It should work, though you'd need to fashion a mount. The V3 board can be supplied directly from the battery. The power distribution board just makes that a little easier / cleaner - it replaces the wiring harness used by the V2 & V1.
The connector on top of the V3 has the + pin in the middle, and - pins on either side so you don't have to worry about plugging it in backwards - just make sure the 3 pins are lined up. It'll take up to 18v as input if I remember right, so 3 or 4 cell lithium packs are totally fine.
Sorry guys - been kind of busy. Publison asked what carbon props was I using - Gartt 1147 11x4.7 Carbon Fiber Props from Amazon.
I weighed my aircraft using a bathroom scale - my Elev-8 came in at 4.4 lbs - full up weight including battery, aluminum boom, Tarot 2 axis gimbal, GoPro camera, GPS, telemetry and video transmitter.
Based on this, I estimate that I need a motor that will provide 1Kg thrust which would give me twice as much thrust as the weight of my aircraft. I had to search for thrust data on the Tarot 4006 620 Kv motor but finally found a YouTube video that did a test using the same prop I intend to use. Here's the numbers:
The guy used a 4S lipo (14.8V), so I figure I need 30A ESCs. There's a simple online calculator for estimating endurance time based on avg current draw and battery capacity. I plan on using a 6000mAh 4s lipo, so if I average 20 amps current draw, then I can expect 18 min. flight time.
I need to go through this exercise with my existing motors and see if what I'm experiencing is in line with the calculations...
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Also, with the V2.5 mount I showed a few posts ago, you don't need to drill out the controller board holes. Just hard mount it with 4-40 bolts and some sort of standoff to the bottom V2 controller board. You could even use the blue V2 vibration mounts as standoffs.
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Also, with the V2.5 mount I showed a few posts ago, you don't need to drill out the controller board holes. Just hard mount it with 4-40 bolts and some sort of standoff to the bottom V2 controller board. You could even use the blue V2 vibration mounts as standoffs.
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Are you saying that the V3 controller board has different mounting holes than the Hoverfly boards? That's unfortunate. Why was that done?
We kept the holes on the same centers though, and also kept the area around the hole clear so that unofficially it could be drilled out to accept the old mountings.
We kept the holes on the same centers though, and also kept the area around the hole clear so that unofficially it could be drilled out to accept the old mountings.
What is the recommended way of using a V3 controller with a V1 chassis? I'd like to do it in a way that doesn't prevent me from using the controller on a V3 chassis at some point. That seems to preclude drilling out the mounting holes.
There isn't one. This is a totally unsupported configuration. I just made sure the holes lined up to allow future creativity, that's all.
Personally, I'd probably just order a set of V3 mount plates and vibration dampers, then figure out the neatest way to mount that to the chassis. I'd get a PDB too. Plus maybe the pre-made power cable. Really simplifies things.
ps. Having just glanced at an Elev8, I realize my comment above was slightly off. So the smaller holes are for the standoffs which go into the mount plate, which in turn has the vibration washers on Anyway, same result. Been a long time!
Hmm. If you did drill the holes, then later you might be able to use a pair of slightly larger nylon washers (followed by steel washers) around each hole, and a hole size nylon washer insert, to get them back to a smaller size suitable for the standoffs.
Probably lots of options. It's something to experiment with.
There isn't one. This is a totally unsupported configuration. I just made sure the holes lined up to allow future creativity, that's all.
Personally, I'd probably just order a set of V3 mount plates and vibration dampers, then figure out the neatest way to mount that to the chassis. I'd get a PDB too. Plus maybe the pre-made power cable. Really simplifies things.
ps. Having just glanced at an Elev8, I realize my comment above was slightly off. So the smaller holes are for the standoffs which go into the mount plate, which in turn has the vibration washers on Anyway, same result. Been a long time!
Hmm. If you did drill the holes, then later you might be able to use a pair of slightly larger nylon washers (followed by steel washers) around each hole, and a hole size nylon washer insert, to get them back to a smaller size suitable for the standoffs.
Probably lots of options. It's something to experiment with.
Hmmm... Maybe I'd better just stick with my V1+Hoverfly combo until Parallax offers the V3 chassis kit without the V3 controller. Either that or I need to drill out the V3 board. All of those parts you suggested cost over $100.
Are you saying that the V3 controller board has different mounting holes than the Hoverfly boards? That's unfortunate. Why was that done?
