Gosh where have I been?
Well, I have worked a lot recently, and I don’t like that! Not enough time to play with RC!
First we will start with the bad news...
Storm OSD, well I had high hopes for this little OSD with RTH (still do) but it has been a nightmare! Yes a full blown nightmare!
I had to order the USB stick to upgrade firmware, not so much of a problem as delivery from China was around 15 days. It’s the firmware that’s turning out to be the biggest problem!
What I first found out before I even placed the storm into my Twinstar was that I was going to spend lots of hours just modifying the system to get it to remotely work! Now, I’m not just modifying the system for my benefit, these modifications are from the developer himself!
GPS: The GPS module is the first thing that needs to be modified! Somehow there was loads of GPS that were running on 5v and they need to run on 3.3v for the storm ODS! So you have to cut the heat shrink off, unsolder the 5v tab and bridge the 3.3v tab back up, and then re heat shrink!
Did I say this was a nightmare?
The tabs are around 2mm big!
MAH/Current sensor: Well this is nowhere near accurate! I mean 33% out I don’t even know where to start! Setting the MAH alarm 1000 mAh lower helps!
Anhang anzeigen 46426
RSSI: From the v1.1 firmware to v1.2 the RSSI was in voltages 0-3.3v but now has a % scale! Works OK
Firmware: I found that v1.2 will stop every now and again and reset the ‘home’ I don’t like that one bit! The new v1.3beta firmware is full of bugs, and it freezes mine almost right away!
3 wire mod: Yes there is a mod that you can/have to do. You have to solder 3 wires onto the PCB in places so the GPS can work correctly!
I haven’t given up yet on the Storm OSD!
Bench time 20+ Hours / Flight Time = ZERO!
More bad news...
I stupidly wired my LED TV power supply wrong, and have burned out a diode!
Anhang anzeigen 46427
Totally stupid error for me, I normally check things like this over and over! I have had to unsolder what was left of the diode (luckily it saved my TV) and testing without works fine! Phew!
Anhang anzeigen 46428
I have ordered some 1n4001 reverse protection diodes from EBay that should be here soon!
The good news! Hurrah!
SwiftAi OSD that I burnt out (well actually I never did anything wrong) has been replaced for free by my new crazy Russian friends! I popped a quick email off and a day later I was told that my new replacement OSD was on its way! How’s that for service? Super I think!
I have tested the OSD and it works beautifully! I’m so happy that no other damage was done! I’m putting a lot of ground work into this Autopilot as I love it so much!
The next few weeks I will have some airborne video of the antenna tracker working!
...and then into the air she goes!
My ground station is coming along lovely! It’s going to be a full whack set up! But for now here is a small teaser!
Anhang anzeigen 46429
I’m looking forward to the next few weeks; we have had lots of snow here, brought the country to a standstill!
My little workshop has been really cold, even with the heater on full blast, so cold in fact I could not do much work!
Hope you are all ok!
More soon...
Ben
Well, I have worked a lot recently, and I don’t like that! Not enough time to play with RC!
First we will start with the bad news...
Storm OSD, well I had high hopes for this little OSD with RTH (still do) but it has been a nightmare! Yes a full blown nightmare!
I had to order the USB stick to upgrade firmware, not so much of a problem as delivery from China was around 15 days. It’s the firmware that’s turning out to be the biggest problem!
What I first found out before I even placed the storm into my Twinstar was that I was going to spend lots of hours just modifying the system to get it to remotely work! Now, I’m not just modifying the system for my benefit, these modifications are from the developer himself!
GPS: The GPS module is the first thing that needs to be modified! Somehow there was loads of GPS that were running on 5v and they need to run on 3.3v for the storm ODS! So you have to cut the heat shrink off, unsolder the 5v tab and bridge the 3.3v tab back up, and then re heat shrink!
Did I say this was a nightmare?
The tabs are around 2mm big!
MAH/Current sensor: Well this is nowhere near accurate! I mean 33% out I don’t even know where to start! Setting the MAH alarm 1000 mAh lower helps!
Anhang anzeigen 46426
RSSI: From the v1.1 firmware to v1.2 the RSSI was in voltages 0-3.3v but now has a % scale! Works OK
Firmware: I found that v1.2 will stop every now and again and reset the ‘home’ I don’t like that one bit! The new v1.3beta firmware is full of bugs, and it freezes mine almost right away!
3 wire mod: Yes there is a mod that you can/have to do. You have to solder 3 wires onto the PCB in places so the GPS can work correctly!
I haven’t given up yet on the Storm OSD!
Bench time 20+ Hours / Flight Time = ZERO!
More bad news...
I stupidly wired my LED TV power supply wrong, and have burned out a diode!
Anhang anzeigen 46427
Totally stupid error for me, I normally check things like this over and over! I have had to unsolder what was left of the diode (luckily it saved my TV) and testing without works fine! Phew!
Anhang anzeigen 46428
I have ordered some 1n4001 reverse protection diodes from EBay that should be here soon!
The good news! Hurrah!
SwiftAi OSD that I burnt out (well actually I never did anything wrong) has been replaced for free by my new crazy Russian friends! I popped a quick email off and a day later I was told that my new replacement OSD was on its way! How’s that for service? Super I think!
I have tested the OSD and it works beautifully! I’m so happy that no other damage was done! I’m putting a lot of ground work into this Autopilot as I love it so much!
The next few weeks I will have some airborne video of the antenna tracker working!
...and then into the air she goes!
My ground station is coming along lovely! It’s going to be a full whack set up! But for now here is a small teaser!
Anhang anzeigen 46429
I’m looking forward to the next few weeks; we have had lots of snow here, brought the country to a standstill!
My little workshop has been really cold, even with the heater on full blast, so cold in fact I could not do much work!
Hope you are all ok!
More soon...
Ben
