#fpvquad — Public Fediverse posts

Hmmm, odd. I fiddled around some more in the ESC Configurator and got it working again, but the only thing I actually changed was the Minimum Startup Power. That was way down at 1025 for some reason, so I increased that to 1120, which was the setting that gave me a good spin on all 4 motors when using ESC Configurator's manual motor control.

No time for any proper flights after all that messing around, but I did take it into the back yard for a few test hops. This confirmed several things:

1. The quad can now fly again. Excellent!
2. My FPV flying skills are very, very rusty.
3. This thing is a pocket rocket and is very hard to fly in confined spaces, and not just because of 2.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone #quadcopter

Arse. I decided to take advantage of a day off and fly one of my FPV quads for the first time in ages. I picked the Flywoo Firefly 2S Nano Baby 20, charged some 2S batteries, my transmitter and my goggles batteries, plugged the quad into Betaflight Configurator to check it was alive, then walked down the road to fly. I got set up, armed the drone and... nothing. The motors wouldn't spin up.

I tried a few more times, with two different batteries, but no joy. So I walked home, plugging the drone back into my computer and tried manually running the motors in Betaflght Configurator. I could get them to spin up one at a time, but when I tried to spin all four I'd only get one or two to work. Then they wouldn't even work individually either. I tried ESC Configurator too and it could talk to the ESCs so they aren't completely dead, but I'm guessing they are damaged. It's either that or all four motors, but that seems unlikely.

#FPV #FPVdrone #FPVquad #quadcopter

I really want to get into flying my FPV quadcopters/drones again. First step, plug my radio into the computer and fire up a simulator. I have several, this one is Liftoff: Micro Drones.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

environmental storytelling

#FPV #FPVQuad #FPVDrone

Yikes. CaddX seem to be getting desperate in their attempts to compete with DJI, and they're really shooting themselves in the foot with this sort of behaviour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8aIjL3-GIM

I don't want to buy into the DJI FPV system, but the way things are going I don't feel good about buying any more CaddX kit either.

#FPVquad #FPV #FPVdrone

All done, apart from sewing the GPS module back on to the battery strap.

I should give it a test flight before we go away, though.

#FPV #FPVdrone #FPVquad

When I installed this GPS receiver I thought that routing the wires between it and the flight controller *through* the frame and then sewing it to the battery strap was a great idea... Now I'm going to have to cut the stitching and desolder the tiny wires in order to separate the flight controller from the broken frame.

#FPV #FPVdrone #FPVquad

I have another repair job to do, this one with a small mystery attached.

My FPV Cinewhoop has a cracked frame. That's not an unusual occurrence for an FPV quadcopter, but the weird thing is that this somehow happened when I *wasn't* flying it. I took it on my trip to Chile but never got time to fly it, then when I next got it out to fly back in Australia it was like this. It somehow got trashed en route without me even taking it out of its box.

Anyway, I have a replacement upper frame and plenty of spare propellors so it shouldn't be hard to fix.

#FPV #FPVdrone #FPVquad

I'm enjoying the new level ("Melon-Pan Park") that was just added to the Liftoff: Micro Drones FPV simulator. The setting of a children's playground and surrounding streets and alleyways in a Japanese city is fun, and the addition of a more open space is very welcome. The other levels in this sim are nicely done but they are all indoor spaces that feel, to varying extents, claustrophobic. This level gives you some more vertical room to play around with.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

Probably not the best LiPo safety bag to choose if you ever plan to travel by air with your batteries. Turning up at airport security screening with a bag with a picture of an explosion and the word "dynamite" printed on it may make it take a bit longer to get through, especially if there's a bit of a language barrier between you and the airport security personnel.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

Doing some FPV simulator practice by playing Bardwell's "Learn to fly an FPV drone" YouTube playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwoDb7WF6c8lCKhQOTy-Vb9LfW0VAIrTP) while flying the exercises in FPV Logic.

