Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Bigpops · 5 Mar 2014 at 23:42

So I want an Ardupiliot system for my Tricopter (that may eventually grow another arm), but there seems to be so much choice.

I'll probably be buying from goodluckbuy unless you can suggest somewhere else. Do I want APM 2.5, 2.6? I assume the external compass will be more accurate. Some have a more expensive GPS unit. Is that worth paying the extra for?

My only experience of multi-rotor controllers has been the Naza 2 in my Dad's Phantom, and the KK2.0 in both a quad and now my Tricopter. I'd get the Naza, but I like the quick tail you get on a tricopter what with me being a heli guy. Plus sending it off on missions has a certain appeal.

MrCool · 5 Mar 2014 at 23:57

Does anybody have a DJI Phantom 2? I'm looking at quadcopters at the moment for filming.

Pretty much decided on the phantom 2 with the zenmuse h3-2d gimbal as I have a GoPro 3+ black already. Bit pricey though at £624 everywhere I can find it. Any better deals out there for these? Anyone got a code for the select UK stockists (quadcopters,firstpersonview,buildyourowndrone etc)?

Thanks for any help and if you have one, post up your vids, particularly with the h3-2d gimbal in action. How is the camera tilt thing on the back of the controller, does it work and can you tilt the cam down 90deg? Thanks.

HUNTER.P · 6 Mar 2014 at 00:58

Sort of curious, for those that have built your own quads are any of you running an Openpilot CC3D/Revo?

oulton · 6 Mar 2014 at 09:25

Narj said:
Nope, completely different.

Hmmmm.....

One of my first forrays

Tempted to get a Zenmuse H32D gimbal for the phantom, but I would really like to extend my flight times from around 8 minutes to the 20 odd that the phantom 2 offers. I am also thinking of going down the fpv route.

Are there any rumours if the phantom 3 will be released any time soon?

Cyclone · 6 Mar 2014 at 10:33

Good video. Wish I had the balls to take my Vision that high

Col_M · 6 Mar 2014 at 12:44

HUNTER.P said:
Sort of curious, for those that have built your own quads are any of you running an Openpilot CC3D/Revo?

Not yet, if the frame arrives I should have mini quad running a CC3D by the weekend though, can't wait

oulton · 6 Mar 2014 at 19:53

Cyclone said:
Good video. Wish I had the balls to take my Vision that high

Ha! I lost mine in a cloud today, thought it was a goner but the trusty fly home feature worked like a charm

Dazboots · 6 Mar 2014 at 20:03

goggles

got about £300 to spend on some goggles for fpv.
got diverisity black pearl screen. only need goggles nothing else. looked at fatshark dominator and base sd. also looked at some china 98inch ones as well. what would you recomend. cant afford the cinemizers. thanks in respose

Dazboots · 6 Mar 2014 at 20:06

FPV video

Quick dji phantom fpv video i have done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp-sxOGPQo8

Rilot · 6 Mar 2014 at 20:35

MrCool said:
Does anybody have a DJI Phantom 2? I'm looking at quadcopters at the moment for filming.

Pretty much decided on the phantom 2 with the zenmuse h3-2d gimbal as I have a GoPro 3+ black already. Bit pricey though at £624 everywhere I can find it. Any better deals out there for these? Anyone got a code for the select UK stockists (quadcopters,firstpersonview,buildyourowndrone etc)?

Thanks for any help and if you have one, post up your vids, particularly with the h3-2d gimbal in action. How is the camera tilt thing on the back of the controller, does it work and can you tilt the cam down 90deg? Thanks.

I have a Phantom 2. I'm not aware of any discounts available at the moment as it's so new.

To answer your question, yes you can tilt the H3-2D to 90 degrees straight down.

Rilot · 6 Mar 2014 at 20:37

Dazboots said:
got about £300 to spend on some goggles for fpv.
got diverisity black pearl screen. only need goggles nothing else. looked at fatshark dominator and base sd. also looked at some china 98inch ones as well. what would you recomend. cant afford the cinemizers. thanks in respose

Fatshark Attitudes.
They are about the best out there at the moment short of the cinemisers.

They are an acquired taste though. I've got some and I really don't like them. The image is too small to be truly immersive.

Dazboots · 6 Mar 2014 at 20:39

Rilot said:
Fatshark Attitudes.
They are about the best out there at the moment short of the cinemisers.

