Sky High

DFI LiPoly Custom Batteries

I saw a few posts about those wanting Lipoly batteries from other suppliers because they were cheaper or maybe faster to get. I found some directly from Thunder Power that were cheaper too but DID NOT have the added custom power drain protection circuit board. For the price that we pay for these batteries I would highly recommend using the custom batteries with this added feature to prevent overdraining battery cell damage. Thunder Power says that they have a new balancer to ensure that all cells are being charged properly. But, DFI said that it was not necessary for 3 cell packs. Someone else was asking what the additional leads were on the DF batteries from Thunder Power. That additional lead is for the optional balancer. [sm=thumbup.gif]

Sky High

Day & Night Flight Video

This is some footage of my Ti Pro in day and night flights. The dayflight was with a slight headwind so I just dipped the nose into it and let it surf that wave, kind of like a thermal! I just pitched a little forward and it basically maintained its own altitude with only slight adjustments. The night flights are showing the use of the nav lights for orientation. The night flight at the stadium best demonstrates what bright LEDs can do when pointed straight ahead without any obstruction from the frame or motors. Since the night flight lights video I have added the red and green and will be adding four more landing lights.

Ti Pro Flight Video Demos

[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/DAYFLIGHT1.asx]Day Flight 1[/link]


[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/DAYFLIGHT2.asx]Day Flight 2[/link]


[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHTLIGHTS.asx]Night Flight Lights![/link]


[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHT1.asx]Night Flight 1[/link]


[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHT2.asx]Night Flight 2[/link]

Sky High

Basic Eyecam Camera Ti Pro Tests

Below are 3 tests of the basic DF Eyecam system flown on the Ti Pro. When these were shot about 5 weeks ago, there was absolutely no anti-vibration measures in place. This first day of using the camera was tragic. I had flown several consecutive nights prior with no issues whatsoever. This day was different. I simply took off as usual and as you will see within 2-3 minutes, the power just failed for no apparent reason. I was about 50 ft above the tallest tree for total of about 100 ft and my DF made a free fall on the express elevator to hell! [X(] I think that I stopped breathing for a few seconds. I then ran up to the area it where it crashed and at first glance, there was no apparent damage. The battery jarred loose but that was about it. I couldn't believe it! So I adjusted the motor angles, recalibrated and proceeded to fly again. Within a few minutes, it happened again but at much lower altitude, about 20 ft. [>:] This time I broke a rotor or two. I readjusted and recalibrated again, then took off and it happened again! [:@] So, I just packed up and went to the house to try to find out what caused these power failures. I couldn't seem to figure it out. Well, the following night, I went to fly again still without knowing what the hell caused the crashes before. As I was preparing to fly and arming the helo, that's when I noticed the LEDs cutting off as attached the battery to the board. Then I got no power, so I then jiggled the power came back and then off again. I realized that the power connector on the board was loose at the at the sauder joint and that it must have been the cause of the power failures earlier. I touched the two board terminals with a sauder gun and it became real solid again. That fixed the power failure. That 100 ft freefall must have finished what was a power joint separation in progress because remember the battery did come loose from the velcro and it must have yanked that connector really good. But, what made the first failure occur since I had flown without any issues several days in a row? Who knows?

Camera Test Demos

[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/FREEFALL.asx]Camera Test 1 - 100 ft Free Fall![/link]


[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/CAMERATEST2.asx]Camera Test 2[/link]


[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/CAMERATEST3.asx]Camera Test 3[/link]

roxyboby

hi skyhig still havent's finalised my isolater. But will be sure to send some pics soon when I really think that it has been a success. o.k.
and thanks for your comments. Will check out with rctoys to find out if they have any such extenders.

Sky High

Isolator

Did you see my post with the foam weatherstripping in both of the ball joints? Did you also see my Eyecam test video demos? If not, take a look. [:-]

Vibration Isolation
www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3619343

Eyecam Test Video Demos
www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3619704

Hunter850

My Feedback: (1)

Sky High, You have been busy. Lots of reading to catch up and you are right the more people read and reply of course the longer it gets. I usually check every couple of days for new info and comments. Things have slowed down on the site beacause of old man winter I guess[:@]. Good time for looking at changes and a bit of garage flying. Wind up here seems to go on forever in the winter.

I checked my IR sensors and they are all equal and in line with the horizon.

Some interesting ideas you put forward. I put some of the foam on the camera mount and will give it a try when the wind stops.

