I'm just getting all my equipment sorted out for FPV on the quad, but made some good progress today that I thought I'd share.
I got the idea for a standalone FPV pod from flitetest. Just wanted to get things working quick and dirty for both the quad and the EZ*
Wrapped up in there I have the following:
1) Camera is 420TVL from here for $32 (free shipping when you order 2!) The cameras are easily removed, and seem to be good enough to start with.
2) Tx/Rx is 5.8Ghz from HK for $63
3) Bluebeam antennas from here $65 for the pair unless you are capable of making them yourself
4) Don't forget the adapters for this antenna VTx/Rx combination from here $10 for two
5) It also has a 3S 500mAh battery like this $12 - I plan on dropping this and creating a single battery setup
Strange, I just hit "save as draft" didn't mean to post this yet, but here's the video anyway!
Comments
Bart - I've got 2 Remzibi OSD's and neither has had the 7805 shut down in numerous flights on Easystars and my Arudcopter. I'm also powering an Arduino Pro Mini on one of the OSD's. I'll check my current on my setup and see but you might have a solder bridge on the board somewhere.
The regulator does get real hot on a 3 cell lipo though and a heatsink seems prudent. And I agree on the closed source issue with it.
Maybe you could add a BEC to power it with only 7V?
Yes, I also prefer an opensource solution..... come on Chris.... I have the money ready :)
The biggest frustration is the linear voltage regulator which, when powered from the 12v battery gets insanely hot. When it gets hot, its thermal protection kicks in, shutting off the video... which I didn't want to risk. A heatsink can be mounted (if you have one), or a piece of copper wire soldered on. But neither makes me particularly happy.
The second issue is maybe not so much a flaw with the OSD, but its closed source, so I can either write my own firmware (seriously considered it), or i'm limited with what is provided. Although some integration with the APM is possible, I cannot make changes myself, only what is provided.
Perhaps the initial frustration with the power biased me against it, and then the lack of being able to tinker with it just pushed me a little more. I.e., maybe my bias isn't fair. If I can get a cleaner power supply figured out, I might try hooking it in again, but atm I fly with just pure video.
Bart, what are the cons of the remzibi setup?
+1on the DIYdrones OSD. I fly without an OSD at the moment (go high enough and its easier :)
I have a remzibi OSD, but i'm less than pleased with it, so i'm looking forward to a DIYDrones offering, especially opensource.
We also use fatshark goggles!
I'm waiting for the diydrones official OSD which is supposed to be released soon.......hopefully!
Flying without an OSD is really dificult!
I fly goggles (FatShark Dominators), which I prefer; no glare, nice and light, low power etc. Would really like a second set though for a "passenger".
For landing you could use the existing "position hold mode" on the APM and land manually, if desired. However, I don't have a magnetometer, so that feature doesn't work for me. No sonar either, although both are certainly on my to-get list :) I think in the end I would stick with landing myself, but get the sonar output onto the OSD so I have a better idea of altitude.
That was my thought as well. CH7_LAND_HERE or something to that effect.
Do you guys go with goggles or monitors? As I cut weight and simplify things (and not spend ALL of my money) I'm trying to make that decision now.
I'm waiting for the bluebeam antennas from Alex.
Bart, I have only flown three lipos on FPV and I agree that landing is a challenge :)
What about a switch in the radio for autolanding with sonar?
Maybe we could tweak CH7 for an extra option.....
I just got started with it, and its a lot of fun.
A quick lesson I learned (not sure how much FPV experience you have, ignore me if...): landing FPV can be tricky at first. I tried to land in a tight spot (60ft wide area) and couldn't do it, worried about hitting the trees. I ended up landing really roughly. I found it better to not worry about WHERE to land, just somewhere in the field, and focus on slowly descending first.
Secondly, I started off with a single battery config (among others, recommended by trappy). However, I found that with a quad, the very rapid changes in motor speed (x4) were (I think) changing the reference 12v levels. As a result, the camera colours were constantly messing around, especially when I did more than just hover. I've swithed over to a second battery for the video gear, which got rid of the problem. I have a very light 2400mah 3c i use now. It only took out 300mah on two flights, so I am comfortable it will last me enough.
Good luck!