Hobby under threat? - coming soon.

In my forthcoming article I want to have a look at how new legislation being introduced all around the world could be a threat to our hobby and I also ask the question about who is looking after the interests of the average hobbyist.

Updated News Flash - HobbyKing ESCs

Update: There has been a lot of discussion on RCGroups about these ESCs, with many people questioning their suitability for multicopter use or if they're just re-packaged keda ESCs. At this point I don't think anyone has actually got their hands on any to try them out, so my suggestion for the moment is just to wait and see. If they do turn out to be good for multicopters and HobbyKing can release them at the same price pre-flashed with the SimonK firmware then these will be an awesome bargain.

Link to thread on RCGroups

HobbyKing have just released a new range of ESCs specially for Multicopters. The Price is good and they're sure to sell out quick, so get them before they're gone.

20A Multistar ESC - $8.84
10A Multistar ESC -$5.90
30A Multistar ESC -$10.98
45A Multistar ESC - $17.43
15A Multistar ESC - $6.89
Multistar ESC Programming Card - $3.77

Mid-Range Multicopter

Moving on from the basic multicopter in my last post, now it's time to take a look at what you can get if you have a bit more money to spend. To put together a multicopter in this category expect to spend somewhere in the region of $500-$1000. Obviously if you're going to spend that much money then you're going to expect more features such as altitude hold, GPS and a camera gimbal. When I built my first multicopter about 3 years ago it cost me this much for the most basic copter with gyro only stabilisation and a basic frame. Oh how times have changed!!!

Frame

If you're potentially going to be carrying around an expensive camera then you will want a frame that is up to the job. In this category of frame, some additional features that are good to have is a high landing gear for mounting a camera gimble, better quality of materials such as carbon fibre and the option to fold the copter to make it easier to transport. There are a lot of camera gimbal designed to fit onto horizontal mounting tubes, so a frame with this feature will make it easier to fit a gimbal later on.

My recommendation is the AQ-600 from HobbyKing. It has all of the features that I just talked about above and has the added bonus of a cover to protect the electronics and make it look a bit more 'sexy' if looks are important to you. I also like the colour coded arms and the fact that it can take upto 12" props.

There are so many frames on the market nowadays and most of them are good quality and will do the job as long as they have all the right features for your needs. Here's a few alternatives, with a special mention to Jakub from Quadframe.com who I've purchased several frames from. He always includes so many spares in his kits that you can almost build another copter out of them. 

Control Board

This is what's going to differentiate the mid-range copter from a basic copter and it's also going to be the biggest individual cost in this setup. There are several boards that currently offer the more advanced features but only one really stands out amongst these as being top of the pile. That's the dji Naza. This is just about as close as you can get to being an RTF controller and it also has the option of the GPS upgrade which will allow for return to home function and position hold.  At $230 (without GPS) it is far and away the most expensive controller but I think it's worth it simply for the ease of use. I've heard good things about a site called UAV Products, so here is the link to purchase the Naza: Naza Flight Controller

It would be wrong of me not to mention some of the other great controllers in this category as there are many boards that can offer similar features for less than half the price, but which are not as aesthetically pleasing or user friendly.

 Crius All in one Pro

At only $62.99 this has got to be one of the best bargains you can find. It is capable of running multiwii and MegapirateNG firmware and with the addition of a GPS receiver it can do everything that the Naza can.

ArduPilot Mega 2.0

Although this is by no means RTF, it is feature packed and offers features normally only available on much more expensive controllers such as performing programmed GPS missions with waypoints, but you'll need to know your way around a computer for this one!

OpenPilot CopterControl 3D

I have to give an honourable mention to this because I really like what the guys have done with this project. It was so popular when it was first released that they sold out in hours and even now, sales are limited to 2 per customer.

Motors & ESC

As with the entry level copter, I'm going to once again suggest the ESCs from RCTimer that come pre-flashed with the SimonK firmware. Obviously you're probably going to want the higher current rated ESCs as you're going to be putting them under much more stress with a heavier copter and bigger motors. RCTimer 40A ESC

For the motors I would suggest a reasonably low Kv motor capable of swinging at least a 12" prop and make sure that you choose one that will work with a 4s Lipo as you'll probably end up switching to 4s eventually. I quite like the AX-2810Q-750KV motor from HobbyKing. It's reasonably priced, works on 3s or 4s and will happily swing a 12" prop, although maybe best to drop down to 10" or 11" if running at 4s. AX-2810Q Motor

Lipos

To get your copter airborne you're going to need some serious power and choosing the right Lipo battery is really critical. This is also an area where a major weight saving can be made by choosing the most lightweight battery that you can find. A Lipo with a high C rating is also a must, so don't consider anything with less than 25C. 

