Remote controlled flying things-Quads, Hex, Octo or anything

[Hogbert_1999]

Yeah I am looking for a super light cheap and basic OSD for my mini quad racer

[Mandrake]

I bought Remzibi .. Still waiting for monitor to hook it all up.

[Marschy]

Yeah I am looking for a super light cheap and basic OSD for my mini quad racer

Hello Hogbert,

There is apparently different firmware for the MinimOSD that can run on the Naze 32. This could be an option. Found this on FPVtalk forum.

http://www.fpvtalk.com/community/threads/naze32-by-timecop.57/page-3

If you go down this route, make sure you buy a MinimOSD with the pins broken out like this. (notice the row of solder pads under the Atmel chip.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/On-Screen-Display-OSD-Board-MinimOSD-APM-Telemetry-to-APM-1-and-APM-2-5-2/2030314952.html

Not like this. These boards require excellent soldering skills to solder connections directly to the Atmel chip and are a PITA when you get it wrong and leave you with basically no option other than throw it in the bin.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/CRIUS-MAVLink-OSD-Compatible-With-Original-MinimOSD-ATMEGA328P-Microcontroller-For-RC-FPV-Flight-Control-Part/1931192828.html

Hello Mandrake, the Ramzibi gets good reviews, it's fun putting all this stuff together, I love it.

Cheers, Marschy

[Mandrake]

Not sure about the Remzibi yet .. There's a lot of talk about setting it up software-wise that may prove too difficult ! LOL . I'm kinda hoping it will work as soon as fired up ..

I'll know later this week maybe as I am waiting on a new 12 volt ( really really 12V not 5V in disguise ) camera and a small monitor .. Lots of smoke goes out of 5V camera

when 12V is applied !! LOL .. Great hobby but ... Just wish this wind would stop ..

[Crisp Image]

I use the Immersion osd which plugs in line with the battery and the to the vtx. No set up really required just plug and play. It has its own gps to show you which way is home and how far it is. It also gives a height relative to where you take off from.
A search on youtube will show how it works.
Regards
Crispy

[Marschy]

Yeah I am looking for a super light cheap and basic OSD for my mini quad racer

Hello Hogbert,
What racing quad are you flying?
Cheers, Marschy

[Hogbert_1999]

Many thanks for the osd info :-)

I am Running the mini h blackout


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Marschy]

Another question for you Hogbert.

With the Naze32, are you running the native firmware or MultiWii and do you have it setup with GPS or not?

Cheers, Marschy

[Hogbert_1999]

Hey Marschy,

I am running whatever Baseflight uses as that what I programmed it with.  No GPS on Naze for Racer did not see the need.

[Marschy]

Look what I found. A sonar for the APM for about $15.00 US.

http://www.thanksbuyer.com/cjmcu-891-ultrasonic-module-testing-distance-module-range-finder-for-apm2-5-apm2-52-apm2-6-flight-controller-27600

This is the same sonar that works on the Multiwii that I got working, but the firmware for Multiwii APM 3.1 doesn't support sonar. This one has an additional board added to a standard HC-SR04 ultrasonic module.

Look at the back of the sonar from this picture on Goodluckbuy. Apparently made for the APM. Hmmmmm, maybe worth a go for the price.

http://www.goodluckbuy.com/cjmcu-89-apm2-ultrasonic-module-plug-and-play.html

[Mandrake]

Received my very cheap 5" monitor today ...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/311012571268?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Now all I need is the camera to turn up and I can start testing again - Hopefully without blowing smoke !! LOL

[CBRK]

Hi,

Here is a quick test flight I did last weekend, battery was running low at this point.  This is the video capture from the ground with OSD output.  I think I need to adjust the focus, it seems way out from previous flights....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjbbrsA3kXc

The inflight mircoSD card didnt capture all my flight for some reason, sigh.....

I plan to take her up to 30-50m over the weekend and test out some auto missions, just have to switch out this camera and put on the other two (FPV and Go Pro clone), so I get better footage.   I'll also give the autotune a go, so I'll let you know how that pans out......

Fingers crossed the weather holds out....

I finally weighed my Tricopter, with no battery (but everything else) it came to exactly 1kg, so with battery (3s 2200mah) it will be about 1.2kg and if I put on the other camera on I should still be well under 1.5kg, very happy with that.  I was getting flight times of around 12-15 mins on the KK2 board which was even lighter, so I'm hoping I can get 12 mins of actual flight time out of this config.

I'm starting to trust it again, once I'm really happy with it I'll strap the go pro on it

Hi Marschy,

I just ordered one of those sonar's so I'll test it out, now the wait for it to arrive.

