Hi guys, well i decided to jump on board the Wing train.
So whats going into this build
1x Gopro HD camera
1x Flight camera, going to be a Security camera 2000 OSD cam
1x Dragon OSD
1x Dragonlink
1x Tunigy Plush 60 Amp ESC ( very FPV friendly )
2x HS645MG`s
1x Motor XYH35-42 1250kV 45a
10 x 6 Folding prop
Features are going to be :
HD recording with no plane at all in the footage, tilt on the HD camera
Full OSD with GPS, Return To Home, Waypoints, Missions, Flight Stabilizer for rock steady HD recording
UHF Control for virtually unlimited range, well as far as the plane could carry it.
2x 5000 3S lipos, yes, 10 amps of on board power giving 1 hour of flight each time.
At 10A cruise speed of around 20-30mph and that should give a distance of 20 - 30 miles on a still day :)
Seperate flight camera for larger display with OSD seperate from Gopro. Because of some issues reported with the Gopro hooked up to the flight systems im avoiding this, it will be powered off its own battery and isolated from everything.
A moulded canopy will reduce drag even further for better efficiancy
Gopro chair fitted to house the camera and provide a tilt feature
Motor info : On a 3S lipo
10x6 Folding Prop
42.4 A
10.97 v
465 W
11500 t/min
Thrust 1705 g
Efficiancy 70 %
84.1km/h
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/wing1.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/wing3.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/wing4.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/wing2.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/wing5.jpg)
The paint schemes going to be fetching chevrons underneath with a white base
Should be a beast :)
Whoooooaaaa thats is one hell of a setup well done you lucky chap..
Beast is definately right - i love it!
Nice spec.....
Cheers :)
I think shes looking fantastic, as feature packed as i can possibly think. She might weigh a fair but though. May require a bungie launcher lol :)
I never have a problem with my turnigy plush, the ecs is going in the main central hatch, the vtx if on the end of the wing
Looking very good and certainly fit for purpose ;D
Mike.
First ups the Dragonlink receiver going in. The cool thing about the Dragonlink to Dragon OSD is really you could wire it with just one servo lead, that it, all your channels are carried in a full PPM stream down channel 9.
In my case im having a seperate power feed and RSSI monitoring so 3 more wires only needed :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/stealthdl.jpg)
Nice and neat under its cover :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/dlcapped.jpg)
Antenna to be placed inside a plastic tube to keep it ridged later on
Next up is the Vtx, this is going in the other wing keeping the two antennas as far away as possible from eack other. Same principle :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/stealthvtx.jpg)
The motors now on and the ESC is getting positioned here with venting for better cooling :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo.jpg)
Its really getting there now. I have the DOSD here, although im getting a replacement sent out but it should be here within a week fingers crossed :)
A Stealthwing on steroids!
This is gonna be superb!
can wait to see this fly Ian
Simon
I believe this Immersion RC VTX needs to have moving air around it for cooling but in the photos it seems to be in a sealed compartment.
-Angelos
Really starting to look the lions length there mate.
Will be awesome!
Getting laminated tonight so more progress to come.
The vtx is cooled via a slot cut out just smaller than the vtx heat sink. Should work really well :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo-1.jpg)
Looking good :D
Where did you get the mesh from your covering the wings with?
Skrim tape for plastering
The lamination begins whoop whoop !!!
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo-2.jpg)
Quote from: Chris R on February 09, 2011, 06:25:30 PM
Looking good :D
Where did you get the mesh from your covering the wings with?
im looking at this stuff for strengthening my zephyr in places
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360241355777&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360241355777&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT)
didnt your zeph come with ritweave & lam?
Laminating finished :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo-3.jpg)
Now thats looking totally unique and cool man :rocks:
i dont agree -
its looking stunning, totally unique and cool !
:-)
Quote from: Badlands on February 09, 2011, 11:27:48 PM
didnt your zeph come with ritweave & lam?
it come with laminate but no riteweave. i think i saw a thread somewhere and chris was telling trappy not to use any riteweave but i will get that 25g per m2 fibreglass cloth and just do a few vital areas with it.
Its supposed to be getting a base layer of white laminate, but you know, i think i like the clear instead, looks cool :)
Heres how im wiring mine up, its all based on 12v components apart fron servos. I always use 12v equipment because its less complicated, less failure points and all the equipment will fully work all the way down to 7 volts if there is any fault ie a cell goes down on my lipos. With 5v systems, if anything drops the voltage you can end up with no transmission which i dont like the sound of :)
(http://s2.postimage.org/9z2qfuas/mysys.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/9z2qfuas/)
Nice clear wiring diagram Ian, i think ill print that one out!
Ever thought about on-board microphone? After using one a while back i got used to it & now find it very usefull to have.
I dont know Martin, the DOSD has video in but no audio in, just audio out so im mixed wether a mic would interfere with the warnings or wether i really need to hear them
Well you could just hook the audio out of DOSD to your vtx & u will get all the warning beeps etc.
I do that & just splice a mic into the same audio line - they both mix lovely.