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The V3 controller board mounting holes line up with the V2 mounting plate holes perfectly. If you do the mod the way I showed in my earlier post you can use the blue V2 vibration dampeners as spacers between the V3 controller board and the V2 mounting board.
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You DO NOT need to drill out the V3 controller board mounting holes. I did that before I figured out how to use the V3 vibration dampeners with the extra V2 mounting plate.
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If you have a stock, functioning ELEV-8 V2, the only new parts you need is:
(1) V3 controller board ($149)
(1) V2 mounting board ($1.87)
(8) V3 vibration dampeners ($1.50 ea.)
(4) 0.25" 4-40 bolts (to secure bottom plate to short standoffs)
(2) male 3mm bullet connectors and wire (to run power from "power squid" to board)
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All the rest of your V2 hardware can remain in place. I know that using the power distrubution board would be easier, but I'm assuming you already have your V2 assembled and all of your wiring is in place.
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I'll post a report later today when I get a chance to take my ELEV-8 V2.5 outside for a test flight.
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Are you saying that the V3 controller board has different mounting holes than the Hoverfly boards? That's unfortunate. Why was that done?
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The V3 controller board mounting holes line up with the V2 mounting plate holes perfectly. If you do the mod the way I showed in my earlier post you can use the blue V2 vibration dampeners as spacers between the V3 controller board and the V2 mounting board.
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You DO NOT need to drill out the V3 controller board mounting holes. I did that before I figured out how to use the V3 vibration dampeners with the extra V2 mounting plate.
.
If you have a stock, functioning ELEV-8 V2, the only new parts you need is:
(1) V3 controller board ($149)
(1) V2 mounting board ($1.87)
(8) V3 vibration dampeners ($1.50 ea.)
(4) 0.25" 4-40 bolts (to secure bottom plate to short standoffs)
(2) male 3mm bullet connectors and wire (to run power from "power squid" to board)
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All the rest of your V2 hardware can remain in place. I know that using the power distrubution board would be easier, but I'm assuming you already have your V2 assembled and all of your wiring is in place.
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I'll post a report later today when I get a chance to take my ELEV-8 V2.5 outside for a test flight.
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Okay, that doesn't sound so bad. I already have the V3 controller board (Thanks, Jason!) so I will only need relatively inexpensive parts. I'm assuming all of this will work with a V1 chassis as well.
The ESC header 5V pins have a protective diode out- they are configured to provide 5V out, but not "accept" 5V in.
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When I plugged in the flight battery, the BEC's powered the receiver, but not the controller board (as expected). I assume this is becasue the ESC's and the receiver ports are on the same power rail?
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Okay, that doesn't sound so bad. I already have the V3 controller board (Thanks, Jason!) so I will only need relatively inexpensive parts. I'm assuming all of this will work with a V1 chassis as well.
V1 and V2 Mounting plates are the same. I just order up a couple of extra spares so I can drill and experiment.
I assume this is becasue the ESC's and the receiver ports are on the same power rail?
Correct. The RGB header has isolated 5V out; the ESC/Receiver ports share a power rail.
Tidbit of info: Those E/R ports are designed to be interchangeable, so you can actually run either escs or receivers off any of those ports- subject to your code modifications:).
Imagine using an SBUS receiver on Rx port 1, then having 13 escs connected to the rest of the Rx and Esc ports. That could be a serious flying machine, or a pretty mean robot. The onboard gyro would lend itself rather well to development of a balance bot, among other things.
All of this should work fine with the V2 chassis. I have one copter with the new FC almost hard mounted into the body shell of a Phantom, and that flies just fine. It should be pretty tolerant of a variety of setups.
All of this should work fine with the V2 chassis. I have one copter with the new FC almost hard mounted into the body shell of a Phantom, and that flies just fine. It should be pretty tolerant of a variety of setups.
I just ordered the V2 mounting board and V3 shock mounts as FireNWater suggested. I'll see how that goes.
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Something to check before flying your V2.5.
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All four of my motors rotate in the opposite direction than the V3 controller board is expecting. Thus, the YAW response will be reversed.
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While you have your V2's innards exposed, reverse the motor rotation direction by swapping any two of the three motor wires on each ESC.
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Just thought of one advantage a V2.5 has over a V3.
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There are four BEC's powering the 5V rail for the ESC's and Receiver. We should be able to tap quite a bit of 5V power off of that to power gadgets and not touch the Flight Controller 5V supply.
