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Drone, the first - smells a bit burnt, doesn't it?

10.4.2020

Translation: machine translated

I want to go quadcoptering - with a drone I built myself. The road to getting there is littered with fire, smoke and countless pitfalls. Not to mention falls; fortunately only on a simulator - for now.

I'm sitting in my living room connecting the battery to my drone. Sparks fly, smoke appears and the smell persists even after the incident. Let's start at the beginning! How could this happen?

A long-held dream

A year and a half ago, I went to a drone race in Rapperswil. Raphael Strähl, a racing drone pilot, gave my colleague Ramon Schneider and me a demo. Since then, I've had just one idea in mind: to be able to pilot such a quadcopter.

Before I even have the first parts in hand, I watch tons of YouTube videos to find out a bit more. I also call on the knowledge of Product Manager Tino Kälin. I opt for a relatively new DJI system. It consists of a remote control, an FPV helmet (First Person View - it allows me to see the drone as if I were in it) and an aerial unit, which is attached to the drone. A small camera and two antennae, which transmit the signal from the camera to the helmet, are connected to the aerial unit. In addition to these parts there is also a frame, flight controller, propellers, etc..

RC drone accessories

DJI FPV Mode 2

RC drone accessories

DJI FPV Goggles

RC drone accessories

DJI FPV Air Unit

It's time to get DIY

Despite careful planning, I soon encounter the first problem during assembly. My flight controller, which stabilises the drone using gyro sensors and sends the corresponding signals to the motors, doesn't have the same holes as those in the chassis to which the components are attached.

Prototype of the wooden adapter and the final carbon version

From a thin slab of wood, I make an adapter for smaller holes. However, this is just for testing purposes. As my flatmate works in carbon, made me the definitive version in this material. We can continue. I screw the motors to the chassis, solder the wires to the controller, fix the aerial unit to the box with cable ties and connect the corresponding wires to the controller.

Oh, my goodness

Once everything is wired up, I test the connection of the aerial unit with the FPV headset without the other electronics. Yes, I can see a picture. I'm confident and connect my wired flight controller to the battery. I plug it in and a crackling sound is heard. Huh?! I check all the connections again. Everything seems to be ok... I try again. Boom, a flame appears. Oops.

Thankfully, there wasn'there was no more damage

Expert Tino helps me analyse my mistakes. Is it the voltage transformer? Did I swap the plus and minus poles? Was it the battery? By process of elimination, we've put our finger on the problem: the battery. The flight controller is designed to work with 2-3 cell batteries. My battery had 4. At least now I know what the problem was. It won't happen to me again. Cost of the damaged equipment: around 150 francs, including three new batteries. And let's not forget the time lost. I have to order new parts and wait.

The simulator makes me despair

At least I now have time to train. According to the YouTube videos, I'm supposed to spend countless hours on the simulator before flying the drone outdoors for the first time. Until now, computer games have been rather alien to me. Proof that you should never say never.

To practise, all I have to do is connect the remote control to the computer. I download the paid-for DRL simulator via Steam. The game has a simple training mode, racing simulators and maps in which I can fly freely. How hard can it be? After just a few seconds I'm already crashing. It's the first of many crashes. It's really hard. Countless crashes later, I give up. Just like building drones, practice makes perfect.
Once my parts arrive, I'll put it all together and - hopefully this time - be able to fly my drone for the first time.

Follow my author profile so you don't miss my take-off.

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Manuel Wenk

Communications Manager

Manuel.Wenk@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a Multimedia Producer, preparing multimedia content and knowing about cutting-edge technology is my business. My main focus at digitec is producing videos. I can’t wait to try out new products such as cameras, drones or smartphones as soon as they’re launched. This is where being at the source comes in rather handy. When I’m not working, I’m probably skiing, biking or hiking – the mountains are my place to be.

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