First, let me say I am new here. Second I didn’t find this type of topic. Therefore, here goes nothing. FPV type viewing is awesome. However, for a project I am working on it would be nice to have a forward camera with a rearview overlayed top center. Working OSD with info from sensors etc Right and left sides. Then comes the want for when reverse is engaged the cameras switch places. Too much too soon, maybe? Anyways, great community from what I have seen so far. Learning a lot from all of you. 
Thanks, OutThnk
Hey!
Welcome to the RobotShop community! It is certainly a very niche subject… 
That certainly sounds like something that should already exists, considering how useful it would be. Following a quick search, it seems this would most likely fall under the DIY realm, since no complete solution seem easily available. Of course, how the OSD is applied, the feeds mixed together into one, etc. all depends heavily on the type of hardware you are using (cameras, processing, OSD system, etc.). The easiest here is if you are not using anything yet! Then, you can most certainly create something that fits your needs with a bit of reading, work and trial and error!
You could certainly have two cameras (such as cheap USB cameras/web cams) on a drone attached to a processing board (ex: a Raspberry Pi). Then, using software you could combine both feeds with telemetry (coming from the flight controller). There are many ways to go about this but some online searches and reading will be needed here.
Once the processing board has created the feed as needed, it then needs to broadcast this back to you. How it does so will depend on what kind of hardware & connection you wish to use. You could use WiFi (streaming digital data), which is well established. If you are too far from it, you may need extra hardware (and software) to use a transmitter of some kind.
Again, multiple ways to go about it. A simple way would be for the direction information to be passed along in the telemetry feed already going from the flight controller to your processing board. Another option may be to add some electronics to detect this from the signals being send to the flight controller from the RC receiver and add this new signal to your processing board. Again, more searching and reading required here, too.
We are happy you’ve enjoyed our community so far and decided to convert from lurker to contributor!
Your idea is quite interesting but, as you can imagine, non-trivial to design or implement and will require a significant amount of effort. That being said, it is most certainly a very interesting idea that deserves it!
Good luck and keep us updated on your progress!
Sincerely,
Again, great community. Thank you all for the warm welcome. A little backstory. As a disabled father of two daughters, Therefore, I have a lot of time to myself. They both are of dating age. A bonus has been the number of young boys eager to make their old dad happy. Living in a small town here in the US it’s been a rule of mine to keep them busy vs. letting them get in trouble. We build and construct all sorts of crazy stuff around the house. Which led us down the road to this project. I used to fly until my hands got too shaky. Now I have grounded myself unless it’s a quad. With a plethora of old and new RC equipment at our disposal, we decided on a tracked vehicle. The vehicle is to be a helper around the house for me as well as a toy. The lower chassis is designed to have modular tops. The boys want a tank. Which I have to admit I do too. Others will include such things as a snowplow and spray rig for the yard etc. We are also Incorporating pneumatics and a number of other useful devices. Luckily, we have an electronic guru just around the corner who doesn’t mind letting us pick his brain. So, as you see the path logically leads us into the realm of microcontrollers, OSD’s and other cool goodies. Going to be a rocky but fun adventure. Oh, my past experience was in audio/video production. Therefore, cant’ build a beast without. Thanks again, and we will try and post updates as they come. And for the moderators. if this is the wrong thread please move or let me know so we can create one in the correct place. Thanks, Team THNK
Very glad to have you on-board! It is great to see parents take such an active role in helping their kids grow and learn (and maybe discover a new hobby or even a passion!)!
This is a fine place for this topic. You may also want to post in Robot Project Showcase for completed or WIP projects.
Also, you may want to make a page on our robotic project focused website, Let’s Make Robots. The community will most likely comment on such a page and offer ideas, especially helpful when you face various challenges.
As for specific questions concerning electronics or anything else, feel free to ask on the forum or on LMR and the community will be glad to help as best we can.
Good luck with your project!
Popping in to let you all know we have started posting some teaser images of the lower hull on Facebook. Still very early in the project but progress is being made on the Red Rover. Yes, we have given it a name even though it isn’t red, yet.
Wow, that is massive!
What do you expect to use for propulsion?
We are going to attempt to use 24-volt scooter motors geared down, first for cost-effectiveness. Using the Sabertooth Dual 2x32a to achieve the tank mixing.
[h1][/h1]
Pretty cool! Eager to see more pictures as it develops.
Hello,have little question about it.
I have what I believe, the scooter engine at 24v 135W for the project I’m building, and I’m trying to figure out what the current is both continuous and maximum, so I can use the right conductor and the correct current switches.
I’m not sure that the engine is designed for the weather in 135 hours, it is continuous or maximum. Just have a 135w on the sticker on the engine.
If 135 watts were continuous, I would imagine this calculation:
135/24 = about 6 amps.
How much more could you allow the stalling speed, etc.?
Hi,
This really depends on if the 135 W is the rated input power or output power. From what we’ve seen for scouter motors, they typically advertise the maximum output power of the engine (the mechanical power produced by it, which is torque x angular velocity).
Therefore, assuming this is the maximum power it can produce and that its efficiency is not 100% (it is not ), then the required current at stall/start will be higher than 6 A.
DC motors typically have an efficiency around 60-90% (depending on use case parameters) at their rated continuous torque/RPM. Therefore, if your motor produces 135 W of output power continuously and was 60% efficient, you’d get something along the lines of ~225 W of input power to use it, which would mean ~9.4 A @ 24 V DC. Of course, the start/stall current would most likely be much higher.
For most DC motors, the continuous current is about 25-35% of the stall torque. Therefore, to be on the safe side, lets assume 20%. This would make your start/stall current ~47 A. Luckily for you, we do have plenty of options that can be found here for controlling such a motor.
We hope this helps!
Sincerely,