2 part Qs from a noob. Just a thought building a longer flight time fpv rc heli

[Panda_stunter]

Has anyone ever making a hybrid setup? A simple one. Not like how hybrid cars r set, that's too complicated for a small payload rc heli.

My idea would be running the rc heli powered by battery, but at the same time, the battery will be charged by a small gas powered motor? I might just be an idiot running off my mouth since I'm a newb here...don't even have an rc heli yet...just toy ones that can be replaced by buying a whole new one.

But because of those little micro rc heli, I'm researching into the bigger toys. And since I'm also a videographer, aerial shots on my short films would add depth to it.

With all the thing I want to be on-board with my "ideal" heli, I'm guessing its gonna cost me a pretty penny. But for my project, it would take a long period of time building my ideal heli.

I know some of u guys would say, learn how to fly ur heli (or hell, whichever verbatim is more common) first before u put any kind of still/video equipment on to the rig. Yes, I will be doing that that why I'm looking for a good beginner heli...most likely a second hand heli so if I crash it, it's no skin off my back.

Anyways, I need help on building my ideal heli. I'm not gonna say cost doesn't matter coz it does...but basically, what I'm asking from u guys is spend my money.

With the knowledge that u guys r armed with, building from scratch, with a payload of a gopro hero3, streaming live for FPV flying. Please give me the full unabashed list that I would need...from the tail, to the engine, to the screws needed, to the electronics needed to fly fpv. Everything. The full list.

Be creative. I'm not looking for cheap short range fpv flying, and I'm also not looking for $10000 rig.

I'm looking to use it for videography/aerial photography...that's why I asked on the first part of this post if anyone has thought or even done a hybrid engine. Or a continuous recharge of the battery using static/brush of the rotor blades or a hybrid system of powering it by battery and continuously being recharged by a gas engine. But that might be a farfetched idea anyway. For all I know, the gas charger might even just dead weight on the heli.

But as for rig construction project idea, be creative and list everything that I would need for an rc heli flying fpv, with a gopro hero3 as its payload.

Thanks guys and gals!

[Panda_stunter]

I forgot to say, that the gopro hero3 is the video I want to use...for now. In the future, I want to strap a dslr (canon 60D) into the rig. So weight difference will be a lot.

Gopro hero3 is what I would use for now since the weight is negligible. But with a dslr with a 50mm fixed lens, it will be 5x the weight of a gopro...at least.

[sl4ppy]

The weight of an electric engine, battery a gas engine and fuel would make this prohibitively difficult.

Never mind all the oil the nitro engine would spray all over your electric stuff. A gasser motor would be waaaaaay too heavy.

[jlharv]

I was thinking about getting a Hero 3 as well to use for FPV streaming. From what I have read it has a pretty bad lag that makes it unusable.

I have used my Hero 2 and it works pretty well.

[sl4ppy]

The Hero3 only has live video out via HDMI. FPV requires analog video.

[Wesley888]

You can buy a HDMI-Analog converting for about $20-$30.

[killua]

The real idea of the hybrid is to recuperate lost energy. The electric motor is a lot more efficient than the nitro motor, but the energy density of nitro is higher. By running them together in whatever form or function, isn't strictly making up for lost energy, just making heavier. Cars are easier to do, because the only energy that is recovered is the braking energy which would normally end up as heat. Turbo cars use the wasted energy of the exhaust to make up for lost energy. But helis use all their energy to stay in the air, so making the components more efficient is waaaayyyy easier than trying to win back the energy that is lost. Cars have already gone this route, and the internal combustion engine is as efficient as it can be without external components, thats why they are working on external components now.

Sorry for rambling, but my point is, rather work on fundamentals like making it as light as possible. Example, it is cheaper to use a Sony Nex or mirrorless camera than the heavy 60d. Use the lowest head speed possible. Save weight on every component, etc... This might not be as fun, but mostly trying to do anything funny will just make things worse...

By the way, batteries charge at much slower rates than they deliver, so you would only be able to postpone the battery dying by fraction of the flight time, but if I was a betting person, I would say flight time would decrease... If it was even able to lift off the ground.

Hope this helps


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


Edit: Also, starting from scratch, I would go for big flybarless nitro, which should have the best power to weight.

[Panda_stunter]

Ive thought as much, but the thought of a hybrid heli would be cool as hell! The idea of flight times doubling or even tripling would be sweet. But like u said, the drain outweighs the charged...and the oil spit from a gasser engine would be everywhere. It was just a thought.

