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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Made a video tutorial on building a Quadcopter






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Nice! I liked the camera trick in the beginning to show all the parts/tools. Whats the total cost of this?
 

Grix

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Nice! I liked the camera trick in the beginning to show all the parts/tools. Whats the total cost of this?

$200-300 depending on the specs of the parts.
 
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Things

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I just recently decided to try out a quad myself, but from parts all from Hobbyking.

Using this frame/motor/ESC combo:

X230 Mini Quadcopter Combo (w/Motors, ESCs, Propellers)

And this controller which I'll flash with MegaPirateNG:

MultiWii PRO Flight Controller w/MTK GPS Module

And the Turnigy 9x TX/RX system:

Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver (Mode 2) (v2 Firmware)

Combined with a few LiPo packs, some random wires, bluetooth and USB telemetry stuff, with EMS shipping to Australia, it came to about $400AUD all up, hopefully for a very capable mini quad. I'm mega excited to get working on it - something I've been wanting to do for a while, I just love the idea of autonomous flight :D
 
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I have that same TX and love it. Use it to run my hex. Couple it up to the auto pilot on the laptop and it will fly around my neighborhood and come back and autoland if I want it to.
 

Things

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Yeah, I've heard good things about the 9x, but Hobbyking keep it in their JIT warehouse, so it's still gonna take ~2 weeks even though I paid for EMS shipping.

Their customer service even said last night their JIT warehouse is only ~60km from their HK warehouse, so god knows why it takes 3-5 days to get products from it.

I WANT MAH TOYS!
 
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Be careful with it. Mine took an un-commanded turn and plowed into the side of a house at 45mph when I was setting up my compass. Been so busy I haven't had it out in a while! This is making me want to go hook up that PT54 LED from DTR on it and fly around the neighborhood at night with the red death beam scaring the crap out of people.
 

Things

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The TX did, or your flight controller? lol

Rest assured I'll be leaving the propellers off until it has been well ans truly tested. I'm also going to lasercut a foam frame/guard for it, so hopefully I can fly it around in my house until I get everything worked out. That way it won't take off and land in a river or something on me. I do have a nice maintained field right beside my house though :D
 
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It was the auto pilot that did it. TX works like a champ. The compass got to much interference from the ESCs and it couldn't figure out which way to go. Its solution -> Full speed at current altitude in random direction. If you can add an external compass I would highly recommend it. Get it away from those ESCs. When they draw alot of current the mag field around them goes nuts and throws off the compass.
 

Things

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Hmm, good point. I'll try mount the control board on the uppermost position on the quad. Odd that a funky compass reading sent it flying off though, I thought it only controlled yaw.
 
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Mine is a little more advanced. It takes compass readings and GPS coords and calculated headed and does some crazy math to figure out where it is and is going. It defaults to compass as primary in case it drops satellites on the GPS. I think my original issue was that I didn't give it enough time to acquire any satellites before I switched it to auto mode and it defaulted to a compass with inaccurate readings. Then through a known bug in the software it performed a "fly away" where it just kind of does what it wants without reason. I'm just glad no one was home in the house I hit.
 

Things

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Ah OK - I don't think the Arducopter/MPNG firmwares will let you use auto mode without a GPS fix first? What controller do you use?
 
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Its Adrucopter, and if you force it into auto mode it will attempt to fly without them. Or at least it did. I have received several updates since then so who know. It may have changed. Have been flying it by hand lately as to avoid another incident. I feel I got lucky it only hitting a house and not going thorough the window of a car or hitting the many children running around and riding bikes. Been meaning to take it out to a soccer field and give it another go with the new compass.
 

Things

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Yeah, hopefully being a mini quad mine won't cause so much damage hitting something :D

The foam guard should help a lot though, both with saving my props and avoiding slicing myself and my walls up.

You may be right though - I want to fly it in my house for the first few tests so I know it's not gonna run away on me, but I don't think it'll be able to get GPS fix.
 




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