Hello !
I have been very busy with work and the weather has not been flyable here in Connecticut.
Anyway, I had my 1st flights today, I think it went great ! (Huge thanks to The Green Orange and Jerry !)
So here is how I got here:
When I originally decided to get into FPV I started to do my research like we all do, Having flown RC helis for many years, I already had the mindset to use what the "Pro's" use for my jump into FPV.
I had gone thru my growing pains in RC Helis , of buying entry level equipment and then out growing it, while I still believe that it is the way to go if you have never been into RC before, My humble opinion is that if you know you are in it for the long haul, go with what whomever you are inspired by fly's, they are flying it for a reason.
With that being said I was inspired by the Rotor Riot crew, while my intent is not to be diving huge buildings, I do want to be able to rip up a small course or power loop some big ole tree's.............
Soooooo, I ordered up an Alien 5", Tramp VTX, the Run Cam Swift camera, The KISS FC with the Kiss ESC's, Lumineir motors, and away I went.......
I followed the You Tube videos that Rotor Riot made for building the Alien, programming both the FC and The Taranis.
Installing the GUI on my laptop was very easy (Windows 8 machine, I could not get the Chrome version of the KISS GUI to work, so I installed the Windows 64 stand alone version), Then I upgraded the KISS FC to the latest stable version, flashed the ESC's to the latest version and that was that, very, very easy.
And just as Chad said, with stock PID's the machine flys very well, l have to say . I believe that was an understatement on his part, my machine , built to his specs and programmed with stock PID's is an incredible flight experience, it turns like it is on rails and hovers like a rock
However flying a quad LOS required a rapid reassessment of exactly how far away I would be able to go during LOS flying,
It is extremely hard to tell what the orientation is, Once I found a distance that was comfortable for me, I just took some time to get the feel of the machine, by my 3rd pack I was doing rolls and flips at ten feet, the machine is an ABSOLUTE dream to fly ! No oscillations what so ever with the stock PIDS.
And I also found out by the 2nd pack that acro is the only way for me to fly, I think level mode is still great for learning and should be used to get the feel for hovering and basic forward flight, but get into acro as soon as you can you will be thankful you did, just go slow and get comfortable........
Pack number 4, lets put the goggles on and see what happens..................
I set up a chair, put an orange construction cone 30 feet in front of me, and put my quad 30 feet out beyond the cone (just like the tutorial on the FPV Academy Youtube channel) and off I went...............well not really, As soon as I powered up, the machine was a little off level and I rolled it right over, and over and over........man this goggle stuff is tough...........
At this point I grabbed the floor mat out of my truck used it as a pad and sat in the chair again, throttled up..........and rolled it yet again........now I'm like what the heck......OK, lets try level mode..........Ah, OK this is better, I can get into the air now........now lets try hovering again....holding altitude about 3 feet........going good.......lets try and move around a bit..........not to bad.......but feels like I'm in molasses......I think the gyro is fighting me to keep the machine level.......... of course it is, that it's job !!!
OK, lets try Acro mode again while in the air........OK, I can move around better, left, right, forward, back........900 MAh alarm, lets land and change packs.............
Next pack I try and lift off again in acro mode, but this time I make the commitment, and not try and "baby" it into the air..........SUCCESS !.....I'm hovering.......well I'm holding to within a a 10 foot circle..........900 MAh alarm.............. dam.....no more packs, oh well, I think we have done enough for today........
It's really weird looking at yourself through the camera, but until I have quite a few more flights under my belt, I like the idea of knowing where I am, not knowing whats behind or off to the side's is gonna take a little getting used too.........................OK, that's it, time to go home and eat.
As a side note, I was diagnosed with MS several years ago,
As a result, my left leg doesn't work as good as my right one, walking is a tough deal, especially on grass or on uneven ground, and my left hand dexterity is not what it used to be, it feels stiff all the time, like when the weather is very cold outside, I share this in the hopes that if there is another person out there reading this that has any kind of physical challenges, DO NOT LET THAT STOP YOU FROM GETTING INTO THIS AWESOME HOBBY !
Take your time and stick with it, I know I'm going too...................
