's amazing that the pixhawk costs about $35 on ebay, but a 7 channel controller which is arguably much older technology costs $200 what am I missing here? I feel like every $15 RC car has a 2 channel controller so something's up. Seems odd that the controller costs more than the rest of the hobby combined. Maybe it's just the brand.
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May 24, 2020 02:55
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Hadlock posted:
If you are interested in doing a wide number of things, you might want to get the latest Jumper or Radiomaster radio mentioned on the previous page or two. They have multi-protocol modules that let you bind with receiver modules of many many protocols. The benefit of this kind of transmitter is also the ability to adjust output behavior in the radio, rather than relying on controllers on the vehicle. Cheap RC toys often won't let you reverse servo travel, set midpoints and endpoints, control two or more servos in predefined concerted arrangements, etc. That's not to say you couldn't find a cheap combo transmitter+vehicle and modify it to suit your use case. You might be able to find something like a DXe for under $100 and have very limited programming options with it. The neat thing about the Jumper or Radiomaster is you can find dirt cheap receivers that you wouldn't mind losing if your boat scuttles, whereas the DX7s or DXe might be very picky about binding with unlicensed Spektrum receivers.
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May 24, 2020 06:37
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Hadlock posted:Incoming total newbie post. I have some general questions. Don't by Spektrum. It's overpriced. Get Taranis or Jumper Also don't buy a $35 pixhawk. If you really want an arduplane compatible controller that's reasonably cheap, get a Matek 405Wing. If you want to learn on a budget,, check out FliteTest https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6IuSFWz4ktvupu_gxw1vn-sjBGOkJFHV Cheap foamboard plabes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6IuSFWz4kttstQluULH2Yc1UW4drIn2g
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May 24, 2020 08:10
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Thanks. Yeah it looks like the radiomaster TX16s is the way to go, touch screen, USB-C charging $130... sold ...does anybody still have these in stock at non-price-gouging cost? Looks like there is one guy on Amazon selling these things for $250, a couple of websites claim to have them still but when you go to checkout they say they're out of stock Looks like ~14v lipo is about the standard? $10-20 for a battery looks about average, how much should I pay for a starter charger? I think with 2 servos and no brushless motor I probably don't need much juice, won't need to recharge it except when I go home and it's still half or three-quarters full edit: just to clarify I am NOT doing a plane... doing a RC sailboat also also, what is wrong with the pixhawk 2.4.8 that the rctestflight guy uses? seems like you can get an all-in package with 915mhz telemetry package for $170 or something on fleabay Hadlock fucked around with this message at 08:39 on May 24, 2020 |
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May 24, 2020 08:34
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Ah, yeah as long as you have a way of recovering it, when(if) it fails, a $35 pixhawk should be fine. Flying things tend to fall out of the sky when that happens, but a boat should be fine. For servosonly , you just need 2S. I'd go 21700 format li-ions: https://liionwholesale.com/collections/batteries/products/samsung-50e-21700?variant=12667804450910 This will keep a pair of SG90s going for a couple of days and li-ions have much less tendency to catch fire and don't need baby sitting when charging, etc. Is this for an automated project?. Or are you going to be using manual control at all times. (In which case, you don't need the Pixhawk, but a standard rc receiver will be enough). You can also get a lot of telemetry directly to your radio. If you are doing automated stuff, you will need: Transmitter Receiver BEC/Voltage regulator Batteries (as above) 2 servos. Pixhawk GPS Telemetry radios I would, in your application, skip the power module normally required for the pixhawk and just power it straight off the servo rail and then get a frsky voltage sensor to send the voltage to the transmitter instead. Reason being that most cheap (and a lot of expensive) power modules need 3S+ to work. If it's non automated, then all you need is: Transmitter Receiver BEC/Voltage regulator Batteries (as above) 2 servos.
