Parts and Prep
Preparation – Safety First!
- Make sure your ELEV-8 is OFF with the BATTERY DISCONNECTED AND REMOVED.
- REMOVE THE PROPELLERS from the ELEV-8 v3 quadcopter’s motors. They are NOT needed for this tutorial.
What you will need:
A complete, tested, configured ELEV-8 v3 (Parallax Item #80300 or Item #80330) that has a receiver with at least 6 channels, such as:
- A Spektrum AR610 6-Channel receiver (Parallax Item #80206 or comes with Item #80208), or
- A Spektrum AR8000 8-Channel receiver (comes with Parallax Item #730-80300)
- Any compatible transmitter/receiver pair with at least one spare (6 or more total) channel(s)
At least one R/C servo, such as:
- A Parallax Standard Servo (Parallax Item #900-00005, below left) or
- A Parallax (GWS) NARO Mini Servo (Parallax Item #900-00014, below right)
Optional Mounting Hardware:
If you wish to mount your servos to the bottom chassis plate of your ELEV-8 v3, you will need hardware and/or adhesive, such as:
- #4-40 screws, locknuts, standoffs, and spacers (Available in hardware packs here or here)
- Right angle (L-shaped) brackets (Parallax Item #720-00011)
- Zip ties
- Hot glue
- Double-sided foam tape
Optional Separate Power Supply for Servos Under Load
Servos that are under load—lifting a weight or pulling against something—will need more current than if they are just moving freely. If you are designing an ELEV-8 add-on that will put a load on the servos, they will need more current than the Flight Controller can supply. So, you would also need to build a separate power supply for your servos.
- A 5V regulator, such as:
- A low-dropout linear regulator (Parallax Item #601-00506), or
- A switching regulator (Recommended) (Digikey Item #811-2196-5-ND)
- A large electrolytic capacitor (Digikey Item #1189-1885-ND or similar)
- (2) long 3-pin headers (Parallax Item #451-00303)
- An 8″ 3-pin cable (Parallax Item #800-00080)
- A soldering iron and solder (Available as a kit: Parallax Item #700-10011)
- Short Female-to-Female jumper wires (Parallax Item #800-00045)
- Tools for cutting and stripping wire (Available here, here, or here)
- Electrical tape and/or heat shrink tubing