Here's my completed ground station build. Been thinking about this for yonks and is now finally a reality.
Needed to be self-contained for easy transport and deployment as i can't stand having loads of stuff to remember or loose at the field.
I was originally going to build a box from laser cut perspex, but that was going to cost a fortune.
Instead I found a waterproof project box at maplin for <£10 and thought i'd give it a try - though the final build isn't waterproof or intended for use in the rain.
The pan/tilt is a 3:1 ratio servo city unit which is bolted to the box lid. The IRC Uno is bolted to the tilt plate and the IRC EzTracker is velcro's to the side of that unit.
Cabling is routed through a couple of reamed holes in the lid - nothing catches as the pan moves.
Inside there's an IRC powerbox, power and signal cabling and room for 2 x 11.1v 2100mAh lipo packs. They connect to individual illuminated power switches (which i finally worked out how to wire correctly).
The Powerbox powers:
1. pan/tilt servos and IRC EzTracker, via a castle BEC at 6v
2. IRC Uno vRx
3. Connection for FatSharks or PirateEye monocular display (next to SDCard recorder)
4. Connection for 8" TFT via a jack on the base
The powerbox distributes signals to:
1. SDCard recorder
2. FatSharks via a phono socket (next to SDCard recorder)
3. Tracking to iphone IRC tracking app via phono socket
4. 8" TFT via a phono on the base
There's a spare signal output on the vRx which i've yet to use and a spare signal output on the powerbox too - i plan to add another set of connections for a second set of goggles.
There's a novoflex 'arca' style quick release rail bolted to the base which allows for the quick attachment to a tripod ball head.
That is absolutely sweet! Love it!
Need to get myself one of these now....
First I was gonna get the MFD Tracker, now I hear Immersion are developing a ground station. Decisions....
Loks nice. Especially ike the Tilt arrangement!
regards
Andy
Very nice build, I like :)
Love it :) its like the big brother to mine :D
I've been tempted to get that servo city (I assume that's what it is) pan/tilt setup and mount my Duo to the top like you.. I've got a spare video distribution amp kicking about that I could mount in side the box so I could just use the one 6pin din GCS link (like yourself). :)
Absolutely brilliant!!!
Makes my 'GS' look very sad indeed :-)
what tripod head is this ?...looks solid.
Tripod is a manfrotto mid-range model with a levelling centre column...
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Still trying to fine tune the tracking operation - the IRC documentation is clear jibberish IMHO. I must have read through it 50 times before it made some kind of sense to me.
I'm using a tinytelemetry unit for the tracking, also have EzOSD, but not using that at the moment.
All endpoints and throws are correctly set-up, but with me running around it holding the tinytelemetry (to test functionality) it follows, but not super quickly. Guess on a wing, with a bit of distance and altitude it will probably be better.
looks like you no what your doing can u build me one :)
What is the actual PAN/TILT?
Do you have any build photos?
PAN/TILT unit looks like mine, which is a Servo City unit
http://www.servocity.com/html/ddt500_direct_drive_tilt.html (http://www.servocity.com/html/ddt500_direct_drive_tilt.html)
http://www.servocity.com/html/spg400a-bm_bottom_mount.html (http://www.servocity.com/html/spg400a-bm_bottom_mount.html)
yup, the pan tilt are Servo City units.
The tilt is as above - with a hitec 645MG servo, the pan is actually THIS (http://www.servocity.com/html/spg785a-bm_bottom_mount.html) one with a 3:1 gear ratio - it comes with the heavy duty servo.
As far as build goes, i drilled the 3mm holes to mount the Pan assembly, but used a reamer to cut the larger holes - for cable access and the various jacks - as it gives a better quality finish IMHO.
The most fiddly bit was making up the a/v out cables. I butchered the 4pole jack cable which comes with a lot of IRC stuff, so a single 'out' could feed a video connection socket and a telemetry jack/socket.
I have a single IRC powerbox inside, but there's room to add/daisy chain a second one in there which would allow for more video connection sockets on the side of the box.