CamCruiser FPV folding quad - Autoquad goes FPV

[sandmen]

And please read out the disarm reason, if you have a disarm. Also read out the bad detected.
Special the bad detected is also important.

[SuperSharpShooter]

I've just strapped the copter down and given it several minutes worth of throttle abuse (0 to full and everything in between), and have had no disarms or weird behaviour. This is without changing anything other than doubling the caps on the battery connection.

I'll upgrade the fw to r52 and do the same test to make sure it behaves.

If it wasn't the ESC disarming for yesterday's crash, then I'm not sure what else it could be.

How can I read the disrm reason/bad detected from the ESC?

[LPR]

Glenn

I have used the ESC32 a lot and found the best way to test for disarming caused by having too high of amp setting is to use the QGC. Set the throttle to full throttle and click Start.

When I used the transmitter I could never get the ESC32 to disarm.

I've never had a ESC32 disarm because of bad signals because I've always kept the signal wires and power wires separated.

Larry

[aBUGSworstnightmare]

Some more info un the build process!

My DIMU arrived, and I soldered the connectors to the AQ6. Frozen here and now steadily completing the airframe.

DIMU besides AQ6

DIMU seen from the side

Bottom view. Check the socket for bend pins (might happen during transport)

Sockets soldered to the AQ6. Proceed as described in the wiki! I've used a 0.4mm pencil type solder tip and 0.35mm solder wire. Also cleaned the pads with a flux pencil prior soldering.

DIMU found it's new home

AR9020 used as 'diversity sat receiver'

As mentioned earlier in the build log, I'm going to use a Spekrum AR9020 receiver. The AR9020 + 2 Spektrum satellite receivers will give me three-antenna-diversity. The receiver's SRXL-bus - which uses the same protocol as a standard sat receiver - connects to the AQ6. In addition, the TM1000 Spektrum Telemetry transmitter is mounted on the quad.

Since the AQ6's 3.3V LDO is not able to power this receiver/transmitter setup I've made a custom cable (short bench-test version shown on the pic; the CamCruiser needs a larger on) which takes power from one of the motor outputs and connects the SXRL-bus to the AQ6 (grey wire = signal).

ATTENTION:
If you want to use this receiver setup on your airframe too there's one thing you must be aware: radio quality of the SRXL-bus NEVER drops to ZERO! The AR9020 will output the failsafe settings stored during binding. So the AQ6 will never know that the signal is lost!
Because of that, I've bound the receiver with the following preset-failsafe settings:
Throttle centered
Flight mode switch centered
Home action switch in low position --> activate RTH
all other controls centered (depends on your setup!)

In case of a signal loss the AQ6 should return to home position (be shure to set one when you start flying!).
Verify this via QGC! All channels should go to their preset-failsafe position when switching your transmitter off!

I've mounted one sat receiver on the fron left side of the frame, and the other one on the bottom. The TM1000 is mounted to the bottom too, whereas the AR9020 is fixed in the rear compartment of the frame with it's antenna completely outside of the frame structure.

Sat1 - left side of frame

Sat2 and TM1000 were mounted on the underside of the frame. Antenna of TM1000 needs to be routed.
Connected to the TM1000 is the 'flight battery voltage sensor' - as simple cable connected to the PDB - and the data cable coming from the AR9020.

The AR9020 is mounted in the aft compartment. The device besides the LiPo is a XBUS battery capacity sensor.

The battery capacity sensor is this one http://www.rctronix.de/wp/?p=163 (German text only!) but I don't know if I will keep it once Spektrum telemetry on the autoquad is available. It's alarm is currently set to 5200mAh, leaving around 800mAh for emergency.

Weighting here! Weight is without props, gimbal/gimbal controller/GoPro, DC/DC.

With the craft (nearly) completed I took the chance to weight here. Seems like I will not achieve my 2500g AUW . She's at 2200g without props, gimbal + gimbal controller and DC/DC_CAN_LED-board, video transmitter. But, since I will have enough trust to cope with the extra weight this shouldn't be a problem.

Weight! Something to notice: When it come to weight+telemetry HOTT is much more efficient! You will need 4 components (RX, 2x sat, TM1000) for spektrum telemetry, but only a small receiver for HOTT.

Spektrum RC components weight - with some of the cables missing (thus cross weight will be more!)

[Jdmagoo]

This is a great write up, thank you for your time with this I'm watching very closely

James

[aBUGSworstnightmare]

First prototype of my Mav2Telem/CAN/LED/DC-DC is undergoing testing

Top

Bottom

[kinderkram]

Looking very good, Joerg!

Where will you mount that board - under the FC?

[aBUGSworstnightmare]

[chschmid]

Hi Joerg

Very nice and clan setup. Congrats.

Cheers
Christof

[aBUGSworstnightmare]

Some infos on the gimbal:

The idea started with a well known BLDC hardware kit for the 'Phantom' quad.

Since I wanted my gimbal to be an integral part of the quad I started to make my own customization based on the aluminum parts I had at hands. Finally, only two of the 'original' parts survived.

Shown on the left is the finished mounting hardware for the CamCruiser, on the right you can see the three CFK parts it's made from (prototype).
The 'mounts' were made of 1.6mm CFK, the 'interconnect' is made from 2mm CFK.

Overview shot of the gimbal parts. On top is the roll motor, to the left the pitch BLDC. All CFK parts are 2mm thick. You can easily see the remaining alu parts (black anodized).

Start with mounting the roll motor to the interconnect. A small piece of heat shrink tube protects the motor wires.

Roll motor seen from the back. Don't forget to use thread lock fluid on all screws!

Next comes the pitch motor mount. This is the long part from the Phantom BLDC gimbal kit. M3 threads were drilled into the holes (originally designed as M2.5 thru-hole).

Add M3 setscrews

The setscrews will prevent the motor mounting plate from rotating.

Motor is placed on the other side of the alu part. M3x10mm screws were used for mounting it (side view)

Pitch motor - view from back side

Add the roll arm and the mount is nearly finished.

Gimbal mounted to the CamCruiser frame. Two 50mm standoffs were added to connect top and bottom mount for better weight distribution and additional reinforcement.

Hero 3 fixed with velcro tape.

Mount modified to accept GoPro 'The Frame'.
This is undergoing final tests now. I will also buy a Hero3+ housing and the new 'Frame V2' to test the mount with, since the Hero 3 standard housing is too wide for the mount.

Materials used:
Phantom BLDC gimbal hardware kit:
: http://www.amazon.de/Aluminum-without-B ... +FPV+Black
BLDC motors:
http://www.rctimer.com/product_1075.html
GoPro 'mounting'
http://www.amazon.de/XINTE-Aluminium-Mo ... +schwarz+für+Gopro+HD+Hero+2+3+Kamera
The GoPro mounting hardware was canibalized from this holder. I would prefer to have my own custom holder, but since I don't have access to a CNC milling machine this seems to be a good compromise. Access to a CNC would also allow to simplify the pitch motor holder.

Here are the .DXF-Files of the custom parts in case you want to build your own (use at own risk!).

CamCruiser BLDC gimbal_0r1.zip

.DXF-files of the CamCruiser BLDC gimbal

(22.54 KiB) Downloaded 531 times

.DXF- FILES FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY! COMMERCIAL USE PROHIBITED WITHOUT WRITTEN AGREEMENT!