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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I flew again tonight, this time with 2.5.1.
The Loiter is much better, and does not take off on a mission due to a bug. I still haven't got it holding stable yet, and I think it's mostly to do with the fact that my heli doesn't fly level, so it always starts off loitering by going to the left and forwards (due to an aft CG and tail rotor thrust). I need to figure out how to level it better.
But, overall, this code is really really good.
So nobody liked my "Weathervane" code idea from page 117?
I have just finished building my gas helicopter about a 90 size. I'm going to put my spare apm on it, wire all the sensors in, but not the servos, i'll use my flybarless controller CGY750, but i'll use the adapter and Y lead the from the Receiver. This way the APM will get all the inputs as i fly around, but will have no control. Its just a way of judging how the APM will put up with a spark ignition single cylinder engine at 9000rpm. I can then data log it, what should i be looking for in the Logs to see if the DCM is getting into trouble?
Chris, go to page 84 of this thread. There you see my 450 setup. I mounted the GPS almost into the shaft ;) Kidding. But it is totally close and with wooden blades, I have no issues with the GPS. The mag is more sensitive. Although I wonder how the GY401 gyro works in HH mode. It should have a mag as well? And it sits much closer to metal and all the electronics.
There is no way of searching the thread/discussion which is a shame.
Next noob question regarding the camera. I've seen the 3DR pitch/roll gimble, but I was wondering if there's a good setup out there that will let me swing the camera around and use the camera to track ground coordinates all Predator style. If anyone knows anything small enough to go on the TRex, that's the next direction I plan to go.
Noob question time: Does the forum have an option to search a single thread? I'd like to search this thread to see if my quuestion has already been answered, but 117 pages is too much for me. My eyes glazed over at about page 25.
If you'll forgive my short attention span and complete nubbishness, I'm hoping for a little insight to get up to speed. This is my first ArduPilot, and for that matter, my first R/C. I'm putting this together as a project for my undergraduate engineering studies, and finding a love for the hobby in general, even though I'm still a complete noob. I've been relying on my friends who are experienced with R/C to get me up to speed on that end, but I'm still inexperienced with the APM.
I am just a little confused about mounting my new APM 2.0 on my TRex 450 Pro V2. I've got it mounted on the radio tray behind the swashplate on top, but I saw Randy say in an older thread that the GPS needs to be out from under the rotor to get signal.
Does this mean the GPS needs to be all the way back on the tail, or just out from underneath the main metal stuff? I bought my APM 2.0 with the integrated GPS, and I'm hoping I didn't screw up super bad in the process.
Had another two good flights today, with 2.5+. Really fun. Did a bit of Loiter, but I still don't have it tuned in yet. But it didn't do anything stupid.
One idea I had was to create a "weathervane" function. I think this would help when just flying the helicopter around. It would act similar to the way old non-HH would weathervane. Heading hold is nice in some cases, but not others.
It would be selectable.
Basically, it would have a speed deadband where it doesn't do anything. Above this deadband, it would have a P-I function which would turn the nose of the heli into the direction of the velocity. The higher the speed, the stronger it would try to turn to face it. This might help make the helicopter fly more like an airplane. You would be able to yaw against it with the sticks, but probably only so far.
It would make nice scale-like flying easier.
What do you guys think? Would it be nice, or a waste of time?
Despite the rain, I managed to fly. Two things:
- The GPS not found issue must have to do with a sometimes very slow booting function of the ACM. Sometimes the ACM needs quite a while until green and red lights starts flashing. I have no clue why, but it is clearly the reason why then the GPS can not be recognized.
- How big should the Alt Hold or Loiter D terms be? I know from other PID loops, that D terms are often about 10x larger than P term. So I am wondering why they are set up 10 or even 100 times lower than P term. Will I freak the PID loop up by really strongly increasing the D terms for Alt hold and loiter?
I the lastest Mission planner and via APM 2.5, has disabled the AC2(heli) setup widow :(
Otherwise I be testing now
Unfortunately it is raining today. I really would like to do some loiter tests. Maybe it clears up later.
Thanks Randy, that loiter DZ story and my subtrim seems to have been the right solution to my loiter mode problems from yesterday.
But guess what. Now I am having the GPS red solid light problem again ;(
What does it mean if already on startup the red light goes not to blinking status, but goes off completely?
Usually it goes to blinking and then as soon as the GPS has a lock it goes solid red. I tried to narrow the problem and found out that already on startup the red light goes off. But as said, the GPS is working and goes solid blue after a while, but as the red light is totally off, I have no chance to get a GPS lock status and let it change to solid red.
Is there a problem with the automatic GPS recongnition at startup?
I have the feeling the APM does not correctly recognize the GPS and thus turn red light off assuming there is no GPS. But the GPS gets power and is running, thats why I see it goeing solid blue after a while
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