Spent the last few days working through some design choices and doing some preparation work while waiting for parts.
1. I balanced all the props using the technique in this great video:
2. I soldered the battery connections on the bottom of the Deadcat PCB. I did this by removing the paint or mask over the power and ground planes and soldering to the exposed copper.
3. Setting up the radio exposed some problems. The Spektrum DX6i transmitter (left) that I planned to use is not ideal for quadcopters as it has only two position switches for the extra channels, while my old DX4e transmitter (right) has a handy 3 position switch which can be used to set flight modes (Stabilize, loiter, auto). Easy to fix, use the DX4e right? Not so fast, I got some help from a Spektrum radio developer on the RCUniverse website and I found out that the DX4e has half the power output of the DX6i! So I may use the DX6i and fiddle with the mixing function to get more flight modes.
4. Need to reduce vibrations for the flight control system so I bought some Kyosho gel tape from Amazon.com.
I am still waiting for some critical parts - the PPM mixer for the AR610 receiver (on the boat from China), the new video camera (same source, different boat), FPV monitor (ditto). Stay tuned for further updates.
1. I balanced all the props using the technique in this great video:
2. I soldered the battery connections on the bottom of the Deadcat PCB. I did this by removing the paint or mask over the power and ground planes and soldering to the exposed copper.
3. Setting up the radio exposed some problems. The Spektrum DX6i transmitter (left) that I planned to use is not ideal for quadcopters as it has only two position switches for the extra channels, while my old DX4e transmitter (right) has a handy 3 position switch which can be used to set flight modes (Stabilize, loiter, auto). Easy to fix, use the DX4e right? Not so fast, I got some help from a Spektrum radio developer on the RCUniverse website and I found out that the DX4e has half the power output of the DX6i! So I may use the DX6i and fiddle with the mixing function to get more flight modes.4. Need to reduce vibrations for the flight control system so I bought some Kyosho gel tape from Amazon.com.
I am still waiting for some critical parts - the PPM mixer for the AR610 receiver (on the boat from China), the new video camera (same source, different boat), FPV monitor (ditto). Stay tuned for further updates.
