Hard Case Ground Station

T

TheEngineer

Member
How do you mount your monitor (say bigger than 10") inside a delicate Pelican Airtight box?
I have a 16" with VESA mount and I don't want to punch through the box to get a hold on the monitor.

Any pics for eg? Appreciate if you could share.

TIA

DT
 

R

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer

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R

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
Not finished yet, but the radio part is now functional. The best part is the 6-mode radio buttons, instead of fiddly 2 and 3 position switch combos. 6 buttons, each lit with different colours, push the button, that's your mode. I'm omitting a lot of Tx features that are not needed for modern flight controls.

That's the 7" Foxtech monitor, could fit the 8" too. I just need to hack in a VRx now.

I plan to also build in a basic ground control system with a touchscreen that somebody else is building. I don't want much more than a virtual horizon, but he's going whole-hog so what the hey.

This can be used in conjunction with my laptop which comes in an identical Pelican case.

I am considering building these on a small scale or contract basis if there's enough interest. Or a kit with just the plates, or including a bag of parts, if you want to do the wiring yourself which is very labour intensive. Still feeling this out, but I see a void in the market here for a good, rugged, professional looking, bespoke system for a modern flight controller.
 


R

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
ROVguy said:
is there an option to use an independent tx?
Click to expand...

Nope. What is the thought? I guess it might be possible to have another Tx, with an Rx in this case feeding a PPM stream to a relay which could be switched. But...

This is obviously a non-walking-around solution. Sit down at a table, or stick it on a stand. I really would prefer to be sitting down, or having it on a stand anyway.

I fly finger-pinch style. I was putting my Tx in an aluminum case, and then carrying this big tray separately. (not to mention the monitor). Gotta take out the Tx, put it in the tray, hang it around your neck. Then I'm walking around with the gawdawful thing swinging around my neck. It's a massive PITA. Plus all hobby Tx's have way too many switches and knobs, yet still don't give us the controls we need, and are not really ergonomically laid out.
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
16" in a pelican clone

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everything is the same small cases

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but i spend most my time with a ground station like this

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KlonerInWeeds1_595.jpg


rssi gets shady ol kloners radio rises
 

ROVguy

ROVguy

Member
I was thinking about having the flexibility of being mobile. I can see the appeal of just being able to set up somewhere and then sitting down and off you go, but likewise, I personally like being able to move around if its necessary to do so. I suppose it's down to personal taste and requirement. I love the idea of a ground station but I also like the idea of being able to move as well, so I guess I'd like the best of both worlds.

An option is to use the ground station as a base, possibly have telemetry etc, use it as a client viewing area on a lcd and a recording station for fpv video but have a link to a remote tx where you can be portable with goggles or small LCD, possibly switch control between the two?

Just a thought.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
lemme explain what all your looking at. The 16" monitor in the case has a pair of 5000 mah 3s under the deck and it has an uno 5.8 receiver. It's my pit monitor for anybody that wants to look. the tripod with the 7" is labeled in the picture. That monitor can pop off the top, you can put that vrx/vtx/ant/dvr on the roof of your truck, top of a nearby mountain and run the small screen on another tripod wirelesly. it has a pair of 2.4 RHCP crosshair patch antennas on a Duo 2.4. That outputs to the fatshark 5.8 100 vtx and that transmits to anybody that turns to my channel with goggles, others monitors in the flight line within a quarter mile, easy. I get alot of passengers and it's a fun way to set it up.

both of these are typical fpv setups.....having the rc control wrapped up with the video control isn't gonna be as clean a signal and get as good of range as one thats all seperated. You gotta move your transmitter if you use a long range rc controller to maintain linear polarity between the two.

these are vids that dvr on the tripod catches



 

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T

TheEngineer

Member
Thanks for the awesome pictures! How do you hang your monitor to the case? I drilled through the case and have an Alu plate 2mm thick on the front of the lid as reinforcement since its a VESA mount on a 17" LED Monitor. To get it water proof I slip in O-rings on the front and back of all bolting area.

Anyhow, i have already drilled it since I can't think of a better way to hold 17" strongly. I hv thot maybe glue a piece of plywood and then need not drill thru.. buy heck, I have no choice to do the same to the side when I put on a hydraulic arm to keep the lid open about 110deg..

Oh btw I am fitting 3 monitors to a 50.5" case.. left monitor for camera view, centre for PC mon and keyboard in the middle, eight monitor for pilot view w telemetry.. TXs will be free to move even when placed on the foam..
 


R

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
There's a panel mounted in the lid with a big hole in it. I took the back off the monitor, and use the 4 screws that held the back on, to secure the face to the panel from behind.
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
mine uses goop, got it wet, lined up the monitor with the lid down flat, closed the bottom to it with the foam left in and it compressed it till it dried

that picture that came to my email showed 110 volt monitors, you didn't get a 12v monitor? was that somebody else? That one showed velcro holding them in
 

T

TheEngineer

Member
I finish the hydraulic arm but not satisfied. I will have to shift the angle opposite, i.e. higher on the lid side and bottom nearer to the hinges edge.
And add another one to the other side of the box. Currently its 5kg or 50N. Too weak. I have another 10kg, maybe that works.

The center monitor has a standard VESA mount. I did not remove the back panel, just wanna leave it on. Or maybe take it off will give better cooling?
The left and right monitor are the same make and came with only 2 hook style mounting. They are thinner and lighter so to get the same height i have to add spacer. Didn't help when one of the hook hole is on the popped-up reinforcement structure of the pelican.

I really drilled holes on the lid. And use T6061 Al 2mm plate as reinforcement to bolt onto the VESA holes. And I make sure proper O-rings used on outside and inside of the M4 bolts.



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the box by M-Power, on Flickr
 


kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
if those monitors are glossy, you'll want to get screen covers in matte to dull the glare..... glossy monitors outside suck. You see yourself better than the image
 



R

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
Yeah, I have to admit those inspired me somewhat. Some things I would have done differently... so I did!

It appears that he takes apart a hobby Tx and builds it into the case.

The UAV GCS is new since I last looked. Looks good, I'm not sure about the external connectors though. I know they're industrial but, still quite exposed.
 

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