I like your lighting systems. I used tire flys from radio shack. They weigh in at 8 grams each and come in white, red and green. With fresh batteries they work very well but they are only alkaline so don't last long. Keep us posted on your nav light systems.

How long have you been flying the DF? You have some good flying abilities. I still am only flying tail in but I can manover pretty good this way.

I am surprised you haven't gone to CF blades. They are excellent. I did however have to make the spacer that goes underneath of the blade longer back about 3/8". The blades were touching the support arms at times which I didn't like especially in a bit o wind.

Hunter850

My Feedback: (1)

roxyboby,

Do you connect you camera into the board of the DF?

If you do not use the 9 volts adaptor cable that came with the camera system you could use that to extend the cable without screwing up your camera cable. You would just need a 2 pin connector to mount on to the board.

roxyboby

hi sky high. Yes I did check out your isolator. So these vid's you have posted are straight from the camera without any software touches??? By the way I still havent been able to connect my video camera (jvc) to the wireless reciever. Don't know which cable to connect where. Right now I am still flying indoors and am recording on my old VCR. The video camera does't have a connector like a regular VCR.

roxyboby

hi hunter. No I do not mount the camera on the board. Since it is placed slightly away from the center it needs a longer cable. I get your idea. Let me try and figure out how to do that connnection part. Thanks.

Sky High

Yep. That was the first day that I had ever used the camera and there was no post processing. Since then, there has been nothing but high frequency vibration. I can't wait to try the new isolation foam in the ball joints. If anyone tries this MAKE SURE to use that weatherstripping type foam that is soft and spongy but dense and firm and about 1/4" thick before it's compressed. The great thing about that particular kind is that it conforms so well when compressed and it has an adhesive side to help stick to the inside of the ball socket. You can find this stuff in rolls at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.. The other type that had a slight rough texture is too porous because of the larger cells and will compress to much and not provide the proper isolation.

What kind of JVC camera are you using? Then, what kind of connector/jack is the input? I think I know exactly what you need if it's the connector I think it is.

poorjohn6

Hi. I wold like to know which video pakage you bought. I checked with the wireless video site and talked to them, but nothing was available to meed the 4oz limit on the DF.

John

Sky High

What type of foam are you using? I hope it works. Try to use that weatherstripping type foam that is soft and spongy but dense and firm and about 1/4" thick before it's compressed. The great thing about that particular kind is that it conforms so well when compressed and it has an adhesive side to help stick to the inside of the ball joint. You can find this stuff in rolls at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.. The other type that has a slight rough texture is too porous because of the larger cells and will compress too much and not provide the proper isolation.

Well, the ones in the rear are just ever so slightly angled downard. I've seen them that way on other DFs too.


Thanks! They are very visible in the day or at night, especially at night as you saw at the stadium. Do yours have a solid option or do they blink only? I think it looks cool to blink but at a distance and with altitude, I need solid lights so there is no delay. If you have blinkers, you are only seeing half the light transmitted and that is delayed even more when at a distance or at altitude. My tail strobe is only for a reference of the tail's position and is really the only thing noticable at 1000 ft in the night sky directly overhead. You know where it is because stars don't blink like that. I would highly recommend getting some high intensity lights like the ones I use. You won't regret it! These things don't glow, they pierce and last for a long time on two button cells. I will save even more when I get my custom Lipoly button cell circuit built. An Energizer CR2016 two pack is about $4 so the rechargables will be well worth it. [sm=thumbup.gif]

Do you have front and rear lghts? It's important that you have them as far apart as possible because at a distance and from a profile, that's what gives you a visual reference of what's the front and what's the rear. The closer they are together, they look like one light at a distance. That's why I use a tail strobe and different colors.


I have been flying for about 6 weeks now. Since day one, I have only flown nose in. It's the easiest for me. It looks like 1videoman1 and I are the only ones that prefer that. What's even more interesting is that we both work in the production industry. I love doing corkscrew take offs like the one at the stadium. I love it when real helos do that and it looks coooool when the DF does it!

