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A Quad for my GoPro - What to buy?
#1

Sitting here staring out my windows watching the rain pouring out of the sky and thinking about what to make for my next project. It occurs to me it might be fun to make a quadcopter to mount my gopro too and as well, perhaps some FPV gear and do some nice videos like I see on youtube and tv doco's. Not just at the field but at other places (beach, mountains, parks etc)

Jumped onto the Internets and googled "quadcopter for GoPro" and was overwhelmed with choices. Quickly realised I had no idea even where to start so I thought I'd throw it out to the Quad guys in the club for some suggestions. Here is what I'm thinking I want:

I'd like to be able to mount my GoPro so I can do aerial videos. Gimbal mount would be nice but happy to have it fixed.

I'd also like to optionally mount some FPV gear. I notice that there are some really lightweight cameras and Tx's around now which would be good.

Would be really nice if it operated off a 3S 2200mah Lipo so I wouldn't have to buy a bunch of new batteries.

Reasonably good flight controller. I don't want to be doing loops or flips or anything, I just would like to have steady stable flight. I don't need GPS or any of those other fancy wossinames although if these were options for future expansion it would be good.

Not cost a fortune. I don't have a budget for this yet but I wouldn't want to spend more than $150-$200 on it. If it can't be done for this price then I don't think I want to do it Frown

I found the S500 FR4 Glass Fiber Quad Copter 480mm PNF Combo on the Hobbyking website. Seems ok to me. I'd be keen to see what others think of it?

Does anyone else have any better ideas for doing the things I want? Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

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Scratchbuilt Morane Saulnier A1....Under Construction
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#2

To carry a gimbal with a Gopro in it's protective case, which is quite heavy, you will need at least a 450 size quad.
You won't get much flying time with a 2200 pack probably about 4 mins with some margin which with a multi rotor you need. They don't glide and you cant auto rotate one either they just fall like a stone when they run out of juice.

If you are going to fly something around places where you might loose it, like a secluded beach out in the bush or somewhere like that you want a reliable system something that works and works well. The controller needs to be stable even in the howling wind because you don't allways have perfect weather when you get to a great spot to take some footage. In and breezy or lumpy conditions you will need some reserve power or you'll crash, ask me how I know Wink

You really don't want to go for cheap motors because if you loose one it's all over and there goes your expensive camera. they need to run smooth and be well balanced or your film will have jello, it will look wavy. Also multi rotor-flight controllers don't like vibrations. You really need to mount them on vibration isolation mounts, stretched o rings work well

Speed controllers like wise need to be good ones and if you want good control you'll want ones with good firmware designed for multi rotor use like the Afro series from HK they are reasonably priced as well and work a treat!!

If you look at my SK450 thread http://forum.rcflyingclub.com/showthread.php?tid=1226
You'll see I started out with a HK ARF SK450 but soon discovered the short comings of using the KK2 flight control board. It's hard to tune and there are a bunch of features that you'd like for FPV that you just don't get with the KK2 and it flies with nowhere near the locked feel that you experience with the HK mega 2.7 Autopilot. I can't comment on any other flight controllers as I haven't used them so they are all unknown territory to me. I just know how nicely this one works.

I'll post the full parts list for the camera platform I'm using on the SK450 thread shortly.

I quite like the Mobius action cam it works really nicely as long as the air is not too lumpy youll get great shots but for more ambitious conditions you need something with onboard image stabelisation like the sony action cam or the new gopros otherwise you film will be really bouncy you can clean this up with a good video editor but it will loose resolution.

The Mobius cam costs about $80 and is very light and small compared to a Gopro the new Gopro is over $400 the Sony action cam is about the same price as a Gopro but a little lighter and has a but better shape for airborne use it's not as tough tho'

here's some video shot with the Mobius I really like this camera if it had stabalisation it would be AWESOME. This was a very still morning you can see how nicely the HK megga 2.7 flight controller works it's as stable as you'd ever get
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJTWMqoGGKo



Here's a comparison between the Mobius and the Sony the before shots were taken with the Mobius and the after with the sony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvK53hCnvi4


With FPV the receiver and receiver antenna is probably the most important thing as far as the video link goes. I think the Skyzone 5.8 gHz RX-TX FPV sets that HK sells are pretty good in the 500-600 mW power range. With the Circular polarised antennas they should get you anywhere line of sight in McCoy park with no trouble at all. Out in the bush where it's nice and quite as far as radio noise they will get you out a couple of Ks no probs and with high gain receive antennas much further than that.
I have tried some really cheap VTXs and they are a wast of time you need a good video link to fly FPV cheep dipole antennas are aslo a waste of time and since they are linear polarised multi path makes them almost unusable near anything that will reflect the VTXs signal.

