Chargers that’s sort of personal preference and what suits your needs. Personally I wouldn’t cheap out on a Lipo charger ISDT D2 is pretty solid charger but you can’t use it in the field as it doesn’t have a DC power connection. It runs of AC only.
I use the Hobbymate D6 Duo. And I’m also looking at the SkyRC Q200 Quattro.
Just be careful when buying a charger because most of them require an external power supply. Make sure that it has an AC input if you don’t don’t want to buy an external power supply.
Just skimmed the last few posts here so may have missed something, and it’s probably a bit late now anyway, but for those that are unsure about the Crossfire antenna being a bit big and weildy for small quads, I can recommend TBS Tracer. Essentially identical to Crossfire but runs on 2.4Ghz instead of 900Mhz and uses tiny little ‘T’ anetnnas as a result - very easy to fit to little 3" quads. You could even put it on a Tinywhoop.
If you’re into proper really long-range stuff then the Tracer I think tops out at about 15-20km whereas Crossfire will carry on much further, but given that BVLOS isn’t allowed here anyway, I suspect Tracer would probably suit most people in the UK.
Not strictly true. Crossfire is a LoRa system, a protocol stack specifically for low power long range WALan use where a Tracer is an exceptionally low latency system designed with the quad racer in mind. Even Trappy has said it is not designed for long range use, though in his next breath he did say the flew a distance of 25km but would not say what power levels and antennas were being used
OK yeah, slight over simplification. I meant from a setup point of view it uses exactly the same CRSF protocol to interact with your FC and radio so the interoperability with other stuff is identical - eg communication with your TBS vtx if you have one (this works really nice) and also TBS Fusion goggle module. The dynamic vtx power is pretty smart. Yes it doesn’t use LoRa, but the technology/protocol between rx/tx isn’t really relevant for most people.
I read a lot of reviews where people got quite animated about ‘only’ being able to fly 15-20km out. Given most quads won’t do much more than about 5-10km total distance on one battery, I think think the range is not going to be an issue in the majority of cases.
Sorry - was mainly referring to the CRSF protocol and the catalogue of features that Crossfire offers. The range and penetration of Crossfire is one of the main selling points, but also integration with other TBS products, all the nifty over the air software updates, smart little interface applications for OpenTX, desktop applications for configuation, wifi integration, dynamic power, etc etc. Tracer is identical in that respect - the only difference is the radio link as you say (which is still lightyears ahead in terms of range to your usual 2G4 run of the mill recievers)
What is LoRa? LoRa is a method of modulation that uses spread spectrum techniques to either provide very fast data throughput or very high sensitivity. While 868MHz offers better RF penetration the bandwidth available is only a few MHz. 2.4GHz while having less RF penetration has an available bandwidth of 80MHz or more. So you can send the same amount of data much faster thus reducing latency. Alternatively you can also send a greater amount of data, to include very advanced error correction, this compensates for the lack of penetration as it increases the sensitivity on the link. Some argue that penetration is like saying the signal stops, in actuality the signal is attenuated to a level that the receiver can no longer read the data reliably. By being able to apply far more robust error correction methods in a larger bandwidth you effectively increase the sensitivity and signal to noise ratio enabling the received data to be reconstructed, but at the cost of increased latency.
With the Ghost system the user can select the frame size and latency of the transmission for the flying style and the environment they are flying in. Alternatively this options can remain on auto and the system will switch as and when needed.
I speak from experience, its extremely challenging with the tiny soldering that’s needed. But good luck if you attempt it we’ve all moded our tinyhawks so if you need any guidance there is plenty of us who can advise.
Having done this myself as my very first project my advice is don’t do it yet. Start with a bigger build or get some soldering practice in on a practice board. Make sure you use leaded solder and Flux Flux Flux!
Thanks @DeanoG60@notveryprettyboy for this attempt I will be passing this over to a very good friend of mine. He is one of the very few electronics engineers I know who actually repairs circuit boards by replacing parts. Not just throwing them away and putting a new board in. It’s the job he had been doing now for over 40 years and the area of electronics he is in, it is just not cost effective to replace the whole board due to complexities of what he works with.
Unfortunately I can’t go into detail of what he does or where he works.
I am sure he will be able to complete this mod before I could even fathom out what I am supposed to be doing.
Karl, thanks for this
Dean, I am more than sure I will be asking questions. I have managed all my working career to get by without entering into the world of electronics. But I think now is the time.
A time when my eyes are knackered, and the nerve endings in my fingers are useless. Looks like I am going to have some fun.
And ask a question something else gets added.
we’ve all moded our tinyhawks so if you need any guidance there is plenty of us who can advise.
