.
That sounds awesome, GlassKNees!! Can't wait to see your photos.
.
I did another hover test in the back yard. I turned down the Manual rate to 90 deg. / second from 180 deg. / second and it made the quad much tamer. Hope to take it out to a larger field and try out the other two modes this weekend.
.
.
I took out the V2.5 and flew a 6 minute flight and it performs very well!! I need to do some minor tweaking, such as centering the CG and doing a better job calibrating the gyros. Overall, I'm very happy with it.
.
It's normal for the IMU to be off by a degree or so - On the accelerometer pane in GroundStation there are pitch & roll offsets that you can set to compensate for that. When you've dialed it in it should hold pretty still in calm air.
Thanks!!
.
Jason, I appreciate all the help you gave me via email. I'll probably be bugging you more as I get time with this machine. Thanks to Kyle for recommending the vibration dampening scheme.
.
The "tilt" was definitely towards the front of the quad. As you can see in the pictures, I have LED strips along the booms, and the battery wire (12 gauge) and connectors make it significantly nose heavy. It's not fair to expect the FC to fully compensate for my lack of attention to detail. I'm thinking all I need to do is shift the battery back a couple inches to fix the CG.
.
I do have a fairly large battery (3S-8300 weighing 513g) strapped to the bottom. I was pleasantly surprised at the power margin carrying this weight. After 6 minutes, the battery showed 73% charge left over. Hope to have this thing flying autonomously some day with that capacity.
.
8300? Wow. I think I'm using a 3300 on mine, and I get ~10 minutes or so doing altitude tests where I'm zooming up and down a lot. It goes up quite fast. :-) And you're welcome. It's good to see people using it, and nice when everything goes smoothly.
.
Part of the reason for the 8300Mah battery is they were on clearance when I was looking for some 5500's, so I snapped up two. It was like my wife shoe shopping, but for LiPo's. Down the road I'd like to get this quad following waypoints and doing something useful so I figure I'd like the extended flight time. I've seen mention that the V3 power train is more efficient, so that's another option but much farther down the road.
.
I reoriented the battery 90 degrees and am able to slide it towards the tail. Now the CG is much closer to the center of the quad.
.
**new subject**
.
Downloading the latest firmware to my PC off GitHub isn't enough. Apparently I have to actually build it and upload it to my quad to get the benefits. Who knew?
.
@Kyle - Since the ELEV-8's seem to be a "flagship" product, would it be possible to get a dedicated forum space to discuss these flying robots? Is there somewhere else on the intertubes where all of the ELEV-8 owners pool their knowledge?
Simply put, this (the Robotics category) is the best place. We had a Multirotor category in the old forum, but in the transition to the new format that space was cut to simplify the number of categories, and in return "multirotor" and "elev8" tags were created and relevant posts were to be put into "robotics". While there are good reasons to forum a separate category for drones (I'm towards that side), there are also reasons not to (increases number of categories, other may ask for categories for BOE-Bot or other products, etc). In the past year, we also didn't really have enough UAV-specific traffic to justify it's own category. However, that has been changing recently, and if traffic and content quality continues to grow (as I hope it does), then it will be much easier to justify a separate forum space. In the mean time, our best bet is to use the Robotics category and tags. The current relevant tags are ELEV8 and Multirotor, but I'm thinking of replacing Multirotor with Drone or UAV - i'm curious to hear other's thoughts.
I ran an experiment on my APM-equipped Elev-8 with the gimbal/GoPro. I replaced the 10" props with 11x4.7 carbon fiber props, and changed the failsafe values to 10.0 V and 660 mAh (20% off the 3300 mAh battery capacity) - took it out and it flew okay for a few minutes, then it started twitching - got progressively worse, so I brought it in for a landing, but just before touchdown, it tipped over. No apparent damage, but the motors were really hot! I think I overstressed the 1050 kv motors with the larger props, so no more flying until I receive the parts I ordered and make the conversion. Stay tuned...
I replaced the 10" props with 11x4.7 carbon fiber props,
I recently broke one of my APC props, the only replacements I had were Gemfan 11x4.7s. So I swapped them all out and it seems to run better than with the 10" props. I get 10 minutes airtime on a 3s 5000 lipo. Total weight is 4lbs 6oz. It's a first generation ELEV-8. Oh, and immediately after a flight the motors are luke warm.
Great pic! Well, I'm still gonna wait for the rest of the stuff to arrive and rebuild my elev-8. The ESC's arrived as well as a single pair of props - somehow I thought I ordered two pairs...
Not yet, still running all stock except for the new flight controller.
.
Flew two 10 minute flights yesterday on the 1.02 version firmware. All going well so far.
.
Not yet, still running all stock except for the new flight controller.
.
Flew two 10 minute flights yesterday on the 1.02 version firmware. All going well so far.
