People like you make this a great time to be alive. Thank you for taking the time to document and share your knowledge. I feel so fortunate to live in an age where smart and curious people are not only able to learn, but can teach, at any time, anyone else in the world who also wants to learn. I have only recently discovered the love and curiosity that I have for engineering and building things, but I credit people like yourself for inspiring and fostering that love. I'm sure you have inspired many others, and their positive contributions to science and society will be, in part, thanks to you and others like you. Thanks again for putting together this series of your drone building process. If you're ever in the Maryland area, I'd like to buy you a beer and give you a high five.
I can't believe you decided to build your own radio control transmitter and receiver using nRF24L01 modules - that's total genius! I've just bought the cheapest APM 2.6 I could find on eBay, so my quadcopter project is off the ground, but I was all set to spend proper money on the Tx/Rx kit. Now I want to do it your way - with cheap ass arduinos and nRFs. I'll be following this with great interest.
***** Yeah no doubt :) It would be great to find something that can be controlled in the same way the nRF24 can but at long range, if it exists. Actually I have another two quads already, not counting the hubsan... well... enough parts for another two I should say, have not quite got them up and running yet - still small ones though !
Watching these old videos are nostalgic i love it still to this day saw it first time when i was building quads thnx very much 🙏🙏 my fav youtuber so far
I'm very happy with this series and I've only watched one video! I love how you've clearly laid out what it is going to cover (also that it is focused). I look forward to the rest!
Looks pretty cool! I have subscribed so as to make sure I catch the rest of these. I have been looking at building my own quad copter just to mess about with. More for the build than actually flying it really. One thing you did touch on is the range of the transmitter. One thing I was thinking of doing was to fit a GPS unit and a memory card. On power up the copter would get it's location and set it as 'home'. Then as it flies, it would keep getting it's location and save that to the card. Assuming communication is lost, it would fly home on it's own using the points saved in the card as way points. Less chance of losing an expensive copter then. :) I suppose you could even fit a 'come home' button to the remote to bring it home automatically. I appreciate that this adds to the weight, cost and lessens the battery life. But could be worth it. 'Cheap' Chinese imports of the GPS and card reader can be had for around £10. Only a card needed on top of that and I'd guess most of us have old and relatively useless small memory cards hanging around. Ideal for this sort of project as it's only creating and reading basically a CSV file.
The 'return to home' you're talking about is a pretty common feature of RC aircraft these days (although not in the cheap-ass price range), as is following waypoints, position hold, and all manner of cool things. Price and weight are coming down all the time.
I'll be totally honest. I've not looked into them much at all. So I don't know what commercial products offer. I saw the same video you did a few weeks ago and have seen various videos made by you tubers showing what can be achieved with them "superman with a go pro" being a prime example. But from a cost perspective, it's certainly something I'd build into any copter I built.
Pure awesomeness, I was planning on such a quad for a long long time. But I am still stuck on doing the math on with the accelerometer :( I can't wait the following vids. Great great job !! You just made a new fan here !!!
Thank you for all your videos. From Paris. You would be so kind to enable the English subtitles of this playlist for who not understand very well English. I mean, the language...
Thank God there are people like Julian Illet and you in this world! You, sir, are going to change the world of RC things! If your arduino radio-link is gonna be as stable as possible, you can be a major threat for those ultra-cosmic-expensive RC systems companies and that's what we all want! I was thinking to buy a 6ch FrSky or something like that from banggood for 60-70bucks, but with your project, i can save a lot of $$$ and build my own quad :) Anyways, stupid question: is your system able to receive telemetry data from the quad via the same radio link? that would be awesome! Greeting from Romania and good luck! :D
hahah I don't think so. This radio is nothing to compete with the 'real' ones. I'm mainly using it because I can control the communication protocol fully, and it can send much more complex data than just some switch and joystick positions. Yes, and it can return some data as well. See Julians recent video (last Sunday I think) and mine from October about telemetry with these modules.
I saw Julian's experiments and I've seen some of yours and I'm kind of impressed. I don't have too much experience with those kind of rf modules, I only used bluetooth modules, IR, 433MHz modules and a GSM module (you can find some videos, in romanian language unfortunately, with GSM and bluetooth projects made by myself on my YT channel). Oh and a small sugestion: for the far future you should move to ESP8266 Wifi modules...that should be something way cooler! And another idea is to try to somehow stack the arduino and the nrf module together and make a little breakout board to connect the whole thing to servos or flight controller inputs.
micultimy91 I have not used the ESP8266 but it seems overkill to use Wifi when there are only two endpoints, and the AT protocol and using IP addresses seems cumbersome compared to the bare packets that the nRF modules use - a lot of handshake packets are sent to and fro just to even begin an IP connection, let alone send any data. Wouldn't you also need a router to organize DHCP and stuff? As far as I know wifi devices do not talk to each other directly, that is one reason bluetooth was proposed. The ESP8266 would be good for situations where you are sending a very long message spanning multiple packets that must be received in order, then TCP would make life much easier. For radio control though, all necessary info can be put into a single packet, packets can be dropped without corrupting the message, and only the most recent packet is important.
Things have moved quickly in the last couple of years, and the ESP8266 can now use the same IDE as the Arduino. Conceptually if you drop down to a lower level than tcp/ip the ESP can be considered to be a combination of fast Arduino and nRF module, so one would think that it should be quite a viable option; it's certainly a nice size.
