Hi Guys, I am new to this forum, im looking as to what drone would you recommend my buying for my father, (cheap ofcourse) . He basically wants it to scout the farms fences, which 59 hectares for intruders/damage to the electric fence, weekly. So it must have autopathing, aswell as how would you connect live feed to a display. Any assistace or pointing me in the right direction will be mostly appreciated. Regards
All of those cheaper quads have some problems and require decent tech skills both to set up and to keep going (some QC problems, the APM flight controller is quite technical, etc.). I think with quadcopters that cheap ones aren't good and good ones aren't cheap. By the time you get done with the proper live feeds, etc. and everything else it's likely to cost you as much as buying something ready to go. For now, here is what I would do. DJI is going to announce something new at CES this week. Some other companies may do the same. I'd wait a couple weeks and see if any of the new stuff provides a better price to performance ratios. If he doesn't care about super-stable video and also can take some stills, the older Phantom Vision (not the +) are available for very good prices. I assume the DJI Mission planner works with those - that's autonomous flight, although not as fancy as the APM or pixihawk (flight controller) machines. I think the problem here is putting something together cheap. It's difficult.
Thank you for your response, technical issues wouldn`t be of any concern to me, as that is my line of work. Were from South Africa, availability is non-existent for anything decent, we have to import. The phantoms that are sold here cost you guys,lets say 1000$,which in turn costs us R11000.00 (thats online purchase, here is almost double that). Quality is not really of importance for our needs. The reviews on those 2 models have been good. My main concern is live feed, as setting the APM should be reletively easy imo.
Live feed should be easy - you can use most any camera, but if it's video and you want something inexpensive, try to the Mobius - it takes decent video. Here's an example of a kit I put together. It can be done for even less money by using a car rear-view backup monitor instead of the purpose built one. https://www.droneflyers.com/2014/10/fpv-beginners-quick-diy-quadcopter-project/ just make certain you use a different frequency than you use for control of the quadcopter. If you don't care about recording the video, you can use an analog camera instead of the Mobius. A good place to find those and the kits are foxtech. You could use something like this: http://www.foxtechfpv.com/boscam-tr1-camera-transmitter-p-1489.html
I will have a look at those 2 links, thank you so much. I would just like to wrap my head around , when you have a camera on your quadrocopter, what or how does it transmit the video to a display (tablet or what device). Through what from of communication. Is it something you need to add on additionally? We do not need to record the video at all. Sorry its my first time getting involved in quadrocopters Many Regards
If you don't need to record it, look at something like I mentioned "analog" - that's like having a typical security camera (but tiny) on your quadcopter. The transmission is usually done over 5.8 GHZ (make sure that's the legal and usual frequency in your country) from a tiny transmitter on-board your quadcopter back to a monitor screen which you have on the ground. The parts are listing in that article, but basics are: Camera on quadcopter transmitter (powered by battery) on quadcopter Monitor on ground with either built-in or separate receiver (must be battery powered). that's all you need. Another option is to use a purpose built cameras like the "ilook", also called the c-go, which has a built-in transmitter. But that costs more than you need to spend and also keeps the pictures and video if you choose.
You have helped me tremendously. If i put up a 5ghz antenna (AP) would i get better range then for the live stream? When i get home form work im going to go through all the information you have provided.
The range for a live stream depends on the exact frequency and also the two of antenna you use. Antennas are somewhat directional - at least they are stronger when they are that way. Most FPV systems are going to be LOS (line of sight) and be limited...usually from 200 to 400 meters with good reception, although if you tune the systems you can go further. There are many online forums and videos about getting more range out of the systems.
Where in SA are you, i am in Roodepoort, I have a Quanum, challenging to say the least but a ncie copter for its money, flight time is short and for Farm fences you might have a bit of a problem. What type of distance are you talking about. Flight time on a Nova is only about 7 minutes rigged with FPV and something like a Mobius or SJ4000 canera. Sorry I post on other forums and saw your post here by accident