Anyways, now for the ideas for a build on an electric heli flying fpv, anyone wants to make a full list?

[sl4ppy]

Originally Posted by Wesley888

You can buy a HDMI-Analog converting for about $20-$30.

Looks like there's this too.

http://www.readymaderc.com/store/ind...oducts_id=1152

but notice the gotcha.

"This will work as an FPV video feed, but we've noticed low framerate (15fps) and a delay of at least 150ms with the HERO3 analog video output."

[Windbreaker]

You might want to take a look at a 700-sized helicopter powered by a 2-stroke gas engine. No oil being spit and longer flight durations.

They're big, heavy and noisy, tho.

Or.... you can wait until silicon nanowire technology batteries hit the market. 10 times more capacity than present technology. There are other nanotechnology batteries coming along as well.

http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/ne...s-gets-closer/

[Panda_stunter]

So is there anyone gonna put their parts list on whats needed to build an fpv rc heli? The hybrid set up is scrapped...for now, at least until I get more technical in building an electric rc heli.

What would I need to build a full rc heli, (450 class or higher) that's fpv that can stream and record the flight since it will be used for aerial videography. Fpv a must, and hd video is a must as well. Gopro is in the running for video duties, but if there's another video medium that is also HD that is lightweight to conserve battery life and elongate flight time, I'm all ears to it.

Anyone?

[Hawk404]

If I had it to do over, I'd skip the helicopter part altogether. Get a quad or hex with the GPS option and you wont have to endure all the pain and agony of learning to fly a 3D thing ill suited to the task at hand.

I probably wasted the price of a full boat dragonflyer on stuff that still hasn't left the ground while waiting for me to put another several hundred hours into the simulator.

I've been buzzing around on a Flame Wheel F550 w/Naza and GPS. A TBS quad with FPV and separate Gopro is inbound. At least it's as complete as I could order it. There's probably other "mostly done" options but the Team Black Sheep was easy to find.

If you like the TBS Discovery it'll be a relatively easy jump to something that'll hoist a DSLR. It'll cost more than the gopro / separate FPV rig but it'll still be cheaper and easier to build and fly than a DSLR gimbaled helicopter. Even with 6 or 8 motors the multi won't be anywhere near as complex as a helicopter.

[jolyboy]

Originally Posted by sl4ppy

The Hero3 only has live video out via HDMI. FPV requires analog video.

Analog video-out is available via a pin on the USB on the hero 3. RCG has a thread about his, lag time isnt an issue, as a few guys are using the hero 3 for FPV. The main issue was firmware stability, meaning one guy crashed his quad due to the camera freezing. Not sure if this issue has been fixed, but there has been new firmware released since then so your chances are looking good

[sl4ppy]

Sadly, all of the crashing and freezing issues have existed since GoPro one.

The easiest and best solution is to skip using the GP as live video out. It has never worked reliably; just surf some of the dedicated FPV sites and you'll see droves of new pilots being scolded for even attempting to use a GoPro as their live feed...

Here's the creator of EzUHF on the suect just today.
http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread....l=1#post191596


...never mind that the pictures is terrible compared to the ccd/CMOS cameras.

I've been doing FPV for just about a year with hundreds of flights. I would *never* use a GoPro as my live flight video.

[jolyboy]

Originally Posted by sl4ppy

Sadly, all of the crashing and freezing issues have existed since GoPro one.

The easiest and best solution is to skip using the GP as live video out. It has never worked reliably; just surf some of the dedicated FPV sites and you'll see droves of new pilots being scolded for even attempting to use a GoPro as their live feed...

Here's the creator of EzUHF on the suect just today.
http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread....l=1#post191596


...never mind that the pictures is terrible compared to the ccd/CMOS cameras.

I've been doing FPV for just about a year with hundreds of flights. I would *never* use a GoPro as my live flight video.

+1, I always wondered why poeple are doing this when a decent CCD camera is damn light and easy to set up. A sony super HAD is $50 compared to possibly more from crashing due to a locked up gopro

[Windbreaker]

Get a QAV500. It's well suited to FPV and the website has an entire parts listing.

If you use an OpenPilot CC3D board, there's even published settings that will get you off to a flying start... literally. No need to re-invent the wheel and no guesswork.

http://www.fpvmanuals.com/2012/05/01/qav500/

Build details and tuning settings: http://juzfpv.com/QAV500.html