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Tello brushless conversion

Mud, in your opinion do you think that a third party might be likely to offer improvements to the camera such as a different lens ?
 
I can't tell if the lens is screwed on so it could be swapped like they usually are because I didn't take it out of the frame, I just unplugged it from the board. But if not screwed on, it should be possible to outfit an additional lens like the ones sold to attach in front of the smartphone camera.
Also I don't know if, and if yes how many industry standards there are concerning the connectors of these tiny cameras, so no idea if it could be exchanged by a better one. If it could be done to install a camera with more megapixels though, I guess there could be an issue with the bandwidth.
So generally I'd say, for serious photography you need another and bigger drone. Bigger sensor, bigger lens, gimbal.... all that weighs too much. But still the camera of the Tello is not bad for the size imho, it's 5MP. Maybe in some broken smartphone one could find and salvage a camera with the same connector and try it out.

I like your idea of changing the lens. In my case I don't want to use the Tello for photography. I have the spark for that. But by having a fisheye lens I might not need the tilting function anymore. +1
 
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Bounty hunt:

If anyone can make a change to the atello app for example, so that the escs would arm - the thingy would fly again and I would give it away as a reward XD

Myriad 2 should use PWM to feed integrated brush ESC on it's circuit board. This very same raw PWM signal could drive your Brushless ESCs, but the thing is that you need to extract this PWM signal BEFORE Tello's integrated ESC already process it for brushed motor, but I don't know how to find this PWM points without oscilloscope.
 
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Myriad 2 should use PWM to feed integrated brush ESC on it's circuit board. This very same raw PWM signal could drive your Brushless ESCs, but the thing is that you need to extract this PWM signal BEFORE Tello's integrated ESC already process it for brushed motor, but I don't know how to find this PWM points without oscilloscope.

What is Myriad 2? If knew the pins of the raw PWM signal, I could connect the 4 "thesteve" converters I already have. But still, the escs won't arm but go into some kind of programming mode. I am guessing there would need to be an adjustment made in the BLheli software running in the escs. Or use other brushless escs which expect the same startup signal sequence.
 
Anyone having any progress on a brushless ESC conversion ? Maybe the main board has the capability to output brushless signal with a resister " switch" mod? I.E. remove or put a surface mount resister " switch" on the main board? thanks,
 
Hello
I don’t own a Tello. But I will gladly try to help.
Are your esc’s set up for pwm input?
Is the input polarity set correctly on the esc’s ?
On the flight controller, have you changed the pwm output to something less than 1000khz. ?
 
Hi,

I am very interested in this mod. What is the status @Mud?
I also have a tello now and I would like to apply a brushless mod but I don0t have any experience in such things and it would be very great if someone can help me or make this mod for me (for sure I will pay for the work) :)
The tello is the perfect drone for me because it is very small and stable to fly. Indoor flights are also possible and it is not so loud as my mavic pro.


Regards
 
Hi there,

I am back again now with the Tello converted to brushless. Unfortunately, there is an issue of which I hope can be solved by changes to the control app. What I did is solder 1 kOhm resistors between the contacts for each of the original motors and connected each negative pole to the corresponding 4in1 brushless esc input. The negative poles are taken because the signal is expected to be cleaner, but inverted which doesn't matter since the BL-heli brushless escs can handle it ( info taken from above linked video on youtube ). From the empty cans of the brushed motors and plectres I made motor mounts for 5g AP05 brushless motors. Instead of transferring to another frame, I decided to aim for using the original frame and trying to add the least amount of mass possible. The Tello's frame is pretty stiff, but not against twisting the arms so if it runs I will add anti twist tubes between them.

Here is what it looks like so far:
View attachment 1132 Pluging in the battery, I can hear the escs 3 tone sequence but unfortunately the motors do not start. I assume the reason is the escs do not arm since they are not getting the expected throttle input signal. Moving left and right sticks inward and down ( startup sequence ) triggers repeated beeps from the motors seeming to be some programming mode. The same happens when I want it to auto take off.I am thinking that because it probably has to do with that it is an altitude mode type of throttle input instead of the usual direct throttle control, the esc's won't arm. I wonder if it would be possible to create the required throttle sequence with GO?

Any ideas?

Cheers
hey man, i am planning to add a buzzer with battery on tello which weight around 7 grams, the problem is i have no idea how to wiring it to the drone itself like the alarm will goes off when the drone crash landed, but idk how to connect to the tello board
 
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what you can do is to feed the brushed esc signal to a small arduino like a pro mini and convert it to proper pwm wave, it may add 3-4 grams extra weight but will be foolproof
 
hey man, i am planning to add a buzzer with battery on tello which weight around 7 grams, the problem is i have no idea how to wiring it to the drone itself like the alarm will goes off when the drone crash landed, but idk how to connect to the tello board
Weight: 2.3g 90 dB

(The video is not mine)
 
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So, as I see author of this thread is gone. Anybody could help me continue this idea?
 
This mod has potential and plausibility. The poor OP was working solo on this project. We all know the benefits of brushless motors and a carbon fiber frame. Is there any Tello Pilot here who can share the URL to this forum with a tech savvy friend who would like to take on this challenge? That is, if the OP is willing to collaborate with a professional. We are all stuck in doors during this COVID-19 crisis and I think that people would be more likely to help to ward off boredom. One of us has got to know a friend of a friend. I've already contacted someone.
 
This mod has potential and plausibility. The poor OP was working solo on this project. We all know the benefits of brushless motors and a carbon fiber frame. Is there any Tello Pilot here who can share the URL to this forum with a tech savvy friend who would like to take on this challenge? That is, if the OP is willing to collaborate with a professional. We are all stuck in doors during this COVID-19 crisis and I think that people would be more likely to help to ward off boredom. One of us has got to know a friend of a friend. I've already contacted someone.
Im willing to do this ive got nothing better to do right now then to save up for the mavic air 2 apply for phds and figure this out with anyone willing to help.
 
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