197 replies to this topic

[YouMadeMeDoIt]

Here's a pretty humble dude illustrating how easy it is to chop up some fingers. I almost made a similar error on my maiden flight by picking up my quad with a TX swinging around my neck. After seeing this damage, I am completely conservative. Its just not worth taking on any risk in my opinion, there's nothing to be gained for it. Stuff like this is really good for new guys to see. When I first started this in december, I was looking at these devices kind of like toys, now I understand the flying lawnmowerness about them

[peabody124]

So switching back this is kinda cool. From the high speed logging I can measure the response of the throttle on acceleration

this is with OP-ESC but you can see that it's acceleration by 80 ms after the pulse

[Jake Bullit]

Yes be careful .This happened to me a few weeks back when I got lazy and didn`t remove props whilst installing a new RX ,which had the throttle reversed.
It was heading for my face before I swatted it away, and the battery disconnected.

 IMG_20120117_182822.jpg   498.73K   27 downloads

Please be careful ,especially when others are around,bad enough to hurt yourself,but some poor kid...
heaven forbid.

Edit:not a CC btw.

Edited by Jake Bullit, 12 February 2012 - 12:17 AM.

[Andre]

YouMadeMeDoIt, on 11 February 2012 - 05:51 PM, said:

Here's a pretty humble dude illustrating how easy it is to chop up some fingers. I almost made a similar error on my maiden flight by picking up my quad with a TX swinging around my neck. After seeing this damage, I am completely conservative. Its just not worth taking on any risk in my opinion, there's nothing to be gained for it. Stuff like this is really good for new guys to see. When I first started this in december, I was looking at these devices kind of like toys, now I understand the flying lawnmowerness about them

think thats why you must set your arming right.
its easy to make the mistake to push throttle,
i set my arming to yaw left to arms.

[Terrier]

Michielin Man, on 10 February 2012 - 07:18 AM, said:

I am looking into getting a new Remote Control tx for a quad.
With all the features of the Revo, how many channels should I be looking for? (already thinking of the future with Revo)
Is it possible to give me some recommendations?

Pretty interested in an answer to this question, as well...

I'm brand new to OP (1st post)... You folks seem to have things well in hand, and are steering the sport in the right direction... I'm very impressed with the whole shootin' match.

I'm working in Afghanistan, installing communications infrastructure as a contractor for the military here. Recently gotten bitten by the quad bug! I've never been an RC guy before, but have always wanted to learn to fly helicopters, ever since I was a kid (a. really. long. time.). Poor vision kept me from it whilst in the military, but after reading umpteen RC forums and watching just as many videos of some of you guys' FPV stuff....man, oh man!.... That's the next best thing!

I ordered a little coaxial heli (Syma S107) from Amazon to get me going with RC in my itty bitty room here, and the Real Flight 6 sim to see what I can learn from that. Flying space for the real deal won't be easy to come by around here... Likely get arrested, shot, or sent to Gitmo if I fly a quad on Kandahar Air Field! Although, there are some pretty big hanger-like places I might have a chance to fly inside... Also have to worry about the quad dropping like a rock if a Mine Resistant Armored Personnel carrier (MRAP) drives by with their jamming gizmos engaged... our cell phones crap out all the time from that. So, there will be challenges...

After watching all the videos in the pinned MultiRotor Videos and Photos topic, I'm thinking I might be able to get away with having a mini that I could learn with, but that means I'll need a real radio... I've also read that the smaller they are, the harder they usually are to fly. But, that might be my only choice to actually get one built up, and I'll just have to buck up and learn it the hard way! From all I've read about the CC board, it might not be as difficult to fly a mini as in past years, eh?

From the sound of it, getting my hands on a CC board will be a trick, but after all the reading I've been doing, I'm pretty sure I'll stick it out until I can score one. For the cramped, indoor flying I'll be limited to, the CC (maybe 3D?) sounds like the only way to go.

***
So... back to the question at hand... The Hitec Optima 9 (oops) Aurora 9 seems to have a plethora of fans. Will that radio be adequate for future use, when I eventually have the opportunity to go full-bore with an FPV equipped, regular -sized quad or octo, with all the gizmos and gadgets you can slap on a Revo board? (i.e., GPS, gimbal mount, sonar, etc?) By the time I get back to Nashville, there might actually be a battery, motor, ESC combination that'll keep all that in the air for 15-20 minutes...Maybe more!

Respectfully,

Jack

Edited by Terrier, 18 February 2012 - 09:20 AM.

[Aerhead]

Jack

There are many ways to get in the air today. The fastest and easiest way is the AR Drone. In ten minuets you can be in the air. If you enjoy building, the CC board is the best I've seen. While your waiting for a CC you could try this quad. It's flies well and won't hurt anyone. The jump jet flies just like the quads with a CC board but has inferred RC control. Sun light will hurt control but RF jamming should have no effect. This copter is not easy to fly like the AR Drone but it makes a good trainer for someone wanting to get into the hobby. The jump jet will break easily so get some glue or get good enough at flying it so you don't need the extra wings to fly it.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__1258y5__Jump_Jet_RC_Hover_Aircraft_Plug_n_Fly.html

Larry

[Terrier]

Thanks, Larry, but with the S107 Coaxial and the Real Flight on the way, I think I'm going to hold out and start putting together a real quad, albeit maybe a smaller one... Spent enough on toys already...

