phmaximus

Hey.... I've been away for a while building myself a little FPV mini racing quadcopter.... And the excitement from that is starting to calm down and I'm getting back into my surface vehicles to.

How's the FPV equipment is really cheap ATM.....so I got to thinking, I've already got goggles and a VRx it won't cost much to fit a camera and VTx to some of my surface vehicles..... I'm looking at about $12 on eBay for a Sony 700tvl and $20 for a 200mw VTx.... I reckon it would be killer on a drift car or a crawler

collector1231

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WBB! Nope, nothing special.

EXT2Rob

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I've been hearing about the FPV mini-quad-racer thing. Sounds intriguing. Tell us more, Max. And FPV stuff is getting cheaper?

DieHarder

I have a friend who I've been working with, he's built a tri-copter and put FPV on it. It's really neat.

phmaximus

oh man, u wouldn't believe how cheap to build, I think mine ows me about $450 for everything except a battery charger..

So you would like to see more??? ok here goes...

I started out with a entry level carbon fibre frame


Then from there is needed some light.... come on lights are cool.
for the front ive used some Axial sxc10 light buckets
and the rear ive used some red LED stip glued to a piece of plastic and tinted with tamiya red








After that my goggles came in the mail... its a quanum v2 goggles.... basically a 5" screen turned into a headset



then...

phmaximus

Now it was time for the Motors and esc....
im using DYS 2300kv motors and Afro 12a ESC flashed with simonK firmware

To keep thing nice and tidy i soldered the motors directly to the ESC then put heatshrink over the ESC's to hide them somewhat...





but the heatshrink was not enough to make mine stand out in a crowd
so i vinyl wraped both top and bottom plates on a orange metallic vinyl

phmaximus

next was fitting the Flight controller, (Naze23 acro) and soldering 20 something little connectors to it lol
receiver, flysky ia6B
Making a custom battery loom and soldering the ESC to it aswell as hiding the wires the best i could





after that i made a custom voltage filter from a ferrous ring and a cap.
then it was onto fitting the voltage filter and the camera (sony 600TVL)



just hidden under the Flight Controller i managed to squeeze a MinimOSD and wrapped it in heatshrink

phmaximus

testing the lights

phmaximus

and here are some pics and a video if its maiden flight... i wasent planning to film it because im still a noob when it comes to flying and the FC hadnot had any of the PID values setup... but my wife got a video anyway... lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP9gx9duV-M

phmaximus

this is how it looks now.... nearly finished. im just waiting on the VTx (video transmitter) then i can go fly some FPV... keep in mind since the video ive has 2 weeks experance and now im alot more confident.... id never flown a hobby grade quadcopter before

Anthoop

"Have you missed anything exciting"...not really.....someone posted about turbo charging in a couple of threads...but other than that the forum has probably missed your post count/day...nothing much else.

SyCo_VeNoM

hey man what about all those new, and exciting breakthroughs in ground based RC's like the...... uhh... and the uhhh..... damn ok not a damn thing exciting has happened in RC's or here.
Only thing was a lil while back mods popped in said they were back, and disappeared completely again a day or 2 later

phmaximus

I dId kinda wonder that... Surface vehicles are at a bit of a stand still... Hopefully they will pick up soon.

i guess that why I'm trying something new. And these quadcopters are so new that they are coming up with new things each month... I dare say it should keep me amused for years to come

phmaximus

Dead set, if u love high speed RC cars and video games, but have never been a fan of traditional planes and helicopters, You have got to try flying a quadcopter by FPV... It's insane. U get totally immersed and it nearly feels like u are there. And compared to other aerial vehicles, multi rotors are considerably eaiser to learn and fly.... An example of this... The U.S. Airforce's UAV training is only 12 months before you are certified and apparently it eaiser and faster to train pilots with no skill sets that it is to train a current active pilot..... Crazy

This is the video that inspired me... Then a week later I started building one

https://vimeo.com/108448978

DieHarder

Awesome build! That's a nice copter! I bought one of those LaTrax Alias setups, but no FPV. I've gonna have to build something like this...

phmaximus

Cheerz buddy, but yeah, do it... It's the most fun I've had in ages....I use to think my Losi 5ive got my heart pumping.... It's got nothing on a quad...

SyCo_VeNoM

Yea I kinda got a bit bored of RC's

Decided to try and get into another cheap hobby which is photography
Yes I sure know how to pick cheap hobbies


I wanted a quadcopter... but like ground based RC's not much room near me to fly them as its tall buildings one on top of another. That and the wind gusts can be pretty random. Remember when I tried a (not very expensive) RC helicopter it flew fine for a few mins then a gut of wind came, and it crashed into the concrete shattering its prop.

