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 just flew 3 packs on my 600, after the thorough rebuilt. It went fairly well. The first pack went quite well. The second pack was a little less well, and I started getting "leans". I kept doing Auto_Trim to it. When I landed and took it back to the GC, the HUD showed almost 45° lean with it sitting flat!
So I went through some old DevList emails, and tried something suggested by Jason. I turned AHRS_RP_P from 0.1 to 0. This shuts off the accelerometer compensation, and makes the attitude solution rely COMPLETELY on integrating the gyros. I spun it up on the ground in flybar mode, and the attitude instantly went to about 30°. So, then I turned AHRS_RP_P to 0.4, which I think is the old setting, and spun it up again and this time it held much better.
I flew a third back, and still got some "leans" but not as bad. It's much better. I was able to do some really precise hovering without having it wander all over.
I think anybody fighting this problem should try adjusting that parameter. I don't know how high it could go or what would happen, so be careful.
I just uploaded 2.7.2 directly from trunk into my 600 and tested the new flybar mode. So now in Acro mode, I have direct control over the swashplate with ZERO interference from the APM. Seems to work well so far. Haven't flown it yet but it works as expected which is good.
Just about done rebuilding the old 600. I've purchased a scale that is accurate to 0.01 grams, and I'm trying to balance everything. I even filed a blade grip to get them equal. Leaving nothing to chance! It's taken a bit, but the head feels great. The only part that sucks is the main gear cluster is wobbly. Once I get this thing running without crashing every 5 minutes, I'll buy a KDE geartrain.
Tried the Razor last night and now i seem to be getting a really harsh tale oscillation on 2.7.1, tried with and without the external gyro (futaba gy401). Things seem to be going backwards. I'm going to compile the older code mav 0.9 code2.0.40.
Just got in some more parts for my 550 Stretch build. It's starting to come together and looking really awesome. It's basically a TRex 550 stretched to 600. The idea is simply to benefit from the simpler mechanicals and lighter weight of the 550 chassis, mainly because of direct to swash servos with no silly linkages.
It's being all put together with high quality aftermarket parts. OMG Heli, RJX, Heli Option, Tarot, etc. It'll be about half the price of a Trex 550 kit but better.
Interestingly, a few of the parts I am getting are from the HK550GT (aluminum tail boom mounting block). Frankly it's beautiful. The HK550 parts seem to be from a completely different manufacturer than the HK600GT parts. They seem to be top quality. This continues the trend set by the HK450GT.
But I still won't buy any more HK shafts.
The only issue I see with this frankenstein build is the main shaft appears like it will need to be cut down. The OMG Heli RJX Clone head (figure that one out) sits way too high. I think it was designed for special RJX main shafts.
I have just loaded the latest code 2.7.1, setup the heli, the apm is mounted a lot more solidly than it was before. Everything works well on the bench, I have removed the sonar and will be concentrating on getting the barometer to hold the altitude. I have removed all the I term from the stab settings. Will report more tomorrow.
Ok, I think I'm officially done with Hobby King helis. Or at least the 600 parts. I finally got down to rebuilding this thing, and it's a constant struggle. It just sucks. None of the parts fit, even when new. I feel like an 18th century gunsmith, filing things to fit. Last night I struggled with the washout control arms, finally got them on so they don't bind. Today, I am trying to get the seesaw hub on, and it keeps binding up when I tighten the screws. Must have a small machining error. I throw it in my mill just to open it up a smidge inside. Just enough to take off the anodizing... but the pattern left reveals the surface wasn't flat to start with! Now I try to put it on, and find out that apparently I've squished it a bit in the vice, because it's tighter than before! Now, I couldn't possibly have squished it unless the aluminum was stupid soft. Which it is...
So on goes the old one. Looks OK. I just wanted to rebuild a fresh head to be sure. But looking through my old crashed parts, I see that I've had to file out that washout hub before. I forgot, thought I'd be smart and mill it, but it just squishes in the vice.
Anyway, enough of this. I may check out the new 550GT parts, because the new 450 Pro kit the released the parts are not bad. But otherwise, I'll build with good quality stuff.
I've already got a 550 half built using all high quality aftermarket upgrades, should be nice.
I just don't want to buy an Align kit because they make you take all their electronics which I don't want.
On the other hand, I have to keep reminding myself I've had several crashes completely the fault of developing the code, and I couldn't afford genuine parts at the rate I was going through them. But, hopefully things will have settled down now.
Ok, who's up for some testing?
Anybody have something with a flybar or flybarless controller that they can simply mount an APM on, but won't be in control, just "along for the ride". Do some hovering, collect data, and send the data back to us?
There's some discussion go on in the dev list about this issue. Jonathan Challinger would like some data, and could maybe prepare something to collect extra data. And Jason Short has a quick patch to test and see what happens.
I keep track of your progress and review most code changes, but no flying.
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