NEVER Lose a Model Again! Demo of Telemetry GPS System in an E-Flite Conscendo
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ย. 2024
- Having had a Conscendo fly off never to be found I decided to look into GPS telemetry as a way to track down errant RC models. Yes, there is a solution and it does work. In this video I show how I mounted a Spektrum GPS to my Conscendo and then take it out and do a simulated find of a lost model.
You can preferably use the telemetry data to fly an airborne model back to you before it crashes but that would involve some video work that is beyond my very basic equipment and expertise. How to do that is described in the video.
What did I use?
Spektrum SPMA95871 GPS Telemetry Sensor
www.horizonhob...
Spektrum - SPMA95512 Telemetry Extension
www.horizonhob...
BNF Conscendo with the telemetry capable AR637TA Receiver
www.horizonhob...
Spektrum NX8 Transmitter
www.horizonhob...
An iPhone with Google Maps or Apple Maps using satellite view.
A sharp knife blade and some hot glue
Results are in the video!
Great video! I lost my first Crescendo due to total pilot error. I now use a $40 autopilot module and at the flip of a switch on my Nx8 she will return home and circle the launch area @200 feet.
Where did you get that module?
@@GoofballFlyer I'm guessing its the GPS Module Item No. Spektrum - SPMA3173, which is what Spektrum calls "Safe-Plus" and is available on certain HH planes. I'm guessing it could be integrated into a plane not listed on the description page as well.
Maybe but I have my doubts. The receivers are the 4650 Serial Receiver, not the AR-series in other BNF models.
@@GoofballFlyer digging more into it I think you're right, the GPS Module with RTH is seems to only be compatible with those receivers. Thanks!
Thank you. This seems like a great addition to a fun airplane. I Iove how graceful and easy to fly my Conscendo is.
Brilliant solution to losing you aircraft. I’ve installed this in my cirrus sr22t.
Great video on a mystery component. Easy way to get a reciprocal heading - ex of 120. Add 200 = 320. Subtract 20 = 300. Easier to add / subtract those numbers in your head than 180. If direction is bigger than 180, then subtract 200 and add 20.
Hello! You helped me get this system to work on my Conscendo, and last weekend my plane was caught in high winds aloft and and flew out of sight. But thanks to the GPS - I FOUND IT! However, the foliage it fell into was so dense that I could not see the plane even being only 20 feet away. But I had also installed a beeper, so that I could turn a switch on my transmitter to activate it. The plane was at least 1/2 mile from where I last saw it, and I was very surprised when I found it again. Thank you!!
Super! My DJI Mini went into a tree last week. Pulled up last location on Google Maps and turned on flashing lights and buzzer when close. Found it in heavy undergrowth within a minute. Cool tech.
Thanks so much for posting about this GPS module! There is next to nothing out there explaining this module and zero documentation from Spektrum. While I have and love my Conscendo, I put this module in an E-Flite V1200 Sport. It's supposed to do 140+ mph so I want to measure mine. Setup with an iX20 went smoothly, however, I seem to get GPS altitude no matter what. I will play with it more to see if I can sort that. I did go to the GPS menu and select AGL, no joy. Looking forward to seeing it in action.
I get only distance. If you look at the transmitter GPS page it shows max groundspeed. No clue about how to change the audio reports.
More - You can set ground speed to display on the transmitter ticket tape. From the transmitter home page scroll to the GPS page and you can see max ground speed, distance, direction, GPS lat/long and aircraft heading in real time.
Thank you posting this:). I lost my Night Radian on a smoky day recently. Poof...it was gone, just like you said. I will set a gps up and hopefully avoid losing another
Sorry to hear that
Yes VERY helpful!! I will share that with others like us!!
Thank you for the video. I am able to get distance and angle data with my NX10. However my IX14 only shows distance and not angle. I am hoping Horizon Hobby will remedy the issue to make the IX14 more useful with the GPS module.
Thanks for the info!
GREAT VIDEO!!!! Very useful.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks!
Great video, thanks for sharing. I was looking to buy the Conscendo /NX8 and couldn’t find any info for using the gps module or even if it fit.. Thanks!
It's a super accessory, especially for a sailplane that can operate at distances where you might lose sight. Mine went down in a cornfield with little damage, and the GPS position plugged into Google Maps took me right to it. Just don't turn the transmitter off until you either take a picture of the GPS page or plug the lat/long into a phone mapping program. There is no way to mount the GPS in the aircraft. Taking out a foam notch just behind the wing and gluing the module there has worked great for me. I think I had to get a longer cable to connect it to the receiver without fishing it through the foam.
