Hey all,
I would like to share my experiences as a member of the DIYDRONES community.
About 8 months ago I began working on my dream of a stable UAV platform for Aerial Photography. As a young Civil Engineer in training, the possible applications are endless.
With almost no previous experience flying RC, the going was a little rough.
By my third Easy Star frame, I had mastered the controls and was ready for my first automated flight.
Well, almost ready.
Luckily, from all my previous misfortunes I had an abundance of spare part laying around so I was able to fix it up and get out flying without much delay.
Behold, my fist Automated flight!
After several successful flight, I felt I held in my hands a stable platform and rushed out to purchase a point and shoot camera and replicated Crhis Anderson's stabilizing camera mount.
Alas, this build never made it in the air. I had a change of heart and decided the camera would probably not survive the first landing.
So began my adventure with Arducopter.
I learned that ESC don't like cold weather, and was told by the manufacturer that the operating temperature was above 20 degrees Celsius. (no love for us Canadians)
Place an ESC in the freezer for a couple minutes and here is the result.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3FgH1o7Rxo
Luckily, ESC just need a little love and will initialize a if they are warmed up by holding them in the palm of your hand. Once they are on, they work fine.
I have had some recent success with loiter and altitude hold using APM 1 (1280).
This flight gave me confidence to remove the bubble rap from APM 2. Although I do not have any footage, Altitude hold and Loiter are very impressive.
Although I am please with my current success, I have yet to fly a successful Automated flight with Arducopter. All my attempts have ended horribly wrong. I have tried several simple missions without success and have ruined several arms and motors in the process.
I may finally have shed some light on my automated flight issues.
Yesterday, I attempted to fly a simple mission
Once I engaged Auto mode, the copter took off like a bat out of hell. Thanks to some excellent flying skills, I managed to recover ;)
After the flight, I read the waypoints to try and figure out what exactly APM was thinking. This is what I found.
I suspect some how switching to auto mode triggered the CH7 option way point recording. I have nothing connected to channel 7 input or output.
I have since changed CH7 option to " Do nothing" and hope this will solve the problem.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to test it as I am now having other problems. After the flight posted above, my copter refused to keep its bearings and rotates as if I do not have a compass enabled.
It is very cold and humid (-10 and 90% relative humidity) so I suspect this may be the culprit.
Is there anyone else flying in cold weather who would like to share their experience?
I have many unanswered questions:
I purchased the recommended current and voltage sensor but have yet to have any success with it.
I am currently working on programming a pitch camera gimbal to always point straight down, has anyone else had any success?
I continue working towards my dream of a stable UAV platform for Aerial Photography.
Even though I am still quite far, I too choose to fly to the moon.
Thank you DIYDRONES.
Replies
Hi Rick,
Unfortunately I have not yet been able to fly a successful mission.
I still visit the flying field several times a week but have not been making much progress.
My current issue is that my copter does not seem to keep a proper bearing.
I've upload two screenshots to illustrate the issue:
Pre-Flight
Post-Flight:
The copter was in fact facing North-East at the time the screen shots were taken.
Also, as the copter's bearing rotates, so do the controls.
My old quad did not survive the ride, so I am now the proud owner of a beautiful hexa. Here is a pick at my flying field:
Half the fun is assembling the copters, but it would be nice for them to fly autonomously too!!
Thanks for your reply!
Vernon
2012-09-07 17-35-12.tlog
Just checking to see how your doing? Did you ever get a mission to work well?