X8 Skywalker - what goes up, must come down...

[markvanhaze]

http://youtu.be/vpm3yGbEi0o

[Coyote]

Such a shame it happened after all the work that went into it.

You covered the subject very well, mentioning just about every option. I hope you get another fuse and get it back up again soon bud.

[Billy_boy_2010]

Ah bad luck. A small can of compressed air to spray in the motor after a dusty landing would prob be handy. May think about that.

You make a good point that by placing the bec, autopilot power and video power being after the current sensor it means if the current sensor fails the plane completely goes down. However- if you put them before the current sensor your maH usage will be inaccurate. How common is current sensor failure? Not sure which is the best compromise tbh. I think for a small fun bank and yank plane which burns the current and only stays in the air for 10 mins- you may as well put the other wires before the current sensor as the power they use in 10 mins will be very low. But for a really efficient cruiser which sips the mah and stays in the air for ages the total mah used needs to be accurate.

But are you really going to run your motor at full throttle for 30s before each flight to check the current peak? That's a fairly significant amount of battery used which you could regret when you have underestimated the wind on the return journey......

also there's a mobile phone limit in Turkey?!  :o

[stef1]

you could use somthing like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Mini-TK102-Real-Time-Magnetic-GPS-Car-Vehicle-Tracker-Hidden-Tracking-Device-/181430346120?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a3e176188

smaller and lighter than a smartphone with its own battery so if the main battery fails then this will continue to work

[AdamG]

Sorry to hear about the crash, but very interesting video.

Really did get me thinking about a couple of things. I never considered the failure of the current sensor and I have both my UBEC's wired in after the CS too.

GPS tracking device is something I keep thinking about. Like you say, if you get loss of control and video and you're at high altitude, the potential search area for your aircraft can be huge!

Are many people using GPS tracking devices? If yes, which one?

[Billy_boy_2010]

GPS tracking device is something I keep thinking about. Like you say, if you get loss of control and video and you're at high altitude, the potential search area for your aircraft can be huge!

Are many people using GPS tracking devices? If yes, which one?

i looked into it ages ago as the good ones are about £60 and it seems such a good idea.

However- I forget who said it- but apparently they can cause a lot of interference. Not all the time- but you know when your speakers on the computer can crackle sometimes if the ts near your phone? That's when the interference kicks up.

It's worth looking into properly though.  It's almost as vital at rth imo.

[Lola]

Sorry to see that mate, but I'm glad you got it back.

The idea of moving the sbec in front of the pm is a good idea but in my case the sbec powers the back rail to operate the servos.

The pm itself powers the apm and thus the ezuhf. Either way if my pm quits I lose control. The servos will still have power but no signal to control them.

Is there something I'm missing?

Rgs
Anthony.

[AdamG]

Billy: I might start a new thread about the GPS locator stuff later, i think it will stop me worrying so much when my plane is miles away  :)

Lola: I think the theory is that if you having everything powered after the CS, when that dies the plane has no power to anything and just falls out the sky. if you have the power to your UBEC's bypassing the CS, if that goes bang the only loss is power to your motor, meaning that you can still have video feed, full control and autopilot (although only the ability to glide as far home as possible).

[skyscraper]

Interesting vid and good to show all sides. I had a similar motor problem, but in my case circlip bust so shaft was moving.. I got a brownout and then APM rebooted as I was climbing out .. so running through all its checks etc while plane carried on straight up!

Not sure what current sensor you have but these are way superior to the ones with a small resistor

http://uk.farnell.com/allegro-microsystems/acs758lcb-100u-pff-t/current-sensor-100a-uni-3cb/dp/2057427?CMP=KNC-GUK-FUK-GEN-KWL&gclid=CIblpaaMhcUCFQsUwwodgyEABA

Can also get in 50 A and other sizes. They are completely isolated from the Power leads and have a very low resistance, unlike resistor based ones so less likely to get hot..

As for motor, I would guess a simple turn with the fingers ( with battery disconnecte) should tell you if there is grit or bearings gone etc...

regards
Andy

[markvanhaze]

Thanks for the suggestion with the compressed air spray can. Its in my field box from now on.

I now ordered atto current sensors which will handle much more current than the standard 3DR ones.

@Anthony: Basically you have no engine but you have video as well as control over the plane so you can glide it and let it come down smoothly. Also you will find it easily since you have video and/or telemetry up until touch down.

Even if your EZUHF loses power, as long as the apm has power+servos, it will (if you have your failsafe set) fly home as far as possible.

[Lola]

I'm still not convinced, my power module powers the front of my apm which also supplies power to the ezuhf. The sbec powers the servo rail or the back part of my apm. So even if I move the sbec in front of the power module that will still power the back end of the apm, granted, but when the power module gives up the ghost I loose power to the front end of the apm.

That means no GPS, no osd, no ezuhf right?

Rgs
Anthony.

[AdamG]

I'm still not convinced, my power module powers the front of my apm which also supplies power to the ezuhf. The sbec powers the servo rail or the back part of my apm. So even if I move the sbec in front of the power module that will still power the back end of the apm, granted, but when the power module gives up the ghost I loose power to the front end of the apm.

That means no GPS, no osd, no ezuhf right?

Rgs
Anthony.

I don't know what the front end of your apm controls, but if its required to stay airborne then yes this solution is useless to you. The ezuhf wouldn't be as essential if your autopilot / RTH could still function. Problem would be watching it circle above you until battery dies  :laugh: still potentially better than going down miles away :+

[skyscraper]

Perhaps a temperature sensor on the motor  would have helped here... With 100 A going through it it must have got hot!

This one is pretty easy to use.... linear scale 0 - 100 degrees c

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm35.pdf

regards
Andy

[Billy_boy_2010]

Perhaps a temperature sensor on the motor  would have helped here... With 100 A going through it it must have got hot!

This one is pretty easy to use.... linear scale 0 - 100 degrees c

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm35.pdf

regards
Andy

I think the only reason 100A was going through it was because it was already failing and the esc was pumping juice into it to get it spinning. Usual launch power was something like 60A.

[Lola]

I'm still not convinced, my power module powers the front of my apm which also supplies power to the ezuhf. The sbec powers the servo rail or the back part of my apm. So even if I move the sbec in front of the power module that will still power the back end of the apm, granted, but when the power module gives up the ghost I loose power to the front end of the apm.

That means no GPS, no osd, no ezuhf right?

Rgs
Anthony.

I don't know what the front end of your apm controls, but if its required to stay airborne then yes this solution is useless to you. The ezuhf wouldn't be as essential if your autopilot / RTH could still function. Problem would be watching it circle above you until battery dies  :laugh: still potentially better than going down miles away :+

😂😂😂

The only way for that to work is not to use the power module and power both ends of the apm through the sbec which is how I had it before.

Maybe I could revert back to that and use the power module without the positive lead? Worth a test I suppose.