Bixler 2 FPV

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
I had so many things to do at home but the weather was too good to pass up.
Went flying.

This is my HK Bixler 2 with Fat Shark FPV (Teleporter 2) and an OSD/GPS package from HK.

Went up to 180 feet and enjoyed the view.

The GPS was having some lock issues but I've been work on that so it was much better.

Only annoyance was my goggles fogged up and I had to drop down to LOS heights to finish the flight off.

- Yes the FS camera is not showing green. Been working with the manufacture on that.

 

Wearyman

Just dog tired
The lack of green (or excess of red, actually) is likely due to a missing or faulty infrared filter on your camera.
 

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
It is the

Mini OSD System w/GPS Module

IMG_4680.jpg

It has been flashed to the new look and setup.
uOSD software for E-OSD+GPS / G-OSDII / Mini OSD with Configurator

Stock it looks like this.

osd-gps-batt2.jpg

Also changed up the connector for better protection against inverted pins.

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Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
The lack of green (or excess of red, actually) is likely due to a missing or faulty infrared filter on your camera.

FS emailed me about the issue. It appears it is the lens missing an IR filter. Replacement on route.
 

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
Spent some time this weekend cleaning up the gear on the Bixler 2.

Moved the ESC from inside to over top the wing.
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This involved shaving down some of the foam. I also put down some strong tape.
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And then I punched my first hole into the body (yikes).
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During my last flight I flew with a 3S 2200 and a 3S 1000 (for the video). Both were zippy compacts.
I'm going to try and fly with x2 2200's this time. Only 100g more weight over the prev setup.
Here is the small Y cable I made up for the task.
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The killer despite cleaning the darn wiring up it is still a mess in there. Drives me nuts but I'll get that under control after the next revision.
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GPS wiring now routed through the body.
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During my last flight I lost GPS lock with the wires now moved away from the ESC and motor wires I should be fine.
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I wanted to open up a channel on the remote so I picked up one of these servo reversing gizmo's.
Works great for the flaps and now I have an open channel on the 9X so lights or a buzzer alarm.
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The only thing I can complain about with this plane. The decals are coming off. I guess I'll be doing her up in RCAF stickers in a while ;)
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Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin

So was this a brown out or rx issue?

From my POV when I was flying it felt like a stall.
I turned the plane around and got back to the field.

What I did not realize until I watched the onboard video was I had lost the motor.
Just glided her home. Which impressive. Go Bixler.

I flew again after with no issue (LOS) so I'm going to check all the connections and move the antenna into a better spot.
 

Wearyman

Just dog tired
**snip**

So was this a brown out or rx issue?

From my POV when I was flying it felt like a stall.
I turned the plane around and got back to the field.

What I did not realize until I watched the onboard video was I had lost the motor.
Just glided her home. Which impressive. Go Bixler.

I flew again after with no issue (LOS) so I'm going to check all the connections and move the antenna into a better spot.

Hard to say. Voltage looked OK. Maybe an thermal shutdown from the ESC? If you are using a BEC to provide power to the RX and servos then you would still have control but the motor would shut down. Other than a wire coming loose that's the only situation I can think of that fits.
 

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
I'm going to check the servo wires for the ESC.
I had just moved it to the top of the plane so maybe it got tugged.

As I said it did fly well afterwards.

Ah the adventure never ends.
 

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
A little update.

I'll have to take some photos but I just added a HobbyKing HKU5 5V/5A UBEC to the plane.

This allowed me to alter the wiring harness between the ESC and UBEC.

The UBEC now powers the receiver with the control line to the ESC/motor.

I then changed the power feed from the ESC to a male connector and that is now providing direct power to the GPS.
I can put a Y connector on it if I desire to power lights or anything else @ 5V.

The 5A feed will provide plenty of room for the 8 servos on board this beast.
 

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
GPS Issues

I`ve been fighting with the GPS unit again.

Last time I went out flying with the Bixler 2 I had no lock at all.
After doing some reading I discovered the battery on the older GPS may have been too low.

So I charged it up.
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Then took it outside. After almost 7 minutes I finally locked onto 3 sats.
10686918_10155693297905416_2024154479920940789_n.jpg

Since ordering this setup HK has replaced the GPS with a newer one.

I did mange to find unit similar to the new VK16HX
VK2828A8G5 G-Mouse GPS Module GPS Navigation Board w/TTL Level Antenna for $8 USD.

Fingers crossed.
 

razor02097

Rogue Drone Pilot
Nice build!

If you think you have a lot of wires...You should see my Bixler 1! In addition to the FPV gear and OSD I have a KK2 mini! I actually put my video transmitter on the tail and the GPS where you have your speed control. I'm trying to route everything that makes noise or transmits signal away from things that need to receive signal.

A question... have you considered a separate BEC? The Bixler 2 does have 6 servos...Plus it looks like you have a moving camera so that adds more servos to the mix... I have to have a separate BEC for my setup so I have the ESC run the Rx and KK2 board then the separate BEC to run all the servos. This gives me options in the future if I ever want to run a pan and tilt on mine.

Edit:

Nevermind about the BEC... I see the update above.
 

razor02097

Rogue Drone Pilot
how has it been? Did the BEC solve your issue? The plane is looking great!

Here is a few pics of mine in case you were curious...

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Putting a KK2 board on it gives me stability control (like the AS3X) and auto level function which I can turn both on and off from channel 5. It also gives me the ability to put it in a controlled descent in the event of signal loss. I don't have a pan and tilt yet. The open aero on the KK2 mini board has a camera gimbal function so I may have to play with that one day when I get one.
 

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
Nice I plan on using my T-1000 FC with override hence my desire to fix the wings so I can have the access in the belly for the battery pack.
3S 4000.

I figure I'm fought with this plane for over a year time to get over the fear of cutting into it.
 

Jimmyp

New member
Looks great. The Bixler 2 is a great FPV platform.

It holds a ton of weight. I have fly it with 2 3000 mah main batteries and an additional 500 mah battery for the electronics.

I made quite a few mods to mine.

Moved the stock servos to the back
Hollowed out under the wings to make for battery storage
created new wing mounting idea
enlarged the front hatch opening and new camera mount platform
Small parts CNC motor mount mod
Here is a couple of pictures. and a link to my latest flight and crash.
Wing fastening and Stuff mounted outside.jpg Front opening.jpg hatch in side 2.jpg Hatch in side.jpg Servos at back.jpg vew of deck.jpg view of antenna.jpg Bixler 2 fpv setup with mods small.jpg
 

Andre

Fly yes... land no.
Admin
Cut In An Access Hole

Ah finally. I admit I was nervous about doing this but the results have been well worth it.

- The new plan is to move the T1000 FC over from the Wraith to the Bixler 2.
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- So I worked up the courage to cut a hole into the side of my plane.
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- Lots of wires in there. I guess when I built the Bixler up I only had long servo extensions so it is no wonder it was a mess in there behind the wing tubes.
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- I've been charging and testing the GPS unit but with the gear in the nose I will position the GPS in the middle of the boom vs the end.
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- The RX sits inside the access area very nicely and I've been able to shorted all the extensions and Y harnesses for the ailerons and flaps.
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- The red board is the aileron and elevator override. While the T1000 is good it limits the flight of the plane a bit much.
So I found someone developing a work around. One issue was the elevator had to be installed in a certain direction.
What happens when I turn off the FC and override into manual the elevator is reversed. Nothing a little programming in the Taranis could not address ;)
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-T1000 FC in the nose of the plane.
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I'll finish up the rebuild and see if I can get it out for some testing soon.

I still want to clean up the FPV/OSD setup so the wiring is tighter.