Heavy Ass Lifter

Now you have a stable flyable heavy ass lifter (HAL) which seems to always be about a quart low on electrons. What are the next goals, milestones and to-do’s?

PROF: Take some Prozac and a nap!

OK… I’m not that bad but…

My next and biggest goal is to learn how to fly HAL. I can get it off the ground and hover around a little bit but I’m not ready to go out and take videos over water and down cliffs like showcased earlier in this blog.

I’m still evaluating the short battery life. Initially I was getting two to three minutes on a charge. After many more hours on the forums I figured out the problem and it was an issue with the voltage sense on the NAZA. I’ve since disabled it, as I already have a voltage sensor between my battery and receiver which sends a signal to my transmitter when the batteries are getting too low. My transmitter signals a warning sound and verbally reads out the reading, very cool.

I now get five to six minutes but I want more. I’m evaluating different props and possible motor combinations for the future.

I also want to upgrade my GoPro camera from the Hero 2 that I have to a Hero 3 or 4. The two main reasons for that are weight and quality. My Tarot gimbal is designed for the weight of the Hero 3 or 4. The Hero 2 is much heavier and I had to add a bunch of counterbalance weight to the gimbal to save wear and tear on the gimbal motors. Once I drop all that weight my flight times will go up as well. The newer GoPro’s also have much better video quality and higher frame rates for smoother movies.

I plan to keep making small improvements to HAL and get in more flight time with both HAL and SKIP.

I’m sure at some point there may be another scratch build in my future after all I am “Professor Scratch” but for now I just want to fly and shoot great videos. Now if only the winter rains and wind would go away.

I am sure this adventure is far from over. Go get some popcorn and the movie will continue in short order.