Not being seriously technical, I’d like to know whether a sheet of aluminium would affect the Evo’s compass, GPS etc If used as a landing pad?
SILLY BUT SERIOUS QUESTION
- Thread starter Nightbat2
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Ansia
Well-Known Member
It’s a little hard to test without actually having an aluminium surface to start up from—apart from an electric frypan
. Using the normal fold-up/roll-up pads is really pointless here at the moment. After months without rain you’d need a two pound hammer to bang the pegs in far enough to guarantee the props wouldn’t hit; and if you don’t use pegs the Evo blows it aside. My local art store sells some interesting painting panels—anything up to 2ft 6in—made of foam core and skinned on each side by a thin alloy sheet. Fairly light but rigid and easy to paint markings on with acrylic. Not cheap, though.
Jagerbomb52
Well-Known Member
Good thought.Car or truck rubber floor mats work great and are heavy enough not to blow away.
If I am relatively close to the truck I usually use a small scrap piece of 3/16" (5mm) plywood called underlayment which is the subflooring when laying down tile or linoleum surfaces. Lightweight, cheap (4'x8' panel ≈ $20usd at Homedepot). The tape is to enhance the landing pad for the visual sensors to key on. If I am walking out to a flying location I take my round spring frame polyester Helipad found on Amazon for $13 and have not had any problems launching and landing on it even with a wind blowing without the need to stake it down.
As for your inquiry, I took the bird out on the back deck tonight where I have launched many times from the above plywood platform with no start up and launch issues. So I set out a 1/4" (6.35mm) aluminum plate on the rail and performed a routine binding and start up to see if the aluminum, which is non-ferrous, would have any effect on compass calibration or interference or induce any GPS problems. I can give you the GREEN LIGHT, literally, that launching off an aluminum [yes, we yanks don't pronounce that last syllable like you aussies and brits] plate should not present any problem as far as my test went.
| Light Bulb Time: I guess this test puts my mind at ease as I will be flying from many aluminum boats next summer and wondered if there would be impacts. You still must be aware of your electronic wiring and power cables running throughout the boat which might cause a magnetic interference during the compass calibration. I found out the aluminum main trunk line feeding electrical power to each house on my street is only 2-3 feet under my driveway where I encountered a magnetic interference alarm preventing take off one day. No ferrous metal there. Just aluminum wire with 240 volts emitting electrical 'radiation'. Moving the drone six feet gave me a clean launch. |
Binding with drone on aircraft power up.
Binding successful. ATTI Mode initiated after gimbal and compass systems check while gathering satellites. Yellow drone lights flash.
Warning Zone alert is the uncontrolled airport that is about 1/3 mile from my house. Double checked the Alarms/Alerts warning column on tablet display and there is no compass interference or magnetic interference alarms. Only the two you see listed. And you can see I had four bars of GPS satellites locked in for GPS Mode flying by this time.
Because the above photos were taken with a Low Battery on the drone I was still getting the flashing RED Alarm LED lights on the drone for low battery. The photos below are after I installed a fully charged battery on the drone and rebooted all systems. No issues were encountered then. And you can see I had the green light for GPS take off. I spun up the motors with no active alarms. Shut it all down. (For the keen-eyed reader, yes I reoriented the drone 90° for the photo so the two back LEDs would show in the photo. heheh)
Perhaps the one warning you might get down under is: Warning - Avoid endangered Spectacled Flying Foxes
Last edited:
Goober
Well-Known Member
Car or truck rubber floor mats work great and are heavy enough not to blow away.
I have used a simple rubberized door mat in the past. Like the floor mats, heavy enough not to blow away. It rolls up small and secured with a small bungie. Think it was about $7 bucks.
Very comprehensive, thanks. It’s the magpies we need to be wary of—at least in breeding season.If I am relatively close to the truck I usually use a small scrap piece of 3/16" (5mm) plywood called underlayment which is the subflooring when laying down tile or linoleum surfaces. Lightweight, cheap (4'x8' panel ≈ $20usd at Homedepot). The tape is to enhance the landing pad for the visual sensors to key on. If I am walking out to a flying location I take my round spring frame polyester Helipad found on Amazon for $13 and have not had any problems launching and landing on it even with a wind blowing without the need to stake it down.