Danny Z
I have been very busy with work and the weather has not been flyable here in Connecticut.
Anyway, I had my 1st flights today, I think it went great ! (Huge thanks to The Green Orange and Jerry !)
So here is how I got here:
When I originally decided to get into FPV I started to do my research like we all do, Having flown RC helis for many years, I already had the mindset to use what the "Pro's" use for my jump into FPV.
I had gone thru my growing pains in RC Helis , of buying entry level equipment and then out growing it, while I still believe that it is the way to go if you have never been into RC before, My humble opinion is that if you know you are in it for the long haul, go with what whomever you are inspired by fly's, they are flying it for a reason.
With that being said I was inspired by the Rotor Riot crew, while my intent is not to be diving huge buildings, I do want to be able to rip up a small course or power loop some big ole tree's.............
Soooooo, I ordered up an Alien 5", Tramp VTX, the Run Cam Swift camera, The KISS FC with the Kiss ESC's, Lumineir motors, and away I went.......
I followed the You Tube videos that Rotor Riot made for building the Alien, programming both the FC and The Taranis.
Installing the GUI on my laptop was very easy (Windows 8 machine, I could not get the Chrome version of the KISS GUI to work, so I installed the Windows 64 stand alone version), Then I upgraded the KISS FC to the latest stable version, flashed the ESC's to the latest version and that was that, very, very easy.
And just as Chad said, with stock PID's the machine flys very well, l have to say . I believe that was an understatement on his part, my machine , built to his specs and programmed with stock PID's is an incredible flight experience, it turns like it is on rails and hovers like a rock
However flying a quad LOS required a rapid reassessment of exactly how far away I would be able to go during LOS flying,
It is extremely hard to tell what the orientation is, Once I found a distance that was comfortable for me, I just took some time to get the feel of the machine, by my 3rd pack I was doing rolls and flips at ten feet, the machine is an ABSOLUTE dream to fly ! No oscillations what so ever with the stock PIDS.
And I also found out by the 2nd pack that acro is the only way for me to fly, I think level mode is still great for learning and should be used to get the feel for hovering and basic forward flight, but get into acro as soon as you can you will be thankful you did, just go slow and get comfortable........
Pack number 4, lets put the goggles on and see what happens..................
I set up a chair, put an orange construction cone 30 feet in front of me, and put my quad 30 feet out beyond the cone (just like the tutorial on the FPV Academy Youtube channel) and off I went...............well not really, As soon as I powered up, the machine was a little off level and I rolled it right over, and over and over........man this goggle stuff is tough...........
At this point I grabbed the floor mat out of my truck used it as a pad and sat in the chair again, throttled up..........and rolled it yet again........now I'm like what the heck......OK, lets try level mode..........Ah, OK this is better, I can get into the air now........now lets try hovering again....holding altitude about 3 feet........going good.......lets try and move around a bit..........not to bad.......but feels like I'm in molasses......I think the gyro is fighting me to keep the machine level.......... of course it is, that it's job !!!
OK, lets try Acro mode again while in the air........OK, I can move around better, left, right, forward, back........900 MAh alarm, lets land and change packs.............
Next pack I try and lift off again in acro mode, but this time I make the commitment, and not try and "baby" it into the air..........SUCCESS !.....I'm hovering.......well I'm holding to within a a 10 foot circle..........900 MAh alarm.............. dam.....no more packs, oh well, I think we have done enough for today........
It's really weird looking at yourself through the camera, but until I have quite a few more flights under my belt, I like the idea of knowing where I am, not knowing whats behind or off to the side's is gonna take a little getting used too.........................OK, that's it, time to go home and eat.
As a side note, I was diagnosed with MS several years ago,
As a result, my left leg doesn't work as good as my right one, walking is a tough deal, especially on grass or on uneven ground, and my left hand dexterity is not what it used to be, it feels stiff all the time, like when the weather is very cold outside, I share this in the hopes that if there is another person out there reading this that has any kind of physical challenges, DO NOT LET THAT STOP YOU FROM GETTING INTO THIS AWESOME HOBBY !
Take your time and stick with it, I know I'm going too...................
Danny Z