Retractable Landing Gear?

[Prophecies]

Hey,
I really want to get a set of retractable landing gear, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these. How are they linked to the Transmitter? Do you have full control over whether or not they're lowered?
Do they increase chances of VRS since they seem to retract a little beneath the props?

I was thinking of getting something along the lines of this:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-CF-CNC-R...793?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa6852509

Thanks!

 

[p fandango]

they won't work with the standard transmitter, you'll need an extra channel so will have to change to a Futaba or similiar

 

[Braggatator]

they won't work with the standard transmitter, you'll need an extra channel so will have to change to a Futaba or similiar

I believe they work both up and down on left switch on std transmitters

 

[p fandango]

I believe they work both up and down on left switch on std transmitters

not without a special box unit from RCDrone's i think it was, & they won't sell the box on it own only in a $250 complete kit

 

[syotr]

I am building my own to retract automatically when the bird exceeds a certain height and deploy again when below that height.

 

[Turbazz]

Why do you want that.? That will take off three minutes of your flight time, added weight

 

[p fandango]

That will take off three minutes of your flight time, added weight

their not that heavy, i had them on mine before realising it couldn't retract from the stock controller & there was no noticable difference in flight time

 

[Turbazz]

Surprised few hundred grams didn't make a difference. Looks good though!

 

[Hughie]

A very rough rule of thumb I use with P2 payload (and though it appears to be in the ballpark, it is not based on anything scientific) is 1g = 1s. If you can add hundreds of grams and see no change in flight time, you are defying the laws of physics

 

[N017RW]

I am building my own to retract automatically when the bird exceeds a certain height and deploy again when below that height.

Sounds cool.

Not sure the Naza baro. is up to the task though.
Might want to augment it.

 

[Hughie]

Sounds cool.

Not sure the Naza baro. is up to the task though.
Might want to augment it.

That's a good point. The last couple of flights, at take off my altitude has shown 1 or 2m. 12 minutes later when I land it has shown about 8m.

 

[N017RW]

There are other methods I've read about such as IR or ultrasonic for proximity but they have their challenges as well.

 

[syotr]

Sounds cool.

Not sure the Naza baro. is up to the task though.
Might want to augment it.

Won't be using the NAZA barometer. I will be using something like this:
http://www.flitetest.com/articles/arduino-automated-landing-gear-based-on-altitude
I will mount it on my F550 and maybe later on a Dex quad.

 

[Flyermike]

Hey,
I really want to get a set of retractable landing gear, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these. How are they linked to the Transmitter? Do you have full control over whether or not they're lowered?
Do they increase chances of VRS since they seem to retract a little beneath the props?

I was thinking of getting something along the lines of this:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-CF-CNC-R...793?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa6852509

Thanks!

Yes I have a 250 dollar set on mine and I retracted it a total of about 10 times and now only one gear goes up. It looks like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant. The servo died on one side. As for the setup it's easy and straightforward, completely plug and play. Maybe I just got a bad servo. You might have better luck, when it worked it was great and removed the landing gear from the image under all circumstances.

 

[N017RW]

Won't be using the NAZA barometer. I will be using something like this:
http://www.flitetest.com/articles/arduino-automated-landing-gear-based-on-altitude
I will mount it on my F550 and maybe later on a Dex quad.

Like I said I've read of this before.

YMMV