2022-07-24

First flight with EMF/RF shielding. No difference, still get the RX Loss at about 50 meters or so.

Back home, I did an LOS flight which was essentially hovering with some forward and back
movement. Altitude was about 4 to 5 meters with max distance about 30 meters. This was
basically to test my control of the craft and see how long the battery would last. Now the
first couple of attempts at the park was maybe less than a minute total. However, the LOS
flight logged over 14:30 minutes. Consequently, I figure an actual flight with this 6S 1100 mAh
battery will be somewhere between 12 and 15 minutes for my style of flying.

Overall the flight characteristics are fine other than the throttle is a bit "touchy"; a little bit goes
a long way; takes a very, very delicate throttle hand. 

Next, I will dig out my R9 gear and swap that and see what happens. 

Hopefully the r9 swap will solve your rxloss issues- but, I’m glad to hear that you logged a 14 minute flight without any more electronics breaking! That’s progress.

Hi Lemony,

I went back and looked at the eCalc information that you ran. From that, I should
only be getting about 5-7 minutes of hover time, but my actual time was over
14 and a half minutes. Confusing.    Interesting that eCalc is that far off.

For today's test flight. The all up weight was 536.2 grams; that is EVERYTHING
including the battery which is the 6S 1100 mAh 60C 143 gram GNB which had 
an initial voltage of 25.8.  During the flight, the altitude was basically about 10-15 
feet and about 60-80 feet distance. The throttle was mostly 10 percent or less; 
often less. Just for kicks and grins, if you have time, run those numbers and see 
what eCalc says.

Even though this was an LOS flight, I turned the recording on in the goggles so
I actually got footage. NO Rx Loss, but the distance was pretty close. Also, I did
get a little close to a tree and cut off a 1/4 inch thick branch and the quad didn't
even flinch. This thing really is wicked. I can't imagine what she would do with
even 50 percent throttle, much lest 75 or 80 percent. 

Those numbers were with the inclusion of 350g of additional accessory weight for your retrieval mechanism, dual camera set up, etc., so 882g auw.

I’ll run it with the actual weight without any extra tomorrow and post the results so that we can see how close it is. Are these the 7x5x2 props?

If it can chop through a 1/4” tree branch without flinching, that thing sounds deadly.

Well, now it makes more sense. The extra 350 grams will make a difference. 

Yeah, I think so. HQProp 7 x 5 x 2 (bi-blades).

When I get this bird in the air and stable, I will do some hover tests with weights.
I want to start small, but see if it will handle 2 Lb weights.

Don't know about the time, but given how she performs right now, I believe that
she will handle quite a bit of weight. 

I have been racking my brain about this Rx issue and reviewing the original
default Betaflight settings. It looks like the Bluetooth is on AUX3 which I have
removed, however, if that darn thing is using Channel 7 as is the ViFly Cam
Swither then it could be back feeding the Rx through the switcher since it
is wired in to the SBUS lead. 

Now, I think that I will replace the FC board while she is apart. This sort of makes 
sense because there were NO Rx issues with the other FC board. 

Hmmm....maybe I will use the iFlight BEAST 55A AIO FC board. 

2022-08-21  --->>  Work Resumes on the Rescue Quad.

Re-Build # 4  

It has been a busy month with a lot of work on my Real Life projects
including building a patio for my lovely wife    and a week's work on
a tractor at the "Farm" where we are building a house. Things have 
settled a bit, so I am working in some time for my FPV projects.

First, Rescue-1 was completely dismantled. Some additional holes were drilled
in the frame to allow access to the column bolts without taking the frame
apart. 

Since I wasn't overly thilled about using one the FC boards that I already had,
I decided to buy a new FC...the Aikon F7 60A AIO 3-6S whoop board from 
Pyrodrone for $ 95.74 US dollars. This is a very BEEFY FC with huge FETS. It
is physically the same size as the 30x30 board that I just removed...only it is
oriented diagonally in nomal "whoop" fashion. Thing is this board overhangs
the mounting bolt perimeter by about 8mm ( 1/4 inch) which makes it NOT
feasible for a small "whoop" frame. I believe that it was more designed for 
open prop frames where there is some space and the first whoop mount board
that actaully will not fit most of the whoop frames. Very Interesting. On the
positive side, it fits Great on the Rescue-1's custom mount plate. Another deviation
from standard "whoop" boards is that the USB port is mounted on the side to the
right of the mount bolt and outside the standard 25.5 x 25.5 perimeter. 

Given the close proximity of the standoff columns to the FC board pads, I will
now be using white nylon standoff columns instead of the black aluminium ones.
Since the USB connector on this FC is directly off the side, I can put the one 
stand off that was moved back where it was originally.  Before I actually start
soldering anything, I am going to dry fit the build. 

By the way, I will fabricating a new top plate, so I will also do that and dry
fit it as well. 

Glad to hear of some progress!

That USB port placement could have saved me a lot of grief and annoyance on some past builds.

Things are moving along.

(22-Aug-2022, 09:14 PM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: Glad to hear of some progress!

That USB port placement could have saved me a lot of grief and annoyance on some past builds.

Hi Lemony,

Yeah, I really like the layout of this new Aikon FC. Now, if it will just perform as good as it looks,
we will be fine.

2023-09-16

This project will be put on hold until the craft is Registered with the FAA 
and has an operational remote ID module attached.

Of course, presently all building and flying is on hold while I focus on the
house building project at the FARM. 

Following this build with interest….. hope it works well for you and you r3treive the lost one.

(09-Nov-2023, 07:51 PM)Gyr Wrote: Following this build with interest….. hope it works well for you and you r3treive the lost one.

Hi Gyr,

I am hoping to get a break from house building and get some time in on 
my FPV drone hobby. 

I am actually excited to resurrect this one and get it back in the air. Additionally, 
I am pretty excited about the Remote ID thing. Try it out and see how it goes. 
I am not expecting anything exciting; just flying around. I will try to take a look
for my lost quad...again. 

Later, iFly