From Hackaday:
After [Pyrofer] built a quadcopter, he purchased a cheap 6-channel transmitter made in China. Unfortunately, that transmitter was terrible so he took an old PS2 controller and built his own.
For his build, [Pyrofer] broke out the analog sticks and wired them to an AVR housed in the handle of the controller. The AVR sent commands to a 2.4 GHz radio transmitter powered by a small LiPo battery. With the addition of a few tact switches behind the shoulder buttons of the controller, [Pyrofer] has four axes of control with a few buttons for changing modes on his quadcopter.
This build really doesn’t hold a candle to some of the awesome DIY RC transmitters we’ve seen, but we’ve got to give [Pyrofer] credit for coming up with a very simple and easy build. Just about everyone has a PS2 or XBox controller lying around, and with a few extra hardware bits it’s easy to bodge up a decent remote control.
[Pyrofer] used a project called Funkenschlag to generate PPM signals, so if you feel the need to replicate this project send it in when you’re done.
Comments
Hi, I have questions about the Datenschlag.ino If I upload the source code into two arduinos connect them to RF modules then where to connect the LCD in the transmitter part. and where to connect them with transmitter MCU Atmega.... I think the pins were not declared in the program. Can anyone Help? I have no Idea about Telemetry. Can I use the same RF module for the Transmitter and the telemetry Part. Thank you.
Yes, maybe this particular device is pretty uncomfortable. But I think that depends from the kind of task that we are going to do. If I make a simple fly ok but if I'm making a job, a fpv speed race (i know, here we talk about drones and not rc, but why not have fun sometimes) or something that require a very accurate control, I could want something like this (not so cheap obviously).
Maybe like the Graupner MC-32 but with bigger sticks. In this way I can grab them with whole hand and have more sensibility.
Many people use PS3/4 or X360/XOne gamepad, but rarely use a joystick like the one in photo below. Why? I think that mod a joystick is more useful than mod a gamepad.
Btw could such a transmitter with added three-way switches be adapted for use with flight mode switching in Arduplane? Would you help me out if I were to attempt to make such a transmitter?
I think it's largely because quads have brought a whole bunch of "young", hacker-ish people into the field, who are open to trying new things, and have the skills to do so. Bring this contraption to your local AMA-sanctioned club, and the old guys will be ranting about it being unsafe for several days non-stop.
However, one problem I see with this is simply that the throttle stick self-centers. Not sure how you use that properly.