Over the past eight months I have been reading and studying the multicopter world in the interest of building a professional level hexacopter for airal video and still photography. Around six months ago after some planning I started buying the componants. In the past three weeks I have been starting minor flight tests and PID tuning.
Then my house was gutted by fire. All my possessions have been destroyed. My wife and myself narrowly escaped out the bedroom window. Even with this hardship we walk around now with a big smile, because we are alive! If it was not for the loss of our cat I would not morn the loss of all the "stuff."
My question is this, how do I value my hexacopter and all the related things? If I could find a compatible Ready to Fly unit that would provide the insurance company with a start, but all I can find is Multicopters that amount to,"fun toys." If anyone knows of sites that have a RTF package close to my drone please let me know.
I have roughly $2,500 to $3,000 in parts and supplies into this. I feel that the so nearly finished unit is worth more than the sum of the parts.
The configuration, as I recall now, is as follows:
ATG 750mm carbon fiber hex frame, Not really recommended for this big machine. Needed substantially more hardware and carbon fiber plate to make it strong. Motor mounts where woefully inadequate and not the correct size for me, so I made custom from aluminum spacers and 3mm carbon fiber plate.
Six SK-3 4240 Moters with Delux 55Amp ESC's mounted under the motors. 795 what max output each. 13" x6 three blade props. A nice balance per ecalc.
Circular high voltage bus, double 10 gauge, with 10 gauge to the ESC's thru the CF tubes. Two LiPoly batterys Parallel 10ga feeds to the bus. 5s, 17500mah each, assembled myself from TrueRC componant packs. And a 7 amp balance charger.
Circular six volt bus fed from a UBEC. Step down resistor to feed the APM.
ArduPilot Mega 2.5 with sonar, mediatec GPS, 3DR telemetry package. Aotto voltage and current sensor.
Video transmitter, and receiver
Camera gimble kit from Rusty's AGL Hobbies, highly recommended, with 2 heavy duty Savox servos, and one tiny servo for the shutter.
Devo 10 transmitter. and lots of rechargable batterys.
Analog to digital converter.
I was using a cheep digital camera until the flight part was figured.
Thats all I can remember now,
It all worked, Last weekend I lost a prop tuning the PID loops and was waiting for the replacement, it came yesterday.
If anyone has a sight that has a RTF unit or even a kit that's compatible it would be a big help.
Replies
Sorry for your loss, especially your kitty - may he/she forever frolic and bask in the sunlight over the Rainbow Bridge.
The insurance company is almost certainly going to ask for receipts for your expenses. Failing that they may accept pictures or some other person's affidavit as to your expenses. If I were you I wouldn't mention the "toy" aspect of the multicopter, rather hype the professional aerial photography use. I don't know how to go about expensing the time and effort you put into the 'copter, but I would think it is worth something.
The main thing to remember is that their offer is never final, it's always prone to being negotiated, if need be by your lawyer.
Good Luck, again you have my sympathies.
Well I work for an insurance company. Unfortunately as you built it your self you may only get the sum of the parts providing you have replacement cost. You may be able to invoice for the custom components. Or the other option is to find several that have the same capabilites of the one you lost. You are going to have to verify what your insurance will cover it as there may be special riders required. I have a 30K rider for my electronic/computer equipment and everything is scheduled out due to the high value nature of some of the tools.
At the very least you will have the ability to replace the parts you bought but the home made items you may not be able to get your time as it is a hobby activity.
However, in my experience insurance companies will comply if the request is reasonably documented, so providing picutres of the assembled hex, dimensions, weight, capacity etc, and an equivalen RTF example might suffice.
There are makers/sellers of big photography systems, S800, cinesomething etc. Usually around 2500$ and up depending on options etc.