Hi, I followed this "tutorial" and I figured out that my quadcopter dont auto stabilize when I let go of the left joystick... is it supposed to be this way? now i have to stabilize it manually by pulling the joystick the other way. on my first quad i could just let go of the joystick and it stabilized, so how can i get this one to do the same?
hello .. i am hoping to build this . can someone tell me that do i have to use the hobbyking transmitter is it ok if i use another one? and also is it ok if i use 12A simonk motors?
i want to make a transmiiter and reciever of the quad using arduino uno..kk2.1 takes pwm signals as input. the transmitter will transmit the raw analog data and reciever would take this data as inputs and send pwm outputs to kk2.1 inputs . this type interfacing i want ????
+Abhinay Manandhar I think you would be better off using PPM like I have done in this video series. The KK2 can use PPM input, it's just one wire instead of four like PWM.
Hello there I am really looking forward to the future videos. I am in the process of creating a quad using arduino for the transmitter and flight controller. I found those cheap joysticks have a terrible resistance range, they jump at the end of range. Thanks
You're not kidding. In the rest of this series I will do a lot of bitching about how bad they are :) In fact, I gave up on them altogether and I'm waiting for some alternatives to arrive before I put up the part two, so I can give a better recommendation. I will probably go with modifying cheap transmitter box instead, because it gives you nice joysticks and other handy stuff like battery holder etc all in one, but if you are still interested in the dirt-cheap joysticks I just got some of these, they have no dead-zone and feel nicer to move in general: www.dx.com/p/008-3d-yg-repair-accessories-ps4-original-3d-game-sticks-pair-318011
Haha I was going to say the same. I have just used an old rc transmitter. Four pots inside which have an almost perfect range. Although I have found that the whole resistance range of the pots isn't actually used with the sticks, so the ADC on the arduino sort of wastes some of the range, if you get what I mean. But yes thank you.
Reece Pipes Yes, I'm using an old RC transmitter that I got really cheap on ebay for my main stuff and it works great - but I got kinda lucky with that auction and it's not something I can say to other people "get that one". So for this series I wanted to find things that could be bought as normal products. It's interesting that the pots on my transmitter were the same... the mechanical range was only using about half of the electrical range. Sounds like it could be done on purpose for some reason. I had to measure the range of each one and code that (and the center point) into my arduino program to make full use of their precision.
I have thought to make my quadcopter using dc motor that's why i have bought a accelerometer and i have also made a sketch for it and i have added the sketch with the receiver sketch. So do i have to do any change to the transmitter sketch?
i have a doubt. can i use normal 9 volts rechargeable batteries (2 of these to give me 17 -18 volts) to power the whole quadcopter instead of lipo battery. i have not used it.
No, absolutely not. Those batteries cannot provide even a small fraction of the power necessary to make a quadcopter fly, and they cannot deliver enough current either.
Hi, cool video, I am building a quadcopter too but I have a problem. when I connect the battery, the engine and the receiver to the ESC nothing happends and the voltage go down to zero, do you think is a problem of the battery or of the receiver? thank you very much
+iforce2d from where did you buy the expensive joysticks from. Those cost a fortune in my country. And the only way i can get them here is through didgikey or rscomponents or from mouser. Pretty expensive
+ATANU Ghosh Those joysticks were never shipped to me after waiting six weeks so I got a refund. After that I tried some others, much cheaper from here: www.dx.com/p/008-3d-yg-repair-accessories-ps4-original-3d-game-sticks-pair-318011 (that particular listing is sold out right now but the same item can be found on ebay etc for about the same price) They are not as nice as the expensive ones but they work well enough to fly the quad once you get used to them.
hi i wanna know if i made the same drone as yours how much weight it can carry ? and if i want more weight what should i do ? pls answer as soon as u see my comment thank u
+Sammblor -Samantha Did you make sure that the quad is running in "angle" (aka auto-level) mode? The default setting is "rate" mode, which is very hard to keep stable unless you have some flying experience.
+iforce2d yes. But for whatever reason the motors were never spinning at the same speed. I then replaced the frame with a store bought carbon fiber one and it worked . Not sure why it didn't work with the wood frame =\
+Sammblor -Samantha yeah after writing that I looked at recent video on your channel and figured you knew that already :) The only other thing I can think of is that the motors might not have been aligned with each other well enough, or were not pointing directly downward, eg. ruclips.net/video/qqgHLRqDkYA/видео.html
I bought a spktrum DX6i and a cheap quadcopter last year, and i really like it. I also bougt an arduino last week, and i want to do something with it. So should i buy some parts and build my own quadcopter? Is it hard to do stuff like auto - stabilisation?
All parts ordered I will follow all instructions and let you know how it goes.. No quad experience, medium arduino experience, tons of builder experance. Gobs of patience.
HI! quick question please. if i buy for example MJX X400 quadcopter, after in finished using it and feel the need for more, can i use it's radio transmitter and receiver also maybe the flight controller? thx i really like what u did!
I have no idea whether the radio protocol could be used for something else, but if you are talking about making something with arduino then at least the sticks, battery case etc in the transmitter could be re-used :)
Hi, iforce2d, I am looking for a battery capable to fly around 30min-60min. Will 5400mAh 3s 30c work? .............At your recommendation , 5400mAh 3s 30c(350gram) or 4500mAh 3s 45c(245gram), which will fly longer time? and please give me the estimation of these battery can last thanks.
I'm afraid you will have to forget about that 60 minutes goal unless you want to build a specialized custom battery yourself, and your quad will have to be so light that it will be unlikely to carry anything useful. Even the 30 minute goal is not reasonable. The longest flight I have managed is 24 minutes, I did that with a 4S 10000mAh battery. With a 3S 5200mAh I can get around 14-15 minutes carrying a GoPro sized camera, or maybe 20 minutes without the camera, in calm conditions with no wind. But these larger sizes of battery are not suitable for the small 250-sized quadcopter that I build in this video series - for 3S 5200mAh I was flying a 500 size quad, and the 10000mAh battery was used on an even larger hexacopter. So I would suggest to just buy multiple batteries and swap them over to continue flying.
