"did it fly? You probably had a common ground path somewhere."
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Stephen R Mann
- Male
- Westford, MA
- United States
- Blog Posts (7)
- Discussions (553)
- Groups (1)
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Stephen R Mann's Discussions
NASA is providing a half-million-dollar prize for Phase 1 of a challenge to develop technology to help UAV's operate safely in the NAS
Started May 14 0 Replies 0 Likes
NASA is providing a half-million-dollar prize for Phase 1 of a Centennial Challenge that aims to develop technology to help unmanned aircraft operate safely in the national airspace system, the…Continue
Drones in the news
Started Apr 30 0 Replies 0 Likes
Will Bureaucracy Keep The U.S. Drone Industry Grounded?From NPR, "All Tech considered" program. …Continue
Hyundai Multirotor
Started Apr 25 0 Replies 0 Likes
Well, not really from Hyundai, but a person-carrying multirotor vehicle was an entry in the Hyundai Transportation Science Fair in Japan. …Continue
Stephen R Mann's Page
Latest Activity
Stephen R Mann replied to Hugues's discussion NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM boardStephen R Mann replied to Hugues's discussion NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board"Thank you for the correction, Bill. My electronics experience began with 807 and 6146 tubes, but a resettable solid-state fuse is a new one for me...
And I thought the Arduino and Picaxe made me feel old."
Stephen R Mann replied to Hugues's discussion NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board"The fuse does not drop the voltage. It is a piece of wire. A lead alloy actually. The fuse is designed to melt if it's rated current is exceeded, which opens the circuit to protect it. When it does its job, it is…"
Stephen R Mann replied to Hugues's discussion NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board"Unless you blow the fuse, there is very little current limiting by the fuse and diode.
What am I missing, Motors are armed, transmitter turned off, APM enters failsafe. This is the way it's supposed to work."
Stephen R Mann replied to Hugues's discussion NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board"The APM2 does have the diode, but not a fuse. The high initial current draw of the capacitor could blow the diode, so the same caution applies.
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Stephen R Mann replied to Hugues's discussion NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board"Typically, bus traces (+5, Ground, etc) are hidden in schematics and board layouts to make them more human friendly. Otherwise it looks like a rats nest."
Stephen R Mann replied to Hugues's discussion NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board"My initial response was "rubbish", but in deeper thought, there is a reason to not add a large capacitor to the APM side of the power circuit as the OP did, but NOT for the reasons the OP states. A discharged electrolytic capacitor is a…"
John Dal replied to Stephen R Mann's discussion Wiki error on FailSafe?"Wrong, attenuators don`t come in dBm, because dBm describes power and not factors. dB describes factors.
Since 20mW (ARGtek input max) is 1/5 of 100mW (DX7 output), I need to reduce power to 1/5 (factor 5 reduction), that is 7dB.
I need a 7dB…"
John Dal replied to Stephen R Mann's discussion Wiki error on FailSafe?"Answer myself:
ARGtek data sheet reads max input 15dBm.
DX7 European output limited to 100mW ... 20dBm
20dBm - 5dBm= 15dBm so the attenuator should be at least 5dBm.
Am I right with 100mW output on the DX7?"
Stephen R Mann replied to Jarrod Smith's discussion Making the Jump"Welcome to the group. Speaking as an experienced newbie - make sure you have some spare parts. In learning to fly, I went through several props, three motors and a couple of hex arms. I am finally confident enough to fly with more…"
Stephen R Mann replied to Hugues's discussion NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board" "... motors are armed, throttle is at zero. Then if you turn your radio off -> RTL is triggered !"
This is what I would expect with or without the capacitor."
Stephen R Mann posted a discussionNASA is providing a half-million-dollar prize for Phase 1 of a challenge to develop technology to help UAV's operate safely in the NAS
NASA is providing a half-million-dollar prize for Phase 1 of a Centennial Challenge that aims to develop technology to help unmanned aircraft operate safely in the national airspace system, the agency has announced. The first phase of the UAS Airspace Operations Challenge (http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/uas/index.html) will focus on safe airspace operations and…See More
John Dal replied to Stephen R Mann's discussion Wiki error on FailSafe?"Hi, guys
I want to increase the range of my DX7, and have bouht a ARGtek from DIY drohne, a 1000mW 2.4Hz amp.
Now I understand I need an attenuator.
Can anybody tell me how to determine the dB size of attenuator to feed my DX7 2.4GHz RF into…"
Stephen R Mann commented on SkyrisFX's blog post Building a unique GoPro Gimbal for the 3DR Hexa (video below)"Yes, the A model has 11-inch arms and permits the larger props. They are a bit under one-half inch tip-to-tip. After a few training crashes I determined that the arms are not as rigid as first thought and I had two prop tips overlapping.…"
Stephen R Mann commented on SkyrisFX's blog post Building a unique GoPro Gimbal for the 3DR Hexa (video below)"I am using 880 motors but the 850's should have more torque for lifting capacity. The 3-pound lift was just a demonstration, but the craft was on the edge of being uncontrollable. I was getting a feel for how heavy a camera that I…"
Stephen R Mann commented on SkyrisFX's blog post Building a unique GoPro Gimbal for the 3DR Hexa (video below)"Make sure that the C-clip is installed on the bottom of the motor shaft. They can pop off in a training crash or hard landing.
When I did the three pound lift, I was using stock everything. Mine is a Model A hex from 3DR. I've…"
Profile Information
- About Me:
- Newbie
- Tell us a bit about your UAV interest
- I am a pilot and photographer, but the best photos are closer to the ground than I can legally fly.
- Hometown:
- Westford, MA
Stephen R Mann's Blog
Drones in the news
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 1:30pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Prop Clearance
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 8:32am 3 Comments 1 Like
After a crash, two of the arms on my 3DR Hex shifted slightly. Enough that the props overlapped. I didn't notice it for a while, but on a subsequent flight, they prop tips touched. The hex didn't crash but the noise it made certainly got my attention.
My solution was to add more sonar mounting brackets to beef up the arm placements. It also gave me more places to mount stuff. (Copter is upside-down in the photo).…
Continue Prop Removal Tool
Posted on September 28, 2012 at 4:30pm 3 Comments 1 Like
I seem to be removing my props often, and I worry that my hand holding the motor while I torque the collett on or off is not strong enough and I certainly don't want to use a steel tool like a Channel Lock. So, I use a small plumbers strap wrench, pictured below.
This one is overkill because it is made for, well,…
Continue Source of 3mm standoffs
Posted on September 27, 2012 at 8:13pm 17 Comments 0 Likes
Here's a source of 3mm standoffs, like the ones under my GPS module. They are available at any computer store that sells PC parts. Fry's and Microcenter come to mind.…
Comment Wall (2 comments)
- At 9:16pm on September 27, 2012,
Bill Bonney said… Totally understand, and I agree updating the post to explain the optical illusions, for want of a better term, is a best option in my opinion.
Good work on the other blog posts. I am new drone creator. I have gone the ArduPlane route with a Bixler. Haven't flown it yet, and it's broken. The joys of hobby electronics, though this issue is mechanical and one of the servo couplings for the aileron has broken. :-D
- At 9:21pm on September 27, 2012, Bill Bonney said…
PS: to be honest, the wikis could be much better in describing how to set-up these boards, especially, if like me you are just plug and play and not necessarily wanting to look at eagle files and schematics all the time. Maybe you could update the wiki to add the GPS connection for APM2.5?
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Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.A list of all T3 contests is here.
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