Quadcopter - Part 2

Shopping list

Items

After spending quite some time thinking about it, I came up with the following list of items. I had to buy most of them and came with testing and interacting with several online shops. See the next section for details.

I ended up ordering many items part of the arducopter kit. Afterward one could wonder if it wouldn't have been cheaper and simpler to order the kit. I still think it was a tough but excellent and very educational exercise to design myself the quadcopter. Take the ESC. I would have just soldered these things without even understanding what they were for. I had to carefully choose each item and make sure it is the correct voltage/size/power (and I made several mistakes !).

Structure

• 1 x ArduCopter 3DR Replacement Frame Body 
• 1 x  ArduCopter 3DR Replacement Frame Stackup
• 4 x Arm 28cm, "Half holes"

Sensors

• 1 x Triple Axis Accelerometer Breakout - ADXL335
• 1 x Triple Axis Magnetometer Breakout - HMC5883L  
• 1 x Triple Axis Gyro Carrier with Voltage Regulator - L3G4200D
• 1 x Ultrasonic Range Finder - Maxbotix LV-EZ0 
• 4 x Infrared Proximity Sensor Long Range - Sharp GP2Y0A02YK0F  
• 4 x Infrared Sensor Jumper Wire - 3-Pin JST

Propulsion

• 4 x Motor AC2830-358, 850Kv 
• 4 x ArduCopter ESC 20 Amp
• 2 x Propeller set, 10X45 EPP Style

Power

• 1 x Battery (LiPo, 3 cells = 11.1V, 2200 mAh/ 25 C) to power the motors
• 1 x Battery charger (LiPo) 
• 1 x Power source 12 V/DC 2250 mA - Useful when you don't want to use the battery
• 1 x Connector for the power source 12V - Jack to wire that I soldered to a deans connector
• 1 x Toggle Switch 
• 1 x Quadcopter Power Distribution Board
• 1 x Battery holder 4xAA to power the Arduino - I have actually bought this and added manually the jack. It was a mistake. - I reckon it should be possible to power the arduino from the ESCs and therefore from the battery. To be investigated.

Controller 

• Arduino inventor's kit from Sparkfun. It is a good kit to start playing with the arduino. Moreover you have a breadboard and a bunch of resistors that is handy for future work.
• Arduino prototyping shield from DFRobot - I don't advice to buy this one. There are better ones around I believe.

Remote

• I recovered a remote control and the corresponding receiver from a broken remotely controlled plane model. I might have to buy a "real" remote control and receiver later on because this one doesn't have enough commands.

Tools & Electronics

• Soldering station
• Lead-free solder
• Wire stripper
• Shrinkable tube
• Unsoldering pump
• Analog/Digital MUX Breakout 
• Electrical wire 
• Precision socket RM 2.54 female 
• Precision socket RM 2.54 male

 

Shops

I live in Switzerland, i.e. outside the European Union and outside the €-zone. The positive aspect of it is that we have a low VAT. Some online shops make the administrative work needed not to pay the foreign VAT (20% in most Europe) and just pay the Swiss one (8%). It is the case of Amazon per instance. 

The negative aspect is that the delivery is usually very long, easily 10 to 14 days, and the shipping cost can be huge. There are Swiss shops but they tend to be expensive, up to 2-3 times the prices found elsewhere. Here is a list of shops with my comment on why I did or did not use them.

• Sparkfun - American - For electronics and sensors they design, produce and sell about anything you can think of. The problem is that it is in the US and there is an extra cost and extra delay buying directly from them. The site proposes a lot of tutorials and data sheet. It is a major source of information.
• Selectronics - French - Very large choice of electronics and robotics stuff as well as tools. Very fast shipping. I had to pay the french VAT though.
• Conrad - Swiss - Excellent shop for electronics, modelism and tools. It is a Swiss shop, perfect if you are swiss. They can order things that they don't sell. You can follow the expedition of your shipping.
• Alpha-Crucis - French - A nice shop for robotics. A bit of everything. Unfortunately they rely on the producers of the components (sparkfun, diydrones) and the delays are sometimes awfully long. I am still waiting for some components more than a month after my order.