The question I'm really needing an answer to right now, is how many radio channels would a Revo be capable of using when it's fully decked out with GPS, FPV, etc? Will a 9 channel radio be adequate, or total overkill? I just don't want to end up with a "less than adequate" radio that I'd have to replace in the not too distant future...

I haven't been able to find any direct answers to that question anywhere on the site. The answer might be there, somewhere amongst the almost 60,000 posts, but try coming up with a search term that doesn't give you a zillion other things before it smokes it out!

[dacat]

Hi Terrier,

Terrier, on 18 February 2012 - 09:34 AM, said:

The question I'm really needing an answer to right now, is how many radio channels would a Revo be capable of using when it's fully decked out with GPS, FPV, etc?

ok this are my thoughts....

What you need for basic flying
4 Channels for flying... (throttle,yaw,pitch,roll)
1 Channels for flightmode (Attitude, AxisLock,Rate) can be handle by 1 channel like a 3 way switch

This is for the future....nothing officiel on the following features!
(3) Channels for GPS/baro (Position hold, coming home, altitude hold) can be handle by 1 channel like a 3 way switch
1 channel for carefree (mk style)
+ X channels for future stuff never know whats coming up

Terrier, on 18 February 2012 - 09:34 AM, said:

Will a 9 channel radio be adequate, or total overkill?

you can never overkill on the channels

4 will be for flying
1 for flightswitch

4 channels left... but u can handle 3 channels on one 3way switch .... so 3 channels left... and so on

so i would go for 9channels if you thinking of future using

[dankers]

Revo will be able to take multiple inputs so say Spektrum and PPM and S/Bus all at the same time (if you look at the new input set up you might figure out why it has been done), so run out of channels, just use two transmitters

The actual idea is for two person operation with each person having control of certain functions, for example a pilot and a camera gimbal operator

[D-Lite]

dacat, on 18 February 2012 - 10:24 AM, said:

+ X channels for future stuff never know whats coming up

Maybe 2-3 channels to control a camera gimbal would be nice. I think 7 analogue channels + 2 switch channels (3way prefered) should be fine for almost all situations.

[dacat]

D-Lite, on 18 February 2012 - 10:31 AM, said:

Maybe 2-3 channels to control a camera gimbal would be nice.

for women only "multitasking" flying and gimbaling at the same time

i think the trend is like dankers said ... one radio for flying ... one for the camera

[D-Lite]

dacat, on 18 February 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

i think the trend is like dankers said ... one radio for flying ... one for the camera

Yep, that's a great feature. I doesn't even need a second radio, you could control the additional channels via the GCS (joystick/gamepad)

[Adverse Effects]

and a 3rd Tx / Rx for the navigator / engineer

Edited by Adverse Effects, 18 February 2012 - 10:48 AM.

[dacat]

D-Lite, on 18 February 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:

Yep, that's a great feature. I doesn't even need a second radio, you could control the additional channels via the GCS (joystick/gamepad)

some really good thoughts D-Lite.... now i know for what i´ll use the PipX!!!

so great!

[Terrier]

dankers, on 18 February 2012 - 10:28 AM, said:

Revo will be able to take multiple inputs so say Spektrum and PPM and S/Bus all at the same time (if you look at the new input set up you might figure out why it has been done), so run out of channels, just use two transmitters

The actual idea is for two person operation with each person having control of certain functions, for example a pilot and a camera gimbal operator

Would that second transmitter work with a head movement controlled camera gimbal, for a solo FPV flight with a gimballed camera? Just from what I've read in the past few days, noting the date stamps on the posts I've seen around the web, head controllers seem to be leaping forward in design and simplicity. I may be mistaken, but there seem to be some that look pretty affordable...

[dankers]

The best way to do a head tracker is with a single radio, it is a great observation as that is a key place where you can use extra channels.

The best radios to my knowledge (which is for sure out of date) are Futaba radios for this, many allow you to assign only a few channel to be controlled via the trainer port and let you maintain control of the rest.

Head trackers used to be poor and had a lot of drift or did not allow diagonal head movements but like you say they have got a heap better lately combining gyros / accels and mags.

[Kenn Sebesta]

Brian, on 08 February 2012 - 10:06 PM, said:

I may be imagining it, but it seems like there's some sort of "ceiling effect" that tends to hold the quad on the ceiling...

Being wedged against the ceiling is what we controls guys call an unstable equilibrium point.

[Caustic]

dankers, on 18 February 2012 - 01:04 PM, said:

The best way to do a head tracker is with a single radio, it is a great observation as that is a key place where you can use extra channels.

The best radios to my knowledge (which is for sure out of date) are Futaba radios for this, many allow you to assign only a few channel to be controlled via the trainer port and let you maintain control of the rest.

Head trackers used to be poor and had a lot of drift or did not allow diagonal head movements but like you say they have got a heap better lately combining gyros / accels and mags.

The new modular Spektrum would be well suited it seems, if you are willing to drop $1k+ on a transmitter. Build or adapt a module for the channel applications.