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Typhoon H to cablecam

Joined
Jan 13, 2021
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Age
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Hi there.
I got my Typhoon H 3 years ago. Im from the EU.
It was a fine drone until its total trash now imo.
Hard to get batteries, flight time is nothing. The startup time when camera connects and i can go fly is so long ( out of the box, same issue) and it loses camera connection every single time i fly with it. Im done with this crap.
As it has no value on the market - I was thinking of converting it to a cable cam. I want to strip down the drone, use the CGO3 camera and gimbal with the ST16 but I also want the cablecam to be motorised/driven by the ST16 (maybe?)
Any thoughts about the "driving on the cable" part? Would it be possible to use OG motors and software to run the cablecam up-down the cable?

Thanks in advance,
Ookean.
 
Hi there.
I got my Typhoon H 3 years ago. Im from the EU.
It was a fine drone until its total trash now imo.
Hard to get batteries, flight time is nothing. The startup time when camera connects and i can go fly is so long ( out of the box, same issue) and it loses camera connection every single time i fly with it. Im done with this crap.
As it has no value on the market - I was thinking of converting it to a cable cam. I want to strip down the drone, use the CGO3 camera and gimbal with the ST16 but I also want the cablecam to be motorised/driven by the ST16 (maybe?)
Any thoughts about the "driving on the cable" part? Would it be possible to use OG motors and software to run the cablecam up-down the cable?

Thanks in advance,
Ookean.


This is on my list of projects that I want to try and I believe it is possible. It will require some level of programming and electronics skill.

The CGO03+ tilt control can be done with a PPM like control signal, but to get pan and tilt you have to control it using a more complicated serial initialization and command protocol. Either way you will need a Yuneec SR24 receiver (or a reprogramed zigbee module but I haven't figured that out yet) and a microcontroller to read the receiver and convert it CGO3+ serial and/or other motor control.

I believe I have this working. I'm using a spare receiver from the TH and a ESP32 microcontroller programed from the arduino environment. The code below is primarily for driving a small RC and has the CGO3 commands commented out, but if they are uncommented out it should worked (the worked in a different application of this code).

The code is ugly, I'm not a programmer, I'm sure it could be cleaned up, use it at your own risk.


Code:
/* This code reads the serial output from a Yuneec SR-24 receiver (like what is used in the Yuneec Typhoon H) and converts it to a SBUS output signal that can be read by most flight controllers. It also has a serial output for the CGO3+ camera.
 *  It was written to be used on an ESP8266 and tested on a Wemos D1 R2 ESP8266 board. The ESP8266 was chosen for its small size and high clock speed. Some modification and testing would 
 *  be required for other microcontrollers.
 *  
 *  
 *  This code relies on the st24.h and st24.cpp files which need to be placed in a subfolder of your Arduino libraries folder. The st24.h and st24.cpp files were taken from the git hub for the
 *  PX4 firmware. Link:
 *  https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/tree/master/src/lib/rc
 *  I also modified the st24.cpp to change a couple of defines (below) to scale the ouput to servo values
 *  #define ST24_TARGET_MIN 1000.0f
 *  #define ST24_TARGET_MAX 2000.0f
 *  
 *  The Checksum.h is from here:
 *  https://github.com/mavlink/c_library_v1
 *  
 *  Is uses the ESP32SERVO library downloaded from the Arduino Library manager.
 *  
 *  The bindmode function works and should only be called if the BINPIN is shorted to ground on powerup
 *  
 *  
 *  
 *  The quality of this code is suspect. I have no way of knowing if it is safe or reliable. Extra care should be taken to avoid injury or damage to property. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Be safe!
 * 
 */


#include <EEPROM.h>
#include <Ticker.h>
#include <HardwareSerial.h>
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
#include <WiFi.h>
#include <ESP32Servo.h>


#include <string.h> // it is needed for subString function
#include "checksum.h"
#include <st24.h>


