2017年4月25日星期二

How often to recharge LIPO battery?

Is it a good idea to recharge LIPO battery every time after use? How often should we do it?


A LiPo should not be discharged below 3.2V per cell.

It also has a slow self-discharge, so if you're not going to use it for many months, giving it a charge so you know it won't go below 3.2V is helpful.
Charging all the way to full (4.2V / cell and only a small current remaining) will wear the oxide in the cell, though, and thus "consume life" of the cell. Charging it up to a lower voltage will damage it less.

Thus, a good idea might be to charge to 3.9V or 4.0V per cell, use a trickle charge like 0.2C, and cut off the charging once it gets there. This will pad against self-loss, and also make sure that the battery is at least 70% or so ready to be used if you need it immediately, yet not wear it out too much. (This is what I generally do.)

Note that you'll need to use a charger that lets you set the voltage. Personally, I use a high quality benchtop power supply, and charge the full stack (without worrying about balance.) I set the current limit to something small, and then keep an eye on it, and when the battery draws less than the current limit, at the target voltage, I call it done.
Once I want to charge it full, I use a balance charger to make sure the cells are in "harmony," but you really don't need to do that every time you charge.

If you know that you will use the battery within a week or two, though, just charge it full right away.
If you want to know more Lipo battery knowledge, you can read this article:

2017年4月21日星期五

Build a Mini Racing Quadcopter

I want to fly a plane in the sky, but it is very difficult to achieve. FPV quadcopter help me come true my dream. Flying things are cool, especially when theyre fast! Follow along as I build this 250 sized mini FPV racing quad.

These are my Quadcopter Materials:
1806 2300KV Brushless Motor x4pcs

HobbySky 20A Simonk Brushless ESC x 4pcs

H250 ZMR250 250mm Carbon Fiber Mini Quadcopter Multicopter Frame Kit

CC3D Openpilot Flight Controller with Black Case 

6030 6*3 2-Blade CW CCW Nylon Propeller x4

Tattu 1300mAh 4S 75C Lipo battery  

Optional for FPV video

7″ Inch TFT LCD Mirror Monitor 
TS5828 5.8Ghz 600mW AV Wireless Transmitter

RC832 5.8G AV Receiver 32CH
10800TVL PCB Board Camera

Step 1: Build That Frame
Grab your frame parts and get assembling, there are a load off slightly different designs out there so I recommend following the instructions that came with your frame. If you didnt get any like me then have a good guess. Youll figure it out eventually!

Step 2: Mount That Motor

This steps pretty easy, just grab your motors and screw them to your frame with those tiny bolts that came with your motor. Drop a little bit of thread-lock onto the bolts if your worried about them vibrating out.

Step 3: Divide That Power

Okay so a quadcopter has 4 motors, which means we need 4 electronic speed controllers (ESCs) to power the motors, one for each motor. Im using a power distribution board which splits the power from the battery to each ESC. You can just solder the wires together but using a board makes it much easier and usually more reliable. Make sure you get the polarity right or youll be sure to release the magic smoke. Youll also want to solder some wires to connect to your battery. Im using an XT-60 connector. I secured the board to the bottom with double sided foam tape. That stuffs really useful! Use zip ties to strap the ESCs to the arms and tidy the power wires.

Step 4: Connect That Motor


So we have the ESCs and the motors but there not connected together yet. Lets change that. Usually I use bullet connectors but as this is a racing quad we want it to be as light as possible so I chose to just solder the wires together. Your going to want to use heat-shrink on all the connections to prevent short circuits but dont shrink it yet as you might need to swap some connections later on. Just solder each of the 3 wires from the ESC to a motor wire. Give the freshly soldered connection a tug to make sure its secure. Then slide the heat-shrink over the connection but remember to not shrink it yet.

Step 5: Stick on That Flight Controller

Theres loads of multi-rotor flight controllers out there. Ive read some good things about the CC3D so I used it for this build. I think its great! Really simple to setup and flys really well. I mounted it with some more of the foam tape which works well, make sure the its pointing forward. Follow the wiring diagram to connect the ESCs to the CC3D, well connect the receiver in the next step.
Step 6: Connect That Computer

Youll want to download the open pilot software from
https://wiki.openpilot.org/display/WIKI/OpenPilot ... which will enable you to configure the flight controller properly. Please note that the latest version that supports the CC3D board is 15.02.02 just scroll down a bit on the download page to find this version. Once you have it installed open it up and youll be welcomed with the main menu. See that big green button? Press that to setup your quad. 

Step 7: FPV That Quad

Attach the board camera with zip ties so in the event of a crash it will have some room to move a little and hopefully wont break. Solder power connectors from the power board on the bottom and attach the video transmitter to the top with a zip tie. Connect video signal from the camera and power from the board to the camera and transmitter. Finally tidy the cables so they aren’t in the way of the props.