The videos are aimed at beginners, but I'm still very much at the stage where I can benefit from a refresher of the fundamentals.

#FPV #FPVdrone #FPVquad

A clip of the same few seconds, but taken from the in-goggles recording with the OSD data overlaid. This is what I saw while I was flying.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

I took the quad out for a fly this afternoon. I used one battery for GPS rescue testing (success!), and another for some range and failsafe tests (also successful!), but in between those I used one battery for some freestyle flying.

The Caddx GoFilm 20 really isn't designed for this, but it does alright. I need a lot more practice, though.

Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8xzGUmdvps

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

I got around the testing the revised GPS receiver installation on my Caddx GoFilm 20 FPV quad. With the wires routed straight upwards from the flight controller I no longer have an interference problem, and the GPS could get a fix using up o 21 satellites even with the VTX powered up.

Having confirmed that the GPS receiver worked when positioned on the battery strap I removed the gel tape and sewed the receiver to the strap instead.

I'm mildly amused that it now says "THIS SIDE UP" on top of my quad.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

A little more quad tinkering this evening.

I did a quick & dirty design and print of a... battery shield? I'm not sure what to call it, but It has a few purposes.

1. Prevents the battery sliding forwards into the camera assembly during crashes. I've found this happens pretty frequently, and it results in the camera tilt angle getting messed up almost every time you make even gentle contact with the ground.

2. Protect the battery during impacts from the upper front of the quad, e.g. encounters with that damn soccer goal crossbar.

3. Provide a position guide when attaching the battery. With the battery pushed up against the shield the centre of mass of the quad ends up exactly half way between the front and rear motors.

Please ignore the horrible print quality. I just used some old PETG filament that I had lying around, and it's in desperate need of drying out. It was bubbling and stringing like mad.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone #FreeCAD #Prusa #3Dprinting

To sort out the antenna mounting I literally dusted off my 3D printer and made some shims/bushes to go around the bottom of the antenna tubes. They're a good, snug fit in the antenna mount now, though I may still need to add some glue to make them crash-proof.

The gel tape holding the GPS receiver to the battery strap is not going to last very long, but it's just a temporary fix while I find out whether the relocation has fixed the interference issue. If so I'll come up with a more permanent solution, probably involving a needle and thread.

Anyway, ready for some more testing I think. I'm really hoping to get both GPS telemetry logging and GPS rescue working reliably before my trip to Paranal Observatory.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

This evening it was time to repair the GPS module's wiring, and see if I can do anything to reduce interference.

Previously I had the GPS wires running in between the flight controller and video transmitter, past the cables for both the video transmitter and camera, to the GPS receiver's location directly above the camera. This time I decide to route the GPS wiring upwards from the flight controller, away from the video transmitter, camera, and their cables, with the idea of mounting the GPS receiver on top of the battery strap. Since the GPS wiring would now be very exposed I put on some heat shrink and electrical tape to protect it a bit.

I took Eric the half-a-quad outside and using my phone, a USB-OTG adaptor and the mobile version of Betaflight configurator I was able to power up the flight controller and GPS receiver and test it. This time it got up to 13 satellites, as it should! This confirms that the GPS receiver is working, and that the previous problem was probably due to interference, but it doesn't confirm that I've fixed the interference.

During this test the video transmitter and camera weren't even present, and the motors and ESC weren't powered. I won't know whether I've really fixed the problem until I do a test with the fully reassembled, fully powered up quad.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

So... mixed results from the flights on Sunday.

The GPS receiver was functioning, but at no point was it able to get a lock with more than 6 satellites. That's not good enough for GPS rescue, and a lot less than an M10 receiver ought to get in the open air. My assumption was interference: it's a very small quadcopter packed with unshielded electronics and cables, and two separate 2-way radio systems.

The new VTX antennas seemed to be working fine, but it was quickly apparently I'd need something better than a blob of hot glue to hold them in place properly.

