Team Blacksheep Discovery build

irvan36mm

Member
Cool, I'll rock it without sound.

at least that will let me chat with my spotter...etc while flying
Or,you can crank out the tunes on an MP3 player while flying via earbuds.
Voila! Instant soundtrack!!!!!!
I used to do that while driving my R/C oval car.
Makes you drive like a madman! LOL
 


Can I ask a question about TBS over DJI 450 performance. I've FPV'd a stock DJI 450 (but with Graupner 10" props) and NAZA for a few months and it flies great and I'm keen to build and try something else. My question is, is the TBS Disco better at flying than the DJI 450?
 

kloner

Aerial DP
the TBS is better suited for forward flight than a stock flamewheel and it has integrated circuitry to make long range uhf rc systems play nice with video systems, kinda automaticaly. improves a 2.4 rc system to. overall you get less interference because of it's design. The flying part, when you tilt a flame wheel frame forward, the cg is all over the place because of not being able to a. get the battery in line with the rest of the frame, it either sits above or bellow and makes cg change as it tilts b. not being able to get the battery far enough back to make em balance at 30-45 degrees. one thing there not is stronger so if your still throwing them down learning to fly, sit tight till your ready.

One thing i can't stress enough is get the core and have them install it. do not try running a bunch of fancy osd info, the core has one built in and is more than enough to keep you out of trouble. I would not bother with the tin shield
 

Ha ha ha, I've lurked here long enough to suss out that you've been there and got the T shirt Kloner, thanks for great reply.
I was going to ask you about this, the NAZA has it's own PSU (I think - the bit with the USB port on) as you know and I use Immersion 5.8ghz 600Mw xmitter which has a 5volt output forthe camera - so I was thinking, why does the TBS Disco have all that wiring built in and with the Core (PSU with 12v and 5v out) etc. Also, are the stock DJI 450 motors suitable to use on the Disco?
 

kloner

Aerial DP
naza uses a VU to power itself. it's an external bec with a light and usb interface. it is dirty power.

you can run the immersion straight up and use it to power a 5v cam, if there even is such a thing in the flavors i'd recomend (there all 12v). It makes the vtx run that much hotter using it's switching power supply inside it. If you run an immersion vtx on the cores filtered 12v dc output, it will perform alot better, give greater distance with a clearer picture. Then run your camera on the cores other selectable output 5v or 12v and it'll work better, have less junk, all the stuff you want. Then as a bonus, it has an osd that shows volts, mah used, amp draw and if your rc rx has it, rssi (receiver signal strength) that lets you know it is getting good signal. mine will get down to about 30% before i kinda worry. have seen it to 0 in situations i wouldn't have expected it, but from a dirt mount. It is required to fly long range. Is on frsky, ezuhf, DL, and the like. I've seen hacks to get it out of futaba receivers.


You can't get a decent osd for the price of the core, and it makes your rig's video very predictably perfect
 
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RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
I have two Disco, one with DJI motors and ESCs using the TBS69 camera and the core with OSD turned on. The other uses iPower 2217Q motors with reflashed 30A ESCs and full Immersion gear, EZOSD with 600mw VTX, no core. Both have Naza flight controllers with GPS and currently both are flying on 2.4 for control with video on 5.8 although either are configured to use EZUHF and 2.4 or 1.2 video which I use mainly in warm weather when I don't mind sitting out in the open for long periods of time to fly.

They both fly very similar considering the motor/ESC difference and the Immersion setup one being a bit heavier. IMO I like the one with the Immersion setup better than the one with the core, I see no real difference in video quality or range from one to the other, I can say the EZOSD is for me a lot more useful and a heck of a lot easier to read the data in flight, what I don't like about it is the price. Major deciding factor is the fact I fly within a couple miles of a very busy general aviation field so I need to know what altitude I'm at, that's one thing I can't get from the Core OSD. Another thing I consider is that the core board is soldered to the lower frame plate with a fair number of pins, having crashed and rendered a set of TBS frame plates junk I'd much rather not have the core soldered in place since removing it to put on a new frame would be a huge PITA. Fortunately (?) the one I crashed wasn't the one with the core installed so I didn't have to deal with that (yet).

Ken
 

kloner

Aerial DP
ken, what are the weight differences? what powers the camera on the one you don't have the core?

when first started out i wanted to know all that crap, now i just want to know when should get off the water and shut it down

if ken pushed them to there limits there is no doubt the interference from the ezosd current sensor will make it blow out before it's little brother....... behind real things like buildings, mountains, etc. not trees
 
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RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
ken, what are the weight differences? what powers the camera on the one you don't have the core?


iPower motors are larger, ESCs all have heatsinks, GoPro has battery backpack installed, EZOSD has more and larger bits than the core. Camera I'm using is 5 volt and powered from the Immersion vtx which I also have the 500mw 2.4 version of for when I want to change to the long range setup. The entire video setup is powered from the EZOSD current sensor board, only the ESCs are connected to the TBS power distribution.