.
Well, finally some parts have arrived and I can begin transforming my Elev-8.
A pair of propellers have arrived, along with ESCs, motors and motor mounts. I also ordered a pair of carbon fiber tubes which I will hang underneath the chassis and mount the gimbal/camera at one end and the battery holder for the 4s lipo in the back to counterbalance the gimbal. I will remove the aluminum boom that currently holds the gimbal.
I've begun by removing the landing skids and the bottom chassis in order to get to the wiring. The ESC's here will be removed as the new ESCs will mount on the underside of each motor mount. The only thing inside the main chassis will be the power distribution harness and the APM power module.
Here is the #2 boom, with the original motor/mount removed and the new Tarot mount pushed in its place. Notice the new motor compared to the original. I have to get some male/female servo extensions in order to get the ESC control line to run all the way to the APM flight controller. Also, I need to buy some red and black 14 awg wire to connect the power leads from the ESCs to the power distribution harness in the chassis.
I might use the motors from this aircraft to repair my other Elev-8.
Finally, I made some progress on my upgrade. I was waiting for the UBEC and servo extensions. The extensions still haven't arrived so I appealed to my R/C club buddies and borrowed some.
Here's a picture of the internal wiring:
And here is my Elev-8 after putting the bottom chassis plate and landing skids back on:
The carbon fiber tubes will be used to hang the Tarot 2 axis gimbal/GoPro Hero4 camera as well as the battery holder and 4S 6000 mAh lipo in the rear to counterbalance the gimbal.
The wires hanging off the ends of the motor mounts are the motor leads going to the ESCs which are installed underneath the motors. After I power up the aircraft and get the spin direction correct, I'll secure them with the white zip ties hanging with them.
I will have to do some wiring on the gimbal - need to crimp/add servo connectors to the power/gnd leads so I can plug them into the servo rail on the autopilot; power for the gimbal and video transmitter will come from the UBEC. I hope to have it ready for a test flight in a couple of days.
I've completed the mods, but not without some problems. the biggest headache was my idea of using Tarot clips and carbon fiber tubes mounted beneath the chassis for hanging the gimbal/camera was a big mistake. It turned out that I had no clearance for the camera, even with the standoffs I used on the landing skids. So I messed around with the gimbal, trying to take it apart and re-assemble it in a way to give me more clearance. I finally came up on a solution, though it is not optimal, as it is a major pain to connect the USB to the control board to configure the gimbal.
Anyway, here's a picture of the finished product:
Here is a visual comparison of the prop size difference:
I took it out on the back patio and powered it up - I was able to get GPS lock and arm the aircraft - throttled it up and lifted off a few inches off the ground. The gimbal works but not the tilt function - I have to double check the wiring to the control board. Also, I have to recheck the voltage/current failsafe values. I hope to take it out for a test flight tomorrow evening.
On another note, I was cleaning up and found some spare V2 parts: a brand new Hoverfly Open board and a KA 1050 outrunner motor, contact me if you're interested: brian.buckmaster@hotmail.com - you can have them if you'll cover the cost of shipping.
About a month ago, I crashed the first Elev-8 I built into a house - it got away from me and hit a wall before I could regain control pilot error. Anyway, the aircraft was pretty much totalled - bent one boom slightly, damaged two motors destroyed the GPS mast and all four propellers. Not wanting to go through the expense of repairing it, I decided that I would salvage undamaged parts and used them as spares for my other Elev-8 (both are V2 ships). But then a couple of weeks ago, after going through the parts, I decided to go to the Parallax site and see what it would cost to buy replacement parts on sale and decided that it wouldn't cost all that much. So I've begun resurrecting it. My plan is to use this aircraft as a trainer for fellow R/C club members who want to learn how to fly a quadcopter.
This aircraft has gone through some major rebuilds - several crashes while learning to fly, and then I decided to change out the Hoverfly Open board with an APM 2.6 flight controller/autopilot. I forgot to order a spare boom with the original order, so I'm waiting for it to arrive. Here's what it looks like right now:
As you can see, I'm using the KA 1050 outrunners and have installed the two rear booms. The wiring was a bit tight as I had to incorporate the APM power module which is right in the center of the chassis. I clipped off one of the two spare ends of each of the red and black power breakout cables - if I decide later to add FPV capability, I can draw power from the spare output ports on the autopilot; but I did leave one spare lead, just in case.
I have a question though - has anyone used the 11x4.5 props on a V2 aircraft? I think I'd like to try them on my ship, but don't know if it's worth making the change. I still have some 10x4.7 props that I can use.
So, I flew the Elev-8 pictured above and it still exhibited the same problem - drifting away in Loiter mode. I figured out what caused the crash in the first place: in my attempt to regain manual control, I accidentally switched to RTL and it immediately accelerated in the same direction - no time to recover before crashing.