#define BINDPIN 27
#define CPU_MHZ 80
#define NUM_INPUT_CHAN 12  //The number of channels to read from the receiver
#define NUM_SBUS_OUT_CHAN 16 //The number of channels to output in
#define FAILSAFE_COUNT 100
#define BAUD_RATE 115200 //For Yuneec Serial
#define AIL 1  //Channel order from the receiver
#define ELE 2
#define THR 0
#define RUD 3
#define AUX1 6 //Camera tilt slider
#define AUX2 7 //Pan knob
#define TILTMODESW 8 // tilt mode switch
#define AUX3 9 //Pan mode switch
#define AUX4 10 // Landing Gear switch
#define AUXBUTTON 11 // Aux button
#define MAX_STRING_LEN 80
#define YUN_RX_PIN 14  //Set pin number For Yuneec Serial. yellow
#define YUN_TX_PIN 33  //Set pin number For Yuneec Serial. grey
#define CGO3_TX_PIN 12 //orange
#define CGO3_RX_PIN 32 // green
//#define SBUS_RX_PIN 16 // NC
//#define SBUS_TX_PIN 17 // orange
#define chan1pin 16
#define chan2pin 17
//#define CHAN_SCALING 0.5
//#define SBUS_REFRESH 20000


#define PACKET_SEQ_LOC 2
#define K1_LOC_BYTE1 22
#define SL1_LOC_BYTE1 24
#define S1_LOC_BYTE1 26
#define S2_LOC_BYTE1 28

char serialbuf[80]; //This gives the incoming serial some room

// This is the array of values taht need to be sent to the Yuneec SR24 receiver to initiate bind mode.
const byte BINDARR[55] = {0x55, 0x55, 0x08, 0x04, 0x00, 0x00, 0x42, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x44, 0xB0, 0x55, 0x55, 0x08, 0x04, 0x00, 0x00, 0x42, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x44, 0xB0, 0x55, 0x55,
                          0x08, 0x04, 0x00, 0x00, 0x42, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x44, 0xB0, 0x55, 0x55, 0x08, 0x04, 0x00, 0x00, 0x42, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x44, 0xB0, 0x55, 0x55, 0x08, 0x04
                          , 0x00, 0x00, 0x42, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x44, 0xB0
                         };
int sbusOutOrder[]={AIL,ELE,THR,RUD,AUX4,AUXBUTTON}; // Order to output the channels in.


int cgo3OutOrder[]={AUX1,AUX2};
unsigned int sbusOutDefault[]={1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,1500,0,0,0};

#define SBUS_OUT_ORDER_SIZE sizeof(sbusOutOrder)/sizeof(sbusOutOrder[0])

uint16_t SBUS_Channel_Data[16];
bool SBUS_Failsafe_Active;
bool SBUS_Lost_Frame;


#define CGO3_SCALE_FACTOR 1.8 //
#define CGO3_SCALE_OFFSET 200



uint8_t packcount;
volatile unsigned int outsincelastpack;
volatile bool SBUSready;
uint8_t initpacket[]={0xFE,0x03,0x00,0x01,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x01,0x02,0x00,0x01,0x00,0x00};
uint8_t outputmsg[]={0xFE,0x1A,0x00,0x01,0x00,0x02,0x00,0x01,0x9D,0x0A,0xE6,0xFF,0xFD,0xFF,0x97,0x25,0x1F,0x00,0x01,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x02,0x08,0x56,0x0D,0x00,0x08,0xAB,0x02,0x88,0x08,0xF4,0x01,0x00,0x00};
uint8_t packet_seq = 0;

#define MAX_CHAN_COUNT sizeof(tempchan)/sizeof(tempchan[0])

HardwareSerial YuneecSerial(1);
//SoftwareSerial CGO3Serial(CGO3_RX_PIN,CGO3_TX_PIN, false);

Servo chan1;
Servo chan2;

void bindmode() {
  for (int i = 0; i < 55; i = i + 1) {
    YuneecSerial.write(BINDARR[i]);
  }
  while (1) {
    delay(100);
  }
}



