Discussion
Not sure the best place to put this...
Anyone on here flying FPV drones?
I've just started with a Furibee Nebula and the learning curve is vertiginous. Lots of crashing, lots of documents to read, soldering, flashing firmware, crashing, ordering spare parts and crashing.
Did I mention the crashing?
Anyone on here flying FPV drones?
I've just started with a Furibee Nebula and the learning curve is vertiginous. Lots of crashing, lots of documents to read, soldering, flashing firmware, crashing, ordering spare parts and crashing.
Did I mention the crashing?
Simulator, simulator, simulator. I quite like Velocidrone - I done like 30 hours on it before even flying my first one, but the difficult is mostly in the differing fields of view between them. Also spent countless amount of time in it just practicing, the rates transfer over perfectly and it helps you get timing on the sticks down really well, and mostly helps you not panic. Throttle control is everything.
That's the most effective way to learn to a point where you're not always flying into the ground.
I've been flying about a 14 months now and not too bad at it now. Just getting comfortable trying lots of new things and learning more advanced tricks. It's only been on helping to teach my mate learn in the last few months that I realise how far I've come.
Current one is a Chameleon running Matek F722 with their FCHub PDB, Matek VTX and Crossfire.
If you're using an FRSky TX then the hall effect gimbals are excellent btw.
That's the most effective way to learn to a point where you're not always flying into the ground.
I've been flying about a 14 months now and not too bad at it now. Just getting comfortable trying lots of new things and learning more advanced tricks. It's only been on helping to teach my mate learn in the last few months that I realise how far I've come.
Current one is a Chameleon running Matek F722 with their FCHub PDB, Matek VTX and Crossfire.
If you're using an FRSky TX then the hall effect gimbals are excellent btw.
Edited by S13_Alan on Friday 23 March 17:01
Yes, I've been playing with Velocidrone just to make sense of it all. I've only started flying for real this week and just getting to the point where I can find a stable hover. I've quickly learned that our garden is not big enough 
Also - twitchy throttle fingers have sent it over to the other side of the house twice when trying to avoid a crash - you punch it and the drone just leaps.
I'm running Betaflight on an Omnibus F4, with the Turnigy controller and receiver. It's a combination that seems to work nicely, but sorting out firmware has been challenging. The FC came with Betaflight 3.1.7 (a year old?!) but with all the messing around I managed to break the (rather fragile) USB connector. Today has been spent building a custom version of Betaflight 3.3.0 with MSP enabled on a spare UART, flashing the firmware directly to the chip using a ST Link programmer and wiring up breakout connector so that I can connect a serial converter (which should arrive tomorrow).
At which point I can put the configuration back to how it should be and fly with a nice shiny new version of Betaflight... for all the good it will do me
In other words, I've spent more time fixing it than flying it so far!
Also - twitchy throttle fingers have sent it over to the other side of the house twice when trying to avoid a crash - you punch it and the drone just leaps.I'm running Betaflight on an Omnibus F4, with the Turnigy controller and receiver. It's a combination that seems to work nicely, but sorting out firmware has been challenging. The FC came with Betaflight 3.1.7 (a year old?!) but with all the messing around I managed to break the (rather fragile) USB connector. Today has been spent building a custom version of Betaflight 3.3.0 with MSP enabled on a spare UART, flashing the firmware directly to the chip using a ST Link programmer and wiring up breakout connector so that I can connect a serial converter (which should arrive tomorrow).
At which point I can put the configuration back to how it should be and fly with a nice shiny new version of Betaflight... for all the good it will do me
In other words, I've spent more time fixing it than flying it so far!
To begin with you need a pretty big area indeed, imo even a football field is possibly too small although it does help to have some sort of reference to avoid flying around at full throttle and force you to have some control.
Ironically although it might feel safer with hardly any camera tilt trying to go slow, it makes it far harder to keep level. Running more like 25-35 degrees you'll find that the throttle is easier to manage during forward flight, because each movement makes less difference to altitude.
My first one I had to jump straight in and reconfigure Betaflight and it took a good while before I realised what the hell I was doing. I wouldn't worry too much if you broke the FC though. They are pretty cheap, and once you know what you're doing it's dead easy to switch them over if needed.
Any questions feel free to ask, but newest BF is good Plenty content online, likes of Joshua Bardwell's videos are fantastic help when it comes to it.
Ironically although it might feel safer with hardly any camera tilt trying to go slow, it makes it far harder to keep level. Running more like 25-35 degrees you'll find that the throttle is easier to manage during forward flight, because each movement makes less difference to altitude.
My first one I had to jump straight in and reconfigure Betaflight and it took a good while before I realised what the hell I was doing. I wouldn't worry too much if you broke the FC though. They are pretty cheap, and once you know what you're doing it's dead easy to switch them over if needed.
Any questions feel free to ask, but newest BF is good
Plenty content online, likes of Joshua Bardwell's videos are fantastic help when it comes to it.Yep - FPV only allowed if you also have a spotter - the law basically says you must keep the quad in sight at all times. Which you obviously can’t do via FPV
Rules here: http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/1226.pdf
Additional to this is the power of the radio gear....you’re only legally allowed to use a 25mw transmitter which gives a range of the square root of f
k all. My big quads is 100 I think!