For those that don't understand the C rating, it's an indication of how much current the battery can supply. You multiply the C rating by the battery capacity to work out the maximum current draw, so for a 1000mAh 20C lipo it can supply 20A and a 1000mAh 25C lipo can supply 25A. Take these figures with a pinch of salt, but try to make sure that the maximum current draw of your copter is equal to about half of the maximum rated current draw of the Lipo as this will keep your batteries in good condition. 

For a good  lightweight Lipo it's really hard to beat the Zippy Compact batteries for value. This 5800mAh 25C 4s Zippy Compact will be ideal: 5800mAh 25C Zippy Compact. I used to recommend the Turnigy nano-tech batteries, but after testing, the Zippy Compact came out on top. Check out my article for the comparison: turnigy nano-tech v zippy compact

Camera Gimbals

I'm still doing a bit of research on this, but hope to get this part of the article finished by the end of the week. I'll also add some more links for alternatives for everything including RTF multicopters with some great features. Thanks for your patience.

Click Here for Blow the Budget Copter

Multicopters - What to buy?

In this article I'm going to take a look at what's on the market at the moment and put together a list of components for 3 different budgets. A budget copter for someone just wanting to dip their toes into the world of multicopters, a mid-range copter for those that might also want to do a bit of aerial photography and also want a few extra features and a 'Blow the kids college fund' copter that uses the best of the best.

Only a few short years ago, if you wanted to build a multicopter it invariably meant getting your soldering iron out and doing it yourself and then spending an age sitting at a computer looking at code and trying to tweak it so that your beloved copter didn't suddenly become a flying lawnmower that takes out everything in it's path. Fast forward to today and you can buy Ready To Fly copters and there is a bewildering array of frames, controllers and motors to choose from, making it a bit of a minefield for anyone new to navigate.

Safety, Safety, Safety!!!



A quick note about safety. Multicopters are not toys and have the potential to cause serious harm. Make sure that you remove the propellers whenever you are working on the copter or changing settings with power on. Before you go for your first test, make sure that with the propellers removed, the motors appear to be operating in the correct sense. With the motors spinning, tilt the copter to one side and make sure that the down going motor speeds up and the up going motor slows down. Do this for every motor to make sure that it is setup correctly. Remember to do this with the propellers removed.

Budget Copter

For this copter it's all about keeping the costs down, but still having a capable machine that will fly well, so about $200 should easily get you in the air

Frame

As you'll probably end up crashing lots, you want a frame that can take some abuse and is easy to repair. For that reason I'm recommending the Q450 frame from Hobbyking. You can buy replacement parts from everywhere and it's only $11, so not a big investment and it's easy to mount all of your components on it. I recommend starting with a simple quadcopter and you can always upgrade to a hexacopter or octocopter later.

Hobbyking Q450 Frame

Control Board

Normally for a beginner copter I would recommend a very simple gyro only board, but in this case I'm going to suggest the KK2.0 from Hobbyking. This board has been designed to be beginner friendly, has the added bonus of accelerometers which allows autolevel and has multiple firmware pre-installed for just about any configuration of multicopter you can think of.

KK2.0 Control Board

I just found this great video on how to tune the KK2.0 Board: Link to youtube

Motors

For this build we just need some basic motors around 1000kv that are capable of swinging a 10" prop. There are loads of deals on packs of 4 motors on ebay. I like these ones because they're cheap and  come with prop adapters.

4x Pack 1000kv motors

Some other motors that I must mention are the X2212-980KV motors from SunnySky. These are really great quality motors and perfect for multicopters and I particularly like the propeller mount that comes with this one as it's great for multicopters.

SunnySky X2212

ESCs

SimonK is the name we're looking for. That's the name of a man who developed some special firmware for ESCs specifically for multicopters, which gives them a faster response time and thus smoother control for your copter. You can buy standard ESCs and then cut them open and flash the firmware yourself or buy some that have already had it done, like these ones fom RCTimer. 20A is more than enough for this build, but buy the 30A or 40A if you think that you might want to upgrade Motors in the future.

SimonK Pre-flashed ESCs

Propellers

For this build the maximum size prop that we want to use is 10" and there are loads of them on the market to choose from. These ones from Hobbyking are perfect for this build, but don't forget to balance them before using them. Don't forget to purchase a right hand and left hand rotation set and consider buying different colours for the front and back of your copter to help with orientation. To do this you would actually have to purchase 4 packs of props (left and right rotation in 2 colours), but you can never have too many props and you'll be glad for the spares when you have your first crash.

