Hi all,
Here is my ground station, ready for the bits to be put on it when i get my hands on the FPV gear at Christmas.
Here are some piccys, hope you like it!
(http://s3.postimage.org/7kvXA.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/evhkqfes/)
-That tripod was given to me by my dad. It was useless for a camera as the pan/tilt was removed for a projector. However, the wooden platform is perfect for mounting the stuff on.
(http://s3.postimage.org/7lHMS.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/ewv6uu84/)
The gear. The pan and tilt bracket for the patch antenna is at the left of the platform, and the open area at the back is where the VRx will be.
(http://s3.postimage.org/7nI_9.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/ez7j9jes/)
2 2200MaH 3s li-pos will go in that box underneath. They will be in parallel to give 8 hours+ of power in the groundstation.
Last one for today:
(http://s3.postimage.org/7oNl0.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/f0g6rwqs/)
That black heatsink you see is for a 5A regulator, which takes in the 11V from the li-pos and chucks out 5V so i can charge the control box for the goggles with it.
That terminal block is for everything to go into. It is connected to the 11 volts from the li-pos, positive on the left, negative on the right. The reasoning behind this is that i can add/remove things with ease. Whereas if it was all soldered together, if i needed to add/remove something, it would be much more hassle than 2 screws.
So that's where i'm at, if you want more piccies, then say ;)
Sheldon
Interesting concept there Sheldon, looks like your really planning it out :)
looking good sheldon looks like your going in the right direction.. ie up he he
Oh, forgot to mention. Due to my frankly epic coolness, the pan and tilt, is, of course, constructed from aircraft grade aluminum ;D
Quote from: Sheldon Holy on November 07, 2010, 11:19:20 PM
Oh, forgot to mention. Due to my frankly epic coolness, the pan and tilt, is, of course, constructed from aircraft grade aluminum ;D
Does that mean it will be traced back to the engine bits that fell off the A380 the other day :o
Otherwise good build so far :D
looks good so far, what are the rest of your plans for it?
Quote from: Njoro on November 07, 2010, 11:40:02 PM
Quote from: Sheldon Holy on November 07, 2010, 11:19:20 PM
Oh, forgot to mention. Due to my frankly epic coolness, the pan and tilt, is, of course, constructed from aircraft grade aluminum ;D
Does that mean it will be traced back to the engine bits that fell off the A380 the other day :o
Otherwise good build so far :D
:o ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: Jay28 on November 07, 2010, 11:42:01 PM
looks good so far, what are the rest of your plans for it?
Add VRx, li-pos, shove on the patch antenna and solder on the charging lead for the control box and jobs a goodun'.
Happy now ;D
Quote from: Njoro on November 07, 2010, 11:40:02 PM
Quote from: Sheldon Holy on November 07, 2010, 11:19:20 PM
Oh, forgot to mention. Due to my frankly epic coolness, the pan and tilt, is, of course, constructed from aircraft grade aluminum ;D
Does that mean it will be traced back to the engine bits that fell off the A380 the other day :o
Otherwise good build so far :D
I mean: That's Titanium... ;D ;D
What antenna are you going to use? you mentioned pan and tilt are you going for antenna tracking too?
8dbi patch. Not tracking, just point in the general intended direction of flight, and tighten up with the 2 thumb screws.
You could just have it set to 45 degrees and just use pan then ?
polarization?
ok, I thought you might have gone for circular or are you going to use diversity in the future?
Quote from: Jay28 on November 07, 2010, 11:55:26 PM
ok, I thought you might have gone for circular or are you going to use diversity in the future?
Thats what is at FirstPersonView.co.uk. And yes, the plan is to have diversity in the future.
They have circular too, that's where I purchased mine from, would highly recommend.
So where will the second antenna, vrx and diversity go?
zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Yes which one is it Sheldon, are you using a CP or linear patch ?
Quote from: Jay28 on November 07, 2010, 11:58:51 PM
They have circular too, that's where I purchased mine from, would highly recommend.
