After facing the plethora of problems with batteries and voltage drops in the first version, I decided to do some more research and found out that the motor speed and the propeller size I had gave me a much smaller total thrust than the weight of my quad. so after using an online calculator for the thrust, I decided to buy better motors and larger propellers.
What I realized was that newer quads use brush less motors rather than brushed ones because they are much more efficient at using power, and can spin much faster, but they cost a whole lot more than regular brushed dc motors, because you have to buy electronic speed controllers to manage those better motors. However this ends up costing around a hundred dollars, and I didn't want to spend that much.
I got brushed motors that were larger and more powerful than the previous ones, and I also bought size 1045 plastic propellers. Together this combination could theoretically lift 1kg, which was almost exactly the total weight of the one I had. The problem I found was that there motors were not meant for Quads, and so the rod on which I was mounting the props was too thin. I temporarily wrapped the mounting rods with masking tape to make them thicker, so I could mount the props. I also bought a small portable battery pack with a USB connection to provide the 5V, 1A power that the raspberry pi required. It was really a pain, because most lightweight portable batteries are 0.5A sources. I mounted everything on the styrofoam frame, and taped everthing on securely
I wrote a better version of the code inn python, and spend a while learning about PID algorithms, and how I could use them to make my quad have stable flight.
This time, the problem I faced was that all the batteries and the components were still too heavy for the quad, and moreover, because the motors were not made for air crafts, they did not spin as fast as they should have because of the resistance from the propellers. After a few more days of research and testing the motors at higher voltages etc., I decided that making a quadcopter using regular dc motors was not practical and a waste of time and energy.
I instead started to look at if I can use brushless DC motors like the ones they use in professional RC quads, for my project. It turns out that you can, however I had to make a pretty large investment of around $100 to buy the right motors as well as electronic speed controllers (ESC's) for the motors.
It is really cool how the brushless motors work. The rotation happens due to the changes in a magnetic field in the coils of the motor, which oscillate in three phases. I decided to use those new motors in Version 3. Stay tuned and in my next post I will show you what design changes I made and the challenges I faced.
What I realized was that newer quads use brush less motors rather than brushed ones because they are much more efficient at using power, and can spin much faster, but they cost a whole lot more than regular brushed dc motors, because you have to buy electronic speed controllers to manage those better motors. However this ends up costing around a hundred dollars, and I didn't want to spend that much.
I got brushed motors that were larger and more powerful than the previous ones, and I also bought size 1045 plastic propellers. Together this combination could theoretically lift 1kg, which was almost exactly the total weight of the one I had. The problem I found was that there motors were not meant for Quads, and so the rod on which I was mounting the props was too thin. I temporarily wrapped the mounting rods with masking tape to make them thicker, so I could mount the props. I also bought a small portable battery pack with a USB connection to provide the 5V, 1A power that the raspberry pi required. It was really a pain, because most lightweight portable batteries are 0.5A sources. I mounted everything on the styrofoam frame, and taped everthing on securely
I wrote a better version of the code inn python, and spend a while learning about PID algorithms, and how I could use them to make my quad have stable flight.
This time, the problem I faced was that all the batteries and the components were still too heavy for the quad, and moreover, because the motors were not made for air crafts, they did not spin as fast as they should have because of the resistance from the propellers. After a few more days of research and testing the motors at higher voltages etc., I decided that making a quadcopter using regular dc motors was not practical and a waste of time and energy.
I instead started to look at if I can use brushless DC motors like the ones they use in professional RC quads, for my project. It turns out that you can, however I had to make a pretty large investment of around $100 to buy the right motors as well as electronic speed controllers (ESC's) for the motors.
It is really cool how the brushless motors work. The rotation happens due to the changes in a magnetic field in the coils of the motor, which oscillate in three phases. I decided to use those new motors in Version 3. Stay tuned and in my next post I will show you what design changes I made and the challenges I faced.
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