After doing some troubleshooting, Mission Planner was reporting "Bad Compass Health". Thinking that the GPS/compass was damaged, I ordered a new GPS unit. But after it arrived and installing it, M.P. reported the same thing. Repeated attempts to calibrate the compass were futile. I finally concluded that the flight controller must have a bad connection or there is something else wrong with it, so I ordered a new one - from China. It a couple of weeks for it to arrive, and when it finally came, I quickly loaded the firmware, calibrated the Accel. and installed it on the aircraft and proceeded with the other calibrations - compass, radio, flight modes, ESCs, etc. The Bad Compass Health messages went away and when I had the aircraft connected to M.P. and pointed it at my neighbor's house, the heading line on the display agreed.
So I took it out for a test flight - it was flawless! I switched to Loiter and despite the breezy conditions, the aircraft held it's position. I switched to RTL and it immediately climbed to its assigned altitude, moved over the launch site and began its descent. I was happy!. After landing, shutting it down and later powering it up again, I discovered that the #3 motor was sputtering... Damn!
I took it home and did some troubleshooting - isolated the problem to the motor. I have some spares, so I replaced it. Then I took the faulty motor apart and found some FOD between the rotor and the magnets. Don't know how it got there, but no matter... After putting the aircraft back together and doing another test flight it is fine - all motors are working, the FC is working, and I'm a happy camper again!
I've just finished charging my 3300 mAh lipo and now chaging up a 4000 mAh and will go out for some flying fun!
Comments
That sounds awesome, GlassKNees!! Can't wait to see your photos.
.
I did another hover test in the back yard. I turned down the Manual rate to 90 deg. / second from 180 deg. / second and it made the quad much tamer. Hope to take it out to a larger field and try out the other two modes this weekend.
.
Awesome! Keep us posted how it performs.
I took out the V2.5 and flew a 6 minute flight and it performs very well!! I need to do some minor tweaking, such as centering the CG and doing a better job calibrating the gyros. Overall, I'm very happy with it.
.
Happy to hear the flight went well.
.
Jason, I appreciate all the help you gave me via email. I'll probably be bugging you more as I get time with this machine. Thanks to Kyle for recommending the vibration dampening scheme.
.
The "tilt" was definitely towards the front of the quad. As you can see in the pictures, I have LED strips along the booms, and the battery wire (12 gauge) and connectors make it significantly nose heavy. It's not fair to expect the FC to fully compensate for my lack of attention to detail. I'm thinking all I need to do is shift the battery back a couple inches to fix the CG.
.
I do have a fairly large battery (3S-8300 weighing 513g) strapped to the bottom. I was pleasantly surprised at the power margin carrying this weight. After 6 minutes, the battery showed 73% charge left over. Hope to have this thing flying autonomously some day with that capacity.
.
Part of the reason for the 8300Mah battery is they were on clearance when I was looking for some 5500's, so I snapped up two. It was like my wife shoe shopping, but for LiPo's. Down the road I'd like to get this quad following waypoints and doing something useful so I figure I'd like the extended flight time. I've seen mention that the V3 power train is more efficient, so that's another option but much farther down the road.
.
I reoriented the battery 90 degrees and am able to slide it towards the tail. Now the CG is much closer to the center of the quad.
.
**new subject**
.
Downloading the latest firmware to my PC off GitHub isn't enough. Apparently I have to actually build it and upload it to my quad to get the benefits. Who knew?
.
On a different note, I finally have an answer to your question; Simply put, this (the Robotics category) is the best place. We had a Multirotor category in the old forum, but in the transition to the new format that space was cut to simplify the number of categories, and in return "multirotor" and "elev8" tags were created and relevant posts were to be put into "robotics". While there are good reasons to forum a separate category for drones (I'm towards that side), there are also reasons not to (increases number of categories, other may ask for categories for BOE-Bot or other products, etc). In the past year, we also didn't really have enough UAV-specific traffic to justify it's own category. However, that has been changing recently, and if traffic and content quality continues to grow (as I hope it does), then it will be much easier to justify a separate forum space. In the mean time, our best bet is to use the Robotics category and tags. The current relevant tags are ELEV8 and Multirotor, but I'm thinking of replacing Multirotor with Drone or UAV - i'm curious to hear other's thoughts.
Thank you for the explanation. I'll keep posting here.
I recently broke one of my APC props, the only replacements I had were Gemfan 11x4.7s. So I swapped them all out and it seems to run better than with the 10" props. I get 10 minutes airtime on a 3s 5000 lipo. Total weight is 4lbs 6oz. It's a first generation ELEV-8. Oh, and immediately after a flight the motors are luke warm.
.
Flew two 10 minute flights yesterday on the 1.02 version firmware. All going well so far.
.
