UAV, Drones, R/C aircraft, quadcopters

[dirtsniffer]

Originally posted by clem24
It surprises how high and long these things fly for (and how stupidly stable they are)!

That video was crazy. I'm surprised it didn't get blown right out of the air

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Unknown303
Finally tested mine out in the open the other night. Going to see if I can strap the Gopro to it and get some flight/crashes tonight hopefully...

Sweet! Is that going to have enough lift to support a GoPro though?

I really want to find a quad to do some aerial shots with.

[Unknown303]

Yeah it won't have an issue. Even with the 8 inch blades it still has tonnes of jam flying around, I'm pretty sure a gopro at ~75g won't even phase it. But I'll be finding out tonight I imagine. Do you still need deans plugs?

[spikerS]

LOL, damn, it doesn't look that big in the pictures. I figured this was a mini. yeah with 4 x 8" props, it should be fine. I am excited to see what kind of video you can get with it.

And yeah, if you still got a bunch of deans plugs kicking around, I would be happy to take a few off ya.

[MGCM]

Originally posted by Crazyjoker77
Got lots of flying in over the long weekend. Thought I would share these couple nice shots.

where did u shoot those pics? hat? cgy? what area?

[Unknown303]

Alright here's a video from the quad. Unedited, just out of the Gopro and onto Youtube. And as a note this is my second time ever flying it so I'm still working on the controls a fair bit..

Recorded in 720p 60fps then converted in WMM for Youtube @ 720p.

aH crap deleted it somehow... waiting to upload again..


Sweet Jesus that took a while;

[clem24]

What kind of flight times do you guys get? How about range? And how susceptible to wind are they?

[Unknown303]

I should time mine, but I think it was around 10-15 minutes? Not to bad in the wind I found, but you definitely notice it.

[AndyL]

Just watch the actual run time - getting to low voltage cutoff - will kill your lipos in short order (and fire hazard risk when you recharge) I manage to kill a pack every few weeks on my habu by ignoring run timer, can't always bring them back - and did have one go nuclear on recharge... That was exciting

[Unknown303]

With Balance charging I've never had an issue running lipos to the cutoff.

[AndyL]

Depends what lvco is set for I guess - when I hit it my x1ac won't recharge them - have to throw them on a dumb charger and hope they don't swell...

[Crazyjoker77]

Originally posted by MGCM


where did u shoot those pics? hat? cgy? what area?

Thats actually just a field thats behind my house.(and i mean literally right behind my house. I take off and land in my backyard and fly from my balcony) I am in Med-hat though and that would be the ross creek.(east side of the city)

Originally posted by Unknown303
[B]Alright here's a video from the quad. Unedited, just out of the Gopro and onto Youtube. And as a note this is my second time ever flying it so I'm still working on the controls a fair bit..

Recorded in 720p 60fps then converted in WMM for Youtube @ 720p.

aH crap deleted it somehow... waiting to upload again..


Sweet Jesus that took a while;

That video turned out way better than I thought. That is the one problem I can't seem to solve with any of my rigs. That leads me to believe it must be the fact I'm using a mobius camera and not a go-pro because the flight camera never has any "jello" in it.

To try and cure it I've done:
-Balanced props on my dubro balancer.
-balanced motors
-Dynamically balanced the whole rig.
-Bought a anti vibration mount(even bought every density of PTZ ball)

-now I have some expensive pure Carbon fiber props coming that I'm gonna try.

watching your video its clear that you have some pretty bad vibrations seeing how bad that landing gear is shaking but yet your clip has almost no jello to it.

Balancing sure hasn't done much for video quality but it sure did cut down on the noise they make.

But at least watching you fly has given me a bit of a confidence boost After watching so many TBS, black-out, ect videos I was starting to doubt if this was the right hobby for me.

Originally posted by clem24
What kind of flight times do you guys get? How about range? And how susceptible to wind are they?

It really depends on the copter. There are alot of factors that play into it. But in general the bigger props(and slower head speed) you go with the longer flight times your going to get, but you are giving up responsiveness, top speed, and its gonna be affected by the wind more. Again generally the bigger the copter the longer the flight time because you can run bigger(and/or more) batteries, and have room to go with bigger props to get better efficiency.

Although its probably safe to say that 90% of multis out there have a flight time between 5-15min and anything outside of that is purpose built.

My lowest flight time is on my big (>1m span) underpowered FPV rig that gets about 9min on a 3300mah 3s and my quad gets just shy of 19min with a 6000mah 3s (although I usually fly with a 4000mah 3s and get about 14.5) (and that is landing with 10% capacity left)

Range is very dependent on what frequency your running and really comes down to what style and quality of antenna your using But even a entry level 2.4ghz radio is rock solid to 1km away. There are 433mhz radios out there that out of the box are good for 7k and with a good directional antenna are getting 50k away(on fixed wings) Really unless your getting into FPV any radio is gonna get you further than your eyes can see.

Originally posted by Unknown303
With Balance charging I've never had an issue running lipos to the cutoff.

Whats important is the Cell voltage. A lipo(or even a li-ion) should never be brought down to below 3v per cell. They become very unstable below 3v and really are a hand grenade just waiting to burst into flames. Not only are they a safety hazard but it also really shortens their life.(so does keeping them fully charged at 4.2v/cell for extended periods of time) Lipos really like being in that 3.3-3.7v range (especially for storage)

There is tons of info out there on lipo care I would suggest reading up on it and youll quickly find out how many horror stories there are regarding them (even with proper use)

[Unknown303]

That's all with a old gopro too. Not even a hero 2.

[Unknown303]

oops....


» Click image for larger version

But on the plus side my SJ4000 showed up today and it's pretty damn amazing for 100 dollars.


» Click image for larger version

720p Crash goodness, SJ4000 on the Quad and the GoPro on my head..

[revelations]

Uncommanded pitch down?

[Unknown303]

Not really sure. I was fighting it trying to keep it from pitching over like that then figured I might as well dump it before things got out of hand. I ordered some different colored props and arms to test and see what gives me better visibility of my direction in the air.

[megavolt]

I'm just starting to get interested in this after buying my first toy quadcopter at the Stampede. Ordered a better rc tx and another quad as well as the beginnings of a nano fpv setup.

Also very interested in this: AirDog Kickstarter

My wallet is taking a beating.

[megavolt]

Originally posted by Unknown303
Not really sure. I was fighting it trying to keep it from pitching over like that then figured I might as well dump it before things got out of hand. I ordered some different colored props and arms to test and see what gives me better visibility of my direction in the air.

Just found Game of Drones airframe thought you might be interested. Even a shotgun couldn't destroy it.

[Unknown303]

Pretty interesting.. that would be a great starter frame that's for sure.

[schocker]

Where do you guys buy your quadcopter parts from? I am looking to maybe 3d print an airframe and buy the rest of the parts to try out a quad.