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May 24, 2020 09:00
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The radiomaster TX16S just came out within the last month and it's been pretty hyped so I'd expect shortages for a while. To give a little more information about what's going on in the black box that is the RC radio controller (we'll call it transmitter from now on, that's the official rc nerd term): The modern transmitter basically has two main parts to it: 1. A computer that monitors the the position of the switches and gimbals, forms it into signal that then gets sent to... 2. A radio module that wirelessly sends the signal out to your receiver. This radio module can be internal/hard-wired or come out as a standalone module that can be swapped. Spektrum tends to hard-wire their stuff (cynic in me says for vendor lock-in reasons) and lots of newer transmitters coming out tend to have an external swappable module so you can use different radio links. So since this is hobby stuff, there's not really any "standard" that vendors adhere to. The good news is that motors and servos basically want a PWM signal in the end, which is very simple to make and more or less universal. The bad thing is that, every part before that in the chain is a mess of competing vendor protocols that aren't compatible with each other. So your control link looks something like this: Radio (switches/gimbals) -> Radio wireless module (nonstandard protocol that goes over the air) -> Receiver on boat/car/plane (converts the nonstandard protocol into PWM) -> Servos/motors You mentioned controlling servos with bluetooth before, is there any particular reason you don't want to go the same route again for the boat? Two servos is a simple enough application you could hack together with whatever you had before. You'd basically replace the entire chain of stuff before servos/motors with your bluetooth link here. Oh right, one more thing to add as an FYI: how a flight controller like the pixhawk plays into the radio link. It inserts itself in between the receiver and servos/motors: Radio -> Radio wireless module -> Receiver -> pixhawk -> servos/motors It's unclear to me what you're trying to do in your application so I don't know if you actually need a pixhawk or if you were just asking out of curiousity. If you're just trying to manually control a sailboat, you don't need one. If you want to do autopilot/GPS magic sort of stuff, then yeah you need one. yergacheffe fucked around with this message at 22:10 on May 24, 2020 |
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May 24, 2020 22:01
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yergacheffe posted:motors and servos basically want a PWM signal in the end, which PPM 
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May 24, 2020 22:11
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I knew somebody was gonna give me a  reply!!! I just wanted to keep it high level 
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May 24, 2020 22:15
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Oscar Liang mentioned that there may be a coupon code for the TX16S from Banggood on his site sometime tonight. I'd like one myself to do general RC and amateur radio stuff, but since I got an RTF kit (Acrobee Lite) I'm holding off on that purchase. (I am doing very slow LOS laps around the living room and hoping to god I don't manage to disintegrate this thing) e: also for a sailboat you could just get away with the cheapest possible used 2ch from ebay. wheel for rudder, trigger for the mainsheet E4C85D38 fucked around with this message at 00:16 on May 25, 2020 |
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May 25, 2020 00:02
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E4C85D38 posted:Oscar Liang mentioned that there may be a coupon code for the TX16S from Banggood on his site sometime tonight. I'd like one myself to do general RC and amateur radio stuff, but since I got an RTF kit (Acrobee Lite) I'm holding off on that purchase. That TX16s can talk to the acrobee. Also i can't imagine sailing a boat without an easily accessible rudder trim.
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May 25, 2020 17:10
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Apparently there's an ardupilot sailboat module now that knows how to tack through the wind etc Ardupilot seems to make sense to me because I think you can set max stops for things like max rotations of 360° servos etc which is important when you're using them as winches as of you over wind them you're gonna bring the rig down. People have built a complex set of switches and string linkage to get around this, but ardupilot/pixhawk puts this all in software. and also yeah well correct for a poorly mounted keel/rudder that pulls to one side. Hard to do hydrodynamic testing in a bathtub. Trim tab is probably useful yeah
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May 25, 2020 20:44
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I did an oopsie today. https://i.imgur.com/8PxoXkH.mp4  
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May 26, 2020 01:51
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Yikes! Got insurance?
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May 26, 2020 01:56
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CloFan posted:Yikes! Got insurance? Not on the camera. I've been dragging my feet about getting an actual GoPro sine the Hero8 came out and the Hero7 prices have been going down. This may be a good enough reason to finally pull the trigger. I did get plenty of packs in on other quads before crashing the 5 Inch though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWcWiK6qBkA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6ULxUB-4as Although for some reason, my video editor hates me and wouldn't allow me to adjust the resolution after putting this together. Alternative pants fucked around with this message at 02:05 on May 26, 2020 |
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May 26, 2020 01:58
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I reeeeeally haven't been flying the past 6 months, and it shows in the number of times I strike the ground unintentionally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0NtKfpFh1Q
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May 26, 2020 06:51
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Finally did the maiden on this, after probably two hours of programming the transmitter (used the Taranis, I’ve only used it for simple stuff like quads in the past and done all my complex programming with Futaba, Hitec, or Airtronics). It’s incredible. Launches so high, and just effortlessly climbs out of sight if you find any lift at all. The dumb pull-spring setup has screwed up the rudder hinge a little and the aileron servos are moving around a bit I think (trim keeps changing). Gotta fix that and throw it around some more. 