The C rating specifies how much current the battery can handle. As long as it is higher than the current required it will be ok. A 5400mAh battery at 30C can handle 162 amps, in theory.
+Abhinay Manandhar what kind of interface, to do what? I don't know anything about the KK2 but if it can use PPM input, then the 'receiver' I made in this series could be used.
I don't think I can answer that for you, because it would be your preference. fwiw they are all pretty much the same really :D at least for basic flying. Anyway, there are thousands of webpages and videos you can look at to research the differences, you don't need to ask me :)
Try describing it better than "not working". Does it stop responding to the radio? Do the motors stop spinning? Does everything turn off completely... etc. I have no idea where to start.
I think i have the solution. I was using 2200kv chinese orange motors with my chinese red 30A escs. and i think that was the problem. I burned enough escs before i found it could be the motors. now i m trying with 1000kv motors. it seems work. i haven't burne any escs till now! sorry my english! and thank you for the sharing!
Hi! Thanks for the video series. I'm looking into building a 330 sized quadcopter as my first one, you think that would be ok with this setup? You mention 250-300mm, but do you think a 330mm would be ok with the components in your spreadsheet? And also, the problems that you had with the HobbyKing transmitter/receiver, did you get a faulty one or did you manage to break it? I don't want to build my own transmitter at this point. Thanks!
FaluFluff yes 330 would be fine. The main issue with going too small is the props will hit each other. The main issue with going too big is the overall frame becomes heavy. But there is a large amount of room in between those extremes to play with :) I think the HK transmitter itself was not all that bad, but the config program was pretty useless.
+Ole Magnus Boesen please enable replies on your comments if you want a reply. Yes, the default mode is 'rate' mode which only uses the gryo and does not do any auto-level for you. You need to enable 'angle' mode to have the auto-level, which I did in this part: ruclips.net/video/o-inQZn3AgU/видео.html#t=2m6s
+Ole Magnus Boesen not sure what you mean... are you converting it to arduino like I did? I covered all that in part 12: ruclips.net/video/9dTvWeidVis/видео.html#t=9m22s
Actually I never received those, the seller on AliExpress never sent them after 6 weeks and I got a refund. But these days there are some good options on Banggood: goo.gl/M8kcCr
No, not quite that custom :) Although since then I have managed to modify the multiwii code to use the nRF24 module directly, there is a video on that on my channel.
Julian Ilett has a RUclips channel where he looks at cheap little electronics modules and arduino-related stuff. He had been talking about building a quadcopter, and then one day I noticed he subscribed to my channel, so I figured he would probably see the message. Fortunately he did, and mentioned my video in his next video and I got 200 new subscribers overnight :) ruclips.net/user/julius256
Hi +Joop Brooking, well as of 15 Jan 2017 you have 16,371 subs and Chris (iforce2d) has 20,419. He is getting away from you. I am subbed to both of you so I am doing my part :)
Hi, landed here after watching Julians's video. I plan to build one of these too. You buy 2x SKU153748 clockwise and 2x counterclockwise for one quadcopter? Greetings, Woo
Great video! I'm looking forward to see the next parts! I've been wanting to start a project like this, I bought 2 nRF24L01 , and I have the Arduino Nano V3. My plan was to do something like you did, but I wanted to use my Arduino DUE to build the controller. My original plan was to find a way to hook up a xbox 360 joystick to the Arduino DUE's USB Host port, and to use the 360 as the joystick for the quadcopter. I couldn't find any information on that matter thoguh... The DUE can interface with USB Keyboards and Mouses, but I can't find a guide or information on how to access to the USB in such a way to get information from the 360. Do you, by any chance, know something about this? *****
I also started this build intending to use xbox360 joysticks. Unfortunately they have a huge deadzone at the center which made them completely unusable for this purpose. At least, the cheap "for arduino" style joystick modules I bought were like that. I don't know if the joysticks from genuine xbox would be the same. I notice that the crazyflie guys recommend a PS3 controller, so perhaps the PS3 joysticks might not have the deadzone. oh... wait, sorry, I did not read your post carefully - you want to use the entire xbox 360 controller as is via USB, not just the joysticks from it right? hmm... no, I don't know how you would go about that sorry.
***** Yes, I meant using the entire controller (I allways thought controller=joystick). I don't think regular 360 have the issue you describe. I just plugged mine to the PC and tested the raw data and the calibration wizards, and as soon I touch the analogs it responds to all inputs... might has been just the brand you got. I've looking your videos and you have really interesting videos, mostly the later ones messing around with RC and Arduinos (I found the Box2D ones really interesting too haha). Too bad you don't know about what I need, I guess I'll just need to keep looking for a way to get low level access to the USB Host capabilities. Oh! I have another question regarding the video, when you refer to the transcivers as "nRF24L01 " for the quad, and "nRF24L01 high power" do you mean a nRF24L01+ ? I don't really know the difference or know wich ones I actually got, I just know they work haha
estcap2 The nRF24L01+ is what I'm using. The regular version usually has a PCB antenna (that wiggly line of copper on the board itself) and is usually stated to have around 80m transmit range (if you're lucky!), and costs around $2. The so called high-power variant is this one, which is typically around $6, has an amplifier chip on board and requires an external antenna, and is supposed to be good for 1000m transmit range @250kbps(presumably if the receiver is also set up with good antenna): www.banggood.com/2_4G-NRF24L01-PA-LNA-Wireless-Module-1632mm-Without-Antenna-p-922601.html All the details are in the spreadsheet.
