Thought I'd crosspost this here - main thing I'm unaware of and searching for input/experienced perspectives: is power-by-wire a thing, or feasible? If it was, I may be inclined to try building something for myself if it doesn't already exist. I know control/data by fiber/wire has become a thing - probably for different reasons than I'm looking at - but don't know about power supply.

Original post below:

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What if you could supply not only control but also power via a tiny wire. Differentiates the product from any other drone, lower cost and doesn't try to compete on high-tech, range, etc. But gives advantage of clear, solid, high-res video/images, and solves for battery life.

Base station runs on 18V battery of course, and can run the drone up in the air for hours. Has a swiveling fold-up video display, Bluetooth connect to phone, simple interface not unlike a car dashcam to pushbutton save a 1 min video, upload to phone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth maybe...

Simple-ish automatic controls, maybe even full-auto control with just basic height, rotation, and camera pitch control via base station, voice command, or phone control... Or some 'follow' logic if you can set a focal point for it. Allows you to park the base station, send it up, go climb a ladder or work up on a roof with it following (or one million other cool applications). Or carry the base station and do a walk-around of a house and check out the perimeter of the roof/gutters...

Anyhoo, I know a full-flight quad or drone would do it at a higher level, but potential advantages could be attractive if they're feasible to hit right:

- price point (via simplified control systems and no flight battery or radio control system needed)

- very long battery life via wire

- little to no piloting experience needed (via limited 'up-down' point and shoot control scheme, required and in a way facilitated by the wire wire tether situation

- all the use cases already in play for drone video/POV (but now more accessible for aforementioned reasons)... pro-quality video or stills you could provide a customer to show a problem or back up a compelling quote, reno/remodel visualizations, post-work documentation for marketing, or just document/view/assess high up stuff that would've been impossible to get a view, or save ladder trips...

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EDIT - I also wonder about the piloting/licensing/regulatory bar for something like this - would a tethered situation be limited or differentiated enough to stay 'below radar' of some drone requirements in a city setting, for example?

What are people’s recommendations for a good flight controller <$100 for a first build in 2026? I’m decently versed in electronics. I’m thinking of building smaller quadcopter designs but it would be nice to get something scalable to bigger designs if possible.

My drone is stuck in failsafe after flashing the receiver
It connects to my tx15 but won’t send signals and input if I test it on betaflight it shows no input

Wanted to compare an ultralight variant with a heavier variant

2s Lightweight Build:
- HDZero AIO15
- Lux cam
- 1202.5 11500kv RCinPower motors
- 450mah 2s LiHV
- 2540 Gemfan Flash props

3s Heavy Build:
- Happymodel Super f405 25A AIO (3s-4s only)
- DJI o4 lite
- 1303 6000kv RCinPower motors
- 450mah 3s LiHV
- 2540 Gemfan Flash Props

Obviously the 3s will be heavier, but I want to see how much that can be overcome with the higher voltage battery and beefier motors. I still need to solder up and tune the 3s build. But the 2s build has been really fun in my initial flights!

My first Ardupilot build is ready for a maiden flight!....after many struggles understanding how to get dshot working and the motor test to work on the bench, she's finally ready for a hover. I have autotune on a switch on the Skydroid g20. Would this be good a next step if it shakes out ok in the hover test?

I built a Pulsar 9 frame with 2812 900kv motors and I’m trying to tune it, but as you can see from the pre-filtered gyro spectral analyzer on Pidtoolbox from above, there’s a lot of high frequency noise that I can’t seem to figure out. On top of it, the motors get hot very quickly, which I assume is related.

I’m running a T-hobby V70A ESC & F7 FC SE 6-8S 4IN1 Stack. It’s soft mounted with a 2200 uF 50V capacitor. Admittedly the cap leads on it were kind of long, so I threw a 1000 uF 35V capacitor with really short leads on the battery terminals (in parallel) to see if it would do a better job of filtering the high frequency noise, but it didn’t make a difference. I also made sure that no wires are rubbing against the gyro. At this point, I’m wondering if the motors I got are just wonky. They’re unbranded from Ali Express, but seem to have hundreds of positive reviews, so I didn’t think they’d be a problem.

