Guardian Stabilization

[TxRider]

Welcome Eagle Tree to FPVLAB.
I am interested in the recent announcement of a stand alone Guardian Stabilization Module. Is there an expected release date yet? Is the price still ~$70? Is there any reason it would not work with EzUHF receivers?

I have been looking for ways to increase the smoothness of the videos I am getting from the GoPro mounted on my Zephyr and wanted to test the GSM to see what improvements it might hold. The interview with Bill last month on ATTF was very interesting and the price is low enough to make it an interesting option.

Thanks

[EAGLETREE]

Hi TxRider,

Thanks for the welcome and we're looking forward to spending a lot of time here on FPVLAB!

Yes, the Guardian stabilizer's official date right now is "late spring" and production is going smoothly. We'll be narrowing down the date in the coming weeks. The price is $74.99 USD/MSRP. There should be no issues with any any receivers. There's some additional info on the Guardian stabilizer here.

[Hucker]

Is there possibility of feeding a single ppm signal into the Guardian instead of all the servo channels? Some of the quad copter boards support this in order to reduce weight an complexity.

[EAGLETREE]

Yes, the Guardian will support Serial PPM. The included windows software will let you "live map" the channels. This is working now with the OSD Pro, FYI.

Another thing we are considering is adding SPPM out, so that the Guardian can feed an SPPM capable OSD with little wiring between them.

[TxRider]

Got a ship notice on the Guardian stabilization unit- they will be in the wild soon and hopefully we'll be hearing good things. I plan to add to my Zephyr- we'll see if she is making smoother vids after that...

[TxRider]

I have the Guardian installed in the Zephyr and bench tested.
The biggest issue installing had to do with extending and splicing all the existing wires. It did help to take the cue from ET and run power and ground from one servo lead but just signal wires for the other three- really cut down on the bundle I had to bury in the wing. I am a bit concerned about the proximity of battery cables running close to the Guardian unit but with my setup there is no good way to avoid it. Unit is right on the centerline and right at CG inside the main bay.

Bench testing was fascinating - with everything powered up I could see the reactions of the elevons to my tilting of the Zephyr. MAKE SURE YOU DOUBLE CHECK THAT IT CORRECTS WITH ELEVONS THE RIGHT DIRECTION, otherwise the Guardian will keep correcting the opposite from what is needed at an accelerating rate!! I had to reverse the direction of reaction using the three little pots on the unit. The mode switch worked great using the three position switch on the Futaba, and the gain knob on the Futaba worked perfectly to adjust the overall gain of the Guardian. Next I need to setup trim and dual rates again since the TX had to be reset from elevon to standard mode. Once it is all trimmed out the Zephyr should be a snap to launch while in 2d mode. Really looking forward to the first flights!