Ken/Cluso99/ W9GFO/JasonD's QuadCopter Build Log (updated info ELEV-8 + availability)

[dmagnus]

Hello folks! My build is going well. I had one issue with an apparently DOA motor, but Parallax is taking care of it for me. Overall the kit is fantastic! Plenty of parts to go around and a few unexpected extras, like LED strip lights!

I've not seen anyone mention the kit LED lights in the thread. I see they run off 12V. How are folks typically wiring those in? I figured I'd splice them into the EC3 connectors coming off of the ESCs. Any problems with that?

I took CowboyCoder's advice and installed a switch. Actually, I installed two switches, one turns on the battery power, which powers up the ESC's, Hoverfly Pro/GPS and the receiver (via one of the esc leads). I decided to put the other switch in to power "accessories" like the LED's, camera, etc. I didn't want the LED's on all of the time and I have this half-baked idea of maybe "strobing" them (I'm using blue and red like a cop car), but I haven't figured out how to do that. I'd like to alternate red then blue, etc. like wing strobes on an airplane.

I like being able to shut the power off without pulling on the battery connections. That has been helpful while I'm checking everything out. I'm still not flying because I've got something connected wrong, but Ken gave me a few ideas on troubleshooting and I hope to be flying by the weekend.
Don

[ratronic]

I just happened to google Elev-8 quadcopter and ran into 3,980,000 hits, found out that Parallax isn't the only one selling the Elev-8 kits, I found Antratek in Belgium is offering them! I also wanted to say that flying an Elev-8 in person is easier than the guai 330x-s on the RealFlightG6 flight simulator.

[Biz18434]

I did not have my LED's wired in because like a knuckle head when I was making my wire harness for my ESC's I did not think about the LED's. I have some connectors on order from Digikey so I will be able to plug my led's into my balancing plug along with my low battery alarm. I found this http://www.rc-cam.com/bitsw.htm which is a micro-sized R/C on-off switch that I will use to turn my LED's on or off. I also purchased this from hobbyking http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...idProduct=8833 Turnigy Receiver Controlled Switch in case I am to lazy to make the Bit-Switch.

[Ltech]

I found Antratek in Belgium is offering them! I also .

Antratek is the parallax dealer for Belgium,.... (benelux) I order all my parallax stufs there.

[dmagnus]

I got a couple of these thinking that they may come in handy.
http://www.dpcav.com/xcart/product.p...cat=252&page=1
But I haven't used them yet. I don't know which channel I could hook them to on my receiver, I think I'm getting close to running out of channels.

[dmagnus]

Hmmm, twhite over on the Robotics ELEV-8 thread posted about this outfit http://www.dimensionengineering.com
They have a nifty little programmable lighting controller, along with a bunch of other neat stuff, that would be perfect for making my LED's strobe...
Boy, I gotta retire so I can have time to play with all this neat stuff! We never had stuff like this to play with when I was a kid. When I grow up, I wanna be an engineer

[Tiger]

Hey guys... You know you can just use a $10 brushed speed control to control your lights. That lets you not only turn them on and off, but allows you to control brightness. Cheap solution and it works great.

http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id=V533528

...Tiger

[dmagnus]

Yup, I ran across that last night. Makes sense and cheap!

[skynugget]

hit a fence! making more mounts.... *giggle

[Kevin Cook]

What material are you using to make the new mounts?

[skynugget]

i built my whole frame out of lexan...seems to work good. though i have a pretty nasty vibration problem at about half throttle, i found this out just before i lodged it in some chain link . I'm guessing the lexan flexes a bit more then the delrin.

[Ken Gracey]

@skynugget: you might have a highly-imbalanced propeller, maybe from a prior crash. If this is the case you can probably see a chip off of the leading edge of a propeller.

Lexan (polycarbonate) is pretty stiff material in the same thickness as Delrin (acetal copolymer).

Ken Gracey

[skynugget]

thanks for the info ken!
i think i have a bent motor shaft or one of those lil x-mounts are out of whack on one particular boom, because i can replicate the problem with the props off. i haven't had time to go over it with a fine tooth comb yet, but ill report my findings

[Ken Gracey]

@skynugget - bent shafts will certainly cause this problem. We have all of these little pieces. Just let me know what you need.

Ken Gracey

[TheGrue]

Parallax now includes LED strips in the kit? Well that is what I get for buying the first kit to leave the door....LOL

[Nick Ernst]

John,
But you can forever say that you got the very first kit right from my hand! I'll send you some if you would like. Let me know!

-Nick

[TheGrue]

That is very true. The closest that I ever came to having the very first of anything was the 68th Amiga Computer...LOL Just wait until you see it with my FPV gear at the Expo.

[TheGrue]

John,
I'll send you some if you would like. Let me know!

-Nick

Could you send me some please?

[Rob_W]

Hello All,

I am building a quad using the QuickStart board, coupled to a malfunctioning ProtoBoard on which I mounted a 9DOF sensor stick from Sparkfun. I also mounted a BMP085 pressure sensor. Using Jason Dories code from his QuadX project, I was able to run Jason's code by changing the Config Read line in the ITG3200-pasm file to #%11010000 vice #%11010010,,, Then, in Jason's Ground Station Visual C# Main.cs page I changed the mainform load line to read
" private void MainForm_Load( object sender, EventArgs e )
{
// Open the serial port COM7 at 115200 baud, no parity, 8 bits, one stop bit
comm = new SerialPort("COM7", 115200, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
comm.Open();
Active = true;
tickTimer.Enabled = true;
statsTimer.Enabled = true;"
}" . which finds my QuickStart on Com7.
This is way cool :0.......... Thank You so much Jason, I am having so much fun building my quad on a low budget, using Parallax products. I am learning so much here in the forums.... Life is Good
Thank You Ken Gracey for starting this project. I can't afford the HoverFly right now so that is why I went with Jason's version which is coming along nicely.

[Tiger]

Wow! Who says you can't do this stuff on a budget? Here is a guy with a "cardboard" tricopter! http://hackaday.com/2012/03/23/cardb...er/#more-70071

...Tiger