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Post by mikey1960 on Mar 24, 2018 14:19:16 GMT -5
Anyone here have a drone, if so which one? I was at someones house right after Christmas time and he had a cheap drone and that got me looking at them since then. DJi seems to be the big name in drones that I have found.
(Admin note: See Photography Board for a drone photo topic by the same author.) |
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Post by Hemond on Mar 24, 2018 21:37:55 GMT -5
Yup, DJI not only is the major player right now in drones, they are one of the few Chinese brands that have any quality. Nearly all Chinese stuff is junk. But DJI makes a good product. They make a very good fold up model. You can easily fold it up and put it in a back pack and take it anywhere with you. It folds up to the size of a large brick. Works great, is extremly steady, excellent software, and easy to fly. Decent battery life.
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Mar 24, 2018 22:48:02 GMT -5
If it costs $1K for a one-eyed FPV drone, I wonder what it would cost to do it in 3D? There would need to be a distance-between-pilot-and-drone readout, so that the pilot could tell that he was still in within visual range as required. even if he had both eyes looking out of the drone instead at the drone. Either that or someone nearby acting as an eyes-on co-pilot.
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Mar 25, 2018 23:36:12 GMT -5
Yikes! That EVO does set off the drooling reflex, doesn't it? Excuse me while I take a Kleenex to my iPhone. Battery life is decent until it isn't. Does the operator have a real-time indication of low batt if one day the capacity unexpectedly diminishes? Or will it automatically return to base before batt exhaustion? Another technique is to parallel a backup batt across the primary batt through a diode so that it takes over the load should the primary drop low enough. If such a batt is tacked on, it would need to be disconnected and charged separately from the primary if it gets used; no need to charge it for every flight if it does not actually take over, |
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Post by Hemond on Mar 27, 2018 11:11:21 GMT -5
Modern drones have a 'return home' and a 'fail safe' feature. When the battery is getting low, they calculate how much power is needed to return to 'home'. It will return automatically when battery is low. It will do the same if it loses contact with the controller. This is called 'fail safe'. Also, with modern drones, the controller has a 'fuel gauge'.
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Mar 30, 2018 2:11:43 GMT -5
How does the drone know how big it's "fuel tank" is, that is to say, in order to know how much flying time is left after it detects low batt., it has to know how many amp-hours it has left.This of course depends upon battery condition. Does it keep track of how well the batt performs on each flight by measuring and recording it?
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Post by Hemond on Mar 31, 2018 0:13:52 GMT -5
DJI drone flight batteries have extremely sophisticated lithium polymer (Lipo) batteries and battery controllers. Composed of 3 cells. The controller monitors voltage, temperature, rate of discharge, and lifetime charge cycles, to name a few. It communicates constantly with the drone and the hand unit. It is able to detect battery error conditions and attempt to fix the error. It will report the error up to the controller.
The flight control hand unit gives a visual and digital indication of battery condition of all the cells. Voltage to 3 significant figures, the total mAh, and remaining mAh of all the cells. It has a selectable 'low level' warning indicator, which defaults to 30% but can be set lower. The drone will automatically return to home base when the battery flight controller determines the battery is nearly exhausted.
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Post by hawaiiansupaman on Mar 28, 2019 20:50:14 GMT -5
Yes. DJI phantom 3 professional. Had it for a few years. Technology has gotten much better since this model but it still flies and takes awesome 4k video.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2019 15:01:01 GMT -5
I have a nephew that graduated 3-4 ys ago from Binghamton University in Upstate NY, where he got in the habit of using drones. He's since married and relocated to Maryland and now has lots of fotage done with his toys on Youtube.
Everytime a new one is posted I get a thumbs up from him, and they are all really good.
I do not know much about Drones, but here I have learned a lot so far.
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wb6yyz
Champion Member
Wilkes Barre/Scranton Area
Posts: 5,557
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Post by wb6yyz on Feb 25, 2020 22:00:41 GMT -5
Woo Hoo! I passed my "Unmanned Aircraft General - Small" test today! I can now fly under Part 107 for profit.
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ddt
Champion Member
Posts: 1,975
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Post by ddt on Jan 1, 2021 23:19:48 GMT -5
i want a drone! i bought 1 on facebook got scammed! did get a refund from paypal. so now i'm drone shy! now i see what a real drone costs but surely there must be a good cheap option!
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wb6yyz
Champion Member
Wilkes Barre/Scranton Area
Posts: 5,557
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Post by wb6yyz on Jan 12, 2021 11:21:44 GMT -5
NEVER use Facebook! Disaster!
There are cheap lightweight drones out there that you don't even have to register, but they are hard to fly. They only work outside on calm days, the slightest breeze will blow them off course. The good ones have the ability to fly in wind up to 30 MPH and still over over one spot, but they are expensive.
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