Hello guest, if you read this it means you are not registered. Click here to register in a few simple steps, you will enjoy all features of our Forum.
This forum uses cookies
This forum makes use of cookies to store your login information if you are registered, and your last visit if you are not. Cookies are small text documents stored on your computer; the cookies set by this forum can only be used on this website and pose no security risk. Cookies on this forum also track the specific topics you have read and when you last read them. Please confirm whether you accept or reject these cookies being set.

A cookie will be stored in your browser regardless of choice to prevent you being asked this question again. You will be able to change your cookie settings at any time using the link in the footer.

Thread Rating:
  • 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
1S 18650 NanoLongRange
#46
I'd take a gps over current sensor
[-] The following 1 user Likes p-i-engineer's post:
  • iFly4rotors
Reply
Login to remove this ad | Register Here
#47
Second that. The things that I need to know....1) how much battery is left, 2) how to get home.
______________________________________
My BUILDS  ||   My INDEX   ||  Parts Guide  <-- Download


Reply
#48
Here are a few pictures. 

Front antenna tube is a dipole for the Crossfire Nano RX, rear is an iFlight Albatross VTX antenna that was advertised as weighing 2.6g but actually weighs 4.4g. One of the most annoying things I've discovered trying to build this and some other lightweight quads is that the advertised weights of components is almost never accurate.  Angry You can also see the Matek M8Q-5883 GPS/compass that I currently just have mounted to the top of the battery with the rubber band. The piece of heat shrink you can see in the middle of the top plate covers the Pololu 5V step-up converter to provide a stable 5V to the VTX since the Li-ion can drop as low as 2.5v. Hidden below the top plate are the DarwinFPV 1-3S board, Crossfire Nano RX, TBS Unify Pro32 Nano VTX, LC Filter, BMP-280 barometer, and a mess of wires  Smile
       

I'm using this TPU mount to hold the VTX antenna, and used some small standoffs between the frame and the FC cover to hold the mount and give me some more room for all of the electronics. 
   

I grabbed some bigger rubber bands to hold down the battery before I went out today due to the wind, and they pushed the AUW over 120g! When comparing the 18650 sled to the XT30 connectors I neglected to factor in the weight of a battery restraint mechanism. I may have to revisit it...
   

Really looking forward to a proper flight test once the weather improves a bit. Hopefully I'll have some DVR to upload soon. 

If anyone has any suggestions to make the build better I'm all ears!
[-] The following 5 users Like V-22's post:
  • ph2t, JoyMonkey, hugnosed_bat, nuxnik, iFly4rotors
Reply
#49
i'm going with a lightweight cloverleaf, like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Clover-Leaf-Omn...SwqnlcApne

and the iflight gps, it's 4 grams.

i should be right at 100grams
[-] The following 1 user Likes p-i-engineer's post:
  • V-22
Reply
#50
Hi V-22,

You have a very good looking quad there.  Thumbs Up   

Let's see how long it flies.
______________________________________
My BUILDS  ||   My INDEX   ||  Parts Guide  <-- Download


Reply
#51
I wrote this up for RotorBuilds, but didn't realize there was such a strict length limit. https://rotorbuilds.com/build/26483
Posting here instead:


Credit to Dave_C for the pioneering work here! This is my attempt at building his vision and see how far this platform can be pushed. Still a lot of work to do, but it's built and flying! I tried a few different materials for the frame: Nylon, CF-Nylon, and CF-PETG. The frame in Nylon weighs 13.1g, but is fairly flexible. The CF-reinforced Nylon frame weighs 12.4g and is much stiffer. The CF-reinforced PETG is a little heavier at 16.2g, but much stiffer still. All printed at 20% infill. I'm not sure what the PLA frame weighs. Anyone know? I decided to use the CF-Nylon frame for this build.

While a really cool idea, the 18650 sled is quite heavy (~8.4g), so I thought I could save some weight by making a 1S 18650 pack soldering an XT30 directly to the battery (with a nickel strap to extend the negative terminal, and a short piece of wire to connect to the XT30). This increases the weight of the battery by ~2g. The rubber bands I'm using to secure the battery to the frame weigh 0.8g, and the male XT30 on the frame weighs 0.96g. So overall this saves about 4g compared to using the sled (and probably a little more depending on what gauge of wire I use to wire the sled to the FC). 

