DIY drone (Part Two) | S500 | Pixhawk | FPV Quadcopter |

[@benjien2007]

Great build. Now I know there are much more local builders of drones.

[@JustBarran]

its always good to know it has more people into the hobby. Nice to meet you bro.

[@benjien2007]

@@JustBarran I normally 3d print my frames.

[@JustBarran]

That’s so cool. Man i really wana to get a 3d printer. When u do I know who I contacting.

[@programminginflip-flops6857]

you were so confident that it would fly, if it was me assembling it I would be 99% sure that it would start digging a hole instead

[@JustBarran]

Hahahahahah 😂😂😂 there are more drones in the ground than there are drills in the sky, just saying 😂😂

[@charlesgoehring3445]

Lots of good info in these two videos. Thanks

[@JustBarran]

I Appreciate the comment 🙌🏽

[@chrismb7]

finally, its about time.

[@JustBarran]

Sorry

[@IeuanBevan.]

Great stuff, really want to get my hands on the pixhawk 4, but trying to understand it as best as I can for my own project. If you don't mind two questions i got if you could help, if you know, am I right in saying the pixhawk supply's power to the GPS and receiver? (Not the USB or servo rail) Also when it comes to the servo rail, it says max input voltage is 36v. So am I right in saying I could potentially connect 3 12v car batteries up in parrell to make 36v...and then connect that directly to the servo rail with no problems?

[@usmanmohammed8949]

Everytime i watch one of your video, it just reminds me how much i need to get a proper soldering station going :D

[@JustBarran]

Usman Mohammed let me know your price range and I could advise you

[@jackroberts8674]

This was so helpful! Am just getting started with autonomous drones and this helped a ton!

[@JustBarran]

Awesome let me know how it goes, I want to make an autonomous agriculture drone later in the year but work and other stuff keep gettin in the way

[@daviddrysdale8866]

A good friend of mine is from Trinidad - a lovely bloke - lives in London - same accent as you 😂 - Great Folk to know !

[@JustBarran]

Hahahah trinis all over the world, 🥰🥰

[@bluecavemen]

I have a problem with my drone not taking off. i make sure my motors are spinning as your video says and put the props correctly. but i noticed something that you mention that the ESC are not important your ESC is set to normal why is it not set to Dshot300? as for the RC you mention is should be the opposite. on the RC should go up and Mission planner should go down. im starting to think my throttle could be the backwards. how can i test if my throttle is backwards without having to damage my drone is there any other way like in my parameters?

[@desmondwickham4059]

Dope stuff. Keep it up man. Reppin tnt

[@JustBarran]

Thanks man 🙌🏽 just doing want I love

[@tristancairnsphotography1022]

Do you mind sharing your PID settings for this drone? I've having a hard time getting the drone to stabilize quickly when stopping. My settings cause the drone to wobble really bad.

[@AASSDD2022]

Hi there ! Nice video (and better ending). Could you please let me know how much time does the battery last? (couldn't understand exactly what you said about it at 20:00, english is not my language) I see you used just one battery, could I use two and have more time on the air? Last question, do you know how much payload does it support? Thank you so much for your patience and for share it with us! Regards.

[@JustBarran]

My country now opening back after covid so I wana try and go out and fly and do a follow up video about your questions soon. I got about 6 minutes on my flight in this video mainly because I had the automatic return home voltage set really high because I did not want to make any chances and this is a old battery I am using. I estimate it should normally last about 3 times about 18mins with a 5000mah that but I that is still to be tested. Now there is a point in drones where more batteries doesn’t mean more flight time. It has to do with the power to weight ratio. So sometimes a smaller battery is better. As for the payload right now I have a 2 axis gimbal (230g) and a GoPro hero 4 black (88g) together weights about 220 grams. So I would say it can definitely lift 250 grams with out a problem. Note the heavier the payload would also affect the flight time. Hope this helps and I’ll try to test out the limitations of the drone soon.

[@AASSDD2022]

@@JustBarran Hi Barra, thanks for your prompt reply. Really appreciate it. Im sorry and hope not to bother you, but another question that came up watching your first video (I watched you backwards) is: as I won't need to control manually the drone, because I will previously load paths to controller, would I still need to get a RC? For my project, I am also considering to attach a Raspberry Pi to drone (for process images on real time) so I guess I will have there another communication option, where RC won't be necessary. Right? Sorry to bother you, but I have to be sure before buying as in my country is not that easy to get stuff from outside and any little mistake could stuck me for a couple of months between purchases. Thanks !!

[@JustBarran]

Hey man it no problem. I actually have plans to do something similar l, well at lease I want to. I have some raspberry pi 4 lying around. I would recommend to still get a controller just to make sure your drone flies and make sure you are getting stick inputs. Now you don’t need the controller as you can use and Arduino/ the pi to simulate a controller into the flight controller. So to answer your question you don’t need the controller but I highly recommend you get one just for testing and debugging purposes. That’s my personal opinion.

[@JustBarran]

Also like you it take months for me to get parts do I feel your pain. I tend to do a lot of research for the same reason. #trinidadandtobago

[@AASSDD2022]

@@JustBarran Thanks for your answer dude! I will let you know any news in my project. I will give it a shoot without RC, but will get one if needed later on. Regards!

