Tag Archives: Hobbyking

OpenPilot CC3D released by HobbyKing

Posted by on September 25, 2014 No comments

In the past two months HobbyKing released the HK Pilot32 (alternative of the Pixhawk) and the Acro version of the Naze32 board (info and pictures in my previous post).

Today they released another great and popular flight controller: the OpenPilot CC3D. It is also an 32bit controller like the HK Pilot32 and the Naze32. Hardware and software are completely open sourced. More about the project you can find on the OpenPilot website.

The CC3D version is more like the Naze32 Acro. It is also so small: just 36x36mm and only 6 grams. The processor is the same as on the Naze32, STM32F1 and not the faster STM32F4 like on the HK Pilot32. Gyro and accelerometer on the CC3D is the popular MPU6000. The Naze32 Acro has the MPU6050. Both OpenPilot CC3D and Naze32 Acro haven’t any barometer or magnetometer like the OpenPilot Revo or the HK Pilot32.

So both flight controllers are a kind of competitors. The OpenPilot CC3D is priced at 31.99$ and the Naze32 Acro at 24.99$. Although you don’t need to solder any pins on the OpenPilot CC3D. It comes ready to fly. So far HobbyKing is doing great job by offering another open source flight controller. It will be a good alternative for my SG Adventure Mini Quad 🙂

Source: HobbyKing.com

Naze32 Acro from HobbyKing

Posted by on September 2, 2014 No comments

As I mentioned in the last post, I ordered the Naze32 Acro flight controller from HobbyKing about 2 weeks ago and today I received my package from the customs. I knew that the flight controller is a small one, but didn’t expect that it is so small in real. Made some photos of the 32bit board before and after the soldering job. I am really not sure, if this flight controller from HobbyKing is a good choice for starting with the hobby, as the most of the beginners can not use solder iron at all. Of course there are plenty of online resellers, that sell the board with presoldered pins for a bit more money. (for European buyers: http://www.pitchpump.de/shop/flugsteuerung/ ).

The quality of the HobbyKing Naze32 Acro is good. Everything looks fine and clean… and it works. Before you start, you should download the drivers for Windows from here and install them.

Then you can use the open source Chrome Baseflight Configurator to config the Naze32. Here you can also download a manual from the developer.

My SG Adventure quadcopter is now equipped with my Pixhawk “clone” – HK Pilot32 and I don’t have so much free time to rebuild the frame with the Naze32. But there are some photos of the small one 😉

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And these are after I soldered the pins on the board.

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Update 21.10.2014: There is a version with pins already soldered on it. Read about it here.

Pixhawk “clone” by HobbyKing – HK Pilot32

Posted by on August 5, 2014 No comments

I’m using my HK AIO MegaPirate (Crius clone) board since a few months and I am already very happy with it. The problem with this board is, that I cant get the newest official ArduCopter firmware and I must wait until the developer “SirAlex” port his version of it (MegaPirateNG) to the HK AIO board. The official or clone APM (HKPilot Mega) was not an option. As I saw that the developing of the ArduCopter firmware was going on and on and the APM will not be able to use all the functionality of the coming firmware updates, I decided to go for the PX4 open source board.

This 32bit board is on the market for a half a year thanks to the team of 3DRobotics. You can buy the Pixhawk controller from this page for about 199 $. As I know you get a free support for their products, so if you have problems, you can easily contact their team. That is the benefit buying from them (and the quality of the product… and the case looks very good in my opinion).

But as many people don’t have such amount of money only for the flight controller it becomes a problem. I thought I can order an RTFHawk from witespyquad, but there are big time issues.

And the solution for me came today: Hobbyking has announced their version of the PX4 open source board – HK Pilot32 (I cant name it clone, as the PX4 board is a open source project). The price is about 145 $, for platinum members 136 $ (RTFHawk about 127 $). In my opinion it is fair enough. You don’t get the professional support from 3DRobotics, but save a bit money. I cant say anything about the quality of production until it comes to me, but HobbyKing has never disappointed me so far.

So everyone should decide for himself and most important: you CAN take a decision as there is competition. I ordered mine already 😉

Update 11.08.2014: The HK Pilot32 arrived today. Photos and first impressions here.

Update 15.09.2014: There is also another board based on the PX4 open source project – the AUAV-X2 by Nikolay Arsov. It it smaller and have some nice features compared to the Pixhawk. More in my article about it here (for now only in german, but you can use google translate).