Ah right so they play ok together nice one, another question box ticked. I might just do that then :)
Still no replacement DOSD hmmm, wondering if its been sent :( ?
Yea - ive had to add resistors to turn the mic gain down but they work well.
Cool added to future mods :)
Excellent, but why no paint?
-Angelos
Going for a vinyl finish on it so i can change the colour and design as much as i want. I wanted a bit of detail in it and vinyl seemed the best option. Paining is a one shot deal. Once its lam`d over your stuck with it
So progress :
Elevons are now on and hinged :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo3.jpg)
Elevon horns and linkages now attached
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo6.jpg)
The motors now in its home :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo2-1.jpg)
ESC and Current Sensor for the DOSD are now sitting in their resting place :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo1.jpg)
Not a great deal left now to do me thinks. Winglets, lipo fitted, lipo leads and to fit the DOSD (when it arrives ) and setup for its maiden Hmm i can almost smell it :)
I really cant wait to see this one fly Ian.
Good move on keeping the servo arms stock - you can tweak them as you please.
Coming along nicely.
nice one ian exciting times ahead
Grrr, I have some catching up to do! Hopefully my spray paints will arrive tomorrow and depending on how fast they dry I may be able to laminate it tomorrow night or Tuesday. Maybe we can both maiden them on Wednesday.
-Angelos
Lol get your skates on :)
I doubt it will be flying by then, first its got to arrive but so has my replacement DOSD which is AWOL right now :(
Im swapping my gear over to 5.8ghz as well so i can fly near / at local clubs as well now. Its a high initial cost but means its fully compatible with 2.4ghz users so il be able to fly with Keith again and hopefully get some HD footage off his tri of some cool low level passes which should be sweet :)
This is how shes looking so far. Batteries and gopro chair to add. Ill attach the winglets when it arrives :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/photo-4.jpg)
2 1/4 kg, shes a big girl thats for sure :)
Looking really nice and smooth. Are you going to add some colour or decals to make it easier to spot in the air or on the ground?
Cheers Mick, yeah its getting vinyl. One idea im liking is a sort of grey metal panel scheme with panels missing at random with inner machine workings inside. Some high detail stuff. Going to play around with a few ideas with a mate and see what we can cme up with :)
That looks almost ready to fly.
Very nice ian.
Nearly there but not quite :)
Progress and a bit more customising. First the cameras :
Heres how the cameras are going to sit. Side by side on the blunt nose with no plane in shot to spoil the view :)
We decided to save weight and go for the new epp gopro case ;)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/batb-1.jpg)
Next the battery locations. Where oh where do you put 2x 5000 mah lipos to get the cg right ?
The first lipo will be behind cameras the second in the hatch. The second one will be on the CG line. This means i can choose to fly either 1 or 2 lipos which is a great :)
First lipo location :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/bata.jpg)
Second lipo location :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/battery1.jpg)
Braces will be added in the hatch compartment so the lipo cant move forward in an unplanned vertical landing and avoids damaging my OSD
So, camera location sorted , lipo location sorted, winglets being fitted by me. Thats the lot !
Nope not yet :)
In my first post i mentioned a speed pod to reduce drag.
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/speedpod.jpg)
Motor, hub and prop all fitted in place now too. Aeronaut CAM props are sweet :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/motor.jpg)
Now we are done.
Bring it on !!!!!!!!!!! :)
looks like its going to be an amazing bird Ian!!!
He he awesome design love the whole concept very impressed ..
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1129.jpg)
Next was the cameras, a bit of velcro for the Gopro, plug in the flight camera and elastic band them in situ :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1132.jpg)
The gopro chair is very well made, the cable pre fitted and even a grommet for protection, nice :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1131.jpg)
Ive choosen magnets as my weapon of choice for flap security, so i started installing them :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1136.jpg)
I fitted some heavier duty magnets either side of the main lipo, this wil be to hold the speed pod on securely :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1137.jpg)
Owen has cut away the underside of the speed pod so the rushing air that goes under the Gopro chair is channeled harmlessly away reducing drag to a minimum :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1133.jpg)
Two configurations can be flown looks wise, to pod, or not to pod :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1134.jpg) (http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1135.jpg)
The 5.8ghz video transmitters transmitter looks very small on this size wing i noticed, a bit out of place really
Again, nearly a month now, still no DOSD !!!!! so wiring just has to sit there until its arrival :(
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1130.jpg)
Once its here it will be uber neat as always and loads of spare room, although looking at it now you have to use a little imagination
So the end product so far ? Well heres a pic to give a bit of scale but ill update as we go then get some better ones :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1128.jpg)
Thats looking fantastic Ian, nice layout and well built. Should fly like a dream.
Mike.
It will def be worth the wait - its looks nice & slippery.
Wow, wow...
That's going to take some hiding in the house !
(p.s Ian, I've just ordered my EZOSD, RSSI, GPS 10hz, 100amp sensor)
Paul
Omg god its eaten the sofa lol..wow thats is one goodlooking wing sweet as ian good buy btw..
JESUS!
