I wanted to shoot this video using my other Elev-8 with the gimbal and GoPro camera, but it's not flight ready, so I had to use the copter with the fixed camera. It didn't help that I also had a couple of martinis earlier in the evening!
I live in Sun City, Georgetown, Texas. Here, each neighborhood decorates for Christmas using some theme. OUr neighborhood has used these electric luminarias for years.
When I thought of doing this, I hesitated because I was afraid of neighbors complaining about a drone flying by their house, but the neighborhood agreed to my proposal. It turned out to be a hit - over 200 views the first day I posted the video on YouTube, and I received a lot of positive comments from the neighborhood!
No, I did not fly a waypoint mission, though I wanted to. See a previous post where my Elev-8 flew away, but recovered it on a golf course fairway (it landed itself after losing radio contact)... I put the aircraft in Loiter mode and walked behind while I flew it. I also enabled a geo fence with a 200 meter radius in case it decided to try to get away!
The new GPS mast arrived today and I was able to complete the repairs of my Elev-8 that has the gimbal on it. THe copter crashed during a test flight - it suddenly flipped over and crashed on its back. I determined that there was a loose connection of the plug from the APM power module to the APM itself; once the autopilot lost power the aircraft was uncontrollable.
I took it out for a test flight - video works and I was able to take off and hover. But there is a balance issue. I have the battery positioned at a right angle behind the chassis in an effort to counter the weight up front of the gimbal and camera. The counterbalance is not enough. I managed to improve it a bit by attaching two batteries, using one simply for weight. The aircraft was sluggish and a bit tricky to fly - perhaps need some PID adjustments.
But I'm also worried about the drain on the battery - not only is it powering the motors, the APM, GPS, & telemetry, it is also running the gimbal and the video transmitter. So, I'm going to continue using two 3S batteries - one to power the aircraft flight systems and the other to power the gimbal and video transmitter. I'm not expecting much endurance - perhaps 5 to 7 minutes?
So, I will go back to the Tarot hexacopter - debug the start up problem and see if I can get it into the air. Once I do, I will need to buy another gimbal and video transmitter.
Performed and endurance test this morning, with two 3S batteries strapped on the aircraft; one for powering the aircraft and the other for the gimbal and video transmitter. It was pretty breezy and I had my hands full trying to keep the aircraft hovering in my front yard in Stabilize mode. Endurance time was 6:40, which seems in line with my expectations.
Although the endurance is short, it should be adequate for short video shoots that I have planned. I'm hoping to get better endurance with the tarot. Meanwhile, both Elev-8's are flight-worthy!
I don't know - don't have a scale handy. Will try to find one and let you know. I have a video mission planned for tomorrow. Also, my mini to micro HDMI cable arrived - I've connected my Drift Stealth video cam to it's video transmitter on the other Elev-8. I now have FPV capability on both ships!
Since my Dec. 10 post, when I reported an endurance time of 6:40 on my Elev-8 with the gimbal, I've had some problems. I took the aircraft out to the PIt for a short mission test. Conditions were foggy and breezy, but not bad enough to abort the test. It was suppoed to fly a short distance, approach a horse stall, circle once around it and return. But instead of flying to the stall, the aircraft climbed and came back to the launch point (I later determined that there was a GPS glitch, which probably triggered RTL); while descending, it suddenly came down rapidly, flying through it's propwash and looking like it was going to crash. I immediately took over manual control and it recovered but again descended rapidly, ignoring my full throttle command and it landed hard.
Later that day, I programmed the same mission in my other Elev-8 and took it out to the same place. The fog had cleared but it was still breezy. This time, the aircraft flew to the horse stall and started circling, but before it completed the orbit, it made a rapid descent. I was unable to arrest the descent and it landed next to the stall. The horse was not too happy to have a strange object land near it, but stayed away from it... I had to climb over the fence to retrieve it. Fortunately, it landed in some semi-dry mud which cushioned the landing.