So where will the second antenna, vrx and diversity go?
Ok, i got it wrong (never happens, i know). That is the one with the RP-SMA connector, the one with the SMA connector that i am getting is indeed circularly polarised.
Quote from: Jay28 on November 08, 2010, 12:01:44 AM
zzzzzzzzzzzzz
I got caught on my pc lol.
Quote from: Coyote on November 08, 2010, 12:03:34 AM
Yes which one is it Sheldon, are you using a CP or linear patch ?
CP... ;D
I'm curious why you are installing the two lipos, where are you planning to fly in 8 hours??? :o
I may power my Tx via it, and i would like to have the capabilities of non stop charge, fly, charge, fly etc... without having to worry about the groundstation needing charging. Also, if i want to go somewhere different to fly, 2 lipos are a lot lighter than say a Pb battery.
In which case Nigel, you should seriously think about incorporating a volt meter into your set up, if not you could run out of power and kill your lipos or even worse lose video and crash or lose your bird.
I use this one for my GS battery, which gives a live reading:-
http://www.rcmodelcentre.co.uk/LIPO-VOLTAGE-READER-4403060/prod_1271.html (http://www.rcmodelcentre.co.uk/LIPO-VOLTAGE-READER-4403060/prod_1271.html)
Oh ok Jay :)
That is something i have thought about (yeah right), but we've got between now and christmas to sort that out. I could probably get my dad to make one, as his buisness is in electronics (interface converters, to be exact) so im sure we could make something up whereby we have a LED screen to tell us the voltage and a buzzer to scream when it gets low, as when you have the goggles on, you can't see anything so it would be tricky to fly the plane blind while you peer over at the GS.
I don't think you'll need to check your GS voltage all the time, before each flight will do. For example if your battery lasts 8 hours and say you're doing hour flights, you could forgot how many you've done and run into problems. As long as you know you have enough juice at the start to complete the flight you'll be fine. A cheap volt reader will do that.
Well ive got 2 months to over complicate stuff ;D .
Well if you really want to over-complicate matters then try this: http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10343 (http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10343) then you can move around and still know your GS battery voltage. I use one on all my big non-FPV electric models, like the A380, real piece of mind as you don't want loose something like that due to low batteries.
Quote from: electricmick on November 08, 2010, 11:44:48 PM
Well if you really want to over-complicate matters then try this: http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10343 (http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10343) then you can move around and still know your GS battery voltage. I use one on all my big non-FPV electric models, like the A380, real piece of mind as you don't want loose something like that due to low batteries.
Well i've seen those, they look good. But im not that serious ;D
Quick update:
Got the chance to connect it all up the other day, here are the results:
It all works perfectly. I plug in the 2 2200mAh 3s packs, and it poweres the VRx, and when i plug the 5V output (from the regulator) into the goggle control box, it says it is charging.
So it all works as intended! ;D ;D :o :o ;D
Sheldon
Update.
Got more done - added the cable/plug for charging the goggle control box. I've also cable tied the cable in that goes from the goggle control box to the VRx.
I've cable tied the cable for charging the control box to the video cable. This way i can just have it plugged in all the time.
Well, here are the piccies. I have some more piccies to put up, hopefully this evening.
(http://s4.postimage.org/9nyttdlw/CIMG5099.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/9nyttdlw/)
(http://s4.postimage.org/9okbsw10/CIMG5101.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/9okbsw10/)
(http://s4.postimage.org/9pj236ec/CIMG5103.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/9pj236ec/)
(http://s4.postimage.org/9sgwhe04/CIMG5104.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/9sgwhe04/)
That's all for now.
Sheldon ;D
Looking good sheldon, its getting there bud ;)
"May I point out that if your Deans are straight from the battery they are just waiting to short out", ask me how I know. :flamethrower:
So far very nice
Quote from: Njoro on November 23, 2010, 09:33:29 PM
"May I point out that if your Deans are straight from the battery they are just waiting to short out", ask me how I know. :flamethrower:
So far very nice
What do you mean Lance...?