The DarwinFPV 15A 1-3S AIO board is quite impressive from a connectivity perspective, as it has many pads broken out that you don't usually see on 1S boards. Unfortunately it only has 1.5 UARTs broken out, so I had to solder directly to a leg of the MCU to access TX1 (see picture). Pads on the board: TX2, RX2, Motor S5 and LED_Strip can be remapped to SoftSerial, 2 ADCs Rssi and CRT, Buzzer-, SDA, SCL, SB (RX1 SBUS), IB (RX1 Inverted SBUS ie normal), VTX, CAM, 2x 5V, 1x 4v5, 1x 3.3v, 3x GND. It also has the option of using headers for the motors (included) or soldering them directly. And the cap comes pre-soldered! If it proves reliable, it's a fantastic deal for less than $30. Since it uses the MatekF411 target, I might even be able to run iNav on it.

As this is meant to be a "long range" quad, I wanted to try to incorporate all of the features you'd normally have on such a build. This meant a GPS, compass, barometer, and full-range antennas, all of which increase the weight. I have some plans to slim it down, and should be able to get to <110g AUW in this configuration. Currently I'm using a Matek M8Q-5883 GPS/compass and a BMP-280 barometer on a small breakout board. Surprisingly, the GPS has no problem picking up 12+ satellites indoors just mounted on top of the battery. I may try replacing the ceramic antenna with something lighter like a chip antenna or dipole to save weight. 

I had to get creative with antenna mounting as there were no provisions in the frame for the VTX or RX antennas. I'm using an antenna tube attached to a small ziptie with a piece of heatshrink tubing to hold the Crossfire nano dipole vertically just behind the camera, and a TPU antenna holder slipped over some small spacers at the back to hold the long VTX antenna. I may remix the frame design to better incorporate these into the design and hopefully save a little weight. 

I'm currently running Betaflight 4.2.8. ESC flashed with BLHeli_M 16.9 to enable bidirectional DShot and RPM filtering. I have a few different PID profiles loaded, BF default, the recommended PIDs from Dave_C, and the FPVCycle TP3 PIDs for a similar setup with these motors. The quad seems to fly fine with all of them, although it feels much better with the P gain cranked up. Will need more flight time to find the best settings. 

It has been extremely windy here lately so I don't have a good estimate of efficiency/range yet, but will update when I do.
[-] The following 2 users Like V-22's post:
  • ph2t, iFly4rotors
Reply
#52
Hi V-22,

WOW !!  That is really impressive !!  Good Job !!   Thumbs Up
______________________________________
My BUILDS  ||   My INDEX   ||  Parts Guide  <-- Download


Reply
#53
are you soldered to both ends of you 18650?

the entire can, including the lip of the + side is all (-) negative. you could dump the long piece of negative wire and cut a window in the heatshrink and solder there.
you can confirm with a multimeter.
Reply
#54
(16-Mar-2021, 03:06 PM)p-i-engineer Wrote: are you soldered to both ends of you 18650?

the entire can, including the lip of the + side is all (-) negative. you could dump the long piece of negative wire and cut a window in the heatshrink and solder there.
you can confirm with a multimeter.

I used a nickel strip alongside of the battery like Dave_C did here:



I considered peeling back the heatshrink and soldering directly, but I didn't want to risk a short and I figured the end of the can might be a little more heat tolerant than the side.
Reply
#55
I got iNav setup and configured, but ran into a motor issue before I could do a test flight. One of the motors felt a bit crunchier than the others when I received them, and it looks like one of the magnets has shifted or come partially unglued. I foolishly did not have a backup motor on hand, so testing is on hold until I receive the replacement (ordered two this time!).

I think this will be pretty cool if I can get iNav working well on this build. Position hold will come in handy for controlled hover tests, and I can set a waypoint mission with a reproduceable course and speed for endurance testing. I haven't been able to find any other iNav builds this small, and certainly not 1S, but I don't see any reason why it won't work as the FC seems to be compatible (MATEKF411 target).
Reply
#56
I have wondered why not many mini/micro LR builds are flashed with iNav as almost all of them come preloaded with Betaflight.

