My Tiny Whoop: a Whoop Recipe + a Few Tips and Tricks

WARNING: You are now entering my first Instructable, and you may encounter much stupidity and lack of planning and/or skill. Be aware.

This is my personal Tiny Whoop setup that I use every day, so I thought I would share it. It is travel friendly (not through airports or anything, though) so you can take it anywhere you want to have FPV fun at. All the parts can be found on tinywhoop.com, ebay.com, amazon.com, etc.

Obviously, you need a Tiny Whoop to use a Tiny Whoop. I would give you links to all this stuff, but the Instructable editor is being difficult. I'll try again later. Anyway, here is my current parts list:

Inductrix FPV Pro FC board

Modified Rakon Heli Cockroach frame

Eachine e010 props

Inductrix FPV Pro motors

Modified Razor Canopy from tinywhoop.com

200mAh batteries with E-flite connectors

Mullet-modded FX805-OSD-TW camera with RHCP antenna (mullet-mod is when you separate the Tx module from the camera module (essentially pull the whole thing in half), then re-solder it with wires, so you can position the antenna and the camera lens independently)

10 degree camera mount from tinywhoop.com (came with the camera)

Rubber bands for braces (to keep the motor wires pinned against the motor shafts. I am not sure where you can acquire these other than if you or a family member has braces, but they work great for the purpose of keeping the motor wires tidy)

Just to be clear, yes I do think it is worth it to keep the lens cap for the camera. The thing is, though, it's a tiny piece of loose plastic, so it's bound to get lost sometime. I solved that problem by super-gluing an eye from an old stuffed animal to the end, not only adding whimsy, but also weight and size to the lens cap, making it harder to lose. Also, you'll notice that my camera is in 2 pieces, front and back. This is called a mullet-mod, and the procedure can be found on Youtube, or you can buy a pre-fab version on tinywhoop.com for a few extra dollars. If you are buying a Tiny Whoop, I highly recommend getting a camera with an OSD (on-screen display) that displays battery voltage. This will significantly help you decide when to end your flights and keep your batteries happy and healthy.

My charging setup is as follows:

AC/USB adaptor

USB/1-cell E-flite adaptor

Some way to check battery voltage

To keep your batteries in good shape for as long as possible (who doesn't love NOT having to buy new batteries?) store them at about %50-%60, or 3.7V-3.9V per cell (Tiny Whoop batteries are 1-cell, btw). You can check this either by the OSD on your camera (cumbersome method, but it works), a multimeter (clunky thing to carry around, but super accurate and useful), or a lipo cell checker (built for this purpose). Also, if your OSD tells you battery voltage, make sure to end your flights when it hits 3.1V to preserve your batteries.

A problem I found with the Cockroach frame is that the battery does not fit snugly into its slot. To remedy this, I glued a strip of craft foam onto the frame as shown, putting pressure onto the battery and keeping it in place. On the Inductrix FPV Pro, the motor wires are strapped to the frame with tiny clear rubber bands. Some dipstick at Horizon Hobby decided that they should be round, so they slip off, and clear, so you never find them again. I found an ideal replacement for these things in the form of those rubber bands that you use with braces. I am not sure where you can get these unless you or someone you know has braces, but it is worth the search; they are brightly colored and rectangular, and the perfect size.

I got a Razor canopy from tinywhoop.com to go with my mullet-modded camera, and it looks SWEET. Being a tinkerer, I couldn't stand having the same stock look as everybody else, so I customized it with decals; fix up a decal on Microsoft Paint, print it onto normal paper, use either a gluestick, white glue, or modge-podge to apply it to the canopy, then add another layer of glue over it to seal it. The fins (craft foam and Welders glue) not only look cool, but also protect the delicate antenna!

You never know when you might need to take this thing apart or troubleshoot something.

To fly this thing, you also need a transmitter and an FPV system. I use a first-generation Spektrum DX6i for the transmitter and a JJPRO f01 goggle set. The box full of wires and cables is an FPV ground station under construction, I'll let you know when I get done with that. Also keep a set of spare parts handy, just in case.

UPDATE:

I have now gotten the FPV ground station up and running. You can find it under the title "DIY FPV Ground Station for Less $$$ than You Think."

To take this setup with you it helps to have it all in one piece. I struck gold and found an unused Pelican case in my dad's basement, and its the perfect size for the Tiny Whoop. I didn't even have to glue anything down because the stuff just wedges itself in there, as you can see. The transmitter, goggles, and all the other stuff fits nicely into this aluminum transmitter case that I also found in my dad's basement. Well, that's my Tiny Whoop setup. If you have any questions or need me to clarify something, feel free to ask in the comments. Keep flying!