View attachment 5460
As for your inquiry, I took the bird out on the back deck tonight where I have launched many times from the above plywood platform with no start up and launch issues. So I set out a 1/4" (6.35mm) aluminum plate on the rail and performed a routine binding and start up to see if the aluminum, which is non-ferrous, would have any effect on compass calibration or interference or induce any GPS problems. I can give you the GREEN LIGHT, literally, that launching off an aluminum [yes, we yanks don't pronounce that last syllable like you aussies and brits] plate should not present any problem as far as my test went.
Binding with drone on aircraft power up.
Light Bulb Time: I guess this test puts my mind at ease as I will be flying from many aluminum boats next summer and wondered if there would be impacts. You still must be aware of your electronic wiring and power cables running throughout the boat which might cause a magnetic interference during the compass calibration. I found out the aluminum main trunk line feeding electrical power to each house on my street is only 2-3 feet under my driveway where I encountered a magnetic interference alarm preventing take off one day. No ferrous metal there. Just aluminum wire with 240 volts emitting electrical 'radiation'. Moving the drone six feet gave me a clean launch.
View attachment 5451 View attachment 5452
Binding successful. ATTI Mode initiated after gimbal and compass systems check while gathering satellites. Yellow drone lights flash.
View attachment 5453 View attachment 5454
Warning Zone alert is the uncontrolled airport that is about 1/3 mile from my house. Double checked the Alarms/Alerts warning column on tablet display and there is no compass interference or magnetic interference alarms. Only the two you see listed. And you can see I had four bars of GPS satellites locked in for GPS Mode flying by this time.
View attachment 5455 View attachment 5456
Because the above photos were taken with a Low Battery on the drone I was still getting the flashing RED Alarm LED lights on the drone for low battery. The photos below are after I installed a fully charged battery on the drone and rebooted all systems. No issues were encountered then. And you can see I had the green light for GPS take off. I spun up the motors with no active alarms. Shut it all down. (For the keen-eyed reader, yes I reoriented the drone 90° for the photo so the two back LEDs would show in the photo. heheh)
View attachment 5457 View attachment 5458
Perhaps the one warning you might get down under is: Warning - Avoid endangered Spectacled Flying Foxes
Up here I have to stay away from the bald eagles. A salmon river runs right through my backyard so our entire area is 'plagued' by eagles everywhere you go. I've watched them try to grab a seagull out of the air on a number of occasions so I know that orange hummingbird may be a tempting morsel in their keen eyes. With so many around you really must take into account the possibility you could get ambushed when flying far away from your location.
I tried a thin rubber door mat in the beginning but rolling it up gave it a "curl memory" that didn't allow it to lay flat right away when I was ready to use it. Had to turn it over and use the drone weight to flatten it.
butch
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Up here I have to stay away from the bald eagles. A salmon river runs right through my backyard so our entire area is 'plagued' by eagles everywhere you go. I've watched them try to grab a seagull out of the air on a number of occasions so I know that orange hummingbird may be a tempting morsel in their keen eyes. With so many around you really must take into account the possibility you could get ambushed when flying far away from your location.
I tried a thin rubber door mat in the beginning but rolling it up gave it a "curl memory" that didn't allow it to lay flat right away when I was ready to use it. Had to turn it over and use the drone weight to flatten it.
Trox, I would be more concerned about a big old bear snatching me off the ground when close to a salmon run, instead of an eagle snatching my evo.
My landing pad is a 16"x16" square of sturdy foam, used to cover hard flooring when standing or working in an area.
I've had Boone & Crockett trophy size brown bears captured on my game cam in the backyard along the riverbank. Contrary to one's belief that I live in the Alaskan wilderness, I can look across the river at McDs, Arbys, Safeway, Sportsmans Warehouse, and the Aspen Hotel with police and fire sirens coming from their departments in the same area. I call them city limits brownies and other than wreaking havoc with our barbecues now and then they are typically ghosts in the night. Most Alaskans are quite familiar with firearms at an early age.Trox, I would be more concerned about a big old bear snatching me off the ground when close to a salmon run, instead of an eagle snatching my evo.
My landing pad is a 16"x16" square of sturdy foam, used to cover hard flooring when standing or working in an area.
