DJI Flight Controller - pricey but impressive

mbsteed

mbsteed

aerial video centric
I did a search and couldn't find this topic so if this is already a thread, please redirect us. There is a new flight controller being produced by a company (DJI) and the videos are impressive - but more impressive is the company who is producing it - has had a lot of experience with heli flight controllers. The cost is somewhere between $1200 - $1500.

http://dji-innovations.com/en/



 
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R

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
I'll let you know how well it works as soon as mine gets here, hopefully by this time next week. I'll be doing direct comparison of the DJI with my MK Hexa, looking for which is the most stable platform for APV. I do like the return to home failsafe and auto land feature, have to wait and see how the GPS position hold and altitude hold compare, my Droidworx MK Hexa can pretty much sit in the same spot at the same altitude until the battery goes dead so the DJI has got a high standard to meet.

Ken
 

B

Borneoben

Member
Wow Cool

Im really interested to hear your views on this

Will you be doing a full review for us mere mortals?

Pretty Please
 


M

MICROFOE

Member
I brought this FC up in another thread. From what I can tell, this FC does everything that the MK does but the waypoints. I have been emailing the guy that is the U.S. distributor and from what I see, this is the FC that I am going to use. I like the way it is plug and play. No assembling a bunch of electronic parts, no building power rings, and it looks like it will have customer service. Something from what I can tell, MK does a very poor job of.

The company that builds this product has other systems for several types of aerial units. This is not their first try at these type of systems. It looks like they took the knowledge from their much more expensive products and used it in a FC for multirotors.

The price for the FC is $1399 but until the end of September, it is $1200. At first he stated the end of August and then extended it to September.
 
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R

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
Borneoben said:
Wow Cool

Im really interested to hear your views on this

Will you be doing a full review for us mere mortals?

Pretty Please
Click to expand...

As soon as I get it setup and dialed in I'll do some back to back flights in the same place with both the DJI and the Droidworx AD6 while recording video from a GoPro. ALso plan to do some park it at altitude in position and altitude hold while recording to see how well each does there, then I'll post the videos with a description of how it went. Might be a couple weeks before that happens, I probably won't even have it in my hands until this time next week at the earliest.

Emowillcox said:
HI Ken... what kind of frame do you plan to your DJI system on and did you order yours from over seas?
Click to expand...

First I'm going to try it on the Y6 but for purposes of comparing apples to apples I may temporarily reconfigure the Y6 as a flat Hexa. I ordered mine from the US distributor and the frame it will be on initially is one of Rustys Rev 8 frames.

Gary Mortimer said:
I don't understand why won't you need a power distribution ring of some sort?
Click to expand...

You will need something to connect all the ESC power leads but I think the reference is to needing a power distribution board like MK requires for the BL controllers, many people have problems with that part of the build and wind up with smoked BLs.

Ken
 

Mactadpole

Mactadpole

Member
RTRyder said:
As soon as I get it setup and dialed in I'll do some back to back flights in the same place with both the DJI and the Droidworx AD6 while recording video from a GoPro. ALso plan to do some park it at altitude in position and altitude hold while recording to see how well each does there, then I'll post the videos with a description of how it went. Might be a couple weeks before that happens, I probably won't even have it in my hands until this time next week at the earliest.

Ken
Click to expand...

I think you need to build another AD6 for the new board so you can launch one and park it and then launch the other and park it next to it so we can have a side-by-side comparison! :D:D

Shawn
 

M

MICROFOE

Member
RTRyder said:
As soon as I get it setup and dialed in I'll do some back to back flights in the same place with both the DJI and the Droidworx AD6 while recording video from a GoPro. ALso plan to do some park it at altitude in position and altitude hold while recording to see how well each does there, then I'll post the videos with a description of how it went. Might be a couple weeks before that happens, I probably won't even have it in my hands until this time next week at the earliest.