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Be careful with taping power of the BECs. They are notoriously unreliable, especially if you expect to pull any serious current. This has been the hidden cause of many ESC failures and unfortunate crashes.
Most ESC's have 2x 7805 (or similar) linear regulators inside wired in parallel. By adding multiple ESC's to the FC power rail you are effectively paralleling even more. One cause of issues is when 1 or more of those regulators overheat or just fail. Then the rest get overloaded, and will start to fail like a group of eager-to-fail things. At which point, your craft is busy falling from the sky!
For reference for anyone that didn't know- the V3 has an on-board switching regulator which has around 1.5amp total "surplus" capacity that you can use up from any of the 5V headers. That may already be enough for most uses.
I'm not saying BEC's can't be used, but anyone reading this should understand that they need to be really careful, and properly understand each BEC's capabilities. And I mean actual proven capabilities, which is often not the same as is written on the packet
Yeah, for powering servos or other add-on bits there should be no problems. The FC itself was designed to be able to handle a few extras, like more LEDs, or an XBee, which can pull a decent amount of juice when transmitting.
However, if the ESC fails due to BEC failure, then it wont matter that the FC still has power. Your motor will stop spinning!
Overall though, I don't try to be negative here. Just mentioning some possibilities to be wary of. I agree that the BEC can sometimes be handy for gadgets, when they are low powered gadgets.
However, if the ESC fails due to BEC failure, then it wont matter that the FC still has power. Your motor will stop spinning!
Overall though, I don't try to be negative here. Just mentioning some possibilities to be wary of. I agree that the BEC can sometimes be handy for gadgets, when they are low powered gadgets.
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So if the BEC fails, the whole ESC stops working?
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I just pulled the trigger and bought the stuff I need - 4 Tarot 4006 620 KV motors, Hobbywing 30A OPTO ESCs, Tarot Motor Mounts and Tarot T-series 1255 carbon fiber props. I bought the stuff on Ebay so I saved a few dollars here and there, but still the total was over $200.
I should probably buy a hardware package or two from Parallax as I find some of the longer bolts tend to get bent easily.
I'll be using a 4S 6000 mAh battery, and hope to get close to 30 min endurance times. It will be interesting to see what I actually get. I will post pics of my build progress and video of its maiden flight. I think I'll call it a Super Elev-8...
Comments
4" Servo connector between Power Distribution Board and Flight Controller
https://www.parallax.com/product/800-00040
That will provide Battery Power the FC Board.
This can be seen in Step 15:
http://learn.parallax.com/print/book/export/html/1186
And, of course the Power Distribution Board.
https://www.parallax.com/product/80361
And the Power cable from the battery to the PDB.
https://www.parallax.com/product/800-80300
(power input is here on the lower right):
http://forums.parallax.com/discussion/download/116960/ELEV-8 V2.5 FC Mount 2.jpg
I weighed my aircraft using a bathroom scale - my Elev-8 came in at 4.4 lbs - full up weight including battery, aluminum boom, Tarot 2 axis gimbal, GoPro camera, GPS, telemetry and video transmitter.
Based on this, I estimate that I need a motor that will provide 1Kg thrust which would give me twice as much thrust as the weight of my aircraft. I had to search for thrust data on the Tarot 4006 620 Kv motor but finally found a YouTube video that did a test using the same prop I intend to use. Here's the numbers:
25%: 13W 145 gm thrust
50%: 71W 580 gm
75%: 184W 1094 gm
100%: 376W 155 gm
The guy used a 4S lipo (14.8V), so I figure I need 30A ESCs. There's a simple online calculator for estimating endurance time based on avg current draw and battery capacity. I plan on using a 6000mAh 4s lipo, so if I average 20 amps current draw, then I can expect 18 min. flight time.
I need to go through this exercise with my existing motors and see if what I'm experiencing is in line with the calculations...
100%: 376W 155 gm ??????
Did you drop a digit here?
The test copter hit the ceiling.
Also, with the V2.5 mount I showed a few posts ago, you don't need to drill out the controller board holes. Just hard mount it with 4-40 bolts and some sort of standoff to the bottom V2 controller board. You could even use the blue V2 vibration mounts as standoffs.
.
We kept the holes on the same centers though, and also kept the area around the hole clear so that unofficially it could be drilled out to accept the old mountings.
