Multirotors / Quadcopters / otherwise known a DRONES

[fordmantpw]

Awesome! Would love to get one in a year or so just for aerial monitoring and viewing of our land. You know, as a toy!

 

[xp190]

Lipo batteries are dangerous when damaged or mistreated, when stored properly after inspection to make sure they are fine, nothing will happen. I was a bit paranoid about this also, but if you do a bit of research, you will see that all the batteries that explode have been shorted in some way, either the leads were pinched by an aluminum case, or there was a flight mishap that didn't seem to have damaged the battery yet it did, or a charger failed. Once they are involved in a crash or incident, you put them in a water/salt solution to slowly discharge and dispose of them after a week. Aside from that, they are an amazing piece of technology, but their successor is already out on the market the LiFe battery, all the power, none of the danger from what I'm hearing.

I fly planes and helios, no autopilot for me

10 minute flights from a 3S Lipo are so very relaxing....

xp

 

[The Fred]

Do you have liability insurance when doing work for friends?

Curious if AMA will cover drones if you are a member.

Academy of Model Aeronautics

Cool stuff for sure, Fred

 

[QuasarZ]

My buddy had a quad copter and it decided to quit flying over a lake. Had to hire a diver to go find it which they did.

I think they are very cool pieces of equipment. If I ever get some extra cash I'd look into one.

 

[Cherokee140]

There are some very narrow guidelines with the AMA and their insurance, you only fly at an AMA approved field....that right there is a biggie, and that alone will exclude 99% of multirotor flyers. As is I personally only know of one case where a guy was flying in an open field at a business park and crashed his plane on the roof. It was after hours and he could not get access to the building. Fire started.....he is responsible for the damages.

Do you have liability insurance when doing work for friends?

Curious if AMA will cover drones if you are a member.

Academy of Model Aeronautics

Cool stuff for sure, Fred

 

[Cherokee140]

I don't want to get into a debate on lipo batteries, but I can tell you never had a mishap. I have. I had a battery do what I think the battery did in GM's link. I flew, landed put it in my pocket, took out another flew again, went down to the basement checked the voltage on both packs. 3.84 across all 3 cells on both packs....cool I can extend my time a little more, put them on the table and went up stairs. Next thing I know the smoke alarm is going off. No short, no crash, not charging, I lost one charger 3 batteries, my cell tester, and the carpet on top of my work bench. Really put the fear in me as I thought just like you do. Now when they come off the model they go in an ammo can. I already charged in a large 20mm ammo can....but what the ****. And the smoke was bad.

In all my years I had never flown a multirotor till abot 3 months ago. I started in the mid 80's with gas and balsa....and I must admit I was very anti foam/electric thinking that those guys had it too easy, I was spending months building models and here are these things that look pretty darn good, fly real good, and they have them in the air in an hour and not 3 months....that is crap, how will they ever learn. Then I tried one.....just this year I converted my last model over to electric.....a 64" P39 running on a 6cell pack. I flew heli's for a long while, same deal as above....then got a Trex....god this is so much fun. Now this. Alt hold, circle, loiter...program a mission.....I must admit I only looked into the multi rotors because work is looking at them (I am in law enforcement) so I had better learn about this stuff as I was tasked with this project as I am the only one here that does RC planes. Same deal, as above, these people are not earning their dues.....but now that I have played with them I can see what kind of tool it can be. I can see lost kids, old folks that wonder off.....I can set a search grid over a corn field and just watch the video back....what once took 5 deputies to cover now takes 2.....and it is done in no time at all. Very good tool.

The units I bought for home, I really bought to learn a little more about this end of the hobby. And truth be known I have not flown a plane in about a month.....I have been spending all my time flying the multi rotors....infact in the video I posted you can see the outline of my runway.....I need to get to mowing that soon....I have not touched it in a while.

Lipo batteries are dangerous when damaged or mistreated, when stored properly after inspection to make sure they are fine, nothing will happen. I was a bit paranoid about this also, but if you do a bit of research, you will see that all the batteries that explode have been shorted in some way, either the leads were pinched by an aluminum case, or there was a flight mishap that didn't seem to have damaged the battery yet it did, or a charger failed. Once they are involved in a crash or incident, you put them in a water/salt solution to slowly discharge and dispose of them after a week. Aside from that, they are an amazing piece of technology, but their successor is already out on the market the LiFe battery, all the power, none of the danger from what I'm hearing.

I fly planes and helios, no autopilot for me

10 minute flights from a 3S Lipo are so very relaxing....

xp

 

[GaryM]

I'm in the market for one myself. I've been looking at X-Heli a lot as I've bought some stuff from them in the past.

I already have a GoPro so that's covered. A gimble would be nice, but I don't think it's needed, at least not as a priority. GPS with auto return is something I think of as an insurance policy!
If the quad or hex copter is big enough I'm guessing that additional capability can be added later? Is that right?

About all my flashlights already use Li Ion cells so I'm comfortable with them and the required safety issues. Never go to far away from charging or freshly charged cells!

The unit in your video looks like a Walkera QR X350. s that right? Are you happy with it? One of my uses is to video pistol matches from down range. I just need to be sure my buddies don't shoot too high!

 

[fordmantpw]

One of my uses is to video pistol matches from down range. I just need to be sure my buddies don't shoot too high!

That would be cool to see. Be sure to post some videos after you do it!

 

[Dutch445]

i can sit and watch these videos for hours. north of me there is a guy that films
around alex bay on the st lawrence, they are great videos of the river, ships, just
great footage to see from above.
online you can see videos people post from various flights, over landmarks,
and some beautiful scenery. i see online clubs dedicated to them, and some even
have "merit badges" for hitting certain milestones, flying so high/far/long etc.
i had this idea of moving to a vacation area, someplace warm and sunny, and going
into business taking people's vacation videos from a drone, i can see folks buying into it,
but from the looks of it the FAA probably wouldn't approve.
i thought about my trip to florida last fall, kayaking around an island, encountering manatees
and gators and getting some of it on video from above, yup i'd have paid for that.
and yea, the idea of having one for a toy around the house still sounds fun!

 

[Cherokee140]

The unit in your video looks like a Walkera QR X350. s that right? Are you happy with it? One of my uses is to video pistol matches from down range. I just need to be sure my buddies don't shoot too high!

Mine is a Cheerson CX-20/Quanum Nova. Mine is actually the open source Nova. It uses the APM autopilot.

I have found it quite relaxing to fly....the closest thing I can think of is a glider....it is really just relaxing. Set the altitude and just motor around...quite fun.