Oh, I am definitely going to try a set. I am so tired of losing rotors because of clipping the frame in flight. I thought it was just me at first. I am so glad I found this thread to share all of these issues and find fixes for them! It is great therapy for the frustrations that I have gone through. There are just too many characteristics that are not covered with any literature included with this helo. Until I get a set of CF blades, I am trying the packing tape method. It's not broken blades that are killing me as much as the extensive damage to the more expensive parts and labor intensive repairs because of these blades breaking! [:@][sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

davidtkal

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Sky high, I'm still around. I check on this site daily, but I don't comment often because I'm busy and a poor typer. However, I haven't abandoned the viberation mount, in fact, I've just made a Cf version of it and I have the silicone arm made by Formostin that I'll be incorperating in with it. I have a 480 lor wireless cam that I purchased through Black Widow AV. I have had great success with doing the video with minimal viberation artifact. Sadly I have no video that I can share for now. I had sent my board back for repair and it took the rest of the fall to get back. I want to try this new mount out. Personally, my wife was diagnoised with breast cancer and she's going in for surgery on Friday. I need the dust to settle on this crisis before I play with my DF. I have a second DF Vti that i hope to just outfit with my video gear. Talk to you later. Dave

Sky High

Learning to Fly the Ti Pro - For the Beginner [sm=confused.gif] & the Frustrated [:@]

After reading every f*****g post in this thread, I have seen that some of you are in parts of the country or world where the weather is just consistently ****ty. So you are forced to fly indoors. That must be pure hell torture and my thoughts are with you because if most of you are like me, which I have seen that you are, you can't stand for a single day to go by without flying! This thing is very addictive! It is truly a unique feeling. Well, I just don't see how you folks that fly this thing indoors do it. I mean, it's all I can do to fly it outside much less in a 10x or 20x room with a ceiling, perish the thought. It amazes me that you all can fly this thing inside. I just cringed when reading posts from people that were only experiencing short flights or crashes because of confined areas. To me, you don't need to be learning to fly when in a confined space if you have that option. For those of you that are flying inside but have the option to go outside, you don't know what you're missing and should take that leap to the wide open skies! If you have concerns about the helo getting away from you outside, as I did, just follow the following tips and you should be flying with precision and control from that point on.

Before getting this helo, I had never had any experience whatsoever with RC devices. I am certainly not a master pilot and I do not have any uses for trick flying. I have become really proficient for what my intended purposes are, medium to high altitude (100'-500'), horizontal range (300'-500'), controlled, slow, extended flight. I have learned how to fly this helo in a very short amount of time, 2 days, out of the box! I didn't master it but could fly it with control. I think it's important to give the Ti circuit with its auto recovery feature the credit for allowing me to do that. Now, you can believe me or not but I wouldn't waste my time writing this post if it wasn't true. I want to tell you how I did it and you can too. I am able to fly just as well as 1videoman1 did in his demo which was absolutely spectacular. I would consider my flight experience to be basic compared to more advanced pilots who fly in confined spaces and/or trick flying. I can't do either at this time but that's not my application or interest.

To learn to fly the DF Ti Pro quickly and efficiently, you need to only fly on a calm day with very, very little to no wind period, no exceptions! I also recommend doing this a couple of hours before dark while using onboard LED nav lights. They will show up in daylight but obviously are much more effective for training and visible right before dark and in the night sky. See the the posts above for day and night flight video demos with nav lights. You need to definitely activate and use the Ti function of the DF. I don't see how anyone flies without it or why. I think most of the posts that I read about Ti issues were because of early versions with issues that have been resolved with the latest boards or just plain user error. I do have to say that I have experienced some strange behavior but have had much more success than problems with Ti. I have to admit that I haven't flown it without Ti yet, only out of fear, but will have to see what my abilities are and to be able to have an accurate comparison. However, I have to say that Ti saved my ass many times when I got disoriented. I just released the stick and it recovered!

If you can, you need to go to an open field, preferrably with a 360 degree 300-500 ft radius. This field should also have low cut grass of no more than 4 inches for rotor clearance. If it has higher grass, you can use a piece of foamcore (office supply stores) as a landing pad. This has two advantages, it is a flat surface and it absorbs shock when landing. Even with a pad in grass over 4 inches you are risking rotor damage and/or a blown fuse if your helo goes down further out. I cannot stress enough the importance and necessity of navigation lights to help you maintain orientation of the helo's nose. Just one or several bright lights on the nose landing strut lets you know unmistakably where the nose is at all times. I think it's the only failsafe solution at any altitude day or night. You can get a keychain LED at any outdoor store for around $5-$10 and simply tape it to your front landing strut. Make sure to get one(s) with a switch that stay(s) on constantly. I use four lights on the front of my Ti Pro, two nose and one on each wing. I know damn well where that nose is for sure which is critical for successful flight. This needs to be a high quality LED to efficiently help you see it. Perform a preflight inspection to make sure all rotor heads are level with the circuit board and tight, all motor mounts are adequately tight, ALL 8 motor magnets haven't slipped, pinions are not bent and all rotor bolts are secure. Anyway, once you get there, follow these steps exactly for successful flight:

1. Secure and plug the battery up to the Ti Pro's board

2. Fully extend your transmitter antenna making sure it is secure at the base and not partially unscrewed internally. ([link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3619212]been there[/link])

3. Turn on the power to your transmitter making sure throttle is down and the trims are centered and Ti switch is ON (helo will not arm if throttle and/or trims are set beyond safe parameters before flight for obvious reasons).