Personally, I'd probably just order a set of V3 mount plates and vibration dampers, then figure out the neatest way to mount that to the chassis. I'd get a PDB too. Plus maybe the pre-made power cable. Really simplifies things.
ps. Having just glanced at an Elev8, I realize my comment above was slightly off. So the smaller holes are for the standoffs which go into the mount plate, which in turn has the vibration washers on
Hmm. If you did drill the holes, then later you might be able to use a pair of slightly larger nylon washers (followed by steel washers) around each hole, and a hole size nylon washer insert, to get them back to a smaller size suitable for the standoffs.
Probably lots of options. It's something to experiment with.
The V3 controller board mounting holes line up with the V2 mounting plate holes perfectly. If you do the mod the way I showed in my earlier post you can use the blue V2 vibration dampeners as spacers between the V3 controller board and the V2 mounting board.
.
You DO NOT need to drill out the V3 controller board mounting holes. I did that before I figured out how to use the V3 vibration dampeners with the extra V2 mounting plate.
.
If you have a stock, functioning ELEV-8 V2, the only new parts you need is:
(1) V3 controller board ($149)
(1) V2 mounting board ($1.87)
(8) V3 vibration dampeners ($1.50 ea.)
(4) 0.25" 4-40 bolts (to secure bottom plate to short standoffs)
(2) male 3mm bullet connectors and wire (to run power from "power squid" to board)
.
All the rest of your V2 hardware can remain in place. I know that using the power distrubution board would be easier, but I'm assuming you already have your V2 assembled and all of your wiring is in place.
.
I'll post a report later today when I get a chance to take my ELEV-8 V2.5 outside for a test flight.
.
Video or it didn't happen . .
When I plugged in the flight battery, the BEC's powered the receiver, but not the controller board (as expected). I assume this is becasue the ESC's and the receiver ports are on the same power rail?
.
V1 and V2 Mounting plates are the same. I just order up a couple of extra spares so I can drill and experiment.
https://www.parallax.com/product/721-80003
https://www.parallax.com/product/721-80002
https://www.parallax.com/product/721-80010
https://www.parallax.com/product/730-00060
https://www.parallax.com/product/570-80060
All these items are on sale.
PS ..Better get a couple of booms at that price. The V3 booms are larger OD.
Correct. The RGB header has isolated 5V out; the ESC/Receiver ports share a power rail.
Tidbit of info: Those E/R ports are designed to be interchangeable, so you can actually run either escs or receivers off any of those ports- subject to your code modifications:).
Imagine using an SBUS receiver on Rx port 1, then having 13 escs connected to the rest of the Rx and Esc ports. That could be a serious flying machine, or a pretty mean robot. The onboard gyro would lend itself rather well to development of a balance bot, among other things.
Something to check before flying your V2.5.
.
All four of my motors rotate in the opposite direction than the V3 controller board is expecting. Thus, the YAW response will be reversed.
.
While you have your V2's innards exposed, reverse the motor rotation direction by swapping any two of the three motor wires on each ESC.
.
.
There are four BEC's powering the 5V rail for the ESC's and Receiver. We should be able to tap quite a bit of 5V power off of that to power gadgets and not touch the Flight Controller 5V supply.
.
Most ESC's have 2x 7805 (or similar) linear regulators inside wired in parallel. By adding multiple ESC's to the FC power rail you are effectively paralleling even more. One cause of issues is when 1 or more of those regulators overheat or just fail. Then the rest get overloaded, and will start to fail like a group of eager-to-fail things. At which point, your craft is busy falling from the sky!
For reference for anyone that didn't know- the V3 has an on-board switching regulator which has around 1.5amp total "surplus" capacity that you can use up from any of the 5V headers. That may already be enough for most uses.
I'm not saying BEC's can't be used, but anyone reading this should understand that they need to be really careful, and properly understand each BEC's capabilities. And I mean actual proven capabilities, which is often not the same as is written on the packet
Which is why I'd only use that power for "gadgets" that are along for the ride and leave the Flight Controller power alone.
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Overall though, I don't try to be negative here. Just mentioning some possibilities to be wary of. I agree that the BEC can sometimes be handy for gadgets, when they are low powered gadgets.
So if the BEC fails, the whole ESC stops working?
.
Just did a quick hover test in the back yard. The V2.5 flies!!
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I should probably buy a hardware package or two from Parallax as I find some of the longer bolts tend to get bent easily.
I'll be using a 4S 6000 mAh battery, and hope to get close to 30 min endurance times. It will be interesting to see what I actually get. I will post pics of my build progress and video of its maiden flight. I think I'll call it a Super Elev-8...