Starter FPV Tri for not-a-lot (but, more than I was hoping…)

[jimbo_wa]

Hi All (Noob alert!)

Been keeping tabs on the development of the Tricopter for almost two years now – I’ve had some experience with small heli’s which was just damned expensive 10 years ago and am now looking to build up a stock Mini Tri from David with the electronics pack. However, I’ve seen that Nase has a v6 board out now – will there be an update on the cards for the integrated frame or should I just buy separately (and as I’m learning does it matter)?

I already have 2S and 3S small LiPo’s (65-130C 1800 and 1300 respectively) as I’m learning I don’t need the extra corruption power of 4S (and I can serial attach 2x 2S in the future). I also have a Runcam 2 that I’d like to use as the FPV camera rather than carrying two units and was thinking of the below bits to complete my build:

Turnigy TGY-i10

Skyzone FPV Goggles 5.8GHz Dual Diversity 32CH Receiver With Head-Tracker (V2)

Quanum ELITE QE58-2 5.8GHz Selectable 25mW – 200mW Wireless AV Transmitter

In an ideal world I’d rather use an Android tablet for the FPV, but it just seems there’s nothing out there to do it except for a DJI offering

Am I in the right ballpark thinking 2S will be slow and steady? I do realise that a Frsky Tx/Rx will be better, but I really can’t justify double the cost for something that I’m not looking to go long range on whilst learning or my proposed usage once I can maneuver where I mean to and not by accident!

Thanks for looking and am giddy waiting for your responses!!

[biggestRCEfan]

I’m running the stock Mini with stock electronics pack. Instrongly suggest that you stick with recommended power options. 2S won’t fly, in my view, pardon the pun.

Not sure about v6 Naze and the integrated Naze frame. But I do know that the board David offers has plenty to offer, especially with the TriFlight software still developing. You would need to consider latency on the runcam if you want to fly fpv with it.

[jimbo_wa]

Thanks biggestRCEfan (puntastic!) – I’m more used to scale R/C trucks where volting up and gearing down is an easy way to get more wheel speed so was hoping that reversing that would apply to the Tri!

The Runcam 2 is really good on latency (over WiFi anyway) so I’m hoping that it would work OK – I’m really not into going super fast, I’d like to end up taking ‘dramatic’ sweeping panoramas and close range spying on the neighbours… 🙂

[superjoepez]

So im building my mini tri now and i made it a big point to not get the integrated board because i wanted to have the ability to use different ones.From this i have done a ton of research on the new naze32 rev6 and decided that it having built in memory for black box and built in sbus inverter makes it well worth the upgrade. This being said if your planning on using a high latency camera then sbus shouldent be a huge concern to you. The black box though can offer a ton of help when tunning and debugging the tri.

Good luck with your build!

[jimbo_wa]

Thanks superjoepez – I think that we’ve probably visited most of the same sites with the same thoughts then!

It’s really just the ease of setup with the integrated Naze32 that appeals due to my noob-ness, the extra features of an external v6 do appeal too. I’m sure a new version will come along in the future so it would be easy enough to swap out as required (and I’m now thinking I could get a second Tri at a later date to ‘share’ the joy in the family!)

[jimbo_wa]

Well the order has been placed for the Mini Tri and electronics package today and the TGY-i10 is being delivered today (£79 delivered was too good a deal to pass up).

Looking forward to firing up the soldering iron and creating a nuisance of myself in every way possible!

FPV will just have to wait for a few months until the money bags have replenished…

[Stefano]

I have a $100 (including camera) fpv setup that works nicely:

[jimbo_wa]

Thanks Stefano – I’m looking at the Quanum v2 goggles/Tx and Runcam Owl camera for around £100 including shipping from Banggood and I *may* have just found a cheap-ish set of Fat Shark Attitude v2/Tx/camera kit on eBay, but it depends if the seller accepts my offer…

Your setup looks like good and I was looking at monitors, but think goggles are potentially a smaller/simpler system to transport and operate?

If it all goes bad then I’ll just use the Runcam 2 WiFi to my mobile as a stopgap (it’s good latency and I want to keep it close to start with!)

[zero00zero]

Hey Jimbo_wa,

although some fatshark googles are sure nice to have, I can recommend the Quanum V2s as well. I am flying my quad and my Tri with them without any issues.