[@chandelrohit1981]

Super !!! Could you tell more abt how to identify cw and CCW motors and props... I did mistake in my build some 6 months back n broke one yr f them... After seeing ur video hav ordered again... But pls explain lil more on props direction and setup of the ardupilot

[@JustBarran]

Generally props would have “ccw” “cw” writen on them, or they would have arrow. But you can also spin them in on a nail and you can feel the breeze. There is normally a top side which would tell u the breeze should be blowing the other way. As for Ardupilot. You need mission planner links are in the description I am planning a follow up video do stay tune. Illl try to explain more about props and ardupilot so stay tune.

[@chandelrohit1981]

I hav flysky I 6s... Which has throttle gimble return to mid position... Do you think it's necessary to make it manual like 6s as told by many others ?

[@JustBarran]

@@chandelrohit1981 yes and no, it depends on how conscious you are about it. For arducopter, to enable the motor, you have to pull the stick down and to the right. So you start off with the stick down anyways. You need to make sure you don't let go because the drone would just shoot up into the sky. If you can determine the hover level of your drone and set it to the middle position then ideally. Every time you let go, the drone should just hover.

[@JDRCUSTOMFABANDPAINT]

Best. 🍾🍾

[@JustBarran]

More to come

[@JDRCUSTOMFABANDPAINT]

Nicely. I’m waiting to see some epic shots from the drone.

[@dumbitkiller5075]

hi, i have a very big problem nothing works except i have loaded the firmware plus calibrate the accelerometer plus compass and after nothing works i want to test the motors and its said that autopilot refuses. it's been more than 10 hours that i have try to make it work and its not working at all ..... yet I have 2 racing drones that I programmed with BetaFlight not its step was too long. with glider mission its plant most of the time and it is reconnects 1 time out of 10. do you have a solution? besides that I do not speak English I am writing to you with google translate. Thank you!

[@JustBarran]

Google translate is fine bro, yea I know beta flight is easier. You can message me via my Facebook page and we can trouble shoot. The fact that You was able to calibrate the sensor is great. Sometime you may have to calibrate the motor or it might have interference which prevents the drone from arming. Also make sure that you do not have the flight mode on anything that requires a gps lock. Try and have the flight mode set to stability to test the motors. Also make sure their are no blades on the motors.

[@franktfrisby]

Good stuff man. I would love to start building drones.

[@JustBarran]

Once you start it does get addicting

[@sagar_bhure]

Just a question: Does this setup have a 4g dongle? to control from server. Nice work though

[@JustBarran]

Hey man sorry no. The way to do that would prob be to get a 4g module and a microcontroller (something fast like a samd21) to get the telemetry data from the pixhawk and simulate stick movements. Not primarily I don’t think it supports 4g off the bat

[@pratikgauns5091]

Why was the flight time so less even with 5000mAh battery ?

[@JustBarran]

so i did a follow up video kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoq2mYihbNyCfZI with the benchmark of the drone. The 5000mAh Battery am using there is old (3+ Years) so I think it is not that great, also I had the return home voltage set to 10.6V which is pretty high and lastly with the gimbal and GoPro there is a lot of weight. The video transmission system also runs off the same battery. You can check out my new video where I test the flight time and max payload. I was able to get 12min flight time on a 3200mAh battery. I plan to do another test in the coming weeks by combining my two 3200mAh batteries to see if 6400mAh would give me 24mins

[@dumbitkiller5075]

Good evening I would have two questions is that I can use my gopro camera on the gimbald under the drone for camera on my google or on my Android tablet. the signal is it better in 5.8 g or em 915Mhz or simply use the 2.

[@JustBarran]

I don’t full understand the question because it’s in not in the proper parts. But yes u can use ur GoPro on the gimbal, if you have a hero 4 it has a special cable you can get that send the video out as a analog signal and can be transmitted over 5.8g transmitter. You can use the GoPro WiFi but I think you would be limited to only like 30meters.

[@TheShostopper29]

Can you please explain how you integrated the camera and the OSD display with the Pixhawk?

[@JustBarran]

ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-minim-osd-quick-installation-guide.html You can use this guide it really good. I using a MinimOSD board that links the camera, the pixhawk and the video transmiter together. If you want me to do a video on this I can put one out maybe next month but the guide should help you get started.

[@TheShostopper29]

@@JustBarran So if I understand correctly you'd be powering the Pixhawk and the camera separately via the power distribution board? Thanks for getting back to me so quickly by the way, I appreciate it!

[@JustBarran]

Jasjyot Barmi the pixhawk is powered from the power module. You can put a 2s battery to power the camera or use the main power

[@lavdaldicko6951]

Great video. I think I can build a drone now. Just need Just Barran to send me his parts! 😂

[@JustBarran]

Lavdal Dicko heading to USPS now, hope it doesn’t get lost.

