Anyone Interested In An elev-8 (V2) Variant That Is Superior To the V3?
GlassKNees
Posts: 181
in Robotics
I am going to build an Elev-8 (V2) with the following modifications:
Larger Motors - Tarot 4006 620 KV Motors with 1355 carbon fiber props
30A OPTO ESCs and an external BEC
APM 2.6 Flight Controller/Autopilot with external GPS/Compass
915 Mhz Telemetry transceiver- one on the aircraft and one that fits in a USB port on a laptop
This quadcopter will climb and fly faster than the V3 and has mode advance flight modes: Loiter, Alt. Hold, Circle, Acro, Stabilize, Return To Launch (RTL) and Auto - fly waypoint missions using Mission Planner, a free download application used for configuring the aircraft and planning missions as well as receiving in flight telemetry.
I expect to have it built in two weeks (I'm awaiting parts) and will sell it for $200. Let me know if you are interested.
Larger Motors - Tarot 4006 620 KV Motors with 1355 carbon fiber props
30A OPTO ESCs and an external BEC
APM 2.6 Flight Controller/Autopilot with external GPS/Compass
915 Mhz Telemetry transceiver- one on the aircraft and one that fits in a USB port on a laptop
This quadcopter will climb and fly faster than the V3 and has mode advance flight modes: Loiter, Alt. Hold, Circle, Acro, Stabilize, Return To Launch (RTL) and Auto - fly waypoint missions using Mission Planner, a free download application used for configuring the aircraft and planning missions as well as receiving in flight telemetry.
I expect to have it built in two weeks (I'm awaiting parts) and will sell it for $200. Let me know if you are interested.
Comments
Decent price, good Luck.
Maybe lift 1-2 S3' to deploy. Maybe even a Quadrover?
Just a status report: The APM flight controller arrived today. I'm still waiting on other stuff. The first thing I need to do is extend the lengths of the signal/ground wires on the ESC's so they will reach the APM. The ESC's mount directly underneath the motors, so the signal wires must traverse the length of the booms, through the chassis and up to the APM. I will cut off the connectors, splice the necessary length wires, and crimp female pins and insert into the servo connectors. I've done this before and will document the procedure.
I'm getting anxious to start the project! Here is a picture of one of my two Elev-8's with an APM:
The one I will be building will look very similar except it will have the Tarot motor mounts and larger Tarot motors and props.
BTW, I really like flying my Elev-8!
I will be documenting the build in a Powerpoint presentation and will provide instructions as to what to do before you take it out for a flight. The aircraft will be fully assembled and flight tested.
I've fashioned the power and ground leads for the ESCs - the wires that plug into the power breakout harness and go to the ESCs. I've also spliced 8" leads (signal, ground) to one of the ESCs, crimped pins on the other end and slid them into the plastic case, effectively lengthening the signal/gound leads by 8", which should be enough to go the length of the boom, through the chassis, up and to the APM flight controller. I have to do this for the other three ESCs.
I've ordered the telemetry transceivers and a set of Tarot 1355 carbon propellers. The landing skids should arrive this week. I expect to complete soldering, spicing, etc. tomorrow and I can begin the actual build, which should be pretty quick.
I have a bunch of landing skids I could have sent. Are you using the standard Parallax units?
Something to think about: If you're interested in this as a video platform, I have Tarot mounts, carbon fiber rods and a Tarot 2 axis gimbal. The rods can be mounted on top of the chassis running under the flight controller mount. but I would need to get a battery plate to attach to the other ends in order to counter balance the gimbal/camera.
If you're interested, I can send you the stuff and you can install it yourself (I can install the mounts and you can finish the install yrouself)... You can have the carbon rods, mounts and I can sell the gimbal for, say, $25 - it works fine, but replaced it with a Feiyu tech 3D gimbal...
I know how that goes. I'm a caregiver for my Mom and been visiting my sister in the hospital for the last two months. I finally sprung her out the day before Christmas, and the three of us had a nice Christmas dinner.
I'll spring for all of the video upgrade parts. I was looking at a gimbal for my V3 and GoPro2. I bought a lot of V2 and V3 plates so I could do some modifications on my V1, V2 ans V3.
Take you time. I have on working V3, and just order a DJI Phantom 3 which I will get tomorrow. Merry Christmas to me!
Using a receiver I have for testing purposes, I connected an ESC to the Throttle channel, the UBEC to one of the other channels and plugged the power/ground wires going from the ESC to the power branch out harness and applied power. I was able to successfully throttle the motor - repeated this on all ESC's so I'm satisfied with my ESC mods.
I applied red mylar to the two front booms. All of the tedious, mundane stuff is done - I can now begin assembling the aircraft tomorrow.
I installed the ESCs, Motors on the booms and installed the booms on the chassis. I tested each motor for proper spin direction:
The APM Power Module, power breakout harness are installed as well as the telemetry transceiver.
I also installed a pair to Tarot mounting brackets that can hold carbon fiber rods for mounting a gimbal:
The location of the standoffs for mounting the APM base prevents me from running longer carbon rods along the length of the aircraft. I will leave the mounting brackets in place so you wown't have to deal with getting into the chassis to install them yourself - the underside is pretty ugly with all of the wiring.
When I test fly the copter, I will leave the carbon rods off.
