3DR Brand Accessories?

Maxheadspace · Jul 1, 2017

As the Solo was emerging on the market, 3DR was advertising some of their attachments, such as the Kodak 360 camera, the Skylight spotlight, and the Solo Tether. Has anyone acquired any of those or used them? I'm particularly interested in the tether accessory. Or maybe 3DR went under before these made it onto the market.

just_bruce · Jul 1, 2017

Those were all part of the "Made for SOLO" program. Hoverfly Systems made the tether. was supposed to be available late this year. Looks like it never made it. So the only one probably even available would be one of the demonstrators.

andrew.baker.142 · Jul 1, 2017

I think the tether would be awesome! Surely we could develop a DIY version...

Maxheadspace · Jul 1, 2017

just_bruce said:
Those were all part of the "Made for SOLO" program. Hoverfly Systems made the tether. was supposed to be available late this year. Looks like it never made it. So the only one probably even available would be one of the demonstrators.

Don't know if that's the one manufactured by Infinifly, but the estimated cost for the tether was $3000! Not sure what market they were aiming for. Understandable it never made it to production.

just_bruce · Jul 1, 2017

I've been turning it over in my head. Electrically it doesn't seem that complicated. But finding a sufficiently light and flexible cable, and putting together something to chat with the Pixhawk, those seem to be the issues in my mind. We've gotta pass ~650W up the tether at peak, which if memory serves means at least an 18AWG conductor if it has a 90C rating. But at 150' that's about 1.25lbs of extra weight for standard issue rubber insulated cable.

Maddog · Jul 1, 2017

Maxheadspace said:
As the Solo was emerging on the market, 3DR was advertising some of their attachments, such as the Kodak 360 camera, the Skylight spotlight, and the Solo Tether. Has anyone acquired any of those or used them? I'm particularly interested in the tether accessory. Or maybe 3DR went under before these made it onto the market.

None of those ever materialized as planned.

andrew.baker.142 · Jul 1, 2017

just_bruce said:
I've been turning it over in my head. Electrically it doesn't seem that complicated. But finding a sufficiently light and flexible cable, and putting together something to chat with the Pixhawk, those seem to be the issues in my mind. We've gotta pass ~650W up the tether at peak, which if memory serves means at least an 18AWG conductor if it has a 90C rating. But at 150' that's about 1.25lbs of extra weight for standard issue rubber insulated cable.

The way they made the tether work is by bumping the voltage up pretty high which allowed you to run a lower current (and lighter wire) for the same power. You would need an AC to DC converter on the ground element and a device in the copter to drop the voltage. As you mentioned you would also need something to fool the PH that you have a battery on board.
3DR said they flew a Solo for something like 40 days straight on their demo tether unit.

just_bruce · Jul 1, 2017

andrew.baker.142 said:
The way they made the tether work is by bumping the voltage up pretty high which allowed you to run a lower current (and lighter wire) for the same power. You would need an AC to DC converter on the ground element and a device in the copter to drop the voltage. As you mentioned you would also need something to fool the PH that you have a battery on board.
3DR said they flew a Solo for something like 40 days straight on their demo tether unit.

Wouldn't even bother with the AC-to-DC on ground. Transformer to drive it higher, then HV bridge rectifier+dc-dc converter at flying end.

Maxheadspace · Jul 2, 2017

andrew.baker.142 said:
The way they made the tether work is by bumping the voltage up pretty high which allowed you to run a lower current (and lighter wire) for the same power. You would need an AC to DC converter on the ground element and a device in the copter to drop the voltage. As you mentioned you would also need something to fool the PH that you have a battery on board.
3DR said they flew a Solo for something like 40 days straight on their demo tether unit.

They said 40+ days straight before a motor burned out. That's not bad. I think the Solo could handle 1.25 pounds of wire, if all you're interested in is parking it in the sky as a camera platform.

andrew.baker.142 · Jul 2, 2017

Maxheadspace said:
They said 40+ days straight before a motor burned out. That's not bad. I think the Solo could handle 1.25 pounds of wire, if all you're interested in is parking it in the sky as a camera platform.

As I recall they didn't have any hardware failures. They landed Solo to bring it to a trade show.

just_bruce · Jul 2, 2017

Maxheadspace said:
They said 40+ days straight before a motor burned out. That's not bad. I think the Solo could handle 1.25 pounds of wire, if all you're interested in is parking it in the sky as a camera platform.

The only problem being that you'd be WAY over the spec'd capacity. Which means position holding and maneuverability would be affected. I'm exploring a 20AWG feed running at 150VAC. With 100°C rated silicone insulation, soft copper wire, and a superfine stranding, it might just carry enough current, since it is operating in free air..... comes in under 1lb for 150'.

Maxheadspace · Jul 3, 2017

andrew.baker.142 said:
As I recall they didn't have any hardware failures. They landed Solo to bring it to a trade show.

At this link the 3DR rep at NAB said it "flew 43 days in a row before the motors burned out." But that's impressive. Imagine how many normal flights that would be.

Soupdaddy · Jul 3, 2017

found this at BandH Kodak PIXPRO SP360 4K Action Camera Aerial Pack SP3604KBK11 B&H

Soupdaddy · Jul 3, 2017

and this Redirect Notice ready in august....but $2999.00

Maddog · Jul 3, 2017

Soupdaddy said:
found this at BandH Kodak PIXPRO SP360 4K Action Camera Aerial Pack SP3604KBK11 B&H

So does this setup take photos like the "pano" smart shot?

Soupdaddy · Jul 3, 2017

Soupdaddy · Jul 3, 2017

looks like it would

Lon Denard · Jul 8, 2017

Soupdaddy said:
looks like it would

I wonder how the software is handled? That's probably a lot of the cost. Otherwise, you could buy 2 Samsung Gear 360's, use GoPro mounts and away you go for a few hundred. Of course, that's not a compete "global" picture but I never got the point of that anyway. Hopefully, putting the Gear 360 on a stable platform will lessen the queasy factor when watching 360 video, bleh!

DaveB · Jul 8, 2017

B&H has A tether for a solo at $999

Viper126 · Jul 8, 2017

Maxheadspace said:
At this link the 3DR rep at NAB said it "flew 43 days in a row before the motors burned out." But that's impressive. Imagine how many normal flights that would be.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

This was a great video to watch. I didn't realize the pause button held down would rewind the flight path. Never read that in the online manual. I'm also curious how/where the sensor avoidance wound up. Sounds like it was part of an add on piece of H/W coupled with firmware upgrade.
Maybe I've missed this in the group since I tend to read the discussions but it would be great if we had a sticky of capabilities from software, hardware and options all listed.
Thanks for the discussion... I love reading about the capabilities of the Solo!