I did a bit of casual flying around until I had a violent encounter with my old nemesis, the soccer goal crossbar. It was a glancing blow to the forwards upper left of the quad, dislodging the GPS module from on top of camera, slightly denting the battery, and doing some minor damage to the carbon fibre at the front left motor mount. The front left propeller also acquired some career ending nicks, and the GPS module wiring was damaged, possible due to contact with the front left propeller.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

On that topic, Caddx need to raise their game. There was not a single sticker included with the GoFilm 20 I bought recently. Not with Caddx branding, nor with Walksnail.

Meanwhile even the batteries that I bought to go with it each came with a small sheet of stickers!

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

I'm not sure what the deal is with FPV and stickers, but it seems like you get a sheet of stickers every time you buy anything FPV-related. I'm not complaining! Just a bit surprised.

Flywoo's "Woo! Let's fly!" tagline continues to amuse me, too.

#FPV #FPVdrone #FPVquad

Oh dear. I accidentally modified the geometry of one of my quad's batteries. I think I have to retire this one now.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

With the GPS receiver module wired up it was time to put the upper half of the quad back together, then turn to the lower half for the antenna replacement.

The most difficult part of the whole job turned out to be plugging the new antennas into the Walksnail Moonlight VTX. You have to poke the U.FL/IPEX-1 antenna connectors into the VTX body through a slot in the side and push them downwards onto the internal connectors with extremely restricted access.

The tubes on the new antennas are a little smaller than the original ones so they were loose in the antenna mount built into the lower frame. For now I used blobs of hot glue to hold them in place.

Then it was just a case of putting the quad back together, attaching the GPS module to the camera hood using a piece of double sided gel tape, and making sure all the wiring was tucked away neatly inside of the frame, away from the props and avoiding the internal pinch points.

A quick bench test confirmed that the GPS receiver was talking to the flight controller (but unable to get a fix indoors), and that the video link was working.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

The Caddx GoFilm 20 is very easy to take apart and put back together.

This is just as well, because I had to disassemble it almost completely in order to access the upper side of the flight controller PCB so that I could solder the wires for the GPS module on.

One potential negative of the all-in-one flight controller used in this quad is that it only has one set of unused UART pads. I can't think of anything else I might want to add in future, but if I did then I'd be out of luck.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

Yesterday evening was spend on quadcopter modifications.

GPS receiver installed, and linear video transmitter antennas replaced with circular polarised antennas.

The quad has gained about 7 g of weight in the process, but it's still under 200 g all up weight with a 650 mAh 4S LiHV battery.

Test flights planned for tomorrow.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

Pakidge! :pakidge:

A *very* small and light GPS receiver so I can add GPS Return To Home capability to my GoFilm 20 quadcopter, and a couple of left hand circularly polarised VTX antennas which ought to give a little more range than the linear antennas that the GoFilm 20 comes with.

I also got some battery straps and battery grip pad for the other quad.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone

Hmmm. Tryp's nominal ability to simulate any FPV quad isn't working out so well for me.

I tried putting in all the parameters of my Caddx GoFilm 20 into a custom drone profile, including copying the Betaflight filters and PID tuning parameters from the config in my actual quad. The result was severe oscillations and drift in all 3 axes.

Tryp follows the modern trend of having a Discord server instead of having documentation so it's possible I have misunderstood some of the parameters and entered incorrect values, but my suspicion is that their physics model is a finely tuned fudge that breaks down if you stray far from the 5" and 7" freestyle quads that they include in the game. I notice that in order to get their 4 fairly similar preset quads to fly right they've felt the need to use 3 different sets of physics model tuning parameters.

#FPV #FPVquad #FPVdrone #FPVsim

Stocked up on spare parts for my Caddx GoFilm 20, in the expectation of crashing it.

One prop guard/lower frame, one spare motor, and an additional set of 4 props (you get one set of spare props with the quad).

#FPV #FPVdrone #FPVquad