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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To be honest with you Robert, if i go back to 2.0.49 or what ever it was, and it kinda works then i'm back to square one. Also this is never going to work with a Gasser, if it cant handle the vibes from a balanced electric then how the hell is it going to cope with a single cylinder engine. Also the gasser is worth a fortune, so i'm not willing to install it !
My Futaba CGY 750 works fine that copes with ease and the vibe damping is around 0.5mm of the hardest foam i have ever seen.
This is not really getting us anywhere.
If we are going to carry on with this then we need a path..... Forget all the other stuff and concentrate on getting it to come back to level in Stab mode, like you said if that doesn't work then nothing else will.
You understand the code way better than i do, is there any way you can see if 2.0.49 is different to the latest?
Would be good to see if we could get a small team together with different skills.....
Do you want to be a team leader?
Nope, no good.
Another crash. I'm just about ready to give up on this. I can't keep crashing and rebuilding these things. I just don't know what to do anymore.
Gotta drain 3 packs. How? Put 'em in the quad. It always works.
Just getting ready to test my latest (and last) attempt at vibration damping on the 450. If this doesn't work...
But I discovered one of the swash servos seems to have failed. Intermittent connection where the wire goes into the case. Not sure if it's cause or effect of the last little biff I had with it 2 days ago. (just broke the tail blades, umbrella gear)
Luckily I have a spare, but I'm not sure why it happened. I actually have the servo wire strain relieved by gluing it on to the case. Maybe it was during handling while working on this vibe mount, pressing on the wire with my thumb I dunno.
So, I just tried my 450 again. I've got it running as smooth as I possibly can, and still getting serious leans. At least, that's what I think it is. I just can't get it to calm down, nor will it hover reliably at all. In fact, after doing auto-trim and landing and looking at the HUD, it was totally out of whack.
The current incarnation has no vibration damping, so I'll have to figure something out again.
So after taking out another set of tail blades, I had to drain my batteries again, so I just pop 'em in the quad, and just fly around sweetly... frustrating in a way. I want the heli to work!!!
It rained on and off on sunday so didnt get a chance to test, i'll be out tomorrow with it.
Dont panic, i'm sure it will be fine :)
CGY 750 Rate Mode
The swash plate follows the stick movements, (as slow or as fast as the stick is moved) when you lean the heli the swash plate puts an opposite affect in, when the heli stops say at a 45 degree angle the swash plate goes back to level.
HL Mode
The swash plate follows the stick movements, (as slow or as fast as the stick is moved) the difference being, if you say put a full forward elevator in the swash plate doesn't come back level it moves back slightly but then stays in a slight lean the way the stick was pushed, pull it back the other way (back elevator) it moves all the way to the rear and does the same thing as above.
Lean the helicopter and it puts opposite movement in, stop leaning and it continues to hold opposite lean. Does not come back to level, but this would be expected in HL mode.
There were a few guys in the early days just using 2 HL gyros to control a flybarless Heli
Tonight I flew three packs on my little 450 helicopter without too many problems. I find it's overly sensitive with the new servos I put on (fast strong digitals, old were slow, weak analogs). I actually think I liked the way it flew before. I gotta work on this. That is all in Stab mode. I actually had to add a little D term to calm it down (0.004). I'm going to try moving the balls in on the control horns, because I think part of the problem is they barely have to move at all to actuate the swashplate. My negative and positive limits for swash travel are 1550 to 1700. So it's barely using 20% of the range from full up to full down.
It flies!
All the swash servos have been replaced with fast digitals, from slow crappy analogs before. So it feels really crisp, but also a bit darty and nervous. I think I'll need to retune the PID's. Also a bit windy (33km/h), which has a big effect on the 450. I know it would make the quad hard to fly, but in a different way.
Man, changing from the quad to a 450 is like going from a school bus to a superbike!
I didn't have good luck wit the 450 at all last night. I finished building the belt tail and installed it. I tested it on the bench with the tail blades on and head off, and it felt good. So I put the head on and went outside. On spool up, it hit an incredibly high vibration, litterally shaking itself apart (the ESC fell off!). Back downstairs, I see the tail rotor shaft is bent, and it wasn't bent before, and I certainly didn't hit anything. No more shafts left.
So I start rebuilding the TT tail. One of the tips I got was to use two support bearings, to reduce the potential for shaft whip. So I do that. I struggle with the gears, getting them smooth, only to realize that actually the bearings for the rear shaft are shot. So I replaced them. Now the gears are running nice and smooth. But, long story short, every time I spool it up, it passes through a zone of WICKID vibration. It smooths out at high speed, but it's not great. I give up.
I started talking to some guys on Heli Freak, and one of them asks if I have a carbon fiber boom. Why yes, I built both tails with a CF boom. The heli originally had aluminum, but I went with CF on these. I liked that it won't bend at easily.
Well, apparently guys are saying the CF booms are crap and resulting in really bad vibrations. I guess guys were buying them for the bling, but abandoning them because of vibration problems. Interesting!
I have one aluminum tail I'm going to try tonight.
Do the rate PID's have anything to do with stab flight or is it just the Stab PID's that i should adjust.
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