Advice thread turns into 680 Pro + E800 build thread

[Mark_Felton]

Looking at the desing, I know others have put a 3rd plate on the top to allow them to put the naza or FC on top out of the way and then RX etc on the middle deck then the PDB.  Do like the build it all seems very intuative.  Might have to buy a 3rd plate myself just to give that extra space. 

[soundsk]

I';m kind of OCD about certain things, and the round disc-shaped PDB only makes sense to me in the middle of the board. I';ll try to design and print a simple holder for it, and it will sit on the bottom plate, it';s the perfect place to run leads to every device.
I';ll be using 2 very small voltage regulators, one for the gimbal and one for the FPV - for my current setup one should be enough, but seeing as I';m planning on getting a bigger gimbal with bigger motors and stepping up to a 600mW TX, one for each should be better.

BTW, has anyone got any thoughts on using the main battery to power everything versus using an additional smaller 3S pack to power just the gimbal and TX, which eliminates the need for the voltage regulators by using the ones already built-in to these devices?

Then I';ll print a holder for the Naza and GPS so they sit one above the other.

A quick search on thingiverse for Naza turns up a whole bunch of different holders and mounts both for the Naza, LED and GPS. Maybe I';ll use or modify one to suit my purpose.

[Soler]

Best to use a voltage reg for the gimbal to ensure the same voltage though out the flight which keeps the same motor torque.

[Mark_Felton]

Well its officially your fault!  Pushed the button on the E800 system 
Now need to hide it till after wedding lol.

Out of curiosity Soundsk.....where did you get those esc supports you have?

[soundsk]

Well its officially your fault!  Pushed the button on the E800 system 
Now need to hide it till after wedding lol.

Out of curiosity Soundsk.....where did you get those esc supports you have?

HAHAHA, I don';t want to be responsible for you "not getting any" on your wedding night! 

I have a 3D printer which I used to print them. I was going to design them, but nowadays there is so much stuff out there that before I invest time in designing anything, I have a look through thingiverse and youmagine.

And this time it payed off, searched for "tarot" on thingiverse and whole bunch of results turned up, I was downloading all sorts of holders and adapters to sift through later when I came across the ESC mounts, what were the chances?! Just downloaded and printed! 

[Fletch]

Now for the electronics I have some doubts as to the layout. Where should I put the Naza? In the bottom plate, making it so that it sits inside the center hole when the top plate is on?
Or should I make a rectangular support plate that "covers the hole" and put everything on the top plate?

http://www.tarot-rc.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_70&products_id=214

This is a 690 part but looks like it SHOULD fit the hole on the top plate

[soundsk]

http://www.tarot-rc.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_70&products_id=214

This is a 690 part but looks like it SHOULD fit the hole on the top plate

Thanks, but I';m designing a custom mount for the Naza and GPS module so it sits dead center above the Naza. I';ll print it today.


Yesterday I printed a few parts I downloaded from thingiverse, but the Naza mount didn';t fit how I intended, so that';s why I';m designing one. The GPS mount is cool though, but I';ll probably use it or print another to hold the PDB that will sit under the Naza, and the Futaba holder is nice too.


I soldered the battery lead I made to the PDB, and from there to the Tarot PDB.
I think I';m going to use hot glue to cover these fours big solder points, just for extra protection.



This will sit as is, facing down like the Tarot PDB, with a screw holding it inside the GPS mount which will screw that bolts to my custom naza mount. I';ll probably put the voltage regulators inside shrink tube and use a zip tie to secure them to the exterior of the gps mount using the letter holes to run the zip ties.



Today I';ll solder JST and servo leads to the voltage regulators, I';ll probably solder a couple extra for expansion if needed.

Cheers!

[soundsk]

Just had a bit of time to finish designing the mount for the naza.
Used sketchup to check everything lines up, I';ll print tonight, hopefully it all comes together like in my mind! 
I';ve included M3 nut traps on the downside of the bottom plate for the top plate screws and a central nut trap for the makeshift PDB holder, and nut traps on the top plate to fasten either a GPS holder like the one I printed and will be using to protect the PDB, or the standard GPS holder that comes with the Naza.



