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3DR Hexa C - PID Tuning

Posted by Dan Richo on October 2, 2013 at 12:54am

Hi Guys,

We have a 3DR HexaC UAV which we have previously flown without a payload in full auto mode.

We used the standard PIDs set when we received it (It was bought ready to fly).

Since then, we have added a dummy weight (representing a camera) so that we can test the platform's autonomy whilst loaded.

We found that the copter could not maintain its altitude hold sufficiently and no matter what we tried with the alt_hold, throttle, rates, acceleration PID gains we couldn't tune the copter correctly.

Our problem now is that we need to find out the default parameters (preferably in a file we can load up in APM planner) so that we can get back to where it was before adding the weight and then we are hoping to get some assistance on which parameter is where we should start.

So in summary, I'm hoping someone can share a parameter file with the defaults for the 3DR hexaC platform.

We also hope that someone who has added a camera to the 3DR sees this and can share which parameters they tweaked to tune the altitude_hold.

Thanks everyone.

Dan

Hardware:

3DR HexaC

850Kv motors

4S 5000mAh battery

APM 2.5

3DR Ublox GPS

Spektrum DX7s

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Tags: 25, 3dr, apm, c, copter, hexa, hexac, pid
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Replies

  • T3
    Richard Boyhan October 2, 2013 at 4:58pm
    If you ever need to reload the default parameter file, just do a erase and reset at the CLI. If you want you can save your existing parameter file before the erase and you can use the compare option under advanced parameters and be selective on which parameters to reload. Also another option is upgrade and go with 880 motors and 11 props. Good luck and fly safe.
  • Dan Richo October 2, 2013 at 12:58pm
    Hi Mike,

    Our battery weighs 590g.
    Our camera setup weighs 800g.
    We are planning to fly tomorrow and

    I really liked your suggestion of lowering the weight. That's a good place to start.

    Thanks!
  • Mike Boland October 2, 2013 at 12:23pm

    You haven't said what your payload weight is.

    Having been through a similar exercise it is worth noting that there is a fine line between enough and too much weight.

    As an example: 

    JDrones Hexa with extra 6500mAh battery giving 1.1kg of battery all up, Brushless gimbal and Ricoh GX camera at 500gms was a nice combination. Flies well, motors not stressed, ESC's just warm.

    The same setup with a larger BG and same camera coming in at 720gms was too much and exhibited the same characteristics you describe.

    Have you tried reducing the weight slightly and seeing if there is a point at which everything gets better?

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