4. Switch the Ti Pro power to ON and hold the helo by it's base and away from your body with the canopy turned away from you and the LED (eyes) vertically pointing up to the sky. Wait about 5-10 seconds if you don't immediately get two solid LEDs indicating good Ti calibration. If only one LED is lit, try it again. If only one burns after the second try, it is either not functioning (very unlikely) or most likely reporting less than optimal Ti conditions. Keep trying until you get two solid LEDs or your flight with Ti will not be optimal.

5. Carefully reach around and press the arm button on the helo without tilting it towards your body or allowing your finger heat to be detected by the IR sensors on top. After releasing the arming button, one or more rotors should slightly jump.

6. Place your helo on the LEVEL ground or pad facing you to see the LEDs, move 10-15 ft away, move the left stick down and to the right to set a level. The LEDs will alternately blink while you hold the stick in that position and will stop when you release or center the stick. This step is critical for level flight!

7. Very slightly throttle up or jog the throttle to see what trims need to be adjusted until almost hovering an inch or so without major imbalance. This is critical for stable flight as well.

8. Once the trims are set, you need to decide if you want to fly with the helo facing you or away from you. If it is facing away from you, all directional control will be as it should be. However, if it is facing towards you, left is right, and right is left as far as turning (yaw) and rolling (banking) and front is back and back is front for pitching (tilting fore & aft ). If you haven't ever done this before, you might want to have it facing away from you so all directional control is true. Choose your orintation and slightly throttle up continuously to achieve a 6 ft height. You may have to goose the throttle a little bit to escape the ground effect. The helo should correct with Ti and you need to be ready to adjust the throttle with a click or two up or down and maybe adjust the trims just a bit. If/when you achieve a stable, level hover, very,very slowly and with your thumb, move the left stick left or right to turn the helo on the horizontal axis then very, very slowly with your thumb apply pressure to the right stick, up for forward motion and down for backward motion. On a calm day with practically NO wind this should be no problem at all. The damn thing practically flies itself and you just tell it where to go. Do not go beyond 15-20 feet from yourself until you get the feel of the steering commands. You will lose orientation and be in a world of s***t! [sm=surprised.gif] The key thing to remember is very, very slight stick commands with your thumbs. If you get nervous and lose orientation, simple let go of the right stick and the helo will automatically recover! In this training scenerio, the wide open field is your friend because it gives you plenty of time to think about your next move. Also, if you are heading for the ground because of diorientation, altitude becomes your best friend! Just release the right stick and throttle up until it recovers to level. As soon as it recovers, immediately stop throttle up let off a couple of clicks as needed. If you don't stop throttling up after recovery, altitude will become your enemy because you now have no choice but to take on something you've never done before, flying overhead, another dimension of orientation. However, if your Ti is calibrated correctly, your helo should just hang in the sky until you give it a command. It is just amazing to watch it do this. At this point very, very slowly reduce the throttle a click or two, wait for 2-3 seconds, then do that again. It is best to pitch forward very slightly while descending to prevent the vacuum effect of your own rotorwash column. You can also very, very slightly move the left stick left or right to induce a slight spin (yaw) which will create drag while descending and break up the pattern of descent. No wind, a wide open space and altitude will allow for longer reaction time windows and train you better for nose-in flying. With a DF Ti Pro with no inherent technical issues, optimum conditions (no wind), wide open space, there is NO reason that anyone should not be able to fly this helo because it literally just sits in the air waiting for a command! Once you can fly and learn orientation, you can then fly under more demanding conditions based on this training. Just take it slooooooow and it will fly beautifully! Good luck!

Sky High

Sorry to hear that Dave. [sm=disappointed.gif] Take your time, she's much more important.

