It's amazing how quickly BLGs went from a novelty and costing thousands (zenmuse) to something you can get for $172 shipped!
I received my RCTimer Brushless Gimbal (BLG) and controller (Martinez v1) yesterday and of course had to try it immediately. Mark came over and helped with the build and documentation. The kit does not come with any instructions, so the RCGroups thread is the best source for build info.
Overall the quality of the RCTimer kit is not bad. There was one missing screw and a few things we had to alter to make it fit (see the build log link below for details). But the material is easy to work with. The default firmware and settings on the board seem to be pretty decent for a start. We initially had the IMU orientation and motor connections different, the result of that was shaking in the pitch axis. Once positioned and connected as shown above, it started to work fine without any parameter changes.
Build log with many detailed pictures:
http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2013/05/rc-timer-brushless-gimbal-build-log.html
Video showing connections, start-up sequence and motion test:
Time lapse build video:
Next up: Connect to the GUI (no luck so far), connect the RC, fly...
Comments
Is this the RCTimer Open Source "Martinez" based board? If so, have you noticed any tilt in the direction you move the gimbal? I've been noticing tilt fore/aft/left/right by a few degrees rather than staying dead level. If you hold it at a tilt it slowly makes its way back to perfectly level. I need some confirmation from other RCTimer BGC users that they do or don't see this happen. I've noticed it in all revisions of build 49 of the firmware. Starting to wonder if the LD-Power GM4008-57 gimbal motors are to blame?
That being said (wobble/bounce) possibly other vibration solutions that are better, anyone?
Regardless of these things, rock on gimbal for the price and the board isn't too bad either. I haven't tried to tune the settings yet, or are there other boards around this price that is better in your opinions?
Also at least for me regarding this gimbal, it seems that the only good footage with my quad is when I am actually moving and not hovering, guess it would be different when I put it on my hexacopter....we will see, soon to have 30a SK flashed on that build, then more testing.
I also get some weird wobble, I assume it has to do with the bouncing from the vibration bubbles that come with the kit. It's more apparent when I begin to slow down or accelerate from a hover position.
Great! I'm just worried about the voltage i'm putting out to it is only 7.4v instead of 11.1. I have built the gimbal and it's nice! Used a 2200mah 3s 11.1v Lipo battery, just wondering if using the one I posted last would work considering the lower voltage. And even if it worked. Hope that performance won't be affected if at a low point (but how low or too high?)..... Or does that (voltage) even matter?
@Andrew That should be fine. This is the one I'm currently using:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=...
http://www.amazon.com/Venom-1320mAh-LiPO-Battery-Plug/dp/B0027G874G...
Would that work. What is the min and max voltage for that guy?
i live in Australia so it was quicker to get it from rctimer than uavobjects for me
Thanks!
@andrew, the board takes a 2S-4S battery, so you should be fine. Currently it's got a 3S 500.
What battery do you use for that gimbal, forum set up anywhere? I have yet to find that.
Possibly battery solution: 800mah 2s 20c battery?
-
8
-
9
-
10
-
11
-
12
of 12 Next