Phobotic Centerpiece finally released

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Have to admit I wasn't aware of this new offering until recently - and I must have signed up for the email alert when they finally hit the market. Not sure I'm willing to be part of the early adopters for so etching as complicated as a gimbal controller, but it seems to be promising that another less expensive, auto tune-equipped choice is out there now.

Slightly disappointed that that the lower cost version doesn't list Bluetooth as an connectivity option. But maybe that can be implemented down the road?

Who's got one on the way already, and how soon until we hear some feedback??? :)
 

ovdt

Member
Mines is on the way, will plug into CS style brushless gimbal converted by famoushobby parts.

Sick of AM boards, happ with my M5 but I need to give life to my DIY gimbals somehow, and CP is my last chance. If it works, I will burn my alexmos boards.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Mines is on the way, will plug into CS style brushless gimbal converted by famoushobby parts.

Sick of AM boards, happ with my M5 but I need to give life to my DIY gimbals somehow, and CP is my last chance. If it works, I will burn my alexmos boards.

I'm currently messing with an alexmos 8bit 2-axis. Much better than the Martinez for me - but will be curious to see how this one works, and whether the autotune is all it promises to be.

Which did you order, the basic or the HV model? 1 or 2 IMU?
 

ovdt

Member
I'm currently messing with an alexmos 8bit 2-axis. Much better than the Martinez for me - but will be curious to see how this one works, and whether the autotune is all it promises to be.

Which did you order, the basic or the HV model? 1 or 2 IMU?


I ordered the HV version with 2 IMUs.

I'm no longer spending time for tuning AM boards. I am just tired of not getting predictable and reliable results.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
I ordered the HV version with 2 IMUs.

I'm no longer spending time for tuning AM boards. I am just tired of not getting predictable and reliable results.

I'm not completely giving up yet - but I'm headed in that direction :)
 



eirlink

Member
Mines is on the way, will plug into CS style brushless gimbal converted by famoushobby parts.

Sick of AM boards, happ with my M5 but I need to give life to my DIY gimbals somehow, and CP is my last chance. If it works, I will burn my alexmos boards.

how is yours on the way already? they dont ship till 8th sept.
did you get confirmation?
im waiting on mine.
 



Daloaf

Member
Here is another video shot with the Phobotic Centerpiece. This setup is a DJI S1000, TPpacks AG1000 gimbal, GH4 and a Centerpiece controller. This was a rough conditions test. I flew in 20mph winds on top of a hill with crazy wind rotors blowing at the top. And I was doing some fast forward flight with hard turns. Seeing the footage after this flight sold me on how good these controllers are.

 
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Daloaf

Member
That video looks good to me. How long have you been testing the controller?
I have had it for about a week and a half doing various tests for Phobotic. I'll give a few details about it and what I used before. I have been using Alexmos boards sense I was a beta tester for the Yun-1 brushless gimbal, that was the first alexmos board or AM based gimbal ever released. Personally I have at least 7 AM boards on various gimbals in my house. The AM boards were a workhorse for me and although have have been really frustrating at times, they also were a huge step up from servo driven gimbals. The CP now is a big step up from the AM boards. It seems similar, but everything is so much more refined. The stability of the footage so far has been on par with the zenmuse in most instances (yah no more post stabilizing every video!), the autotune takes all of the PID, Power, Pole count issues out of your hands and the ease of setup is pretty amazing.

Autotune so far has worked perfect with everyone that had tested it so far. The fact that it figures out the motor power so my motors are just barely warm, but never hot is pretty cool.If you want to make changes after the autotune process, you can manually change PIDs, power, etc in the GUI. Another cool thing is the CP uses Canbus instead of I2C, so even using a 60mm connector to the IMU, you no longer need ferrite rings and wire interference seems a thing of the past. The IMU itself is a custom design. It has it's own processor and can have its own firmware updates. It is also temperature controlled to minimize gyro drift over time as it changes temperature. The CP has various RC inputs, you can use a spektrum receiver, Sbus or pwm. You can save various profiles and have them switchable by a button press or switch on the TX so switching from single person follow mode to two person mode should be easy. There are I think 6 status LED's on the back including 5 in a row that can tell you the gimbal batteries power level, which is cool (I need to confirm that as I'm using a 12.5v BEC for my gimbal).

Some things to consider. The basic Centerpiece controller is 2-5s and the high voltage (CPHV) version is 2-10s. The CPHV also comes with 2 IMUs for better stability, although you can buy a second IMU for the basic CP (it has 2 IMU outputs on the board). Personally I am getting such good results with 1 IMU, I'm not sure if I need another. But maybe if I was using it on a handheld setup, where I I may hold it at crazy angles. The IMU is so sensitive that it does need to be bolted down to the camera base plate (the CP comes with standoffs for this). It picks up and corrects for even the smallest vibrations, so tape interferes with this. Also, you need to make sure your camera gimbal doesn't have any binding or rough spots when you rotate it by hand as those will negatively affect the autotune process. A good thing though is that the CP is a bit more tolerant of being out of balance then the AM boards. You still have to get your camera close to perfectly balanced on the gimbal, but if you add filters or extend a lens when zooming, it's not as big a deal.

That's just a few things about the CP off the top of my head. If you have any questions, ask away.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Thanks so much for all the feedback. Seems like we could be witnessing the next step if everyone else has the type of experience you're having.

What gimbal, camera and airframe are you testing with?
 

Daloaf

Member
Thanks so much for all the feedback. Seems like we could be witnessing the next step if everyone else has the type of experience you're having.

What gimbal, camera and airframe are you testing with?
Right now there are 4 external testers as far as I know and all of us are getting pretty amazing results. My setup is a DJI S1000 with a TPpacks AG1000 gimbal, Panasonic GH4/14mm lens and the Centerpiece. I'm powering the CP from a Castle Creations BEC Pro (20A) outputting 12.5v.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Right now there are 4 external testers as far as I know and all of us are getting pretty amazing results. My setup is a DJI S1000 with a TPpacks AG1000 gimbal, Panasonic GH4/14mm lens and the Centerpiece. I'm powering the CP from a Castle Creations BEC Pro (20A) outputting 12.5v.

Looks like I might get to give this CP a shot sooner than I thought. Looking forward to it. I have been powering my gimbals with a SEPIC adjustable style regulator. Think that should cover it?
 

Daloaf

Member
If it worked when you were using a different gimbal controller, it will work now. You can figure that even midsized gimbals for cameras like the GH4 very rarely go above 2amps per motor and usually averages about 1 amp. So a 5-6 amp esc might work fine, a 10 amp will work for sure. And if you can adjust the voltage, anything under 5s (18.5v) should work with the base model CP. I'm simply doing 12.5v as that is as high as my CC BEC Pro can go and so far has been plenty for my gimbals.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
those sepic if like buck converters are only 1 amp so make sure you pick the right one... i would wire it straight to a lipo, use the regulator for video feed or rc power, things like that
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
those sepic if like buck converters are only 1 amp so make sure you pick the right one... i would wire it straight to a lipo, use the regulator for video feed or rc power, things like that

The one I have is only 2A. Seem like it could be enough? No headroom though, probably cutting it too close. I'll grab a BEC if necessary. Just seems smart to have a regulated voltage - but maybe this CP does this already - can't recall. The AM I've been tweaking definitely doesn't.
 
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Forget about the BEC. Run it direct from the flight pack as long as you have 5S or less.
The BEC in this case can do more bad than good.
 

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