Hackers In Residence - The Tethered Quad

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Contributors: Emcee Grady
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Part 3 - Powerline (Tether)

With 18 AWG speaker wire we were able to get a tether of 10’ and fly indefinitely. We tested 30’ with 14 AWG and were able to stay in-flight for about 10 minutes. More testing to do!

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18-gauge speaker wire

Create a 2nd short connector piece that has a (F) Deans connector on end, and an adapter to connect to whatever power source on the other. For our purposes that meant 2x Molex connectors to snap onto 2 power leads from the PC power source. You can use whatever you want here so long as enough voltage. The value to doing this is that you can keep changing the length of the tether without soldering new cables every time.

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Speaker wire, Molex and Dean’s connectors

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Soldered connector with hot glue

Measure out length of 14 AWG speaker wire for tether, solder (F) Deans connector to one end (to connect to Parrot) and (M) Deans connector to the other (to connect to power).

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Computer power source with the new connector

Remember to watch polarity when soldering!

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Sean soldering a Dean’s connector and very frustrated!