(Edit : added new led setup pictures.)
Finally got some video though I still need to get a YouTube or Vimeo account.
The prototype is working great but I already have plans to improve on it. Mainly everything will be cleaned up and made more compact. I want to scale everything down and get rid of the extra wiring.
Version 2 improvements -
- I bought some small led's that will be mounted in the nose to be shaded from the sun while still visible from the camera.
- mount the angle sensing chip directly to the plastic bearing tube. This will make it very easy to place it properly near the magnet. I will put the magnet on first then attach the chip which will be mounted to some depron. I will make the whole bearing tube and AoA vane shaft smaller too. Should be much more compact.
- a smaller AoA vane. I think a much smaller one will work just fine and will be less likely to get damaged. I used a larger toothpick and I think a standard one will work. Eventually I might get one 3D printed.
- Smaller connectors for the led's. The servo connectors are squished in at an angle where they attach to the Arduino pins. Micro servo leads would solve this problem although I might end up just soldering them directly.
Here are the pictures of the new smaller led's. The light they give off is very directional. It is very bright seen head on and relatively dim from the sides. I will bevel the back side of the depron so that when mounted in the nose they will be pointing directly at the camera.