Ritewing Zephyr II plus APM1
OK I need some advice from some experience zephyr II builders. I've studied the various blogs here and youtube builds but I want to see the best way to position all the equipment and I guess every build is a bit unique so here are my details. I will paint it yellow and then laminate it.
Here's what I need to put in but the question is where is the best placement?
APM1 with mag and gps and airspeed sensor.
Ritewing Zephyr II came with 150gr 1300 kv motor 60A esc
came with plastic gopro mount. I would prefer the wood case I saw at blacksheep but this will do for now.
I will use the gopro with this RMRC-600XV 600TVL WDR CCD (NTSC)
ImmersionRC 600mW 5.8GHz A/V Transmitter with 5.8 GHz Bluebeam Whip Antenna Set (RHCP)
EZUHF 8 Channel Diversity Receiver
XBee-PRO 900 extended range module w/ wire antenna
2 of Turnigy nano-tech 3300mah 4S 35~70C Lipo Pack
Remzibi OSD with it's own GPS
Turnigy Voltage Protector 550000uf (1.4sec) (for BEC 5v line)
So my questions are:
Where to best position for the equipment?? If I embed anything in the wing, I want to be able to see the equipment from the top of the wing for status lights and maybe use a clear hinged cover for protection or just use the laminate and cut if off when necessary. Also will have to consider cooling for the components that get hot like the OSD, ESC, BEC.
I think it's impossible to use the battery bay in the center because I will need that space for the APM or can I put the APM embedded in the wing with a clear cover? Does it need to be over the COG or can it be to the side. Is the Zephyr more stable with the batteries in the front like I have in the picture?
I think I prefer the idea of mounting the batteries on the front. This gives me the center battery bay for APM, BEC and maybe Remzibi OSD. I will gorilla glue down a piece of 3mm plywood to help reinforce the center or can I use similar thickness balsa to save weight? I hear this is the weak point in the zephyr II according to blacksheep and I don't have their battery box.
Do I need to have a cooling channel for these two center compartments? The ESC will go by itself in the back compartment.
Or can I put the APM to the side of the battery compartment and use the original battery compartment for the batteries. Does the APM need to be near the center?
Do I need to mount the ezUHF receiver out near the wing tip. I'm going to be dealing with 900MHz xBee, 400Mhz UHF, 2 x GPS, 5.8GHz video. I think what is going to have the most bulky cable is the ezUHF depending on how many channels I will use. If I can just use the signal wires and one power connection from the APM to the ezUHF then it wouldn't be so bad but I dread digging too many long distance cable channels in this sleek airfoil :) If I can put the ezUHF with the APM in the standard battery bay then that would make for less cable clutter but I don't want to create any interference problems.
The vTx should be on the wing tip?
What about shielding? Do I need to shield any of the wires or will twisting them and / or use ferrite rings deal with any noise? I know xBees can cause interference.
I've laid out all the equipment and also laid a roll of laminate to get an idea of the weight and it came in at 2.1 kilos which seems lighter than my similarly equipped soon to retire skywalker. It still should be hair raising to launch, especially considering it's my first wing.
I'm not seeing a parameter file for the zephyr. Anyone have some good PIDs for it?
Found some parameters here from İlhan Başçuhadar. Maybe I will start with those.
Where should the center of gravity be so I can make sure the placement doesn't unbalance it.
I'm going to have an experienced pilot do the initial trimming in manual mode but what is the best way to launch them using the APM? Stabilize mode (that is what I use on the skywalker) or FBW A or FBW B or Alt Hold? I launch into a valley so the ground isn't a problem right away :)
Tags: apm, fpv, ritewing, zephyr
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zepherii.jpg, 1.9 MB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by dudz on -
I am 70% of the way through my ZII build with APM2.0
I was under the impression that the batt had to be 11V ? I have a Turnigy 70A ESC / Turnigy 5A (8-26v) SBEC / OEM ZII motor.
I have fitted the TBS batt bay. What is the best spec batteries I can use for longer flight times please ?