//void updateCGO3msg(uint8_t* msgptr, uint16_t slider1, uint16_t knob1,uint16_t switch1,uint16_t switch2) {
//  uint8_t c;
//  uint16_t tempchecksum;
//  uint16_t tempword;
//  
//  msgptr[PACKET_SEQ_LOC]=packet_seq;
//  if (msgptr[1]==0x1A) {
//    tempword = (uint16_t)(slider1*CGO3_SCALE_FACTOR + .5f) + CGO3_SCALE_OFFSET;
//    msgptr[SL1_LOC_BYTE1] = lowByte(tempword);
//    msgptr[SL1_LOC_BYTE1+1] = highByte(tempword);
//    tempword = (uint16_t)(knob1*CGO3_SCALE_FACTOR + .5f) + CGO3_SCALE_OFFSET;
//    msgptr[K1_LOC_BYTE1]=lowByte(tempword);
//    msgptr[K1_LOC_BYTE1+1]=highByte(tempword);
//    tempword = (uint16_t)(switch1*CGO3_SCALE_FACTOR + .5f) + CGO3_SCALE_OFFSET;
//    msgptr[S1_LOC_BYTE1]=lowByte(tempword);
//    msgptr[S1_LOC_BYTE1+1]=highByte(tempword);
//    tempword = (uint16_t)(switch2*CGO3_SCALE_FACTOR + .5f) + CGO3_SCALE_OFFSET;
//    msgptr[S2_LOC_BYTE1]=lowByte(tempword);
//    msgptr[S2_LOC_BYTE1+1]=highByte(tempword);
//  }
//  crc_init(&tempchecksum);
//  //length from packet + 10 header bytes - CRC
//  for (uint8_t j=1;j<msgptr[1]+8;j=j+1) {
//    crc_accumulate(msgptr[j],&tempchecksum);
//  }
//  //add the CRC_EXTRA Byte which seems to be 0
//  crc_accumulate(0,&tempchecksum);
//  msgptr[msgptr[1]+8]=tempchecksum & 0x00FF;
//  msgptr[msgptr[1]+9]=((tempchecksum >> 8)&0x00FF);
//  if (packet_seq==255) {
//    packet_seq=0;
//  } else {
//    packet_seq=packet_seq+1;
//  }
//}

void setup() {
  // WIFI is turned off to reduce the chances of interference with the 2.4GHz Yuneec receiver.
  WiFi.mode( WIFI_MODE_NULL );
 Serial.begin(BAUD_RATE);

  YuneecSerial.begin(BAUD_RATE,SERIAL_8N1,YUN_RX_PIN,YUN_TX_PIN );
  //CGO3Serial.begin(BAUD_RATE);
  //Serial.println("Yuneec Serial Started.");
  pinMode(BINDPIN, INPUT_PULLUP);
  
  delay(100);
  if (digitalRead(BINDPIN) == LOW) {
    bindmode();
  }
  chan1.setPeriodHertz(50);
  chan2.setPeriodHertz(50);
  chan1.attach(chan1pin,1000 ,2000);
  chan2.attach(chan2pin,1000,2000);
  packcount=0;
  outsincelastpack=0;
  //initial SBUS values
  for (int i = 0; i < NUM_SBUS_OUT_CHAN; i = i + 1) {
    SBUS_Channel_Data[i]=sbusOutDefault[i];
  }
  delay(500);
//  while (CGO3Serial.available()<1) {
//    for (int i=0;i<5;i=i+1) {
//      updateCGO3msg(initpacket, 0, 0,0, 0 );
//      CGO3Serial.write(initpacket,13);   
//    }
//  }
  
}




void loop() {
  byte tempbyte;
  //uint16_t tempword;
  uint16_t tempchan[NUM_INPUT_CHAN];
  uint8_t current;
  uint8_t rssi;
  uint16_t tempchannelcount;
  
