PJFlight

Hey Everyone!!

I've done close to 70 flights on my new DJI 550 Hex and the FPV flying has been easy, reliable, and produced great results. My set up is listed below.

The basic flight platform is based on the DJI F550 Flamewheel using the Naza M w GPS V2 flight controller. The propulsion is provided by the 6 set DJI E300 Tune Propulsion System, generating a maximum 600g per motor lift. I use a Futaba Rx and Tx, connected by sbus to the Naza. The drone uses 4S Lipo's from 5000mah to 8000mah. The flight drone flies well at all levels of load from nothing to about 3000g (the most I've lifted). Controll and agility scale with weight, though there is a steep decline after about 2600g. Max Speed is aprox. 35 mph in attitude mode. The build process and drone performance of the drone itself has been excellent. The FPV and AP setup has been more complex and challenging.

Actually one of the biggest challenge I found when choosing and refining this configuration was how best to mount the monitor!

I initially had used a Park Tools bike stand that I had on hand to hold a custom box mount (see pictures below). I didn't want to go the goggle route because I'm a newer pilot and like to be able to use LOS flight often and quickly. That led me to mounting the monitor on the Futaba T10J transmitter, and there are a number of mounts that claim to provide this utility. Most are crap, but the one I settled on below, created by a small 3-d printing company, is amazing.

You can see the final product below. I wired an SD video recorder in parallel with the monitor so I can record what comes off the iOSD mini. Parallel means I don't have to lose an quality on the monitor, or deal with additional readouts around the edge of the screen.

The Boscam Rx and Tx have been problem free and were less expensive than comparable alternatives. The circularly polarized antenna are a must. Although I've had problems with the DJI H3-3D gimbal (had to return to OEM), when it's working it works great! The GoPro Hero 3+ of course does a great job, and I prefer the 1960x1280 resolution as it seems to produce the best quality footage in this setting.

Having tried both hard-mount and gimbal-mounted camera setups I have to admit that flying with a hard mount does provide a more tuned-in feeling. This advantage is offset somewhat by the telemetry overlay from the iOSD, and in the end I think the gimbal is well worth the sacrifice. The other option would be second dedicated FPV camera but this would come at the expense of weight and complexity with little advantage.

I have also debated weather to use the camera extension poles that I purchased to move the camera out beyond the probs and gear. Although the video that came back with this setup looked pro, it did seem to lose something for me when watching back. I like the arms in frame to remind me that I'm watching from the belly of a drone. I mean, video shot while riding a dragon is just shaky crap if you don't get the dragon in the footage

Most of my flights I leave the extensions off and save the 180g weight as well.

I can reliably get 2000 meters from home base with this setup and have perfect picture quality. Further distances are possible but pose other challenges. This setup can get 15 minutes of flight on an 8000 mah Lipo, more with a lower C variant. All up weight is about 2500 g.

Check out all my flights (both the GoPro and Telemetry) footage in the playlists below.

http://youtu.be/9ihipJ7Wklc?list=PLNrToQEagLn9AKa2h37faFff_20p1-3Zx Favorite Flights:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...RwwUU-yp_68U0_

Complete Flight Log:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...faFff_20p1-3Zx

Telemety Footage:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNrToQEagLn_L_I7fBx8IhixCCNRnjFvt

Configuration Components:
Frame - DJI Flamewheel F550 (standard white landing gear)
Motors - DJI e300 920kv
ESCs – DJI e300 15A
Propellers – DJI e300 9443 Carbone Fiber
Flight Controller - Naza M V2 w GPS
Gimbal - DJI H3-3D
Camera - GOPRO Hero 3+ Silver (64GB MicoSD)
Battery 1 – Glacier 4S 5300mah (12 min Flight Time)
Battery 2 - Zippy 4S 8000mah 780g (15 min Flight Time)
On Screen Telemetry – DJI iOSD Mini
FPV Monitor - Airy 7" (Evolution3D Transmitter Mount)
FPV Transmitter - Boscam 5.8Ghz FPV System
FPV Receiver - Boscam 305
FPV Antenna - Boscam 5.8Ghz Cloud Spirit
FPV Recorder – Hobbyking SD DVR (32GB SD)
Transmitter - Futaba T10J
Receiver – Futaba R3008SB
Battery Ground Station - ZIPPY 3S 2200mAh (3 hours power)
Battery Charger - iCharger 3010B 1000W
Power Supply -2ZO x2
Trainer – Blade Nano QX

PJFlight

I fixed the playlist links that were not properly directing. Odd...

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

I like the Boscam 832 FPV tx and rx. I can either use a pole to get really long reception or revert to my Fatsharks if I'm not flying so far away. I'm also a big fan of the DJI stuff. I have an F450 with Naza Lite M for aerial video and a Dead Cat 450 with Naza Lite M for FPV.

polylawman

Awesome videos PJFlight
I'm new at this and just built my 1st hex, also a DJI F550. Everything's going well so far and I've made about 10 successful flights. My flight times are between 7-8 minutes, which I'm a little disappointed in, with no gimbal or camera. The lipos are 3s 40c 5200Mah, supposedly. They have 3300Mah stickers on them, but AtlantaHobby swears they were mislabeled. Anyway, I just purchased a 4s 50c 5000 lipo, just haven't had time to fly it, but I'm hoping that my flight times will increased some.
Will you please tell me c rating of your lipos?
Again, those are some awesome flights you posted