They are an acquired taste though. I've got some and I really don't like them. The image is too small to be truly immersive.

From what i can see the fatshark base have a 35 fov. might try them. got mini iosd just hoping i will still be able to see the on screen display.

Rilot · 6 Mar 2014 at 21:22

Dazboots said:
From what i can see the fatshark base have a 35 fov. might try them. got mini iosd just hoping i will still be able to see the on screen display.

The Attitudes are 35 degree too.
Yes you can still see the iOSD but the edges will be a little blurry.

Col_M · 6 Mar 2014 at 21:50

I have the attitudes, for me they're better than dominators as they're more immersive.

Attitudes = larger looking screen but slightly soft at the edges.
Dominators = smaller looking screen but sharper image.

I found the trick with dealing with the soft edges was to move important OSD information towards the centre of the screen and the less important stuff towards the outside.

i.e. On the bottom right the battery % is more important to know than mode so I put it closer to the centre of the screen. On the bottom left voltage is closer to the centre of the screen as it's more important than current etc.

MrCool · 6 Mar 2014 at 23:58

Rilot said:
I have a Phantom 2. I'm not aware of any discounts available at the moment as it's so new.

To answer your question, yes you can tilt the H3-2D to 90 degrees straight down.

Thanks. Yep no deals around for this although you are basically getting the gimble for £130. Im told is was £450 on its own a few months ago.

Im assuming you have the gimble too, was wondering if you upgraded firmware etc recently? Have read a few reports of the gimble control not working properly after an recent update. Also other probs with unit and controller after updates. Are you on the latest updates for everything?

Cheers.

FPV next up but i'll have to wait for that.

Cyclone · 7 Mar 2014 at 08:12

oulton said:
Ha! I lost mine in a cloud today, thought it was a goner but the trusty fly home feature worked like a charm

I read on another Vision forum that some guy in America suddenly lost the satellites lock and his Vision flew away.

Reading things like that makes me want to keep low to the ground

Rilot · 7 Mar 2014 at 08:20

MrCool said:
Thanks. Yep no deals around for this although you are basically getting the gimble for £130. Im told is was £450 on its own a few months ago.

Im assuming you have the gimble too, was wondering if you upgraded firmware etc recently? Have read a few reports of the gimble control not working properly after an recent update. Also other probs with unit and controller after updates. Are you on the latest updates for everything?

Cheers.

FPV next up but i'll have to wait for that.

I'm on the latest versions for everything.
I've not had any issues at all but I changed the stock transmitter and receiver for my Taranis and X8R. Maybe issues are related to the stock items? I've not read many reports of issues though.

Col_M · 7 Mar 2014 at 09:56

Cyclone said:
I read on another Vision forum that some guy in America suddenly lost the satellites lock and his Vision flew away.

Reading things like that makes me want to keep low to the ground

It's a running joke in RC forums that Phantoms/Nazas randomly try to fly home to China.

Fly-aways seem to happen quite often, last week I saw 3 seperate posts in UK forums/Facebook asking if anyone had lost a Phantom as someone had found them.
http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=6536.0
http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=6526.0
The one on Facebook is a closed group I can't link to.

People often say it's user error and not waiting for sat lock but on the other hand there have been experienced folks argue that they did everything correct. I guess nobody really knows

Narj · 7 Mar 2014 at 10:27

I only fly in ATTI mode unless it's pretty windy. I've had a few occasions flying non-FPV where I was convinced the controls weren't working properly but it was just the fact that the front wasn't where I thought it was! Switching to GPS/Home Lock and pulling the stick back brought it back to take off.

The good thing about flying FPV with an OSD is that you can check whether the GPS home point is correct or not.

The fly-away complaints are why I've enabled the manual mode switch tbh. I accidentally took off with it in manual once, wow it ******* rips!

rishy · 7 Mar 2014 at 10:33

Col_M said:
It's a running joke in RC forums that Phantoms/Nazas randomly try to fly home to China.

Fly-aways seem to happen quite often, last week I saw 3 seperate posts in UK forums/Facebook asking if anyone had lost a Phantom as someone had found them.
http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=6536.0
http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=6526.0
The one on Facebook is a closed group I can't link to.

People often say it's user error and not waiting for sat lock but on the other hand there have been experienced folks argue that they did everything correct. I guess nobody really knows

I **** my self when i took it up 20 meters and lost orientation