Ken
 





kloner

Aerial DP
I'm guessing that wouldn't work here. mine was so hot it changed color..... but i'm flying in 115 like it's another day

This was my discovery with an eagle tree osd pro, gopro live feed and a 5.8 immersion all straight wired to the battery


and this is it with a core, lawmate 2.4 and pixim cam

so i guess the moral to the story is if your a rock star and nail the build like ken then your golden, but if you suck like me and want it to just work with no real skill, i'd get the core and some lawmate vtx. it's how i make all mine work........ and they all work the same
 
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RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
I'm guessing that wouldn't work here. mine was so hot it changed color..... but i'm flying in 115 like it's another day

This was my discovery with an eagle tree osd pro, gopro live feed and a 5.8 immersion all straight wired to the battery


and this is it with a core, lawmate 2.4 and pixim cam

so i guess the moral to the story is if your a rock star and nail the build like ken then your golden, but if you suck like me and want it to just work with no real skill, i'd get the core and some lawmate vtx. it's how i make all mine work........ and they all work the same

Funny my vids look exactly the opposite, the GoPro live feed looks like your lawmate/pixim, and my pixim setup looks like your GoPro. Operating environment has a lot to do with it, last time out there were patches of snow at the field from the nor'easter we had right after hurricane Sandy. Mid-summer on a really hot day it might get into the high 90's here, most of the time ambient temp could range anywhere from mid 60's to mid 80's in the summer and anywhere from 20's to high 50's the remainder of the year. Checking temps after a flight the only time ANYTHING gets really hot is on those rare 90 degree days or if I have something powered up on the bench for a while testing with no air movement to cool it. The only vTX I've used that got really hot was the Lawmate 2.4, to the point the core OSD started to scramble the characters until it got some air moving across it in flight, then things would settle back to normal. Haven't seen that happen with the Immersion 2.4, maybe I got a bum Lawmate unit.

Bottom line is you have to build for where you're flying, what works well here may work like crap in a much hotter environment and the other way round...

Ken, you using a RMRC 5v cam?

I've got several 5v cams, some are cheap Fatshark, at least one is RMRC, I'd have to look to see which is which. I just find it much easier to drive the cam off an output that is already there like the feed from the Immersion vTx than to have to regulate the 4S voltage down to either 12 or 5 with another board, just adds one more thing that has to be wired in and can potentially fail. After seeing the end result of stuffing several different FPV quad frames into the dirt I hesitate to hardwire anything to the frame plates that can't be easily removed, I have one core board soldered into the lower frame plate of my first TBS, if I decided to add one to the second it would be wired into the circuit and not hard soldered, far too easy to rip the frame plates apart in a crash IMO.

Ken
 
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kloner

Aerial DP
you just cut the pins in half to get it out and unsolder them with it apart. i've done that so it's super simple...... after burning a hole in my board within 3 minutes of powering it up

Can't believe with all your experience crashing is even in this post. how often you sending em in? what happens to make em do that? I haven't had a real crash yet, it'll be a year in about 20 days. i've had a battery fall off and unplug from 60 feet up, fell like a rock, had 2 batteries get high IR and LVC early on me, once into water. But other than that, i got nothin. Couple weeks ago i tried that rear mounted plug on a hero2 disco and it locked up the gyro or whatever, no damage but did hit a tree. Flipped over on the ground in glamis, but i wasn't even looking at it when i gave it throttle, was expecting to look over and see it in the sky, bent the prop adapters just enough to make jello. oh ya, that dragonlink ppm shift thing......... still didn't crash.

What r ya doin, 3d?


to use 2.4 in the us, you gotta hit channel 5 or 8........... 2300 band is pretty wide open at this point, forget which one i'm using, but it's crystal clear
 

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
you just cut the pins in half to get it out and unsolder them with it apart. i've done that so it's super simple...... after burning a hole in my board within 3 minutes of powering it up

Can't believe with all your experience crashing is even in this post. how often you sending em in? what happens to make em do that? I haven't had a real crash yet, it'll be a year in about 20 days. i've had a battery fall off and unplug from 60 feet up, fell like a rock, had 2 batteries get high IR and LVC early on me, once into water. But other than that, i got nothin. Couple weeks ago i tried that rear mounted plug on a hero2 disco and it locked up the gyro or whatever, no damage but did hit a tree. Flipped over on the ground in glamis, but i wasn't even looking at it when i gave it throttle, was expecting to look over and see it in the sky, bent the prop adapters just enough to make jello. oh ya, that dragonlink ppm shift thing......... still didn't crash.

What r ya doin, 3d?


to use 2.4 in the us, you gotta hit channel 5 or 8........... 2300 band is pretty wide open at this point, forget which one i'm using, but it's crystal clear

As the heli guys say, "if you aren't crashing you aren't learning". A sim is ok for practice but at some point you have to get out in the field and actually do it, not all flight controllers flip or roll well, flying fast between trees brings its own risk. Flying out in wide open space where there's nothing to hit is compeletly different environment from heavily wooded hills and valleys and I like to push the envelope, doesn't always work out but that's part of the game...

Ken
 

I'm really sold on the TBS Disco all except the positioning of the Go Pro. I don't fancy using a £300 Go Pro as a bumper bar - I know you're not supposed to dive it into the ground but these things happen. Has anyone fixed a Go Pro inc clear housing onto the Disco and if so, what did it do to performance?
 

DesJardins

Member
I'm really sold on the TBS Disco all except the positioning of the Go Pro. I don't fancy using a £300 Go Pro as a bumper bar - I know you're not supposed to dive it into the ground but these things happen. Has anyone fixed a Go Pro inc clear housing onto the Disco and if so, what did it do to performance?

If you're already thinking at a Discovery yard sale I say skip it and just fly a regular frame F450 with a FPV cam
:shrug:

The weight distribution down the middle was optimized to have the GoPro up front uncased & lipo in the tail.
In a crash that plastic case is hit or miss depending on your altitude, you can try it but would need a bit lore weight to the tail to compensate
 

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