Adding to the range is fine. But unless you can see the drone, it's going to be a little pointless. So then you're talking live video feed.. Expensive, heavy and power hungry I'd imagine.
+iforce2d , Thank you for your videos I find them really interesting and informative. Currently I am planning a project and I need some guidance as to where to start looking. I want to build a Quadcopter which would be controlled by a Joystick which is connected to a PC, the PC would have a program running which would send the controls to the Quadcopter via an nrf24L01. I understand the work on this project would be HUGE but I am really determined and have the motivation to work on it. I just need some guidance to know where to start. My idea is that I'll have a Java (my most fluent language) program running on a computer read joystick input, then the program will send joystick information to an Arduino serially connected to the computer, the arduino will then generate the appropriate PPM signal and send it to a quadcopter with an nrf24L01 on board and the rest will be just as in this playlist. Any guidance will be really appreciated, thank you.
I have done this by sending each channel value as a byte (0-255) over the serial connection. Then just replace the code that senses the joystick values with that. You will also need to have some bytes to mark the beginning of each 'packet'. I have used a two-byte sequence of 255,254 followed by the bytes for the channel values. To make sure the channel values do not also have values of 255 or 254 I changed them to 253 if they are > 253.
Can you also make a video on how to build micro gimbal using arduino nano? I can't understand what the site is teaching. www.msh-tools.com/ardrone/gimbal.html
lol seriously? I don't have time to keep track of all that. This stuff changes so quickly that even my more recent series is probably out of date, but you can take a look anyway: ruclips.net/video/cW8j_kAXul0/видео.html There is no need to get exactly the same parts, something similar will suffice.
can i get some help i love your videos on the transmitter build great work i want to use the DIY 2.4GHZ TRANSMITTER MODULE FROM HOBBYKING link below www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__51631__OrangeRX_DSMX_DSM2_Compatible_2_4GHz_Transmitter_Module_Futaba_Compatible_US_Warehouse_.html?strSearch=transmitter%20modu this is what i am working on i have spektrum dx8 2.4 ghz transmitter dont want to change all my receivers thank you ruclips.net/video/EoU5gXh3118/видео.html
That transmitter takes PPM input. You can see how to create a PPM signal using arduino in the video titled "receiver continued", maybe part 8 I think. For this series I did that on the receiver because the flight controller was using PPM input, but to use that module you will need it in the TX.
People like you make this a great time to be alive. Thank you for taking the time to document and share your knowledge. I feel so fortunate to live in an age where smart and curious people are not only able to learn, but can teach, at any time, anyone else in the world who also wants to learn.
I have only recently discovered the love and curiosity that I have for engineering and building things, but I credit people like yourself for inspiring and fostering that love. I'm sure you have inspired many others, and their positive contributions to science and society will be, in part, thanks to you and others like you.
Thanks again for putting together this series of your drone building process. If you're ever in the Maryland area, I'd like to buy you a beer and give you a high five.
Thanks man! :)
I can't believe you decided to build your own radio control transmitter and receiver using nRF24L01 modules - that's total genius! I've just bought the cheapest APM 2.6 I could find on eBay, so my quadcopter project is off the ground, but I was all set to spend proper money on the Tx/Rx kit. Now I want to do it your way - with cheap ass arduinos and nRFs. I'll be following this with great interest.
Good to hear, was wondering when you would get around to it :)
***** Very true! If the quad was worth more, or if I wanted to go further than 100m or so I would not be using these :)
***** Yeah no doubt :) It would be great to find something that can be controlled in the same way the nRF24 can but at long range, if it exists. Actually I have another two quads already, not counting the hubsan... well... enough parts for another two I should say, have not quite got them up and running yet - still small ones though !
Why APM? I'm just asking because the KK2 is way cheaper. Nice little build 😊
Russell Gilder I chose APM because I want the full autonomy suite, but I'm not averse to trying some of the other filght controllers.
Watching these old videos are nostalgic i love it still to this day saw it first time when i was building quads thnx very much 🙏🙏 my fav youtuber so far
you are a great designer and a teacher also . Thanks for sharing the video
I'm very happy with this series and I've only watched one video! I love how you've clearly laid out what it is going to cover (also that it is focused). I look forward to the rest!
This was in my first 10 liked videos years ago, and you're still producing excellent content now. Keep up the good work!
You have done so much. You are appreciated; I am grateful for you sharing your time and expertise.
You have the best ground up build tutorial! Thank you for taking your time!
Honestly, I love all of your videos! Keep them coming :)
Looks pretty cool!
I have subscribed so as to make sure I catch the rest of these.
I have been looking at building my own quad copter just to mess about with.
More for the build than actually flying it really.
One thing you did touch on is the range of the transmitter.
One thing I was thinking of doing was to fit a GPS unit and a memory card.
On power up the copter would get it's location and set it as 'home'.
Then as it flies, it would keep getting it's location and save that to the card.
Assuming communication is lost, it would fly home on it's own using the points saved in the card as way points.
Less chance of losing an expensive copter then. :)
I suppose you could even fit a 'come home' button to the remote to bring it home automatically.
I appreciate that this adds to the weight, cost and lessens the battery life.
But could be worth it. 'Cheap' Chinese imports of the GPS and card reader can be had for around £10.
Only a card needed on top of that and I'd guess most of us have old and relatively useless small memory cards hanging around.
Ideal for this sort of project as it's only creating and reading basically a CSV file.
The 'return to home' you're talking about is a pretty common feature of RC aircraft these days (although not in the cheap-ass price range), as is following waypoints, position hold, and all manner of cool things. Price and weight are coming down all the time.