I would strongly advise getting an inductrix for practising fpv. Cheap, will happily bind to proper radio gear (certainly my spektrum anyway) and you can bounce it off stuff and crash it without breaking it much. And it’s awesome indoors. Alongside some sim practice it’s saved me a small fortune I think
Rules here: http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/1226.pdf
Additional to this is the power of the radio gear....you’re only legally allowed to use a 25mw transmitter which gives a range of the square root of f
k all. My big quads is 100 I think!I would strongly advise getting an inductrix for practising fpv. Cheap, will happily bind to proper radio gear (certainly my spektrum anyway) and you can bounce it off stuff and crash it without breaking it much. And it’s awesome indoors. Alongside some sim practice it’s saved me a small fortune I think
The core thing is the DroneCode, which applies to all UAVs: http://dronesafe.uk/drone-code/
1. It must be within visual line of sight (FPV - you need to have a spotter)
2. Max height of 400ft/121m from takeoff (FPV - weirdly you're allowed higher, but practically it's still got to be possible to see which way it's facing, so you aren't going to exceed it by much)
3. Keep at least 50m from people and property, or 150m from crowds and built up areas
4. Stay clear of exclusion zones - airfields, military bases, London etc.
5. Don't be an idiot.
It's a little unbalanced - technically most people would be breaking the law flying in their own back gardens. But it's the best we've got for the moment.
Future legislation focuses around registration and training - you must identify yourself to the authorities and fill in a basic competency quiz when you buy a drone, none of which will stop the idiots, but gives the government a nice revenue stream. There's talk of keeping machines under 250g 'free to fly', but that basically excludes pretty much anything capable of being flown outside.
Baroness Sugg and the various quangos are claiming they're "enabling the industry" whilst generally getting in everyone's way. It's all very well meaning, (and let's be honest, a quad travelling at 50mph can do a lot of damage) but manages to be both unnecessarily intrusive and completely ineffective at the same time.
1. It must be within visual line of sight (FPV - you need to have a spotter)
2. Max height of 400ft/121m from takeoff (FPV - weirdly you're allowed higher, but practically it's still got to be possible to see which way it's facing, so you aren't going to exceed it by much)
3. Keep at least 50m from people and property, or 150m from crowds and built up areas
4. Stay clear of exclusion zones - airfields, military bases, London etc.
5. Don't be an idiot.
It's a little unbalanced - technically most people would be breaking the law flying in their own back gardens. But it's the best we've got for the moment.
Future legislation focuses around registration and training - you must identify yourself to the authorities and fill in a basic competency quiz when you buy a drone, none of which will stop the idiots, but gives the government a nice revenue stream. There's talk of keeping machines under 250g 'free to fly', but that basically excludes pretty much anything capable of being flown outside.
Baroness Sugg and the various quangos are claiming they're "enabling the industry" whilst generally getting in everyone's way. It's all very well meaning, (and let's be honest, a quad travelling at 50mph can do a lot of damage) but manages to be both unnecessarily intrusive and completely ineffective at the same time.
Liking the colour choice!
Re: your post. The problem is that some people are beyond being idiots and will get these banned for everyone if not careful.....flying through a fireworks display over central London - seriously how stupid do you need to be! Any decent weight drone, especially with CF props is frigging dangerous, and most people who buy a DJI or similar have no actual idea how to fly cos the thing cos they don’t need to. It will really annoy me if idiots continue to do enough stuff to crystallise the rules......
Re: your post. The problem is that some people are beyond being idiots and will get these banned for everyone if not careful.....flying through a fireworks display over central London - seriously how stupid do you need to be! Any decent weight drone, especially with CF props is frigging dangerous, and most people who buy a DJI or similar have no actual idea how to fly cos the thing cos they don’t need to. It will really annoy me if idiots continue to do enough stuff to crystallise the rules......
Sorry to resurrect an old thread but could not find a more recent one on FPV.
I am just starting out and have ordered probably a quarter of the gear I need (motors, props, Flysky i6) but I am now looking at the various builds on YouTube and some appear to missing a few components that I thought were needed...
I understand that ESC's and flight controllers can be combined in a single board so I may go for that however I have seen a few build now which do not have a PDB, is this right or am I missing something?
Thanks and apologies again for raising an old thread.
I am just starting out and have ordered probably a quarter of the gear I need (motors, props, Flysky i6) but I am now looking at the various builds on YouTube and some appear to missing a few components that I thought were needed...
I understand that ESC's and flight controllers can be combined in a single board so I may go for that however I have seen a few build now which do not have a PDB, is this right or am I missing something?
Thanks and apologies again for raising an old thread.
There are a number of flight controllers that have PDB built in - my latest build is based on the Matek F405-CTR which has the power distribution, regulation and current sense all built in. It saves another board, which is handy, particularly when more frames are 'slammed' (ie. flattened) and don't take tall stacks.
Oh, and whilst I'm at it, the thing that cracked the control for me was getting a brushless Whoop. It removed any of the uncertainties of a semi-scratch built drone, came with a decent configuration and wasn't so mad fast that I lost it. Plus of course, they bounce off surfaces like ping-pong balls.
If you've got the goggles and controller, picking up something like the UR-65 or Mobula-7 gives you a fairly bomb-proof trainer before going for the harder 5" frames. Personally, I found I learnt infinitely more from that than from a simulator.
If you've got the goggles and controller, picking up something like the UR-65 or Mobula-7 gives you a fairly bomb-proof trainer before going for the harder 5" frames. Personally, I found I learnt infinitely more from that than from a simulator.
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