First I wanna say I really like what the developers and the community has done for arducopters. Both ardupirates and DIY have really amazed me. I hope my experiences can contribute a little to an even better product.I did run into a few issues while switching my arduhexa from ardupiratesNG code to ACM2.I'll share them here with their solutions, maybe some others can benefit as well.First, motor connection order to APM is different between pirates and ACM code. Make sure you connect motors as per ACM2 instructions.ALWAYS check first with props removed.In my first attempt to fly the copter with ACM2 it somehow was in RTL mode when I armed motors. Nothing happens cause there is a safety that keeps automatic modes from engaging when throttle = 0. But when you give a tad (1% is enough) of throttle, the copter will start its mission and go to half throttle and take off.Mine flipped over violently cause my motors were not connected right.When I got it to fly successfully, after about 12 min of hoovering around my leds started flashing, indicating low battery (custom code). Nice. I descended to 1m and wanted to see how much longer until really low battery (leds flash faster).But suddenly the copter just took off towards my neighbour. Luckily I wasn't in the way, but a pine hedge was and the copter crashed into it.I remember having seen on the planner that first gps lock was at my neighbours house. So I guessed somehow the copter got back into RTL. Checked mode switch, but it was still in 'stabilise'.Armed motors again, firmly holding the copter and it immediately went to hoovering throttle and tilted towards my neighbour.Connected it to my laptop and it showed 'GUIDED' as mode. I think this is a mode that attempts the copter to return to launch on low battery. However I think this should only engage in automatic modes (loiter, RTL, auto), not in manual modes like acro, stabilise and simple. When I'm flying, I don't want my copter to suddenly get a will of its own.Flight impression compared to ardupirates :The ACM2 hexa flew very stable. It was a good bit more agressive on pitch and roll with standard pids. Yaw was rather slow, about the same as ardupirates, but less precise (should improve with more flights as the magnetometer gets calibrated, if I understood correctly)Fast climbs went ok. Fast descends went even better : almost no oscillations anymore. A big improvement compared to ardupirates.In general I think flying is better in ACM2 then in piratesNG.Safety however still needs some work in my opinion. Ardupirates have code that disarms motors if throttle is increased suddenly (eg accidently hit the throttle stick) while on the ground. ACM2 doesn't seem to have that. Furthermore manual modes should stay manual (copter shouldn't get a mind of its own) and I think arming motors should only be possible in manual modes.That's my impressions so far :-) Great work from the developpers and I hope my impressions can contribute to a better product !Greetings,U4
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U4: very helpful test report. Look for a new version of the AC2 code in the next day or two. Jason has fixed a whole bunch of things, and we just need to test one more before taking it out of beta.
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When you enable Battery Alarm in the code, the default is for the quad to go into RTL mode when the Battery treshhold is triggered.