I was using sigma-delta for the ADC. I wonder if I should revisit that... I think I shall.
My friend and I are going to shop joysticks today, he wants one a little bigger and better than what I used. Bigger is better, I am out of Prop Minis. That will need to be functional by Sunday which shouldn't be a big deal.
My crashed wing is fixed. I'm an idiot, that crash was entirely my fault. I put the GPS really far out on the wing. Weight * arm... No counterweight on the other side. It's a really light GPS but it's also a very small wing. I'm used to strapping cameras to larger wings with no ballast on the opposite side and getting away with it.
If all goes well we should be fly two RC aircraft with two flight sticks
Also, the trigger of the joystick will be connected. When you pull the trigger the Taranis will play a machine gun sound effect.
Here's a video showing the HobbyKing joystick in a bit more detail. Sorry about the lighting. I added a light but the picture sure looks dark. My guess is the white background caused trouble for the auto exposure on the camera.
You should have a steering wheel for your Temper robot
Yeah. Combind with the virtual headgear, people around hear would really have something to talk about.
Seriously, what do you pilot's use for a FPV transmitter. bosscam if you can find OEM, there was confusion with copies. Now I worry that a fan has to be added if I go any higher in output. 400mw / 500-600mw.
Unfortunately I've used a lot of stuff, some good some bad. The video transmitter plays a big role, environment, frequencies, and antennas are major players as well. Let's not forget about inverse square law, and how it applies to power. When you want a clean signal and you want to go far you're looking at diversity receiver, omni antenna and range extender antenna combo. Omni antennas waste a ton of power, unless you're flying a perimeter you'll want directional. A 3 turn helical antenna is almost omni, but gives you a nice boost in the center. Circular polarized antennas will reject multipath. LC filters will reduce noise. 5.8gHz if you don't need penetration, down to 900mHz if you do.
I used to run 800mW. It looked pretty bad. Applying everything above I run 200mW and it looks great. You can cheat these power requirements with diversity receivers and polarized antennas. The LC filter will help.
How hot? Is it too hot to touch indefinitely? If so I'd cool it. VTX manufacturers can say passively cooled assuming it's on a model with a lot of airflow. I've posted rants on this forum about such things hehe.
Thanks for your thoughts on FPV, I saved it for future reference. An outdoor antenna on the receiver will be a must. I have looked at parabolic antennas for 5.8GHz, mounted on my tower, should give me good coverage of my property. Pricey though, $150. last time I looked. Not beyond making one, I saved some elements from an old TV antenna, and there are some how-too's on the net.
I can see your video this time, looks like you like taking stuff apart to.
Thanks for your thoughts on FPV, I saved it for future reference. An outdoor antenna on the receiver will be a must. I have looked at parabolic antennas for 5.8GHz, mounted on my tower, should give me good coverage of my property. Pricey though, $150. last time I looked. Not beyond making one, I saved some elements from an old TV antenna, and there are some how-too's on the net.
I can see your video this time, looks like you like taking stuff apart to.
Have you looked at satellite dish antennas? Not sure about your location, but here there are discarded ones all over. May be worth a little experimenting to see if they would work.
Have you looked at satellite dish antennas? Not sure about your location, but here there are discarded ones all over. May be worth a little experimenting to see if they would work.
No I haven't,
I pulled one off of our roof about six years ago, Dish Network. But I removed anything I thought I could re-use, and trashed the rest.
A good idea though, certainty should be able to find another, from somebody else's dis-inchantment with satellite programming/ billing. I have seen some small versions out there, that wouldn't be a big wind catcher.
Joystick #2 complete. Rush job. If things go well we should both be flying with PC joysticks.
Here's some build pics and a test flight with the Inductrix. I flew a couple of packs through it. The Thrustmaster is a much better choice. Being able to adjust stick tension is nice, but the Thrustmaster feels great in the middle. This allowed me to fly acro (gyros only) using a micro EDF quadcopter. The detent in the throttle needs to be exorcised for multirotor or heli use.
Can you detail how you're making this work with the Spektrum radio?
Yes, the next joystick I'm building will connect to a DX9. I love the built-in wireless buddy box system Spektrum uses. I could put that on the stick and you'd have a wireless stick. I'm borrowing the radio sometime this week.
There are a lot of different ways to SPIN this. The flight testing has been amazingly successful, and it's time to start thinking about doing it with other radios, ADCs, and the HK hall effect stick with some switches. It would be really nice to have some 3 position switches on the joystick. At some point it won't make sense to hack PC joysticks. The hurdle to that is fabricating nice molded handles.
Here's today's video. We tested out that giant throttle stick, and I FINALLY got to fly my Theory FPV. It survived!
