Developer Comment by R_Lefebvre on August 31, 2012 at 6:17am

Well, the EL looks cool.  But the hex doesn't look too stable.  Maybe the OP isn't so perfect "out of the box".

Comment by Drone Savant on August 31, 2012 at 8:06am

I didn't post this here to be confrontational... I posted it because the EL wire looked cool on my chopper. Were you intentionally trying to sound snarky? You and Monroe both enjoy to subtly incite people. Stop please...

I think your comment is based on Zen's observation of HIS ArduCopter experience vs. his OpenPilot experience... he went on a rant said what he said before he left here. Some people don't agree with it all, and perhaps I don't either. Don't confuse Zen's personal experience with mine, although they DO overlap they are not one in the same. Oddly enough I too have enjoyed my "out-of-box" experience with OP, although I admit I have not used OP for two years like I have 3dr gear with ArduPilot code... there is plenty of time for me to experience things that I don't enjoy. The key will be how they choose to respond. 

Did you read the comments on the video about me messing with the PIDS by chance? *I KNOW they are jacked up*

 I just had a long PID tuning session... I am mostly happy, still needs some slight tweaks. 

Out of the box OpenPilot experience on this DJI hexa frame honestly did no worse then APM1 or 2 on my *branded* original ArduCopter(now jdrones) Hexa frame... when I bought my APM hexa the ArduCopter PID code used to actually *work*"out of the box". The default PID settings did not need touched for the most part, over time that changed. I would guess that as the default frame switched to 3DR my old jdrones Hexa PID's were left behind?

Either way with the latest code my jdrones hexa with apm2 flies like crap sans some tweaks, so I am missing your point.

This video was about EL wire, not PID tuning. Although IF you have advice on what *YOU* would do in this situation feel free to tell me if I should lower a P value or raise an I value. I value that sort of input greatly... I am not at all a PID control loop guy! 

I let my jdrones hexa sit on a shelf for quite some time, maybe from 2.5 to to 2.7 ArduCopter versions (at the very least). When I came back the default PIDs no longer worked and it flew like crap. Lets not bother to get into how much time I've already spent trying to use information here in this forum and on the wiki to learn and understand how to set ArduCopter PID's. I survived the PID controller overhaul and still don't fully get it. I know... this is DIY, I should already have understood PID controllers before coming here.

That video above shows one of my first flights on that frame after literally my *first* attempt at OpenPilot PID tweaks. I still only kind of understand the logic behind it all. I've been reading poor documentation on it for quite some time. :)  I just found a new resource with an alternate way of explaining things. Oddly enough some people chose to add linkable help information right inside their GCS. Never mind the extremely informational video on one method of tuning PIDs. http://www.openpilot.org/pid-tuning/. Regardless... I am learning and I think I can apply my new knowledge to getting my 3DR gear running a bit happier. 

Speaking of... wanna comment on the default ArduCopter PIDs in this video? I need some help removing the oscillations. Are there better things to follow than http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/Quad_PIDTuning? 

Lets not throw stones in general though... I chose not to put "OpenPilot" all over the topic or in my comments on here to be respectful. I *did* mention it in the youtube video however because I wanted the video to have a proper description.

If you want me to compare the out of box experience we can do that... I'm ready to rock. I've actually got two identical frames up for a head to head comparisons. Currently APM2(no GPS version) vs. OPCC on two flame-wheel F330's. Next on deck is swapping out the 3DR APM2 for a Chinese clone APM2 with zero populated GPS components, then I will swap out APM clones with no GPS or Data flash clone variants. After that APM1 Chinese clone vs. 3DR APM1. Finally so no one gets their feelings hurt there are two OpenPilot clones in the mix also. Out of box CC-BY-SA vs CC-BY-NC-SA legit and clone 'out of box' shootout! :) I've got a BumbleBee vs. Naza setup too but that goes on my F550's (not pictured).  

If you have a special badge under you name... try to keep comments *snark* free. As HoneyBooBoo says "Stop getting my pig agitated!" 

Comment by james sowell on August 31, 2012 at 10:39am

http://www.expertune.com/tutor.aspx   whats up there is this one dont know if its any better

Comment by Drone Savant on August 31, 2012 at 11:03am

Thanks James, I'll give it a read! 

Comment by Tony Heaton on August 31, 2012 at 12:18pm

Pretty cool video.  I've never used EL.  How did you attach it?

Comment by Drone Savant on August 31, 2012 at 12:58pm

The first step is getting the inner and outer conductors isolated and setup for you to solder leads onto. You will need to connect them to a inverter. I've got a couple of 9v Coolight inverters for my choppers that have EL.  http://www.coolight.com/product-p/ifw-fslash-p-5541-2k-9v.htm

I really didn't want to run two inverters so I went through the painstaking effort of splicing two different colored strands together. 

Next up was a Y connector solder job consisting of a few Deans connectors and some spare wire, followed by a quick test with a LiPo battery. I wanted the inverter to be able to be unplugged when I was not night flying. 

From there it was wrapped and zip tied to the chopper. I of course did some length estimations before hand. 

Comment by Tony Heaton on August 31, 2012 at 1:44pm

I like that better than the LEDs I've been using.  I'll give it a try.

Comment by Drone Savant on August 31, 2012 at 1:47pm

If you want to get a bit more fancy with the EL wire setup you can use a sequencer to control shorter segments (for flashing) https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9203

Moderator Comment by Mark Harrison on September 1, 2012 at 7:13pm

Nice...  I think I might give that a try!

Comment by John Githens on September 2, 2012 at 3:53pm

Looks like fun! (now I first need to learn to fly during the day...  although hmmm might be easier to learn at night!)

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