Cant really appreciate the size until you see it on the sofa!!! :o
Looks awesome mate!!!
you've gotta let me have a go of that mate
Well another update, i decided to go with the chevrons on the bottom and a tribal design on the top. So Keith and I set about the bottom.
To give you a even better idea of the size, here`s 6ft of me the very proud owner :) Oh and the new look bottom ;)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/250220111217.jpg)
Cheers lads
Nice one Paul, EZOSD rocks :) It is a big large isnt it Mark lol
Simon, err maybe lol Yes i hope it is worth the wait Martin :)
Even the ASW doesn`t look that big anymore lol
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1138.jpg)
On the ASW i wanted the lower Dragonlink antenna to remain straight, i tried a spring but being metal this would / could effect performance.
With the Coyotewing as with most the antenna being stiff would be no good for landings. Having it in a plastic tube such as a push rod tube would work to a degree but pivoting using the wire would weaken the wire after a while so another solution had to be thought up.
After a few ideas Keith came up with a cracker, the idea being we needed antenna to fold back over for landing but correct itself in flight, have enough strength to combat air over it and place no strain on cable. The answer, cable tie and heatshrink tubing :)
What we did was hot glue the cable ties base to the wing behind the antenna cable, feed it with the antenna up the heatshrink tubing. The cable tied provides the support not the cable, it springs back after bending and has enough strength to cope with winds :)
Forgot to take a pic of us doing it but heres the cable tie behind glued down :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1140.jpg)
And showing the flexibility of it :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1141.jpg)
Hey Presto, full range Dragonlink capabilities with a free mod :)
Great stuff Ian. Should look sweet with some air under it.
Mike.
nice Ian!
Whats its all up weight?
any idea of the amp draw you're going to get off that motor and prop combo?
I ask because I'm looking at a 60" wing myself and wonder whether I can get away with a lighter motor and also wonder whether my packs can take the amp draw of a motor the same as yours.
I'm coming at it from a different angle, lighter the better and more streamlined to extend duration rather than loading it up with mah.
cheers
steve
The AUW is 2.25kg Steve, only .05kg up on Team Black Sheeps art kit i noticed so im not that paranoid at all now which is good.
Give me a few minutes we are just going to run the motor up now
well thats 3hrs... didnt let the smoke out did ya? :)
Lol installed windows 7 Ultimate so been busy we`l have a go in a sec :)
No worrys, I got the wing sorted so I'm interested to see how your stealth goes with that weight on the single 3s pack.
Gonna be a couple of weeks before I'm looking at getting the motor, you should have had plenty of air time by then...DOSD dependant of course :'(
I wouldnt hold your breath mate, mondays post has been and gone and STILL no DOSD. Its around 4 weeks now, im starting to get annoyed with waiting.
Last night with no internet access i got a little bored so set about doing a few odds and sods that i can still do without DOSD being here.
First was channel selection of the VTX, sealed inside the wing was not practical to get to the switch so i simply added a slot :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1142.jpg)
Next thing was the CG.
I wanted the CG further back too so i removed the balse spar for the lid. This let the lipo slide bck a bit further, then i adjusted motor until i got the CG bck to 10 1/4 inches, not bad from 9 1/2 :)
Now when the second lipo is removed the CG stays exactly where it is, piece of mind for me :)
This also freed up a bit more space in the hatch for fitting the DOSD if it ever turns up \0/
Remember the initial wiing ?
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1130.jpg)
I set about installing my homemade LC Filter and soldering up the 12v powered equipment to it. Then i made up a GPS sensor wire, the GPS has now been mounted on the ESC to use its shield as a ground plane. Then i added a ferrite ring to improve its performance more and made up a plug for DOSD fitting
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1144.jpg)
Looking much better now :)
Thats my homemade LC Filter, its just a ferrite ring and 47uf capacitor
LC Filter (http://www.fpvuk.org/forum/index.php?topic=1214.0)
The lamfilm is over the cross weave tape right?
I know that the adhesive on cross weave isnt UV resistant, will the lamfilm cut out the UV? Usually a coloured layer is put over the top of cross weave to stop the adhesive going all powerdery.
Just a thought.
Yeah the lam is over the cross weave Steve, I didnt know that, but its all getting covered soon anyway so only the underside to worry about uv getting too. Ill just have to do less inverted with it lol :P
Yes my 2x 3S lipos power all, it goes to the current sensor where it splits, 1 set of wires to the Esc and the other to the LC Filter. This removes all interference to supply my DOSD, Vtx and Camera
With it wired like this the DOSD measures all mah used so remains accurate. My 12v gear works fine down to 7.2 volts when the first thing to fail is the camera, but 7.2 volts is way beyond the 9.3 volt limit of flight.
My lipo`s are 5000 mah each, my DOSD from the suppliers has been over 4 weeks now. First one took 4 days though ???
But my DOSD from Martin ( Badlands ) has turned up whoop whoop !!!
When first powered up something was wrong, nothing appeared, after checking a few things and chatting with Martin and Shikra we came up with the theory that the programming was set to Martins radio so might not be playing ball. The second problem was my USB - TTL converter wouldnt talk to it either.