I checked over both aircraft - had to replace a bent screw on one and replace a damaged prop, but otherwise both appeared okay. I did a test flight of the aircraft with the gimbal in my front yard and discovered that after only a minute or so of hovering, it would descend/land despite my attempt to add power. thinking that there was some sort of software parameter not set correctly in the APM, I searched and tweaked to no avail. I even reset the APM to it's defaults and recalibrated it, but this had no effect.
So, last night, I removed the gimbal/camera and video transmitter and this morning took it out for a test flight. Conditions were breezy, but I was able to fly it for several minutes - did not fully exhaust the battery but convinced myself I have a weight issue. So I reinstalled the gimbal/camera and video transmitter and used only a single lipo battery; the gimbal and video transmitter were turned on as soon as I applied power - armed the motors and took off. I was able to hover in the breeze in Loiter mode for only a minute or so before it descended and landed in the grass.
I can't figure out why at first I got over 6 minutes endurance carrying two lipo batteries and now I can only get a minute carrying the gimbal and camera. I'm wondering if perhaps the motors have lost power??? This is the aircraft that crashed into a tree while flying a mission over a bridge - while stuck in the tree, props were jammed against branches preventing the motors from spinning. I thought I'd have to replace all the motors, but during repairs, I tested each one and they all seemed to spin okay - I only replaced one motor.
So, any ideas? Is it possible that these motors may have suffered damaged from being stuck while power was applied?
Yeah. If the battery is discharged below a certain point it becomes damaged and the charger will not recharge it. Given that the aircraft sat on the ground all night, I expected that....
.
If you an old NiCad charger, you can use it to bring the battery back up to a voltage level that the LiPo charger will accept. Do this at a low rate (1/4C or so), supervised, and outside your house. Only use the NiCd charger to charge the LiPo up to about 3.5V per cell, then switch to your LiPo charger. Once the LiPo is up to a level the charge will accept (usually ~3.3V per cell), cycle it a couple times to make sure the cells have recovered.
.
If your LiPo is fairly new, it can tolerate this abuse a couple times.
.
Uh golly, I wish I saw your post sooner - already disposed of it and a couple of other old batteries.
On another topic, I have good news. I think I solved the problem of short flight endurance - I replaced all four motors and just took it out for a test flight - flew over 4 minutes! It was really breezy and the aircraft was bouncing all around but I managed to keep it under control. I will have to do another hover test to see what it's endurance is - I used only one 3300 mah battery, which not only powers the motors, autopilot, GPS, telemetry but also the gimbal and video transmitter.
Here's a pic of the repaired ship (note my brand new FAA Registration on the boom):
I had a couple of unexplained crashes - the aircraft was hovering and all of a sudden it would flip over and crash upside down. I think during one of these events, the camera received some damage on one of its edges. I pulled the gimbal off and installed it on my Tarot hexcopter, which seemed to work okay until one day the gimbal control board died.
I decided to buy another Tarot two axis gimbal and install it on the Elev-8. I have ordered a replacement board for the other gimbal. Meanwhile, I've fashioned another aluminum boom - extended it's length by two inches, hoping to get the propellers out of the camera's field of view. In addition, I'm installing a Tarot battery holder that will mount underneath the chassis and attach to two 10 mm carbon fiber rods. This will allow me to easily position the battery to counterbalance the gimbal and camera. In addition, I've installed some standoffs for the landing skids on order to get more clearance for the camera. When I get it all put together, I will post a picture.
I've installed the gimbal onto the lengthened boom - here are some pics:
Here is a better view of the standoffs used to increase camera ground clearance:
Finally, I lengthened the aluminum boom by 2" in order to get the camera further forward in order to remove the props from the camera's fov:
I'm waiting on two things - a Tarot battery holder and 10 mm carbon tubes that will go underneath the chassis to hold the battery and allow me to position it to accurately counterbalance the gimbal/camera, and a video transmitter and some female molex pins so I can neatly do the wiring. I'm thinking of using spare connectors on the power distribution harness to supply power to the gimbal and video transmitter.
