Just ordered the 3-axis conversion set from brushlessgimbals.com and these new motors http://brushlessgimbals.com/p/8708714/iflight-gbm5208-pro-22n24p-.html. Also ordered this controller http://www.armbgc.com/armbgc-v3-0-alexmos-controller-3-axis/. Just have to wait that everything is on stock again, will report back my findings with this setup!
About to start my own project. Have a spare 2-axis gimbal, the 4114-120T motors, and the 2-axis V3 ArmBGC board. Powered it up for the first time yesterday, and after finally figuring out the goofy dance of the USB drivers (oh, how I love you, Windows XP), managed to even talk to it with the SimpleBGC GUI. Now off to TAP Plastics for some scraps to prototype up some motor mounts. However, I've promised myself I'll ditch the whole thing as soon as my MōVI M5 ships. Tap, tap, tap...
Yeah, I fly the equivalent: CX760. I just wish that B.O.S.S. was available on higher end cameras! Andy.
Hi Steve I have the same board from Armbgc it works very nice once you figure out all the computer stuff you are going to need several extra components like a longer IMU cable the one supply by Armbgc is not long enough and it is a little stiff, also you need to get ferrite coils or ferrite rings for every motor cable in the US they are call choke core
www.dpcav.com and search for "toroid ferrite core". How many turns of wire do you have to put through the core, Jose? That will determine what size core Steve needs to get. Andy.
When I plugged in the Alexmos board via USB to my Windows XP laptop, Windows seemed to auto-install a working driver, but the GUI could not talk to the board, despite the fact that the USB cable powered up the board just fine (so presumably was working). I read somewhere that this was likely a symptom of a firmware mismatch, so I tried to use the Xloader to update the firmware, but that required some version of .Net that I didn't have on the laptop (it's a pretty barebones system that I only use for copter'ing). So after doing all that, I did get the firmware updated (although, like in the docs, it said it failed). Then I found an obscure reference to a different USB-serial bridge driver for Windows (see reference here: http://aerialpixels.com/support/alexmos-brushless-gimbal-controller-simplebgc-tuning-guide/) and after downloading and installing this driver, I was able to 'talk' to the board with the GUI.
Hi Andy I read somewhere that 2 turns is enough and to place them as close as possible to the board, I instead found at Radio Shack the snap type I saw them on some other dealer pictures so I instal those for now I am guessing the ring, or the snap, do the same job I may be wrong
Andy, in your CS build video, you say to braid the main motor wires (which I did), and they don't have any ferrite. Is this actually necessary with gimbal motors? Are they that different? They are skinnier wires, but that shouldn't effect their EMI transmission, right? The little ferrite cores are kind of awkward and could definitely be a problem to anchor so they don't flop around, right? And would I put them at the motor end or the PCB end, or in the middle somewhere?
Hi Steve look at this link http://aerialpixels.com/support/alexmos-brushless-gimbal-controller-simplebgc-tuning-guide/
It's not so much whether the wire is skinny or not, but the amount of current they're carrying. I've seen images of brushless gimbals where the motor wires are indeed braided. I would put the cores out at the motor end as I suspect it will be the back-EMF coming off the motors that will cause the EMI. You could put a cable tie through the core as well as the gimbal motor wires and attach it to a boom or some part of the structure. Andy.
Different question to all, been that the gimbal motors don't have to spin like prop motors can a gimbal be power by 2 regular canon camera batteries instead of lipos?
Jose: The motors will not know what is powering them as long as they see sufficient volts to cause enough current to flow to cause them to turn. So the answer is "it should work" but it really depends on the voltage output from the battery and their current providing capability -- the latter is a function of the batteries internal resistance as well as the internal resistance of the motor. (Technically, I suppose it's the motor's reactance as it is an inductor). Andy.
Hey Jose, your unit looks handheld. Do you have a picture of how your pitch I2C cable is running to the the board? Assuming you don't have a wiper system built in, I'm curious what your solution was. I have to sort out my rats nest.
Hi Sean i did not do anything special the tilt cable comes out of boom goes trough the side bracket and joins the down cable from the roll motor witch I did not cut just made a nice coil for now only 1 small zip tie together and the 2 wrap around to meet the board the IMU for now sits on top of the camera it is too short to go trough the right boom and out of the right of the camera I found at Viacopter spare ones 45cm long waiting for them 3 axis not done yet waiting for the small 3-axis board
I like DJ's (photoshipone) solid design here. Not so much the single arm support for tilt but the solid construction and the use of aluminum over CF for heavily adjusted areas such as tilt height adjustment. I hate those press nuts because over time they tend to strip out. If freefly would have went this route with actual milled lightweight aluminum in key heavily adjusted areas I wouldn't frown so much on the price...well maybe!
Has anyone had luck getting the RC controls to work with the armbgc v3 alexmos? as directed by the armbgc guy, I plugged the connector with 5v ground and tilt signal into the elevator port on my ar7010 reciever which is bound to a spectrum dx8. I mapped the correct channel to the tilt in the software but no luck. I've tried all the channels on the receiver, I have tested the receiver and radio with a servo and all the channels work. In the status window for the RC inputs it shows that something is connected to the tilt and roll but nothing happens when I move the sticks or switches. I am also having the same problem with follow mode. It doesn't seem to be working correctly. Just acts wild. should it be in angle mode or speed mode? can anyone with 5208 motors and alexmos 2.1 running a 5d or similar weight camera post their PID settings? I am having some jitter on the tilt and I'm just not getting the results I hoped for. I am running a Nikon D800 with 50mm 1.8. Has anyone had success with 50mm lens? Thanks guys I would really appreciate some help as this whole project is maddening...Why doesn't it just work?!
Hey Sam. Can't help with the Arm board. Indeed, this tech is not plug and play and I understand your frustrations. Follow mode will work in either angle or speed mode. Basically, the difference is cam op (speed), no cam op (angle). There are PID's upthread that can get you started. Although, they are for 3s. http://forum.freeflysystems.com/ind...to-a-brushless-gimbal.1257/page-30#post-23031 As far as the tilt jitter, I would experiment with different mounting locations for the IMU and see what happens. You could potentially spend days with the PIDs and not solve the jitter. I have been using a D800 with 16-35 with good results but no 50mm yet. I will start punching in more and see what happens. I suspect that the 50 may be a bit shaky til you have it super dialed. Lastly, I'm not sure what gimbal you are using, but if you are running one 5208 on pan with a D800, if pan axis isn't balanced really really well, your gimbal will be very unreliable or not work at all. I'm still trying to figure out how to piggyback two motors to double the torque.... Howard? Mario?