ColeB

How durable are the quadcopters? I imagine props get damaged pretty easily, but after seeing some gnarly crashes on YouTube during some racing it seemed like the whole thing could just get demolished if you ran into some immovable object at moderate to high speed.

phmaximus

id say they are extremely durable, they are only around 450g fully loaded and the frames are made out of carbon fibre... it crazy what they can take...but ur right about the props

the ones im currently using are 5" ABS props.... they dont take much to destroy at all...its a surprise when you crash and none brake, but been 50 cents each its not a big deal.
Hows, Ive got some new nylon props on order and they are advertised as unbreakable? so it should be interesting on what they call unbreakable, but im a little worried about it transferring impact forced to the motors. Motors are $13 where a set of 4 props is $2.

Say for example the genuine Blackout Mini H is one extremely durable quad. people have reported all kinds of crashes from little to big and 99% if the time the frame is fine with a few little chips here and there... but the clone version ZMR250 (the one i have) is not as durable... the only real complaint is if u crash it hard enough u will snap an arm.... but now that version 2 has come out that might be a thing of the past because it now has 4mm solid carbon fibre arms that are made from a better quality CF, and they are compatible with the version 1 ZRM250's.

phmaximus

how this for a fair crash.... there is soooooo many on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHTRqI8sypI

EXT2Rob

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Pretty cool, Max. Thanks for sharing that. What are your "insect antennae" for?

Just went back thru the post, pics, and looked up some of the parts you mentioned. That MinimOSD board will overlay system data onto your FPV display??!! THAT's COOL! Did that require extra sensors? Or just a hook up? Where did you find the CF air frame?

That video IS pretty dramatic! The video of those quads flying thru the trees chasing each other reminded me of the forest scene in Star Wars where they were flying those "air cycles" or whatever they called them. Looks like a blast.

SyCo_VeNoM

How much was the whole FPV setup?
Might be neat to slap one on my RC tank and line it up so I can aim the barrel with it

phmaximus

Ahh the insect antennas are for the Flysky ia6b receiver, it's a long range dual antenna system and works best with the antennas at 90deg to each other... A lot of people don't bother and run them parallel to each other but because I'm flying around trees I wanted it to be the best it can... That and my wife thinks it looks cute lol

oh yeah, those minimOSD are awesome. it connects directly to the flight controller and takes advantage of its sensors.
My flight controller is a striped down version that only has a accelerometer and a gyro (Naze32 acro). So on my ODS it only shows tilt, pitch, flight mode and battery voltage. Where is I had a full naze32 with the accelerometer, gyro, barometer and magnetometer it could show more information like height, climb speed, direction and compass.... Also if u add a GPS unit they can show speed and have a return to home arrow,,,, oh and some receivers support RSSI so I can also have the signal strength shown. Bloody impressive from something that's only $7..... Then $8 for the little programmer

its ts full on flying FPV.... I got my wife to wear the goggles why I was flying... I flew straight up a good 20m then let it free fall until it got close to the ground... She nearly fell over lol,,, she said it gave here butterfly's in the tummy and she nearly shat herself lol

No kidding,,, after a 30seconds or so ur brain gets use to it and u get totally immersed, it's very easy to forget that you are not actually inside of it.

phmaximus

FPV prices...
say my budget setup...
Quanim V2 goggles. $80
Sony 600tvl camera $30
VTx and VRx combo Eachine 600mw $60

Just keep in mind this is AUD$ so in US$ it would be cheaper by abound 25% from the same suppliers... Possibly lol

but the good thing is u could go for a cheaper camera and VTx/VRx...
the camera I use is specifically designed to be able to handle bright light sources with out blacking out... Ie. Flying into the sun, or night security where there is bright light sources like parking lights... So I think for surface vehicles u could get away with a eBay special Sony 700tvl for around $11

EXT2Rob

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WOW! I can't believe how affordable these pieces are! I may be following in your footsteps, mate.
You mentioned that you flashed some special programming into the flight controller? Why is that? Don't they come programmed already?

I bought myself one of those little micro-quads to try about a year ago. Could never get the thing to fly very well. It needed constant control input just to keep it in one place. Could never get the trims to let the thing hover in place. Got really frustrated with it. Have thought about buying a LaTrax, seeing as how it has better electronics and sounds easier to control and learn on. (What was your first time experience like with the LaTrax, Nate?) But jeez, it looks like you started from no quad experience either, and you were flying this thing pretty well, at least compared to my "flights" with that micro-quad.

Does the FPV make it easier to fly it than without it?