I have just bought the ArduPilot Mega 2560 Full Kit... plus the Triple Axis Magnetometer HMC5883L. I should have it built over the weekend.. then i'm off to a my mates machine shop, and i'll make the splitter plate for the lower frame onto which i am going to fit the Ardupilot. the magnetometer i'll put on the tail as suggested. I am going to use my X-cell Razor 600E. For those that dont know its around the 50 size nitro heli.
Do i need to buy any other sensors i.e. the Sonar... i can fly a helicopter all day long but this is my first time flying one with stabilisation so any tips would be gratefully appreciated.
If this works well then i am going to try and use it on my x-cell gasser. i can get up to 20 minute flights with this. But i think for the time being a battery 600 is the way to go.
i'll post some pictures when i have it all together.
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Hi everyone!
Im joining traditional heli forces. Just started so might need a lot of help :)
Im trying to decide which airframe to use first, I have Trex 500 (already wired to ACM) and Trex 600 FBL (clone) in its way from Hobbyking. I believe i will wait for 600 as it will be much larger so easier to wire everything (I know many use even 450) but from flying helis i know the larger it is the more stable it flies, hopefully this is true in this case as well. Also Malcolm has great success with his 600 so might be more easy to adjust PIDs as well.
At the moment i have done all the software setup, wiring to servos and radio, ACM radio setup, established connection to Mission Planner over MavLInk (I had problems with this, but now it works). So basically everything works on my table now, but im not sure if it works as it should. Here are few questions and things to clarify:
1. i uploaded 2.0.39 beta code and have PID settings that came with it. Are they good for starting tests or should i use the ones from manual on wiki? The manual seems to be pretty old as new code is released every week.
2. I cant upload the newer code with MP. As I understand MP is not compatible with 2.0.4x code versions yet http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/arducopter-2-0-40-preview-1?id=...
I have MP v1.66. Also i cannot compile 40 code with Arduino compiler as it doesn't pass Verify and returns lots of errors. I havent had time to investigate if those are simple to fix or not.
3. Im powering servos from external BEC on ACM servo rail. ACM regulator switch is desoldered and now it is powered just from USB. My question is if i can power it from the same BEC? I measured it gives 5,24 volts. Or should i look for some regulator that gives exactly 5.0 volts? I have read a lot about this but what makes me unsure is Malcolms manual which says: "Also, make sure to power the ACM with 5.0 VOLTS, ANY MORE AND YOU COULD DAMAGE the ACM board."
4.Tail servo has serious problems even on table tests if connected directly to ACM and Gyro disabled. Servo is jitering heavily - to me it looks like there is issue with PIDs as it jitters for 10 sec and if everything is left without moving, then it calmes down after a while and starts jitering again if i move the ACM. Should i still use external Gyro directly connected to Rx? Has someone tried full ACM control of tail?
5. Flight mode issues. When Im in STABILIZE mode servos move smoothly leveling the swash all the time and it looks to me perfect. But i have very small collective input possible from radio (Spektrum Dx7, AR 7000). What setting i have missed here?
6. ACRO mode is acting very strange... if i move ACM servos are moving very fast and looks chaotic to me. A video might help to show that, will make one if setting latest PIDs wont solve this. Maybe you can describe how yours act in acro mode if just moved/tilted by hand.
Well I have some other questions as well, but lets start with the ones above. Thanks in advance since i know you guys are very helpful to all newbies here. I hope i will be able to contribute something to ACM traditional heli over time. There will be some programmers joining me (since i own an IT company) to write some additional stuf that I have in mind after basic things are sorted out.
BR,
Edgars
3 steps forward and 4 back, well that what it feels like after today's flight.
I forgot to unplug the xbee from the ACM after testing, It seems to cause a brownout on the bench, which intern makes the ACM constantly reset.
Must have forgotten to unplug it.
Hovered heli, went to Alt hold, no problem, then while bringing it back down to a reasonable height to try some Loiter testing, it just started doing flips and rolls. Had no choice but to close the throttle.
So i'm going to have to rebuild the helicopter. I'm going to buy a mux from buildyourowndrone.co.uk just so i can flip a switch and have direct control. Live and learn.
Will have it rebuilt soon.
Have just uploaded the new 2.0.40 code via Arduino22, connected it. Hopefully will have some good results for tomorrows flight.
@Randy.. have you tested the new code, what do you think?
I am thinking of selling my Razor600E with everything installed exactly as you see it flying in my Video's including 3 battery packs. Except the Transmitter.
I don't feel the need to have two helicopters with ACM on board and it would be a shame to take it all apart.
I have a lot of other Nitro Heli's and the whole plan of the Razor600 was to understand how the ACM works, programming, using Arduino22 and generally getting the feel of the whole project. The Flying part was the easy bit (after a few false starts)
Once i have the Spectra G with new ACM, mag, GPS etc installed and have flown it then at point it will be up for sale.
As i originally said the whole plan is to build a camera ship that will fly comfortably for 20-30mins, (with over size tanks) and the Razor600 will do about 7.5 mins at hovering, which was fine while i was learning how the ACM worked.
When i do put it up for sale i shall add it to the other forum, but if there is any interest then PM me rather than messing up this discussion with How much and other selling questions.
We tested our heli a while ago. We still don't know if the problem is the BEC (ubec8amps with burst 15amps) or that our APM is faulty.
Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R2Jta3DhFw
Any Suggestions?
Had a few good flights today. Loiter was testing ok at first then i messed up the PID values.
Will go back to the ones i saved from yesterdays blog. Altitude hold was really good.
Best of all.... RTL worked with no problems at all, heli slowly pirroeted round while the cyclic targeted the home WP. It tracked straight to it. Then went to a Loiter mode (i think) but it held position... then the battery ran out.
So i think its time to build the 25cc Petrol heli (not nitro).
Will be building this week.
I have the same heli as this but i grabbed these from another site.
Hey Malcolm (and everyone else),
I'm thinking about how to get rid of this "barometer offset problem". The situation where we see the sonar and barometer showing a difference in altitude of about 2m. We don't see this on the quad because we actually do the barometer initialisation twice...once when the code first starts, then again when you arm the motors...so by the time the user is ready to fly and "arms" the motors, the barometer has had some time to warm up and gives better values for the initialisation.
The problem is that on the heli we don't need to arm the motors because the motor is directly controlled from the radio.
I'm thinking about reintroducing this "arm" feature but it would affect the servos...so the servos wouldn't move until you "armed". Arming would be done in the same method as on the quad - you'd hold throttle (=collective pitch) down and push yaw right for 2 seconds.
What do you think? Too annoying? alternatively I could add a timer that automatically reinitialises the barometer after 5 ~ 10 seconds..and try and think of a way to check that we haven't already taken off.
Will try ALT_HOLD and Loiter tomorrow. If it works as well as i think then i'm going to load some way points.
@Randy. Did you get a chance to look over my latest logs. Jason has a new version out with different control laws implemented for loiter, RTL etc. what do you think Randy?
This could helps us a lot with getting it to stay in one place :)
@ Randy.
Still having problems with loiter. It seems to just wander about and never really locks on to the Loiter WP. i'm a little lost really. Have you tried Loiter yet Randy?
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