Shikra kindly found after a while that there was something wrong with the Windows 7 driver, so reinstalled and wehey contact ! I then flashed the DOSD`s memory and she fired up straight away :)
So ive sat most the night checking, double checking and setting up autopilot but now apart from calibrating current sensor im ready to rock n roll :)
So neatened up the wiring, going to extend one of the servo wires though
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1154.jpg)
Wow loads of room left matey nice one..
Not a massive amount when im running 10 amps :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1156.jpg)
But plenty still for baro and maybe IMU too :)
Todays update, well not great. After checking everything over everything checked out fine. DOSD working well so it was maiden time !
The only thing i had not checked was my transmitter. I hadnt checked the trnsmitter at this point just tapping into the video out from the DOSD instead to save burning vtx out after being on and standing still. Thats when it went wrong, i plugged the vtx power in, plugged in the lipo and plums of smoke and flames followed.
After pulling the lipo off and waiting for the smoke to clear i found the vtx cable had fused itself together right though the spar.
What had happened was the +ve wire was crimped into the -ve side of the plug and vice versa. The vtx had shorted the lipo out :(
I then spent all afternoon tryng to clear the fused wire out from in the spar. The problem was it had melted to the video cable too.
Ive now got new wires in place and ill try the vtx tonight but im not holding out much hope. Expensive lesson, if vtx is fried that £80 ive not got down the drain, lesson being take nothing for granted and check everything !
The good news was nothing else seemed damaged, the DOSD was fine so i went to Keiths to set the current sensor up. The isense wire has to be calibrated but the max voltage value in the menu was 3.3v mines kicking out 7.5 volts ....... bugger lol
Still we had the watt meter sat there so here`s the figures Steve :
At WOT we were getting 311 watts at 29 amps on a 10x6 Cam folder
311 / 5 = 62w / lb
So if 60 watts per lb will fly it will fly. But im tempted to step up to a 11x8 prop though to get a bit more. 30 amps is still 20mins of WOT flying and a breeze for a 60 amp ESC.
Well tonight went ok, after replacing the lipo power cable the trabnsmitter would turn on but go off again as soon as video wires were plugged in. This then suggested more than meets the eye with the video cable, so out it came and sure enough its melted :(
I replaced the wire with some more sheilded wire and resoldered the connectors on. Fired her up and sure enough got a picture broadcast to my GS, huray !!
Well im not sure, the picture is hard to describe, strange ?? Normally i can sit the other side of the room and cover my omni and the picture un effected, now though i get near total loss and whats more the Vtx after being left for 15 mins is not hot to the touch. Normally a good thing but with immersionrc vtx`s thats bad.
Ill ground test tomorrow but im expecting poor ground range because the vtx is not at its rated power anymore :(
The big dogs back in business!!!
nearly...
Just fly REALLY close in :)
Well its had its maiden !! Happy days, she flew smooth as it gets. A bit of trim and i was away. Its exactly what i asked for, no speed demon but plenty of grunt low down. Cruise was very slow too which was spot on.
The vtx however failed, i gave Keith and Darren the goggles while i LOS`d her and even at 100m the video was failing :(
I flew FPV for a bit close in, very happy with the cameras performance, it was nearly dark and the camera picture was like daylight which was nice.
Two mistakes, 1) I forgot to put SD card in Gopro >:( 2) My recorders cable was faulty, i could see it was recording but couldnt see the screen when i stopped flying, so i took a guess and pressed record again and waited for lights to calm down before powering down. This was a mistake, you had to press stop on the remote so it didnt save it >:( >:(
But tonight ive managed to make what appears to be a working transmitter from the damaged vtx. So far ground tests have been 100x better than tests yesterday with suspect vtx so looks like im all set :)
Now its been trimmed for level flight with the right ammount of reflex i marked the elevon positions and zero`d the trims. I then adjusted the linkage to match the marks so everythings easier to work from. Might help the autopilot too :)
Ok, so no FPV after a camera and vtx fail so i had today free to fine tune.
This morning my Otto current sensor turned up, at last i could get readings of Voltage, Current and mah used in flight. I decided to spend the day at keiths so went up and started modding the current board. Three resistors had to be removed and one side of the tracks bridged. Then i fitted the deans connectors.
On went the watt meter and calibration began. Didnt take too long :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1179.jpg)
Neatened up the wiring more too.
I need to protect my DOSD from the second lipo so i made a removable brace from 3 peices of plastic. A shut should not have any ill effects now
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1173.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1172.jpg)
Because money is tight the graphics are gong to have to wait but i needed some visualization on the top. I put some black tape down on it and trimmed it up a bit. I did the front blue lipo and speed pod too
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1170.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1169.jpg)
Nice one ian its all good in the coyote hood he he she looks ready matey to kiss the blue nice one..
You really are having a hard time with it mate!
Im sure it will be worth the effort though...
Looking good. :)
Yup ive had some real bad luck, mainly its the only luck i have but never fear, i have had some incredibly kind help from several members in my time of need and have a PSU, a KX171 and vtx turning up. All donated by members to help my cause.
