Every now and then a non flashlight related post finds it’s way into this thread… Here is another.
I got a Mavic 2 pro as my first drone last year but it’s a bit of a hassle getting out to fly it as I live in an apartment. It’s also a little too expensive to learn how to fly a drone with, already crashed it once into a tree, so I tried simulator software but my old laptop couldn’t handle the graphics. Instead of upgrading the laptop I went and got myself one of those real cheapo mini drones just to learn how to control a drone from my couch. Man have I crashed it! Durable little sucker, props and prop guards flying everywhere, just stick ’em back on and it’s ready for more abuse. However, running around after it in my apartment is annoying. I have goggles for my Mavic 2 so I want to fly with goggles indoor too. What to do? I want to stick a little camera on it but these little suckers fly really bad when weight is added, I already tried a larger battery.
It weights in at at 52.5 grams with the battery.
I bought a cheap little camera, I also bought some compatible cheapo goggles that has detachable screen.
So I had to shed about 4 grams of this thing… I hacked it up pretty good, removing useless joke camera and wifi transmitter it came with, a LED and a whole bunch of the plastic frame:
I soldered on cables with connections to the battery poles on the main board and taped down the camera and tx board. Antenna is sticking out in the front, might move it later as it’s in frame but it’ll do for now. And whatta ya know, it ended up 0.3 of a gram lighter:
So it’s ready to go and get all bashed up again! I just hope the camera holds up, I don’t care much about the drone itself, it’s has long since passed what I expected of it and I have a few more lined up to take it’s place. The camera I can move to the next drone in line when this one has had enough. I did get a spare camera too, just in case.
Test flight tomorrow, can’t do it now as my girlfriend as asleep.
Fantastic work, DJozz! I love it. I passed on the E10 because I just hate that really cold tint. That sliced Nichia really hits the sweet spot. Were you expecting this outcome or had you been able to calculate these expected values prior to the mod?
And what a great tool idea, something that would come in handy with removing some Olight bezels as well (I tried in vain to use non-slip pads and got no joy).
Awesome work! I’d been wondering if anyone had come up with an “upgrade kit” for lesser drones. Looks like you’ve got the essentials of just that. Must be quite an asset in helping you to learn better drone navigation skills.
Yeah, there fun little things. I’m surprised how durable they are.
Great for real beginners like me. I would not have wanted to treat a more expensive drone the way I’ve treated this one! The camera can rather easily be moved but to keep weight down on these real cheapo things they have to be hacked up pretty good.
I made another… same weight as the the other before cutting it up:
I cut this this one up even more and managed to lower overall weight with 1.2 grams.
I tinkered a bit with Convoy’s 12V 2,5A GT-FC40 driver. I changed it to 6V output and adjusted boost converters input limit to higher value. It was limited to 10A, but MP3431 boost converter should handle higher. I also changed bigger 1R5 valued inductor to it from broken Convoy driver. With 6,7 mOhm current sense resistor mine gives an output of 6,2A and draws 12A from battery. This with battery voltage of 4,1.
I haven’t done anything with my flashlights anymore for several months, but today I added aux leds to my edc FWAA. Due to the fact that attiny85 sits inside, there is only one color - ice blue, but I think that’s enough for me. imgur gallery
I also finished a mod for a friend recently. He saw it at Vinh’s and wanted it too. 7x xhp50.2 5000k mule.
Apart from the auxes, I also added a blue GITD tape to the inner wall. I think it was a good idea. imgur gallery
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