Yes. The compass is part of the GPS antenna - mounted underneath. You have to make sure that you do not change the default setting for the compass orientation. I made that mistake when I built my first APM ship and it flew away in Loiter mode. Since then, I've had no problems. I now have three APM-equipped aircraft - two Elev-8's and a Tarot Fy680 hexcopter.
Have you been using the WiFi feature of the GoPro during these flights? If so, that's a very likely cause for your crash - wifi operates at 2.4GHz and a transmitter on the quad will interfere with the receiver.
I checked my camera - wifi was turned off, so that wasn't the problem. But thanks for letting me know about this! My new video transmitter arrived today, so I now have everything I need to finish this ship and try it out in a day or two, weather permitting (it's been pretty windy!)...
My other Elev-8 is also grounded - it's APM autopilot won't receive GPS satellites and since I can't get a GPS lock, I can't arm the motors. I tried another GPS antenna and wires, so I think the problem is inside the APM electronics. So I ordered a Chinese clone from Amkooku, through Amazon - cost was $40 versus $160 from 3DR. The unit arrived today, but when I opened the package, I discovered that the plastic case was loose. The case is in two pieces, upper and lower halves, held together by four screws. The plastic studs in the upper half where the screws go into are all broken:
The unit may be okay and I could simply glue the plastic case halves together, but I don't want to take the chance, so I'll return it to Amazon, get a refund and decide whether to roll the dice on another clone or buy an APM from 3DR for $160....
The whole reason the local ones are more expensive comes down to quality control. The clone may also not have genuine parts. If you're putting $1000 worth of gear in the air under the control of a $40 clone board from China, well... lets just say better ideas have been had.
I've had a few cases where buying a clone part ended up costing me more from collateral damage or having to replace a failure several times, and I've had other cases where it worked out fine. I don't know what your budget is, so if you're running all cheap parts and willing to take the risk, go for it, just be aware that it is a risk.
Yeah, I know. But I spent quite a bit of time troubleshooting a power up problem on my Tarot hexcopter - even disassembled it and tested each motor individually, only to discover that the $160 genuine 3DR product was defective. I've flown the hex many times since then using a clone.
Ultimately, you have to ask yourself if the extra spent on quality control is really worth it or not. Just because a part is considerably less expensive may not necessarily mean that it's no good. In this particular case, I have no idea if the electronics are okay or not - the plastic housing is the issue. But I have chosen to return the item.
While I wait for my return request to be approved, which I expect it will, and send it back for my refund, I have time to decide what I want to do - try my luck on another clone or spend the extra $$ and give 3DR another try...
The manufacturer of the clone APM advised me to go ahead and glue the case together - if the electronics don't work they will take it back. I glued the case last night and this morning I successfully connected it to Mission Planner and completed the firmware download and all configurations. I re-calibrated the ESC's and I believe that the aircraft is ready to fly.
Meanwhile, I completed the wiring on the other Elev-8 ship - installed the video transmitter and spliced the video/gnd leads to the USB plug that goes into the GoPro as well as the power/gnd leads for the video transmitter and gimbal. I powered up the aircraft and it transmitted clear video to my monitor. All I need now is the Tarot battery holder so I can secure the battery and balance the aircraft.
I've finished the upgrades/repairs. I'm still waiting for the Tarot battery holder/plate, so I pulled the one I used on my Tarot hexcopter. I've completed the wiring as I indicated in my previous post and I added the cable going from the gear channel on my receiver to the gimbal - I only have a 6 channel receiver and the only spare channel was "Gear", so I disabled the gear switch on my transmitter and mapped the gear channel to a knob for tilt control.
After installing the battery holder, I mounted a battery and balanced the aircraft by sliding the battery holder along the rails. I also re-calibrated the ESC's so as soon as I have some calm weather, I'm ready for a test flight.
Comments
@GlassNees,
I do generally NOT like the idea of free flying cameras.
