thedroneracingengineer

I'm in chat... come hang out if you want.

I'm going to be editing video for the next couple hours (about 2 PM Eastern time to about 4 PM Eastern time). If you want to come hang out in voice/video chat, click the link below. This can be Q&A or just hang out or whatever. You can use text chat as well if you prefer.

EDIT: The meeting has ended. Thanks to everyone who joined!

EARLY LOOK at Module Testing

Rapidfire, Clearview, LaForge, True-D, Achilles Pro, and Aomway Commander V2!

I just uploaded this test result and it'll go live on the channel in a few days. But here's an early look for Patrons!

What do you think of the results????

Knoxville, TN, Meetup Tomorrow (Monday)

Rotor Riot community meetup tomorrow (Monday) at Lakeshore park. 5 PM until dark-ish. "Trees 1" location (see map marker below).

In attendance, Stingersswarm, Ummagawd, Skitzo, and me.

https://goo.gl/maps/c1FEffkGdxt

Patrons-only question thread for today's livestream

The livestream starts in 20 minutes (1:00 PM Eastern U.S. time). Post your questions here and I will answer as many as I can.

MEETUP LOCATION for Houston TX TODAY

The location for today's meetup with me and the other Rotor Riot guys will be 4 PM today at Bear Creek Pioneer's Park. We will set up at one of the pavilions just show up and listen for the quads.

Live "bench time" call starting ON THE HOUR

Hang out and work with me on the bench. Log in here: https://zoom.us/j/736188923

Bench Time Video Call March 29, 1 PM EST

You're invited to join me for a "bench time" video call. Hang out and chat while I work on my quads. Ask me questions. Tell me what you're working on. Or just listen and zone out.

The call will be at 1 PM EST. Check the link below for your local time.

https://zoom.us/j/736188923

You can join via desktop or mobile app. You will be muted when you first join, so that there isn't too much background noise. You're welco...

Kwad Camp Knoxville: TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW

I will be holding a special Kwad Camp event at my home in Knoxville, TN, Saturday and Sunday, April 28 and 29. You're seeing this email because I want my Patrons to have first shot at buying tickets...

THEY JUST WENT ON SALE!

Purchase at the link below. 

http://kwadcamp.com/event/knoxville/

I am so looking forward to meeting you!

OMG I'M AHEAD

I ACTUALLY HAVE VIDEOS SCHEDULED A FEW DAYS IN ADVANCE. 

i don't even know what to do with myself now.

Rotor Riot Meetup Tomorrow Sarasota, FL

There'll be a meetup tomorrow, March 14, at 5 PM, at the field next to St. Jude Church 17th St. In Sarasota, FL. St Jude Catholic Church 3930 17th St, Sarasota, FL 34235 https://goo.gl/maps/jFohM83cSCr

Knoxville Kwad Camp

THIS IS PRIVATE INFORMATION FOR PATRONS ONLY.
PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THIS INFORMATION

There are tentative plans right now to do a Knoxville Kwad Camp (possibly even at my place) April 28 and 29. I wanted to let my Patrons know before everybody else so that you could start thinking about if you want to come.

No announcement has been made about this yet. I'll try to let you know when the date is final and tickets are going to go on sale.

What I Did Today: March 3, 2018

Edited, rendered, and uploaded one video dealing with Clearview Fatshark module. 

YouTube metadata for that video, and one more dealing with the Clearview Fatshark module (they will release on March 4 and March 6). The Metadata is things like the title, description, tags, and thumbnail. This is a more time-consuming part of the process than you might think. 

Optimizing the title, tags, and description to hit the right keywords takes a lot of research. For example, which is bett...

What I Did Today: March 2, 2018

BF 3.3 released this morning, so I had to re-prioritize some of my plans. The last round of battery testing didn't get done. It was mostly about Betaflight today.

Flew a bunch of test flights on Betaflight 3.3 to determine a good all-round recommendation for stage2 filtering.

Flew some freestyle demonstration videos on the suggested tuning to demonstrate. Used the Clearview module to get some sample footage of that as well.

Trashed one POPO motor while flying freestyle (not related...

BF3.3 new filter tuning

Betaflight 3.3 is out and I am editing my video about the new filters NOW. Until then, here is my recommendation:

Set gyro_stage2_lowpass_hz=150

Disable all notch filters: gyro, dterm, and dynamic

Set dterm lowpass to PT1.

Enable 32k sampling if your FC supports it

For F4, run your FC at 32 kHz / 16 kHz. Disable accelerometer to save a few cycles if need be, but you should be okay even with it enabled. I was at about 45% utilization with this setup. The mai...

What I Did Today: March 1, 2018

Finished battery testing the Tattu and Adrenaline, except I still need to import Evan's data into the software and run that test series. Expect to publish results next week.

Received the 'Merica quads today for the 4S/high kv vs 6S/low kv testing. Unfortunately, Evan is going to an event this weekend and I will be at Kwad Camp next weekend, so I might not get to actually test them for a few weeks.

One of my Patrons graciously offered to loan me his LaForge v4 for my receiver shootout. I ...

