HOBBY KING: New KK Board - with LCD

This is interesting:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...2_0_Multi_rotor_LCD_Flight_Control_Board.html

No way! That cant be real, $29.00? Ill be ordering a few if they are ever in stock.

Everyone in England keeps buying these up, they will never be in stock....

http://www.fpvuk.org/forum/index.php?topic=6586.0

Also if you hang out on the page long enough a offer pops up for $27.00

I think the website allows you to place an order even if it is backordered.  That should get you in the queue.

PP is referring to the "one time price" box that pops up on the right if you stay on the page for a while ($27).  The fact is that if you are a regular buyer and log in before selecting the item, you automatically get the $27 price.  I don't know how much you have to have bought to get that deal.  I'm a Platinum Member (whatever that is) and I got the $27 deal automatically when I logged in to order this morning. 

GPS - Yes you can order even though it's backordered if you don't mind them holding your money for a while.

Note that there is a limit of "1" when you order.  I initially tried to get two and it changed it back to one and gave me a message. :-(  I'm sure they are going to sell about a zillion of these!

...Tiger

A couple more good links for the new KK-2 and one good one for the old board.


KK-2 Walkthrough:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gF-0rgxE9Uw

Tuning Guide:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=U7pWroCxL38

Old KK Setup:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6m49Cw3OFU&feature=channel&list=UL

...Tiger

That board looks pretty impressive.  This guy they mention Rolf R Bakke, I saw him mentioned in another forum also.  He seems to be a circuit designer.  I wonder how hard it would be to design a board like this or the Naza or the OpenPilot board?  What do you think Tiger?

It's just like designing anything else.  There is nothing particularly challenging in this.  It's just a lot of time and effort (aka: work!)  I have to say though, something like this would be a lot more fun than many other things I've worked on.   Rolf is best know for his work on the original KK board.  It was nothing fancy, but it was a landmark achievement in that it brought this technology to the masses.  He'll always be remembered for that.  Prior to this, everyone was using multiple heading hold gyros.  That was a little clunky, but it actually worked pretty well.  This new KK-2 board was a much more serious effort.  I'm impressed with what I see so far.  It was funded by HobbyKing so his approach was much more commercial in nature.  I should have mine next week.  I'm excited to see it.  I love this stuff.

...Tiger

What do you think is the difference between the KK2 board and the OpenPilot board, besides the screen?  What about the Naza?  Do they use different quality parts that makes the KK boards so cheap?

I have Open Pilot and NAZA baords and have not seen any more than you have on the KK2 so I don't think I have an opinion yet.  However, I feel totally confident from the little I've seen that there is nothing inferior about the KK construction or components.  It's going to be every bit as high quality as the others.  If there is a significant difference, it will be in firmware.  I will have my board later this week so I'll no doubt be posting my first impressions on here.

As for the huge difference in cost, that is pretty easy to explain.  For starters, HobbyKing has little or no investment in the design and development.  They are just paying a small royalty for use of the design.  Another major cost factor is that they are selling direct to the end user.  All the others are selling through distributors which add 30%-40% to the selling price.  Lastly, the cost of parts, labor, and overhead in China is a fraction of what it is in other places.  A number of my designs are built in China and it's always a shock to see how cheap they can do it.  It's no wonder nothing is being built here.  I can't buy the parts for what they can build the product for.  The only way I can build anything here is if the volume is pretty low.

...Tiger

Don't you also have a Hoverfly board? 

I was kind of curious if you noticed if these boards are more similar or dis-similar in the components used.
Are the designs all the same except for firmware?

Ok... So I'm a junkie.  Yes I also have a couple of HoverFly boards to.   One of the main differences between all of these things is the processor, but all have processors that are more than capable for this relatively simple task.  If you want to know who has the most powerful processor, that would unquestionably be the HoverFly.  It uses the Parallax Propeller which has staggering power.  It's probably forty or fifty times more powerful that what's in the KK-2 board.  Its architecture is also uniquely suited to this kind of application.  The HoverFly Pro has two of these processors!  I think they used two more as a matter of convenience than necessity.  The parts are cheap and it allowed them to build their unit as two somewhat independent subsystems.  That said, the Hoverfly Sport boards I'm using are pretty ho hum considering what they could have been and in view of the high price ($150). 

The processor selection is largely a "designers choice" issue so long as it has adequate power.  The only board with a "somewhat" inferior component is the original KK board with its piezo gyros.  It's not that they are inadequate, it's just that they are older technology and somewhat lower in performance.  All the new boards coming out, including the KK-2, use MEMS sensors.  The MEMS parts, while more sensitive, are more subject to vibration so you don't get something for nothing.  All of this hardware is really impressive actually.  I think this new KK-2 is going to set the bar for price vs performance.  Seeing what they did, I have high expectations.  It "should be" (or will become eventually) as good as the NAZA and Open Pilot.  I think it's going to be a big game changer and nobody else is going to be able to approach their price.  Hope to see it in a couple days.

...Tiger

Tiger - Have you opened your Naza to see what they are using?  I wonder if it is more like the Hoverfly or the KK board?

Were you implying that the Openpilot board uses the same processor as the KK boards?

I have not opened the NAZA because I didn't see much point.  It really doesn't matter much what processor they used.  The Open Pilot processor is a 32bit ST Micro part as I recall.  It's probably only second to the HoverFly's Propeller.

...Tiger

Doesn't the processor matter for the programming required?  Do you think they all are assembly code?

You're not going to do low level programming so I don't see where you're going with all these questions.  Most of these are probably programmed in C.  It's less efficient, but a lot easier.  If I was doing it, I'd do it in assembly, but that's just me.  I like lean and mean code.   Also, if I was doing it, I'd use an Atmel part.  The Propeller would be even better, but I'm better with Atmel code (unfortunately) so I'd probably use that unless there was some compelling reason for the Propellers power.

...Tiger

I didn't know I had to go somewhere with any questions, just technical curiosity.  Sorry if you find that strange.  Anyway, nobody else around here is programming these things so I was wondering if you knew what language they used since you seem to know a little about this stuff.

No... It was just starting to sound like you were working on something like maybe you were going to try your hand at the programming.  If you had a specific interest, I thought maybe I could be more specific with my answers.  Seems like almost everything is going to C programming because it generates pretty efficient code and it's quick and easy (less expensive development).  Assembly is the raw meat approach, but it's the most efficient and certainly the most time consuming (expensive).  I do admit that in a really complicated project, assembly can get kinda unmanageable.  Have you ever played with any of this programming stuff?

...Tiger