Good to hear!
A pair of propellers have arrived, along with ESCs, motors and motor mounts. I also ordered a pair of carbon fiber tubes which I will hang underneath the chassis and mount the gimbal/camera at one end and the battery holder for the 4s lipo in the back to counterbalance the gimbal. I will remove the aluminum boom that currently holds the gimbal.
I've begun by removing the landing skids and the bottom chassis in order to get to the wiring. The ESC's here will be removed as the new ESCs will mount on the underside of each motor mount. The only thing inside the main chassis will be the power distribution harness and the APM power module.
Here is the #2 boom, with the original motor/mount removed and the new Tarot mount pushed in its place. Notice the new motor compared to the original. I have to get some male/female servo extensions in order to get the ESC control line to run all the way to the APM flight controller. Also, I need to buy some red and black 14 awg wire to connect the power leads from the ESCs to the power distribution harness in the chassis.
I might use the motors from this aircraft to repair my other Elev-8.
Here's a picture of the internal wiring:
And here is my Elev-8 after putting the bottom chassis plate and landing skids back on:
The carbon fiber tubes will be used to hang the Tarot 2 axis gimbal/GoPro Hero4 camera as well as the battery holder and 4S 6000 mAh lipo in the rear to counterbalance the gimbal.
The wires hanging off the ends of the motor mounts are the motor leads going to the ESCs which are installed underneath the motors. After I power up the aircraft and get the spin direction correct, I'll secure them with the white zip ties hanging with them.
I will have to do some wiring on the gimbal - need to crimp/add servo connectors to the power/gnd leads so I can plug them into the servo rail on the autopilot; power for the gimbal and video transmitter will come from the UBEC. I hope to have it ready for a test flight in a couple of days.
Anyway, here's a picture of the finished product:
Here is a visual comparison of the prop size difference:
I took it out on the back patio and powered it up - I was able to get GPS lock and arm the aircraft - throttled it up and lifted off a few inches off the ground. The gimbal works but not the tilt function - I have to double check the wiring to the control board. Also, I have to recheck the voltage/current failsafe values. I hope to take it out for a test flight tomorrow evening.
On another note, I was cleaning up and found some spare V2 parts: a brand new Hoverfly Open board and a KA 1050 outrunner motor, contact me if you're interested: brian.buckmaster@hotmail.com - you can have them if you'll cover the cost of shipping.
This aircraft has gone through some major rebuilds - several crashes while learning to fly, and then I decided to change out the Hoverfly Open board with an APM 2.6 flight controller/autopilot. I forgot to order a spare boom with the original order, so I'm waiting for it to arrive. Here's what it looks like right now:
As you can see, I'm using the KA 1050 outrunners and have installed the two rear booms. The wiring was a bit tight as I had to incorporate the APM power module which is right in the center of the chassis. I clipped off one of the two spare ends of each of the red and black power breakout cables - if I decide later to add FPV capability, I can draw power from the spare output ports on the autopilot; but I did leave one spare lead, just in case.
I have a question though - has anyone used the 11x4.5 props on a V2 aircraft? I think I'd like to try them on my ship, but don't know if it's worth making the change. I still have some 10x4.7 props that I can use.
The Elev-8 in the background is my flying video platform with a Tarot 2 axis gimbal/GoPro Hero4 camera and powered with Tarot 4006 620kv motors.
After doing some troubleshooting, Mission Planner was reporting "Bad Compass Health". Thinking that the GPS/compass was damaged, I ordered a new GPS unit. But after it arrived and installing it, M.P. reported the same thing. Repeated attempts to calibrate the compass were futile. I finally concluded that the flight controller must have a bad connection or there is something else wrong with it, so I ordered a new one - from China. It a couple of weeks for it to arrive, and when it finally came, I quickly loaded the firmware, calibrated the Accel. and installed it on the aircraft and proceeded with the other calibrations - compass, radio, flight modes, ESCs, etc. The Bad Compass Health messages went away and when I had the aircraft connected to M.P. and pointed it at my neighbor's house, the heading line on the display agreed.
So I took it out for a test flight - it was flawless! I switched to Loiter and despite the breezy conditions, the aircraft held it's position. I switched to RTL and it immediately climbed to its assigned altitude, moved over the launch site and began its descent. I was happy!. After landing, shutting it down and later powering it up again, I discovered that the #3 motor was sputtering... Damn!
I took it home and did some troubleshooting - isolated the problem to the motor. I have some spares, so I replaced it. Then I took the faulty motor apart and found some FOD between the rotor and the magnets. Don't know how it got there, but no matter... After putting the aircraft back together and doing another test flight it is fine - all motors are working, the FC is working, and I'm a happy camper again!
I've just finished charging my 3300 mAh lipo and now chaging up a 4000 mAh and will go out for some flying fun!