I have another question, and it's OK if you don't have time to answer all of my questions because I have posted many. But you may be the only other owner of a Conscendo Evolution who understands the technology and who has a TH-cam channel where there is a decent chance that my questions will be answered. I fly my Conscendo with a Spektrum DX6e. In the various Telemetry displays that can be scrolled through, there is one for Smart ESC. In this display has a setting for the minimum cell voltage, below which there will be a warning beep that I can turn on or off. On my plane, the lowest min voltage I can set is 3.8 per cell, which seems strange to me because it's common for people to fly their Lipos down to 3.7 or even 3.5 volts per cell before changing the battery. So when flying my plane, I kept getting a warning beep when I gave it full throttle, because the battery voltage would temporarily sag below 3.8 per cell, or at least that is what I think is happening. The display for Smart Battery gives the correct battery voltage, which is higher than what the ESC display says. For instance, the Smart Battery display on the DX6e might show 16 volts, or 4 volts per cell. But the Smart ESC display will show "minimum voltage" as 3.6 per cell, or 14.4 volts. NOW I get to my question. :-) If you have read this far. :-) First, do you know why the telemetry from the ESC is set up to give a warning at 3.8 volts per cell, and why I cannot set it lower than that? It seems that the plane's electronics should not have any problem whatsoever with 3.8 volts per cell. Second, given that voltage naturally sags at full throttle no matter how good the battery, do you know how much it can sag before the receiver isn't getting enough power and I could have a brownout? Thanks so much.
I do not have access to a DX6e so cannot see that page. I have it set to 3.4 on my NX8. This would be a good question to ask Horizon's tech service via email. I have had great results doing that.
@@GoofballFlyer Thank you, and I reached out to Horizon Hobby and they are sending me a new receiver to see if that fixes it.
Strobe navigation lights on the wingtips are very helpful on cloudy days
I agree, thinking about it.
Thanks for the video. Which would you say was the better GPS? This GPS telemetry sensor or the more expensive Spektrum GPS module? They both seem to offer the same information. Also which port does this plug into on the RX? I already have the volts and the extra satellite plugged into my Spektrum AR rxs. Thank you. Mark 🇬🇧
You can daisy-chain multiple modules
Thanks for the video. How do you get the NX8 to announce the position so frequently?
Go to the Telemetry page, select GPS, and on that page at the bottom set Alert to seconds between the announcements that you want. Distance from the point where the GPS initialized for that upcoming flight is the only thing you will get on a verbal GPS alert. My Conscendo also has a Variometer that I set for 60 seconds. I get verbal distance, altitude and ESC voltage reports every 60 seconds. That seems like a lot of information, but after a while I only really hear what is important and filter out the rest. I have the Rknob set up for volume and can easily turn off all alerts if I want, and can set the volume low enough as to not bother other pilots. Hope that helps!
Hi had a similar occurrence but fortunately found the glider the following morning. I have bought the GPS unit and will use. Thanks for your video gives me confidence it will work. 👍
It will work - even if the flight battery fails the last known position is better than nothing.
Thanks for the video! I have a Conscendo Evolution and have lost it and so I took your advice and got the same GPS unit. My transmitter is a dx6 however. I plugged the GPS unit into the xbus slot and set up telemetry on my transmitter to display GPS data. The GPS display on my transmitter looks just like yours, however it is not showing me any information. The latitude and longitude for instance is just blank. Do you know how to get the setup to actually send out GPS information?
Take the model outside so that it can acquire gps satellites. It can take several minutes for the initial position to show up.
If that fails try plugging into the other receiver port. The single port side of the AR637TA has not worked for me.
@@GoofballFlyer Thank you! It ended up that plugging it into the other receiver port did the trick! I have also found the the single side port does not work. I ended up cutting a rectangle out of the foam wing roots (under the curved plastic wing retainer) and it seems that it hasn't caused a problematic lost of strength in the wing, and the GPS unit still get the satellite signals fine.
Excellent! Glad to be of assistance.
When you fly your Conscendo Evolution, do you ever experience loss of control for a moment or two? On mine, sometimes the plane is unresponsive for a couple of seconds, then it responds again. This is how it behaves for me out of the box, with no modifications. It could be my imagination, or it could be that I need to get used to moving the angle of my transmitter antenna sometimes. I have heard that if the Spektrum 2.4GHZ transmitter antenna is pointed directly at the plane, it could weaken the signal and so I need to be careful to avoid doing that. I don't know how true that really is.
Do you know how to do a radio range check? I had a different model doing that and turned out to be the servo leads interfering with the antenna. That should not be an issue for the Conscendo. I suggest you find a range check video for your transmitter and check it out. I’ve never experienced loss of signal with mine.
@@GoofballFlyer Thanks so much, I will do that. I have actually set my Conscendo aside for a while, and I've gone back to a more beginner-oriented model because for some reason, lately I have been having too many "close calls" with the Conscendo. This did not used to happen to me with that plane. I have some guesses as to why, but I think it's my fault - I have gotten over-confident, perhaps. So I am going to practice more on something slower and smaller that I can fly at a soccer field, then go back to the Conscendo.
I started flying my Conscendo again, and have found issues with the signal reception. On a typical flight my flight log shows between 3 and 5 holds, which surprises me on a factory Spektrum radio setup and a Spektrum radio. I'll do another range check and check for loose connections but if I can't figure it out I may take it back to the Hobby Store to see what they can figure out. Any suggestions on how to sort this out? The plane is basically unchanged from the factory other than adding the GPS and I also added a loud beeper that I can turn on and off if I were to lose the plane in brush. But both of those are on the top of the plane away from the antenna wires and the wires for them follow the same route as the aileron servo wires for the wings.
We call it in real planes sliding the 2