Phobotic Centerpiece Brushless Gimbal Controller

Thanks Samur. Second question......will Phobotic board calibrate if flying off a boat? Alexmos is pre calibrated and I can adjust horizon once airborne......so doesnt seem to effect it with the moving horizon on the deck of boat. Seems like I could calibrate on land....save the calibration stay powered on.......get on the boat....launch from boat? Strangely I find myself in these flying situations more often than not here.
 

There might be a problem as the CP contains a barometer in the center. I think it'll be damaged if you dip it in material. You can always cover it - it'll only be used for some future features.

Are you referring to heatshrinking the whole board? No problems with this....except could insulate and cause excessive heat? Not sure, please advise.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
use that hard plastic looking shrink like a lot of batteries and VTX's use, it doesn't insulate heat like the rubbery one.

I'm finally almost to the show with one, Sam, coming out of left field with no ear to the centerpiece, can you explain what this power conditioner i'm waiting for is and does?

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Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Kloner,

the power conditioner is to deal with a couple isolated issues of people damaging the board with battery over 3S (I used 4S successfully until the warning). The power conditioner will provide a "soft start" so that the components don't get the surge.
 



jfro

Aerial Fun
Just got back from 3 quick test flights. I'm very satisfied with the footage.

Learning a few idiosyncrasies on start up procedure (and shut down) with the Centerpiece (CP)

Today, I did 3- 8 minute flights changing batteries between each. Let my gimbal battery run down a little farther than previously and it was fine. Maybe 3.6 or 3.65 per cell. That was ok.

Footage was 100% usable on all flights with out any post stabilization.

Speaking here of calibration issues I am noticing.

Flight 1 everything as it should be. Calibrated, connected battery to MR. Flew.
Flight 2. Calibration was moving the camera around more than normal, and left the pitch off about 90 degrees. Straightened out pitch, re-calibrated and all was good.
Flight 3. Calibration went pretty normal, except at end, pitch was facing straight up. Fixed pitch, waited for blue light, and re-powered / re-calibrated as it should.

I notice that after landing, when I power down my MR (gimbal still powered up), my radio rx is also powered down, and when I go to disconnect the gimbal, the pitch is slowing rotating and off about 60-90 degrees by the time time I disconnect the wires. Next outing, I'll disconnect or shut off CP first. Guessing that will fix that issue.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw out my findings. Last 2 outings (about 8-10 flights) were all good. Horizon is good most of the time, but there is some drift on occasion.

Get some features on the CP and work out a few bugs and abnormalities, and I'm going to be one happy camper. When I started this hobby 18 months ago, I wanted great video. I think I've arrived. With some bug fixes, new features, and if it can be consistent and withstand the test of time, this is a winner. Couple little if's in there, but it's not a bad start.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Great to hear you are honing in on perfection.

I realize that that I have done several flights with the servo connected to the CP, but not the RX side. I only have pitch connected. Have been focused on other things - so just left the wire unplugged. Wondering of this would cause issues? I have had not pitch issues as much as the odd roll to the right upon liftoff - so I doubt it's related. But who knows.

Should ls get some tests in tomorrow.
 

Kloner,

the power conditioner is to deal with a couple isolated issues of people damaging the board with battery over 3S (I used 4S successfully until the warning). The power conditioner will provide a "soft start" so that the components don't get the surge.

Yep, exactly that. There is another option of the Adir BEC, which provides the same functionality but also includes a 3A 12v BEC and a 3A 5v BEC, together with a power switch controlling both BECs and the Centerpiece. It's stackable on the Centerpiece and a very elegant solution if you need 5v and 12v on your gimbal (and we all do).
 

Thanks Samur. Second question......will Phobotic board calibrate if flying off a boat? Alexmos is pre calibrated and I can adjust horizon once airborne......so doesnt seem to effect it with the moving horizon on the deck of boat. Seems like I could calibrate on land....save the calibration stay powered on.......get on the boat....launch from boat? Strangely I find myself in these flying situations more often than not here.

You can calibrate on ground, stop the gimbal using a button, leave the battery connected and start it again with a button when on the boat. This would yield optimal calibration.

We'll add a dedicated "boat mode" that would let you cold start from a boat, but like any other system (MoVI, AM) it's going to compromise the calibration.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
Does centerpiece not provide a 5v rail for the rx?

Got a link for this? searching what you wrote yields nothing on google.....


Yep, exactly that. There is another option of the Adir BEC, which provides the same functionality but also includes a 3A 12v BEC and a 3A 5v BEC, together with a power switch controlling both BECs and the Centerpiece. It's stackable on the Centerpiece and a very elegant solution if you need 5v and 12v on your gimbal (and we all do).
 


ovdt

Member
It doesn't provide 5v.

For angle limitation, you have to wait the 1329 firmware which is about to be released.
 


jfro

Aerial Fun
Hesitate to put this up, pretty boring. It was blowing pretty good today so I went up with the Centerpiece to check out how it would handle bouncing around in the wind... I probably wouldn't do much flying in this wind, but thought a little hovering around would work.

 
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slin

New Member
Hesitate to put this up, pretty boring. It was blowing pretty good today so I went up with the Centerpiece to check out how it would handle bouncing around in the wind... I probably wouldn't do much flying in this wind, but thought a little hovering around would work.

Looks Nice! What gibal are you flying?
 
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jfro

Aerial Fun
Looks Nice! What gibal are you flying?

GH3 on Eagle Eye 3 axis. 5208 on pitch, 6080mm motors on roll and yaw on 3s battery driving gimbal and video tx. X8 is a DIY about 850mm.

Have some yaw follow settings to tweak (think I'm too stiff now), but was told to hold off as they have reworked yaw follow in the new firmware which is going to be released very soon, if not today or tomorrow.
 




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