Okay, so I have followed the manual to the best of my ability to get everything up and running and have run into an issue.
I first connected everything and made sure of all the connections. Then I followed all the instructions and went through all the test programs and everything came out just fine and all the numbers looked like what I was expecting. Once I changed the DEBUG_SYSTEM value to 0 and uploaded the code, everything seemed to be in proper order when I had the FTDI cable plugged in but as soon as I unplugged the cable, the servos went crazy when the mode switch was in manual mode. In Stabilize or Fly-by-Wire A, everything seemed to respond just fine when I would put my hand in front of the thermopiles. I removed power from the ESC and re-applied it and still ran into the same issues.
What could be the issue here? I only changed the values necessary to get it set up on the EasyStar as explained in the manual and all the values in the debugging seemed to be just fine. I can't figure out what is wrong in this case as it worked just fine with the FTDI plugged in and then did not without the FTDI.
My setup is a basic brushless EZ*, ArduPilot v2.7 code, V2 shield, MediaTek GPS, pitot tubes all installed.
The weather is supposed to be nice in New England the next two days with wind no more than 7 mph and I also have the days off (unless my wife goes into labor) so I hope to be able to get some good testing in. Hopefully someone has an idea of what is wrong so I can get going tomorrow!
Thanks!
Replies
Kenta,
So glad it worked out and thanks for the update!
Fly by wire is just a mode where the plane goes "where you point it". In regular RC mode, if you hold the aileron stick to the right, the plane will keep banking until it goes upside down then continue in a roll. In FBW mode, it will just hold a bank, roughly proportional to where you have the stick.
XY thermopiles must be mounted diagonally, although that can be above or below the plane (as defined in the config file)
The mode LED is off when in Manual, on in mode 1, off again in mode 2 like expected. I also tried to change the radio type to 1 and that really didn't work so I changed it back to 0 again.
To troubleshoot a little more, I changed DEBUG_SUBSYSTEM to 7 again to see if it was recognizing the mode positions fine and when in position 2 or 3, it worked just fine but when I would change it to position 1 (Manual mode), the debug would stop and then start over each time I went to position 1. It almost seems like it's resetting the board. It really freaks out when I go to position 1 but is fine in 2 or 3, although 3 seemed to freak out a little at times. I did change the end point on my radio on the gear channel back from 140/140 to 100/100 because I thought that could be causing problems but it didn't really have an effect.
I noticed another thing. When I upload the code, during the upload process, the throttle turns on half way through and stays on until the upload process is complete. Any reason this happens? I noticed in the manual, nothing is connected to the board in the picture for "Loading in the code" but it doesn't seem right to disconnect everything since we should have everything connected at that point.
Let me know if you need more information.
Oh, the phone pictures were indeed good. I was surprised as well. I guess having a lamp right next to it and the iPhone in HDR mode definitely helps!