RC Car Stabilizer

Fun mini-project to hack together an RC car with the gimbal from a FB marketplace DJI Phantom 2 drone to get stabilized videos of highspeed passes.

Summary

• COST: $100 CAD
• TIME TO COMPLETE: 5 days

Overview

High amps, speed, and sensitive gimbal equipment - what could go wrong? To call this project more than a “hack” would be generous but was really rewarding to see the final footage.

Electronics were simple as the gimbal interfaced directly with the DJI Phantom 2 control board which transmitted footage to a standalone monitor through a Fat Shark ImmersionRC 5.8GHz transmitter.

I took rough dimensions of the RC car and then 3D printed some arms to mount the gimbal plate and a small box to protect the electronics from debris. The LiPo battery to power the gimbal was velcroed to the top of the box which I admit isn’t my smartest design choice.

Showing the 3-axis Stabilization in action. Gimbals are so cool!

Below is a high-speed run of the system in action. You can really see the stabilization in effect near the end of the run as we go over 65 km/h and the tires start to balloon and the car hits some potholes. The project ultimately came to an end a few runs later when the new higher center of gravity caused it to flip during turning. Thankfully the 3D-printed arms cracked and absorbed some of the impact leaving the gimbal banged up but functional.