Regards,

Chris

[CBRK]

Received my very cheap 5" monitor today ...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/311012571268?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Now all I need is the camera to turn up and I can start testing again - Hopefully without blowing smoke !! LOL

That is cheap.  I know the feeling I've burnt quite a few items, but the good news is I'm letting less of that magic smoke out of things these days :-)

[Marschy]

Fantastic Chris,

How accurate are you finding the OSD battery monitor? When I connect the battery to my quad, at first it seems reasonably accurate, then when I arm it and get off the ground, it jumps up to 40+ volts! Not sure what's going on there.

Great find for the sonar hey? If it works that is. I am going to order one as well. For under $20 bucks delivered worth a shot.

Have a look see at this as well, an optical flow for under $30 bucks. There is a good article on the Arducopter web site about how to install it. Good for holding horizontal position in loiter mode.

http://www.goodluckbuy.com/cjmcu-110-optical-flow-sensor-for-apm2-52-apm2-6-flight-controller.html

I don't know what the CJMCU stands for but there seems to be a number of products prefixed with CJMCU that are all Arduino products, some for the APM, some not.

Cheers, Marschy

Edit: CJMCU is a Chinese company. Obviously one that makes quadcopter and arduino products.

[Marschy]

I'll also give the autotune a go, so I'll let you know how that pans out......

Hello Chris,
I've got mine setup for Trim save, but it's not working as well as I was hoping. But then I really do need to trim my quad on a nice still morning with bugger all or no wind. Definitely let me know how you get on with autotune.

Was your flight in stabilize mode only? If it was, then looking at the shadow of your tri-copter on the ground, it was holding its position bloody nicely.

Just something else I found as well, set the stall speed to zero on the OSD configurator, that disables the STALL warning that I noticed you had coming up on your OSD.

Cheers, Marschy

[Spartan]

Cool Spartan,

What flight control board are you going to fly with?

Cheers, Marschy

Hey Marschy,

I went with the standard KK2.1.5 board not the mini one. There seems to be heaps of info and videos on youtube etc so I should be able to figure out setting it up and tuning it.

The HK order from Australia was waiting for me yesterday when I got home from work (I work away a week at a time) along with my new soldering station so I've already started changing battery plugs and doing a few little jobs like that while I wait for the rest of the gear to turn up.

The HK order from China says it's shipped  which I'm glad about as I was a bit worried about how long the backorders might take to turn up.

[Marschy]

Received my very cheap 5" monitor today ...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/311012571268?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Now all I need is the camera to turn up and I can start testing again - Hopefully without blowing smoke !! LOL

I watched a video on Flitetest where they recommend 5 volt cameras because they reckon that once the 11.1 lipo starts running low, the 12 volt cameras can play up. But I guess you have to weigh that up with possibly hooking your 5 volt camera up directly to a 11.1 volt lipo and getting smoke. I've done this with a receiver, but not a camera yet, touch wood.

[Marschy]

Hey Marschy,

I went with the standard KK2.1.5 board not the mini one. There seems to be heaps of info and videos on youtube etc so I should be able to figure out setting it up and tuning it.

The HK order from Australia was waiting for me yesterday when I got home from work (I work away a week at a time) along with my new soldering station so I've already started changing battery plugs and doing a few little jobs like that while I wait for the rest of the gear to turn up.

The HK order from China says it's shipped  which I'm glad about as I was a bit worried about how long the backorders might take to turn up.

G'day Spartan,

My replacement undercarriage turned up yesterday from HK Australia as well, I paid the cheapest postage, so I was actually surprised it arrived so quickly, about a week and a half. I'm yet to have one problem with Hobbyking postage after 25+ orders. Whereas Goodluckbuy sent me one less undercarriage leg instead of 4, diddled me on postage, which to their credit they refunded. I don't order directly from them on their website now. I only order from Goodluckbuy via Aliexpress as Aliexpress seems to be pretty strict with their buyer protection policy. If the seller stuffs up, you get a refund and if they send the wrong item, you don't have to return it to get a refund.

Read Crispy's comment to me really early in this thread, I am going to echo what he said. Once you start on the KK it won't be long before you start looking at a flight controller that supports GPS.

Cheers, Marschy

[CBRK]

Read Crispy's comment to me really early in this thread, I am going to echo what he said. Once you start on the KK it won't be long before you start looking at a flight controller that supports GPS.

Hi Spartan,

I agree with Marschy, I had my KK2 board for about 2-3 months before I switched over to the APM board.  I give you a few months before you want to switch.

I'm thinking of building a small quad with my old kk2 board, its a good board for learning on too - it was very plug and play.  APM took a bit more to get right.

Regards,

Chris

[CBRK]

I watched a video on Flitetest where they recommend 5 volt cameras because they reckon that once the 11.1 lipo starts running low, the 12 volt cameras can play up. But I guess you have to weigh that up with possibly hooking your 5 volt camera up directly to a 11.1 volt lipo and getting smoke. I've done this with a receiver, but not a camera yet, touch wood.

Must be the cameras they've tested....  I've found that most of the 12V cameras are 7V - 15V, so it should work even at 7V, in theory.