2017年4月14日星期五

Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K Edition

Xiaomi Drone 4K is a new product by Xiaomi company, it is the sister of Xiaomi drone 1080P; the differnet between these is their camera, Xiaomi Mi drone 4K have 4K camera, but Xiaomi drone 1080P with 1080P camera. And next I will have a detail introduction of Xiao mi drone 4K.
Xiaomi Mi drone 4K is an Easy to learn, high resolution videos, safe and convenient 4K camera WIFI FPV quadcopter. Mi Drone Explore a new perspective at your fingertips.

Main Features:
  • Circle around an object
  • Plan a route
  • Send a point
  • Indoor/outdoor  hovering
  • Returns on low battery
  • GPS real-time tracking
  • Automatically stops and hovers when approaching no-fly zone
  • 4K Camera
  • Long Flight Time
  • Remote Control
Circle around an object

Choose a point and set desired hover height and radius. Mi Drone will automatically circle around an object, capturing beautiful shots of the object.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Plan a route
Set a route so images and footage captured will be uninterrupted and beautiful.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Send a point
Set a location on the map within the app, and Mi Drone automatically flies towards the pinned location.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Indoor/outdoor hovering
Mi drone uses GPS + GLONASS positioning, sets pinned location faster and more accurately, making hover more stable. And Mi drone combines CORTEXT-A7 quadcore processor with advanced optical flow and night vision algorithms, making it highly sensitive to detect surfaces. Even indoors with minimal GPS signal, you will be able to hover at the designated spot.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Returns on low battery
Mi Drone calculates power required to return home and automatically returns when battery is low.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K

GPS real-time tracking
Once Mi Drone disconnects from the remote, it returns home automatically. Should an accident occur during the return trip, the Mi Drone can be easily located using its GPS real-time tracking System.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Automatically stops and hovers when approaching no-fly zone

When Mi Drone approaches a no-fly zone, it automatically stops, hovers, and sends out a smart alert to prevent any accidents from occuring.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
4K Camera

Mi Drone use Integrated PTZ camera, 3-axis stablization; Integrated PTZ camera Stabilizes every single pixel in the image, PTZ camera includes a processor that calculates and compensates ad-ditional movements, and highly sensitive 3-axis gambal stabilizes up to 2000 vibrations per second, ± 0.02° accuracy.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Remote Control
Mi Drone (4K version) has low latency and strong anti-inteference technology built in so you can enjoy a bird's eye view, even when you are 2km away.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Long Flight Time
Mi Drone comes with 5100mAh high energy density LG/Grepow batteries, Ultra-thin 1.2mm body, 9.35g/W high aerodynamic efficiency, so flight time can be as long as 27 mins. It is also simple and easy to replace with new batteries, and with intelligent protection technology makes batteries safe and lasts longer, High strength body structure yet it is only 1.2mm thick. With lighter body weight, greatly enhances flight performance. ARA-D airfoil propeller, larger blades, lower inertia, and larger aerodynamic performance.
Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K
Mi Drone has adopted a modular design approach with a foldable landing gear and detachable PTZ camera. It also fulfills IATA standards, so you can bring it along with you when you travel.

2017年4月1日星期六

How to safety discharge batteries

The batteries make our life more convenient, as the electric power, we should use them safety. Last week, we talk about how to charge lipo battery, from the article you have learned charge lipo battery is not easy thing, we should take more carefully. Today, we will give you some advises about how to discharge batteries.


1. Don't discharge Batteries at amperage rates higher than specified on Batteries' labels.
2. Don't allow the temperature of Batteries to exceed 140°F during discharge. Adequate cooling for Batteries is required, especially when discharging at or near maximum rates.
3. Don't discharge Batteries to voltage below which they are rated by the manufacturer when measured under load (connected to the vehicle or a charger capable of discharge). Batteries discharged to a voltage lower than the lowest approved voltage may be damaged, resulting in loss of performance and potential fire when Batteries are charged.
4. Don't discharge battery to a level below 3V per cell under load.
For Tattu series batteries which are used for Unmanned Aircraft System, The recommended cut off voltage is 3.5V per cell.
5.Don't leave battery unattended during the discharging process. During the discharging process, user should monitor the process constantly and react to potential problem that may occur.
6. In case of emergency, discontinue the process immediately, disconnect the battery, place it in a safe area, and observe it for approximately one hour. This may cause the battery to leak and the reaction with air may cause the chemicals to ignite, resulting in a fire. A safe area should be outside of any building or vehicle and away from any combustible materials. A battery can still ignite even after one hour.
7. User need to check the conditions of the battery before use it or discharge it. Stop using it if user found the cells are not balanced or cells are puffing or weeping.
And finally, don't over discharge the battery, over discharge the battery maybe let the battery damage or fire, so please take more carefully to discharge batteries