Hi from London! DJI F550 Naza GPS with GoPro + Wifi Bacpac.

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hey Guys!

I've been reading this forum for a few months now and have found a wealth of info. Thanks! I thought I'd add some background and post some pics as I know how helpful others pictures have been to me.

I've been flying 450 size helicopters for three years and love it. For the heli guys - I currently have an Align 450 Pro DFC with Beastx and all the trimmings (including MKS-DS95 servos all round and a full CCIce50). I'm making good progress in 3D flying and am very competent in all orientations and have not had a crash or 'incident' for a year. At the end of June I saw a review of the Naza and bought one straight away along with a DJI F550 and a GoPro Hero 2. A few weeks later the GPS was released and the Wifi BacPac for the GoPro so I got those too (of course still waiting for this 'app' they claim to be releasing and don't have much hope about the quality of it anyway). I've got all the sizes of Graupners (8/9/10") plus spares as they seemed to be in short supply at the time so ordered 8 of each size. I'm stuck with 3S lipos at the moment as I have ten of them from the heli. I would really like 4S and to use the 9" Graupners but can't afford new lipos on top of all the rest. Maybe later...

The build. The DJI F550 was a great build! Coming from helis the lack of any mechanical bits made the build a walk in the park (no copious amounts of thread-lock or checking tension and screw tightness). Just soldering! I have a butane adjustable 70W soldering iron which made it easy (got it for the build). It's light and I can take it with me in my flight bag in case of at the field repairs (haven't needed it yet though :loyal. Apart from the Graupners the rest is all stock.

The Naza GPS...........Awesome!!! Easy to set-up and just sits there. Still get the wobbles on the way down in GPS mode. To be honest I only fly in GPS mode. I have everything else set-up except course lock (Spektrum DX7s, only one three position switch) and the fail-safe works on the assistant but I haven't tried it in real life :uncomfortableness:. I do live in the city so can't afford to have the rig too far away or out of my control, comes from helis I think. I just can't bring myself to hand complete control over to the craft, I need my finger on the kill switch if anything. I'm sure it would work as the GPS works and the magnetic declination is only about 1.25 degrees here so the offset is minor and easy. I occasionally get a very mild TBE (toilet bowl effect). I have found it to be caused by moving the craft slightly upon powering up (unstable surface) but reinitialising the Naza solves it.

I need to be able to carry the F550 with me as I want to trek it up a mountain or some such thing so got a Cymbal case to carry it. It has built in rucksack straps and is padded with reinforced sides. I have to take the props off each time so can't use thread-lock but use Nyloc nuts and a washer (for the 10" Graupners, I hand filed the 9" which lock onto the motor shaft like the stock ones do). I use an old tail boom strut from a heli and some tail fins between the front two arms for orientation and have a couple of super bright lights in the frame.

The Wifi BacPac works. It has a range of maybe 200ft with a clear line of sight. Don't know how the range will be with the iPhone though. I made a mount for the GoPro using the packaging it came in and some PU gel, and a shoelace...

Yes, I waffle on a lot :02.47-tranquillity:.

Some pictures...


The bag (it's an Ahead Amour Cymbal Silo 24"):

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The F550 (the blades look awesome):

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And the mount:

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I love to post vids so here's the last one I did, this is my first real attempt at a bit of editing. Trying to imagine filming the building. Without a gimble the results are only okay:

I know you guys like it RAW so I upload both raw and stabilised vids. I use YouTube stabilisation as I have a Windows 7 PC and haven't found a good stabilisation program.

I think that's it for now!

See you around!

PS - Future plans! I would like a short-range FPV set-up (thinking of the Fat shark set from FPV UK) and in a year an S800 with Zenmuse and WKM...we can all dream!

Cheers!

 

[mmurfitt]

Hey Benjamin,
Great post, thanks.
I too have a F550, however my experience is far less than yours, in fact I've only flown my F550 3 times and one of those ended abruptly in a crash which resulted in two replacement arms and a snapped GPS mast.

I love your idea of carrying the hexa in a cymbal case, pure genius!
I'm going to look at snare drum cases as I have landing gear with a gimbal on my F550, hopefully I can find one which fits.
I see you're in London, I'm in SW London, if you're ever in this neck of the woods it would be good to go flying...I could certainly do with learning from people with experience. (I'm actually in the process of hooking up with another 'London' guy from this forum).

 

[hexa]

What area in London are you guys located?


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[emgee]

Hi Ben,
Thanks for posting, nice vid and pic's, love the Cymbal case idea and crazy GoPro mount, surprised you didn't get any jello effect from that. I've recently purchased a F450 and just got a GoPro Hero 2. Currently looking at camera mounting and landing gear options, with FPV as the final goal, guess like most newbies.

Cheers

 

[mmurfitt]

What area in London are you guys located?


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I'm in SW London, near Kingston, what about you?
The other guy I'm trying to arrange to meet is in Swiss Cottage.