[@TheBigbro3760]

Can we use internal & external compass simultaneously? I’m getting sad tone whenever i calibrate internal & external compass at the same time

[@JustBarran]

Not sure what is the sad tone 😢 it’s prob playing my life music 😂, but yea the internal and external compass should both be enable as they both would be used in flight. I have both of mines enabled.

[@JustBarran]

When ur calibrating make sure and fill the bar and also make sure you don’t have any set of high current metal or magnetic stuff like speakers near by as it can affect the calibration process. Also it would not be surprising if a compass is bad so try to test them individually to make sure they are both working.

[@ilanaizelman3993]

How do I spin the motors after I've connected the battery and opened up the transimitter(controller)?

[@JustBarran]

Are you trying to spin the motors directly from the rc receiver or from the flight controller?

[@ilanaizelman3993]

@@JustBarran I'm trying to spin the directly from the flight controller, I'm also trying to check how to directly do it from the reciever. Also trying to see how to charge the battery w/ the B6 V3 Smart Charger, it still doesn't work for now. I'm feeling lost. (I've added you on Linkedin if possible I'd love to chat there)

[@JustBarran]

So my best suggestion to you if you are using a pixhawk flight controller is check out their documentation ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-pixhawk-overview.html , Now you should beable to run the motors directly from the rc receiver by identifying the polarity and plugging the motor to the ESC and esc it into channel 3 of the reciver (or what ever the trottle pin is, connect the ) With regards to the battery charger you will have to check the manual but make sure and use the balance mode and set the battery to the right Type example Lithium ion -lion or Lithium polymer Lipo

[@JustBarran]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZ6zi6Klds92nrs. Check out my part one of this video where u explain more about the motors and stuff if you need more understanding on the different parts

[@RaulGlasgow]

awesome that you are doing this in trinidad bro! we should link!!

[@JustBarran]

Hey man covid done so 🙌🏽🙌🏽 anything possible

[@RaulGlasgow]

@@JustBarran you ever looked into making delivery drones for trinidad?

[@SubratRed]

1) Powered the drone with 3s 2200mAh battery. 2) ESCs make initial sound(Don't know if anyone is not making). 3) After sometime, can see 2,3,4 motors rattling a bit with each beep, except motor 1 and no beep with motor 1 ESC. 4) Using Pixhawk, after arming when I fly the drone tilts on the motor 1 side, but motor1 rotates. 5) For this reason, I have lost my props of motor 1 twice. Please help.

[@JustBarran]

You should do the motor calibration (make sure there is no props on the drone). It could also be you have a bad ESC/motor. Each motor should make a deep sound when powered up.

[@SubratRed]

@@JustBarran Do you anyhow have some idea of upgrading Flysky TH9X to OpenTX so that I can use it with pixhawk for 6 flight mode. Some imnputs and help will be really appreciated.

[@JustBarran]

I don’t have a th9x not know how to change it, but the th9x has a ppm receiver which should give you the 6 channels.

[@navneetshivalkar5442]

Beautifully created video very detailed info, making one soon, bro could you tell me what alight time you got on it.. Bless You..

[@JustBarran]

I waiting for restrictions to be lifted to take it back out. I changed the low voltage return to home and i want to take off the gimbal so I hoping to get about >20mins. Will do a follow up video soon

[@JustBarran]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoq2mYihbNyCfZI New video on the flight time and performance

[@dumbitkiller5075]

i just noticed that i just bought 920kv motors do you think its gonna be enough for the 3s.

[@JustBarran]

920kv is great anything lower than 1000kv would be good, and yea the 3s is gona be enough just check your ESC so make sure they can put out the rates current for the motor. www.getfpv.com/learn/new-to-fpv/all-about-multirotor-fpv-drone-battery/

[@JustBarran]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoq2mYihbNyCfZI New video on the performance of the drone

[@abdelz1617]

Nice vid

[@JustBarran]

I Appreciate it

[@maikelloitmets9504]

is frame made of metal

[@JustBarran]

No metal- it’s Carbon fiber, plastic and it has a PCB power distribution board built into the bottom lawyer of the frame.

[@dumbitkiller5075]

hello I wrote to you several times to ask for advice but I am unable to make it work either with QGROUNDCONTROL or ARDUPOILOT I am on the verge of giving up, I have spent at least a good 100 hours and nothing happens. everything .. were you able to take my computer remotely and help me you were my last solution because I got nowhere ... I have already programmed a racing drone via Betaflight and succeeded perfectly with pixhawk its not working at all . Thank you.

[@JustBarran]

Hey sorry to hear that, I actually haven received any messages from you since the last problem You had, I have also been really busy with work. Also I recommend using mission planner not qgroundcontrol if you are using a pixhawk flight controller. Send me a message on Facebook and I can see what I can do.

[@funzocare661]

hi i need help with my build please.

[@JustBarran]

What is the problem?

[@Dollakas]

👻

[@Dollakas]

U got mad skills & Awesome Tutorial!!

[@JustBarran]

thanks appreciated

[@mathiasschlosser2602]

Do you build and sell costume-made drone? Pass your email for a talk.

[@JustBarran]

am i more do this as a hobby. My full time job is an electronics engineer but if you want some help you can always message me on Instagram or Facebook links in the description.