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dumped MIssion Planner for APMplanner2

Posted by Dan on September 5, 2016 at 7:24am

I removed Mission Planner from my computer, I was getting several pre arm check errors with mym2.8, I installed APMplanner 2, seemed super easy to go thru the set up, it was basically the same as Mission Planner, no errors, able to arm the motors, BUT, the throttle still acts funny, stick up just slightly and from idle to what seems like high rev, (what do I know tho, this is first build), saw a guy on YouTube with same problem but no fix, almost no range from just up from idle to 100% throttle, I put props on, hit the stick up and it revved, sounded sweet, I have Cobra Motors 2217/20 950Kv, stick all the way to the top and the thing won't budge, props are on right (1045s), motors spinning correct rotation direction, I'm thinking there is a setting either in the planner or the transmitter, someone out there knows, don't keep it a secret, let a fella in on it, lol, this is a new hobby for me and I'm a quadrotard, please help, any and all advice extremely appreciated

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Replies

  • Dan September 7, 2016 at 7:01am
    Ok, did i forget to mention that the red light on my external compass blinks all the time, i guess its supposed to be solid, now im learning on the 2.8 there is a jumper trace that needs to be cut, can anyone tell me if they have done this themselves? And could this be a source of my set up problems?

    Fyi -my set up is a 450 quad alien spider frame, 2.4ghz radiolink tx , rd9 rx, cobra 2217/20 950Kv motors, G-sun 30A esc's pre flashed with SimonK, floureon 4s 6200mah 35c lipo, apm 2.8 kit (external compass, minim osd, 915mhz radio telemetry, power module), power distribution board, and a 5.8ghz diversity receiver set up from Hobbyking (dual antenna receiver, 600TVL 2.8mm camera, circular polarized cloverleaf antenna for tx, and 600mW tx) with an easycap so i can use my laptop as ground station, AUW is between 1900g and 2000g
  • Harry Courter September 6, 2016 at 7:54am

    Dan,

    I'm not an expert, and I don't use Apmplanner2, however, these are my thoughts.  Since your motors spin up I'll put the esc issue aside for now.

    In Mission Planner RC calibration screen, you should see a full range of motion on all channels, if not, re do the RC calibration and check the setup of your radio ch 3.  Make note of the max and min PWM values for your throttle.

    After your test flight, open the telemetry log and graph ch3 in and ch3 out.  Is the max and min PWM rate in line with the rc calibration values?

    Your throttle sounds like it has expo (or some other modification) applied at the radio setup.  Have you reviewed the radio setup for every channel?  This might also explain why the wrong side lifts.

    And finally, do you know that your selections of motors, props, and battery are viable?  Did you use a calculator like ecalc.ch ?  You did not talk about your all up weight, or goal for flight time.

    The Logs should expose some good information.  If you can do a good test flight and attach the logs to your post, I'm sure someone on this site would look them over for you.  (I'm happy to look, but this site has some real experts)

    An answer exists, you just haven't found it yet.

  • Dan September 5, 2016 at 5:57pm

    Update, I recalibrated ESC's, I'm using a 4s Lipo, should hear 4 beeps and a long beep, signifying the 4s battery and successful calibration, Right? well I only hear 2 beeps and the long one, same throttle reaction, idles and the slightest throttle stick up it revs high and no throttle control until stick brought down to nothing where it idles, this is with telemetry connected but not to mavlink, also when I use right hand stick and push right of course motors adjust but no upward motion, when I bank it left it comes off ground a little bit but the wrong side lifts, also, I switched it to Attitude mode on tx, it came off ground and tipped or flipped on its side, hope this is enuff info for someone more experienced than me to help me out

  • Dan September 5, 2016 at 3:00pm

    Here's some pics of what I got going on

    diy5.jpg

    diy4.jpg

    diy3.jpg

  • Dan September 5, 2016 at 1:52pm



    Andre K. said:

    No. ESC calibration is independent of the GCS software, in fact, you don't even need GCS software to do it.

    But your problem sure sounds like ESC calibration related (not to be confused with RC calibration)

    I hate to bring it to you, but MP or AP2 is only presenting you the pre arm checks, not evaluating conditions or trigging them, so while MP has many faults, (depending windows & .Net being among of them)  it's most likely that AP2 worked better for you by luck. (But it is, overall,  more reliable)

    I'm a noob so maybe I did it wrong, no power and no usb, disconnect the rc receiver channel 3, plug one of the ESC 3 wire connectors (I do them in order; front right, back left, front left then back right, I don't think its required but I'm like that, lol) to the receiver channel three, turn on transmitter, throttle stick up all the way, connect battery, listen for the cool tones, I wait until the tx and rx bind, then throttle stick all the way down, listen for beeps with a slight pause before the last beep, (which is the beep that indicates the ESC has been calibrated), then disconnect battery, then repeat the process for each of the other ESC's, I will point out that I turn of the transmitter between each calibration, not sure if that matters,  does that sound right? Oh, I was thinking about it earlier, my motor wires were really long and I didn't shorten them at all, I kind of doubled them up on each other and shrink tubed them, and because of my impatience waiting for the 3.5mm (soldered) bullet connectors I used 4mm (crimped) connectors, would that have any affect on my lack of power? 

  • Andre K. September 5, 2016 at 11:46am

    No. ESC calibration is independent of the GCS software, in fact, you don't even need GCS software to do it.

    But your problem sure sounds like ESC calibration related (not to be confused with RC calibration)

    I hate to bring it to you, but MP or AP2 is only presenting you the pre arm checks, not evaluating conditions or trigging them, so while MP has many faults, (depending windows & .Net being among of them)  it's most likely that AP2 worked better for you by luck. (But it is, overall,  more reliable)

  • Dan September 5, 2016 at 8:35am
    Ive done it manually, one at a time, heard all the signifying beeps, do i need to do it again with the APMplanner2 that im using now?
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson September 5, 2016 at 7:33am

    Have you done a ESC calibration?

    http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/esc-calibration.html

    Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) Calibration — Copter documentation
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