Hey! I am looking at purchasing a jDrones Quad or maybe Hexa. I have 3 BIG questions. I am completely new so help and advice would be amazing!
1st. If I buy the CMOS Video Camera from the DIY Drones Store, how do I record video? Where does it plugin? Is there more external hardware required? How would one set up 900mhz live video?
2. What is the payload difference between the four models? Does anyone know? *Four models being: 1.Quad 2.Quad with motor upgrades, 30 amp ESC's, and 12x45 props 3. Hexa 4. Hexa with same upgrades as 2...*
3. If I have Telemetry set up, can I program the drone to go outside of RC reciever mode? I saw somewhere that APM gets its power from the RC receiver? is that true? If I send it via Telemetry outside range, will the autopilot shut down?
Thanks so much guys! I am so excited to build a drone!!!!
-Will
Replies
The CMOS Video Camera is the camera alone. You'll will need to attach it to a video transmitter to send video down to the ground, and then record it on some recording device via the NTSC video output. This type of camera is usually used for FPV (First Person Video) flying. The resolution is very low. (640x480) If you want to capture high quality images and video, it's recommended to just mount a camera on board with no video downlink. You could mount a lightweight consumer type camera on board, if you get a frame and motor combination that can handle the weight, which brings us to your other questions.
1- Quad. Just for flying around with with almost no payload capabilities.
2- Quad with upgraded motors. With motors running 12x45 props, you could probably bring up a small consumer point and shoot camera with no problem.
3- Hexa - Has 6 arms/motors/props, will carry even more weight if you get the right motors.
4- Hexa with motor upgrade - Bigger motors, more payload.
5- The quad is not powered by the receiver, it should be the other way around. The low voltage (5v) comes from the BEC (Battery Equivalency Circuit) on one of the ESC(motor contorller) The quad can definitely fly out of radio range without a problem. The difficulty is how do you get it back. If you programmed the waypoints properly, then your last waypoint will be your home location. There's also failsafe, where you can set it to return home after loosing radio signal.
Hope this is a good start for you.
1. If the CMOS camera has no internal memory to record to, you need a video transmitter for the plane and receiver on the ground. You then plug the receiver to any recorder/device you want.
2. Don't know about this. I only have the quad and haven't even flown it yet :)
3. You can do everything that you would be able to do if you had the APM connected with USB (except upgrade firmware, I think). APM get's its power from ESC and receiver gets its power from APM.
Also which is better? 3DR Robotics kits, or jDrones kits? (Thoughts?)