I cant say how chuffed and amazed i am and the kindness of the members helping out a complete stranger.
Many many thanks lads, i dont know if you want to be named so i havent but i cant begin to thankyou all enough :)
With th KX171 this also offers me something ive never considered before............... Night flying :)
Well this was the sort of fpv maiden nightmare lol, the wing was fine, the vtx was no good, and camera failed at the end.
Its not very good, it was mainly me playing with endpoints expo and dual rates. Then trying to see how low i could go and how wing acts. Basically testing
Stealthwing maiden (http://vimeo.com/20756003)
Chris says there is a limbo contest at the meet, thought i better practice :)
Bloody hell i need to get some practicing in superb mate theres nothing wrong with that bud quick stable responsive hmm i like the way it flyes ..
looks nimble and quick!!!
Looks like it will fly like a dream mate.. :)
Flies really nicely, well done Ian. I thought you were going for the goal posts.
Lol next time :)
Nice to see it in the air Ian, it doesnt look far from 'dialled in' either.
When we flying?
:-)
Soon mate, real soon :)
Ive got Autopilot and Stabilization gain to check then im good to go nuts :)
Todays update :
I figured the bottom side of the dragonlink with the cable tied glued in works very well. It also acts in another way, if you hit it lightly it springs back like it was designed to do. If however you push against it the cable tie slides inside the heat shrink and the antenna stays down or curled over for transport. Very handy :)
So i decided to do the same with the top half of the antenna :
I took the protective heat shrink off the original antenna :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1182.jpg)
Cable tie and heat shrink :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1183.jpg)
Dug a bit of the foam out of behind where the antenna sprouts and glued the cable tie in. Put heat shrink over the top and done ! :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1184.jpg)
The next mods sort of looks only. I have the new 10mw 2.4ghz transmitter to go in. With its antenna being straight off it and therefore buried inside the airframe i wanted it higher and clear. With only a tiny 10mw of power lets face it its going to need all the help it can get.
Ive been told this mod does nothing for performance but ill try it for myself, see what happens.
Anyway, take 1x 10mw transmitter and broken 3dbi omni antenna :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1185.jpg)
Carefull cut away the bottom of the sma connector to expose cable. Solder the active and shield wires to the transmitter and there you go a 10mw transmitter with a stronger ( mechanically )
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1187.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1188.jpg)
Now at least the antennas higher stronger and now fits the hole of the other one lol :)
The next mod was long overdue. I had previouslt scratched my gopro lens. Luckily though it was out of shot but I know its only a matter of time until i scratch it in the wrong place and end up with a very expensive fix. To get aound this is very simple. I take the plastic lens off of the waterproof cover which im never going to use and i hot glued it to the front of the gopro.
My main worries is will it effect the footage, if it does, rather stupidly ill take it off and risk the main lens, if not, jobs a buck and its now protected :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1190.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1191.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1193.jpg)
Because its hot glued on, the glue can be removed really easily from plastic so if it gives me worse fisheye of glare off the plastic lens its a gonna :) Initial tests outside showed no change in the image at close range so im happy so far
I like the lens mod Ian - i too have slightly marked the gorpo lens - might have to do this mod now as it seems to work well.
Where did you get the engine mount?
this is where i got mine from
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130482606067 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130482606067)
check the sellers other items to see if he has anymore
Thats the fella :)
Thanks for that, just ordered one!
Ok update time, been busy changing and trying things, all the pictures are of the mods unfinished, they only need taping up but they stick out more this way.
First up was the thumb grip mod, after seeing Thomas easy launch video and Martins results it had to be done. It was also handy doubling up as a landing skid because i wanted the nose lifted :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1204.jpg)
You can also see I`ve also dropped the Gopro chair into the fuse now, i found it was a bit too exposed for my liking so i sunk it in. This of course ment i could also lower the speed pod and reduce drag too :) With regards to the speed pod, thats changed too. I split it into three setions, the front is now permenantly attatched to Gopro chair offering even more strength, then i permenantly attached the 3rd piece to the hatch. Why ? Because i wanted a better way of securing my flight lipo in. To do this i cut the pod into three but keyed the center piece. Now it slides in and locks the lipo down without adding weight, thats why the other two pieces are now permenant :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1206.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1207.jpg)
Now of course the lid would keep falling down when im trying to work on it, so i used one of the original magnets that kept the speed pod on and added a magnet to the permenant piece on the hatch. When its open the two magnets keep it up :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1210.jpg)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1211.jpg)
I have also reworked most of the electronics now. I have moved the video to the left hand side of the wing, completely seperate from the power side. The vtx has swapped sides and been moved further out the wing. The GPS is even further still near the wing tip ready for the EZOSD and eventually replacement DOSD when funds allow. Ive also fitted the EZOSD current sensor too. Because im not using the DOSD it meant running servo wires from all channels of the Dragonlink to the hatch, the wire and crimps have been kindly provided by Paul ( pk-surfing ). This way, if i choose to run EZOSD or DOSD the wiring is there now so i can swap via a few plugs, no mods :)
I have also fitted a GY401B HH gyro, the second will be fitted in the next day or two, each gyro will for now control pitch and roll axis for a poor mans stabilization deveice, for it to control both access equally the gyro has to be placed at 45 degrees. In this case i want more roll control than pitch so i put mine at 30 dergees. The gain of the gyro can be adjusted in flight via my ch.6 pot.
