Iconic X FPV foldable maiden flight

This is the maiden flight with the frame Iconix X FPV foldable. I have only placed the basics (no FPV equipment yet) to test it.

The camera is placed on the front of the frame, directly over it with no anti-vibration dampeners (only the ones that come with the frame to isolate the top plate). The results, as you can see, are dreadful!! I guess this is because the old motors, whose holders are a bit bended and  produce this horrible vibrations :)

The total weight of this equipment is 1.9kg, and I have had the following flight times:

• 14 minutes with a Turnigy 3S 4000 mAh 
• 17 minutes with a Turnigy 3S 5000 mAh 

There´s something funny about two of the motors. If I attach them with more than 1 screw out of 4, the motors don't work!!! So those two motors are attached to the frame with just one screw each!

Setup:

Frame Iconic X FPV Foldable
BL-2830/11 1000kv motors
20A SK ESC
10x4.5 Plastic HK propellers
KK2 controller board
FrSKY V8FR-II receiver
Turnigy 9XR transmitter

Build of the Iconic X FPV foldable

Yesterday I worked on the Iconic X FPV I bought on September. It took me some hours for this basic setup, as I have reused the motors I had before, same propellers, ESCs, the KK2 and the FrSky receiver with the Turnigy 9XR. Ready to fly!

The objective is having a better setup and probably a gimbal as well. But so far I will just see how it flyes. I need the FPV equipment also!

Setup:

Frame Iconic X FPV Foldable
BL-2830/11 1000kv motors
20A SK ESC
10x4.5 Plastic HK propellers
KK2 controller board
FrSKY V8FR-II receiver
Turnigy 9XR transmitter

Iconic X FPV Power distribution board

Iconic X FPV with KK2 control board

Iconic X FPV with KK2 control board

Iconic X FPV with FrSky receiver

20A ESC

Iconic X FPV with 1000kv motors

Iconic X FPV foldable

Iconic X FPV foldable

Iconic X FPV foldable

Iconic X FPV foldable

Contryside aerial with Tarot Iron Man 650 and Naza M Lite with GPS

V012. Recording date: 03-05-2014

After the last huge crash with the FY450, I decided to start a new project with the Tarot frame Iron Man 650, and lower kv motors, different ESCs and bigger propellers. See here the mayden flight.

In this video I test the gimbal Tarot T-2D with the new firmware (v1.5) and modified gains to try to reduce vibrations and making the tilt movements smoother (see previous post). Tiny yaw movements still pending to be improved...

It was a windy day and I could not risk to get closer to the water or to a different location, as the quad was still doing some funny movements from time to time. And because of the wind I still get some vibrations, specially when the movements are faster, or I´m not quite slow when ascending or descending.  I also reckon that using the GPS mode does not help to get rid of vibrations...

Despite of this I think the results are not bad. By the way, I can´t really make the online video look as smoother as the original one, I still need to play around with the Premiere settings in order to obtain some better footage when I upload it. Actually it looks nicer from a smaller screen :).

Music by Matthew Mullane.

Setup:

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650
Maytech 620kv motors
30A T-Motor 400Hz ESC for multicopter
13x5.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
DIY visor for GoPro and ND filter 3 stops
GoPro H3 black, 1080x60, N FOV
5200mAh 3S 35C battery
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx
Gimbal Tarot T-2D
500mAh 3S 20C battery for gimbal
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter

Some issues during the flight with the Tarot T-2D gimbal and the Naza controller

It is still a bit confusing to define the origin of some of the issues I have had for this test flight with the Tarot T-2D gimbal.

In one hand I am having vibrations in footage in two different scenarios:

• When I speed up forward
• When I tilt the gimbal up or down

Maybe it was too windy, and because of the GoPro visor and the wind resistance, the tilt suffer and fails. And I guess that speeding up produces more vibrations, but there should be a way of avoiding this. There are a lot of shoots that require high speed, and obviously there are lots of days with some wind, so there should be a way of solving these problems.

Regarding the tilt problem, I have been reading some posts that advise to install the 1.5 version to avoid the vibrations and shaking produced by the gimbal motors. 

Here you can see how to update the latest firmware (download the 1.5 version here), and this video is great to play around with you gain settings and check the behavior after that.

What I have solved for sure is the initial shaking of the gimbal motors when the quad is still on the ground, but there are still some vibrations left when moving the quad forward and backward (tilting the camera) as you can see in this video I have recorded:

I have also seen what it seems to be a general problem with the Naza controller and the barometer when the sun hits directly at the left side of the controller. I don´t know if this is my case, but just for prevention I´m using some black tape for covering its sides. This is one of the videos you will find in YouTube with this issue:

The last issue I have been experiencing, is some stability issues with some of my batteries.

KyPOM Battery 2200mAh 25C 11.1V

 When I charge them they seem to be all right (3.20v per cell). But when I fly, the quad has a high tendency to pitch, roll, or both, and It´s really difficult to control. It normally ends up in a non-soft landing. It seems those batteries are faulty, I´m following this page to try to discover what is going on...

Placing the Tarot T-2D gimbal with GoPro Hero 3 on the Iron Man 650

After the successful mayden flight of the Tarot Iron Man 650 (apart from landing!), now it is the moment of placing the Tarot T-2D gimbal with the GoPro Hero 3.

