Hi all.
I could really use some help trying to figure out if Arducopter 2.6 is ever going to work for me.
I have had a total of 4 units 2x genuine 3DR APMs and 2 generic arducopter.
2 buddies also have 1 unit each.
We all have major issues with all units.
to cut a long story short. We can have 3x perfect return to launches, then the the 4th one will result in a toiletbowl effect. Just randomness like that.
I've given up on using ANY failsafe as APM is just too unreliable.
That was a week ago, now things have gotten much worse.
Even stabalize mode does not work. If the quad makes it off the ground it will sometimes dart off in one direction, other times it just falls out of the sky The quad also "pulses"
Some times the quad will just stop responding to the controls and has to be knocked out of the sky to stop it from flying.
Othertimes the unit will just disarm on takeoff.
Have tried multiple recievers, boards etc, NOTHING fixes these issues. Both my buddies have given up on their board and now fly perfectly with another (closed source) autopilot. I would like to get this going correctly but the APM just seems so unstable.
I have attached some logs in case that helps.
Please help!
Replies
Yes, I get that sunlight causes baro fluxuations. It seemed in Rob's post that he covered his PX4 baro quite well; at least as good as having a dark case? If in fact he did, and no light gets to it, then only the prop wash is left as the issue one would think. Thus I was querying about his designs to see if they might be unique leading to greater prop wash errors.
Thx! Tim
@Tim: Sunlight is a problem on the PX4 as well, the sensor design helps with it being enclosed with two holes in the case, but it's best to have the sensor in a dark container, away from direct sunlight to avoid problems.
Just shine a bright LED torch on the sensor at the right angle and it will report varying altitude
Don't both the Pixhawk and PX4 FMU have the same MEAS MS5611 baro? (According to the specs)
If so, it sounds like something else is going on other than just baro coverings? Doesn't seem like sunlight is the issue. Are the designs of you PX4 copters different than your Pixhawk ones? Different air flow from prop wash?
Sorry for all the questions, just trying to understand. :-)
Tim
Your PX4 baro comment caught my attention. You still have issues with the PX4 even after covering the baro/etc? I ask because I was just about to buy one for a mini build (Pixhawk is too large). If you still have issues even with your experience, then the PX4 isn't for me!
Thx Tim
Tim, yes, I have baro problems, even with the baro covered.
On both, I wedged some dark grey foam between the two boards, covering the baro. Then I used hot-glue to paint a "wall" on the outer surface of the foam. Then used black sharpy to try and darken it. Still have this problem.
Jolyon, yes, I've had a couple unintentional landings with PX4 due to baro glitches.
I never said it was a bug. There well may be 10,000 in use but you have no idea how many of those are successful. If the BO continues to fly it was clearly a bad FC. Maybe the other one is too. Maybe there was a bad batch of components commonly used, who knows. But I will follow through and keep flying the BO until it fails again...or doesn't. But I have now put 6 batteries through and no failures when before it was failing at least once every flight. Strong circumstantial evidence.
I'll keep troubleshooting logically until I find the problem is either the FC, the firmware, my build sequence or something else. But IF it turns out that it is the firmware or the APM hardware I will lose it, even if there are 10,000 other happy campers.
does that controller also run arducopter?
Yes a mini that GLB sells wtih the purple mask.
Mike, looking at your video, i can say that the copter flies great. I don't think there are setup/calib/tuning issues. The motor simply stopped. Just to let you know, it happened to me on 3 occasions: 1. after 3-minutes flight on stab, it flipped, 2. while in drift mode, the rear motor also stopped and it almost hit a wedding car during our video coverage 3. during an autonomous flight of 4.5 km in a 100-hectare plantation, it fell off the sky. I am using APM 2.5 (from 3DRobotics when they were still shipping to my country).
The problem was traced to motor/esc sync issues. Please try the suggestion of Artem because in my case, i changed all my esc's to different brand. it solved it all. In fact, I already have over 100 flights with it in large farms with no falling-off-the sky. Just recently, we loaded AC3.2_rc12 and did 10 flights for Marketing and Corporate Video of International Shipping Port. Those flights were mostly over waters. Yes, Arducopter is reliable.
Hard to tell what happend there however it looks like a motor failed which could be a bad solder point, a bad esc I am not sure. At this point I do not run a single APM as now it is only Pixhawk or VR Brain.
Have you tried to do any testing to try and see if you can replicate the error in some sort of controlled setting, so if it does fail again hopefully you will not break something
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