tiny 2.4GHz Receivers

Very impressive!

'Fly Electric' - 2.4GHz Receivers: "Technically, except for the converted receivers at the bottom of the list, all are based on the Cypress CYRF69103. The background colours in the table below indicate designs that are very similar. I have the bare PCB's"

Wiring multi-cell batteries

aasd

Diagrams posted by "byrum" at hobbyking in one of the battery reviews.

The power is in series.  Each pair of wires in the balance connector makes a circuit for one cell.

Park Flyer control rod: 1/32''

Control Horns Radical RC:

"These horns have holes correct for 1/32 wire commonly used in park fliers and F3P models."

And the right size for small servos such as 9g.

RC Balls of Steel, Gabriel2584 Edition

YouTube - FPV RPV na varanda - FPV on the balcony: "FPV RPV"

Greatest moments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiVJYBC53HA

FPV off the balcony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgWIdpegfuc

FPV through the tunnel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aIq8r4-m3c

Aerial RC shots of Hong Kong

Aerial Video Footage of Hong Kong - Slashdot:

"I did this in Hong Kong :) (Score:5, Interesting)
by bronney (638318)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtN1AtShkk0 [youtube.com]

Here's one closer to buildings :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrWyOJmEvY4 [youtube.com]"

Connector Chart

From:
CheapBatteryPacks.com / Custom Connector menu

CHEAP BATTERY PACKS (CheapBatteryPacks.com) Wholesale Battery pack source search.asp()

Zinc flux and solder for lipo packs (CheapBatteryPacks.com):

"Special zinc solder that when used with the special flux will stick to Aluminum. Use when building or repairing your own lipo packs."

RC Groups - View Single Post - Fans of Flite Test Corner (Non show specific)

Recommendation for starting FPV:

"$60
Camera, receiver, transmitter
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...dProduct=13438

$55
patch antenna
http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=20442

$5
antenna cable adaptor
http://www.testparts-store.com/produ...2d8672%29.html"

Electricity

Electricity:

* Basic Structure of Matter
o Elements
o Atom Models
* Electrical Charge
* The Free Electron
o The Valence Shell

What you need to know in order to understand semiconductors.

[Bare PCB] Arduino ProtoShield [Bare PCB] Arduino ProtoShield [BPC004] - $2.50 : iStore, Make Innovation Easier

[Bare PCB] Arduino ProtoShield: "The ProtoShield mates with the Arduino USB board and gives the user a small soldering area, two general LEDs, access to a BlueSMiRF socket, a general pushbutton switch, and most important of all - the Arduino reset switch is brought to the top level."

[Bare PCB] Arduino ProtoShield [Bare PCB] Arduino ProtoShield [BPC004] - $2.50 : iStore, Make Innovation Easier

[Bare PCB] Arduino ProtoShield [Bare PCB] Arduino ProtoShield [BPC004] - $2.50 : iStore, Make Innovation Easier: "The ProtoShield mates with the Arduino USB board and gives the user a small soldering area, two general LEDs, access to a BlueSMiRF socket, a general pushbutton switch, and most important of all - the Arduino reset switch is brought to the top level."

Standalone Arduino mini pin mapping | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Standalone Arduino mini pin mapping:

Nice and cheap Arduino.

Bare Bones Board Kit | Modern Device

Bare Bones Board Kit | Modern Device: "The Bare Bones Board (BBB) is an Arduino-compatible board (Freeduino) that implements the functionality of the Arduino Duemilanove/Diecimila, on a smaller printed circuit board, by removing the USB communications chip to another board."

The Basics - Very Basic Circuits

The Basics - Very Basic Circuits:

Pull-up and current-limiting resistors.

RC Groups - View Single Post - Max Ceiling?

RC Groups - View Single Post - Max Ceiling?:

Calculated probability of hitting an aircraft if you fly in
the landing zone of an airport.

"1 in 42 million"

Vendor: ImmersionRC

Trappy's FPV system:

Products - ImmersionRC: "EzUHF: UHF Radio Control system, designed for FPV and UAV flight.

- Reliable FHSS control system
- Integration with ImmersionRC's EzOSD, for on-screen feedback of uplink status
- Built-in headtracker port, for direct connection with most headtrackers
- Bidirectional-ready"

BEV-FY-20A II Flight Stabilization System

BEV-FY-20A II Flight Stabilization System

Lots of details on flight stabilization here.

"BEV-FY-20A measures the present flying attitude through the inertial platform which consists of three axis gyroscope and tri-axial accelerometer. when is under the balance controlling , BEV-FY-20A will control the pitch attitude through elevating rudder , the roll attitude through ailerons and stably the course through the rudder .when the flight attitude out of the level ,the balance apparatus will give relevant of auto control gains to help the plane back to horizontal flight . when is in the 3D mode , the balance apparatus induce the rolling speed of three axis through gyroscope ,to show the auto control gain through relevant control rudder and prevent the rolling of each axis .So the plane will maintain the current attitude."

Airspace Notes

Pandemonia  has lots of other interesting and useful information about "real" flying, especially in the Bay Area.

Class A airspace is tightly-controlled, instrument flying only, and above 18,000 feet. This tends to be where the jets are while cruising....