Sky High

First Laminated Rotor Flight

I laminated a set of standard rotors with clear 3" packing tape and flew with them for the first time tonight. I think that the helo flew a little bit quieter than with the standard rotor surfaces. They sure are smooth too. Another thing that I noticed that looked cool when I gained altitude was that the LED nav lights reflected off the bottom of the rotors and they shimmered because of the laminate. It sure was cold out there tonight but I think the DF flies great if not better in colder weather.

davidtkal

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Sky High, this is one unexpected benifit I never though of. When times are rough and I need a break, I just fly my DF. Since you can fly it anywhere, this is an instant stress relief without drugs or alcohol, but it's still addictive. One thing I love about winter flying, the cold air combined with a freshly charged battery is like having turbo boost onboard, it's a whole different bird.

Hunter850

My Feedback: (1)

poorjohn6

The site is http://www.microwireless.net/
I bought their Video pod system along with patch antenna .

I hooked the camera up to the support legs with tie-wraps and elastics.

Hunter850

My Feedback: (1)

Sky High, I tried foam that comes with a pc board for packing. I will try te waether stripping sound better.

I have only a light on the aft end at this time. It is motion activated so as soon as the DF starts up the light flashes. I will certainly look into the white strobe along with nav lights. If anything it will certainly look good at dusk.
Keep us posted with some pics of yoursetup especially when you set them up with the Lipos.

Question for anyone how do I upload a file in wmv format? Do I have to find a host site? Tried seraching the forum here by could not find any info. I have used Putfile before and Image shack.

Hunter850

My Feedback: (1)

http://media.putfile.com/DF-Flight

This is a vid I made using the microwireless video pod. Attached it to support arm with elastics and zip-ties. Not the best as I screwed up the focus by trying to make adjustments. It was a bit windy up high so some of the shakeyiness is contributed to pilot

Anyways enough excuses have a look....................

Motor sounds pretty good.

poorjohn6

Thanks for the link. I checked it out and I wonder if the Mini Cam package might be better as it is a CCD rather than cmos. I know it is new and might not have been around when you bought yours, but would like your thinking.

Thanks again,
John

Hunter850

My Feedback: (1)

If I remember talking on the forum CCD is much better than CMOS ( if I got it right) but more money as well.

But then again you get what you pay for. I have a few other toys that I put my camera on so I wanted something more portable.

Sky High

CCD (Charged Coupled Device)

Yes Hunter, CCD arrays are the higher end choice for video circuits. It is what is found in consumer and all professional video cameras. There are different sizes of CCD chips for different formats. The DV/Mini DV cameras use 1/3" CCDs and higher end broadcast quality cameras like Digital Betacam, DVC Pro, Ikegami, etc. use 2/3" sized CCDs. The bigger the chip, the more resolution, the better the image, the more it costs!

Sky High

Latest Satellite, I mean DF Ti Pro Overhead Images!

Well, I had a good flight today. Not great because there was a bit of wind but not enough to keep me grounded. [sm=biggrin.gif]I managed to get some video but there was alot of break up. So I pulled a couple of stills to show the height that I achieved. As you can see, I got pretty damn high! I even surprised myself considering the wind! I will edit the video down and post it shortly. The foam that I placed in both ball joints of the camera mount didn't seem to get rid of the vibration. So, my next step is to place some foam under the O ring so that the camera is not touching anything solid. Here are the latest satellite images of the Area 51.5 test grounds for the super duper top secret black project. Our best image interpreters have decided that the white box in the field area is a landing pad for a new secret aircraft. Is this high enough? I'm guessing this is at least 500 ft. Who needs a satellite, U2 or Blackbird when you have a DF?!

A real, live Life Net helo landed in the parking lot where I was flying. That's their typical pad which is just a couple of blocks from the hospital. I always stop and watch when they land and take off. I showed the pilot my DF and he didn't know what to say other than, "what's that?". He had to go, so I didn't get to demo for him, maybe next time.

I had 6 great flights later in the evening about an hour before dark. That is probably the best time because you can still see the helo and the lights show up very well! After dark, I decided to do some flyovers of the multi court tennis complex next the the field. They couldn't even see me anywhere because I was still in the stadium area and in the dark so they didn't know who or what was controlling it. The helo with all of the lights flew and hovered over them a few times and then landed on one of the empty courts. There was really no reaction until I decided to land on one of the courts and I heard, "it's gonna land on the court!" When I touched down, I said to myself, Houston, the Eagle has landed! Performing a remote landing was a big accomplishment for me by having barriers and distance between myseft and the helo. This thing is absolutely bad ass!! [sm=thumbup.gif] Now if I could just get a PA speaker to fit on it!

Sky High

Rotor Lamination

Since I laminated my rotors with packing tape, I have not chipped or broken one yet and I have definitely tapped the frame a few times!