550 Pilot's lounge

havasuphoto said:
SARA Park, Lake Havasu?
Wondering what caused you to lose signal? I've flown all over the place out there-but not at an event, and gotten clear signal well over 600 meters.
Watched the "show" from my house ;)
Waiting for someone that shot Quad/Hex footage to post up....


Yep. I launched behind the stands on the North side and video was horrible. It blanked out completely at 50 meters. The whole area is noisy. I suspect it was a lot of cell phone noise from the crowd although with just the members present (no public), I was still getting very flaky video with FPV. 5.8 ghz is a busy frequency when you have two or three TV companies show up and add in the rest of the spectrum with audio and non-tactical radios. There were a ton of other transmitters in the area (Just outside the area, it was clear as a bell).

I'm curious if this might be a reason for P2V flyaways (or at least a contributing one). This area was exceptionally noisy on 5.8 ghz.

I was concentrating on the member issues (I'm a member of the Western Pyrotechnics Assoication) and wasn't trying to do the fireworks as such although I do have a bit of footage. There were at least a half dozen professional crews there to do the fireworks displays. Not very many were doing the member footage for the building/social interaction/ private shells that were shot outside the public events.
 
FangsCPO said:
Here's my F550 first video. Enjoy!!


Way to go, Fangs! I'm assuming you got the package with the Devo 7. Mine seems to work great but I haven't tried any longer distances. I'm more than willing to change out the transmitter (and probably will at some stage) but wanted to get a feel for this one. There were some tough posts about it on other forums - saying it, and the receiver, had no range, etc. I did not see that with my limited few flights before I left on my current trip.
 
ladykate said:
FangsCPO said:
Here's my F550 first video. Enjoy!!


Way to go, Fangs! I'm assuming you got the package with the Devo 7. Mine seems to work great but I haven't tried any longer distances. I'm more than willing to change out the transmitter (and probably will at some stage) but wanted to get a feel for this one. There were some tough posts about it on other forums - saying it, and the receiver, had no range, etc. I did not see that with my limited few flights before I left on my current trip.

Yes I did and strictly because I enjoying upgrading stuff. I'm not much into building from scratch. So it's always nice to have it in front of you already assemble and I can start doing upgrades as things pop in my head. I also didn't see a point in buying an expensive radio when I don't even know if I would like the F550. So far, it's a keeper. LOL!!
 
FangsCPO said:
Ladykate what lipos are you using for your F550?

The 3S Storm 5500. I'm getting just less than 9 minutes with relatively smooth flying (no heavy stick inputs). But that was last week when it was between 0 and 10 degrees outside. I suspect I'll get a tad more when it is warmer but not a whole lot. The battery is pretty low when I land. Indeed, I might get less since the aircraft is not cold soaked and the heavy cold air might be helping instead of hurting. It should be around 50 when I get back... I'm taking it out for a quick check anyway so I'll see.
 
I am getting 12 minutes using Hyperion 5000mah 4s, and 14 minutes with the Pulse 6600. My gross weight is 1.9 Kg with Hyperion and 2.1 Kg with the Pulse 6600.
 
rmklaw said:
I am getting 14 minutes using Hyperion 5000mah 4s. My gross weight is 2.1 Kg.

What props are you using?
 
chopperflyer said:
labmansid said:
Just curious, but what places do you guys suggest getting a 550 from?
until we know which country you are in hard job giving a straight answer. It would help to add country or state to profile.
Fair enough. I am in the USA, state of Texas.
 
labmansid said:
chopperflyer said:
labmansid said:
Just curious, but what places do you guys suggest getting a 550 from?
until we know which country you are in hard job giving a straight answer. It would help to add country or state to profile.
Fair enough. I am in the USA, state of Texas.

Heh... so I'm going to recommend Hong Kong anyway. ;-}

I only have one 550 purchase so I only have one place that I have tried. I have no doubt others are good, too. I used Helipal out of Hong Kong. Their price is good - shipping is a tad high but they do DHL express so once it leaves Hong Kong, it will get to you in about 48 hours (less in my case). It took them about 4 days to put it together and then I got caught with the Chinese New Year so had to wait over a weekend - which isn't bad. Within 12 hours of them telling me it was shipped, I got a text from DHL saying they would deliver it the next day. http://www.helipal.com/dji-flamewheel-f ... e-rtf.html

I dressed mine up with the deluxe FPV combo, an extra battery and props. Total came to about $1700 with shipping.

Helipal is very good about taking tracking information and sending you messages about it. Even standard shipping items are tracked. I ordered some extra props (dog ate my other ones - stupid dog) and I just got an email from them (I'm in Las Vegas) saying they are on my doorstep in Nebraska.
 
I agree with Ladykate.....I also used Heli-Pal. Once it was in the DHL system, it was here super fast. I also got the same setup he got. They make it very easy for you.

The upgrade bug has already hit me. I just put on some pretty cool LED Navigation lights from GotHeliRC.com for only $17. I'm not in the planning stages of upgrading my radio to a Spektrum DX7s.....why? Why not! This radio is okay but I want the assurance of a Spektrum radio. Good Luck on your decision.
 
.........still waiting for the magical props to go 14 minutes.
 
FangsCPO said:
.........still waiting for the magical props to go 14 minutes.

I think it's quite possible, I'm guessing he's using 10" but I'm not sure. 2.1kg AUW sounds pretty good to me, I'm just a tick shy of 2.3kg without a battery mounted (though I know I have a bunch of heavy crap onboard). I get just over 9 min as it is with a 5000mAh 4S, I'm sure I could drive that time up significantly if trimmed down to that weight range.
 
I just installed a Spektrum DX7 and everything is working fine....except now I'm getting sporadic video interference on my FPV. Thoughts?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
 
I'm about ready to change my tx and rx, too. Mostly to get a single tx that will work with all my equipment and get some extra channels for the F550. If I was troubleshooting it, I would look at antenna placement first, and, of course, change working channels. I have a P2 in my hotel room (can't fly it - I'm on the strip in Vegas with no car). I took the props off and dorked around with it and was getting huge interference even in my room on some channels.
 
ladykate said:
I'm about ready to change my tx and rx, too. Mostly to get a single tx that will work with all my equipment and get some extra channels for the F550. If I was troubleshooting it, I would look at antenna placement first, and, of course, change working channels. I have a P2 in my hotel room (can't fly it - I'm on the strip in Vegas with no car). I took the props off and dorked around with it and was getting huge interference even in my room on some channels.

Good point....I'll check the antenna placement of the DX7 receiver or better yet the placement of the remote receiver. The manual states, "Install the remote receiver in the model using servo tape. Keep primary and remote receiver antennas at least 2 inches (51mm)apart. Install the receivers so the antenna wires are perpendicularto each other......kind of hard to do on a F550. LOL!! I also check the channels on my FPV...right now it' set on "Diversity" which from what I understand provides the best signal strength for better video quality.
 
FangsCPO said:
right now it' set on "Diversity" which from what I understand provides the best signal strength for better video quality.

Yep, Diversity mode shows you the image from whichever of the two receiver antennae has the strongest signal at the time.
 

Recent Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,086
Messages
1,467,528
Members
104,965
Latest member
Fimaj