Aerial Freaks Cyclops Vision Brushless Gimbal

[H_D_K]

Just received the gimbal today - installation was easy, following the minimal instructions closely. There appears to be an issue with this gimbal where the original mounting "ears" hit the black mounting plate, causing the gimbal operation to fail. Pitch seems to work okay but roll is severely impeded - See video at https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ksjbd7whcyn2 ... ration.mp4

Anyone else with the same problem or can suggest a fix?
Thanks

 

[macuser13]

This kinda happened to me, and I just adjusted the pitch motor arm attached to the roll motor with an Allen wrench . Unloosen, and turn it down a bit. Tightened it back up. I found you could do this when I was trying to balance the gimbal

 

[cnitschke]

I just installed the wider and taller landing skids that are available on ebay. They give you an extra inch and a half or so of height and have a significantly wider stance which helps with landing when you have a cross breeze. In fact I think I am going to remove my prop guards as they act like a sail in the air and I think they are creating a bit of turbulence on their own, especially when coming in for a landing.

 

[cnitschke]

First fully autonomous flight with the new ground station app for the vision:

http://youtu.be/XEaixYGSUQk

Still tuning the gimbal, but I think a large part of my problems are related to the prop guards. They catch the wind like a sail and I can say that they have altered the flight characteristics in some fairly unpleasant ways. When bring it down I have now had two instances of the flight computer getting freaked out and the thing just dropping like a stone. Once I was low enough that it just bounced off of the new taller/wider landing skids, and the second it happen high enough that with full up control it finally stabilized. I have heard of some people having this issue with the Phantom getting caught in its own prop wash on descent which the flight controller doesn't know how to interpret, but I had never had the issue until I installed the prop guards.

 

[macuser13]

I found that the prop gaurds seem to do more harm that good, prop wash is also something that the phantom likes to do. just have to slow your decent and make sure that you have a forward or directional movement when landing, think of it as a plane somewhat coming into land. you keep the air moving under the props which in return provides lift. also when tunning im not sure what settings that you decided to go with but the factory settings didnt work that well for me so i went with what Piranha settings were and on the Phantom i set all of my basic gains to 80% to get the bouncing out of the gimbal. so far i have a pretty stable system and I almost use it weekly for work.

 

[BigTulsa]

First fully autonomous flight with the new ground station app for the vision:

http://youtu.be/XEaixYGSUQk

Still tuning the gimbal, but I think a large part of my problems are related to the prop guards. They catch the wind like a sail and I can say that they have altered the flight characteristics in some fairly unpleasant ways. When bring it down I have now had two instances of the flight computer getting freaked out and the thing just dropping like a stone. Once I was low enough that it just bounced off of the new taller/wider landing skids, and the second it happen high enough that with full up control it finally stabilized. I have heard of some people having this issue with the Phantom getting caught in its own prop wash on descent which the flight controller doesn't know how to interpret, but I had never had the issue until I installed the prop guards.

Yep, that's called VRS (stands for Vortex Ring State).

 

[BigTulsa]

First fully autonomous flight with the new ground station app for the vision:

http://youtu.be/XEaixYGSUQk

Still tuning the gimbal, but I think a large part of my problems are related to the prop guards. They catch the wind like a sail and I can say that they have altered the flight characteristics in some fairly unpleasant ways. When bring it down I have now had two instances of the flight computer getting freaked out and the thing just dropping like a stone. Once I was low enough that it just bounced off of the new taller/wider landing skids, and the second it happen high enough that with full up control it finally stabilized. I have heard of some people having this issue with the Phantom getting caught in its own prop wash on descent which the flight controller doesn't know how to interpret, but I had never had the issue until I installed the prop guards.

Yep, that's called VRS (stands for Vortex Ring State).

It may have already been mentioned here (and by myself even) but VRS is what caused the downing of one of the helicopters used in the bin Laden raid in May 2011.

 

[Piranha]

First fully autonomous flight with the new ground station

Wow Man, you have iron balls I am not so brave flying over the river (especially after one of my big hex Is scarifying fishes on the bottom of a big lake for more then one year already )))

 

[harpo1]

I just installed the wider and taller landing skids that are available on ebay. They give you an extra inch and a half or so of height and have a significantly wider stance which helps with landing when you have a cross breeze. In fact I think I am going to remove my prop guards as they act like a sail in the air and I think they are creating a bit of turbulence on their own, especially when coming in for a landing.

I've read they're pretty flimsy can you comment on this? Are they as durable as the stock landing gear? Can you provide a link to the ones you bought?

 

[cnitschke]

The gear have more flex to them, because they are wider and taller and the material are about the same thickness as stock. That being said, I has a crash from about 20 feet, they protected the gimbal which rides very low with the stock gear, and gave me a little bounce vs either snapping or becoming a stress point on the air frame. They also give a much stabler landing platform over stock. I will try to take a picture and find the link to the specific skids as they may very from vendor to vendor. So far I am wider/Taller skids yes, prop guards no. Added benefit, the new skids solve the problem that I bought the prop guards for which was tipping on landing and loosing props.

 

[cnitschke]

First fully autonomous flight with the new ground station

Wow Man, you have iron balls I am not so brave flying over the river (especially after one of my big hex Is scarifying fishes on the bottom of a big lake for more then one year already )))

**** fishes. Every client I have has waterfront property that needs to be shot from the water, so I charge enough to off set the risk or as for a $2000 refundable deposit on water shots.

 

[harpo1]

The gear have more flex to them, because they are wider and taller and the material are about the same thickness as stock. That being said, I has a crash from about 20 feet, they protected the gimbal which rides very low with the stock gear, and gave me a little bounce vs either snapping or becoming a stress point on the air frame. They also give a much stabler landing platform over stock. I will try to take a picture and find the link to the specific skids as they may very from vendor to vendor. So far I am wider/Taller skids yes, prop guards no. Added benefit, the new skids solve the problem that I bought the prop guards for which was tipping on landing and loosing props.