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1214.jpg)
The video equipment is now supplied completely seperate from the rest of the plane via a balance lead socket located near the lipo :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1213.jpg)
The CG has now been moved forwar to 24cm, and a gopro dummyload added. Hopefully all will be trimmed by tomorrow and the second gyro fitted by the weekend for some action with Paul :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1208.jpg)
Oh yeah, i moved the winglets back too a bit, look miles better and fitted a camera bracket to the gopro chair for adjustability so the Gopro can point down and the camera point straight too :)
Looks good ian good.luck at the weekend ..
Today i decided to start my conversion from linear video transmission to circular. Having a circular patch already mean the first logical step was the vtx antenna. At the power restrictions we have in place in the UK using circular seems the best way forward, banked turns etc wont be a problem any more :)
The antenna i chose to make was the cloverleaf design. I followed Alex`s tutorial and after mk 1 didnt look right i realised that I`d made a 2mm mistake and started again. The whole build only took 20 mins from start to finish, it was fiddly, the soldering was the hard bit though, had a few goes at that one lol
I used 1.5mm copper wire, normally soft once i realised how short the elements were i figured it would be fine. Bent the wavelengths in, the angles, soldered the first element on, then positioned the second one so all were at 60 degress and 120 degree spacing and it started to look like it should :)
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1217.jpg)
Not pretty but accurate, i then re-did the soldering again !! because it was a mess lol, then tested it for vtx in the plane
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1219.jpg)
Added glue to stop shorting the two elements out, and once the glue had set the antenna was much much stronger.
In this pic there is the GPS sensor i relocated behind it ( Forgot to photograph it previouisly ) to give you some sort of scale, its not half as big as you would think but much stronger than you would.
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1220.jpg)
Hoping to test it tomorrow after todays flying was cancelled because I`d forgot Donna`s birthday :)
Very interesting Ian - ill be checking back here to see your results.
:-)
Ok, another few days another few changes. I painted up the antenna for looks only ( protection very little ) :)
Then i moved my attention to the winglets. After a bit of chatting on shout various possibilities were thrown into the mix. The reason for these ideas was two reasons.
1) On landings, even great landings, the winglets, held on with hot glue would come away. After a few times of this happening i found it annoying.
2) Both myself and Badland have had accidents with the winglets catching on objects.
My first mod was to put the winglets further back, this would cure the hooking ( daft flying ) problem, but again on landings they would come away. I 5 min epoxied one of my winglets on once, the result ? The winglet didnt come off, but thats when it hooked and span the wing destroying my gopro, so i was a bit put off using it again ( epoxy )
So one idea put forward was mounting the winglets on top of the wing. They could be placed anywhere from the middle to the outer edge of the wing. They would still be functional in performance, have no contact with the ground and lateral forces so wouldn`t come away on a landing.
The other option was cut the bottom off the winglet so its not in contact and leave them on the end of the tips. This method i choose to use after experimenting with the other
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1229.jpg)
And so, the wing now looks like this :
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/DSCF1230.jpg)
I also made up a UHF Turnstile antenna for the Dragonlink. At first, it appeared to be smaller than the original antenna. But after completion, it was in fact bigger. Positioning the antenna in a horizontal plane meant the elements would hang over the end of the wing in nearly all orientations. After trying to find a practical way of mounting it, i gave up lol Its just too big, and one of the elements is exposed at all times to knocks and damage on landings.
Not for me
Very cool ian it ill be nice to see the results and findings..
It looks more streamlined & faster to me.
Yeah definatly more streamlined now. Time will tell :)
Right been out with Keith today for some cloverleaf testing. The results are mixed :
Both horizontally and vertical Yagi`s had incredible reception throughout the flights, not one bit of interference or break-ups at all !!
The patch antenna ( Circular polorized ) was dismal.
But im chuffed to bits, the reason the CP patch was dismal is because myself and IBCrazy couldnt determine properly wether the patch was RHCP ( Right Hand Circular Polorization ) or LHCP ( Left Hand )
I had to take a guess. If the antenna performed on the Yagi`s and the patch, this meant the Cloverleaf was fine and i had guessed right. If the Yagi`s were fine but the patch not, i had guessed wrong.
Turns out i had guessed wrong, so im making a left hand version in a few hours. Tomorrow im taking to the air with it but this time im absolutly confident all antennas will receiver perfect pictures through the whole flight.
I am seriously impressed with this antenna, its wicked. Im that impressed with the performqance with the Yagi`s that i see now point in making a Bi-Quad or Helical antenna for the receiver yet as they didnt loose any quality at all ( If it aint broke dont fix it )
The only let down was the KX171`s perfrormance, again no matter how much i adjusted it was simply too dark to fly with.