My FPV video isn't great, my recorder was on the wrong freq Short on time I risked losing video just to be able to fly it.
Awesome video xanadu, you must have a need for speed, the reason you fly winged aircraft. I'm jealous of your video overlay, and your picture in picture video editing software.
What is the survivability rate with the bush landing? Its people like you, that are going to get me off the ground. Looks like a lot of FUN.
Thanks Mike. It's nice going 50 mph at half throttle. The OSD is nice, the info can be misleading. I probably shouldn't say that considering I just watched a 4S pack run down to 12v lol... I'm sure you know how GPS speed isn't accurate, and then you've got the amps and mAh missing decimals. The barometric altimeter drifts. It looks great, I need to remove the LatLon before doing anything questionable
I cover the leading edges of the wing with clear packing tape, it makes the wing very durable. It didn't take any damage. This wing is made from z-foam, I'm not sure why they didn't use EPO. Anytime you have z-foam you'll want to cover it. That little plant blocking my final approach path would have damaged the wing without the tape. The bush wasn't bad, it offers some deceleration before the thud.
Very nice to see you weighing in again, DD. We have missed you! Hope you're staying warm in Idaho. It's even chilly here in LA. That old Polar vortex actually dropped some frost on us this morning!
Supposedly these controllers use Hall effect sensors.
*rubs eyes* wth... I was going for portable, if not I would fly that anytime. HK send me one, please?
I have seen Saitek sticks, but not docked to an RC controller. It's expensive because they don't sell a lot. That's what I like to think, if not, I don't want to know.
Cheap pots, perfboard, and the MCP3008 with 10000pF caps are okay for now.
Very nice to see you weighing in again, DD. We have missed you! Hope you're staying warm in Idaho. It's even chilly here in LA. That old Polar vortex actually dropped some frost on us this morning!
Xanadu,
I was supprised to learn that you were flying that far north of San Diego. Google Maps gives a wonderful view of the location. I guess I thought you would be flying farther south and west. Anyway, cool location. Now you have me wondering about hacking an old MicroSoft PC joystick that has been gathering dust for years.
Jim
Now you have me wondering about hacking an old MicroSoft PC joystick that has been gathering dust for years.
Jim
Speaking of MS, I'm thinking this may have possibilitys for robotic control. Land or Air, there is enough buttons and a wheel for control choices. I took it apart one time, but don't remember how much extra room was inside. I'm sure down around the grips is some dead space. Thanks xanadu, you have given me another project I may never get to.
Cheap pots, perfboard, and the MCP3008 with 10000pF caps are okay for now.
I recently wired up a MCP3208 and I was again reminded up long it can take to solder up an appropriately wire piece of perfboard. I reminded myself I was going to avoid this sort of thing in the future by having PCBs manufactured.
I wanted the board right then so I still wired one up but then I broke out my copy of DipTrace and drew a couple ADC boards. I attached the Gerber files to this post in case any of you are interested.
I'm pretty sure the MCP3208 shares the same pin outs as the MCP3008. I'm pretty sure the code is just about the same too. I think the MCP3208 has a couple extra bits of resolution (12-bits instead of 10-bits). It's been my experience with the MCP3002 that the 10-bit ADC has less trouble reading high impedance inputs.
I forgot to mention I'm sure I could be persuaded to part with the DipTrace files in case any of you want to modify the board(s).
Xanadu,
I was supprised to learn that you were flying that far north of San Diego. Google Maps gives a wonderful view of the location. I guess I thought you would be flying farther south and west. Anyway, cool location. Now you have me wondering about hacking an old MicroSoft PC joystick that has been gathering dust for years.
Jim
Speaking of MS, I'm thinking this may have possibilitys for robotic control. Land or Air, there is enough buttons and a wheel for control choices. I took it apart one time, but don't remember how much extra room was inside. I'm sure down around the grips is some dead space. Thanks xanadu, you have given me another project I may never get to.
Cheap pots, perfboard, and the MCP3008 with 10000pF caps are okay for now.
I recently wired up a MCP3208 and I was again reminded up long it can take to solder up an appropriately wire piece of perfboard. I reminded myself I was going to avoid this sort of thing in the future by having PCBs manufactured.
I wanted the board right then so I still wired one up but then I broke out my copy of DipTrace and drew a couple ADC boards. I attached the Gerber files to this post in case any of you are interested.
I'm pretty sure the MCP3208 shares the same pin outs as the MCP3008. I'm pretty sure the code is just about the same too. I think the MCP3208 has a couple extra bits of resolution (12-bits instead of 10-bits). It's been my experience with the MCP3002 that the 10-bit ADC has less trouble reading high impedance inputs.
