June 13, 2014

Build a tiny altimeter for RC aircraft with Arduino

Although making and flying your own model aircraft, quadcopters and so on is a lot of fun, part of that fun is understanding the performance and limits of the equipment. One parameter of interest is the maximum altitude, and to track this you can make a simple logging altimeter as described by Instructables member qubist

They've squeezed a tiny Arduino-compatible board, an even smaller LiPo battery, altitude sensor and a retro 7-segment LED display into a tiny box which can be fitted to the aircraft in question. It can be programmed to display the current altitude, and also of course log the time of flight, altitude history or any other parameter you can realise. A quick demonstration is shown in the following video:

That's useful, simple and very well done - so to learn how visit the project Instructable pageAnd for more, we're on facebooktwitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

If you're creating portable electronic projects and work with Lithium-Polymer or Lithium-Ion batteries, it can be difficult to build a safe and simple charger. Instead save time and risk by using our USB LiPo charger module:

It's the convenient smart charger for 3.7V cells: just plug in your cell and a USB power source such as a mobile phone charger or computer, and you're done. And it includes a smart LiPo management chip that regulates the charge rate and detects when the cell is charged. Maximum charge rate current limit can be set using solder jumpers to suit your particular LiPo cell. For more details and to order, visit the module home page

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