9*4.7 Slow Fly Prop
10*4.5 Slow Fly Prop for SunnySky


Extras

I've covered the main components in the build, but obviously you'll need a few extra bits to complete the build, such as battery, transmiter/receiver, heatshrink tubing, power distribution board, soldering iron, solder etc... Here's some links to some extras to help finish the build:

3s 2200mAh Lipo - Cheap, quality Lipo
Power distribution board - Inexpensive but effective or buy the integrated PCB Frame
Transmitter/Receiver - Lots of functions to play with
Heatshrink Tube - Buy lots of this in lots of different sizes and colours
Soldering Iron - Must have tool for every modeller

Alternatives

Obviously there is a myriad of other options out there and I couldn't even begin to list them all, but hopefully this will take some of the guesswork out of building your first quadcopter. Here's some links to alternative beginner setups that come complete with just about everything you need to get started, including a couple of RTF micro-copters.

RCTimer ARTF Quadcopter
Walkera Ladybird RTF
HobbyKng micro quad
Ebay kit - even includes Lipo and charger

Please leave a comment if you think I've missed something or want to recommend alternative items and I'll try and keep this page updated.

Click Here for Mid-range multicopter Guide.

Click Here for Blow the Budget Copter

DT-3K Headtracker

Mini review of the DT-3K Hybrid Headtracker from Flytron.

If you want the full immersive experience of flying FPV then a headtracker adds that extra dimension which really gives you that feeling of flying from the pilots seat.

The DT-3K is available from Flytron for a very competitively priced $96 and support and customer service from Melih is first class. It is compatible with most brands of tansmitters, but check what sort of trainer connection you have on your transmitter and be sure to order the correct one. Note: This will not work with Spektrum or JR Transmitters that have the phono type jack for trainer connection.

This was, as far as I'm aware, the first hybrid head tracker to incorporate a magentometer into it in order to prevent drift. The first headtrackers that entered the market years ago relied on gyros only which have an inherent problem of drift and required a reset button to reset centre during flight, otherwise you would end up with your camera constantly looking out over a wing or down at the floor.

This headtracker gets around the problem of gyro drift by using what is essentially an electronic compass to keep the camera pointing only in the direction that your head is facing, with zero horizontal drift. The one problem with this is that you are now forced to always stand and face the same direction (either north or south) every time you fly. This is fine if you always fly from the same strip, but if you fly in different places at can become a pain.

The DT-3K can operate in 2 modes. In the first mode (ppm-inject) it allows you to add extra channels to your transmitter, effectively creating a channel 5 and channel 6 on a 4 channel radio or channel 7 and channel 8 on a 6 channel radio. this means that you can use it with even the most basic 4 channel radios that wouldn't normally have enough channels for headtracking.

In the second mode (ppm-create) it can replace any 2 consecutive channels in your radio. So, if you have a 6 channel radio and 6 channel receiver it can take over channel 5 & 6 and still leaving you the first 4 channels for basic aircraft control. I hope that explanation is clear, because I was certainly left scratching my head about which mode did what when I first read the manual.

Programming the DT-3K is relatively straightforward and if you follow the instructions then you can't go wrong. The only annoying part of the programming is that if you mess up or want to change something then you have to start from the beginning and remember all of the individual settings that you have already set. I reccommend writing down the settings as you go along so that you know which part to change if you need to make any changes.

One thing that caught me out the first time I used it was that having set it up at home, the pan seemed to be reversed when I got to the field. I was just about to dig the instructions out when I realised that all I needed to do was turn 180 degrees and then left became left and right became right again. Don't be caught out like I was, this is how it's supposed to work.

To get the headtracker to work, you need to hold the trainer switch on. Most trainer switches are spring loaded to off, so you either have to rig it to stay on using something like an elastic band or you can open up your transmitter and change the switch to a regular toggle switch.

One slightly annoying thing is where the cable exits from the unit, which makes it more difficult to mount to the top of your goggles or on your baseball cap. If the cable exited from the side it would make it easier to mount and you wouldn't have a cable sticking out of your forehead. I'm probably just being fussy though as I haven't heard anyone else complaining about it.

Overall this is a great unit and works flawlessly and was a real step forward in headtracking technology. This was released a few years ago and there are now other units using the same technology, but this was the first and still holds up well against the competition.