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Permalink Reply by steve F11music.com on -
I taped a tube to the bottom at 9.5" from the nose to see how the COG was going to be. I had to put the batteries this far back to get the COG at 9.5". I wonder why they need to be so far back or is that about where you have your 4S4000s? It's 3" further back than the standard battery bay. I know I'm adding weight to the nose with the gopro and cmoscam and APM, OSD, etc but should they need to go back that far? JC can you post a picture of your setup? I will cut the battery bays last once I have everything else fixed in but wanted to make sure this is about where they will need to go. I will put a ply base to in their compartments also so I can hold down the battery velcro tie.
Tonight I will cut the compartments so if anyone sees something really wrong, this is how it will be.
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Permalink Reply by steve F11music.com on
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Still trying to figure out how to get flaperon's working in manual mode. I'm almost ready to cut out the battery bays but am in doubt if this is where they should be. The COG is suppose to be 9 3/8 to 9 1/2 from front nose. I marked that before cutting out the gopro and for it to balance, the batteries need to go here. The only thing not in the equation is the flaps but that shouldn't add much weight.
As a comparison, I put the batteries on top of the APM where the normally would go and I had to move the COG 1 inch forward for it to balance.
JohnC did you cut your bays to the side of the original or did you have to move back some in the direction of the motor to get a good COG?
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Permalink Reply by Andreas on -
not sure if you need'to bother with flaperons. the zii can be flown quit slow and it stops on a dime when landing.
i'm a bit surprised that you can have the batteries that far back and get the right cg. i had to move all the weight to the very front. my batteries are in the bay and hence 2-3 inches more forward. just be sure to double check everything
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Permalink Reply by steve F11music.com on
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I thought I had to set up the transmitter so it could fly in manual mode? I thought that could only be done by using flaperons but should I choose delta? I've never set up a wing before. With my skywalker I just set it up normally but the wing only has to surfaces to control so what does the mixing so I have pitch control? When I move the stock forward both flaps should go down in manual mode but they are not.
Chris at ritewing said the motor was supposed to be mounted so it's nose would have been over the spar so I think that is what shifted the cog. He said just balance at 9 3/8 and put the batteries where they need to be to get that cog.
But I need to find some instructions on setting up the radio so i can fly in manual mode if necessary. Looked everywhere for that but not finding anything for my transmitter.
Your motor mount should have been mounted so its nose would have been over the spar.
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Permalink Reply by steve F11music.com on
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I got it working in manual mode. I just had the transmitter set wrong. I saw flaperons as a wing type and confused it with elavons. Found out it needs to be on DELTA setting and now it's working fine :) Back to finish the build :)
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Permalink Reply by steve F11music.com on
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Some pictures of the almost finished zephyr II. Need to add the elevons, finish up some wiring and choose a prop.
Any recommendations on a good prop? I have some 9x6 sport props. I also have some 10x4.5 carbon fiber props from my quad copter collection. I'm using the motor chris supplied, It's a 1300 kv similar to a hacker A30.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Smith on -
nice job thats one of the best looking ZII's iv'e seen !
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Permalink Reply by steve F11music.com on
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Thanks! It's my first zeph but I'm sure will not be my last! My first was a skywalker but I think it got too much hard training so this will replace it. My son did the face art.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Smith on
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your son is definitely an artist if you could get some designs reverse printed on the underside of the covering you might could make some money for him
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Permalink Reply by steve F11music.com on
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Printed on the laminate? Maybe better would print on a clear decal and apply that but I think he prefers to freehand draw it on the bottom of the wing.
I hope to maiden her tomorrow and will do some final flight checks like failsafe and i have some questions I'm going to post here today on some final doubts like how much the elevon up and down should be and I will post a video of how the movements look in stable mode etc. Just some final looking over before I toss this flying computer in the air :)
I'm thinking to remove the cameras and replace with same weight items or just put a big foam nose on it in case of less than successful first landings. I think a contoured foam nose wouldn't create any drag.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Smith on
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i was talking about printing on the underside of the laminate .(might be cost prohibitive to send an 8ft wing to you ! something like the water based transfer would probably be best or clear iron on ,just hate to see real one of a kind Art meet a tree ! questions on the airframe would be best answered in rc groups and ground and range testing is a must and you owe it to me since you stole my dreams :P
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