i have searched a bit and find several threads related to this question, but none that really answer all of my questions on this theme.
currently i fly with the three position switch for flight mode, and generally have STABILISE, LOITER, AUTO on channel 5, with RTL on channel 7. now this isnt bad but im going to be needing channel 7 for camera shutter control, and really dont want to lose the option of RTL. whats more i would love to add more flight modes.
basically ive seen two possible solutions:
- using double rates to assign two sets of values to the 3 position switch: really i would like to avoid this if at all possible, ive already had some problems with selecting the wrong mode/ or forgetting which mode im in, and depending on two switches strikes me as an accident waiting to happen.
- using a custom switch like this one: but obviously i want to avoid putting it on my current channel 6 potentiometer.
ideally i want a dedicated switch just like that one on ebay, to replace my current 3 position switch. is there a (relatively) simple solution for this? could it be (hope against hope) as simple as putting a rotary switch with the right resistors in its place?
regards,
James
Replies
solved with two switches:
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/futaba-t7c-six-flight-modes
seeing what others have done with switch mixing i realise that it would be quite a nice solution mixing two switches for only four modes, where the two position switch is always STABILIZE when up, for example, and with three auto modes selected by the three position switch when down.
i would probably configure:
STABILIZE | LOITER
STABILIZE | AUTO
STABILIZE | RTL
not bad, i have my four indispensable flight modes and minimal chance of selecting the wrong mode. so last night i sat down with my radio, this tutorial (http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/configure-6-flight-modes-for), and the futaba manual.
finally i got pretty close to enabling 6 modes by mixing the two and three position switches on the left side of the radio - its really just a case of adjusting trim values to get the PWMs bang in the centre of the thresholds expected by arducopter, but ..
this is mixing channel 5 and channel 7 - so to enable this switch mixing im actually losing channel 7 completely? have i got something wrong in the setup or is this to be expected? frankly its hardly any improvement over the plain three position switch plus a fourth option on channel 7.
regards,
james
3 pos position switch is regular 'on/off' switch channel. You'll need to check what it actually do and how the radio reads what
that switch outputs.
But if you want to replace the potentiometer with 6-pos switch, you'll need to find right resistors for you radio.
Set CH5 on your radio to be controlled by one of the pots, and using Mission Planer radio setup menu to monitor the output mark the pot position for each MODE.
MODE:
Now measure the value that pot outputs at those points, for example at MODE1 it needs ~1.5Kohm resistance, at MODE2 2.2Kohm and so on.