Well here goes nothing

Build Log
1

Well first off, hi to all!

I’ll follow up with the usual “I’m new and know nothing” but thanks for your advice up front. Any and all that you all offer (I hope) is deeply appreciated. With respect to all things RC and drones or quads i am am absolute newbie but hopeful a good few years working and messing around in the electronics industry, linux and general tech may become helpful… he says…

Unfortunately for my other half she has heard me drone on (no pun intended) about wanting a quad for some time so last month she did the favour of buying me a s500 from the shop that you may know. First reaction -
thanks, second - that was built pretty quick, third - well what now. So after a few weeks research reading and watching videos i thought nothing like the present to lay down some pounds and get this moving on.

So here goes,
phase 1 goal, get all the bits and bobs needed to:

  1. get the thing off the ground safely and smoothly.
  2. be able to link up to the laptop and read out telemetry etc
  3. Have the ability to hold a hover
  4. Fly though some pre defines way points.
  5. Have some imagery sent back to the laptop

Future goals

  1. Maybe hang some better imagery equipment from the frame
  2. Extend flight time
  3. Fly better

future future goal

  1. build a bigger better hex or oct and reutilise some of the parts from the original build
  2. Fly better

As i have one or two Raspberry PI 3s kicking around I was thinking of getting hold of the following and basing the build on:

Navio2 Autopilot
Wire pack for Navio2
GPS/GNSS antenna MCX for Navio
High Voltage APM Power Module with 3A UBEC
GensAce 5200mAh 11.1V 10/20C 3S2P Lipo Battery Pack

For a motor i have my eyes on the “MT 3510 600Kv Multicopter Motor” but not sure on props. Think i’ll have more lift than needed but was going to add weight if I had too.

Controller i like the look of the “Frsky Taranis Q X7 2.4ghz Transmitter”

I am unsure on the telemetry kits, GPS stands, chargers, cameras etc etc.

If possible could i get your thought on the goals, plan and guidance on what i may have missed. I’ld like to start ordering some bits next week as i just cant wait any longer.

Thanks!

Lee

2

Thanks for the message, and in general your goals/expectations are great… my only comment is that fly better does not exactly apply to drones as they should fly themselves (if you set it up correct :stuck_out_tongue: )

In general the navio 2 is a great platform to work on as it has nice documentataion, and because it runs on a raspberry pi it gives you lots of scope for hacking/adding things. The first one you probably want to add is to setup video streaming

For the S500 frame, although the 3510 motors are great they are probably abit overkill since they are idealy used with 15inch props and the S500 can only use 10inch props.

So for the motors You should go with something like the MT2213 motors we dont have stock right now, but should have some more in about 2 weeks. Along with some 10 inch props and 20A ESC.

Telemetry is also easy to add at a later stage with one of our kits -

3

Hey Alex,

Thanks for the response, that was really helpful. What i have done is placed a small order for some bit and hopefully will be notified when the rest comes into stock.
What i have now should keep my busy next week at least, its not like work will have to take a precedence!

Thanks again

Lee

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