Discussions

Pixhawk With V-Tail Quadcopter???

Posted by David Antwis on February 26, 2014 at 4:01am

Hey,

I am looking into purchasing a V-Tail quadcopter from HERE and was wanted some feedback on the following points as I'm pretty new to copters... been flying RC helis for years but wanted to try something new...

Is the V-Tail any good?
How would you set-up Pixhawk to work with this format of copter (Quad or Tri)
Has anyone done this before or do I avoid this

I want to use this copter for FPV but also have the added benefit of GPS and Mission planner plus the thing just looks cool... any advice is much appreciated!!

Thank you in advance.

Dave.

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gps, mission planner, advice, pixhawk, quadcopter, setup, tricopter, v-tail

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Replies

- - - - Juliett Papa > Tom June 14, 2014 at 1:56pm
        
        Not yet. Broke a motor mount. But stay tuned...
        
        Tom > Juliett Papa June 16, 2014 at 9:37am
        
        Looks good!!!
        
        Juliett Papa > Juliett Papa June 16, 2014 at 4:50am
        
        Here comes the video link to my very first little test:
        
        https://vimeo.com/98321375
        
        Juliett Papa > Juliett Papa June 16, 2014 at 2:58am
        
        Hi Tom.
        
        My Quad is pretty much the same than this build here:
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yspYWf4U4Gs
        
        so the centerplates are bought, the booms I made a little longer. The angle between the twoo tail-booms is 42 degrees, the motor tilt is said to be at 40 degrees.
        
        And yes, now it flies. Still a bit wobbly. The standard parameters were way too high, but dialing them down to less than the half did help.
        
        Now I have to finetune it.....
        
        Tom > Juliett Papa June 14, 2014 at 1:58pm
        
        I can't wait to see what you got! Is it home made, or a store bought frame? What angle are you using on the rear motors?
        
        Sorry for jumping the gun... just excited to start mine as soon as I figure out what I'm doing.
Robert B Von Haden February 26, 2014 at 6:58pm

I cannot speak to this specific Lynxmotion V-Tail design, but I have a SimpleCopter V-Tail which I really like. It is running a KK2 board and it is a very sporty flying vehicle. I am learning how to do flips with it which is great fun. The KK2 is just a stabilization board - no GPS or telemetry and not expandable like the Pixhawk. The lynxmotion pusher V format looks pretty interesting. The SimpleCopter is a puller V.

I have not seen any Pixhawk V-Tail configurations yet, but I expect it is just a matter of time before someone comes up with a software configuration for it.

I do have the Pixhawk on a NEO 660 Hex frame and it is rock solid.
- David Antwis > Robert B Von Haden March 13, 2014 at 2:14am
  
  Thanks Robert.
  
  You say you have a PIxhawk, could you tell me the dimensions of it please (WxLxH). I'm working on my own quad design and want to make sure the body will allow the pixhawk to fit nicely.
  
  Thanks Again.
  - Robert B Von Haden > David Antwis March 13, 2014 at 5:31pm
    
    Hi, Dave,
    
    I have a Pixhawk but it is on a Hex (6 rotor), not my Quad V-Tail. I meant by my comment that the V-Tail I have is very sporty, not to say that Pixhawk supports the V-Tail configuration yet.
    
    The dimensions may be found on the 3DR store http://store.3drobotics.com/products/3dr-pixhawk. Leave room on the top for cabling, on the one end for the cabling for the ESC and receiver, and on the side for the USB cable (for programming).
MR60

Hugues February 26, 2014 at 4:18am

Hello,

What is certain is that the Arducopter software (running on APM or Pixhawk) does not proposes this specific V-tail prop config. Because not only is this a V tail but in addition the motors are spread apart in the front like an H copter (the standard config is having the four motors on a circle, or at the corners of a square).

You canmodify the motor config in Arducopter's code to match this very specific config (and then recompile) but do not ask me what your'd need to modify, i simply do not know. Maybe a community's developer might help here about this.
- David Antwis > Hugues February 26, 2014 at 4:38am
  
  Thanks Hughes,
  
  As I am new to this site and I am guess you're not, do you know what the general feel is about V-Tail Quadcopters good or bad?
  
  I will look into modifying the code and will post it as a separate discussion to see if it necessary or you tell the APM that it is a quad but alter the PID loops etc...
  
  Thanks Again,
  
  D