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I decided that I needed to make a pouch for my FS Comp before I used it. It needed to be smaller than the Dinochutes pouch for the mini if it is to fit in a BT20. The idea I came up with was to make one to fit the Comp using tyvek cut from a USPS Global Priority Mail envelope and sew the bottom and side closed with kevlar thread. I've included pictures below. The Comp and battery fit nicely into a short piece of 1/4" shrink wrap (not shrunk). I cut out a small hole over the baro sensor so it can breathe. There should be plenty of open space at the top of the pouch to let air get to the sensor.

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I expect Ill just attach it to the NC screw eye or somewhere to the recovery harness with a small ziptie.
 
@Mike Haberer : that looks good. I haven't yet flown a Comp in "with the laundry" but only in dedicated compartments.

@Tractionengines : Hopefully that Mini won't lose its mind again, now that you've reeducated it. It would be nice if Russ (@gtg738w ) would weigh in with his thoughts on what might have happened or if he's seen this sort of behavior before. The negative time business as well as all the duplication in the file was quite odd.
 
Pulled the Flightsketch from this flight this morning and have it on my desk. This unit worked fine last time I used it about 3 weeks ago.
All seems ok... Battery voltage is 2.75-2.87, so that should be ok. Opened the Dino-chutes protector that it is in. No debris, contamination, or visible damage; to protector, or Flightsketch inside it.

App version is 3.0.7, and device firmware is 29... All up to date. Pulled the Battery and left sit for 1 min. Then re-installed battery.

I downloaded the data file again just to check before clearing it for "testing". It did take a VERY LONG time to download the file (like 30+min), so it seems like it is a very large file compared to normal. Signal was about -55 to -76dB, and battery was 2.79 while down loading. Data matched what was shown yesterday.

Pulled battery again for 1 min. Then installed, and did the hand held suction test that rklapp suggested.... Plot looked ok, with one exception all of the time stamps are negative... ending 5sec before zero... So, I used a 2nd unit and did the suction test again, and Plot looks similar, but the timestamps are all positive, starting at zero. I posted data from both tests, maybe you can let me know thoughts... Did this unit just loose its brains, for some unknown reason? ( As BEC says.) Any way to "reset" the unit. (reload firmware, etc. to try to get it going, or .... )

Suspect unit hand test: https://flightsketch.com/flights/2870/
Different unit hand test: https://flightsketch.com/flights/2871/

Thanks for your ideas.
Mike
Tachyons...

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Good luck on your next flight. Here's hoping the unit has been fixed.

I decided that I needed to make a pouch for my FS Comp before I used it. It needed to be smaller than the Dinochutes pouch for the mini if it is to fit in a BT20. The idea I came up with was to make one to fit the Comp using tyvek cut from a USPS Global Priority Mail envelope and sew the bottom and side closed with kevlar thread. I've included pictures below. The Comp and battery fit nicely into a short piece of 1/4" shrink wrap (not shrunk). I cut out a small hole over the baro sensor so it can breathe. There should be plenty of open space at the top of the pouch to let air get to the sensor.

View attachment 482695View attachment 482696View attachment 482697View attachment 482698

I expect Ill just attach it to the NC screw eye or somewhere to the recovery harness with a small ziptie.
What happens to Tyvek when you put a flame to it? Curious but don't have any I can test.
 
What happens to Tyvek when you put a flame to it? Curious but don't have any I can test.
Holding a butane lighter to it, a short exposure basically melts it, a longer one will make it burn. However, it'll be above the laundry, so I'm not worried about that. It's more to have some nominal protection since the unit and battery are damn small and fragile. Wrecking a Mini at $29 is sad; wrecking a Comp at $59 is downright painful.
 
Holding a butane lighter to it, a short exposure basically melts it, a longer one will make it burn. However, it'll be above the laundry, so I'm not worried about that. It's more to have some nominal protection since the unit and battery are damn small and fragile. Wrecking a Mini at $29 is sad; wrecking a Comp at $59 is downright painful.
Sounds good. I'm using a fleece sleeve that @BEC's wife made. I sprayed it with fire retardant spray. It looks a little singed from repeated use, and this was before the Big Daddy E12-6 Cato which surprisingly survived unscathed. It had trouble connecting so I wiped it with a Q-tip and alcohol. Seems to be working fine now. I'll add a photo.

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Any ideas what is up with this data...
https://flightsketch.com/flights/2868/
Armed altimiter, put igniter in, walked back to pad; launched a few minutes later. Was beautiful flight, up, motor eject at apogee, with JLCR at 500ft nice slow landing.
But the graphs look really strange. I can't look at the *.CSV file till monday night.
Here is flight video;


This looks like something went wrong during a flash erase and the previous data was not actually cleared. Flash works by setting everything to ones and then the data is written by clearing the appropriate bits. The erase function resets everything to ones but if that doesn't happen you'll just be clearing new bits from old data and you get this kind or garbled "modified" data. Not sure why a firmware update would fix it (different chips) but glad it got sorted. Let me know if you have any other trouble and we can swap it out.

Russ
 
I wonder if Russ might possibly consider revising his excellent FS Mini design to use available parts?
 
Unfortunately, I tried to mail an altimeter to Russ and was returned as undeliverable. The online store is still open but not sure if is managed by an outside vendor.
Sorry Ron - I'll send you a message to connect. I'm guessing you used the 864 Main St address? The store is still open and I'm still the only owner/operator. The post office doesn't deliver to that address for some reason. They are supposed to fwd everything to a PO box (that I pay extra for...) but you can see how well that works sometimes. I'd list the PO box online but Google insists on a physical address to be a verified business account.

As for parts, still no updates. I do have a redesigned version of the Mini to get around most of it but not sure it's worth going forward with it yet. It's probably not a significant price increase but just a lot of new work/cost in testing and production setup. I know that's not the answer you guys want to hear but I'm taking the time to work on a few other things and hoping the supply issues improve.

Thanks,
Russ
 
I really hope things work out for you. I flew my mini a couple of times last year and was tickled pink with it. Had to get it out of a tree once...

And you have my sympathies with regards to mail. In my little metropolis of ~500 people, we have only PO boxes, no delivery to the home. And I live on a little neighborhood of 3 streets on the plot plan, but when the state came through with 911 numbers, they just used one of the street names for all three streets, so depending on whose GIS information your navigation is using, you won't get one address or the other. Then, to top it all off, for some reason "the Google" has decided to put us in the wrong zip code, even though the pointer comes up correctly!

But the very best to you, and for readers of this thread, buy Flightsketch as soon as you can - join the wait list, whatever. Good stuff!
 
I will keep patiently waiting. Right now I have 3 mini's and a comp.

99% of the time they works well. (One mini got "confused" with it's data. But some support here, and from Russ, and it's been good since.)
 
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