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May 26, 2020 12:35
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Took my new sailfly x on its maiden flight today. I've previously only flown my tinyhawk (and camera drones which don't count), and let me tell you the jump from 1S to 3S was really something. This thing is face meltingly fast compared to what I'm used to.
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May 28, 2020 13:44
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Another toothpick question. So the AIO on my TinyHawk Freestyle 1 died as far as I can tell. Won’t arm, no OSD, LED’s intermittent but the camera and vtx always work. I have spent a good amount of time/money upgrading the vtx to a unify nano, camera to a runcam nano, and receiver to a XM+. The quad was amazing before it died. So now I can replace the flight controller(and bottom plate while I’m at it since it is in very rough shape) for about 60 bucks and continue to enjoy it (while removing and throwing out the stock vtx and rx), or throw the whole thing out and build something fresh to use the vtx, camera, and RX for about 100? I can’t re-use the motors because they have a 3 screw mounting pattern that nobody uses in other frames. I could also try to put a different AIO in it to save some money and maybe be more durable but I’d have to drill new holes in the frame and that seems like a pain in the rear end. Of course installing the XM+ and Unify on the TH board is a pain in the rear end too. Most importantly, how do I do any of this without giving money to Kabab? I’ll probably build something fresh and give the motors to somebody who can use them.
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May 28, 2020 19:30
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i own every Bionicle posted:Another toothpick question. There are so many awesome bnfs around $100 that it’d be hard to recommend anything but buying new. Tiny hawk freestyle 2, tiny hawk race, mobula 6, uav65, etc. For $110 you could get the new tiny hawk freestyle 2 that everyone is freaking out about. Not to dissuade you from reusing old parts but you could get a whole new quad with no work for the same price and then swap in parts as needed
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May 29, 2020 01:56
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Is there a go-to semi-entry level small quad/tx and fpv setup that's recommended these days? There's like half a billion options on banggood, I just confused myself. I'm competent with flashing, soldering/building if that makes any difference. Tint hawk 2, 2s, taranis? Are there good options for smaller quads that may be indoor flown? Frozen Pizza Party fucked around with this message at 03:16 on May 31, 2020 |
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May 31, 2020 03:12
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Frozen Pizza Party posted:Is there a go-to semi-entry level small quad/tx and fpv setup that's recommended these days? I bought the original tinyhawk RTF bundle from Banggood at the start of the year and love it. But beware it's a gateway drug. I've heard mixed things about the tinyhawk 2, most reviewers seem to prefer the original. For indoor stick to 1S. For controller, there's a big shakeup at the moment, so if you don't want to get the RTF kit and instead buy goggles and controller, the tx16s from radiomaster seems to be pretty much unbeatable but due to all the hype it's out of stock everywhere. I personally have an frsky x lite. I like it but FrSky is doing antics with backwards compatibility, so it's safest to avoid all their stuff right now Splode fucked around with this message at 03:24 on May 31, 2020 |
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May 31, 2020 03:21
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Splode posted:I've heard mixed things about the tinyhawk 2, most reviewers seem to prefer the original.  I have them both and the TH2 is way better. Much better quality camera, VTX, and it can run on either 1S or 2S power. It's a bit heavier, sure, but it's a Tinyhawk, if you wanted something to rip acro stunts with this was never going to be it.
