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January12th

1 Comment

BSRC MicroQuad FPV – Maiden Flight

Posted in: FPV, Multicopters, MultiWii

Started making the first tests of the MicroQuad for FPV.
The mod to the keychain camera really make it much cleaner and easy to install. I’ve made a cable for it that not only grabs the video out signal but also powers the camera.

At the moment as vTX I’m using a 1.2Ghz TX (20mW or so) that I had from a really old kit. It doesn’t provide a way to swap the channel but as it is super light it was the right choice for the MicroQuad. Still I was a bit disappointed with the performance, variations in voltage and temperature make it shift the frequency and loosing image quality.

Next stepp will try and find a 5.8Ghz TX to get better performance and range.

To prove that it works heres the video:

Download with Vixy | YouTube to MP3

Ignore the video quality as it was a very cloudy day and at 4pm there is almost no light. The image in the goggles was pretty clear and comparing with a GoPro it was actually very good.

Thumbs up for the latest 0.58 FW for the #16 keychain that allows video out with a aspect ratio of 4:3 that fills the full image on the goggles.

Impression as well as the lack of vibrations seen in the video, for such a small frame and running the 1811′s that are far from the the best motors (actually is possible to hear one running badly) the vibrations noticed were minimal.
December7th

No Comments

Keychain #16 v2 Camera AV-OUT conector mod

Posted in: Uncategorized

I was not that happy with using the USB conector to have the live Video out. Specially in the MicroQuad it becomes messy to make a clean install with it.

So I had to fix that.
Decided to open the camera a add a micro JST conector, similar to the ones I already use with other video TX’s. Making it easy to link this camera to any other video TX.

I opened it and solder the conector to the USB plug, so I can also have the option toe feed 5v into the camera while doing FPV.

And with all done this is the final result, tested and approved.
October18th

2 Comments

New release 0.4.9

Posted in: Android, MultiWii

Just posted a new update.

This new version 0.4.9 was basically to fix the pAlarm settings. Previoslly it was not setting the value
and the available range was not correct.

It now has a range of 0 – 5000 (this is expressed in mAh).

Have in mind that for this to work on the Mwc code it needs to be enabled if not the system will ignore
any value you try to set. One other note is that it used a scale value (default is 50) so the system will round
all values to multiples of this.
August15th

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Multiwii and I2C GPS

Posted in: Multicopters, MultiWii

One of the features I wanted to add was GPS support.
But I only use Promini Arduinos, those only have one serial port making it impossible to add
a normal GPS. The solution is to use it over I2C.

The I2C converter is nothing more that a minimal arduino, composed of a ATMega328.
This brings several advantages, one the obvious of been able to have GPS support when using a
Promini, the others that it allows to move the GPS data processing into the I2C so releasing
main IC from the GPS work. As well as it will have extra space for features like WayPoint navigation.

I decided to get the one available at RCTimer.

The GPS I also opt for the one they sell that is a breakout board for the u-Blox Neo-6M. Supposelly a good GPS in terms of accuracy. So far it seems to have only one disadvantage that is it misses a EEPROM. So data is losts when it powers down.

The board comes with a backup battery, but a MS621FE providing 50mah is nothing and soon it will loose the settings.
There is some workaround for this that I’ll detail soon along with the process to add it to a BOB MWC shield as well as how to configure the software.

Link: http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=763&productname=
August15th

7 Comments

New Release 0.4.4

Posted in: Android, Multicopters, MultiWii

A user at RCGroups reported that version 2.0 was not working.
After checking I found a simple error introduced on last updates but
that was preventing the data from been processed for this particular version.

So this release contains the fix to it as well as some other small fixes that
were waiting to be released.

[Release 0.4.4]
- Fix no data processing for Mwc 2.0
- Fix error in the device selection menu and no device is selected
- Improved graph refresh for versions <2.0
August2nd

2 Comments

New release 0.4.3

Posted in: Android, Multicopters, MultiWii

This is not a feature release but rather a bug fix.
Previous one had some issues with the slider and also with the connection management.
So all is fixed now (or I hope so).

So upgrade to this new one, in the mean time I’ll remove the access to the previous ones
to avoid anyone loading a broken release.

As always if there is any pending issue let me know so that I can address it.
July29th

8 Comments

New released pushed to the market. 0.4.1

Posted in: Android, Multicopters, MultiWii

Not much to add on this one, the support for 2.1 was added and the rest of the changes are internal and not
visible.

I’ve also added a auto-conection feature on read as long as there is a selected device.

[Release 0.4.1]
- Added support for Mwc 2.1
- Auto-connect on read.

Next release will be bigger and with much more changes. Including a much needed layout update. :)
July19th

5 Comments

Support for Multiwii 2.1 almost there…

Posted in: Android, Multicopters, MultiWii

For all the ones that have been asking the answers is…. Yes!

The support for the new protocol is almost ready, I should send soon the new updated version to the Android Market.

It should only bring support for 2.1 and no other major features, after this one I’m planning to send a second update that will provide a major revamp of the UI as well as a few other new features.
June24th

No Comments

Same mod to WM+ ITG3205.

Posted in: Multicopters, MultiWii

Had to try on this one as well.
The process was the same, trace the pins SDA/SCL and cut the traces that would go to the main IC and then solder direct wires.

Saw some mentioning that it wouldn’t work unless it was plugged to 3.3v but I got mine plugged to the Arduino D12 port as usual and it’s working fine.
June24th

No Comments

Trying WM+ ITG3200 mod.

Posted in: Multicopters, MultiWii

Had this clone stopped for quite some time because I couldn’t get it to work correctly.
I knew there was a mod that allowed to use the ITG3200 gyro sensor directly so finally I decided to try it.

I had to cut two traces directly bellow the yellow (SCL) and the green (SDA) wires. Other than that was just solder the wires to the resistors and enable the sensor in the MWC config along with disabling the internal pull-ups.

So far it’s working well. Only after some flying I’ll see if it was worth the work.