My Az-El mount is sitting on the bench, almost ready to go to the field. But, it doesn't seem ready yet. The hardware was set up and ranges configured with the Maestro Control Center. Azimuth is on channel zero and elevation on channel one. I set the Az to rest at North with permissible swings to South in either direction. This gives me limits at 1385 (-180), 1500 (N) and 1615 (+180). It all works fine with the Maestro Control. I set the MP PWM at "235", the difference between my south-to-south PWM values and the angle range to 360 (South to South). Likewise I set the Elevation to range between horizontal and vertical. These settings were "applied" to the maestro and work correctly with that program's sliders.
The first odd effect in MP is that the Az control has to be trimmed to about +100 to maintain North position. Does this indicate anything wrong in my setup so far? I would think that MP is reading the Maestro config and using its "center" position for North.
Next, I tested by playing back a tlog file through MP. No APM connected, just the log replay. The Az appears to be tracking at twice the desired angle. When the a/c is east of home, the Az points south. Does this indicate a different setup error?
Now, a serious problem. When the a/c passes overhead of Home, the az swings more than 360 degrees, then returns back to the new track as the plane moves away. I don't know if that behavior is again a setup problem, but it's not possible to connect anything to the Elevation platform when it's going to spin like that.
I've attached the Maestro config file and the tlog. Thanks.
Replies
Mi Michael,
I have followed the setup instructions referred to in this thread exactly and the pand and tilt servos respond to the correct angles using the Polulu configuration tool.
Connecting it to the MP and configuring com port, baud rate, angles and PWM settings as in Maestro, the servos don't respond at all, not even the trim function. The com port led is flashing and it says its connected
Can you provide any advice
Bernhard
Michael,
Any progress on this?
Thanks.
just to answer a few of your q's
the tracker will do odd things when the plane location is very close to the tracker/home location, idealy you need it 20 m away or so.
the setup you are runing is very similar to mine, with full 360 pan and 90 tilt. and sound like your pwm of 235 for you servo also sounds correct.
to use the log properly you will need to move your home location in the planner before you start the log playback, and you can change your virtual tracker locations. ie if the log was loitering, set your home location at the middle, and the tracker should do 360 degree circles.
ive used my tracker multiple times with a maestro, and it works well, most of your issues do sounds normal, as the plane was probly to close to the home location, and can create unexpected results.
one thing i should check is if this is arduplane or arducopter? if its arducopter you will need to set your home location at 0, or 1
Andy, have you seen this?
http://vps.oborne.me/gcs/Tracker.html