If it turns out well I';ll post it on thingiverse, so others can take advantage of it.

Cheers!

[Mark_Felton]

Wow some good looking bits your making there.....wish i had a 3d printer

[soundsk]

Wow some good looking bits your making there.....wish i had a 3d printer

Thanks Mark! Just so you know, I bought the parts for my RepRap Ormerod 3D printer for about as much as the E800 set costs, so not so expensive as you might think, just had to build it.

And if you';re thinking of building a similar Tarot+E800 flyer and would like any of the parts I used, just let me know, I';d be glad to post them to you!   

Just finished designing another holder for the FPV TX + Naza led, and started printing all the parts I designed today.
It';s going to be a while until it';s finished.

Hopefully that';s enough to get started with mounting the electronics like I want them...
Would like to start testing this weekend... 

[soundsk]

Woke up this morning to see my printed parts.
I know these days 3D printing is very commonplace, but I still can';t help being amazed every time I design something, looking at in my hand a few hours later... 

Here';s the finished Naza/GPS/PDB mount, I';ll upload to thingiverse in case someone finds it useful.






And I also designed a mount to hold the FPV Tx and Naza LED.
It fits against the edge of the top plate, whichs secures it, and is held in place by a screw using the central hole meant for the canopy (which I mounted facing the back of the drone).
Made it simple to print, with just some holes for zip ties, and the LED is at an angle to optimize visibility when the drone is up in the air.




I covered the exposed solder points on the PDB and Tarot PDB with some hot glue for extra protection against accidental short circuits.
Today I';ll solder leads to the VR';s and the VR';s to the PDB, and finally assemble the top and bottom plates together again and mount the electronics up top.

Cheers! 

[Mark_Felton]

That is some amazing parts you have designed there.....if I could be cheeky and if you could make of all the bits you have designed and made that would be amazing....would cover cost of making etc etc

[soundsk]

No problem, just send me a PM with your address, I';ll print a set during the weekend, see how much filament it uses and do the math to let you know the cost, but shouldn';t be much.
Is black color OK? The white is just getting to the end, and to be honest it';s not as good as the black one, it';s more brittle.

No building tonight, it';s been a long day, and I';ve stayed up late every day this week tinkering about with this, age is unforgiving, and no sleep takes a toll! 
I';ll take most of the day tomorrow to work on it, perhaps finish it if there aren';t any major problems.
It';ll be raining tomorrow as well as Sunday, but hopefully I catch a break to test it.

Is it worth adding a switch to power the PMU? I soldered a XT60 connector to the PMU, so that way I can just unplug it if necessary.

Any idea what initial gains I should set to start testing?

Cheers!

[soundsk]

Hi!

Good progress over the weekend, but still not done.
Wanted to change some things, and I just ordered a BTU, figure it will save me some time on adjustments!

Soldered the voltage regulators and leads, put them inside shrink tube but left a hole to adjust the knob if necessary.





Then I started mounting things up top.



Tested the motors, checked ESC firmware, corrected rotation directions:


Changed the location I had planned for the FPV Tx, and I';m still going to print an adapter for my DYS gimbal.



Also swapped the standard 280mm long rail tubes for 500mm, in case I need it when I go up to the bigger gimbal.

Do you think a 20000mAh battery is good for this setup or will it be a bit too heavy for what I get?
Wanted the 16000 but it';s always on backorder. I can get the 20000mAh this week.

Cheers!

[Mark_Felton]

Some really good looking parts you have made there.  Battery size not 100% sure of, but i think i have seen people have used just the 16000mah batteries, depends how much extra weight the larger batteries are and if that pays off with the possible extra flying time.

[soundsk]

Good evening everyone,

Anyone got any suggestions on what my initial gains for this setup should be?
Have to configure the Naza, and was wondering about this...