Your use of the foam shop mats is a great launch pad idea. I have about 4 packages of the 2'x2' squares. Great at my workbench area in garage and the basement shop area. A great use of them that many frozen country anglers might consider is they make great "flooring" inside your ice fishing tents which are usually 6'x6'. You cover the insides except where your ice holes are. Keeps your feet insulated from the ice, prevents wet slippery conditions and darkens the insides for watching the fish down the hole. And if you brought your dog along they really appreciate a dry insulated surface to stand and lay on.
Lastly, everyone could use this tip. If you have a CHEST type freezer, a lot of heat penetrates through the LID. So insulating the lid will reduce heat penetration into the freezer. I lay two sections on each of my two freezer lids and my freezers dropped their thermostat cycles by about 10%. Very helpful in hot locales. And saves money for buying more drone batteries.
Sounds like an interesting place.I've had Boone & Crockett trophy size brown bears captured on my game cam in the backyard along the riverbank. Contrary to one's belief that I live in the Alaskan wilderness, I can look across the river at McDs, Arbys, Safeway, Sportsmans Warehouse, and the Aspen Hotel with police and fire sirens coming from their departments in the same area. I call them city limits brownies and other than wreaking havoc with our barbecues now and then they are typically ghosts in the night. Most Alaskans are quite familiar with firearms at an early age.
Your use of the foam shop mats is a great launch pad idea. I have about 4 packages of the 2'x2' squares. Great at my workbench area in garage and the basement shop area. A great use of them that many frozen country anglers might consider is they make great "flooring" inside your ice fishing tents which are usually 6'x6'. You cover the insides except where your ice holes are. Keeps your feet insulated from the ice, prevents wet slippery conditions and darkens the insides for watching the fish down the hole. And if you brought your dog along they really appreciate a dry insulated surface to stand and lay on.
Lastly, everyone could use this tip. If you have a CHEST type freezer, a lot of heat penetrates through the LID. So insulating the lid will reduce heat penetration into the freezer. I lay two sections on each of my two freezer lids and my freezers dropped their thermostat cycles by about 10%. Very helpful in hot locales. And saves money for buying more drone batteries.
One of the things to keep in mind is the prop wash turbulence kicks up a lot of particulate matter during landing that can get sucked into the cooling fan intake and settle on the electronics inside. An accumulation of material between the very closely spaced circuit paths could result in a cross feed if the contaminates can conduct electricity especially on a very high humidity day. Damp dirt conducts just like a wire.I don,t use any landing pads. They are a magnet on beaches for the 20 question quiz nosey parkers. Mind you, i,ve often thought of using big sheets of sandpaper to blend in with the beach sand.
You must be a retired basketball player....the kind that can palm a basketball. Built in landing pad! Lucky~! ?
Ansia
Well-Known Member
You mean you don't hand catch? All my recent flights have been hand launch and catch. I hate bending over and exposing my cute bum to others.
Ha, the bum is not an 'issue' up here in the arctic as we wear so many clothes most of the time there is nothing for anyone to see. You are thinking like a tropical guy!
Hand catching will be a routine activity for me soon enough. (I've practiced a few times off the 2nd story back deck.) A great deal of my filming since 1989 has been around water, frequently from large fishing charter boats on the saltwater and rivers. So now that I have a 4K flying tripod to bring along on my boat trips the necessity of hand landing will become a mandatory procedure.
One of the reasons its taken until August of this year to buy an EVO type drone for filming was the problem with the earlier versions of drones requiring a compass calibration before flying which required holding the drone at arm's length, rotating 360° and reorienting the drone and rotating again. Being on a solid metal boat back in those days would prevent a successful calibration. And the other problem was I could not do a rotational calibration when sitting in a kayak. With EVO's compass being so reliable from flight to flight without calibration it finally opened the door to use on the boats and kayaks I'll be flying from. It will be a challenge to capture the drone when in the kayak on the ocean in 2 foot seas though. I'll be sure to bring it home with plenty of battery power for repeated landing attempts. And my test the other day powering up the drone on an aluminum plate and getting the Ready To Fly green light confirmed the aluminum boats won't be a metallic issue either.
Snow in the forecast maybe by Wednesday. Still rain and green lawns here so far. So I'm spending a lot of time mission planning for winter, spring, and summer projects. The list continues to grow as new ideas turn up and the weather outside keeps me grounded a lot of the time. And most importantly studying up for the Part 107 this winter so I can let the drone start earning its keep.