But please don’t even think about flying with your Runcam using the Wifi Link. At least if you really want to fly FPV with it. If you have good LOS skills and the video link is not necessary for you to fly, you can go ahead, of course. Problem with Wifi is not only the latency, but the time it takes to re-establish the connection ofter it broke. It’s not broadcasting like a 5.8Ghz link, but it’s directly connected to each other. So it might take ages to get the connection re-established. I think the Wifi Link is also only rated for a maximum of 10 meters. Also, if you think your Wifi link has a low latency you will be blown away by a 5.8Ghz one.

Better get a cheap 10€ TX from banggood and the Quanum V2 Googles from HK, and you will have much more fun with it.
Especially as your Runcam V2 can be used as a FPV cam with very good latency anyways (40-50ms). Just hook it up to your VTX and you don’t even need the runcam owl. (Although that thing seems nice as well)

Here the VTX/VRX I am using:
VTX
VRX
I got this one from Amazon for only 15€

[jimbo_wa]

Cheers zero00zero – I know you’re right, so I’ve purchased an Eachine 700TVL ET25 5.8G 32CH 25mW 7-24V Super Light Transmitter (from the UK so 25mW is the limit) from Banggood and will have to wait for the goggles as itlooks like a v2.5 or v3 of the Quanums are imminent…

[Rob]

Hi jimbo_wa – also a (UK) noob here…

Curious about the 25mW limit – assumed it was basically “ignored” most places? Am I a bad person for assuming this? 🙂

The reason I ask is because I just ordered the ImmersionRC 600mW tx for the tri-copter (which I ordered this weekend!!), and I’m not sure 600mW is legal in the US, let alone in EU/UK…

Since most of my bits and pieces are on a slow boat from China (and hopefully a faster boat from Sweden!), just wondering whether to source a UK legal tx from elsewhere whilst I impatiently wait…

[jimbo_wa]

Hi Rob – you really must be a bad person 😉

I’m not sure what effect a >25mW Tx will have and even if there’s anyone scanning the airwaves to check!

I’ve also got kit arriving from China (my Tri is waiting for me at work ATM), but was able to get the below bits from Banggood:

Eachine 700TVL ET25 5.8G 32CH 25mW

And as I’m now thinking of making my own goggles I purchased an Rx that should be OK too:

5.8G 32CH 2s~6s RX5832 Receiver

As to finding stuff in the UK, I’m really not aware of anywhere that’s affordable!

[Joost]

25mW is the legal limit in all EU afaik.

The difference between 25, 200 and 600mW is only noticeable in some specific instances. And higher power is detrimental if you are flying with more people simultaneously.
With the way transmitted power works is that 600mW only extends your range by a factor 1.6 over 200mW if you are using a circular polarized antenna, the ones you see used most often. But I’ve found and heard the range of 25mW is sufficient for most users.
Because 5.8Ghz has trouble penetrating any material, people flying in/through wooded areas with lots of trees or flying solo tend to prefer 600mW for the improved signal, still such simple things as the multirotor body being between the antenna and receiver can degrade the signal.
The reason people don’t worry so much about going over the limit is that the signal up time is very low (just when you’re flying compared to a wifi station being on 24/7), because it penetrates poorly a simple wall will block it thus it has a low chance of interfering with other applications and finally you generally want/tend to be flying away from urban areas in the first place.

Basically, unless you’re flying in (thick) woods, or want to fly really far using a directional receiver like David, you don’t really need 600mW. If you have clear LoS and fly no more then a few hundred meters away from your receiver 25mW is quite sufficient, and much better for group flying. Most of the people here in the Netherlands were first quite annoyed by the 25mW limit, but as more and more people started flying together people actually became bigger fans of the 25mW transmitters, especially with raceband channel seperation, as it gives less crosstalk. Even the cool kids like BorisB, MetalDanny & co.

Compounding this is that in at least in the Netherlands flying FPV in the first place is technically illegal since any RC pilot is required my law to retain LoS to the model during flight, which is impossible if you’re wearing goggles or looking at a screen. As laws & views are currently changing to accommodate the new tech this probably will change at some point.

[jimbo_wa]

Many thanks Joost – quality info and actually made more sense than what I’ve read in t’interweb!

[Terje]

Bruce has an interesting piece on the Fresnel zone – indicating that money is better spent on a quality directional antenna on the receiver than on a high power transmitter? (Low power is less prone to introduce multipathing since the reflected signal is easier absorbed by obstacles)

[Author]

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