Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom in ON on July 8, 2009 at 10:49pm

Just a guess here. Is your thottle reversed on your transmitter? If not, may be the ArduPilot software's output reversed it?

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Permalink Reply by Peter Meister on July 8, 2009 at 10:55pm

Ok...Some progress...I took CTRL out of channel 6 on my radio, move it to channel 5 2 position gear switch. Now I can control everything just fine, If switch is in UP position I have full control of all surfaces including throttle, when I switch to DOWN position, it kicks the throttle in and starts moving the elevator depending on me move the frame. I must assume this is correct, however I know I need to verify whether pitch up and pitch down correspond to proper correction by ardupilot. As well for rudder. But I though the 3 position was required for the different modes.

Any idea, I am checking to see if my channel 6 is inhibited by mistake of something in the programming. Using JR 10SX with 72mhx synth. module.

Do I need to modify the code to move to a 2 position switch, also will 2 position give me RTL and auto mode and off ? I doubt it since its 2 position.

Any ideas or help much appreciated. Thanks Tom for the quick reply. Throttle is not reversed, is working correctly on Mode 2 transmitter on left stick up for increase - down for decrease.

Thanks much for the help in advance...

-Peter

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Permalink Reply by Tom in ON on July 8, 2009 at 11:03pm

There is a program for the test of the controls on the ground. It's called "ArduPilotNE" and can be downloaded from the code depository.

Also, here is a copy of a post concerning some switch setup issues.

Attachments:

• 3 position switch selector coding.doc, 26 KB

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Permalink Reply by Peter Meister on July 8, 2009 at 11:14pm

thanks tom, will test the ardupilotne code first..thanks much...

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Permalink Reply by Peter Meister on July 8, 2009 at 11:32pm

Can 2.2.3 run without the Z Sensor, or only 2.1 and below ? I do not have a Z Sensor, only XY sensor.

Already modified easystar.h to disable Z sensor by adding 0 instead of 1.

Setup for behind mode for the XY sensor. Will this work ?

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Permalink Reply by Tom in ON on July 9, 2009 at 12:08am

Peter, you are way ahead of me in testing. I would assume that if you edited the Z sensor out in the xxxxx.h setup file, you should be fine without it as long as you follow the calibration procedures for XY sensor without Z sensor.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry LeDrew on July 9, 2009 at 6:30am

Hi Peter ....

It says in the manual 2.2.3 requires the Z sensor .... I have the Z sensor on mine but can't find a practical way to test it ...The XY is fairly simple to test by pointing the model to the ground and the sky and observe the elevator movement ... To the ground should give up elevator and to the sky should give down elevator ,,, .... If you have the air speed unit installed on the shield you can blow into it and in the auto mode the motor will slow down and come to a stop ......That is the way I see it .... Not a lot of practical system checking info on here for beginners IMO....

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Permalink Reply by Peter Meister on July 9, 2009 at 9:29am

Thanks Jerry....

I have the sensor working for ZY properly, had to reverse the roll in the code. Haven't hooked the pitot up yet, once I do I will try the blow test.

Have another issue Im afraid. I switched over to use the FTDI i just received from Jordi.
Un-plugged my Xbee, and plugged in the FTDI. Could not get an upload with it, switched back to the Sparkfun FTDI to make sure it still worked. Yup....However, when I plugged my Xbee back into the shield in the proper plugs, the xbee wouldn't flash anymore.

Pulled the xbee pro, plugged it into the usb explorer, now I can't connect to the xbee anymore. Tried to do all baud rates, tried re-flashing the firmware. Nothing, so I figured ok, ill try my other xbee in the shield too. Same thing happened, to that one too.

Jorid, I need help here. Have you seen this behavior before from the shield. Is something fried and now shorting out my xbees. I have lost 2 in less then 30 minutes plugging them into the the shield. Very very dissapointing...

-Peter

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Permalink Reply by Jerry LeDrew on July 16, 2009 at 3:56pm

Hi Peter....
I have been away for for a few days ....
Did you figure a way to check the Z sensor .response ?
Like putting something over it, shinning a infra red light at it ...
I can't confirm if my Z sensor is wotking or not ...

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Permalink Reply by Peter Meister on July 16, 2009 at 5:28pm

The Z Sensor is disabled, I do not wish to use it. I only will use XY sensor for mine. I have modified the code to allow for this. Test flights so far have been ok, but I have a direction issue I am sorting out - hopefully todays flight will show that this is now fixed.