They are in parallel BTW.
Sheldon
If your battery ends are female and plug into the males in the picture then no problems, but the other way around you will have live exposed males all ready for a short on something. ;D
Yeah they are ok that way round from shorting point of view, but if you only have 1 single lipo plugged in then the other connector would be exposed to potentially short out.
Make sure
1) Two lipos are always plugged in or
2) If ones plugged in have a female deans with isolated rear conductors insulated plugged in to other input
Something that might be worth looking into Sheldon is that your gs has a very small current need. Your lipos can supply many many amps under fault so i personally would add fuses to the circuit to protect your equipment from damage
They are the same way up, Q, yes, but the wiring is twisted around inside so they are the same way up ;D
What do you mean same way up ?
Im on about the exposed deans connectors, doesnt matter which way up they are.
OOOh. I missunderstood LOL.
No, i always use female on the battery and male on whatever i'm plugging it into.
;D
Sheldon
Cool, but like i said if you only have one lipo plugged in you need something over the other male plug so you dont short the other lipo out, and consider a fuse between lipo and GS
If you have any polarity mis matches on equipment its not going to be pretty. And yes it can happen, thats why my GS is sporting a new UBEC instead of the turnigy one. Made an error and bang !
Quote from: Coyote on November 24, 2010, 03:19:10 PM
Cool, but like i said if you only have one lipo plugged in you need something over the other male plug so you dont short the other lipo out, and consider a fuse between lipo and GS
If you have any polarity mis matches on equipment its not going to be pretty. And yes it can happen, thats why my GS is sporting a new UBEC instead of the turnigy one. Made an error and bang !
I'm testing it with 1 li-po ATM, and i have a deans with a bridge over the positive/negative pins.
A bridge ? not metal i hope or that makes a short :(
Quote from: Coyote on November 24, 2010, 04:26:31 PM
A bridge ? not metal i hope or that makes a short :(
Yes, soldered. However it isn't on the battery. Lets try to get things straight!
Ok, 2 li-pos are plugged in in parallel on the GS. When i'm testing it, i'm using one battery, so on the other deans i bridge it to act as the second battery.
I use female connectors on the battery.
Sheldon you have something way round here
If you are bridging the connection when not using another battery you have them wired in serial not parallel.
If it were in parallel then the lipo would explode ( Because you have shorted it out )
If your wiring in series you will have double your lipo voltage with two and again blow everthing up
Ok back to basics, your not making sense and i fear you will blow your equipment up because you have wired it wrong
1) Parrallel wired lipo. This means both reds and blacks are commoned up on the ground station. This gives you 12v and the capacity of both lipos. So if you are using 2x 2200mah 3 cell lipos you will get 12v and 4400mah to your ground station. This is EXACTLY what you want. Putting a short in when using one will short the lipo though.
2) Series wired lipos. This means both have to be plugged in to work, your ground station will receive the same capacity as one of the lipos but double the voltage. So if your using 2x 2200mah lipos you will supply your GS with 24v and 2200mah. Your equipment is rated at 12v so it will blow them up
You say you put a bridge on the other spare connector if using one lipo. If its wired in parrallel like you say then you will short +ve and -ve out and explode the lipo. If its wired in series it will work fine on one lipo. If in series though you add the second lipo you will have 24volts and destroy your equipment
Which is it ?
Series.
Whoops.
Although in parrallel can't the power sources start charging one another if the voltage is very slightly out?
My dad was saying something like that and he's started a buisness in electronics (interface converters).
:-X :-X :'( :'(
Yes so you can use a diode in the circuit but because both packs should be fully charged then it wont matter anyway. :)
LiPos are amazingly tolerant of a small voltage mismatch without producing excessive current. I have often ganged together, in parallel, two partially discharged LiPos to charge them quickly, no issues. Just do not connect up a discharged LIPo to a fully charged LiPo as Coyote says, unless you like fireworks.
Ok, thanks for all the help.
I'll be re-wiring it all then.
Sheldon