I forgot to mention I'm sure I could be persuaded to part with the DipTrace files in case any of you want to modify the board(s).
Very cool project Jon.
Thanks for the kind words guys.
Thank you. That's a great little board! I have been contemplating making a board. I plan to switch to the MCP3208 at some point, I have a few MCP3008 left.
It would be fun to make an entire Propeller board, 16 analog channels, and 16 shift register inputs. If I were to start building custom joysticks that is what I would do.
I seem to have some noise, or something going on with my signal. I'm testing the signal right at the Propeller pins with nothing attached to them. I was hoping someone could shed some light on it.
Here's the RC Joystick Propeller version. This video was meant to discuss pushbuttons, potentiometers, ADC, PPM signals, microcontroller IO, and some object oriented SPIN programming. I tried to be brief about each, and plan to continue breaking it down into smaller pieces.
I'm testing the Patreon waters, and yes the next project is Arduino based, but there are many that are not. I'm also giving away some Parallax gear in later projects. The point is to introduce people to electronics, nothing too technical, after all this is me we're talking about
Comments
I was using sigma-delta for the ADC. I wonder if I should revisit that... I think I shall.
My friend and I are going to shop joysticks today, he wants one a little bigger and better than what I used. Bigger is better, I am out of Prop Minis. That will need to be functional by Sunday which shouldn't be a big deal.
My crashed wing is fixed. I'm an idiot, that crash was entirely my fault. I put the GPS really far out on the wing. Weight * arm... No counterweight on the other side. It's a really light GPS but it's also a very small wing. I'm used to strapping cameras to larger wings with no ballast on the opposite side and getting away with it.
If all goes well we should be fly two RC aircraft with two flight sticks
Also, the trigger of the joystick will be connected. When you pull the trigger the Taranis will play a machine gun sound effect.
Joystick shopping was fun, and I ended up with a new scope!
Now back to work before the boss kills me. I'm excited to crack this one open. More in a few hours.
Yeah. Combind with the virtual headgear, people around hear would really have something to talk about.
Seriously, what do you pilot's use for a FPV transmitter. bosscam if you can find OEM, there was confusion with copies. Now I worry that a fan has to be added if I go any higher in output. 400mw / 500-600mw.
I used to run 800mW. It looked pretty bad. Applying everything above I run 200mW and it looks great. You can cheat these power requirements with diversity receivers and polarized antennas. The LC filter will help.
How hot? Is it too hot to touch indefinitely? If so I'd cool it. VTX manufacturers can say passively cooled assuming it's on a model with a lot of airflow. I've posted rants on this forum about such things hehe.
Here's the link if the embed doesn't embed.
I can see your video this time, looks like you like taking stuff apart to.
Have you looked at satellite dish antennas? Not sure about your location, but here there are discarded ones all over. May be worth a little experimenting to see if they would work.
No I haven't,
I pulled one off of our roof about six years ago, Dish Network. But I removed anything I thought I could re-use, and trashed the rest.
A good idea though, certainty should be able to find another, from somebody else's dis-inchantment with satellite programming/ billing. I have seen some small versions out there, that wouldn't be a big wind catcher.
Thanks,
Mike.
Here's some build pics and a test flight with the Inductrix. I flew a couple of packs through it. The Thrustmaster is a much better choice. Being able to adjust stick tension is nice, but the Thrustmaster feels great in the middle. This allowed me to fly acro (gyros only) using a micro EDF quadcopter. The detent in the throttle needs to be exorcised for multirotor or heli use.
The real test will be in 12 hours.
Yes, the next joystick I'm building will connect to a DX9. I love the built-in wireless buddy box system Spektrum uses. I could put that on the stick and you'd have a wireless stick. I'm borrowing the radio sometime this week.
There are a lot of different ways to SPIN this. The flight testing has been amazingly successful, and it's time to start thinking about doing it with other radios, ADCs, and the HK hall effect stick with some switches. It would be really nice to have some 3 position switches on the joystick. At some point it won't make sense to hack PC joysticks. The hurdle to that is fabricating nice molded handles.
Here's today's video. We tested out that giant throttle stick, and I FINALLY got to fly my Theory FPV. It survived!
My FPV video isn't great, my recorder was on the wrong freq
Volume warning.
What is the survivability rate with the bush landing? Its people like you, that are going to get me off the ground. Looks like a lot of FUN.
I cover the leading edges of the wing with clear packing tape, it makes the wing very durable. It didn't take any damage. This wing is made from z-foam, I'm not sure why they didn't use EPO. Anytime you have z-foam you'll want to cover it. That little plant blocking my final approach path would have damaged the wing without the tape. The bush wasn't bad, it offers some deceleration before the thud.