I use a separate camera for FPV that way it makes it easy to take the HD camera off and put it on another plane with out un wiring things and it means I can still fly fpv with out the HD recording

I like the "Run Cam sky" FPV camera it's a pretty good little unit with excellent dynamic range better than the cheap cameras which go completely white out if you aim them at the sun, It's pretty scary when that happens for the first time

Here's a video test in a particularly noisy environment and close to buildings and metal roofs which cause major multi path issues and it works OK cause I'm using circular polerised. I'm making some higher gain antennas and putting them on a 4 way diversity box to see how much I can improving the video link but it's certainly flyable as it is. It aslo gives you an idea of how the run cam sky has reasonable dynamic range. Some cheaper cameras would go completely white assoon as any sun gets in the picture and the bright skye would be super bright and the shadow would be black, you'll see what I mean in the last clip.

Recording was done with a little SD card ground recorder from HK. The reason it drops a couple of frames is the recorder not the video link but the static is caused by it being a crappy place to fly FPV and is an artefact of the video link. Of course this is what I use to fly it the HD comes from another camera usually I don't record the video link unless I want to test or compare it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3OCGMD1Opg

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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#3

You could allways go for a 250 size racing quad they will carry a Gopro but not in the protective case
I've never put a Gopro on mine to see how it flies but it goes for a bit over 5 mins with a 2200 pack
there is a micro version of the HK mega controller, Im using it and it works superbly!!

A lot of people put Mobius cams on 250 quads to fly around they are a lighter and cheaper option. 250 quads are a lot smaller and less stable than a 450 size quad but more manoeuvrable and more twitchy to fly and I think my 250 is also faster than the 450. I get nearly 15 mins out of the 450 tho' with a 5200 10C 3S pack and it certainly handles the wind much better making it a better camera platform.

One thing you really want in a flight controller, to learn to fly multi rotors FPV, is Alt Hold mode.
I can't stress this enough!! If you don't have alt hold mode you will crash, a lot, for sure, until you learn how to fly it FPV. The extra cost of a flight controller with alt hold will pay for it self after the first 3 FPV flights 'cause they will be 3 crashes with out it if you don't have a spotter and a buddy lead. I'm not a heli flyer by any stretch and I'm the first to admit it and I've found it not too bad to fly FPV with alt hold mode. After many flights I can now fly the 250 FPV with out alt hold but it's taken a fair bit of practice to get there. I've seen guys that can really fly helis well struggle flying FPV for the first times with out alt hold!! It makes that much difference!! the other option I would suggest if you havn't got alt hold is a buddy system but I can't say how good that is cause I've never tried it with a multi rotor.

"Alt hold" means you'll have a good chance of flying it FPV with out binning it if it's set up right with out "Alt hold" binning it is a certainty that's been my experience.

I forgot top mention if your keen on the SK450 frame I have some camera mount and VTX mount Kits that Tony Jones kindly Laser cut for me let me know if you want one

here's a link to some pics

http://forum.rcflyingclub.com/showthread.php?tid=1226&pid=25997#pid25997

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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#4

Wow lots of information. Thanks for the replies. Gonna take a little while to digest all of this.

First impressions though is very very expensive and quite possibly unaffordable.

Quote:I'll post the full parts list for the camera platform I'm using on the SK450 thread shortly.

I dropped your parts list into a spreadsheet and even without all the optional extra bits and pieces, it comes to near $500 which is way out of any price range that'd be set by "Chief Financial and Fun Prevention Officer". I'm sure I could do a cheaper verison, even the hobbyking one I linked to above and perhaps just upgrade the flight controller or something, I just don't know enough about it yet to make good decisions on bits to buy.