[CBRK]

Fantastic Chris,

How accurate are you finding the OSD battery monitor? When I connect the battery to my quad, at first it seems reasonably accurate, then when I arm it and get off the ground, it jumps up to 40+ volts! Not sure what's going on there.

Great find for the sonar hey? If it works that is. I am going to order one as well. For under $20 bucks delivered worth a shot.

Have a look see at this as well, an optical flow for under $30 bucks. There is a good article on the Arducopter web site about how to install it. Good for holding horizontal position in loiter mode.

http://www.goodluckbuy.com/cjmcu-110-optical-flow-sensor-for-apm2-52-apm2-6-flight-controller.html

I don't know what the CJMCU stands for but there seems to be a number of products prefixed with CJMCU that are all Arduino products, some for the APM, some not.

Cheers, Marschy

Edit: CJMCU is a Chinese company. Obviously one that makes quadcopter and arduino products.

Hi Marschy,

The battery readings are pretty good, the voltage reading drops a bit as the amps go up as expected.  No jumps for me, I'd recommend checking the power module setup?  There seems to be a few settings for it, but it seems to be an auto detect thing.  Hate to say it but it might be a dodgy power module.  Do you have a spare to try?  I'm kind of happy I bought the bixler 2 and put an APM in it, I now have spares to test with!  Have you had a look at the dataflash logs or telemetry logs, wondering what they report?  If you can tie it a consistent action I'd raise it on diydrones and see if one of the devs can have a look.

I've been looking at the optical flow technology, I'm thinking in a years time it will be a must have item.  In the past 2 years it has jumped along in leaps and bounds.   I'll wait to see how the sonar sensor goes first.

Regards,

Chris

[CBRK]

Hello Chris,
I've got mine setup for Trim save, but it's not working as well as I was hoping. But then I really do need to trim my quad on a nice still morning with bugger all or no wind. Definitely let me know how you get on with autotune.

Was your flight in stabilize mode only? If it was, then looking at the shadow of your tri-copter on the ground, it was holding its position bloody nicely.

Just something else I found as well, set the stall speed to zero on the OSD configurator, that disables the STALL warning that I noticed you had coming up on your OSD.

Cheers, Marschy

Hi,

I was in loiter mode, so I'm pretty happy it just stayed in place.  It's a good bit of kit.  In stabilise mode it had a bit of drift, slightly backwards, so I'll redo the accel calibration.  I'm going to reflash my OSD as the mode doesnt appear to work.....  Thinking of loading MinimOSD-extra so that I can see the amps used, I dont like the % thing....  I use both 2200mah and 5000mah batteries.  Means updating the board each time I change battery sizes....

I havent needed to trim it at all, although I could counter the slight drift rearwards if I did, but I figure it would be better to fix the problem first :-)

Regards,

Chris

[Marschy]

Just ordered one of those sonars, and an optical flow sensor. Snail mail. Thought to myself, it's getting closer to Xmas everyday. Better do it now, or it may not get here before my time off at Xmas.

It will be interesting to see if the sonar needs a filter like the LV-EZ4.

[Spartan]

Hi Spartan,

I agree with Marschy, I had my KK2 board for about 2-3 months before I switched over to the APM board.  I give you a few months before you want to switch.

I'm thinking of building a small quad with my old kk2 board, its a good board for learning on too - it was very plug and play.  APM took a bit more to get right.

Regards,

Chris

Thanks for the advice guys.

I went with the KK for a few reasons I guess - it's cheap, there's plenty of info on the internet about them and I figured it would be a good board to learn with. I think if I had the security of GPS I would be too likely to flick it into altitude hold mode and cruise around or something relying on the board to do the hard work for me - rather than actually learning how to fly properly.

There's so many options out there that it's too overwhelming. I think if I can build this tri and get it flying then I'll be doing pretty well!

[CBRK]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I went with the KK for a few reasons I guess - it's cheap, there's plenty of info on the internet about them and I figured it would be a good board to learn with. I think if I had the security of GPS I would be too likely to flick it into altitude hold mode and cruise around or something relying on the board to do the hard work for me - rather than actually learning how to fly properly.

There's so many options out there that it's too overwhelming. I think if I can build this tri and get it flying then I'll be doing pretty well!

Hi Spartan,

I had the same thoughts too when I started, I started with the KK2 board and it does a good job particularly at the price.  I agree its a great board to learn on and if you feel you want more (which I reckon you will) you can upgrade the flight control board.  My tricopter is the same as when I had the KK2 board, I just swapped out the KK2 for the APM and made a easy removable tray so I can swap back to it if I want a 'fun fly'.

My tri is based upon the V2.5 version, I use wood for landing gear and I have broken more than one or two with some hard landings - well mostly it's been the cable ties.  Luckily the hard landings seem to be behind me now.

You'll do fine assembling the tricopter.

Regards,

Chris