But your video is absolutely great. I guess this was not autopilot but steered by a couple of martinis!
Honestly that gave me some Christmas feeling here.
Thanks for that.
Alas I wonder why all houses have the same glowing stones in front. Group rebate? HOA?
Enjoy!
Mike
When I thought of doing this, I hesitated because I was afraid of neighbors complaining about a drone flying by their house, but the neighborhood agreed to my proposal. It turned out to be a hit - over 200 views the first day I posted the video on YouTube, and I received a lot of positive comments from the neighborhood!
No, I did not fly a waypoint mission, though I wanted to. See a previous post where my Elev-8 flew away, but recovered it on a golf course fairway (it landed itself after losing radio contact)... I put the aircraft in Loiter mode and walked behind while I flew it. I also enabled a geo fence with a 200 meter radius in case it decided to try to get away!
Thank you for viewing my video! Merry Christmas!
I took it out for a test flight - video works and I was able to take off and hover. But there is a balance issue. I have the battery positioned at a right angle behind the chassis in an effort to counter the weight up front of the gimbal and camera. The counterbalance is not enough. I managed to improve it a bit by attaching two batteries, using one simply for weight. The aircraft was sluggish and a bit tricky to fly - perhaps need some PID adjustments.
But I'm also worried about the drain on the battery - not only is it powering the motors, the APM, GPS, & telemetry, it is also running the gimbal and the video transmitter. So, I'm going to continue using two 3S batteries - one to power the aircraft flight systems and the other to power the gimbal and video transmitter. I'm not expecting much endurance - perhaps 5 to 7 minutes?
So, I will go back to the Tarot hexacopter - debug the start up problem and see if I can get it into the air. Once I do, I will need to buy another gimbal and video transmitter.
Although the endurance is short, it should be adequate for short video shoots that I have planned. I'm hoping to get better endurance with the tarot. Meanwhile, both Elev-8's are flight-worthy!
6:40 seems about right with the weight. What's the all up weight right now? The V3 will lift 5 pounds, but I forgot what the duration was.
Later that day, I programmed the same mission in my other Elev-8 and took it out to the same place. The fog had cleared but it was still breezy. This time, the aircraft flew to the horse stall and started circling, but before it completed the orbit, it made a rapid descent. I was unable to arrest the descent and it landed next to the stall. The horse was not too happy to have a strange object land near it, but stayed away from it... I had to climb over the fence to retrieve it. Fortunately, it landed in some semi-dry mud which cushioned the landing.
I checked over both aircraft - had to replace a bent screw on one and replace a damaged prop, but otherwise both appeared okay. I did a test flight of the aircraft with the gimbal in my front yard and discovered that after only a minute or so of hovering, it would descend/land despite my attempt to add power. thinking that there was some sort of software parameter not set correctly in the APM, I searched and tweaked to no avail. I even reset the APM to it's defaults and recalibrated it, but this had no effect.
So, last night, I removed the gimbal/camera and video transmitter and this morning took it out for a test flight. Conditions were breezy, but I was able to fly it for several minutes - did not fully exhaust the battery but convinced myself I have a weight issue. So I reinstalled the gimbal/camera and video transmitter and used only a single lipo battery; the gimbal and video transmitter were turned on as soon as I applied power - armed the motors and took off. I was able to hover in the breeze in Loiter mode for only a minute or so before it descended and landed in the grass.
I can't figure out why at first I got over 6 minutes endurance carrying two lipo batteries and now I can only get a minute carrying the gimbal and camera. I'm wondering if perhaps the motors have lost power??? This is the aircraft that crashed into a tree while flying a mission over a bridge - while stuck in the tree, props were jammed against branches preventing the motors from spinning. I thought I'd have to replace all the motors, but during repairs, I tested each one and they all seemed to spin okay - I only replaced one motor.
So, any ideas? Is it possible that these motors may have suffered damaged from being stuck while power was applied?