I'll be totally honest.
I've not looked into them much at all.
So I don't know what commercial products offer.
I saw the same video you did a few weeks ago and have seen various videos made by you tubers showing what can be achieved with them "superman with a go pro" being a prime example.
But from a cost perspective, it's certainly something I'd build into any copter I built.
Pure awesomeness, I was planning on such a quad for a long long time. But I am still stuck on doing the math on with the accelerometer :( I can't wait the following vids.
Great great job !! You just made a new fan here !!!
Thanks! I'm not doing any of the flight stabilization myself, I'm just using the arduino for the radio link.
JUST AWESOME! Never known we can do that.... I was always concerned about the frame and you really have it right.
Thank you for all your videos. From Paris.
You would be so kind to enable the English subtitles of this playlist for who not understand very well English.
I mean, the language...
You are a genius my friend you are working hard in video lots of work you did in video ;-)
Very Cool Video Dude. I'll be watching your Channel closely. Keep up the great work. Nick.
Thank God there are people like Julian Illet and you in this world! You, sir, are going to change the world of RC things! If your arduino radio-link is gonna be as stable as possible, you can be a major threat for those ultra-cosmic-expensive RC systems companies and that's what we all want! I was thinking to buy a 6ch FrSky or something like that from banggood for 60-70bucks, but with your project, i can save a lot of $$$ and build my own quad :)
Anyways, stupid question: is your system able to receive telemetry data from the quad via the same radio link? that would be awesome!
Greeting from Romania and good luck! :D
hahah I don't think so. This radio is nothing to compete with the 'real' ones. I'm mainly using it because I can control the communication protocol fully, and it can send much more complex data than just some switch and joystick positions. Yes, and it can return some data as well. See Julians recent video (last Sunday I think) and mine from October about telemetry with these modules.
I saw Julian's experiments and I've seen some of yours and I'm kind of impressed. I don't have too much experience with those kind of rf modules, I only used bluetooth modules, IR, 433MHz modules and a GSM module (you can find some videos, in romanian language unfortunately, with GSM and bluetooth projects made by myself on my YT channel).
Oh and a small sugestion: for the far future you should move to ESP8266 Wifi modules...that should be something way cooler!
And another idea is to try to somehow stack the arduino and the nrf module together and make a little breakout board to connect the whole thing to servos or flight controller inputs.
micultimy91 I have not used the ESP8266 but it seems overkill to use Wifi when there are only two endpoints, and the AT protocol and using IP addresses seems cumbersome compared to the bare packets that the nRF modules use - a lot of handshake packets are sent to and fro just to even begin an IP connection, let alone send any data. Wouldn't you also need a router to organize DHCP and stuff? As far as I know wifi devices do not talk to each other directly, that is one reason bluetooth was proposed. The ESP8266 would be good for situations where you are sending a very long message spanning multiple packets that must be received in order, then TCP would make life much easier. For radio control though, all necessary info can be put into a single packet, packets can be dropped without corrupting the message, and only the most recent packet is important.
Things have moved quickly in the last couple of years, and the ESP8266 can now use the same IDE as the Arduino. Conceptually if you drop down to a lower level than tcp/ip the ESP can be considered to be a combination of fast Arduino and nRF module, so one would think that it should be quite a viable option; it's certainly a nice size.
your list you shared on your description, some are sold out. so can we get new ones.
Hi, I followed this "tutorial" and I figured out that my quadcopter dont auto stabilize when I let go of the left joystick... is it supposed to be this way? now i have to stabilize it manually by pulling the joystick the other way. on my first quad i could just let go of the joystick and it stabilized, so how can i get this one to do the same?
Looks like we are on the same track, but I have two years of catching up to do!
If you're just getting started now, you might want to go with more modern parts:
ruclips.net/video/cW8j_kAXul0/видео.html
hello .. i am hoping to build this . can someone tell me that do i have to use the hobbyking transmitter is it ok if i use another one? and also is it ok if i use 12A simonk motors?
i am making a normal quadcopter. i am using a naze 32 rev6. van i use the 6dof flight controler?
i want to make a transmiiter and reciever of the quad using arduino uno..kk2.1 takes pwm signals as input. the transmitter will transmit the raw analog data and reciever would take this data as inputs and send pwm outputs to kk2.1 inputs . this type interfacing i want ????
+Abhinay Manandhar I think you would be better off using PPM like I have done in this video series. The KK2 can use PPM input, it's just one wire instead of four like PWM.
Hello there I am really looking forward to the future videos. I am in the process of creating a quad using arduino for the transmitter and flight controller.
I found those cheap joysticks have a terrible resistance range, they jump at the end of range.
Thanks
You're not kidding. In the rest of this series I will do a lot of bitching about how bad they are :) In fact, I gave up on them altogether and I'm waiting for some alternatives to arrive before I put up the part two, so I can give a better recommendation. I will probably go with modifying cheap transmitter box instead, because it gives you nice joysticks and other handy stuff like battery holder etc all in one, but if you are still interested in the dirt-cheap joysticks I just got some of these, they have no dead-zone and feel nicer to move in general: www.dx.com/p/008-3d-yg-repair-accessories-ps4-original-3d-game-sticks-pair-318011
Haha I was going to say the same. I have just used an old rc transmitter. Four pots inside which have an almost perfect range. Although I have found that the whole resistance range of the pots isn't actually used with the sticks, so the ADC on the arduino sort of wastes some of the range, if you get what I mean. But yes thank you.
Reece Pipes Yes, I'm using an old RC transmitter that I got really cheap on ebay for my main stuff and it works great - but I got kinda lucky with that auction and it's not something I can say to other people "get that one". So for this series I wanted to find things that could be bought as normal products.
