Compass placement on custom landing skids

[Retroman]

So I've got some custom legs on my Phantom and was wondering if its ok to have the compass at a slightly different angle than it is normally on the standard legs? It's in the same area, but the legs spread out rather than right down so it is at a different angle than a stock Phantom.

The picture is a little old and I no longer have that twisty thing on the leg (I'm sure it had metal inside so might mess with the compass). Now I just have a very small plastic cable tie around the compass to help hold it in place if it gets a knock. It's not very tight so it wont crush or bend the compass but its a little piece of mind if it should decide to land ASAP

Thoughts?

 

[thetac]

My thoughts...my buddy had the same gear....I do know the compass really needs to be solid...no flexing...when we mounted it like you did we did not have much success. It seems to work much better when it is perpendicular to the ground. With that said we created a bracket that mounted to the leg that secured the compass solid and vertical....just my thoughts.

 

[miskatonic]

Since I was not going to use the old gear, what I did was bolt the in tact compass set to the bottom of the Phantom thus keeping the correct alignment. It worked well but those carbon fiber skids are very heavy. You can fly with those or a gimbal but not both.

I ended up dumping the carbon fiber landing gear.

 

[ElGuano]

Yep, you really want the compass to be straight up and down. It's probably the most sensitive piece of gear on the Phantom, maybe after the gyro in the Naza.

I think that landing gear is almost 100g right? That's more than twice the weight of the stock landing gear!

 

[Retroman]

Thanks guys, I'll try and sort out some way of having the compass sitting normally on the legs (as in, not at an angle).
And I'll look into some other landing skids that are maybe not as heavy.

 

[ElGuano]

Thanks guys, I'll try and sort out some way of having the compass sitting normally on the legs (as in, not at an angle).
And I'll look into some other landing skids that are maybe not as heavy.

I use the Simensays V3 landing gear. It's not foldable (not sure if yours are) but with the thin-walled carbon fiber tubing, mine is 27g total, a huge weight savings. It comes with a compass mount that keeps it aligned perfectly.

 

[simonthk]

That landing skid is the worst ever, sry

 

[Retroman]

So I weighed the Phantom fully loaded (35c battery, gopro in waterproof case, Garmin gtu10, flytrex, small rfid tracker as well as the landing skids).
Total take of weight is 1270.06 grams (or 2.8lbs). Now DJI say it should be below 1000 grams so I'm way over the limit for the standard motors it seems.
Looks like my Phantom need to go on a diet

 

[ElGuano]

So I weighed the Phantom fully loaded (35c battery, gopro in waterproof case, Garmin gtu10, flytrex, small rfid tracker as well as the landing skids).
Total take of weight is 1270.06 grams (or 2.8lbs). Now DJI say it should be below 1000 grams so I'm way over the limit for the standard motors it seems.
Looks like my Phantom need to go on a diet

The "actual" AUW recommended for the Phantom is now 1200g (when they released the H3-2D gimbal). You can get really close to that just by replacing the heavy landing gear. A few grams over isn't a dealbreaker, but remember that every 50-100g takes a minute or more off your flight time.

 

[wbrownj]

Hey retroman...
For what it is worth, I got pretty much the same landing gear and here is a video showing what I did with regard to the compass.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhZ9UZtheVM[/youtube]

The stem is actually one of those pointer pens you can get for your smartphone (iPhone in my case). I used that because it was nice and black and silver and shiny :lol:

All I did was cut off the top of the pen and then glue in a suitable M3 bolt.

This then neatly screws into one of the holes where the landing gear attaches to the body of the Phantom and provides a vertical post onto which you attach your compass.

Job done. It has worked so well that even though I changed landing gear again (please see second video below) I kept the post.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPDjsnWIXuI[/youtube]

Hoping this is of some use to you.

All the best

Jonathan

 

[MKheng]

I've fitted those skids and don't have a problem with them. I shortened the feet which took some weight off. I cut the existing leg near to the compass and left that part of the leg in place so the compass has not moved. All works well and even done a RTH successfully to check all is ok.

 

[Retroman]

I've fitted those skids and don't have a problem with them. I shortened the feet which took some weight off. I cut the existing leg near to the compass and left that part of the leg in place so the compass has not moved. All works well and even done a RTH successfully to check all is ok.

Simple and effective
I've just mounted the compass this way and have removed the anti vibration mount to reduce weight as it wasn't really doing much for the video anyway.
Thanks