Anyone running telemetry? or FPV overlay?

[SKUNKWORK SC]

Still a noob in the RC world and was hoping the experts here can steer me in the right direction.
I have a Fatshark FPV camera and a small monitor. Instead of trying to figure out how to mount my GPS to each car, I was thinking Telemetry or FPV overlay to get speed and whatever info I can get out of it. I really have no clue how the telemetry works other than you need a receiver for it? For now I think the overlay would work if anyone can point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance guys

 

[mshagg]

So the camera and the monitor won't tell you much, on a quad/wing all of that data comes from the flight controller and is presented in the on-screen display.

The simplest solution would be something like an Frsky transmitter/receiver/sensor bundle. The most useful information tends to be battery voltage and motor temp. If speed is your primary interest then look at something like a skyrc GPS unit that you can just velcro to each car.

 

[northeastflyer]

Drone friend of mine hooked up an FPV to my kraton on sunday and it was hard to drive. Really need a gimbal on the camera otherwise the jerkyness of the road makes it hard to see and drive. IMO

 

[SKUNKWORK SC]

So the camera and the monitor won't tell you much, on a quad/wing all of that data comes from the flight controller and is presented in the on-screen display.

The simplest solution would be something like an Frsky transmitter/receiver/sensor bundle. The most useful information tends to be battery voltage and motor temp. If speed is your primary interest then look at something like a skyrc GPS unit that you can just velcro to each car.

Thanks, thats the kind of info Im looking for

Drone friend of mine hooked up an FPV to my kraton on sunday and it was hard to drive. Really need a gimbal on the camera otherwise the jerkyness of the road makes it hard to see and drive. IMO

My vision sucks, I just wanted to use FPV to bring the car out to max range and turn it around for speed runs.

 

[LibertyMKiii]

My vision sucks, I just wanted to use FPV to bring the car out to max range and turn it around for speed runs.

I had thought about doing this also, but my fear is that it would just be a blur. Also if there is more than a 1 second delay the car could already be in the ditch before you see it. I stand on the roof of my SUV when doing speed runs. It seems to be the best way to see further.

 

[jondilly1974]

I’m going to put my Mavic Pro up at the start line for turn around spotting as I stand at about 3/4 down the lane. This puts me about 900-1000ft away from the start on a 1500ft strip. A ladder would help too. But I’m going to try the DJI with an iPad screen on a tripod. Hopefully it will be bright enough to see it.

 

[SKUNKWORK SC]

I had thought about doing this also, but my fear is that it would just be a blur. Also if there is more than a 1 second delay the car could already be in the ditch before you see it. I stand on the roof of my SUV when doing speed runs. It seems to be the best way to see further.

You make a great point, FPV may be going on a crawler instead.

 

[fpvmiller]

My fpv has very little latency, at least, not enough to keep me from flying 1/4+ mile out weaving in between trees and other obstacles.

When I send my surface vehicles off after a certain distance I can see the latency (I'm used to fpv after all) and I have to adjust myself to it.

When I fly fpv my stick moves and my drone follows exactly. So I would say fpv would have the advantage here. What I wouldn't be sure of is the video clarity. Drones are definitely "smoother" in the video feed than a surface vehicle would be. Even my gopro footage from my drones have way less shake than I would get on a surface vehicle.

But your fpv gear can be cheap and crappy so it's a tossup.

 

[SKUNKWORK SC]

I’m going to put my Mavic Pro up at the start line for turn around spotting as I stand at about 3/4 down the lane. This puts me about 900-1000ft away from the start on a 1500ft strip. A ladder would help too. But I’m going to try the DJI with an iPad screen on a tripod. Hopefully it will be bright enough to see it.

I would love to see pics or vid of that setup

My fpv has very little latency, at least, not enough to keep me from flying 1/4+ mile out weaving in between trees and other obstacles.

When I send my surface vehicles off after a certain distance I can see the latency (I'm used to fpv after all) and I have to adjust myself to it.

When I fly fpv my stick moves and my drone follows exactly. So I would say fpv would have the advantage here. What I wouldn't be sure of is the video clarity. Drones are definitely "smoother" in the video feed than a surface vehicle would be. Even my gopro footage from my drones have way less shake than I would get on a surface vehicle.

But your fpv gear can be cheap and crappy so it's a tossup.

Thanks for your input, I still may try it cause it was cheap. Just not on speed runs. I have a feeling it will be worthless at a distance.

I’m going to put my Mavic Pro up at the start line for turn around spotting as I stand at about 3/4 down the lane. This puts me about 900-1000ft away from the start on a 1500ft strip. A ladder would help too. But I’m going to try the DJI with an iPad screen on a tripod. Hopefully it will be bright enough to see it.

That's a cool idea, I wanted some kind of HUD with display like Traxxas does. Was hoping there was a way to do it with FPV also to go further than I can see with the cam. I may look into what mshagg said with a receiver setup.

 

[fpvmiller]

Thanks for your input, I still may try it cause it was cheap. Just not on speed runs. I have a feeling it will be worthless at a distance.

Again it's a tossup. My drones aren't ready made or pre-assembled. I had to build all my drones except for one (my 4k ap rig). So my fpv setup is made for low latency. I can't speak to your setup as I don't know the gear you have but essentially you would want a higher camera vantage point on the surface vehicle to be able to see more at a distance. And then your goggles, vtx and camera will be next pieces to work on.

A typical setup on my drone is a 600mW (min) vtx, with a 16:9 1200tvl camera (min) and a set of HDO2 goggles. As much as I like the look of the dji hd goggles I won't buy anything dji. For surface I would plan to hit the 1mW realm of the vtx with a higher camera vantage point for further distance view and a goggle with a higher fov (like the first HDO). At that point any decent 4:3 camera with a min of 800tvl will be sufficient.

 

[SKUNKWORK SC]

Again it's a tossup. My drones aren't ready made or pre-assembled. I had to build all my drones except for one (my 4k ap rig). So my fpv setup is made for low latency. I can't speak to your setup as I don't know the gear you have but essentially you would want a higher camera vantage point on the surface vehicle to be able to see more at a distance. And then your goggles, vtx and camera will be next pieces to work on.

A typical setup on my drone is a 600mW (min) vtx, with a 16:9 1200tvl camera (min) and a set of HDO2 goggles. As much as I like the look of the dji hd goggles I won't buy anything dji. For surface I would plan to hit the 1mW realm of the vtx with a higher camera vantage point for further distance view and a goggle with a higher fov (like the first HDO). At that point any decent 4:3 camera with a min of 800tvl will be sufficient.

Thank you, this is the stuff I don't know. From what I'm gathering, what I got is not going to work.

Fat Shark Micro FPV Camera 5.8G 25mW VTX Video Transmitter 5-13V Input(NTSC)

 

[fpvmiller]

25mW will definitely break up quick.

The big reason why I said you may want to approach the 1W realm of the vtx is because the closer you are to the ground the more power you need to keep clear video transmission and reception the further you get. Altitude actually helps transmission and reception clarity of fpv analog signals and that is why you "technically" only need so much power (mW). My 600mW vtx have seen flights as far out as 5 miles one way BUT I had the antenna system setup for it. And I was at a high enough altitude too for it.

If you are still learning the fpv side of it I say just get a tall platform (or the top of your vehicle) and stand in the middle of your speedrun location.

 

[jondilly1974]

I would love to see pics or vid of that setup

I tried today but had radio range issues. I will try again maybe tomorrow.