I also tried and sucessfully completed my first Coyotewing hand caught landing, even in high winds :) It was a bit daunting at the size and weight it was but not actually that bad :)
Ian, good to see you investigsating CP antennas.
Make a 4 leafed Skew-Planar, it has the best 'all round' performance and is a near perfect match to 50 ohm coax cable and has a very uniform polar plot.
Personally, I don't like the 3 leafed IBCrazy variant as it has lobes in it's polar plot.
I've been banging on about CP antennas for some time and currently, the best performance is from a Skew-Planar on the VTx and for enhanced performance a Helical beam on the VRx (both of the same hand polarity).
OMM has now developed a CP patch antenna on RCG.
I made the first Skew-Planar (5.8GHz) and originally made the FPV community aware of the Skew-Planar antenna on the RC-Cam forum, where OMM picked up on it and then made a post on his quadrocopter thread on RCG.
IBCrazy spotted it and popularised it (which is fantastic) and the rest is history...
Check out the threads on RCG where OMM really has done a lot of work (along with a couple of others) using software simulations for optimum CP antennas. OMM also has a spectrum analyzer to validate the antenna performance after each build.
Watch out for the latest developments on the QFH antenna - this is one I used years ago, but it's not (currently) optimised for best axial ratio - but I think it soon will be, although it's a b*tch to build!
Get some gold plated 'memory wire' from your local beads n bangles shop (don't be embarrased with all the ladies in there ;) ) it really is very tough at 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz.
Use RG316 teflon coax upto 2.4GHz - it doesn't melt when heated with a soldering iron.
Nigel.
Nice one ian welldone on the testing ..hope you got the catch on film lol..
Thanks Nigel, yes blown away with the difference, especially for a first try. I think ill make the Skew-Planar out of curiosity too and go from there just to compare.
Cheers for the wire tip. Ill try that :)
I went out with Keith tonight, it was too windy for flying but we could at least est the Lef Hand Circular Cloverleaf.
Now, last week the cloverleaf did really well on the Yagi`s but dismally on the patch antenna. I put this down to guessing the wrong polorization. So this week ive fitted the left and off we went.
First test : Plane placed 50 yards from groundstation. Last week this had poor picture quality. This week, perfect picture :)
Second test : On the way back from a call out we went to an idustrial estate. The plane was I stood at one end with goggles, Keith went across a field and switched plane on. If i then got a pictureall was great. What happened was, Keith rang and said he was switched on, i faced the field turned on the goggles and got a perfect picture :) Only thing was the picture was of the industrial estate ??????
What Keith had done was drove 1/3 mile down the lane and switched the plane on with me facing the opposite way 1/3 mile away. Result !!!
What was impressive was a few things:
1) 1/3 mile behind the patch and still perfect picture.
2) Perfect picture at ground level with all the metal industrial fencing creating a mltipath nightmare and
3) The best bit we were not expecting, when keith closed the van door 1/3 of mile away at ground level, i could tell him what was in the van still because i could still see it just fine :)
Enough to say both Keith and myself were more than impressed, this antenna system is my new favorite thing :)
Heres a pic of where i was stood, if you can count 4 lamposts down on the left thats where Keith parked up.
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/cayote64/060420111311-1.jpg)
So whats next ?
Well.................. :)
Im doing another mod to the wing ive not seen done in the UK yet.
Watch this space over the next week or so :)
The next thing ive turned my interest to is diversity. There is not a diversity system out there thats exactly what i want, so im looking into making my own. 4 antenna inputs, down to two, then use a simple eagletree eagle eyes to pick between the two feeds and amplify the signal from there.
Well.............................
Heres the idea, I wanted a super fast very accurate stabilization unit for the wing. I couldn`t afford a FY21, the DOSD Gps based feature is good, but i wanted quicker. So enter the Wii :)
Loads have fitted the wii controllers to Arduino boards to control tri copters, quads etc. But after Mike sent me a board up, i sat and thought, why can`t you fit one to a plane ?
After searching all over there was an experimental, totally untested code. Keith found this and showed me it. Hmm, untested and never tried before ? .......... Im game :)
Thus began the longest two days of my entire life lol. I had never worked with the code before so that took some learning time and cuppa`s by the hundred. After buying the kit, the first challenge was getting it to work for a wing. After a fair bit of help from Mike we managed to get the controllers ( Wii Motion + and Nun Chuck ) to talk to the Arduino board. Not an easy task as its wired completely different to the normal Wii setup.
Then came the code. There was lots to change, the original code didnt work. I had allsorts of problems from simple rx communication to axis mix ups. For a noob in this field, it was quite a challenge. Again lots of cuppa`s later i finally got it to fire up, read the sensors, let the rc through, switch on tx between normal and auto level.
So heres the requested video of it all working. Its past 3am so very quick, very tired :) I would not go to sleep till it worked and thank god it does :)
In the video i have PID settings very high so the camera can see the elevon movements clearly
First Wii Delta Wing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k77PdmhPDA#)
Very imprssed matey by god it works lol...