 

[Malcr001]

This forum should have a maps app showing all the members locations as there are quite a phew London multirotors guys on this forum. I'm from Ruislip Manor, NW London.

 

[hexa]

Am in east Stratford side. I fly in hackney marshes, near the Olympic stadium.


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[mmurfitt]

Am in east Stratford side. I fly in hackney marshes, near the Olympic stadium.

Blimey!
That's a bit of a trek from SW.
If I find myself flying over that way I'll give you a heads up and perhaps we could hook up..

 

[guy1a]

Hello Benjamin

i am not using this option of home lock and the other home something .. but there is a way of using this option with having only single 3 position switch.

i use 9x rc controller for the naza and i set it up like this

3 position sw is for flight modes ( manual / att / gps )
2 position sw is overiding this 3 pos ws for FS mode ( RTH )
another knob is used for the tilt of the camera gimble

i used to have another 2 position sw for the home lock function
and another 2 position sw to overide the home lock for the second home ... ( sorry can't remember the name of it now )

the two 2 position sw are set for the same rc channel, one of them chenges the value to the place where the home lock turnes blue and the other to the place the other one turns blue.

though i have no ide what does it good for ..

i used to use this channel for gain setting on the fly .. but i am not doing that any more too.

hope it helps.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hi Guys!

Thanks for all the comments.

I'm in NW London too (Finchley area) and fly at Barnet Copthall Stadium. There's many fields (about 6 large ones plus a few smaller ones) and almost no dog walkers, just sports people who keep to themselves.

I haven't changed my setup since posting this, although I have just received a Fatshark Dominator set and all the trimmings from www.FirstPersonView.co.uk and GoPro have finally released the App for the iPhone which is okay but has only limited range and needs some improvements I found after a day of playing around. Will test the whole lot at the weekend!

Guy1a - I think I have the same setup as you but without RTH (Return To Home - that's the term you're looking for). I have my 3 position switch set to GPS/Atti/Manual (for calibrating the GPS). The failsafe is programmed into the receiver as RTH. Tested fine on the Assistant but haven't had the guts to try RTH in real life. I'm sure it works fine.... I have one two position switch as Home Lock and Normal. Home Lock works great but in practice I find it easier in GPS mode. It's still a little wobbly on the descent but have found a semi-sweet spot in the gains for now.

Mmurfitt - Sorry to hear about your crash. It's hard crashing your bird as you lose confidence in it. Remember - It's not the machine at fault! It's the operator! Ha! I learned that the hard way with RC Helicopters...



Here's a new vid:

Hopefully that will be a little easier with some FPV gear, although I can see the limitations already.

 

[guy1a]

Hi Benjamin.

RTH is FS and also in a 2 pos sw. If i lost orientation i can just flip the sw and naza comes back alone.

What i meant is. Home lock and course lock ... i will try to film a video to show.

Edit.
There you go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvyEA_NM-Rk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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[mmurfitt]

Mmurfitt - Sorry to hear about your crash. It's hard crashing your bird as you lose confidence in it. Remember - It's not the machine at fault! It's the operator! Ha! I learned that the hard way with RC Helicopters...

I couldn't agree more, it was completely my fault, flying above and beyond my experience, knowledge and confidence

Nice video by the way, you're brave flying that close to another heli

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Thanks mate! We should all meet up some time. When your bird is up and running fancy popping up North London? There's a few if us now. Mostly Helis but I only fly the F550.

 

[Jim in Massachusetts]

Thanks Ben for posting the photo of how you used foam above the large black GoPro mount to isolate vibration. Do you find this set up gets you better better photos and videos?

Do you launch by hand or from a ring to accommodate the
GoPro?

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hi Jim! I find it gets rid of most of the vibes. Not perfect. My vids come out fine.

Here's one from yesterday:

http://youtu.be/mLCTuQyMORo

Hope that worked. Bloody Tapatalk.

I launch from a small box (you can see it at the beginning of my vids). But I land in my hand. The Gopro is easy to grab.

Cool?

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hi Guys,

Had a go at filming a church a few weeks ago with my wife wearing the Fatsharks giving instructions. Went okay. Just trying the same few shots over and over. Gonna try using the GoPro as an FPV cam for the fisheye view. Tests well just need to try it for real.

Cheers!

 

[gadgetkeith]

hi there

just to let ya know the wifi app is now out in the app store

just found it yesterday

think its only been out a few days

keith

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hey There,

I've been plodding along flying every weekend and practising. My mum just got a nice house in the country so had a go at filming it. Planning on going S800 + Zenmuse/Nex-5 this year!

Cheers!

 

[agricola]

Greetings from Cornwall,

Keep posting the excellent videos, it reminds me of what I bought my F550 for. As I have only been flying since last Nov certainly not up to your standard yet, still learning to fly at about 20ft ! Although I have a gopro attached I have shot nothing that I would call worthy of posting, but one day I hope to have some.

All the best
Keith

 

[Aviator]

Yeah filming churches is fun