So....... Quad Copters.......

[Howard_Casto]

For whatever reason, mom got me a pretty nifty quad copter for Xmas. 

Sky King

I've been having fun with it.  The thing is darn near indestructible and surprisingly easy to get to hover stable.  It comes with a camera, but it's kind of crappy... only 640x480. 

But anyway, you know me, I can't leave well enough alone so I'm wondering about mods.  The thing really needs a better battery... this 8 minutes stuff is for the birds.  This company called WLToys also makes an accessory kit .... a water gun, a nerf dart gun and a wench, but they aren't all that impressive and seem to run on a 5 wire setup (mine is 3 wire).  I've got to think two of those wires are power and the other is some sort of simple data trigger.  Also a first person view kit would be nice.  At the same time I don't want to put much money into it.  At the current price point I wouldn't feel too terrible if I ruined the thing, but at $200+ things would get iffy. 

So is anyone else playing with this stuff?  Opinions?

[Slippyblade]

Comes with a wench, huh?  Niiiice.

I'd really wonder about the water gun add on.  I can't imagine the sloshing of a half-empty tank would do good things for stability.

[Howard_Casto]

It's not that impressive anyway.... only enough for about one good squirt.  It does make me think that making custom accessories would be fairly simple though.... if they can sell a kit will all three (sometimes a spare camera is even included) for a mere 30 bucks I don't see how there would be anything on them in terms of electronics. 

I saw those 2 dollar Bluetooth trackers on eBay the other day.... I'm wondering how much they weigh, because I've nearly lost the thing once already. 

[Wired203]

3 wire sounds like a standard servo connection,  PWM for the output 1500 is center if I recall.  Lookup Arduino servo controllers to get started with hacking.

[pbj]

Any hot neighbors with large windows?  $5 cash in hand.

[05SRT4]

I have been looking for reviews or a parts manual for that thing. I think I found some parts on eBay but im not sure if they are for the same model.

My first thought was to go FPV. I have been flying the Nano QX FPV
Watching a flight after is cool and all but actually seeing through the eyes when flying is amazing.

I had to watch a review video to get a good idea on the size of yours. I know it wouldnt have any issues with the same FPV setup I have.

I know there tons of different brands but this one would be uber easy to setup but the cost might be a little higher.

Spektrum Ultra Micro FPV

If you dont want to go the whole package you can always get the Ultra Micro Camera by itself. Its a camera and transmitter in one. So all you would need is googles or receiver/tv setup which you can make for cheap.

No since yours already has a camera built in and after seeing some videos the video isn't that bad. You should see if its possible to add a video transmitter. Then all you would need is the googles or tv setup.

 

[Howard_Casto]

3 wire sounds like a standard servo connection,  PWM for the output 1500 is center if I recall.  Lookup Arduino servo controllers to get started with hacking.

I don't think it's a servo because this 3 wire connector is used to control the camera.  The controller has two buttons, one to toggle video recording on and off and another to take a photo.  It could be as simple as a ground wire and one wire for video and another for photos.  Those accessories have a 5 wire connector, but only use two wires for the water gun and I believe three for the dart gun, which has a single dart function and machine gun mode.  All of them use regular dc motors.