the phoenix x8 saga continues

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yeah I agree, flew in a huge field at 7 am here. no one in sight
it will be a long time before this thing gets close to anything It could damage
 
Thanks

It flies pretty sweet, I may move on up to 15 inch props
next step is PH2 / Edison
They pushed back PH2 until October
 
Another step closer to the final goal
Got the PH2 with onboard Edison (dronekit and mavlink) working over wifi
Have one issue with the safety switch to resolve and still waiting on the new GPS (M8N) due end of January
Ordered a 9D+ with X8r receiver and will be upgrading before the PH2 maiden which hopefully will be next weekend

15726308_388232771523295_3575644324823009601_n.jpg 15384575_376889742657598_6224303011655337285_o.jpg
 
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well I am still hoping the Black Magic will offer one of the micros in 4K this year. That thing has direct RC programmable settings. Since I am moving up to the x8r I could have 16 channels to use.
It would be great to leverage that for direct camera control
If not I may buy that 1080 version or go with a small M43 like the GX8 4k from Panasonic. I have some lenses for that camera already
 
wow PH2 seems extremely stable
Added my X8r receiver upgrade last night and updated the Taranis to OpenTX 2.19
Went back and tried a few things that have changed since I took it up last.
The Castle Creations ESCs moved to a new firmware. Huge improvement
You could not calibrate the ESCs trough Pixhawk prior. Fixed endpoints were a sumbitch. Now they do calibrate with copter 3.4
In Mission Planner there is a new compass calibration method called onboard. Philip R said this was added to support solo when it merges.
But I saw a video where a guy did a DIY with it. And it worked.
I did not plan to lift it off the ground today, but wanted to see if it would arm.
So you guessed it, temptation took over
I lifted off 3 times, 2 in loiter 1 in stabilize and man it feels good with no tuning at all.
Going to spend a day or two reading up on tuning and getting hover throttle set.
Then will do a full off the ground flight.
If all that goes well, then its off to try and leverage that Edison.
 
Nice Pyrate! Sounds like it is coming together nicely. Worked on Solo Grande a good part of the day yesterday. Compass was having fits where it was located and ended up changing the location. More tests today if the weather cooperates.
 
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I have found enough room on the frame that I am dropping the extra layer for the ESCs and adding the here + GPS when it ships end of month, it will be back in the air then, the brief time I flew it with the PH2 was sweet
 
Hey folks
got a question. I'm at payload planning stage on this build. Looking for a camera to put on this thing even if I have to upgrade later.
I think the airframe and power plant are solid.

So I started looking at compacts, like the Panasonic CG04 they fly on that expensive Yuneek.
Anyone here have any experience with those cameras? I have been shooting on the ground with the GH3 and plan to go to a GH4 M43 so I have glass for that lens set up.

I found the gx85 has video out and does shoot in 4K,. Its getting decent reviews with in camera 5 axis stabilization. 100mbs 4K 30/24. It is fairly light and could put a pancake 14mm lens on it.

Anyone familiar in this camera category?
the sony rx100 V is nice too but at over twice the price and with over heating issues I'm not so sure about it
 
Final airfram push about to commence
  • Here M8N module for PH2.1 shipped this week.
  • Im also removing the ESC deck, I found room in between the arms on the front and back to slide the ESCs down to the arm level.
  • Upgrading my power distribution board
  • Updating edison to the APSynk flash with ROS
Then im going to be doing flight tests for throttle optimization and squeezing hover time out of the ESCs on v5 firmware
Once this is done, if its all in one piece that will finish the main airframe and avionics.

Moving on to payload.
Hoping to keep flight times above 15 minutes but that is going to depend on the gimbal solution
 
Was this close to having the upgraded x8 back in the air
all the upgrades were working on 3.4 copter
New x8r receiver and taranis plus
Craft and theory telemetry with flight deck script
Cube 2.1 Flight controller
Here GPS
ESCs upgraded to v5 firmware

Passed hovers and was ready to put it through its paces and decided to go ahead and load beta 3.5
and it went down hill, flipped and broke a prop.
But hopefully I will get it sorted tomorrow and make shakedown this weekend
s2.jpg s3.jpg so2.jpg
 
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This has been a fun build.
It took me from a RTF jockey to understanding what it takes to put one in the air.
Work is kicking my butt right now, but next up is a big hex
I want to do one of those tower x6 frames
 
The 650 frame was just not big enough for 8 ESCS and an Imx6. Got my hands on a 690 pro hex frame and turned it into a quad. Will start surgery next week
IMG_0874.JPG
 
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