It's interesting that the pots on my transmitter were the same... the mechanical range was only using about half of the electrical range. Sounds like it could be done on purpose for some reason. I had to measure the range of each one and code that (and the center point) into my arduino program to make full use of their precision.
I like this introduction video very much. precise and informative
I have thought to make my quadcopter using dc motor that's why i have bought a accelerometer and i have also made a sketch for it and i have added the sketch with the receiver sketch. So do i have to do any change to the transmitter sketch?
No idea I'm sorry... how would it even be possible for me to answer anything from that description?
ok thanks for your answer :)
what motor do you recommend with this esc Hobbywing XRotor 40A 2s 6s?SunnySky X2212 KV980 Brushless Motor?is ok or not ? F450 Quadcopter Frame Kit?
i mean how to connect it to the battery?
i have a doubt. can i use normal 9 volts rechargeable batteries (2 of these to give me 17 -18 volts) to power the whole quadcopter instead of lipo battery. i have not used it.
No, absolutely not. Those batteries cannot provide even a small fraction of the power necessary to make a quadcopter fly, and they cannot deliver enough current either.
Hi, cool video, I am building a quadcopter too but I have a problem. when I connect the battery, the engine and the receiver to the ESC nothing happends and the voltage go down to zero, do you think is a problem of the battery or of the receiver?
thank you very much
Hey, thanks for making these videos. I am also in japan; looking to get in to quads & FPV.
how can you add a servo to this project.
+iforce2d from where did you buy the expensive joysticks from. Those cost a fortune in my country. And the only way i can get them here is through didgikey or rscomponents or from mouser. Pretty expensive
+ATANU Ghosh Those joysticks were never shipped to me after waiting six weeks so I got a refund. After that I tried some others, much cheaper from here: www.dx.com/p/008-3d-yg-repair-accessories-ps4-original-3d-game-sticks-pair-318011 (that particular listing is sold out right now but the same item can be found on ebay etc for about the same price) They are not as nice as the expensive ones but they work well enough to fly the quad once you get used to them.
+iforce2d thanks for the quick reply.
hi i wanna know if i made the same drone as yours how much weight it can carry ? and if i want more weight what should i do ? pls answer as soon as u see my comment thank u
the charger which u showed is there in the description is only a 12v5a adapter. how to charge the battery with that ?
huh? This one, it's listed in the spreadsheet: goo.gl/tlAfha
I tried building this a while back , I could never get it to fly for more than 5 seconds! Trim left, right... it just cant remain stable sigh.,.,
+Sammblor -Samantha Did you make sure that the quad is running in "angle" (aka auto-level) mode? The default setting is "rate" mode, which is very hard to keep stable unless you have some flying experience.
+iforce2d yes. But for whatever reason the motors were never spinning at the same speed. I then replaced the frame with a store bought carbon fiber one and it worked . Not sure why it didn't work with the wood frame =\
+Sammblor -Samantha yeah after writing that I looked at recent video on your channel and figured you knew that already :)
The only other thing I can think of is that the motors might not have been aligned with each other well enough, or were not pointing directly downward, eg. ruclips.net/video/qqgHLRqDkYA/видео.html
thanks man..!! ur video help me a lot and i'm going to make one by myself..
Haha this guys video got me keen too!
I bought a spktrum DX6i and a cheap quadcopter last year, and i really like it. I also bougt an arduino last week, and i want to do something with it. So should i buy some parts and build my own quadcopter? Is it hard to do stuff like auto - stabilisation?
Damn it was too stable ! :D loved it
All parts ordered I will follow all instructions and let you know how it goes..
No quad experience, medium arduino experience, tons of builder experance. Gobs of patience.
+Mark Greco medium arduino experience + gobs of patience, you will do just fine :)
HI! quick question please. if i buy for example MJX X400 quadcopter, after in finished using it and feel the need for more, can i use it's radio transmitter and receiver also maybe the flight controller? thx i really like what u did!
I have no idea whether the radio protocol could be used for something else, but if you are talking about making something with arduino then at least the sticks, battery case etc in the transmitter could be re-used :)
Hi, iforce2d, I am looking for a battery capable to fly around 30min-60min. Will 5400mAh 3s 30c work? .............At your recommendation , 5400mAh 3s 30c(350gram) or 4500mAh 3s 45c(245gram), which will fly longer time? and please give me the estimation of these battery can last thanks.
I'm afraid you will have to forget about that 60 minutes goal unless you want to build a specialized custom battery yourself, and your quad will have to be so light that it will be unlikely to carry anything useful. Even the 30 minute goal is not reasonable. The longest flight I have managed is 24 minutes, I did that with a 4S 10000mAh battery. With a 3S 5200mAh I can get around 14-15 minutes carrying a GoPro sized camera, or maybe 20 minutes without the camera, in calm conditions with no wind. But these larger sizes of battery are not suitable for the small 250-sized quadcopter that I build in this video series - for 3S 5200mAh I was flying a 500 size quad, and the 10000mAh battery was used on an even larger hexacopter. So I would suggest to just buy multiple batteries and swap them over to continue flying.
+iforce2d will the number of 'C' in battery affect the flight time??
The C rating specifies how much current the battery can handle. As long as it is higher than the current required it will be ok. A 5400mAh battery at 30C can handle 162 amps, in theory.
+iforce2d it is ok if I plug that battery in this model on the video?? will the esc or motor gets damaged?
You mean 3S battery? Sure, if the motors and ESCs can use 3S. But it will be way too heavy to fly.
Is it possible to interface arduino and flight controller kk2.1..
