I like to support local hobby shops if possible, but too often many of the parts I need are not available locally. More common are parts like Lipo batteries though, and in supporting my local shop I’ve found a great battery in Pulse.

Pulse Battery 5000mAh 6S 35C Lipo

For my big hexacopter the first set of batteries I chose was the Pulse 5000mAh 35C model. These are very well made and high performing batteries which provide consistent and dependable power for my very expensive aerial photo/video multirotor hexacopter.  I’m running two of these at a time on this aircraft.

Pulse 6S 35C 5000mAh Lipo Battery Specifications

• Capacity: 5000mAh
• Voltage: 22.2 volts
• Discharge rate: 35C
• Charge rate: Up to 5C
• Weight: 788 grams
• Built in connector: EC5
• Cell count: 6 (6S)
• Dimensions: 155mm x 45mm x 49mm  (LxWxH)

I’ve put nearly 70 flights on these batteries and have not noticed any difference in flight times and had no issues charging or holding a charge.

Pulse specs state that these batteries can be charged at up to a 5C rate, meaning five times normal charge rates. In order to prolong my battery life however, I’ve only gone as far as 2C, and usually stick to 1C since the time factor for me is not a big issue at this point.

Conclusion

At $115.99 retail the Pulse 5000mAh 35C is far from the cheapest in its capacity range.  In fact, many lipos of the same capacity can be found for half the price.  But for those who feel dependability and performance are worth it like I do, this is a fantastic battery.  Conveniently, I can buy them at a local USA hobby shop within a five minute drive of my home.

When flying with my quadcopter and GoPro, I set the camera to automatically take photos at certain intervals.  This is great when trying to capture photos and flying line of sight, as the camera is just shooting all the time.  I ran into a problem with not being able to do this with my big hexacopter and Sony NEX5-T camera.  There is no auto shoot or time lapse mode for the NEX camera.

I did some research online and found the Flytron sLED v2 Sony RC Shutter. This is a small infrared device with servo plugs which plug directly into the aircraft’s radio receiver. The sLED v2 allows the operator to remotely trigger photo taking, or turn on/off video recording. Fantastic. Both can be done in-flight.

A small piece of velcro attaches the sLED to the camera

Setup

A free channel on the transmitter and receiver is needed to set up the sLED. The channel should be assigned to a three position switch. The middle position is no action, while on my setup flipping the switch up triggers a photo shot and flipping the switch to the bottom position turns on video recording.

The sLED unit needs to be able to get its infrared signal to the infrared sensor on the NEX camera.  I wanted to be able to put the sLED on and take it off as needed, so a simple bit of velcro on the camera and the sLED made that easy.

I learned that leaving the switch on the transmitter in the up or down position, sends a constant signal. So leaving the switch up on my setup results in constant photo taking. The constant photo taking is not as fast as I would like, at about 8-10 seconds per shot. Leaving the switch in the down position results in a start/stop video of about one second, every 8-10 seconds. For video, leaving the switch down is not useful.

One experiment I have yet to try is a custom setup on my transmitter which would simulate flipping the photo switch every X seconds.  More to come on that.

Conclusion

The sLED v2 Sony RC Shutter unit was perhaps the most useful $15 I’ve spent to date on my large multirotor.

It is nice to be able to shoot video and take photos via the sLED. Part of the flight can be for video and part for stills without having to land the aircraft and reconfigure the camera.

A few nights ago I took off to do some low light photo tests.  I flew above an uninhabited construction zone near my house.  I decided the shots would be great if I got the hexacopter to a very high perch so I ascended, keeping it in sight.  The newly installed LED lights made seeing the bird very easy.

I proceeded to shoot photos while leveling off the bird.  Suddenly I was puzzled to see no lights and hear no prop sound.  In the dim light I could see the hexacopter freefalling, and fast.  I’d been flying in attitude mode so I flipped the transmitter into GPS mode quickly.  It was the only thing I could think of.  I could hear the props spin up and the bird hit the air brakes as hard as I’ve ever heard/seen.  In what seemed like only a second or two, the hexa was hovering in place.

I brought the bird down and nervously landed, tipping over in the grass but causing no damage.  I anxiously checked the arms and motors, figuring something had come loose.  The structure checked out fine.  All solid.

I’m glad that the SuperX flight controller I use keeps flight logs.  In the logs many stats are kept from the flight like altitude, speed, heading, motor thrust percentage, flight modes.  The log also shows an animation of the location overlayed onto a google map.  What I found in the logs was quite stunning.

Due to the night flying and the brightness of my LED’s, I’d flown far higher than I had realized or intended.  The bird was at the highest logged altitude I’ve ever flown, 760 feet.  Not only was it much higher than I thought, it was much farther down range than I thought as well.   The fall was a total of 460 feet.  Had my altitude been lower, the bird would have been demolished as I would not have had time to recover attitude.

Somehow I saved the hexa from what was surely to be complete and utter destruction.  I need to get some altitude telemetry and FPV (first person view) installed so I can make sure the copter is safely where I intend it to be.  I’ve flown twice since, very conservatively.  Flights only 60 feet high and perhaps 75 yards down range.