550 Pilot's lounge

[OI Photography]

Interesting, I had no idea DJI recommended that. You still couldn't get me to fly my regular lipo's down to that though

Havasu, I understand the issue you were having now, once the Phantom auto-lands from voltage warning it will choke the throttle output significantly until you power it off and back on again and it reads a voltage higher than the 2nd-level loaded value. Once you're past that threshold it tries to keep you from flying.

 

[ElGuano]

Interesting, I had no idea DJI recommended that. You still couldn't get me to fly my regular lipo's down to that though

Yeah, the idea is the smart battery has overdischarge protection so you can run it down pretty far without fatally impacting the battery. But I'm with you, I'll "recalibrate" my current country sparingly based on the lipo behavior.

 

[havasuphoto]

Interesting, I had no idea DJI recommended that. You still couldn't get me to fly my regular lipo's down to that though

Yeah, the idea is the smart battery has overdischarge protection so you can run it down pretty far without fatally impacting the battery. But I'm with you, I'll "recalibrate" my current country sparingly based on the lipo behavior.

Yea-I just thought it was a good idea based on their recommendations and the fact that each was on the 10th flight. I may just run down the 3rd battery-coming up on flight 10, to 10%.
Interesting naza behavior; once I land on 1st level, I can't take off again until I shut-down and perform a CSC?

Because it takes a good 5 minutes of "idling" to go from 20% down to 8%. As for "storage" mode-if/when I need that, I'll just fly to around 60% or less and land-and call it good.

But-back to the 4S lipos and the F550....those big batteries are in "storage mode" right now. I will fly them, and upon return, just charge them up to 60%. It only takes a few minutes with my charger-and to go to 100%, only takes another few minutes. So, it's safer with big 8000mah Lipo's to have them in "storage" until a day before you fly.

 

[ElGuano]

Yea-I just thought it was a good idea based on their recommendations and the fact that each was on the 10th flight. I may just run down the 3rd battery-coming up on flight 10, to 10%.
Interesting naza behavior; once I land on 1st level, I can't take off again until I shut-down and perform a CSC?

Because it takes a good 5 minutes of "idling" to go from 20% down to 8%. As for "storage" mode-if/when I need that, I'll just fly to around 60% or less and land-and call it good.

But-back to the 4S lipos and the F550....those big batteries are in "storage mode" right now. I will fly them, and upon return, just charge them up to 60%. It only takes a few minutes with my charger-and to go to 100%, only takes another few minutes. So, it's safer with big 8000mah Lipo's to have them in "storage" until a day before you fly.

Nothing wrong with following the manufacturer's recommendations. Some of us just like to do things a bit differently

My only gripe with storing at 50% is it gets in the way of logging battery use/charge statistics. IMO, if you are ending flights at reasonable voltages (~3.7v unloaded) there's no danger in leaving such "depleted" cells around for a few weeks. Most of us are flying more frequently than the several months it'd take for a pack to drop to damaging levels. The longest I've left a pack uncharged is about 8 weeks, and it had a 0.6v drop, from 3.70 to 3.64v per pack. But if your typical practice lets you use storage mode regularly, that's really the best case scenario.

 

[havasuphoto]

I only store the F550 packs. It's under repair right now.
As for the P2 packs-I don't store those. I recharge when I return from flying, and the longest I would go without flying it would be a week. They normally only lose about 3% during that time, so I'm not concerned. I know it counts "cycles" on the battery because of the smart chip-and I don't want to use one of those cycles for nothing.
My thinking is-when it gets to 300 cycles, it will probably flash red and tell me to buy another one......and, I'm already 1/10th of the way there, with 3 batteries.

 

[ElGuano]

Smart batteries include percentage charged in the cycle count. If you have an iPhone or android you can see that at work. Charging a phone from 95% to full doesn't result in a cycle; same with the p2 batteries. One less thing to worry about . But a lot of people simply don't top off cause it takes too much time. If I'm within 95% I just go fly as well, particularly if recharging in the field (when I just go to 80%).

It's the long term health of the battery you have to worry about, especially if the batteries are stored in particular warm (or fluctuating) conditions.

 

[havasuphoto]

Yea-I was told never to "top-off" a battery. If it's in the 90% range, it's good enough for me.
I've taken the p2 out several times, flown for 3 or 4 minutes, landed and sat for awhile and went back up.
I've also done the same with the F550...it's just knowing the voltage limits and when to pull the trigger and return home.

I don't want any puffed lipo's...so I have the EOS 720I net which works great for my big Lipo's.

On another note; getting ready to pop the top again in my F550(you need the top secured to even move the aircraft from 1 room to the next-because it's 800mm arms make it impossible to fit through doors unless sideways).
Going to remove the old ESC's, some hot glue that was used to hold them inside, and see how long the control wires are from the DJI ESC's that plug into Naza. Those wires are going to dictate how far out I can mount the ESC's, and whether or not I can mount them on the top hat with velcro.