+Abhinay Manandhar what kind of interface, to do what? I don't know anything about the KK2 but if it can use PPM input, then the 'receiver' I made in this series could be used.
well which controller will you prefer me CC3D OR which is used in this ? which is best ?
I don't think I can answer that for you, because it would be your preference. fwiw they are all pretty much the same really :D at least for basic flying. Anyway, there are thousands of webpages and videos you can look at to research the differences, you don't need to ask me :)
hello, could you give me some tips. Each time I start the quad it start for a second and stop working. I am using your code for arduino + nrf24.
Try describing it better than "not working". Does it stop responding to the radio? Do the motors stop spinning? Does everything turn off completely... etc. I have no idea where to start.
I think i have the solution. I was using 2200kv chinese orange motors with my chinese red 30A escs. and i think that was the problem. I burned enough escs before i found it could be the motors. now i m trying with 1000kv motors. it seems work. i haven't burne any escs till now! sorry my english! and thank you for the sharing!
plz share link
Can the multiwii controller program work with the arduino board.
Gyakobo Andrew yes
Wow thank you.
Hi! Thanks for the video series. I'm looking into building a 330 sized quadcopter as my first one, you think that would be ok with this setup? You mention 250-300mm, but do you think a 330mm would be ok with the components in your spreadsheet? And also, the problems that you had with the HobbyKing transmitter/receiver, did you get a faulty one or did you manage to break it? I don't want to build my own transmitter at this point. Thanks!
FaluFluff yes 330 would be fine. The main issue with going too small is the props will hit each other. The main issue with going too big is the overall frame becomes heavy. But there is a large amount of room in between those extremes to play with :) I think the HK transmitter itself was not all that bad, but the config program was pretty useless.
***** Thanks for your feedback! Will get a 330 frame then =)
Can I use a different version of arduino? like nano or uno??
Yes, nano and uno both use the same 328p chip. Just make sure you get the 8MHz/16MHz setting correct when you flash the program.
+Ole Magnus Boesen please enable replies on your comments if you want a reply. Yes, the default mode is 'rate' mode which only uses the gryo and does not do any auto-level for you. You need to enable 'angle' mode to have the auto-level, which I did in this part: ruclips.net/video/o-inQZn3AgU/видео.html#t=2m6s
+iforce2d thank you so much
+iforce2d also I use th HK transmitter and receiver. where do i connect the wires for the switches?
+Ole Magnus Boesen not sure what you mean... are you converting it to arduino like I did? I covered all that in part 12: ruclips.net/video/9dTvWeidVis/видео.html#t=9m22s
+iforce2d Never mind, I figured it out. But thank you so much for your help. love you videos BTW dont stop making them :)
hey can i get the code on how did you program nrf24l01....on arduino..
Link is in the description of the video where it is used....
ruclips.net/video/yxUEpmDe9z8/видео.html
Your video is extremely helpful
Thanks a lot
did u learn coding inorder to make uself one? or how did u learn coding it my friend
how much did it coast in total
+MrDeamondoener try watching the video (1:58) or reading the video description....
+iforce2d ty man i am stupid
Sweet series, thanks for making it?
Is that part's list still relevant now, or are there better options for the money now?
Things move very fast in this field. You can probably get better parts for about the same money these days.
200 dollars ain't that cheap, but this quad is quite nice. You should try using the traditional radio's like the dx6i or something like that.
+Sajiv Shah huh? A dx6i would probably be over $100 just for the transmitter alone... cheapest I could find with a quick google search was $129.
+iforce2d u can also use cheap hobby king radios
+Sajiv Shah I'm starting to wonder if you have even watched this series...
where can i buy that pot?
Actually I never received those, the seller on AliExpress never sent them after 6 weeks and I got a refund. But these days there are some good options on Banggood: goo.gl/M8kcCr
Do you need to code your own PID controller or you do everything manually from the transmitter?
I used the multiwii flight controller which does the flight controlling. Most of the coding I do is for the radio connection only.
I see. Since its a custom build I thought you had to do it yourself. Thanks!
No, not quite that custom :) Although since then I have managed to modify the multiwii code to use the nRF24 module directly, there is a video on that on my channel.
How much this cost entirly
Please look at the link in the description
Chris, why "Do it Julian!" in the description? Just curious ;-)
Julian Ilett has a RUclips channel where he looks at cheap little electronics modules and arduino-related stuff. He had been talking about building a quadcopter, and then one day I noticed he subscribed to my channel, so I figured he would probably see the message. Fortunately he did, and mentioned my video in his next video and I got 200 new subscribers overnight :)
ruclips.net/user/julius256
Ok, thanks for the explination. That's a nice boost in subscribers ;-)
Hi +Joop Brooking, well as of 15 Jan 2017 you have 16,371 subs and Chris (iforce2d) has 20,419. He is getting away from you. I am subbed to both of you so I am doing my part :)
Hi, landed here after watching Julians's video.
I plan to build one of these too. You buy 2x SKU153748 clockwise and 2x counterclockwise for one quadcopter?
Greetings, Woo
Yup, that's right.
Epic project :)
0:29 YES!
I need to get one of these :D
i can not find codes
This is a 15 part series, no coding is done in this video. Try looking at some of the other parts.
not added in others videos.i could not find yet
can you share codes?
www.iforce2d.net/cheapassQuadcopter/sketches.zip
Great video! I'm looking forward to see the next parts!