That's really clever, nice work!
nice work Ian, I like the thinking... but heres my thoughts on this kinda thing...
Now that I've cottoned on to people using stabilization and slowing down video to 60fps to get that super smooth video I'm much less impressed by a video when I find out its mostly trickery or electronics making that plane super smooth.
Stealths vids for example, I dont watch anymore as I know he's got the autopilot doing the hard work from him.
As you know, for me its about the piloting, I like to appreciate other people piloting skills and watching a video thats not being flown by the pilot I may aswel be watching something produced from full size aircraft or any other method of capturing flight footage.
This isnt a dig at you as you're my bestest FPV dude helper type bloke and I love you dearly :-*... just a general thought I thought I'd put out there.
*let the backlash roll* :)
I've watched the video twice I could be wrong but I think you have to reverse the sense in all directions, your corrections look like they are 180 out.
It was 3 in the morning though
I dont think so, left wing drops, wii give right stick, right elevon up. Wing dives, wing needs to climb, both elevons up.
Just looks like when it pitches up, more up is commanded and rolled right and right aileron increased amount. Must be my eyes.
You have me thinking now lol, it was late, just checking it again :)
OK next is the settings, im in need of some starting points, so here is my values right now :
TX :
Pitch 100% - 100%
Roll 100% - 100%
Throttle doesnt matter, its not connected
P_ROLL 0.00
I_ROLL 0.00
D_ROL 0.00
PITCH ROLLl rate 0.50
P_PITCH 0.00
I_PITCH 0.00
D_PITCH 0.00
YAW RATE 0.00
RCRATE 0.30
RCEXPO 0.50
AUTO LEVEL STRENGTH 4.0
Quote from: Gary Mortimer on April 11, 2011, 02:41:46 PM
Just looks like when it pitches up, more up is commanded and rolled right and right aileron increased amount. Must be my eyes.
At first look I thought that too, but when I looked closesly, it does lookk right.
I think you are in the right area to start. Don't think anyone really knows!
If its right, this should give very gentle stabilisation and no gyro smoothing.
From there I think it is a case of increasing P until you are happy. Same with autolevel and pitch/roll rate.
Make sure prop is balanced and vibe free as much as possible. These are real sensitive.... !!
Looks awesome to me! When can we see the first cross channel flight from an FPV pilot stood on the "White Cliffs" The France did the first manned so why not the Brits for the First FPV. Some one is going to disappoint me and say the American or the Germans have already don it. :(
The wise men say "Big is beauteous" but more importantly big is easier to see, perhapse not at 20-30 miles but I am sure you get the point and most times easier to fly.
John
Im going to rig the arduino up again today, see if i can get it to play ball again. If not, EZOSD will be going in, and FY21 some time eventually, maybe :)
Ive neglected this and the ASW for some time now, so a bit of tlc is needed me thinks. No flying, no rx but i can try sort the wii side out
Ok, so the wing had been sat there collecting dust for a while. It was in need of some TLC and to be honest I`d been putting it off for ages.
When I said I`d go up to Paul's to fly this weekend Paul wanted very much for me to bring it up. After some per sueding, I reluctantly put her in the car and took her up. Paul happily let me fit one of his BEC`s so I could fly her.
The first launch was fine, but man had I got the throws wrong, I`d say 200% too much wrong lol, twitchy wasn`t even close to stick inputs no matter how small. After a bit of a fight i wrestled her down and set about dropping the endpoints. After a few attempts back up she went and flew great, that was until the motor mount cracked and I had to come back down. But still she flew so I thought I`d give her the TLC she so desperately needed :)
On the inside I`m now running, a EZOSD with Telefly MyFlyDream antenna tracking OSD. A Turnigy 8amp BEC, OpenLRS rx and a 5.8ghz Immersion vtx with a Skew-Planar CP antenna,that's it, nothing more.
(http://s14.postimage.org/rjfy405st/IMAG0107.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/rjfy405st/)
I have changed the Gopro mounting yet again to sunk in at the front, using the waterproof case instead of leaving the camera exposed ( This wing destroyed my last Gopro (( Well I did with this wing :) ))
The FPV cam is a WDR700 from Security Camera 2000
(http://s15.postimage.org/azhcf0inb/IMAG0104.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/azhcf0inb/)
Here`s my Skew right out on the wing
(http://s18.postimage.org/lp5lkvo1x/IMAG0106.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/lp5lkvo1x/)
A bit of gluing, a bit of tape and a middle winglet for level landings and she`s not looking too shabby now with her 5000mah 4S on board :)
(http://s18.postimage.org/bvoe82lxh/IMAG0103.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/bvoe82lxh/)
Fitted a new Aeronaught spinner and Graupner 10x6 folding prop. I got 822 Watts @ 57 Amps on Full 4S
Quote from: Coyote on March 28, 2012, 03:30:36 PM
Fitted a new Aeronaught spinner and Graupner 10x6 folding prop. I got 822 Watts @ 57 Amps on Full 4S
You can never have enough watts mate :rocks:
That should be enough for a bit of fun should`nt it Simon :)