Wasn't that the fraternity in Animal House?
Close enough
I don't understand why it's so expensive.
When it first come out I wrote a blog post about it.
Supposedly these controllers use Hall effect sensors.
Must be all the blinkies & gizzies.
Very nice to see you weighing in again, DD. We have missed you! Hope you're staying warm in Idaho. It's even chilly here in LA. That old Polar vortex actually dropped some frost on us this morning!
*rubs eyes* wth... I was going for portable, if not I would fly that anytime. HK send me one, please?
I have seen Saitek sticks, but not docked to an RC controller. It's expensive because they don't sell a lot. That's what I like to think, if not, I don't want to know.
Cheap pots, perfboard, and the MCP3008 with 10000pF caps are okay for now.
+1
I was supprised to learn that you were flying that far north of San Diego. Google Maps gives a wonderful view of the location. I guess I thought you would be flying farther south and west. Anyway, cool location. Now you have me wondering about hacking an old MicroSoft PC joystick that has been gathering dust for years.
Jim
Speaking of MS, I'm thinking this may have possibilitys for robotic control. Land or Air, there is enough buttons and a wheel for control choices. I took it apart one time, but don't remember how much extra room was inside. I'm sure down around the grips is some dead space. Thanks xanadu, you have given me another project I may never get to.
I recently wired up a MCP3208 and I was again reminded up long it can take to solder up an appropriately wire piece of perfboard. I reminded myself I was going to avoid this sort of thing in the future by having PCBs manufactured.
I wanted the board right then so I still wired one up but then I broke out my copy of DipTrace and drew a couple ADC boards. I attached the Gerber files to this post in case any of you are interested.
I'm pretty sure the MCP3208 shares the same pin outs as the MCP3008. I'm pretty sure the code is just about the same too. I think the MCP3208 has a couple extra bits of resolution (12-bits instead of 10-bits). It's been my experience with the MCP3002 that the 10-bit ADC has less trouble reading high impedance inputs.
I forgot to mention I'm sure I could be persuaded to part with the DipTrace files in case any of you want to modify the board(s).
Very cool project Jon.
Thanks for the kind words guys.
Thanks, you should it's a lot of fun!
Haha, no problem
Thank you. That's a great little board! I have been contemplating making a board. I plan to switch to the MCP3208 at some point, I have a few MCP3008 left.
It would be fun to make an entire Propeller board, 16 analog channels, and 16 shift register inputs. If I were to start building custom joysticks that is what I would do.
https://github.com/jsa/flystick
I don't plan on using the Pi for my joystick(s) but I'm sure other people would. The hacking part is fun.
I seem to have some noise, or something going on with my signal. I'm testing the signal right at the Propeller pins with nothing attached to them. I was hoping someone could shed some light on it.
Here's my Propeller PPM output:
Here's my RC controller output:
I'm testing the Patreon waters, and yes the next project is Arduino based, but there are many that are not. I'm also giving away some Parallax gear in later projects. The point is to introduce people to electronics, nothing too technical, after all this is me we're talking about
Feedback appreciated.
https://www.patreon.com/netbotic
It looks like this (not sure where I found this code)
PUB ADC3208(chan) 'get ADC voltage value channel := chan 'save "channel"variable outa[cs1] := 1 'Set CS1 output= high - preset value outa[clk] := 1 'Set CLK output= high - preset clock pulse bf CS2 outa[cs1] := 0 'CS1 output low - start ADC outa[clk] := 0 '>>> READ THE MCP3208 DATA SHEET CAREFULLY <<<----------------------- command :=(%11000 + chan) << (32-5) 'command Start, Single, Chan(xx) repeat 5 'send 5 command bits - per Specification outa[sdo] := (command <-= 1) & 1 outa[clk] := 1 'clock the command bit outa[clk] := 0 outa[clk] := 1 'set CLK output= high - one clock pulse after Command = 5th Clock pulse outa[clk] := 0 'set CLK output= low - set sample and hold ADC value outa[clk] := 1 'set CLK output= high - one clock pulse after Command = 6th Clock pulse outa[clk] := 0 'set CLK output= low - end conversion = Null bit ADCvalue := 0 'clear work variable =0 repeat 10 'read conversion 12 data bits '***changed to 10 bit*** ADCvalue := (ADCvalue << 1) | ina[sdi] 'input ADC data bit outa[clk] := 1 'clock ADC data bit outa[clk] := 0 outa[clk] := 0 'just to be sure = 0 outa[cs1] := 1 'CS1 output high - end ADC outa[clk] := 0 return ADCvalue