  if (YuneecSerial.available() > 0) {
    tempbyte=YuneecSerial.read();
    if(!st24_decode(tempbyte,&rssi,&packcount,&tempchannelcount,tempchan,NUM_INPUT_CHAN)) {
      for (int i=0;i<SBUS_OUT_ORDER_SIZE;i=i+1) {
        SBUS_Channel_Data[i]=tempchan[sbusOutOrder[i]];
      }
      chan1.write(SBUS_Channel_Data[0]);
      chan2.write(SBUS_Channel_Data[1]);
      Serial.print(SBUS_Channel_Data[0]);
      Serial.print(" ,");
      Serial.println(SBUS_Channel_Data[1]);
      outsincelastpack=packcount/10;
      //updateCGO3msg(outputmsg, tempchan[AUX1], tempchan[AUX2], tempchan[TILTMODESW], tempchan[AUX3]);
      //CGO3Serial.write(outputmsg,outputmsg[1]+10);
    }
  }
        // Packcount is the number of packets that the receiver has output since it received a new packet from the TX. It is a byte so it is < 255. I divide that by 5 and if that value is >FAILSAFE_COUNT it failsafes. The outsincelastpacket is also incremented 
        // each time the PPM isr runs, so if there is no serial input at all it will failsafe after FAILSAFE_COUNT PPM outputs. 
  if (outsincelastpack>FAILSAFE_COUNT) {
    for (int i = 0; i < NUM_SBUS_OUT_CHAN; i = i + 1) {
      SBUS_Channel_Data[i]=sbusOutDefault[i];
      SBUS_Failsafe_Active = 1;
      chan1.write(SBUS_Channel_Data[0]);
      chan2.write(SBUS_Channel_Data[1]);
    }
  }


}
 
Oh wow. I am very far away from that drone-cablecam conversion when i look at what You wrote. Maybe I should buy a RC car, use that gear for driving the cable cam and drone insides with the gimbal/camera/st16 for the filming-part of the cablecam. That should work, shouldnt it? Just desolder all motors and put the whole thing on the cable-cam assembly, right?
 
Oh wow. I am very far away from that drone-cablecam conversion when i look at what You wrote. Maybe I should buy a RC car, use that gear for driving the cable cam and drone insides with the gimbal/camera/st16 for the filming-part of the cablecam. That should work, shouldnt it? Just desolder all motors and put the whole thing on the cable-cam assembly, right?

If when you say "put the whole thing on the cable cam assembly" you mean most of the electronics from inside the tyhpoon H then that might work. I don't know if the flight controller would initialize the camera gimbal if it doesn't have the GPS, navigation lights, and motors (ie the rest of the TH electronics) or if it would hang up, I'm guess that at the very least it would detect a motor failure and there would be constant warnings on the ST16 screen.
 
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Reactions: Mike Irish
might sound dumb but replacing motors with resistors wouldnt counter the motor failure warnings? I mean, if you turn on the H, camera connects, you can run around with it without motors turned on, right? If i dont initiate the take-off part, does it detect motor failure?
 
might sound dumb but replacing motors with resistors wouldnt counter the motor failure warnings? I mean, if you turn on the H, camera connects, you can run around with it without motors turned on, right? If i dont initiate the take-off part, does it detect motor failure?
I don't think putting resistors would work, but I think you are right about not getting warnings if you don't arm the drone with the red button. I'm not sure, I have never tried. It is also possible that it wouldn't ever detect the motors being disconnected. I'm not sure if the detection works by detecting the motor being attached (via current draw or RPM or ?) or if it is looking for a change in flight performance to detect if a motor and/or prop has failed.

It seems like something you are just going to have to try.

Dylan
 
As long as the motors are not armed you should be fine. You could likely sell the aircraft and purchase an Osmo or GoPro and adapt as a cable cam a lot easier.
 
As long as the motors are not armed you should be fine. You could likely sell the aircraft and purchase an Osmo or GoPro and adapt as a cable cam a lot easier.
I do have an Osmo on the shelf collecting dust, but it is manual controlled, right? If i use H's gimbal and ST16 to operate the camera, that gives me more ways to use the cam. With osmo you really cant control it over RC. And selling the aircraft here in Estonia.. it has no real market value for it. I got two ST16's, two charging stations, a bag and the drone with 2 deadish batteries = it would prolly go for idk 100-150€ max. I'd rather use the camera and technlogy to make something else.
 
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Reactions: DoomMeister
I am pretty sure you can remove the arms and motors and be fine as long as you don’t go through the arming sequence. Since you you have two controllers you can place it in team mode and use the right stick to control the camera in pan and tilt. Tilt mode switch full down and pan mode switch full down on the controller operating the camera.
 

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