Cheers!

[soundsk]

Good morning,

Yesterday I just printed some adapters to mount my gimbal to the rail using the rubber dampers and spent some time connecting the Naza, video leads and just tidying up the wiring.





I decided to use the GPS mount I printed, as it is, it sits just above propeller level.
If I find it is erratic, I';ll switch to the standard Naza GPS pole mount.

The BTU should arrive today, and I also decided to order a pair of retracts.
It will be raining heavily so no chance to fly probably until the weekend, but that gives me time to get everything right and tested.

The only thing left now is to gather some funds for the DYS BLG3SNC gimbal and 32bit controller, really looking forward to seeing my Sony A5000 airborne.

[soundsk]

Well, not so great a night...

Don';t quite know what happened, but as I turned on the battery today, a bit of smoke came off the Naza PMU!
At first I thought I had screwed up the polarity, but no, everything was correct.
And on Sunday I had already connected the battery to test the motors, and the PMU was hooked up by then, only not connected to the Naza or GPS.

So I connected the battery again, as before, and saw that the Naza indeed works, connected to the software and noticed that neither GPS or PMU show up in the updates tab. And it says "GPS needed" in the IOC tab.

No signs of life from the mini iosd or BTU either.

So as far as I can tell, the GPS must have been faulty, because it was only when it was connected that this happened, and it must have burnt the PMU.
As anyone heard of anything similar happening?? 

Well, I need to see this through, and between ordering a new PMU and GPS, I might as well order a new combo set, and then sell it or build another multirotor when the warranty comes through and sends me replacements...

Really crossed... But it kind of figures, it was going way too well for my liking, I was wondering when something like this would happen... 

[Friskle]

I have had PMU failures before, but must admit, i never heard of the GPS making it blow, not much help i know 

[soundsk]

Well, just ordered a new Naza kit so the build doesn';t stop, when I get the replacement kit or parts under warranty, I';ll sell it, or even use it as a starting point for a second multirotor... 

While I wait, I assembled the battery mount, and designed and printed an adapter to use the rubber 10mm diameter dampers with my DYS 3 axis gimbal. I didn';t have the spacers to use the original hooks, so I designed this instead.

Also switched the rubber ball dampers on the gimbal itself, for tarot black ones, as I read somewhere they are much better and make a visible difference in dampening vibrations.

[Mark_Felton]

Sorry to hear of your Naza woes, must be very frustrating after all the work you have done so far.   Good looking camera mount you have made, i ordered the Tarot gimbal just to start with and then will move up later on.....other half is having ideas along the lines of "why dont you get the licence etc etc".......have been looking in to it but its a next year project.

Keep up good work 

[soundsk]

Yeah... 

The dealer was cool and completely understood and agreed with me that the GPS was probably the cause. I';m sending it directly to the repair center in Germany, but it';s going to be a while before it get it back.

I';ll get the new one tomorrow, put it on, and this time I';ll film everything and connect plug by plug, in case something like this happens again.

In the meanwhile I received the adapter to mount the LCD to my transmitter, I';l probably do that and test the FPV TX.
Also going to modify a PC power supply to use with my DC LiPo charger.

I really hope I can do some flying this weekend! 

[soundsk]

In case anyone is interested, I just uploaded to thingiverse the components I designed to use on this build.
Here are the links:
Mount for FPV Tx:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1018424

Mount for Naza FC and GPS:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1018391

DYS 3 axis GoPro gimbal to Tarot rail adapter:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1018372

Cheers!

[soundsk]

Just got the new Naza in the mail, quickly connected it to the iOSD and BTU to see if they would power up - they do - so they should be OK and suffered no damage from the PMU.

Tonight I';ll assemble everything again, this time bit by bit, just in case! Probably film it too...

Last night I just took the things I';d be replacing off, and did the battery mount, which turned out OK.
Used hooks from thingiverse, as the original Tarot ones supplied don';t inspire much confidence for a 2KG battery... The hooks I printed are sturdier and have holes to pass zip ties around it, clamping it against the rails.







