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Day 117 - Water and Pyro
Axion II set up to do HD #16 cam test
flights.
Launched at 120psi.
Comes in for a gentle landing.
Panorama composed of 3 images captured from
the on-board camera.
Just landed.
Ready to be set up for another flight.
Wiring up the ignitor for Paul's Flygon.
Flygon on the pad. (gold rocket)
It flew very high on a D12-7
And landed gently under streamer.
Adding a wire that hooks through the camera
housing for added security.
Ready for launch #2
Frame from on-board video.
Landed close to the pad.
Attempting to get an old rocket from the
tree.
It is stuck about 20 meters above ground.
Date:31st
March 2012
Location:Doonside, Australia
Conditions:26C, partly cloudy light breeze
Team Members at Event:PK, Paul K and
GK
I've had a lot of non-rocket related
projects and kids activities to catch up on over the last
couple of months so rocket development has been
very slow. This weekend was nice launch
weather again so we took a couple of the
smaller rockets flying. Last month Brian
pointed out (http://www.wra2.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1803) that a
new #16 HD camera has become available
with more options than the #11 and as we
were in need of a replacement for the
one we damaged in the Shadow's crash we
decided to buy one.
Here is more information on the camera:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1556994
We used the smaller rockets to do a
couple of test flights with the camera.
Both flights went well and were launched
at 120psi. The parachutes also deployed
right at apogee. The video from the
camera was very good quality and looked
like it ran smoothly, however, there was
one major problem. After landing the
rocket was picked up and while still
recording the video frame froze, and the
audio started being intermittent and you
could hear static, but the camera was
still recording until turned off.
On the second flight, the video did
that as well but this time just after
apogee so we ended up with only the
ascent part of the flight and the last
frame looking back at the open
parachute. The camera again recorded for
the full amount of time with a frozen
video frame and mostly static recorded
on the audio.
The camera was fully charged, and
happily recorded video again after we
removed it from the rocket but again
only for about 1.5 minutes. I don't
think it is vibration related, though
both faults occurred soon after landing
and soon after ejection. It may be a
faulty camera, or potentially a problem
with the SD card, or potentially a
problem with this model. We'll need to do some
tests on the camera to try to narrow
down the issue. Otherwise I was pretty
happy with the visual quality of the
video and good frame rate. I have ordered some new Class 4 SD
cards so I will try those with it, and
perhaps also the new firmware to see if
the problem is fixed.
The timestamp is also very small which
makes it much more useful to leave on
the video, though this camera allows
you to turn it on and off through a
configuration file and without
needing new firmware.
Paul also got to launch his Flygon
(Aspire) rocket a couple of times on a
D12-7. The flights went very high and
straight and landed well under streamer.
One of the flights even went into the
cloud. We used a streamer rather than a
parachute to stop it drifting too far.
We also had a go at getting one of our
rockets out of the tree that has been
stuck there for a few months. The rocket
is about 20 meters up so a ladder or a
pole are out of the question. We managed
to get a fishing line over the branch
that the rocket is hanging on, and
pulled a nylon line over the top of it,
and then a heavier rope. But try as we
might we did not manage to break the
branch and in the end the rope broke
instead. We'll have to try again at a
later stage.
