Hi all,

I was out flying my Inspire 1 last week and bumped into another Inspire pilot, he had a GO-PRO HERO 4 strapped to a carbon fibre lever arm! The attachement had some screws that faces upwards and left a gap between the propellar and the HERO mount of about 1"..... My immediate thought was a) that wouold give some pretty cool face down footage of the ground when flying but if the props angle in any way during flight the props would hit the mount and shatter.

Questions are;

a) would a HERO4 on one of the arms put the Inspire off balance? i.e. make it more difficult to fly in GPS mode?
b) do the propellars gain attitude i.e. do the angle forwards, backwards, left or right based on the speed and direction of flying
c) has anybody else tried this!?

Appreciate your feedback,



Liam

Liam,

It will obviously throw it off balance and fixing cameras onto the arm would I suspect result in the aircraft trying to compensate by increasing power to respective engines to counter the balance.  

I would think and others on the forum may be more experienced to comment, but I would think the best place would be along the centre line of the aircraft and given the DJI Camera is at the nose and the sensors in the middle that only leaves the rear of the aircraft to the back of the sensors.  

Having said that, DJI will probably not endorse the addition of any other camera or device not tested or provided by them.  

In addition, the centre of gravity/balance of the aircraft should be maintained +/- 15mm forward/aft from the centre of gravity.

a) yes, it would throw the inspire off its mechanical balance and center of gravity, but the flight controller will be able to compensate for it as long as it is not too heavy. The motors on the side with the gpro will be hotter.
b) no. unlike helicopters that have swash plates that tilt the rotors for pitch and roll, these quadcopters have fixed propeller axis and use speed variations between the 4 motors to control the pitch/roll/yaw.
c) most definitely. i personally have a gopro camera clip permanently mounted on the lower back part of my inspire for kicks or when i feel like recording sound or a different un-gimbal'ed camera view.

GB44 Posted at 2015-6-24 22:31
Liam,

It will obviously throw it off balance and fixing cameras onto the arm would I suspect result ...

Great, thank you for the information

frank320 Posted at 2015-6-24 22:42
a) yes, it would throw the inspire off its mechanical balance and center of gravity, but the flight  ...

frank,

what GP mount did you use? I don't suppose another picture highlighting where it is affixed? The only mount that came into mind is the velcro srap mount that you would put under your wrist, I thought maybe removing the battery and wrapping around and then possibly replacing the battery if it wasnt too snug.

I had thought of trying it myself if safe as I have a HERO4

liam.j.mcintyre Posted at 2015-6-24 23:16
frank,

what GP mount did you use? I don't suppose another picture highlighting where it is affixe ...

Liam,

Just remember that whatever you fix to your aircraft, in the UK the CAA require two means of mechanical fixing.

On my Phantom rig I have a GoPro Hero4 in the DJI gimbal and I just fix a electricians zip tie around the camera and the gimbal/camera.

liam.j.mcintyre Posted at 2015-6-24 23:16
frank,

what GP mount did you use? I don't suppose another picture highlighting where it is affixe ...

Here you go. Not sure what these clips are called, but they clip on different accessories securely. You can use the same clip to mount a torch light, camera, etc... I also have dfferent clips for various extensions, angles and what not. I just leave the attachment plate (female end) on the bottom of my inspire permanently.

Frank,

That looks like a decent mount you have there.  How have you fixed the plate to the underside of the Inspire Aircraft.

Can you provide a link to where you obtained it.

If I'm not mistaken, it looks like Frank just used the adhesive tape thats on the adapter itself and stuck it to it.   Frank just wondering why the bottom and not the flatter back side?

I like it though, thinking about it myself

Yeah where did you get that adaptor though, doesn't look like its a GoPro accessories as it has what I think is a tripod mount in the centre.

Guys, while it may work for you, DJI does not recommend any additions to the Inspire platform.  It is just an FYI.

Tahoe_Ed Posted at 2015-6-25 05:10
Guys, while it may work for you, DJI does not recommend any additions to the Inspire platform.  It i ...

Ed,

I understand that, just wanted to know where Frank got that mount from, my son wants to put a GoPro onto a tripod and wants something more secure than just a sticky pad.

By the way, did you manage to get my address/account info as per your last email, I have been having some problems with my email and internet connection lately.

GB44 Posted at 2015-6-25 02:21
Frank,

That looks like a decent mount you have there.  How have you fixed the plate to the undersid ...

It was some GoPro accecssories kit that i bought. Came with all sorts of male/female clips and adapters.
Something similar to these:
http://www.amazon.com/Accessory- ... meras/dp/B00JBT6F3W
http://www.amazon.com/EEEKit-Acc ... ating/dp/B00LAVA2OW

tapboxer@gmail. Posted at 2015-6-25 03:04
If I'm not mistaken, it looks like Frank just used the adhesive tape thats on the adapter itself and ...

