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ELEV8 Price Reduction — Parallax Forums

ELEV8 Price Reduction

PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
edited 2015-11-19 16:21 in Robotics
I think Parallax just reduced the ELEV8 by another 50 bucks:

https://www.parallax.com/product/80200

That's a great price for just the spare parts, ( your personal crash kit, with everything) :)

Comments

  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    Will it be possible to use the Parallax Flight Controller with earlier Elev8 kits or will it require the v3?
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2015-11-20 18:46
    I don't think there a reason the new FC can't be used on the old platforms. I'm looking forward to get that closed source HoverFly's off my V1 and V2.

    The new V3 uses ESC's without BEC's. Maybe Kyle will chime in.

    EDIT:Not sure if it will work yet.
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    David Betz wrote: »
    Will it be possible to use the Parallax Flight Controller with earlier Elev8 kits or will it require the v3?
    Not going to be super easy, but I will try to write up a tutorial in the next few weeks.


  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    Publison wrote: »
    David Betz wrote: »
    Will it be possible to use the Parallax Flight Controller with earlier Elev8 kits or will it require the v3?
    Not going to be super easy, but I will try to write up a tutorial in the next few weeks.

    Hi Publison,

    Don't write up a tutorial on my account. "Not going to be super easy." is a good enough reply for me. I was wondering if it would be worth it to buy a $299 Elev8-v2 and upgrade it later to a Parallax Flight Controller. Sounds like that wouldn't be a good idea. Better to wait for the v3 I think.

    Thanks!
    David

  • JasonDorieJasonDorie Posts: 1,930
    edited 2015-11-20 21:59
    Lies. :) It'll be easy. I have a non-Parallax kit that I set up using the Parallax flight controller and someone else's ESCs. The Parallax board has 12v in (actually it's 6 to 18v, I think), so you just remove the power line from the ESCs and hook the flight controller up directly to your battery.

    That said, the Elev8 V3 has a number of design improvements over the old one, so if you don't have one yet it's probably worth waiting. The V3 and new flight controller will be released soon.
  • JasonDorieJasonDorie Posts: 1,930
    Also worth mentioning, the setup software lets you configure the FC for whatever remote you have, ESC output range, control rates, and so on. Here's some screen shots, and a shot of the "Non-Parallax" drone I set up using the Parallax flight controller.
    GroundStation1.png
    745 x 464 - 91K
    GroundStation2.png
    745 x 464 - 47K
    GroundStation3.png
    745 x 464 - 59K
    GroundStation5.png
    745 x 464 - 50K
    GroundStation4.png
    745 x 464 - 47K
    Elev8-Phantom.jpg
    1020 x 765 - 88K
    Elev8-Phantom-2.jpg
    1020 x 765 - 90K
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    Very nice looking setup software. What GUI library did you use to create it? The board also looks nice! Any idea how much the flight controller by itself will sell for?
  • JasonDorieJasonDorie Posts: 1,930
    edited 2015-11-20 22:18
    The software is C#. I found a few components online, and wrote a bunch of them from scratch.

    The controller price hasn't been set yet. Ballpark of $125, I think? Don't hold me or them to that - I know that number came up, and I think they were still trying to figure out BOM, R&D costs, etc, so that may go up or down.

    All the software is open source (firmware and the config tool), and I'm trying to make sure there's room left in the Prop for user code. Currently it's at 24Kb and 6 cogs, written in C/C++ with SimpleIDE.
  • Kyle M.Kyle M. Posts: 112
    We're still setting the price, but it will be in the ball pack of what Jason said.
    We're going to start to release more information about the ELEV-8 v3 in the coming days and weeks (make sure to follow us on twitter!), and expect to (that's not a guarantee just yet) launch early December, and ship by mid December. However, the flight controller and power distribution board won't be available to purchase individually until mid-January.
  • VonSzarvasVonSzarvas Posts: 3,501
    Publison wrote: »
    The new V3 uses ESC's without BEC's. Maybe Kyle will chime in.

    EDIT:Not sure if it will work yet.

    You can use BEC or non.BEC ESC's with the new flight controller board. So that means the older Parallax supplied yellow ESC's from the V2 kit are compatible.

  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    VonSzarvas wrote: »
    Publison wrote: »
    The new V3 uses ESC's without BEC's. Maybe Kyle will chime in.

    EDIT:Not sure if it will work yet.

    You can use BEC or non.BEC ESC's with the new flight controller board. So that means the older Parallax supplied yellow ESC's from the V2 kit are compatible.

    Good to know. Ongoing communication with Rocklin now.


  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2015-11-20 23:49
    JasonDorie wrote: »
    Lies. :) It'll be easy. I have a non-Parallax kit that I set up using the Parallax flight controller and someone else's ESCs. The Parallax board has 12v in (actually it's 6 to 18v, I think), so you just remove the power line from the ESCs and hook the flight controller up directly to your battery.

    That said, the Elev8 V3 has a number of design improvements over the old one, so if you don't have one yet it's probably worth waiting. The V3 and new flight controller will be released soon.

    Lies! :) My input was more about the electrical harness between the V1/V2 and the V3 with the new distribution board. I have no doubt that would be simple to snip here, solder here. I was just going to write it up. :) (If I can get the hardware to document it,photos).

  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    JasonDorie wrote: »
    Lies. :) It'll be easy. I have a non-Parallax kit that I set up using the Parallax flight controller and someone else's ESCs. The Parallax board has 12v in (actually it's 6 to 18v, I think), so you just remove the power line from the ESCs and hook the flight controller up directly to your battery.

    That said, the Elev8 V3 has a number of design improvements over the old one, so if you don't have one yet it's probably worth waiting. The V3 and new flight controller will be released soon.

    BTW Jason. I have been following your progression, and I must say, you are doing a super job!
  • JasonDorieJasonDorie Posts: 1,930
    There are only two things you'd need to do - Remove the middle (red / power) wire from the ESCs, and connect the battery to the power input on the flight controller. You can remove the power pins by either snipping them, or using a pin or something to release the tab that holds the pin in place in the plug, slide it out, and then use electrical tape to hold it to the wire. Doing this means that if you decide to use it in something else in the future you can just slide the metal pin back into the plug.

    And thank you - it's been fun to work on.
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