I don't want to cut the old control wires-but I may need to splice into those with the new ESC control wires to get the length. anyone see a problem with that? The control wires plug into the spots on naza labeled M1 through M6, and I think there are only 2 wires-and they're 5? volt..so low voltage and amps......

Basically going to clean up the inside, re-mount the GCU(it was stuck on top of Naza-making reading any labels impossible), iosd mini, PMU 2, and I think that's it.

also was told that it's best when re-installing the top to do the inside screws first, loose, then the outside. I had 1 screw out of 24 that refused to thread into an inside hole!! I will start with that screw next time I put the top back on...which is always a PITA.

 

[ElGuano]

ESC wire extension is no problem. I would approach it by slicing the heat shrink and re soldering brand new leads so you don't have a solder jump in the middle, but that's just for weight and looks.

For this control signal, with 2 wires you are not even supplying 5v power, so you are signal and ground only. You can use the thinnest wire you have, like 32+ awg.

I just do the top plate first since it has 4 points of contact to spread the load. No real overthinking on this one, just make sure you aren't putting pressure on the plate/screw/arm as you're doing it. I'm always surprised at how many screws phantoms/FWs need for assembly/disassembly.

 

[havasuphoto]

ESC wire extension is no problem. I would approach it by slicing the heat shrink and re soldering brand new leads so you don't have a solder jump in the middle, but that's just for weight and looks.

For this control signal, with 2 wires you are not even supplying 5v power, so you are signal and ground only. You can use the thinnest wire you have, like 32+ awg.

I just do the top plate first since it has 4 points of contact to spread the load. No real overthinking on this one, just make sure you aren't putting pressure on the plate/screw/arm as you're doing it. I'm always surprised at how many screws phantoms/FWs need for assembly/disassembly.

I don't understand the comment in bold.....this is a Hex.

I have the aircraft perfectly balanced with the top plate off in a rubbermade tub, and the landing gear resting on a box in the bottom of the tub....much easier to work on.
Now that I've removed the old ESC, I need to put bullet connectors on 16 wires. The wires coming from the engines into the old ESC's did not terminate in bullet connectors. And, in order to attach to the DJI ESC's, I need bullets. So that's just a whole bunch of fun I wasn't planning on.
going to "dry wire" things just to see if the wires will reach the spots where I would like to mount the ESC's.
The "plan" is that since the A, B, C, wires will have bullets, those are easily removable-should I need to remove the top. Those 3 wires will feed through a slot in the top plate. The main power wires, and the control wires going to Naza will exit below the bottom plate, and around the frame to the top, where the ESC is mounted. This way-if I need to remove the top, I unplug the 3 wires, detach from Velcro, and lay them along the side of the aircraft.
Pictures of where I plan on mounting-don't pay too much attention to where the wires are going now....

 

[OI Photography]

I like the mounting idea in general, but it seems like it would be more efficient to have the ESC's in those same locations but with each one turned around 180deg from where you have it now...so the motor leads will be pointed out towards the arms and the power/control leads will be pointed inward toward the body. You could still do the quick-detach solution you came up with, but I would think having the ESC's the way I described would simplify or at least shorten cabling a bit on each end of the ESC's.

I think the 4 load points ElG was referring to were the 4 screws at the top of each arm mount.

 

[ElGuano]

I think the 4 load points ElG was referring to were the 4 screws at the top of each arm mount.

Bingo . Havasu, it's a hex in that they are m2.5 hex screws

Take a look at the top and bottom plates and the arms. The top has four screws holding the arm to the plate, the bottom has two. So tightening the top plate distributes the considerable forces from such a long lever more evenly. Bit in reality, as long as you are careful, it shouldn't matter.

Also, I know you haven't mounted them yet, but I think your ESCs are placed on the frame backwards.

Just my $0.02, but if you are anything like the rest of us, having your top plate bound up by the ESCs is going to be a HUGE pain in your neck. Any time you need to access the deck (which will be frequently for the first couple of months after you're done), you're in for a world of hurt. I would bite the bullet and replace any leads not long enough to fix the ESCs exactly where you want them. As for the bullets, I kept mine too, but only because they are a royal pain to get off the pcb.

 

[havasuphoto]

Yea-I've decided to go with bullet connectors, all the way around. Both for the main power wires still soldered onto the board, and for the 3 A, B, C, wires from the engines(they didn't have bullets on the old ESC's). So, I ordered 30 sets of 3.5mm bullets w/heatshrink from Hobbyking U.S.

The bullets, along with the length that I cut the wires from the old ESC's will give me maximum flexibility on where I can mount the ESC's, and if I need to move, or replace them. It's just simpler.
As for having them face 180 degree's from the picture-can do!!! With bullets, I can mount them with 3M sticky tape, and just un-plug as needed.