Yes, i did use the 3M adhesive tape to attach the female side of the clip to the bottom of the Inspire. It is good enough, it ain't falling off. Also, the thick 3M tape helps absorb some vibration, which is good.

Why the bottom and not on the flatter back side?
1) Closer and more central to Inspire's C.G - hence spread the additional load evenly across the 4 props
2) Lower the Inspire's C.G - more stability in flight
3) Lower and further away from the Props

Tahoe_Ed Posted at 2015-6-25 05:10
Guys, while it may work for you, DJI does not recommend any additions to the Inspire platform.  It i ...

Hi Ed,
Understood. But you should see my 5 year old's face when i attached his BumbleBee Transformer to the underside of my Inspire using the clips, yawed the Inspire's gimbal around to face the toy and took a video of the Inspire in flight with it. Thrilled the hell out of him. Its all worth it... What is the point of having all these if we can't have some fun with it. The smile on my son's face was priceless.

frank320 Posted at 2015-6-25 09:28
Hi Ed,
Understood. But you should see my 5 year old's face when i attached his BumbleBee Transforme ...

Frank, I agree.  The smile of my granddaughter when PaPa flies his drones is priceless.  She is 2.

GB44 Posted at 2015-6-25 02:21
Frank,

That looks like a decent mount you have there.  How have you fixed the plate to the undersid ...

GB44 that mount came standard with my GOPRO HERO3. Excellent idea i have also attached my Hero 3 to the same under battery plate :-) I like it because it is also waterproof!!

Tahoe_Ed Posted at 2015-6-25 05:10
Guys, while it may work for you, DJI does not recommend any additions to the Inspire platform.  It i ...

Tahoe_Ed is it because of uneven wear on the motors? Wouldnt that be there anyway, say if you were flying in severe crosswinds?

arunmehta Posted at 2015-6-25 15:22
GB44 that mount came standard with my GOPRO HERO3. Excellent idea i have also attached my Hero 3 to ...

Yeah I didn't get a mount like that with my Hero4.

GB44 Posted at 2015-6-25 15:49
Yeah I didn't get a mount like that with my Hero4.

I found this... looks like he used a Gopro look alike... it has that type of adapter

http://www.amazon.com/Veezy-Bicy ... ds=Yi+Action+Camera

Liam, I found this video on UTube...

I added a GoPro on my inspire with a goose neck. Attached it behind the battery, have flown in a few times without any issues. Have been making sure that there is  space between the rotors. Here is a video I took, it is awesome. It was a fairly windy day, once it got up, it was fine.

I did not want to put the GoPro on the bottom, I wanted to experience what a pilot would see.

stclassic01@yah Posted at 2015-6-26 00:31
Liam, I found this video on UTube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4F5dY0R7iE

stclassic01,

Thank you for sharing, wondered what the attachment was on the back and then realised when the on-board camera turn around it's a taped GOPRO! Seems fairly risky though, I wonder what the wind resistance is flying at speed i.e. enough to tear the GP off? I tend to fly over tidal marsh land so 100% would never find it even if dropped 10m away :-/ seen I lot of people like the post below using 3m double sided patches, they just don't seem strong enough....

liam.j.mcintyre Posted at 2015-6-27 17:06
stclassic01,

Thank you for sharing, wondered what the attachment was on the back and then realise ...

Those 2 sided patches you get with the gopro are pretty strong. I stuck one on my hex copter and darn near broke the frame trying to get it off!!!

snathla@gmail.c Posted at 2015-6-26 11:09
I added a GoPro on my inspire with a goose neck. Attached it behind the battery, have flown in a few ...

Do you have the video from the I1 camera?

Just took another video with the GoPro camera   

As per posts above, I attached a mounting plate to the bottom of my inspire beside the VPS system. A word of caution here, due to proximity to the VPS sensors, some attachments(like my 5yr old boy's Optimus Prime transformer figure, extended a little too forward and blocked the VPS sensors. This resulted in the VPS system being blocked and unable to measure height as inspire took off - VPS worked, but was blocked by attachment. This became problematic as the inspire thought it was still on the ground even after it took off. This meant that altitude was not controlled and the inspire was never able to switch from VPS to barometer for altitude control at higher altitude. This caught me by surprise as I got to 15m and still the height displayed remained 0.1m and the inspire drifted altitude-wise. Not DJI's fault but mine. Was able to bring it back down slowly.

Lesson? Don't block VPS sensors and make sure they always have clear line of sight to ground.