Hmmm, A victim of a low camera angle. Always a good idea to have the camera angled out at 15 degrees or so for a better field of view. Seems to be a lesson here about expediently proceeding through the certification cycle. Nothing wrong with that per se but some time/years flying before an L3 attempt might allow the acquisition of skills to avoid the main at apogee, the low camera angle and the usage of the wrong battery in the tracker.
Bottom line though is the rocket is recovered and with some work could be re-prepped for another attempt. I doubt the same issues will crop up next time except fix that camera angle! :wink: Kurt
Matt,
I've been following along this thread and keeping quiet. But I completely agree here. I even mentioned to the near-wife how fast you went through your certs. I take longer designing, re-engineering and building one rocket than you took to breeze through all your certs. Nothing wrong with that...but again, Kurt summed it up best. I won't mention the borrowed equipment, except to say that I wont mention it. LOL
Apparently you have been flying for a quite a while. Things will be much better when folks realize experience doesn't always equal wisdom and just because you have been doing something for years doesn't mean you have been doing it right. The rocket held together just fine and did what it thought it was supposed to do. You simply didn't take the time to double check your connections, it happens. I have nearly done the same thing. My level 1 bird Danger Close is my only DD rocket so far and I always check which end is drogue and which is main using my Fluke. Then put a piece of tape to mark them both. I have the bay marked with tick marks anyway but I always double check. I had a RRC2+ go bad before launch day and I had to rebuild a sled on the field, and forgot some jumpers which resulted in a 1 sec delayed deployment, but no damage done. So I (as do most folks here I would imagine) know how frustrating it is to have something go awry at the wrong time.
I use a cheap camera just like that. I had to shim it out to get a good angle; it took some playing around to get it right. Only to have it freeze up sometime after the first event. It recorded audio but video was froze. I vacuum formed me a shroud. Looked pretty good until I had to shim it.
What kind of switch were you using that went bad?
Lots of learning points here. Seems the big ones are:
Always double check connections.
Secure your dadburn wires.
Use the correct batteries.
TAKE YOUR TIME.
I am working on my level 2 build and this just highlights things that can go wrong. Seems like that pesky human element is our worst enemy. I hate to admit, I chuckled a bit when you said you had the wires hooked up wrong. You were dead set sure that they were correct the whole time.
So, yeah, just step back and enjoy the level 2 motors. Repair it and try it again later. Seriously, why the rush? Level 3 is just bigger motors. After my level 2 is checked, I plan on hitting clusters and air starts in a LOC Viper IV. Something different other that just a big motor. I'll get there, it'll just be a while.
Good luck on the refit.
Mikey D