I've been wanting to start a project like this, I bought 2 nRF24L01 , and I have the Arduino Nano V3. My plan was to do something like you did, but I wanted to use my Arduino DUE to build the controller. My original plan was to find a way to hook up a xbox 360 joystick to the Arduino DUE's USB Host port, and to use the 360 as the joystick for the quadcopter. I couldn't find any information on that matter thoguh... The DUE can interface with USB Keyboards and Mouses, but I can't find a guide or information on how to access to the USB in such a way to get information from the 360.
Do you, by any chance, know something about this? *****
I also started this build intending to use xbox360 joysticks. Unfortunately they have a huge deadzone at the center which made them completely unusable for this purpose. At least, the cheap "for arduino" style joystick modules I bought were like that. I don't know if the joysticks from genuine xbox would be the same. I notice that the crazyflie guys recommend a PS3 controller, so perhaps the PS3 joysticks might not have the deadzone. oh... wait, sorry, I did not read your post carefully - you want to use the entire xbox 360 controller as is via USB, not just the joysticks from it right? hmm... no, I don't know how you would go about that sorry.
***** Yes, I meant using the entire controller (I allways thought controller=joystick). I don't think regular 360 have the issue you describe. I just plugged mine to the PC and tested the raw data and the calibration wizards, and as soon I touch the analogs it responds to all inputs... might has been just the brand you got.
I've looking your videos and you have really interesting videos, mostly the later ones messing around with RC and Arduinos (I found the Box2D ones really interesting too haha).
Too bad you don't know about what I need, I guess I'll just need to keep looking for a way to get low level access to the USB Host capabilities.
Oh! I have another question regarding the video, when you refer to the transcivers as "nRF24L01 " for the quad, and "nRF24L01 high power" do you mean a nRF24L01+ ? I don't really know the difference or know wich ones I actually got, I just know they work haha
estcap2 The nRF24L01+ is what I'm using. The regular version usually has a PCB antenna (that wiggly line of copper on the board itself) and is usually stated to have around 80m transmit range (if you're lucky!), and costs around $2. The so called high-power variant is this one, which is typically around $6, has an amplifier chip on board and requires an external antenna, and is supposed to be good for 1000m transmit range @250kbps(presumably if the receiver is also set up with good antenna): www.banggood.com/2_4G-NRF24L01-PA-LNA-Wireless-Module-1632mm-Without-Antenna-p-922601.html
All the details are in the spreadsheet.
***** Oh, great, thanks for the information! I'm going to stick around the channel... and the following parts of this video! haha
estcap2 Do you need the Due's ARM32 Core? If you're just buying the Due for it's USB host capabilities, a $12 USB host shield may be a cheaper option.
have you used this module with the arduino
orangerx.com/category/modules/
Yes, you need to use PPM for it as I answered your other post yesterday :)
Adding to the range is fine.
But unless you can see the drone, it's going to be a little pointless.
So then you're talking live video feed..
Expensive, heavy and power hungry I'd imagine.
+iforce2d , Thank you for your videos I find them really interesting and informative. Currently I am planning a project and I need some guidance as to where to start looking. I want to build a Quadcopter which would be controlled by a Joystick which is connected to a PC, the PC would have a program running which would send the controls to the Quadcopter via an nrf24L01. I understand the work on this project would be HUGE but I am really determined and have the motivation to work on it. I just need some guidance to know where to start. My idea is that I'll have a Java (my most fluent language) program running on a computer read joystick input, then the program will send joystick information to an Arduino serially connected to the computer, the arduino will then generate the appropriate PPM signal and send it to a quadcopter with an nrf24L01 on board and the rest will be just as in this playlist. Any guidance will be really appreciated, thank you.
I have done this by sending each channel value as a byte (0-255) over the serial connection. Then just replace the code that senses the joystick values with that.
You will also need to have some bytes to mark the beginning of each 'packet'. I have used a two-byte sequence of 255,254 followed by the bytes for the channel values. To make sure the channel values do not also have values of 255 or 254 I changed them to 253 if they are > 253.
Sounds great! I guess that means I wont be using PPM at all. Thank you!
Why not? We are talking about the transmitter side right? The receiver side will not be affected...
I am hoping to implement the flight controller my self, so I don't think I'll need to generate a PPM signal to feed into a flight controller.
Oh man you are so badass damn ya good video
can u make a cheap ass tricopter
Can you also make a video on how to build micro gimbal using arduino nano? I can't understand what the site is teaching. www.msh-tools.com/ardrone/gimbal.html
Wow!
good!!!
please give me that motors
in know english very well i think you dont not much english
the world is science I don't think you do lmao
First learn how to talk with athors then learn english
most of your list you provided is out off stock
yeah, this video is almost 4 years old
so how will you help me with new list because i really wanna learn this... i love it , is very detailed
lol seriously? I don't have time to keep track of all that. This stuff changes so quickly that even my more recent series is probably out of date, but you can take a look anyway: ruclips.net/video/cW8j_kAXul0/видео.html
There is no need to get exactly the same parts, something similar will suffice.
and there's an updated arduino build here: www.olliw.eu/2013/mbgc/
you No.1
can i get some help i love your videos on the transmitter build great work i want to use the DIY 2.4GHZ TRANSMITTER MODULE FROM HOBBYKING link below
www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__51631__OrangeRX_DSMX_DSM2_Compatible_2_4GHz_Transmitter_Module_Futaba_Compatible_US_Warehouse_.html?strSearch=transmitter%20modu
this is what i am working on i have spektrum dx8 2.4 ghz transmitter dont want to change all my receivers thank you
ruclips.net/video/EoU5gXh3118/видео.html
That transmitter takes PPM input. You can see how to create a PPM signal using arduino in the video titled "receiver continued", maybe part 8 I think. For this series I did that on the receiver because the flight controller was using PPM input, but to use that module you will need it in the TX.