I'm going to have to use an old plastic Elev-8 cover plate to install the APM base I'll have to drill holes in the cover plate to match the holes of the APM base.
Aligned (leveled) the motors with respect to each other.
Fabricated and installed an "adapter plate" which was needed because the screw holes for the APM shock absorbing base does not align with the standoffs. The old base plate for the V2 Hoverfly conroller would work but I don't have one, so I made one out of 1/8" basswood.
Installed the APM shock absorber base to the aircraft using the above adapter plate.
Secured the bottom chassis plate to the aircraft.
Tarot mounts for carbon rods installed (for mounting a gimbal and battery plate to counterbalance the gimbal if desired.
Issues:
I have misplaced the mounting caps/screws for mounting the propellers I searched online for a source for replacements but came up empty. I have sent an email to a possible source (U.S. Tarot rep in San Diego) - waiting for a response from him.
Also misplaced the GPS antenna I was going to use. I found a spare, but don't know if it's functional or not. I will try it out and if it doesn't work I will order a replacement.
Still waiting on propellers and landing skids that I ordered.
Things I Can Do:
Download the firmware to the controller and begin calibrations: Accel, Compass (if it works), Radio, ESC.
Mount the APM controller and connect radio, ESCs telemetry, power module, UBEC
Power On Test - Connect to Mission Planner wirelessly using telemetry radios and run Motor test
Enter parameters: Local magnetic declination, Voltage Failsafe value, etc.
Wiring is complete sans the GPS module. GPS should arrive tomorrow and I hope to have it installed and complete all calibrations.
Here are some pics:
This is the left side. Here, you can see the telemetry transceiver with it's rubber duckie antenna pointed downward. Also, you can see 200 mW video transceiver mounted over the left front boom. Looking at the APM fligh controller, you can see that I've used a piece of basswood to adapt to the screw hole pattern of the top chassis and the APM vibration dampening mount. I also added some foam under the APM to further protect from any vibration:
Here is the right side. The ORX 6 channel receiver is visible and five channels (rudder, elevator, aileron, throttle, Flight Modes), and AUX1 is used for gimbal tilt control. The Spektrum AR8000 I originally planned to use was a casualty of the crash and I had to use this spare receiver.
Here is a view looking down on the aircraft. You can see that I have attached two small 3s lipos up front - they are for powering the video transmitter and gimbal. But I can just as easily remove one and use the other battery to power both - I have spare JST connectors and can fabricate a Y to plug from the battery to both components.
I misplaced the Tarot propeller washers and could not find replacements, so I ordered T-Motor washers that work just as well. I put them on my other Elev-8 and will use the stock Tarot washers to attach brand new 13" 5.5 pitch carbon propellers.
I have tested the gimbal and video transmitter - it tilts fine and I get good clear video from my GoPro camera. I hope to do a maiden test flight on Wednesday.
Anyway, still waiting for GPS. And I just realized that I neglected to add the last image link to my previous post, so here it is:
https://youtu.be/HoZeDUljmCw
After posting this, I charged it up again and did a hover test in my front yard. It is pretty nippy - temp was 50 degrees F. and a little breezy - 5 - 10 mph. I put the aircraft in Loiter mode, but it had a hard time holding its position, so I took over manually - hard to keep it in place. But the total endurance was 7:12 and change. This is about a minute longer than what I got from my other battery pack but still disappointing.
I guess there's a lot I have to learn about batteries, etc.
I've ordered a parallel EC5 adapter from Amazon so I can try flying my other Elev-8 using two 4s lipos connected in parallel in order to see if I can get an endurance exceeding 10 minutes. I'm hoping that that additional weight won't cause the motors to overheat. I've felt the motors after the last couple of flights and they were fine - just slightly warm...
Because of this, I have decided take back my claim that this would be a better platform and not sell the other Elev-8, which would be almost identical to the one I tested. I may replace the motors on my test aircraft with something that provides more power but for now, I will content myself to short flights using a single battery pack.
I repaired it - ordered new booms, had some spare Tarot motors, etc. and made a couple of improvements. But my main problem remains - short endurance - about 6 minutes and the motors are overheating. I have convinced myself that the Tarot 4006 motors are not up to flying a 5 lb quadcopter.
So I searched around.... The new DJI Matrice 200 weighs about the same and uses T-Motors, MN 3515's I believe. So I began shopping around and found a dynamite bargain: T-Motor MN3520s - 7 of them for sale on amazon for $46 apiece (these are $110 motors!!). So I bought them.
I'm going to have to go from 4S to a 6S lipo, which I've ordered - a 16000 mAh battery pack. Using my 15" carbon props and given the current draw at 65% from the power chart supplied by T-Motors, I can expect 19.6 minutes of flight. I expect 6.92 KG thrust at 65% power for a 4.1 KG aircraft (I added the increased weight of the new motors as well as the weight of the 6S lipo.
I don't know how accurate the T-Motor charts are - I will find out in a few days. I've installed one motor already - on the #2 boom:
Frankenstein is outfitted with a Feiyu-tech mini 3D gimbal and a Yi 4K camera. But I have to fabricate a video cable from the gimbal to the camera that has a USB 2.0 micro plug on one end and a little 4 pin molex connector on the other. I don't have tiny molex pins to crimp so I will have to splice wires together as soon as I figure out the correct pinouts.
I hope to have it ready for a test flight in a week or so!