Alternative Electronic setups
Posted: Thu 21. Apr 2016 12:02
Yet another one of my hobbies is quadcopters! Recently there have been lots of small transmitter and receiver packages coming to market. They would be slightly more expensive that the standard magracing setup, but would be an option for experimentation and widely available locally. Most work on 2.4ghz and use the bind n fly method. Once bound to a model they just work. You can have hundreds all working at once without issue as they do automatic band switching.
Here are a few I have found.
Hubsan X4
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hubsan-X4-H107 ... n+x4+drone
This quadcopter is everywhere. the hand controller is really nice and there are brushless drivers onboard a very small pcb. I just picked one up of ebay for £18. Parts can be bought separately. They even do one with a small FPV camera. The motors are quite powerful. I was wondering if two of them could directly drive the rear wheels of a magracer.
Micro MWC
http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/st ... rated.html
This is a small controller board that again has brushless motor outputs on board. This is the complete package and includes the reciever. You can use any dsm2 protocol transmitter to control it (such as a Spektrum DX6). The programming port means you can upload firmware to it. You can do this from the Arduino IDE similar to the normal arduino microcontrollers. It has gyros etc. on board
KKmini
http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/st ... _5mm_.html
This is a tiny board but needs a transmitter to be attached. The advantage here is the small lcd screen and buttons so you can interact with the firmware. Again the board is programmable using the arduino IDE. It has input and output pins (digital or analog). Gyros etc. are also on board. These are so cheap I will probably use them for most of my next microcontroller projects. They would make a nice controller for a lap counter or other static projects (I'm thinking pit lighting or crew that activate when you enter the pits, drag racing lighting trees etc.)
Many of these boards have battery monitoring inputs and buzzer outputs which is useful so you don't ruin unprotected lipos by discharging them too much.
I imagine these boards could be used in special magracing projects. Some people use the gyros in RC cars to enable drifting, so there may be some options we could use. For example a 1/24 scale car could have gyro stabilisation, working lights, special routines for pit entry, self driving cars etc.etc.
Please post up any more interesting ones you find.
Here are a few I have found.
Hubsan X4
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hubsan-X4-H107 ... n+x4+drone
This quadcopter is everywhere. the hand controller is really nice and there are brushless drivers onboard a very small pcb. I just picked one up of ebay for £18. Parts can be bought separately. They even do one with a small FPV camera. The motors are quite powerful. I was wondering if two of them could directly drive the rear wheels of a magracer.
Micro MWC
http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/st ... rated.html
This is a small controller board that again has brushless motor outputs on board. This is the complete package and includes the reciever. You can use any dsm2 protocol transmitter to control it (such as a Spektrum DX6). The programming port means you can upload firmware to it. You can do this from the Arduino IDE similar to the normal arduino microcontrollers. It has gyros etc. on board
KKmini
http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/st ... _5mm_.html
This is a tiny board but needs a transmitter to be attached. The advantage here is the small lcd screen and buttons so you can interact with the firmware. Again the board is programmable using the arduino IDE. It has input and output pins (digital or analog). Gyros etc. are also on board. These are so cheap I will probably use them for most of my next microcontroller projects. They would make a nice controller for a lap counter or other static projects (I'm thinking pit lighting or crew that activate when you enter the pits, drag racing lighting trees etc.)
Many of these boards have battery monitoring inputs and buzzer outputs which is useful so you don't ruin unprotected lipos by discharging them too much.
I imagine these boards could be used in special magracing projects. Some people use the gyros in RC cars to enable drifting, so there may be some options we could use. For example a 1/24 scale car could have gyro stabilisation, working lights, special routines for pit entry, self driving cars etc.etc.
Please post up any more interesting ones you find.