What multi for professional work?

[jes1111]

Making everything black looks cool but when black equipment is hard to find when it's stuck in a tree, crashed in high grass, at the bottom of a stream, etc.

Blimey! We agree twice in the space of a few posts

Making everything black also increases solar heat gain. When I was photographing outdoors in the south of Portugal (think California levels of sunshine) I had to make a bracket for my tripod to attach one of those little baby-stroller umbrellas - if I didn't the damn black camera got dangerously hot in five minutes flat. (Digital sensors don't like being hot - increases noise)

 

[rilot]

That octa looks awesome. Love the gimbal.

 

[midnight999]

Hi Rilot, were using the Vulcan commercially, here's a recent vid we have done http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u6pruwTCqk it's a great frame and as said you will get good service from Alex, we do video and still photography.

 

[rilot]

It looks like it's going to be a toss-up between a Vulcan and a S800. Both have pluses and minuses.

 

[midnight999]

It looks like it's going to be a toss-up between a Vulcan and a S800. Both have pluses and minuses.

What do you consider the minuses for the Vulcan?

 

[rilot]

What do you consider the minuses for the Vulcan?

I need to build it myself
This isn't a problem per-se but the S800 is very compact and easy to work on as it's designed to take the WKM and has specific places for everything.
With the Vulcan I will need to do a lot more messing about and tuning, not to mention selecting all the right motors, esc etc.
Many would consider this a plus for the Vulcan, I do and don't.

The way I see it:

S800 plusses:
Off the shelf
Fast to get up and running
Simple build
Lots of users so plenty of info
Easier to transport

Vulcan plusses:
Infinitely configurable
I can select motors and escs that match the job I want to do
Cheaper

S800 minuses:
Not very configurable
Parts sometimes hard to get
Expensive

Vulcan minuses:
Will take a long time to get in the air
More tuning required
Infinitely configurable

Notice how I've listed infinitely configurable as both a plus and a minus for the Vulcan. With the S800 I have 1 motor and ESC choice. With the Vulcan I can agonise about motors forever. However, it does mean that once I get it in the air I can change motors if I'm not happy with the performance.

As I'm looking to fly commercially I will need to get qualified. How much of the multi can I change before I have to re-submit my manual and re-take the flight exam? This is something that doesn't seem to be clear at all. Some say "nothing" others say as long as I keep it as the same configuration (quad, hex etc) then it's fine. At least with the S800 I can't change much and then fall foul of regulations.

Aaaarrrggg! Decisions decisions.

 

[CrashMaster]

If the S800 is within your price range I would seriously consider it for what you want: It has a stock setup so no need to experiment with or justify any varying hardware or configuration. Documented build so more easily passed certification. Proven track record - although there have been problems I would hope that buying a, mostly, already build means a lot of the issues with a self build will be ruled out. Finally there are, literally, thousands of them already flying so a wealth of brains to pick if you run into problems with it.
The Pluses you list for the Vulcan can also be negatives:
'Infinitely configurable' This means a potential armful of cash wasted on experiments and time wasted and potential crash damage if some of the attempts fail.
'I can select motors and escs that match the job I want to do Cheaper' Likewise as above.

I am not knocking the Vulcan just that unless you know exactly what you want and need, and your knowledge and experience of all the components is better than most you could hold up your certification for ages and cost twice as much as an S800 before you start.

 

[jes1111]

I am not knocking the Vulcan just that unless you know exactly what you want and need, and your knowledge and experience of all the components is better than most you could hold up your certification for ages and cost twice as much as an S800 before you start.

I'm shortly embarking on the UK certification process myself so I'm intrigued by the highlighted statement. I understood that craft under 20kg are not "type tested", i.e. they are not held to the construction/build/airworthiness regulations/standards that larger craft would need to satisfy. So why might a "DIY" machine be more difficult to certify?

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

It's not. As long as you know your system you will be fine.

 

[rilot]

I think he's referring that due to the build time and tuning time it could be a longer process to get to the point where you have a fully dialed in platform to do the flight exam with.

 

[midnight999]

Alex willhelp you with the gain settings, he suggested mine and I've never had to change them, works perfectly. I had the same dilema myself over the S800 but in the end there was just too much out there about problems, went with the Vulcan and never regretted it. We will possibly be adding another 2 craft shortly and they will both be Vulcans.

 

[CrashMaster]

Just to put a spanner into everyone's works I have been doing a little looking about and came up with this the 8XY Sky-Hero Spyder - http://www.sky-hero.com/Sky-Hero_Spyder.html The bigest advantage of an 8 is the redundancy the biggest failing is the size and storage or transportation. This option looks an excellent way around that and retaining the redundancy available with an 8 and giving the lifting power too over a quad or hex.

Sky-Hero Spyder 1000mm

It looks excellent and with 22 mins flight time for an Octi that is very good

Sky-Hero Spyder 700mm

 

[Scott Drysdale]

What do others think of the following added safety feature for professional MR work?

For professional work I am inclined to follow the the fail safe design concepts of the Industrial automation world, i.e., the control system needs a very reliable power supply that is separate from the motor power supply. I don't see this in the MR world yet and it needs to be seriously considered because sudden high current draw on motor can cause a brown-out condition and FC system reboot during flight if you are lucky which also means a loss of the RTH GPS position. To achieve this with professional MRs the DJI PMU or equivalent that provides lower voltage control system power should be used to trickle charge a smaller capacity/lower voltage control system battery which is in parallel with the FC power input leads. This strategy eliminates the need to manually keep track of the FC battery during and between flights.