Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Don Brooks on January 29, 2012 at 10:36am

Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Ross on January 29, 2012 at 12:31pm

It flies. Its very windy today and she didn't like it that well. It seems the gyros are a bit too sensitive for high winds. She did real good close to the ground not as exposed. Burned up a whole battery with no issues. The tweaking begins.

Any chance you could point me to a good tricopter config file?

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Permalink Reply by Don Brooks on January 29, 2012 at 12:55pm

I'm jealous that you got to fly... glad it went well-ish.

Since there's no standard airframe, a 'good' tricopter config file doesn't exist. It's entirely dependant on your frame, motors, weight, etc etc.

I've started working on a tuning procedure for my own use, that goes flight mode by flight mode. I'll be glad to share it when I'm done. Right now I'm still trying to collect all the different tips and changes and figure out what order they should all be in. It will probably be a couple of days.

My starting point was this from aeroquad. There's been some changes in the PID loops and config process based on Igor's changes. If you get 2.2b6, you can look at Igor's tuning procedure in his blog post here. Some, most or all of his changes were used in the latest release.

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Permalink Reply by Ross on January 31, 2012 at 6:38pm

I wanted to let you know we flew today with only a slight wind. Maybe 3-5 knots and it flew great. The APM reacts to inputs much different than the KKBoard.

The config file has not been changed at all yet. I still think the gyros are bit sensitive...but need some more flight testing. Today...It hovered in my driveway for quite a few seconds at a time with no input. Thats in Stabilize mode. 

The battery is on top so I can carry a camera on the bottom. This tri has probably 30-40 hours of flight time. After the first flight with my new Ardu...I completely refurbished this baby over the weekend and got her back in the air today. 2 Batteries worth...I can't even say how cool/different the take offs and landings are. When the wind died to almost nothing...I took off with NO inputs except throttle. It went strait up and hovered for a while...That's a stabilization system!!!!

Thanks again for your help!

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Permalink Reply by Don Brooks on January 31, 2012 at 6:55pm

Awesome, Ross!!

How much fiddling did you have to do with the PIDs, or is that what you meant by when you said the config file hadn't been changed?

Could you share your motor and prop specs, motor to motor distances and all up weight? Since there's no 'official' frame, I'm thinking it might be nice to at least get a set of basic specs together and try and match them to a good starting set of tricopter PIDs.

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Permalink Reply by Ross on January 31, 2012 at 7:15pm

You are correct...No fiddling with the PID's yet. This is stock...Actually...From the firmware you sent...all I did was go through the radio setup.

----------------------------------------------------------

The motors are E-Flight Park 400 1020kv - Yes...If you give it full throttle it will go to the moon.

Props are 10 x 4.7

ESC's 30 A Turnigy

Distance between motors is 27.5 inches

Overall weight with a 5000 mah battery is approx. 2lbs. Don't have a scale to weight it.

With the KKBoard on it...I have flown in 30 mph winds without much of a problem. She is kind of a tank. If you couldn't tell...I am still on cloud 9 after flying that sucker. Just soldered the plugs for sonar and putting her back together again.

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Permalink Reply by Ross on January 31, 2012 at 9:54pm

If you follow the instructions above and use the zip file Don provided you will get them fixed.

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Permalink Reply by Eddie Weeks on January 31, 2012 at 9:40pm

Can this be fixed please... Both my tri are down and need get back to work..

Eddie Weeks

www.jetlens.com

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3D RoboticsPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on January 31, 2012 at 9:50pm

Tri should be fixed in ArduCopter 2.3, now out in the Mission Planner. 

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Permalink Reply by Don Brooks on February 1, 2012 at 8:11am

Ross, (or anyone else with a Tri), can you have a look at this issue and see if you can replicate it on 2.3? I would do it myself but I'm not near my equipment.

I had pulled fresh 2.2b6 code from GIT last night right before the version increment, and still had the problem. I'm unsure if I got it before or after the changes committed by Pat, but looking through the code changes I don't see anything relevant to channel 7 out. (maybe I just missed it?)

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Permalink Reply by Ross on February 1, 2012 at 7:00pm

I am still at work...but happy to do it when I get home.

Thanks,

Ross

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Permalink Reply by Don Brooks on February 1, 2012 at 8:51pm

I just verified it after getting my new motors and APM2560 installed.

Either the issue was not fixed, or it was unfixed when the changes that messed up hex and octo were reverted.

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