Perfect. If you can find the link I'd appreciate it. I too am using the prop guards because of the same reason. Where I fly usually always has tall uneven grass and my phantom flips upon landing 90% of the time.

 

[steves]

Hi, this is my first time using this kind of forms so please forgive me if I don't follow correct protocol.

I received my cyclops gimbal the other day. I must say I am thrilled, it works great. I bought it from RC Depot and their assistants in setting it up was outstanding. It's extremely easy to install I'm not sure of exact weight but it doesn't seem to affect the flight at all. I could say that I would recommend this.

SteveS

 

[loquacious]

Well after reading all the posts and umming and ahhhing for a while I decided to bite the bullet and put my order in. I also used RC Depot as they ship to Australia. I am hoping for as much luck with mine as most others seem to have had !!!

 

[cnitschke]

Welcome loquacious and steves - Good luck on your gimbal. I had been following these since the announcement of the dronexperts through to the near vaporware of the rotorpixl and the seamed complexity of the taco. This product finally hit the right price/availability/completeness/ease of use that I had been hoping for. It completely changes the rage of footage you can achieve with your Phantom Vision right out of the box. With a little patience and the masterful help of a few of the members on this board who have been kind enough to share their settings it gets even better. At that point you are really pushing the limit of the camera. This is nearly vision+ performance sans the 3rd axis and the boost in range, but you can't expect GoPro Black performance (while the camera may spec the same or better the go pro has far more options for optimizing your footage). Anyone who is still on the fence should buy this, skip the Vision+ and ask Santa for a 4k Vision 3 this Christmas with a pro tune like raw mode that yields spectacular 1080p at 60 frames. And while your at it, a non fisheye lens to eliminate the warping as you pan and rotate without the need to introduce softness by de-fishing in software.

Everyone wants to put a 4k sticker on the box now and Panasonic has released the HX-A500 and the GoPro Hero 4 is just around the corner so I don't think that wish list is that far fetched, with the exception of the no fisheye lens (dammit).

 

[AnselA]

As Cyclops instructions does not tell how to disassemble FC200 camera from Phantom body, I was searching youtube to convince me. I didn't want to break anything.

Found this Dronexpert video helpful, see @ 1:37

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKc5-XSwL28

 

[Drummer Boy]

Well put, exactly my sentiments. Even though I've yet had the time to install mine, if it works as good as it looks it'll be a winner. If I were Dronexpert and Rotorpixel I would be a little concerned. They also both have a supply/demand problem and outrageous price compared to the Cyclops Vision. The P2V+ isn't the end all be all compared to the P2V In my opinion. To me the only things the P2V+ has going for it is the 3rd axis (no big deal) and extended range. I think the P2V+ gimbal is structurally week and won't survive any type of a crash without a problem. Then try to get a replacement........., good luck with that. On the other hand, the Cyclops is built like a tank. In my opinion it's a no brainier. Aerial Freaks has nailed the sweet spot on an alternative gamble for the P2V and made a lot of P2V owners rejoice.

Welcome loquacious and steves - Good luck on your gimbal. I had been following these since the announcement of the dronexperts through to the near vaporware of the rotorpixl and the seamed complexity of the taco. This product finally hit the right price/availability/completeness/ease of use that I had been hoping for. It completely changes the rage of footage you can achieve with your Phantom Vision right out of the box. With a little patience and the masterful help of a few of the members on this board who have been kind enough to share their settings it gets even better. At that point you are really pushing the limit of the camera. This is nearly vision+ performance sans the 3rd axis and the boost in range, but you can't expect GoPro Black performance (while the camera may spec the same or better the go pro has far more options for optimizing your footage). Anyone who is still on the fence should buy this, skip the Vision+ and ask Santa for a 4k Vision 3 this Christmas with a pro tune like raw mode that yields spectacular 1080p at 60 frames. And while your at it, a non fisheye lens to eliminate the warping as you pan and rotate without the need to introduce softness by de-fishing in software.

Everyone wants to put a 4k sticker on the box now and Panasonic has released the HX-A500 and the GoPro Hero 4 is just around the corner so I don't think that wish list is that far fetched, with the exception of the no fisheye lens (dammit).

 

[cnitschke]

Here is the link to the wide/tall landing skids as well as some pictures showing the clearance and a picture showing the old skids vs the new

http://victoryhomes.com/landing-skid-upgrade

 

[Drummer Boy]

Thanks for the link. I really like the stance and ground clearance. Only problem for me is with them installed I don't think the P2V will fit in my fitted GOPROFESSIONAL case. Guess I could swap them for the stock skids when I'm transporting. I believe it's only 4 screws, correct.

Here is the link to the wide/tall landing skids as well as some pictures showing the clearance and a picture showing the old skids vs the new

http://victoryhomes.com/landing-skid-upgrade

 

[cnitschke]

Thanks for the link. I really like the stance and ground clearance. Only problem for me is with them installed I don't think the P2V will fit in my fitted GOPROFESSIONAL case. Guess I could swap them for the stock skids when I'm transporting. I believe it's only 4 screws, correct.

Here is the link to the wide/tall landing skids as well as some pictures showing the clearance and a picture showing the old skids vs the new

http://victoryhomes.com/landing-skid-upgrade

I think you are right on the fitting issue. I have been looking at cases and this is why I haven't bought a case yet. I am doubtful anyone is going to make a case to accommodate this, but I am curious if the case can be modified easily enough because at this point, I will forgo the case for the clearance and added stability that these skids provide.