What I Did Today: Feb 28, 2018

Adrenaline and R-Line battery testing. Performed the 30, 40, 50, and 60 amp discharge tests.  A CLEAR WINNER in this test has occurred. One of the packs has reached <50% capacity at 60 amps. One of the packs is going to make it at least to 70, and maybe 80 amps. Such a big disparity on two top-tier packs is really surprising.

Found a volunteer to create an index of time-stamps for my last livestream. Updated the livestream video with the index.

Started organizing footage for my ...

What I Did Today: Feb 27, 2018

Adrenaline and R-Line battery testing. Two of each pack, so four packs total. Performed the 1C "capacity test" discharge. Performed the 10 and 20 amp discharge test.

Work on formatting blackbox volts/amps data from Evan Turner for import to battery test software.

Recorded video for the Crossfire flight test. This video is to examine whether the lower latency of Crossfire results in noticeable better flight feel, responsiveness, etc. 

Recorded an informal, non-scientific range...

Q&A Livestream Monday Feb 26 at 1:00 PM Eastern U.S. Time GMT -5

You can watch the livestream at this URL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt2V5hlKSvs

Post questions on this thread. I will do my best to answer them, although I may not be able to answer all of them.

Bench Time Video Call today at 2 PM Eastern (GMT -5)

Hi folks. I will be doing a "Bench Time" video call this afternoon at 2 PM Eastern Time GMT -5  (on the upcoming hour). I'm doing this during the day to make it more convenient for patrons outside the U.S.

Basically, this is a chance for you to hang out with me while I get some work done and talk one-on-one in real time instead of via chat or messenger like usual.

You can dial in using this URL: https://zoom.us/j/625558...

Patrons-only thread for tonight's livestream

Here is the thread where you can post questions for tonight's Q&A livestream, starting in about 15 minutes (on the hour).

MEETUP. TOMORROW. Me. The Rotor Riot Crew. Botgrinder. (ALSO LE DRIB)

I will be at Brook Run Park (map marker below) tomorrow, January 29, at 3 PM. The rest of the crew, including Le Drib, Stingersswarm, Botgrinder, will be there at 4 PM. This is an open event, anybody can come.

Here's the map marker: https://goo.gl/Jo16bv

Q&A Livestream Question Post Thread

This is the thread where you can post questions for the Q&A Livestream tomorrow at 8 PM Eastern. I will prioritize these questions, although I might choose not to answer all of them live. If I miss any, I'll answer them here instead.

Livestream link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTNuwqWpDlo

I may not be monitoring this thread in real-time during the livestream as it's hard to keep up with chat a...

Patrons-Only Video Chat This Week

I'm doing another Patrons-Only Video Chat this Tuesday, January 23, at 8 PM Eastern time. To join the meeting, go here: 

 https://zoom.us/j/273788994 

I will be working on the bench and hanging out with Patrons. You are invited to call in and participate or just listen if you prefer. The call will be recorded and some or all of it may be used on my channel. If you prefer not to participate live, I will pos...

I got interviewed for the AMA Magazine

Patrons-only chat replay is uploaded

If you missed my "bench time" live-chat invitation the other night, here's the replay. This is a little more informal and open-ended show format, with not very many edits (although I did cut out a couple of topics that I wanted to keep a little more private).

I normally keep my content mostly family-friendly, but this video contains some mild cursing.

I really enjoyed getting to hang out with some of you. I will DEFINITELY be doing this again. However, I probably won't schedule it. It'll...

Livestream call-in instructions

The Q&A livestream will be starting in about 30 minutes. This will be the first time I am going to try to take live questions via call-in. Here is how it is going to work.

PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS.

If you want to call in, go to this URL.

 2018-01-14 16:27:19 +0000 UTC View Post

Sunday Livestream Thread

I will be doing a livestream this Sunday, January 14, at noon Eastern time. Here is a link to the livestream event if you want to check your local time. or set a reminder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3E0Tj6oAp0

This is a little bit of a weird time slot for Americans, but it's intended to FINALLY let the Europeans participate at a normal hour of the day.

I believe that I have the kinks worked ou...

Acrobee Kit Winner: Paul Hoffmann

Paul Hoffmann is the winner of the Acrobee and accessories. Congratulations to Paul and thanks to everyone else who entered. Paul, please message me here on Patreron or email me joshuabardwell@gmail.com to arrange delivery.

GIVEAWAY: Newbeedrone Acrobee and Accessories

EDIT: THE GIVEAWAY IS OVER AND THE WINNER HAS BEEN SELECTED. If you missed the giveaway, 1) make sure you are in the $5 subscription level or higher, and 2) make sure you are getting email notifications from Patreon and they're not going to the spam folder or something.

---

This giveaway is: 1x Newbeedrone Acrobee with BeeBrain v2 flight controller (FrSky receiver); 1x Cockroach reinforced frame; 2x set of "silver" motors; 2x set of "gold" motors; 1x AOKoda USB charger; 1x Acrobee travel...

YOU can call in to my Q&A Livestream TONIGHT

I will be doing a Q&A Livestream in just about 8 hours from now (depending on when you actually see this). 

I am extending a special offer to my Patrons. I would like to try to answer some questions live, 1-on-1. If you have a topic that you would like to discuss with me, please comment below. I WILL EMAIL YOU PRIVATELY to tell you how to call in, if I decide to include your question. You should have a phone or web cam that can do Google Hangouts.

Please respond if you have ques...