First I'm going to try it on the Y6 but for purposes of comparing apples to apples I may temporarily reconfigure the Y6 as a flat Hexa. I ordered mine from the US distributor and the frame it will be on initially is one of Rustys Rev 8 frames.



You will need something to connect all the ESC power leads but I think the reference is to needing a power distribution board like MK requires for the BL controllers, many people have problems with that part of the build and wind up with smoked BLs.

Ken
Click to expand...


I checked the manual and there is no mention of any type of power ring. It shows where the esc connects directly into the FC. I also talked to Robert and he said there is no type of power ring. In the kit that he quoted me, there is nothing like a power ring or board. Maybe I am missing something.
 

R

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
MICROFOE said:
I checked the manual and there is no mention of any type of power ring. It shows where the esc connects directly into the FC. I also talked to Robert and he said there is no type of power ring. In the kit that he quoted me, there is nothing like a power ring or board. Maybe I am missing something.
Click to expand...

Yes, the ESC control signal cable plugs into the DJI controller but the ESCs still need to get battery power, they only get control signals from the DJI so you still need a power harness (board, ring, etc) of some sort to provide battery power to the ESCs and they in turn power the motors and the DJI units. In the MK I2C scheme the BL controllers get both power and control signals through the power distribution board as well as the PDB providing power to the rest of the Mk electronics, with DJI you will need to rig up a harness or power distribution board on the frame to do the job of providing power.

Ken
 

Emowillcox

Emowillcox

Member
Hey Microfoe.. what part of Texas you in?

From the photos I saw it looked like the ESC plugged into the FC as well and it mentions that as being a plus over other FC boards.
 

R

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
Mactadpole said:
I think you need to build another AD6 for the new board so you can launch one and park it and then launch the other and park it next to it so we can have a side-by-side comparison! :D:D

Shawn
Click to expand...

OK, I'll PM you my mailing address and you can send one over so I can do that... :p

Ken
 




Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
I'm still a little foggy on this, for $1400 they provide the hardware for you to have MK quality flight control and you just have to buy CheeSC's and build a power harness for them?
What brand of CheeSC's do they recommend?
Is that what the excitement is about? :confused::confused::confused:
 

M

MICROFOE

Member
Here is what he sent me. I took the prices out, except for the FC.

Coptersky Hexa XL Frame

DJI WK-M = $1200 (on sale, savings of $200)
AVroto Motors (6)
Turnigy Plush esc (6)
Labor to build and setup and ship = TBD
Plus have to add your TX and RX and a 4s lipo.

As far as I can see, there is no power harness. To me it takes the science project aspect out of the equation. Too many electronic parts that you have to piece together with MK and with the instuctions that you have to translate and hope you get it right.

Emo, not too far from you, Tomball. Maybe we can get together and you can show me what you have.
 
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BorisS

BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
performance is very impressive though


min 3:21 my mk cant do that or Im missing the right settings, which i doubt.

 
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Emowillcox

Emowillcox

Member
HI Microfoe.. my new best friend.. hey glad to see I got a buddy close by... would love to meet up and show you what i got right now it would be real easy to show you what i have.. it all fits in one box (;
So do you already have all this DJI stuff.. have you built any of it yet?
MICROFOE said:
Here is what he sent me. I took the prices out, except for the FC.

Coptersky Hexa XL Frame

DJI WK-M = $1200 (on sale, savings of $200)
AVroto Motors (6)
Turnigy Plush esc (6)
Labor to build and setup and ship = TBD
Plus have to add your TX and RX and a 4s lipo.

As far as I can see, there is no power harness. To me it takes the science project aspect out of the equation. Too many electronic parts that you have to piece together with MK and with the instuctions that you have to translate and hope you get it right.

Emo, not too far from you, Tomball. Maybe we can get together and you can show me what you have.
Click to expand...
 

Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
we may be seeing the evolution of the species, probably a good thing although I'll buy used MK FC 2.1's and BL's all day long if the used market becomes swamped.....they still work great
 

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