Does any know or have they heard when the FlightSketch Mini's will be available again?
FlightSketch
- Thread starter shawn_rocket
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I would shoot Russ an email. [email protected] He is responsive to emails. Ill see him in a couple weeks at a club launch I am sure but I dont want you to hang that long waiting for an answer.
Thanks!
Nytrunner
Pop lugs, not drugs
I'm curious too, I have the email product alerts, but I've only gotten one ping a couple weeks ago and nothing since then (of course I was an hour late and it was out of stock again)
DAllen
Well-Known Member
FYI I just ordered one...Should be here Saturday.
billdz
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The Mini is showing as in stock right now, see https://flightsketch.com/store/catalog/flightsketch-mini_1/.
shockie
High Plains Rocketeer
Why am i.not receiving an alert?
It does fetch it from the internet via the DarkSky API, based on location data from your phone/tablet with which you're controlling the FS Mini.
gtg738w
FlightSketch - flightsketch.com
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We've got a lot of updates in work now, please feel free to send any suggestions. We will be branching out a bit with the service too.
I noticed that putting breathing holes in rockets isn't necessary for Flightsketch to work properly. It's rather amazing.
I loaded it into a paper sealed payload (not perfectly sealed as it's paper) but definitely one without holes. And it worked perfectly. So glad I did not poke holes.
Why do I know it was accurate?
Visually it looked like that distance.
I later put in the weight, motor etc in https://www.thrustcurve.org and the simulation was close.
There is an onboard barometer but also accelerometer. Does the accelerometer bolster the barometer?
I loaded it into a paper sealed payload (not perfectly sealed as it's paper) but definitely one without holes. And it worked perfectly. So glad I did not poke holes.
Why do I know it was accurate?
Visually it looked like that distance.
I later put in the weight, motor etc in https://www.thrustcurve.org and the simulation was close.
There is an onboard barometer but also accelerometer. Does the accelerometer bolster the barometer?
Having recently lost a rocket in the woods, I'd buy a piezo buzzer the size of the flightsketch mini but have it buzz only after ejection (or liftoff). I know it's potentially spending more $$ to save an inexpensive rocket, but what bothers me is not knowing exactly where it went.
It is really hard, but not impossible, to seal a paper and balsa model so tightly that an altimeter clearly doesn't work. But it is easier to seal it well enough that the altimeter never "sees" the true apogee as the pressure inside the compartment lags the pressure outside by a few seconds. Here is a graph I've put together illustrating that. It has appeared in Sport Rocketry (Jan/Feb 2019 issue in an article by Dan Wolf) and in the report for an R&D project I did for NARAM-61. These are data from one flight that was carrying an Adrel ALT-BMP and an Altus Metrum MicroPeak in each of two small compartments, stacked on top of the same model. These are the Adrel data because it's easy to overlay two datasets with the Adrel application.
A graph of data from another flight that day, with all four altimeters' data overlaid on one plot illustrating the same thing is part an article I recently submitted to Apogee for an upcoming issue of Peak of Flight.
That said, I have flown altimeters in unvented compartments and gotten good enough data. There will be more on this in that Peak of Flight article when it comes out. (No, I don't know when). But putting three or four pinholes in the compartment where the altimeter is flying is cheap/simple insurance against what this graph illustrates is possible.
At the moment the FS Mini records the data from the accelerometer but I don't think that the firmware or the app do any data fusion with the barometric data as does, say, AltimeterThree. But Russ will have to weigh in and confirm this. Also....I'm sure it's in the plans for future updates.
Which of the three flights you have posted on the FlightSketch flight log web site are you referring to? It would be great if people at least put the model and the motor in the log, as you did with the first of the three...
All I can tell from the second one is that your delay was a bit longer than optimum and on the third one it looks like the Mini was bouncing around quite a bit as the model descended.
gtg738w
FlightSketch - flightsketch.com
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No, not on the Mini. On that system the altitude only uses the barometer and the acceleration is integrated for velocity before ejection.
DAllen
Well-Known Member
Just gotta say the Flightsketch mini is one of the coolest rocket toys I have ever purchased. I fly a lot of single deploy rockets on H's and I's and have always wondered how close I was matching the sims in OR or RS. This device answers a lot of questions. It's also soooo cool how I can connect to it with my phone when I recover and can know before I walk back to the flight line what the altitude was. Totally worth the $30 IMHO.
DAllen
Well-Known Member
If I can protect it appropriately, is there any reason why I can’t mount the mini on the outside of a rocket?
DAllen
Well-Known Member
That's easy. I am thinking of cutting a small BT lengthwise and creating a mount that the FS would fit under that I can easily move from one rocket to another. Drill one 1/16" hole in said BT and it's vented. I'd rather have it on the outside cause I am weird like that...plus it keeps it out of the ejection gasses on single deploy rockets with no payload bay. I would probably only do this with G motor rockets and larger the the aerodynamic effect would be rather negligible.