BTW, can anyone tell me how to embed a YouTube video on here?

Cheers!

[Mark_Felton]

Good to see your back on course again with the build.  Some very nice 3D stuff being made by you, definitely wish i had a 3D printer.

[soundsk]

Well, last night I replaced everything, started connecting each individual component one by one, tested every lead yet again, and it';s confirmed it was a faulty device, but while I previously thought it was the GPS, I';m not so sure anymore - more on that in a bit.

I connected everything just as I had on Tuesday, but this time everything worked.
PMU, LED, BTU and iOSD mini had blinking lights and all seemed good.

Connected the Naza to the mac, updated firmware, GPS, PMU and BTU were detected, no problem activating GPS related features, and I configured everything - Hexa config, tested the motors again using the test motors function, changed the ESC LED colours to match the orientation of the UAV.

Installed the NM Assistant app on my phone and it doesn';t work because I updated to IOS 9 the other day  so now I have to wait until they update the app, but tried with my wife';s phone and it works well, allowing me to configure stuff on the go.

What doesn';t work unfortunately, is the iOSD mini.
The LED was blinking green when I powered things up. After I had done everything else, I turned to testing the FPV Tx. Checked the connections (yet again!) and all was good, the monitor locked on to a channel using the search feature, but it was black.

Disconnected the battery, hooked up the video cable directly to the ImmersionRC, connected the battery and it works - the video from the gopro appears on the channel it was previously locked on.
Only this time the mini iOSD, without anything connected to it, had no blinking green led.
Tried disconnecting again, connected the cables back up, tried everything I could think of, even connected it to the PC, but no luck.
Never worked, the first couple of times it had a blinking green light, now no lights on it, appears dead.
A search on the web reveals that these things apparently breakdown quite a bit, no one knows why, but the blinking green light appears to be a bad omen, although the manual only states it is "data communication".

So, whether it was damaged by the faulty PMU/GPS or it was in itself the cause of the first problem, I don';t know. Kind of bummed, but seeing as it';s not essential I';ll do some test flights over the weekend, next week sort this out with the dealer and in the meanwhile I may or may not order a new one, IDK.

Kept on, put the battery in place, adjusted it';s position to balance the weight.





If the day goes well I might still try and put it in the air after I get off work, if not I';ll do it tomorrow.
I';ll post a video, but I still don';t know how to embed it on here!

[Mark_Felton]

Looking good there....shame about the Iosd, seems like the dodgy GPS or whatever killed a few things...hope DJI figure it out and send new bits?
Definitely post a video if you get in the air 

[soundsk]

Just did a couple of very quick test flights.
Still need to adjust a couple of things.

It seemed the GPS was having trouble getting full green signal, perhaps I should elevate it on the standard mount pole, further up.

Did the dance, but it seemed to drift to the left, it may have been the wind and low gains, but could also be something else.

Still need to adjust the gains, I upped them a bit bit it was still not enough, still lost altitude when you stopped moving, and was being thrown around by the wind.

I';ll try to adjust the gains first, maybe elevate the GPS, do the compass dance away from anything that can hinder it.
If after that it still misbehaves, should I try an IMU calibration? Or should I start with that?

Here';s a couple of pictures, it was very dark I believe all you can see in the videos are the leds, but I';ll upload later tonight.






Cheers!

[Friskle]

Looking at the pic , yep, i would not have the GPD puck so low.

Try you gains around 140 for pitch/Roll  Yaw 145 and Altitude gains try on 125

[soundsk]

Looking at the pic , yep, i would not have the GPD puck so low.

Try you gains around 140 for pitch/Roll  Yaw 145 and Altitude gains try on 125

I believe that';s around where I started, I upped them from that a bit. I';ll post the exact values in a bit.
I';ll put the standard pole on.

Just weighed it, weighs in at 4.2kg.