Class B airspace surrounds the biggest airports (like SFO). Class B airspace is tightly controlled, and usually very busy. Student pilots can't fly in Class B airspace without their instructor's explicit written endorsement [which I now have... HR].
Class C airspace surrounds busy airports like Oakland or San Jose. It's not quite as tightly controlled as Class B, but still has radar, full ATC services, etc. They let people like me fly in Class C.
Class D airspace surrounds smaller airports (like PAO or LVK) with a control tower, but not (usually) radar. Often very busy. Often scarier than class B or C because of the lack of radar....
Class E airspace is all controlled airspace that isn't one of the above. Most of the US airspace below 18,000 feet and not one of class A, B, C, or D is class E.
Class G airspace is uncontrolled airspace, typically just the lowest altitudes away from airports. There's not a lot of it in the Bay Area...."

Class B airspace generally looks like an upside-down wedding cake.

Teensy USB Development Board

Teensy:

"a complete USB-based microcontoller development system, in a very small footprint, capable of implementing many types of projects." 

It has it's own software environment, but can also run Arduino sketches using TeensyDuino:

Many type of sketches are able to run on the Teensy! The digitial I/O pins work with digitialWrite(pin,value), digitalRead(pin), and pinMode(pin,mode). The PWM pins can be used with analogWrite(pin,value). Eight (8) pins can be used as interrupts with attachInterrupt(). The Teensy++ has 8 analog inputs that can be used with analogRead().

BaronPilot Arduino based copilot autostabilizer with Nintendo Wii component (tricopter, quadcopter)

BaronPilot Arduino based copilot autostabilizer with Nintendo Wii component (tricopter, quadcopter): "This is a program to stabilize a multicopter (copilot), runs on microcontroller like Arduino or Teensy and only a wii motion plus, no other electronics needed. These project started April, 2010. Supported are planes, tricopter, quadricopter ( and x config), hexacopter (penta and coaxial). The self-leveling capability helps when doing FPV (first person view)."

NerdKits -- another approach to embedded electronics.

NerdKits are arduino-based, but programmed at the ATMEL level.  It comes with a chip instead of a board.  The xylophone kit for example is programmed using timer interrupts. Seems pretty good, the video tutorials are excellent.  Here's the basic kit.

Resistor Lead Forming Tool

Lead Bender

"Okay, you can bend your resistor leads by hand. We know. We all do it. But, resistor benders are fabulous for getting the leads bent squarely enough to go easily through the holes in your PCB or perf board. Silly? No, because it helps keep your board looking neat, and keeps the resistors from sticking too far above the board. If you are populating a circuit board with a lot of resistors, this tool can actually save you a lot of time. How? By making sure that your resistors are bent to exactly the correct length, so that they go through the hole on the first try, without any fuss. This is one of those tools that we never thought we needed until we got one."  

more arduino resources.

Evil Mad Science has the Diavolino, a low-cost Aduino-compatible board.

It's a low-profile through-hole version, with a simplified design. It's based on a ATmega328P microcontroller, and comes pre-flashed with the Arduino bootloader. Open source design, with bare basics hardware.

Diavolino is sold as an easy to assemble "through hole" soldering kit. Basic electronic soldering skill is required, and you provide the soldering tools: a soldering iron and solder, plus small wire clippers. Assembly time is typically 10-30 minutes, depending on configuration and soldering skill.

Brushless Motor Timing

The Future is Electric:

Good explanation of motor timing.

"For a long time now, the correct timing to use for brushless outrunner motors has been a problem because of all of the conflicting information available in both the print media (magazines & instruction sheets packed with ESCs) and the Internet."

Shop 3M: 3M Blenderm Tape 1525-1

Shop 3M: 3M Blenderm Tape 1525-1:

Direct from 3M:
"Box(s)/12 Rolls
Price: $15.75"

Sweet, as opposed to $5/roll retail!

San Francisco Bay Area - Soarheads

San Francisco Bay Area - Soarheads:

"'Soarheads' is an informal group of enthusiasts who enjoy flying radio controlled sailplanes in the San Francisco East Bay area. Soarheads fly regularly on Tuesdays at the Berkeley Marina."

Downloads

Downloads:

Downloads:

Thunder AC6 Battery Monitor Software, and Drivers:

(This software will work on other simular type chargers)

Battery Monitor Software

T6 Transmitter USB Drivers:

If you are having trouble with T6 config freezing using Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7. Try this driver.

USB Driver

This USB driver works on some systems.

CP210X.zip

If you lose your default transmitter settings.

T6 Default TX Settings

T6 recalibrate is a program that recalibrates your T6 transmitter.

T6Recalibrate.zip

Digital Radio is software that programs and recalibrates the T6.

Digital Radio

T6 Transmitter Mods

T6 Transmitter Programs

Servo Protocol Notes

• pulse is 1ms (full left) to 2 ms (full right).  1.5ms pulse is centered.
• pulse rate is typically 50 hz (ie, 50 pulses/sec)
• overpulsing can heat up analog servos
• QUESTION:  it seems digital servos don't have to be refreshed.  Do analog servos always have to be refreshed?  I tried sending a single pulse, and an HX-900 analog servo seemed to hold its position.  Perhaps I was doing something wrong?

Good Refs:
http://www.rcheliwiki.com/Servo_protocol