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May 31, 2020 03:35
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Frozen Pizza Party posted:Is there a go-to semi-entry level small quad/tx and fpv setup that's recommended these days? Pretty happy with the tinyhawk, get whatever the latest model is that does 1s and 2s. Very capable on 1s, outside it can rip on 2s. Battery doesn't last that long 2~3min. You could maybe get one of the quad+transmitter+goggle packs, but it may be worth the bit extra to get a real transmitter that you can go on to use with other things. Eachine EV-800D are a real solid entry goggle. RadioMaster TX16S seems to be thread consensus for new transmitters, but if you find a good deal a used Taranis or Jumper should still be perfectly sufficient. Maybe check for local used listings first, could be someone trying to make ends meet. E:f;b If you're on the fence, the full kit is probably the way to go. If you got an extra $50~100 to commit, getting the aforementioned goggles and transmitter give a good bump in quality and easier entry into other quads, planes, helis, cars, gyros, motorcycles, hovercraft, boats, subs, etc. Corky Romanovsky fucked around with this message at 03:51 on May 31, 2020 |
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May 31, 2020 03:46
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I bought the RTF kit and retired the transmitter and the goggles within about two months of getting the kit, but I don't regret getting the kit rather than standalone as it eased me into things: it all worked out of the box which let me customise things gradually rather than immediately being forced to learn how to bind, how to use betaflight, opentx, etc all before flying Also now I've got some handy box goggles for passengers
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May 31, 2020 04:02
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Thanks folks, I had an eachine racer kit back in the day (sold to someone here, actually, it ended up on a roof, then his coworker's phantom ended up on the same roof, was quite the ordeal) and sort of want to get back into it. I'll check out the recommendations, thanks!
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May 31, 2020 04:26
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Corky Romanovsky posted:Pretty happy with the tinyhawk, get whatever the latest model is that does 1s and 2s. Very capable on 1s, outside it can rip on 2s. Battery doesn't last that long 2~3min.
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May 31, 2020 14:47
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My new goal is now to make an FPV autogyro. Re: kits, I'm pretty happy with the Acrobee RTF. The monitor is detachable so it can continue to be useful after it's outgrown, and the transmitter is still an adequate piece of gear for simple vehicles or dual multi-module buddy boxing. Although I'm far from a good enough copter pilot to need to upgrade yet.
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May 31, 2020 22:34
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I switched my 5" over to Betaflight 4.2 and wiped all the settings to fly defaults, then spent the next 2 hours trying to get it to fly tight again. I'll say the new RC Rate Smoothing is better than before or maybe it is better feedforward smoothing because I have a lot less of the motors spinning up and slowing down then spinning back up again during snap moves. The default feed forward gain (the value you tweak in the PID grid) seems really low to me and I settled on 1.4 "Stick Response Gain" and I think it still could be even higher because I still have 14-20ms of latency between my setpoint and the gyro rate. I also dropped D-min Advance to 10 and used the "Race/Fast Freestyle" snippet from the wiki. PD Balance 0.9, P/D Gain 1.2, enabled sag compensation. I feel like I was expecting a bit more for some reason, but quad still flies, A++ would grudgingly upgrade again. Quad is chameleon frame with EMAX ECO 2306 2400KV with DALProp 5043 props and weighs in at 560g without the action camera. CapnBry fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Jun 3, 2020 |
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Jun 3, 2020 17:13
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So I got my Tiny Trainer done! It’s a 3 inch “toothpick” that Headsup developed with some other people to practice for DRL in his backyard, flies on 3S 550. There are two AIO’s recommended for it, either the cheaper Flywoo goku F411  toothpick board or the more durable Beta board which is like 20 dollars more. I used the cheap one.It is insanely fast and I don’t think I’d call it a toothpick. It’s not that quiet and is quicker than most 5” freestyle quads. It will kill a pack in ~90 seconds if you are doing full send loops and stuff. After finally getting it flying pretty good on 4.17, I tried to take off from some grass. It must have caught a prop a little because after it got up to about a foot off the ground it rolled over into the ground and I saw a big cloud of smoke drift past the camera. Ran out to grab it and there was much smoke. A little char on the frame and the battery but not too bad, I think just the AIO went up. I was running it on the 48 kHz Jazz Maverick ESC firmware which probably didn’t help things. I ordered the more rugged Beta AIO; hopefully that holds together. I will probably run JESC on that instead as it seems more proven. It’s not the harmless, whisper quiet toothpick that I wanted, will probably build something else for that role to not piss off my neighbors.
