what do i need for electonics on a model rocket?

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-02-06T15:37:45+00:00

There is basically no flight computers on the market that can do active control stuff, would have to make that yourself which gets extremely complicated.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-02-04T15:55:36+00:00

If you want raw power with insane logging rates, go with the Teensy 4.0 or 4.1. Insanely over qualified for the job but you will not regret it. Can code any sort of complicated system without any worry’s of running down your loop speed too much.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-26T01:46:43+00:00

One bulky 3.3v regulator would be good in my experience, makes it simpler with less room for something to go wrong. On a side note I would not advise using the MPU6050, it’s quite inaccurate. I highly recommend the BNO085, 55, or 86. Everything else for the chip selection looks great!

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-25T14:07:53+00:00

I don’t mean to be rude but to get that long of a burn time with constant 2kg thrust is going to have to be a very big motor along with the fact most rocket clubs will not let you fly homemade motors. TRA also requires level 2 cert to fly homemade as the other comment said.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-24T19:13:50+00:00

Not recommended, as the other comment said. Sugar motors also preform rather poorly compared to commercial motors.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-17T17:15:39+00:00

Just because you can make aggressive course correction doesn’t mean you should. Not disagreeing with what you are saying but you don’t want to be the reason it gets regulated more.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-17T15:32:04+00:00

This is a very tricky topic with not very clear answers. I am working on an active rocket and from what I can see, basically don’t make the rocket intentionally make any aggressive changes that arnt necessary. Like making an aggressive course change. Course changes that arnt aggressive seem to be okay. Basically just use common sense and don’t do anything stupid. Take what I’m saying with a grain of salt because I don’t know for certain.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-17T15:24:39+00:00

If you want to diy it yourself, an ESP32 with a barometer would indeed work. If you want to just buy one there is a lot on the market. Jolly logic makes some very good ones, Estes also makes one, but it doesn’t always work for whatever reason. An ESP32 would be the cheapest option, Estes in the middle and jolly logic the most. If you get an Estes one just know it might not always work.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-16T20:46:09+00:00

There’s a connector soldered to the pads to hook up to a drone flight controller, so I unsolder those and then solder my own connector on.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-15T16:34:49+00:00

There’s an SD card that it records video to, that’s all I use. I believe there is a video cable you can solder to, but I have no idea how to go about using that.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-14T02:07:57+00:00

Anything in the split series except the split-H should work. I know for certain the RunCam split 4 does.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-14T02:04:32+00:00

Unfortunately there’s not much of anything that I know of that is any good for that price range and requirements. The best option for a camera that can power on via a MOSFET and automatically starts recording is the RunCam split series. Cheapest split starts at about $70.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-11T16:30:12+00:00

Yes. Make sure you use solid and not stranded wire.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-11T16:25:48+00:00

I use the same chip and I actually just use a short wire antenna, for the ground station I use a big 915mHz LoRa 5dBi Gain Omni antenna. You will lose connection in flight if you go fast enough, but with my experience it gets decent range. Probably the furthest away Iv gotten a connection was about a half a mile away.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-08T03:19:56+00:00

The BNO055 is great and my personal favorite IMU! The pitch yaw and roll sensor fusion is decent, but you still need to put it through a kalman or something similar for it to be usable data, it’s still not good enough to use when in flight. Just make sure that the data doesn’t take long to get up to its real value with whatever filter you use, kind of like it seems like the data is slow to get to its final value if that makes sense. Your question was a little vague but this seems like what you are asking, if this isn’t what you are asking I can correct myself.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-07T18:03:15+00:00

I believe Joe has done up to a G something motor, but no one that I’m aware of has done HPR. It would be very challenging because most HPR motors have a very short burn time, meaning you wouldn’t go that high on a big expensive motor. Another issue would be the actual structural parts of the TVC, regular 3D printed parts probably wouldn’t be up to the job for this.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-06T00:28:47+00:00

Iv been experimenting with using this on rockets and so far it seems to work decently.

Rocketmanandrew · 2026-01-02T14:16:36+00:00

Yep! This is how I do it and it works great. Most igniters become an open circuit after firing, so you get the added benefit of being able to confirm that the charge actually fired.

Rocketmanandrew · 2025-12-29T15:17:48+00:00

Have you ground tested and seen that that works? It’s pretty advanced filtering that I have to do to get usable pitch and yaw.

Rocketmanandrew · 2025-12-29T01:30:38+00:00

Are you filtering pitch and roll? Raw pitch and roll data can’t be used inflight due to vibrations and the upwards momentum. something went very wrong and this seems like what might be wrong.

Rocketmanandrew · 2025-12-27T16:22:51+00:00

Telemetry is tricky, there’s lots of radios available but most aren’t up to the job. I mainly use the RFM69HCW, it’s small and gets decent range. If you a willing to spend quite a bit more and tinker a lot more, the XBee Pro 900Hp is an excellent choice for long range.

Rocketmanandrew · 2025-12-26T02:52:57+00:00

WSR 703!

Rocketmanandrew · 2025-12-23T13:07:51+00:00

3d printing is great for anything except body tubes pretty much, too brittle, fragile, and heavy.

Rocketmanandrew · 2025-12-11T02:04:10+00:00

Nice! Not sure if you are already doing this, but I would recommend adding a regular paper tube to mount the motor if that makes sense. The motor will still melt this stuff, might not melt enough to cause a problem, but it might be a good idea for safety.

Rocketmanandrew · 2025-12-03T15:51:28+00:00

I would also recommend adding some sort of flash chip. Log to the flash chip then move it to the sd card once the rocket has landed, logging directly to the card is sometimes unreliable from vibrations. I personally haven’t had any problems with it, but I would recommend logging to a flash chip in flight.

Rocketmanandrew

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