Hi All,
faced with the IRIS somewhat restricted space internally for LIPO(S) and also faced with inaccurate and changing dimensions for LIPOS from Hobbyking and others I decided to take a somewhat different tact.
I made a will call at my metric supplier for 20x M3x10mmx4.5mm male/female threaded Aluminum(order in stainless steel NOT aluminum(aluminum deforms)) standoffs mounted in the following fashion pbs.twimg.com/media/BlTFrYoCQAAa1J6.jpg:large.
(yes I was mounting from the side to test and garbaged up a standoff cosmetically)
By raising the deck which the Pixhawk is mounted on by 1CM a great variety of LIPO(s) now fit internally to the IRIS(xcoptercalc.ch is your friend).
Additionally the 1CM gap allows for cool air to enter and keep both battery and 4/1 ESC cool and happy. I may elect to affix a decorative grill in the gap to look pretty and hide the internal details.
I have ordered newer longer by 2cm cables for the multicolor led and the MicroUSB Hull port.
The PIXHAWK can also be returned to factory config by simply removing the standoffs.
As I misordered initially I am awaiting an additional 8 standoffs in the morning to finish the conversion and then I will test fly and see if PID tuning is needed.
Then finally I can order 4S LIPO(s) and charger that might have a chance at keeping all airborne for 15 minutes hopefully(IRIS gimbal gopro + bling lighting, sbec and LIPO)
I am picking up a set of standoffs in stainless also in spite of the weight just in case the aluminum shows signs of deformation after a hard landing or 2.
I also am preparing my Hobbyking 4S battery order and will order some 3K 3MM CF plate so that I can waterjet cut a “C” or “U” intermediate deck if needed for reinforcement at the original height of the PIXHAWK deck.
The other choice is to redesign and raise that section of the IRIS arm in height so that standoffs are not needed and have prototypes printed at shapeways for my effort in that case I will go for longer arms and larger diameter motor pockets to mount as large a prop as xcoptercalc.ch says is feasible for the IRIS motors and go to the black motors(have to see if the 4/1 ESC will handle the black motors amp wise ) if needed.
I was thinking of a simpler approach, MaxAmps will do a custom sized battery so I was going to ask for a battery that is wider to fill the compartment (removing the foam).
I had to move to stainless steel for the hex standoffs the weight difference is negligible in this size component as the aluminum threaded sections were deforming. Test flew and need to calibrate compass but other than that it works!!
do let the rest of us know how much that custom battery costs and how well they work for you… my stainless steel standoffs were less than 35.00 and I can fit most lipos up to 35 millimeters in thickness(and I could go to 12-15 cm without an intermediate frame with the steel standoffs).
ie I can fit more battery weight than the IRIS could carry now…not sure how much use
HZL
ps Maxamp custom batteries sound interesting and worried about custom order pricing and warranties for same(these may be worth it if warrantied by an american company), perhaps enough interest is shown Maxamps could offer a 4S especially built for IRIS.
Ouch!!! Maxamps 4s4000ma is 129.00 and not even custom pricing?
Yes the zippy 5000 fits - although you have to shorten the power leads to the same length as the stock battery. I’m getting about 16 minutes flying time without camera and short legs.
[quote=“hotelzululima”]Aluminum and/or nylon wont work and might result in a crash as the arm geometry will change as these materials deform… stainless steel only…
Nice job on making her fat. I’m looking forward to see what battery you end up with and you flight time with full payload.
Yay! All of my 3DR care packages and orders are in from support and the 3DR store so its time to upgrade baby(IRIS) with the replacement parts and longer cables.
One of the things I ordered was a genuine 3dr developer upgrade kit complete with internal decks and upper and bottom shells.
I will waterjet cut my present top deck to be a u shaped intermediate support frame for torsion resistance with the opening of the U towards the rear of IRIS to accommodate taller batteries.
Prior to that I have 16xm3x5.5x16 Stainless standoffs I obtained from my metric supplier today, I will try the 16mm standoffs both without an intermediate frame and with an intermediate frame.
Given that reports are coming in about the Ublox rubbing against the PIXHAWK I will use 10mm standoffs to pop up the top shell 10mm and accommodate a 3d printed vibration isolating mount for the PIXHAWK also.
All of this was to accommodate a heftier 65-130C 5000-5800ma 4S LIPO that xcopter.ch says “should” work with the figures I have inputted(ie gimble, VTX, gopro 3+ sans battery, adafruit neopixel 144 ,2 additional
BESC one for gimbal at 12V one for lighting and control at 5V 7A and a teensy/BBB to control said lighting. and of course all the weight of the wiring harness) .
I AM thinking about going to 5mm CF rods with a base for landing gear instead of the stock 3DR tall legs to loose more weight. And I am changing out the 2.4Ghz ASST based rf, rc deck for OrangeRX LRSng modules, eventually I will move the rc encoder from the stock xmitter that 3DR supplies to a 9xr ordered for that purpose.
hzl
ps i will move this to DIYDRONES eventually!! promise!