Quote:You could allways go for a 250 size racing quad they will carry a Gopro but not in the protective case

I don't know what a 250 size is. Come to think of it I don't know what a 450 size is either! Either way, if I was gonna put a gopro on one I'd be looking at using the protective case with it. I don't think I'd be game enough to fly without the case. When I do fly the GoPro on my Bixler I always use the protective case.

Quote:there is a micro version of the HK mega controller
Is this cheaper than the Mega Controller? Is there any reason why this can't be used on larger quads big enough to fly the gopro?

Quote:One thing you really want in a flight controller, to learn to fly multi rotors FPV, is Alt Hold mode.
This seems like a really good idea. I've looked at the HK website and they have pages of Flight Controllers ranging in price from $12 up to nearly $2000. Without going through each individual controller, would there be an easy way to work out which has this feature? or even if it's a controller worth looking at?

Alternately, how about a Tri-Copter design. Anyone had experience with one of these? I've seen some fairly cheap designs around the internet for Tri's.

Thanks for the info, although on the surface it looks like it's gonna be way out of my price range I will sit down and try and learn a bit more about them. I actually thought it'd be a lot more simple, a bit like, "ok for your budget buy this, buy that and a couple of those and there you go"

Spektrum DX7 Mode 2
Parkzone T28 Trojan
HK Sumo Flying Wing.... Completly Awesome!
Scratchbuilt First Step.... Slow Flyer
HK SPAD XIII....
J-Power Mini F-18 EDF
Scratchbuilt Morane Saulnier A1....Under Construction
Scratchbuilt Luton Minor.... Retired
Unbranded OV-10 Bronco.... Awaiting Build

· On the other hand, you have different fingers.
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#5

I know it's a bit dearer to go with the parts I posted and I half expected you to point that out
I'm pretty frugal too and I don't like to waste money but I did have the benefit of buying an SK450 ARF with the HK set up which is pretty cheaply put together and cost AU$225

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__5..._PNF_.html

It flew straight out of the box but the endurance was disappointing once I put the weight of the Gopro on you could take film with it but the KK2 flight controller would not fly it as stably with that extra weight of the Gopro

all in all It was flyable and it worked with the gopro but not fantasticly when for another $250 you could do so much better. It's hard to trust a $400+ Gopro to a $250 aircraft. but if that's the budget then that's the budget.

I was going on 2 week holiday which I havnt done for about 5 years and I wanted to take some film when I weighed up the cost of travel and the time and the opportunity It just made sense to pay a bit more and do a bit better in terms of wind performance and reliability. I know I wouldn't have got anything like the film I did if I didn't go this way.


You could carve a little off it by using the micro APM at AU$71
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__7...2_7_2.html

this link is just the controller but you probably want the distribution board and it uses the tiny plugs so if you want to mix and match for the heavier distribution board you have to solder tiny wires to plugs for the extra $18 for the full sized APM it's worth it it's got a case as well and it's more robust
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__5..._BARO.html

you could try the nace32 full it has a barometric sensor so should be able to do alt hold it's 47.99 US$ here. The cheaper version from HK doesn't have the barometric sensor and there for cant alt hold
http://www.fpvmodel.com/afroflight-naze3..._g741.html

It's probably not much cheaper when you add postage

I've never used the NAZE32 Craig may have some experience with. It seems to have a good rap but I've never used it so you might want to do some homework on it before plunging in have a look at some youtube reviews and set up tutorials

You can use the same controller for a tri-copter which is what I personally would use, I just like the APM controller cause it works so well. You only need 3 motors but you will need a servo for the tail; rotor and you'll need a BEC because the 1/2 amp bec on the AFRO multi rotor ESCs won't cut the mustard driving a servo. you have to be a bit careful how you wire and power servos from the APM but its all in the instructions best read them carefully before you wire it all up.

Some people say tri copters fly better but I can't say, because I've never flown one. They are a bit more mechanically complex and I think slightly trickier to trim and tune but this again is just an assumption I'm not a heli guy. Craig knows a lot more about these machines than me. he'd be a good man to ask if you can track him down

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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#6

I forgot to mention what the size means. A 250 size quad means that if you drew a circle so that the motors were all at points on the circumference then the diameter of the circle would be 250mm

You could say that its the size across the diagonal from motor centre to motor centre if the quad is symmetrical.

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw your machine at the ground and miss.”

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your thoughts turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  ~Leonardo Da Vinci
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