If you an old NiCad charger, you can use it to bring the battery back up to a voltage level that the LiPo charger will accept. Do this at a low rate (1/4C or so), supervised, and outside your house. Only use the NiCd charger to charge the LiPo up to about 3.5V per cell, then switch to your LiPo charger. Once the LiPo is up to a level the charge will accept (usually ~3.3V per cell), cycle it a couple times to make sure the cells have recovered.
.
If your LiPo is fairly new, it can tolerate this abuse a couple times.
.
On another topic, I have good news. I think I solved the problem of short flight endurance - I replaced all four motors and just took it out for a test flight - flew over 4 minutes! It was really breezy and the aircraft was bouncing all around but I managed to keep it under control. I will have to do another hover test to see what it's endurance is - I used only one 3300 mah battery, which not only powers the motors, autopilot, GPS, telemetry but also the gimbal and video transmitter.
Here's a pic of the repaired ship (note my brand new FAA Registration on the boom):
Recent flight: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mX8H_GDVoow
I decided to buy another Tarot two axis gimbal and install it on the Elev-8. I have ordered a replacement board for the other gimbal. Meanwhile, I've fashioned another aluminum boom - extended it's length by two inches, hoping to get the propellers out of the camera's field of view. In addition, I'm installing a Tarot battery holder that will mount underneath the chassis and attach to two 10 mm carbon fiber rods. This will allow me to easily position the battery to counterbalance the gimbal and camera. In addition, I've installed some standoffs for the landing skids on order to get more clearance for the camera. When I get it all put together, I will post a picture.
Here is a better view of the standoffs used to increase camera ground clearance:
Finally, I lengthened the aluminum boom by 2" in order to get the camera further forward in order to remove the props from the camera's fov:
I'm waiting on two things - a Tarot battery holder and 10 mm carbon tubes that will go underneath the chassis to hold the battery and allow me to position it to accurately counterbalance the gimbal/camera, and a video transmitter and some female molex pins so I can neatly do the wiring. I'm thinking of using spare connectors on the power distribution harness to supply power to the gimbal and video transmitter.
My other Elev-8 is also grounded - it's APM autopilot won't receive GPS satellites and since I can't get a GPS lock, I can't arm the motors. I tried another GPS antenna and wires, so I think the problem is inside the APM electronics. So I ordered a Chinese clone from Amkooku, through Amazon - cost was $40 versus $160 from 3DR. The unit arrived today, but when I opened the package, I discovered that the plastic case was loose. The case is in two pieces, upper and lower halves, held together by four screws. The plastic studs in the upper half where the screws go into are all broken:
The unit may be okay and I could simply glue the plastic case halves together, but I don't want to take the chance, so I'll return it to Amazon, get a refund and decide whether to roll the dice on another clone or buy an APM from 3DR for $160....
I've had a few cases where buying a clone part ended up costing me more from collateral damage or having to replace a failure several times, and I've had other cases where it worked out fine. I don't know what your budget is, so if you're running all cheap parts and willing to take the risk, go for it, just be aware that it is a risk.
Ultimately, you have to ask yourself if the extra spent on quality control is really worth it or not. Just because a part is considerably less expensive may not necessarily mean that it's no good. In this particular case, I have no idea if the electronics are okay or not - the plastic housing is the issue. But I have chosen to return the item.
While I wait for my return request to be approved, which I expect it will, and send it back for my refund, I have time to decide what I want to do - try my luck on another clone or spend the extra $$ and give 3DR another try...
Meanwhile, I completed the wiring on the other Elev-8 ship - installed the video transmitter and spliced the video/gnd leads to the USB plug that goes into the GoPro as well as the power/gnd leads for the video transmitter and gimbal. I powered up the aircraft and it transmitted clear video to my monitor. All I need now is the Tarot battery holder so I can secure the battery and balance the aircraft.
After installing the battery holder, I mounted a battery and balanced the aircraft by sliding the battery holder along the rails. I also re-calibrated the ESC's so as soon as I have some calm weather, I'm ready for a test flight.
Here is a side view: