Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Thought you were saying the Zenmuse was £2k? Or different model?

Is there any cost on re-submitting the flight manual? If not I guess having to do that isn't *too* bad. Having to retake the exam would be a pain in the rear though.
 
I guess it really does depend on how they define "significantly" If I was going to make assumptions I would assume airframe/motors/fc/GPS systems/prop SIZE as they are really the only things that would change the flight characteristics. The size/weight of a gimble and what you are carrying would obviously have an effect too.

I suspect this is just to stop people doing the exam on a basic then trying to transfer their certification over to a 4' octo with gps, full fpv and broadcast camera strapped underneath.

Have you asked them for clarification?

Also, if you are planning to do video as well as AP, are you planning on making it a two man team? I would have thought this was fairly essential - 1 pilot, 1 camera operator otherwise it's surely going to compromise your ability to fly safely if you are also concentrating on operating the camera/looking at the feed etc?

I'm only asking as I work for a company that primarily does photography and we are just starting to look into this as a service we may provide next year at some point!
 
BBC are starting to use them for the News now too http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24712136

I'm testing out my FPV system but not getting very good range at all on the ground, I know it will get a better signal when in the air, and I'm only using the rubber duck antennas. I'm getting at most 50Meters (with LoS) which seems very low to me, not sure I even want to try it in the air as even at 10Metres away anything (Including me) between the Tx and the Rx will kill the signal completely, it's only a 200mW Tx but I expected a bit more range than this...:confused:
 
PinkFloyd said:
Thought you were saying the Zenmuse was £2k? Or different model?
Click to expand...

There are 4 different models of the Zenmuse.
GoPro version - £450
Nex 5 version - £2200
GH3 version - £1900
5D version - £???

gandhi said:
Also, if you are planning to do video as well as AP, are you planning on making it a two man team? I would have thought this was fairly essential - 1 pilot, 1 camera operator otherwise it's surely going to compromise your ability to fly safely if you are also concentrating on operating the camera/looking at the feed etc?
Click to expand...

Stills only. My prospective clients only require stills.
 
gandhi said:
This would seem to suggest that 2km should be achievable. I know very little about RF and antennas but would imagine that the more efficient you can make it, the better!
Click to expand...

That's for 900Mhz which has higher range to begin with I think, mine is 200mW 5.8Ghz, looking online there seems to be mentions about using the 'longer antenna' on the Tx and the 'shorter antenna' on the Rx but both my rubber duck's that came with it are exactly the same size :confused: Range definitely seems too short to me anyway.
 
Something definitely isn't right if you're only getting around 50m even on the rubbish rubber duck antennas. Your VTx and VRx could be on different channels, if you're only one channel out you can usually still see video when you're close but after a few tens of metres it'll die out. Sounds similar to what you're experiencing.
Walking in front of the antennas even when you get good range is always going to make it cut out, it's just the nature of 5.8GHz.
Also bear in mind you're in the position where the fresnel zone is a factor in the range you'll get.

So check your VTx and VRx aren't on the same channel, look at the manuals as the switch sequence is often different. Check the centre pins on your antennas.

If everything seems OK then see if come circularly polarised antennas improve things, people on forums make them for around £10 each delivered.
 
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Looking at pictures there's some sets like mine that definitely have a larger antenna on the Tx but also loads of others with the same sized antennas, I'm completely put off online ordering at the moment so I'll wait to get the Cloverleaf antennas, had a complete run of bad luck with online shopping since the Hobby King mess, I'm sure they've put some weird Chinese Curse on me, almost everything I've ordered since has been sent wrong, not turned up at all or had missing items... I might have to sacrifice a Goat to change my fortunes :p
 
Right,

Need some advice now!

Story thus far......

Have flashed my ESC's, all went well and have flashed the kk2 board to 1.6++ and all worked fine. Have wired everything up (correctly), plugged in the rx and when I go into the receiver test, all I'm getting is a random figure for the channel I have plugged in. No response to any stick movements at all. I think either the TX or RX is borked, unless anybody else has any sage advice? TX & RX are bound ok, everything is connected correctly. *grumpy now*
 
It's it definitely binded properly. Does it seem to be passing any signal over at all? Which tx did you go for in the end?
 
this one

The kk2 is definitely getting a signal from the rx as it shows a value in the rx test screen for whatever channels are hooked up. i.e. aileron = 4 , throttle = 93 etc. That value then either remains static or wobbles about by one or two points so not sure if either tx or rx are broken or the kk2 board. I might try flashing vanilla 1.6 and see if that has any effect.

If I knew it was the rx, I would just get another one as they are only £8 or so but it looks like I will have to send the whole shebang back.

Buy cheap, buy twice and all that!
 
Annoyingly, I also can't get any software that connects to the tx to configure it, to run on my machine as it's win7 64! So I can't even check if it's the tx that's not working....
 
gandhi said:
Annoyingly, I also can't get any software that connects to the tx to configure it, to run on my machine as it's win7 64! So I can't even check if it's the tx that's not working....
Click to expand...

Tried running the installer / exe in compatibility mode?
 
All I can say is never throw away a crusty old laptop with XP on it.

Apparently all the endpoints were set to zero or something else ridiculous. Looks to be working now :)

More wine.
 
Yep, Sure......

The tx comes with a serial to usb adapter for configuring it. More expensive tx have a screen on the unit, but this flysky one needs a computer connecting to change rates, modes, curves, mixing and endpoints. However, the sopftware doesn't work with win7 64bit!

Downloaded the t6config software and driver for cp10 to usb serial connection. dropped them onto my old xp laptop and connected the tx.

Not sure if it ships like it from the factory but all of the endpoints were set to zero, so moving the sticks had no effect. Set them all to 100% and started working perfectly!

Loads of stuff about it here

Finished the build this morning and took it for a spin in the garden, wouldn't lift off. Had in my haste, switched the wires for motor 3&4 on the FC. Back out, test again, still no joy. I now know that the reverse props go on clockwise rotating motors :)

639g AUW :)











Now all I have to do is get it trimmed, tuned and learn how to fly :D
 
Nice job with the cabling :D Looks much tidier than mine does!
Where do you attach the battery when flying? Above or Below?
 
Below at the moment. I've trimmed the top plate out so I can see the lcd and if I put the battery on top, it defeats the purpose. I would've stashed the battery in the center bit but it was a very close fit and I'm not sure I would have been able to secure it effectively.

Only potential issue with battery on the bottom is hard landings on sharp things might cause damage and take off is a little tricky. I might fashion some landing gear extenders next week.

I'm still messing about trying to get it trimmed up at the mo before I progress into sorting out the pi tuning. Hopefully my lunch hour tomorrow will be dry otherwise it's a long wait until next weekend!
 
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