Pros: Price, Flytron service, flawless operation
Cons: Doesn't work with Spektrum/JR, slightly difficult to mount

Lazy EZ* GoPro FPV

If like me you would rather be outside flying than inside building and tinkering with electronics, then this has to be one of the easiest FPV conversions that you can do.

What you will need for this conversion:

• GoPro Camera
• 2.4GHz 500mW video transmitter or similar - like this one
• GoPro adapter cable available here
• zip-tie
• Velcro

The whole process takes about 2 mins from start to finish.

1. Remove your EZ* cockpit canopy and cut a flat area the same width as your GoPro.
2. Next cut a slot in the side of the canopy to slide the video transmitter in to.
3. Next make 2 small holes, one at the front and one at the back of the flat are you cut in the first step.
4. Now thread a zip-tie around the GoPro and through the 2 holes and the around the video transmitter and zip it up tight. Connect the power cable and GoPro adapter cable to the video transmitter.
5. Attach a small piece of Velcro inside the canopy and use this for holding a small 2s 500mAh lipo for powering the video transmitter.

With a 3s 2200mAh lipo powering the EZ*, it balances very nicely on the CoG if you widen the rear of the battery bay so that you can push the lipo back about 2.5 inches further than normal.

This is by no means the best way to setup and FPV system and you can get much better range by using a better antenna and placing the video transmitter in a better position, but the big advantage with this is that you can just switch back to non-FPV by changing the canopy. Using completely stock antennae on the transmitter and receiver I have been out to over 1.5km with perfectly clear video. With this method, the nose of the EZ* will be in view, but I quite like flying like this as it gives me a bit of a reference point to have more of an idea of what the model is doing.

Important- Don't forget to use a couple of elastic bands to help secure the canopy on, because you don't want it falling off in flight.

Here's a little video to show what it looks like in flight. The flying starts at about 45 seconds and sorry about the music!

8" FPV Monitor 800*600

If you have seen my sneak peak look at my new ground station, you will have noticed that I have incorporated a small 8" monitor into it. I've wanted a small monitor for a while to help with lining up shots when doing aerial photography (AP) when flying semi-FPV, so flying visually and then just glancing down occasionally to check that my shot is lined up correctly. As my All in One ground station as AV out for my goggles, it will also serve has a backup screen in case I have a problem with my video glasses.

The usual place that I always go to first when looking for new equipment is ebay and there is a lot of choice when it comes to LCD screens, so it wasn't easy to decide on one. As it was going to go in my ground station, I wanted a screen only, without all the casing or speakers or any extras. I also wanted a screen with a good resolution, as many of the screens are 234x480, which I have found is a bit low. For outdoor use, you ideally want a screen with as high luminance as possible, but I found that with the anti-glare coating on this screen it still works fine outdoors even at only 200 cd/m2.

This is the screen I purchased from ebay seller njytouch and here is the link to it: 8" Monitor

The screen arrived very well packaged and shipping took around 2 weeks. At the time that I purchased it, I paid £34 including delivery, but I see that it has gone up a bit since then, but still represents good value for money. In the box you get the screen, control board, keypad board and various cables for composite, VGA and power, but no instructions.

Getting it to work is a simple matter of connecting the ribbon cable from the screen into the control board, connecting the screen power to the control board (more about this later) and then supplying 12v to the control board. The only slight problem with this screen is that the power cable from the screen isn't long enough to reach the control board if you want to mount the board on the back of the screen and not have it like in the picture above. This is easily solved as it just means extending 2 cables by about 6 inches.

Once the screen is setup to your liking using the keypad, you can disconnect it from the control board as it's not needed for normal operation as it automatically turns on and selects the last input when you supply power. My main reason for choosing this screen is that it has VGA-in as well, so that eventually I can install my Raspberry Pi into my ground station and have a computer in the field with me as well, so the 800*600 resolution will be ideal for that using a HDMI-VGA converter.

This screen does do the black screen of death, but the picture has to be really bad before that happens and it returns pretty quick when the signal improves. This does perhaps make it not ideal as a primary flight screen, but is perfectly fine for use as a backup monitor. The image quality is excellent and the colours are bright and vibrant and as I already said earlier, the anti-glare works quite well. Also, it's a 4:3 aspect ratio, so really good for use with CCTV type cameras for FPV.

Overall, I'm really pleased with this screen as it does exactly what I wanted it to do and apart from the minor issue of the power cable, I can't fault it.

Here's a little video to show how this monitor handles static and the recovery time from blue screen.