As I don´t want the propellers neither the quad legs to appear on camera, I have to place the gimbal on the front of the quad. As this unbalances the whole quadcopter, I have to redistribute some items on the top plate. This means placing the GPS of the Naza on the front, the gimbal battery on the middle, and the main battery on the bottom of the top plate.

I have set up the end point of the gimbal in the transmitter, so when the camera is looking to the front the propellers never appear on camera. But what if I lean it to the front to much because I go fast forward? and if the camera is facing down and I lean it to the right or left? In the angle is too wide then the propellers or the legs are very likely to appear on the footage. I will test it soon.

Now the weight of the quadcopter has gone up to 2,18kg with the bigger battery (Turnigy 3S 5000 mAh). I don´t spect it to fly now for 13 minutes, but hopefully it reaches 10 minutes easily.

I will put the visor as well to avoid the shadow of the motors on camera.

Tarot Iron Man 650 - Gimbal Tarot T-2D

Redistributing the elements on the top plate

Iron Man 650 with Naza and FPV

Front view of the Iron Man 650 with Tarot T-2D gimbal

Top view of the Iron Man 650 with Tarot T-2D gimbal

Weight of the Tarot Iron Man 650 with T-2D gimbal and FPV

UPDATE:

I was not convinced about the gimbal position, so I´ve used longer tubes to place the camera further from the center of the quad. Now it is much more difficult to have the propellers on camera when going forward, or the legs when the camera is facing down and moving from side to side.

I have several batteries of 2200 mAh, that gives me just a few minutes of flight, so I have made a serial wire so I can join two of them having 4400 mAh.

I have also purchased a 45C 5200 mAh Blue Monster battery with 4S instead 3S which is what I usally use. I will test it to see the difference. I expect to have more flight time despite of the weight of the whole quad that goes now up to 2,35 kg more or less.

Because of all the mess described above, I have had to redistribute the weight so the quad is balanced. I´ve put a rear battery plate that seems to do the job.

Hopefully tomorrow is not raining and I can go out there and see what happens...

Blue monster 5200 mah battery lipo

Serial wire for lipo batteries

Tarot Iron Man 650 Battery holder

Tarot Iron Man 650 Folded arms

Tarot Iron Man 650 Gimbal Tarot T-2D GoPro Hero 3

Tarot Iron Man 650 Top plate

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650 with Naza M Lite GPS

I coudn´t wait longer fot the maiden flight, but I´ve to admit that I was a bit scared since this is the first time I build one quadcopter from scratch.

I am impressed about how smooth the flight is with this setup. I have tested the GPS mode with course and home lock, and the Atti mode. All of them work perfectly.

I felt so confident that I tried some FPV. I think this is the first time I don´t have jello or vibrations on the real time video, with the other quad was almost permanent.

As you will see on the video, I put 3.40 in the lipo voltage alarm, and tested it to the limit to see how far I can go without loosing power. Bad idea, I had a small crash. The tubes I put for protection worked a little but not enough, as the propellers hit the ground while spinning. After this, I tried the voltage alarm at 3.50 and landing without risking.

I have flown for around 13 minutes, smooth one, with the turnigy 3S 5000mAh. Not bad I guess. For the next flight I will try with the gimbal and the GoPro to check the difference.

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Setup:

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650
Maytech 620kv motors
30A T-Motor 400Hz ESC for multicopter
13x5.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
GoPro H3 black, 1080x60, N FOV
5000mAh 3S 20C - 30C battery
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx

Aerial MTB Enduro with quadcopter

V011. Recording date: 23-03-2014

This has been the first time I shot video flying with the Naza M Lite with GPS flight controller. So in one hand I was feeling more confident in case of losing video signal or disorientation, but in the other hand I was a bit nervous because of my lack of practice with this controller.

I´m a bit disappointed because of the jello effect. As you can see, most part of it is at the beginning of the video. I´m not quite sure about the causes yet. I think it´s a mix of:

- vibrations of the motors (mainly when I go forward pretty fast)
- the propellers don´t fit exactly as they should
- I use bullet propeller holders
- maybe flying in GPS mode?
- too bright conditions with the GoPro. Under these conditions it uses a very fast shutter speed which records all the tiny high-frequency vibrations from your motors, props, etc., and causes this rolling shotter effect, or jello.

Fixing this is still a priority in my To-Do list, as I have to eliminate lot´s of shots that could be used perfectly in the final footage because of the jello. I will try to reduce part of it using a neutral density filter to reduce the shutter speed but letting through enough light for a clear picture. This is how I do it: http://niropter.blogspot.com.es/

Please check your compass is pointing in the same direction as the nose of the quad! After a bad landing, I didn´t realise it rotated almost 45º right, so it was nearly impossible to control it in the air. I still don´t know how I managed to land it. You can easily crash it and cause an accident.

Apart from that, the experience of recording a rider descending the hill at high speed has been amazing. Most part of the times I could not caught him up!

Setup:

Frame Whirlwind FY450
BL-2830/11 1000kv motors
20A SK ESC
10x4.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
GoPro H3 black, 1080x60, N FOV
3300mAh 3S 20C battery
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx
Gimbal Tarot T-2D
500mAh 3S 20C battery for gimbal
Plastic landing gear