At times I wonder if iNav is any better apart from the improved GPS rescue, position hold, loiter modes and mission planning.

In terms of efficiency I have always found acro mode better than any stability mode as too much energy is being wasted to keep the quad stable and on course.

On a larger quad with adequate battery or even a LR plane, we can fly beyond fpv range and at time even control range, this is where I feel the GPS modes along with mission planning really shine.

If anyone is doing LOS range (within vtx/rx range) or mountain diving etc, I think Betaflight is more than capable.
Reply
#57
i have inav on my 4". Only benefit inav has for me is position hold. The ability to stop in space. But you need a working compass for that.

i more benefit, turn on alt hold in acro mode is like flying with cruise control.
Reply
#58
Nice work V-22! I have a DarwinFPV AIO board on order, and was hoping to also use it for a NanoLongRange build. I wasn't sure how well it would do when battery voltage starts to get near 3V. The specs say it has a minimum input of 3.7V.
How far have you run down the 18650 to?
Reply
#59
did you weight the darwin board? since it's 2 boards stacked, and not plus shaped, i'm wondering how many grams it is over the smaller boards.
Reply
#60
(17-Mar-2021, 12:05 PM)kafie1980 Wrote: I have wondered why not many mini/micro LR builds are flashed with iNav as almost all of them come preloaded with Betaflight.

At times I wonder if iNav is any better apart from the improved GPS rescue, position hold, loiter modes and mission planning.

In terms of efficiency I have always found acro mode better than any stability mode as too much energy is being wasted to keep the quad stable and on course.

On a larger quad with adequate battery or even a LR plane, we can fly beyond fpv range and at time even control range, this is where I feel the GPS modes along with mission planning really shine.

If anyone is doing LOS range (within vtx/rx range) or mountain diving etc, I think Betaflight is more than capable.
This is an excellent point! One I hadn't considered but it will certainly be interesting to test. Acro mode is still stabilized though, it just doesn't auto level. I'll see if I can find anything on motor duty cycle during acro vs angle mode or something. 

(17-Mar-2021, 03:26 PM)JoyMonkey Wrote: Nice work V-22! I have a DarwinFPV AIO board on order, and was hoping to also use it for a NanoLongRange build. I wasn't sure how well it would do when battery voltage starts to get near 3V. The specs say it has a minimum input of 3.7V.
How far have you run down the 18650 to?
Yes, I was concerned about this too. I bench tested it with a benchtop variable power supply, and it can run the motors down below 3V. My power supply is only 5A, so I was running into a current limitation during the test and my Pololu step up regulator would cut out and I'd loose VTX well before the motors shut down. So, I don't think it will be an issue. I am wondering whether I'm seeing excess voltage sag with my 1S 18650 "pack" due to the smaller gauge wire and nickel strip I'm using. I'm rebuilding it with 16GA wire to see if it makes any difference in performance. 

(17-Mar-2021, 04:07 PM)p-i-engineer Wrote: did you weight the darwin board? since it's 2 boards stacked, and not plus shaped, i'm wondering how many grams it is over the smaller boards.
Yes, it weighs about 5.4g. I've ordered plenty of things that weigh more than they claim, but I've found that if they include a picture of the object on a scale in the ad the weights are accurate Smile
https://pyrodrone.com/products/darwinfpv...-whoop-aio
Reply


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Build 3D Printed NanoLongRange amped_fpv 50 10,783 25-Aug-2023, 10:17 PM
Last Post: iFly4rotors
  Help NanoLongRange ELRS help lolmodule 17 1,254 24-Nov-2021, 11:23 PM
Last Post: p-i-engineer
  Data CLI dump for the DarwinFPV 18650 3inch Oscar 3 1,597 11-Aug-2021, 02:16 PM
Last Post: hugnosed_bat
  Tip & Trick Li-Ion 18650 Batteries and Low Voltage Cutoff iFly4rotors 54 10,751 04-Jun-2021, 11:41 AM
Last Post: iFly4rotors
  Build EveDrone Mk3 (#nanolongrange) peveleigh 7 869 29-Apr-2021, 02:06 AM
Last Post: amped_fpv


Login to remove this ad | Register Here