mandag 26. oktober 2009

Mounted microphone.

Since the DX-201 doesn't have built-in microphone. I bought an active microphone for $ 1 on ebay. I cut away a heavy cable and connectors, and soldered directly to VTX Cable.

mandag 19. oktober 2009

GPS and artificial horizont is working.

GPS and artificial horizon is working.
I spent almost all night to get the GPS to take the signals. I had actually given up, and took the plane inside, and then it was suddenly okay. Was afraid I had to send some of the equipment back for repair a trip halfway around the globe.
The artificial horizon was just to turn on a parameter, and so it was okay. It was nice to see that the used thermophil sensors I bought on ebay worked.
I'll post pictures of the screen later.

søndag 18. oktober 2009

Installation of RVOSD and DX201 camera.

The installation of RVOSD and DX201 was quite a lot of wiring, and they were longer and took more space than I had thought.


Now everything is in place with GPS, distance to home, altimeter, horizon sensor, GPS map plotter, autopilot home, co-pilot for lever flight, rc signal meter, current and voltage meter. Looking forward to test everything.



Lots of wiring:






Soldered plugs on current sensor:





DX201 camera built into the metal box. I think it is safer to have sensitive cmos circuits enclosed. In addition to that the lens does not sit directly on the circuit board, so the circuit board will be destroyed by a crash.:




The camera must be split to disassemble the lens holder.:


Lens set screw is pretty small, so do not lose it.:



DX201 camera is a lot bigger and heavier than other cameras, but with many more possibilities, and quite good resolution.


DX201 in place with Inesun 1.3 GHz, 1.5 watt transmitter. This transmitter can be purchased from www.inesun.com. It goes on frequencies that are allocated to the amateur-tv on the ham-radio 23 cm band. I am very happy with this transmitter.



It is pretty much wires inside her, the main battery has to be moved further forward to compensate with the weight on top of the wing. The plan is to have a 3000 mAh primary battery, and a 1500 mAh aux battery. RVOSD will use the battery with the highest voltage at all times to control servos, and camera with transmitter. The engines will always go on the main battery, and so I have the opportunity to sail the plane down on the auxiliary battery if the other would be empty.


GPS antenna and thermophile sensors for horizon reading in place.

It will be interesting to see if these sensors are able to read correctly with the 1600 meter high mountain on the one hand, and the sea as far as one can see at the other side. I suspect that it may go wrong because they measure the horizon by reading the temperature between the sky and the ground on 4 different sides of the plane to tell us how the horizon is, and how is it then if one or three sides is a high mountain?:





Here is almost everything in place, now I wait for the new main battery and new propellers to come with the mail.:




torsdag 8. oktober 2009

Rebuilding my Hitec receiver to RSSI out.

With the help from Alex Villa at Range Video, I have found out how I can connect the RSSI from the receiver. Thank you Alex!








A 100 kohm resistance, and a 0022 uF capacitor instead of a 0.01 uF. Both found a box with scrap electronics. Ready for soldering.





Had to cut the print path here to use the signal pin on the battery plug.

Soldering...




And finished .. :)





Then the next task is a little cable work for the RVOSD. But it will be later.



Testing the twin engines.

Saturday we were to our caravan, so I took the plane to get tested the twin engines.
It's a very nice place to fly.

Before takeof I found that right ailerons did not work. I was really curious to find out how the engines would work, so I had to fly a little ride nonetheless.
It went well, but I do not take the plane up again with only one aileron. I think I can thank the twin engines power for beeing able to straighten up the plane a few times.

The engine's power lasted only a few seconds at a time. It turned out that my 4000 mAh LiPo only had 10c on discharging, which doesn't mather for the old engine, because it was so small. I have now ordered a LiPo at 3000 mAh and 30C.

I also have to change to propellers to some with less pitch. I will try 7 x3 and 6 x 4 inch. The propellers I tried now was 8 x 6's, trimmed down to around 7 x 6.

torsdag 1. oktober 2009

Trying to figure out how to get the RSSI signal to RVOSD from Hitec HFD-07RA receiver.


Is this where I can find RSSI signal on a Hitec HFD-07RA. Chip is a 7761F. Someone who knows about the signal can be connected directly to RVOSD, or whether it must be curbed?