I really don't plan on needing to be inside the cage again for awhile. I'm going to remount the GCU on top of the Naza(if that's OK?) and the iosd mini, so the micro-USB ports are easy to get to for updating firmware.

Also-my new prop mounts arrived Today!! The threads start at 8mm!!!! And, they are exactly the same shape and diameter as the T-motor prop mounts. They might even be a bit lighter. I have 3 CW and 3CCW....love the little bullets on top. Looks like they will screw down against the nut, preventing it from backing off.
Now-the question is; should I use blue loctite on those 3 long little allen bolts? I didn't on initial assembly-and it looks like they have plenty of thread surface. I'm worried about any balance issues if I get too much on 1 bolt...Ol has already told me to place a Q-tip underneath to avoid dripping any loctite, on the engine.

I do regret not using loctite on the bottom 4 silver screws that mount the engine to the motor mounts....but, I'm not messing with those now.....

Should be up and running in about a week.......

 

[Mactab]

Firstly Apologies if this has been asked previously but there are 95 pages of posts to go through (which I will as I wish to learn as much as possible about the 550)
However my Question: I'm looking to have a 550 RTF with extras built with all the functionality of a phantom vision.
I wish to do aerial still photography literally go up, shoot, move about shoot and then come down using something like a Sony Nex5 or RX100. I need FPV, telemetry, Gimbal (aeroxcraft or photohigher Gimbal?) etc
In effect I'm after a shopping list of all the bits that I will need to make this work. I have been playing with the phantom vision for 8 months now and I find it stable, reliable and easy to use and now I'm ready to move up to bigger and better as the quality of the stills on the phantom vision just isn't up to the job.
Thoughts anyone?
Thanks in advance and apologies again if this has been covered elsewhere.

 

[havasuphoto]

Firstly Apologies if this has been asked previously but there are 95 pages of posts to go through (which I will as I wish to learn as much as possible about the 550)
However my Question: I'm looking to have a 550 RTF with extras built with all the functionality of a phantom vision.
I wish to do aerial still photography literally go up, shoot, move about shoot and then come down using something like a Sony Nex5 or RX100. I need FPV, telemetry, Gimbal (aeroxcraft or photohigher Gimbal?) etc
In effect I'm after a shopping list of all the bits that I will need to make this work. I have been playing with the phantom vision for 8 months now and I find it stable, reliable and easy to use and now I'm ready to move up to bigger and better as the quality of the stills on the phantom vision just isn't up to the job.
Thoughts anyone?
Thanks in advance and apologies again if this has been covered elsewhere.

1st question; what's your budget? Plan on around $2000 so you won't be surprised.
You can buy a RFT F550 for pretty cheap-someone here has a link to them. But-you need to start adding to that list with iosd mini, H3-3D Gimbal, Go Pro 3, a decent remote, etc.
If you plan on flying a Nex 7-the Gimbal alone is $2499!!! Sooo...ya might wanna start with the Go Pro 3.

 

[Mactab]

Hi thanks yes sorry budget around the 2000 UK ($3000) ish. I don't intend to shoot video so a simple 2 axis gimbal will be fine I think.
GoPro is a no go for me as the still images are not good enough and there is no raw capability.

 

[havasuphoto]

Hi thanks yes sorry budget around the 2000 UK ($3000) ish. I don't intend to shoot video so a simple 2 axis gimbal will be fine I think.
GoPro is a no go for me as the still images are not good enough and there is no raw capability.

Wait til October or November when the Go Pro 4 comes out....it might change your mind
and, save you 1000's.

 

[wattsn]

Hi thanks yes sorry budget around the 2000 UK ($3000) ish. I don't intend to shoot video so a simple 2 axis gimbal will be fine I think.
GoPro is a no go for me as the still images are not good enough and there is no raw capability.

Hi Mactab. Following this with interest as I too am looking to build exactly what you have specified. An F550 with all the trimmings using a Sony Nex camera.

There is one currently for sale on eBay (not that I would buy 2nd hand) that is using a DYS 3 axis gimbal. I guess as these are only a couple of hundred pounds that they must be rubbish..

I will continue to follow this thread with interest. Flying a Vision+ at the moment but hoping to start ordering parts when back from Spain next week

 

[SanCap]

Will the Sony Nex 5 allow you to do video out? That would be a beautiful FPV camera.

 

[OI Photography]

Will the Sony Nex 5 allow you to do video out? That would be a beautiful FPV camera.

Yep, with one of these: http://www.cnchelicopter.com/servlet/th ... 2nd/Detail

 

[SanCap]

Sweet! I might have to get something like that in the future. I have not posted here much but will put some posts up of my 550 build that I just completed an FPV system (low budget) on today.