My First Flight at TEMAC Field today

Candu · September 12, 2012, 06:13:52 PM

Nice to meet Mike/Greg/Andy last Sunday. Thanks Mike and Greg for signing me off for solo flights with my multicopters.

Decided to take a couple of hours off this afternoon to get familiarize with the site. To my surprise, it was completely empty, unlike what I've seen from last Sunday afternoon.

It was kind of windy but I wanted to fine tune my home brew quad's GPS position hold and RTH (return to home) under windy condition. Position hold seems to work OK in the wind but I still need to fine tune the RTH. When it return to home position, it supposed to turn to face its take off direction - it did turned successfuly but unfortunately, lost its fight with the wind. Back to the drawing board...

Here's the Youtube video from today's flight:
Multiwii 2.1 - Testing GPS Position Hold & RTH in Wind

Andy Hoffer · September 12, 2012, 07:42:33 PM

Hi Frank.

Glad you're having a good time at the field. Your quad looked remarkably steady considering the gusty wind conditions. How much payload can it carry?

bnest regards,

Andy Hoffer

bfeist · September 13, 2012, 11:26:11 AM

Very cool Candu. Welcome to TEMAC!
I noticed a new item at hobbyking that looked interesting http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__26588__MultiWii_PRO_Flight_Controller_w_MTK_GPS_Module.html

What are your thoughts?

Candu · September 13, 2012, 05:54:23 PM

Quote from: Andy Hoffer on September 12, 2012, 07:42:33 PM
How much payload can it carry?

I have not really tested its max payload capacity but in theory, it should be good for another 200g or so. When I first maiden it, it only weighted 1.3kg. Now it grew to 1.8kg. What I notice with weight increase is that it tend to be more stable in general, especially under windy conditions but what really suffers with weight increase is the flight time.

Candu · September 13, 2012, 06:18:52 PM

Quote from: bfeist on September 13, 2012, 11:26:11 AM
Very cool Candu. Welcome to TEMAC!
I noticed a new item at hobbyking that looked interesting http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__26588__MultiWii_PRO_Flight_Controller_w_MTK_GPS_Module.html

What are your thoughts?

Thank you. I have not seen that one before. That's must be a recent addition but note that it's already out of stock! It has the Atmega2560 processor that has more code space and multipe serial ports. Therefore you can plug the GPS directly into one of its serial port. Price, including GPS, is attractive. It has all the necessary sensors on board. Small size, all good features.

If I'm building another multicoptor, I'd give this one some serious consideration but I'd not jump into it until I see some success stories from the multicoptor user community...

bfeist · September 13, 2012, 10:41:36 PM

Thanks. That's good advice. I've seen some comments elsewhere when people are debating about boards that center around sensor quality. We'll see what the community has to say.

Ben

Candu · September 17, 2012, 06:28:17 PM

I was at the field again Saturday morning around 08:00 and, another surprise - I was the only early bird on site... Anyway, perfect flying condition - calm as a calm can get. Did some more tests with my quad. Here's a couple of photos from the on board camera.

Ededge2002 · September 17, 2012, 07:23:05 PM

Nice shots but that second shot looks too inviting!

sihinch · September 18, 2012, 08:21:49 AM

It looks like it's nearly time to go looking for my missing plane and canopies, in the beans!

Nice shots!

Candu · September 18, 2012, 07:00:42 PM

Quote from: sihinch on September 18, 2012, 08:21:49 AM
It looks like it's nearly time to go looking for my missing plane and canopies, in the beans!

Nice shots!

You mean there are treasurers to be found in the bean field?

My quad is equipped with a 5.8Ghz live video down link to a ground station that could be used for "search and rescue" missions...