Starting small with a 3 incher, as a first build bigger than a whoop - starting as a clone of MRM Micro Scythe 3" with various tweaks and changes as I learnt about the components.
I had a few issues to deal with. For some reason I could never get the SBUS input on the flight controller to work correctly. I bridged the pins required, but the signal voltage was pinned at 3v. I gave up and wired up an NPN signal inverter, and used another UART input. I also soon realised that the so-called BEC on the flight controller wasn't going to drive VTX and camera without burning out or going into thermal shutdown. Maybe there's different versions of this board and I got an older one with a linear regulator. I addressed this with an external 7805 regulator for now, though when I change to 4S batteries I'll swap this for a switching regulator.
All this meant that I had to work out how to fit the VTX, the XM+ receiver, and a handful of discrete components somewhere in the frame, I ended up wiring everything onto a bit of perfboard, along with connectors. That way I can break the whole thing down without soldering.
Not pretty - but it works. My first flights on a brushless quad have been a lot of fun.
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AirbladeUAV has done it again and this time they've brought long range to the 5" class! Based on the popular Transformer Mini, the new Transformer 5" Ultralight adopts a lot of the same design philosophies with larger props and more payload capacity. It can fly upwards of 20 minutes on a 4 cell Li-Ion battery pack and in ideal conditions it's got a range of over 4 to 5 miles. In this guide I'll walk..
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With the release of the DJI FPV Drone cinematic FPV has become a lot more accessible, but you certainly don't want to crash a $750 drone! The QAV-CINE Freybott is a compact, lightweight cinematic FPV drone that can take a hit and keep going. It's a lot safer to fly indoors and around people. With a naked GoPro or the SMO 4k you can capture some great stabilized footage. In this guide I'll show you..
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never seen a breadboard used as a pdb. how's it working?
So far so good. I've only had one session so far (3 battery packs). But I'm pleased with how it works. It's a big upgrade in performance from a tiny whoop!