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An interesting line-following simulator to use with with your robocars:
https://github.com/ron-grant/LFS
Replies
Ed, excellent work with your tether project. I'm an engineer with the Maryland Test Site / Aero Dept. Can you share some part numbers and specs for the transformer (or perhaps transformer rectifier) you used on board? Also the part number or precise spec of the cabling? I have a project with a requirement for persistent flight and I need to build a tether similar to yours. Mine will be for a 3dr Solo, and if my project comes to fruition I will be happy to make the build public for everyone's benefit.
Ed Elias said:
The finer the strands in the wire and number of them lowers the voltage and amp drop over the distance .Basic DC welding knowledge .....The current travels along the surface of the strands ,not through the core of the wire ,so an extra fine stranded high count strand cable is what you need .
Try "pumping" 48V DC down 1500 feet underwater ,that is a 3000 foot loop so oh yes we had to crank the amps up to be able to work in wet or dry habitat welding .
SkySapience Tethered Drone
Your idea is already a reality in the form of a tethered drone that was
developed by an Israeli firm a couple years ago. Designed so it can
be transported by a ground support vehicle, the drone carries a camera
and other sensors which feed its view back to ground operators.
You could, we've done this. http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/successful-tethered-flight
The problem you have is the F450 probably needs 12 or 15V (3S or 4S) and so if you run that down a cable you'll get a very large voltage drop over the length of cable. To prevent this problem, you have to make the cable thicker but this adds weight. The alternative as iskess says is run higher voltages but you'll then need onboard electronics to step it down to the 12/15V the motors need.
How far/high are you hoping to fly?
The second issue (perhaps a minor one in the scheme of things) is that the car battery needs to be a deep charge cycle battery as normal ones are not designed for this kind of application.
Hope this helps, let me know how you get on.
Then google a chart on wire gauge (AWG) and see how thick your wires must be for the height you want to fly. Then find out how heavy that much wire is.
You will find that the wire is very heavy. You can either fly quite low, or use much thinner wire. To use thinner wire you need lower currrent. To get the same power with low amps, you need more voltage. Most people who have attempted this successfully are using 120v up to the copter with an onboard voltage regulator to lower to voltage. But these are also heavy.
If you don't need to fly high, it could work as you described.
Make a spreadsheet and tell us how high you will get and which wire gauge you will use.