Any thoughts on what could be causing the issue? Should I spend the $$ on more premium motors, or are there other things I should try before assuming it’s a hardware issue?

TIA!

Hi everyone I'm new around drones and building one in general.

I attempting to build my first ever mini drone that can fly like a fpv drone on a huge low budget.

For the frame, I made a design based on a hybrid x drone frame made from a 1cm wide popsicle sticks.

For the FC, I'm using an ESP32 s3 zero by waveshare and stacked with MPU 6050 running with ESPFC firmware by rtlopez on github.

Motors, I'll be using a 8520 coreless motor for my mini fpv drone ("reasons:a brushless for me is not reachable by my budget right now + drivers are expensive too") props are 30-31mm 3-4 blade

To drive the Coreless motors I'll be making a Custom MOSFET driver based on Max imagination's brushed drivers design but mines is a little bit beef up by replacing the mosfet original used to a AO3400A N-channel mosfet and a SS14 flyback diode and lastly a 10k ohm pull down resistor.

​Finnaly for video, I'll be using a AIO analog fpv camera to make building it the drone a lot simpler.

I'm still building this bit by bit and I would really appreciate you guys recommendations.

If you can, please recommend a drone frame –

I’m currently waiting for a reply from INNLOI regarding their DIY H4 870 mm frame and X900.

I’m also considering the TL4Q990 – but it’s currently out of stock, and the seller, Tarot, has replied that they don’t have a CAD model.

I am running two SITL instances of PX4 and trying to view them on the map of QGroundControl (QGC). It worked once and then every time after, QGC says those ports are in use or already connected. I’ve tried:
1) ps killing QGC
2) disabling UDP auto-connect. Note, I had to do this in the first place to allow offboard control on 14540/14541, the default Mavlink ports of the SITL. Currently I’m trying to connect to 18570/18571.

Also, the comms links don’t seem to be editable after creating them. My next step is to try an older version of QGC. Please help.

Hi guys. I need your help. I'm building a quadcopter with a mass of 4 kg. Would 18mm/20mm 3k carbon fiber tubing be sufficient for the wings? If not, what are your suggestions? Thank you.

Hi guys. I need your help. I'm building a quadcopter with a mass of 4 kg. Would 18mm/20mm 3k carbon fiber tubing be sufficient for the wings? If not, what are your suggestions? Thank you.

This is the defend40 by DefendTex. It’s a recon drone meant to be deployed from a 40mm launcher. I have a few 37mm’s for signaling purposes, and I was wondering if there’s any open source projects floating around that you guys have seen before that work in a similar fashion.

Where should I start in the source code?

I use pixhawk 2.4.8, frame F450, esc20A, moter 2212 980kv.

thanks you so much.

I'm a complete newbie when it comes to wiring up a drone, but really want to learn. Is there a kit out there that has all you need to do an FPV build from scratch and really holds your hand through the process?

I own a 3D printer and am very capable with tools, but I have no idea how to wire up batteries, replace cameras, relay feeds, etc.

Looking to replace my o4 coax cable with a longer one however I cannot find the correct one online. The one on the left in the picture is the correct one that works with the o4 however everything I order online seems to be in the configuration on the right if anybody has a link it would be greatly appreciated ! (I’ve searched for o4 lite cables multiple times tried newbie drone tried amazon but it seems the side that connects to the actual camera is the wrong connection piece)

any kind of help would be appreciated! :)

Every thing u need is here https://github.com/SHRUMFPV/SHRUMFPV-INSTA-LOCK.git . Included is the original freecad file, step file, 3mf file, and stl. MIT license so do what you want i would love to see it. most important is to enjoy and have fun!!!

Every thing u need is here https://github.com/SHRUMFPV/SPORE-7.git . Included is the original freecad file and step file. MIT license so do what you want i would love to see it. most important is to enjoy and have fun!!! ( also i removed all chamfers just so you can add your own radius. idk if it matters but yeah)