Words of advice: you can go bonkers obsessing over all the possibilities. And you could order 10 sets of props, motors, frames and ESCs and try them all. But very, very few of us (not me, for sure) have the test equipment and facilities to scientifically evaluate any of this stuff. I have done a little analysis of just prop sizes (15, 16, 17, 18) with my motors and power consumption data, and determined that the 18” props are best for what I’m doing. Are they best for you? No idea. Could you run a combo of 18 and 17? No idea. I want stable, reliable, familiar and repeatable results for my photo and video activities. And I feel like I’m getting there.
Got the Toad in the Hole today and slapped it on the bird. Pics here: http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/toad-in-the-hole-in-the-house.4002/
Just want a stronger plant on tighter shots that need no or little movement. Take a look at this and you can see what I mean.
OK, a news update. After some squiggly flights and a possible loose connection or two, I went over everything and pronounced her ship shape again. I’ve been studying some numbers around performance, and I had a theory about prop size with the KDE 4012 motors. I tried the 18” Tiger props, but the copter didn’t feel right...felt too wobbly...more so than it should have. So I replaced the 18” props with 16” props, and flew her that way today. And she’s super smooth. My hover throttle numbers are very good, too. See the graph below. Plenty of power overhead, and the copter just stuck in the air, even in a good breeze.
Told ya so. Sure the 4012s have enough power to run 18" and lift a load. With 18s those motor will not have enough power to be fast-reacting enough for stable flight...especially in wind. 16" - 17" are best.
Steve, I'm also very glad to hear about your pronouncement. At the end of the day, what's your call on the primary cause? -m
Very interesting. I'm very surprised to hear that changing the size of the props could cause motors to stop/restart.
I also changed the motor timing in the BLs to 24° after some consultation with the texts. The motors all sound better, too. Might be an illusion, but I’m going to leave them there for a while and see how it behaves.
For the motor errors? Must likely a sketchy bullet connection. And one of my BLs is mis-reporting its current, which is apparently a common thing.
I'm glad you have it back in the air and it is stable. You have really worked hard, and I've enjoyed reading your build and logic behind it.
Update May 4 2014 Flew the X8 for the first time today with the MōVI M5 and the GH4. Results are spectacular. Copter is silky smooth and the footage is pretty amazing. I think I have to do a little more tuning of the MōVI, but it’s pretty damn sweet as is. Copter has calmed down with no errors and very, very stable flying. I did notice something peculiar the other day, and wouldn’t you know it...I’ve been calibrating my ACC all these months and years without worrying about leveling the copter. I wondered what I had a bubble level for. Amazing how much better she flies when she’s properly leveled. Oy vey! I’m pretty psyched, but man, I’m going to need a more manly computer. My MacBook Pro can’t even play back the Quicktime 4K files without stuttering, even off the SSD! My Mac Pro with 8 cores can do it, though. Here’s a little demo of what 4K is going to mean to us video guys.
Nice work, Steve. There's a little bit of frame/frame judder when there's a lot of motion -- I suspect that's a compression artifact? Do you see it? (Or has the video been "Vimeofied?") I can see that even the MacPro 17" would have a tough time with 4K. But the good news is that the new MacPro "trashcan" would fit in your car. Of course, the keyboard, trackball, monitor, external disk, backup disk, and USB3 hub might require a little extra space. (I'm not a fan of the trashcan design, in case that's not obvious -- too much stuff "dangling" -- it's a bit like the way Madonna used to dress on stage -- all the stuff that should be on the inside is now on the outside. ) Andy
You could try downloading the original file from Vimeo and see if it’s there. But I also need to adjust my stiffness settings a bit, I think. ROTFLMAO
I think I may change the name of my trashcan Mac to Madonna, come to think of it.... It's a nice machine though..... Andy.
I also have my pan set for “Majestic” mode, and I think it’s not ideal. Going to shift to 2-operator airborne mode this week, so that should help.
This is what a “dialed in” GPS system looks like. My copter is parked in Position Hold while I’m fiddling with my iPhone. And I was careful not to disturb the sticks this time.
Show Off!! I'll be trying to get my M5 up later this week. Using your fortran-like formula(Thank You) , I was able to determine over four flights (dumbell simulated gimbal/5d/16-35/M5).. Throttle to hover (%): Flight 1 - 16" - 61% Flight 2 - 16" - 63% Flight 1 - 18" - 49% Flight 2 - 18" - 54% Flights 2 were done with the uber heavy 16Kma batteries. Flights 1 had the 10kma batteries. -m