1 (edited by infocastme 2015-12-27 07:55:57)

Topic: New Toys for Christmas

Ok, so it is a few days past Christmas. What did everyone get?

My son bought me a quad copter. Anyone want to take bets how long it will take to get it stuck on the neighbors roof?
That is really all for now. Bought my CO2 laser and some CNC upgrades that were my present last month.

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Re: New Toys for Christmas

Don't forget to register the quad copter. You don't want to be one of the first to be fined.

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

3 (edited by infocastme 2015-12-27 14:33:08)

Re: New Toys for Christmas

BoloMKXXVIII wrote:

Don't forget to register the quad copter. You don't want to be one of the first to be fined.

It is well under the minimum weight limit for needing to be registered.

From https://www.faa.gov/uas/registration/faqs/ The PDF at the end has a great reference on what will need to be registered.

Q13. Which unmanned aircraft may register under the new registration requirements?
A. Unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds and more than 0.55 pounds (250 grams) on takeoff, including everything that is on board or otherwise attached to the aircraft and operated outdoors in the national airspace system must register. These aircraft may register under the new web-based registration system.

Q14. Is there a weight limit on what requires registration?
A. All owners of small UAS weighing more than 250 grams (0.55 lbs.) and less than 55 lbs. must register using this new system

Q15. Do children's toys need to be registered?
A. Not if they weigh below 250 gm/0.55 lb. or less. Most "toys" the FAA has identified at a purchase price of $100 or less have been determined to weigh less than 250g. You can find more information in this Recreational UAS Weights document (PDF).

Re: New Toys for Christmas

How tiny is your less-than-250gm copter?

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

5 (edited by infocastme 2015-12-29 17:52:20)

Re: New Toys for Christmas

Materdaddy wrote:

How tiny is your less-than-250gm copter?

It is about a 14" or so square.

Re: New Toys for Christmas

I am curious. How much air time does something like that get on a charge?

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

7 (edited by infocastme 2015-12-30 08:20:53)

Re: New Toys for Christmas

It gets about 7 to 10 minutes a charge. Can get spare batteries of course. Takes about an hour to charge a battery via usb adaptor.

http://www.protocolny.com/protocol-air/ … drone.html

quad

Re: New Toys for Christmas

Does that really weigh less than .5 lbs?  Amazon says shipping weight is 1.5 lbs, is 1 pound of it packing and remote?
http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0186SY3BY

This question on amazon says it does need to be registered:
http://smile.amazon.com/forum/-/Tx2FRZT … B0186SY3BY

Looks fun!  What's the video quality like?

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

Re: New Toys for Christmas

It does weigh less than 250 grams. Will get an exact weight when I get home tonight.

Video appears to be good. Some YouTube videos are out there.

Re: New Toys for Christmas

I have the smaller version.
http://i.imgur.com/iQuoEp8h.jpeg

11 (edited by infocastme 2016-01-08 09:00:03)

Re: New Toys for Christmas

Ok, so if the gravity here in Flagstaff at 7000 ft is less than other places, the quadcopter comes in at a whopping 102 grams with battery.

UPDATE! there is a formula to calculate the difference of gravity at different locations and altitude.
Here is the NASA site if you want to make sure there is no significant effect to get the FAA knocking at your door and putting you in the pokey!

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/wteq.html

info

Re: New Toys for Christmas

Very interesting link!  Crazy.  Also, you should go correct the people on the amazon reviews!

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

Re: New Toys for Christmas

California may pass bills requiring insurance for drones and drone owners may be required to leave their contact information after an accident.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016 … -accident/

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

14 (edited by sweh 2016-01-15 15:33:18)

Re: New Toys for Christmas

Funny; the equation is correct but the numbers used in the link aren't.  For example, 35,000ft ~= 7 miles (nope;closer to 6.6 miles), radius of earth is 4,000 miles (nope; 3,947–3,968 miles)...  and then they quote the result to 4 decimal places.

The rounding errors in their source numbers far outweigh any level of precision in the results.

Kids, this is _not_ how to do science.

Re: New Toys for Christmas

sweh wrote:

Funny; the equation is correct but the numbers used in the link aren't. ....Kids, this is _not_ how to do science.

I knew it was a government conspiracy! That is how they will circumvent your civil rights and arrest anyone with a drone!

I am putting up my tinfoil window shades as I type.

Thanks sweh!

But seriously, you are correct that if you are to demonstrate the correct way to calculate an equation, you should use the correct numbers. Imagine if the Apollo astronauts used "close enough numbers" to calculate their trajectory!