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Jun 3, 2020 18:17
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I'm looking at a toothpick in the future, what would the groupthink recommend for a harmless whisper quiet 3"?
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Jun 3, 2020 18:37
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It’s not 3”, but I just ordered a Tinyhawk Freestyle 2, which is 2.5”. I had the original which I really liked except the camera and vtx sucked (I upgraded them and loved the little thing until it died) but those have been fixed in the new one.
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Jun 3, 2020 22:03
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i own every Bionicle posted:It is insanely fast and I don’t think I’d call it a toothpick. It’s not that quiet and is quicker than most 5” freestyle quads. It will kill a pack in ~90 seconds if you are doing full send loops and stuff.
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Jun 4, 2020 03:15
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I got a DJI Mavic Mini for xmas this year and its been fun. Before this, I've had a few cheaper, not camera, quads. I'm wondering, if I wanted to get into FPV stunta life.. can I get more than 5 min out of a battery? I really like the mini's 30 min flight time. I was hoping that the new generation (my others are like 5 yrs?) would push the battery limits, but it seems they push the power instead?
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Jun 4, 2020 05:56
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deong posted:I got a DJI Mavic Mini for xmas this year and its been fun. Before this, I've had a few cheaper, not camera, quads. Unfortunately, FPV quads aren’t really built for efficiently putting down power. You might be able to squeeze five minutes out of a battery if you fly slow and cinematically and don’t do any punchy control inputs, but even that will risk burning the battery. FPV quads go through batteries so fast specifically because they can do the snappy rolls and flips that pilots enjoy doing. It’s possible to trade a little power for more efficiency in tuning and props, but in my experience, four minutes on a 5s running 1700kv is still a long time and really only happens on cruising flights, and on older packs, three minutes is pushing it.
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Jun 4, 2020 07:26
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Anyone try quads with single bladed props for minimum tip-drag efficiency?
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Jun 4, 2020 07:53
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deong posted:I got a DJI Mavic Mini for xmas this year and its been fun. Before this, I've had a few cheaper, not camera, quads. you wont really understand until you do it but you dont really WANT to fly them for longer than ~3-5 mins at a time, its actually kinda mentally exhausting to constantly be focusing on the screen/gaps/getting in tight to things, power looping perfectly so the shot stays smooth. By the time it comes to land and swap packs it's actually a relief to have just a few minutes of chill before HARDCORE MODE ENGAGE again Even my little Jazz Maverick ESC'd tiny whoop can do 6+ minutes now and I just dont like flying that long at once. It's different when I'm puttering around with my Mavic in a buddy's passenger seat You can absolutely build long range quad with props ranging up from like 7"/8" or so, and it'll fly for like 20 mins cruising, but even that would probly only go for ~8 or so if you started getting stunty bring back old gbs fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Jun 4, 2020 |
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Jun 4, 2020 08:05
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Yeah there's very good reasons the really high performance crafts aren't flown for more than a few minutes at a time.
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Jun 4, 2020 10:04
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So whats the difference between pixhawk 2.4.8 and pixhawk 4? Supposedly the 4 is more reliable for some reason? Seems like people have been using 2.4.8 reliably for a long time, what am I missing Boat stuff is coming together, I ended up just buying a 10 channel uh, flysky i6-a or whatever, looks like the receiver has sbus which is compatible with pixhawk, flysky stuff hsould be here monday or something
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Jun 4, 2020 10:12
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deong posted:I got a DJI Mavic Mini for xmas this year and its been fun. Before this, I've had a few cheaper, not camera, quads. https://outcastdroneworks.com/products/microhawk-complete-maker-kit I have one of these on the way (allegedly). Seems to be the longest flight time currently available with ~15 minutes of freestyle or 20-25 minutes of cruising
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Jun 4, 2020 14:39
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I can get about 5:30 of freestyle flying with dives, power loops, etc with my 6” while carrying a GoPro Session. Motor and prop selection is most important and keep it light. 4S 1550, 2306-2150 motors, HQ 6x3.5x3 props, Hobbywing stack, QAV slam frame. If I ditched the GoPro and went with a 4S 2200 or something I’m sure I’d get 7 minutes at least. But who cares, really. Parallel charge a bunch of packs and land and change them.
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Jun 4, 2020 15:08
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