Micro FPV Update

In my penny-pinching quest to enter the world of quadcopters and FPV flying, I am slowly working into the hobby.

At this stage, I am attempting to build a micro FPV backpack for attaching to small quadcopters so that I can fly them via FPV.  Of course I don't own a pair of Fat Shark goggles yet... so I plan on using a temporary "base station" setup to use for my first flights.  Here is the basic wiring of the backpack (excluding the battery).

Including shipping, the parts cost are as follows:

• 600 TVL Wide Angle 3.3v CCTV Camera ($18)
• 3.3v Step-up/Step-Down Pololu Voltage Regulator ($9)
• Boscam 200mw TX5823 Video Transmitter ($11)

Which is about $40.  But you have to have a receiver... 

and that will be about another $20.  If I use my TV to display the video, then the total cost is under $60.

My next step is to actually finish the backpack.  For this, I am waiting for the TX5823 to arrive in my mailbox.  Anyway, until it arrives... I could attempt to build a circularly-polarized transmitting antenna.  I also need to figure out how to mount all of the pieces onto some sort of platform.  It needs to be light, strong, thin and stiff.  I am also not sure if the camera should be somehow separate.  I'm sure the battery can be off-platform... because I may at some point use the main battery.

Of course the biggest concern is weight.  Then there is the issue of weight distribution.

Things to think about and investigate.

Quick Update

Today's exercise will be the testing of the camera module I ordered from EBay.  I believe I can run the module off of the same 3.3V Pololu StepUp/StepDown regulator.
The problem it did not work before was because I was going through the 12V reduction cable. 

More to come...

Current Obsession

I have had a new diversion to occupy my time... quadcopters.  Yes, I have been bitten by the drone bug,  

I'll explain more later... but for now, I want to document my latest outing with my Hubsan X4 H107C quadcopter,

It's an inexpensive, Ready-To-Fly quad that I picked up from my local Fry's Electronics.  I actually upgraded the camera module from the SD version to the "HD" version when the original camera began to have problems.  Anyway, here is some test footage from yesterday.

I'll have more information, pictures and videos of all of my latest projects.  I just need to set aside the time to do it!

Ready To Build Again

Well, after a little break from DIY electronics, I am starting to pick up where I left off.

I have a whole new bag of supplies from Tayda and am ready to to continue work on my TPCBoard.  The last version of this board is number 6 and it looks like this...

The main difference is the FTDI connector on the right edge.  The point of this addition was to allow the use of an FTDI adapter to program and communicate with the board. With this addition, I have a cheap, shield compatible Arduino clone that can be built at home for less than five dollars.  Of course I have to build it...

Which should be my next post!

Slightly Revised TPCBoard

After the physical build of my TPCBoard, I noticed a couple of changes that needed to be made.  They are slight, but I think they are nice...

I am out of the latching DPDT switches as well as LM7805 voltage regulators. So I will have to make an order pretty soon!.

I will try to upload this project files to my Github space later today.

Weekend Update

As the weekend draws to a close, I guess I should show some of my work to the world...

TCP Board

The "Trinket Pro Clone" board is this silly idea I had to take the basic Trinket Pro and blow it back up to Arduino size.  What does that give us? It gives us another avenue to pursue akin to the Metaboard project... a somewhat-compatible Arduino clone that can be built at home for a few dollars.

What the Trinket Pro's bootloader gives us is another way to program the device via USB without the need for an USB-to-TTL Serial chip.  This method does not require a jumper to enable the programming mode.  In previous Trinket-fashion, the reset button is pressed to put the device into programming mode for 10 seconds.  The red LED on pin 13 will pulse to indicate that the device is ready to program... as a USBtinyISP.

Well enough talking... here are the pics and diagrams...

I decided to layout the board based on some basic changes to the schematic to match that of the Trinket Pro.  I did not even breadboard it to see if it would work.  Luckily, after a few false starts, I now have a Trinket Pro clone... with a standard R3 Shield layout.

I have included my DPDT latched switch to toggle the two pins used for RX/TX between the USB and the shield header sockets.  I have kept this on the right side, extending beyond the normal edge.  Otherwise, with no jumper to mess with... there was no reason not to switch back to the "left-sided Arduino".  Besides, the room was needed by the ICSP pin header... which I found was actually used on some shields.

R3 Compatible Shield Adapter Shield

As I had noted earlier, some of my testing shield would not work, because the Fiverino had no ICSP connector on the right side.

So instead of immediately re-designing the Fiverino, I decided to build a simple shield that would make the Fiverino "compatible".  Here is the result...

Which is a simple board in itself... but very useful...

Here you can see me using the SD Card Shield with the Fiverino... success!