Long time lurker, first time caller-
just built a quad with the prebuilt APM2 and the DIY drones kit and Ive been having issues everywhere that dont seem to be fixed by calibration, re-calibration, reinstalling or cursing. SO before anyone asks, yes, Ive calibrated the escs 30+ times, reflashed APM multiple times, recalibrated the tx and kicked the dog 50+ times. On the plus side, i havent yet busted anything, but then again i havent managed a real flight either.
The first major issue occurred due to the lousy motor mount methodology of 2 screws through the arm. It appears any torque on those screws which id call safe or responsible resulted in torque being aplied to the motor shaft causing binding. This took me a bit to figure out, but eventually i bit the bullet and used the x mount that came with the motors and secured all 4 screws to two cross bars underneath the arm largely reducing or eliminating any binding issues with motors.
The second major issue came after syncing ESCs collectively and individually. At least 10x id boot the copter and it would start the incessant ESC beeping that happens when it feels the ESCs need recalibration, so every time id recalibrate only to have it happen again a few flights later or when i reflashed it.
The second major issue appears on takeoff, where the copter will oscillate as it appears engines are not equally throttled. it seems to recalibrate enough to takeoff eventually but then fairly consistantly, will spin to the right, at varying speeds. Ill set it down, and spin up again and it seems to have stabilized itself for a moment or two, but then will drift while the motors cycle and not maintain altitude.
I am currently in stabilize mode, declination set to 6 decimal places, calibrated, lowered, louvered and two failed flights from embarking on a three state murder spree.
TX spectrum 6i w/ ar5000 rx
channel 5 is set for mode toggle ( ch7 in MP )
No other electronics or systems on board though i do have a 1.2ghz FPV tx and camx as well as inline OSD which i plan on integrating later.
There are multiple things going on here, obviously, but most issues seem to be in the controller or escs. Any help would greatly appreciated.
Bart
Replies
Ok, I had massive problems with ESC calibration and while the fix is not easy, once it's done life is much better when you never calibrate again and never have the beeping.
This post outline the single best fix you can make and should be compatible with your hardware
http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/flashing-3dr-escs-or-rc-timer-esc...
Next, after you fixed the ESC problem permanently
Are you running the latest arducopter firmware 2.5.5 that had a very important fix just for orientation problem?
Next, now that the ESCs are right and the Firmware is the latest and you leveled it
Now, this test with the props off:
That checks the wiring and the stabilization, but I need to make another video that if you pass the wiring test, you then need to pass the radio channel reverse test.
In other words, move to mid throttle so the motors spin evenly but the heli is level on the ground. Then when you move the right stick on the transmitter (AKA elevator) forward, the back motor should speed up (assuming the forward arm or apm direction is pointing away from you). Stick back = front motors speeds up, and moving the stick left (AKA aileron, not rudder) results right motor spins up and the opposite for moving the stick right. Finally, the left stick on the TX is throttle and rudder and if rudder was reversed you could never arm or you would have to move the stick down and left instead of down and right. Basically, the easy test again just like the tilt test is to run the motors up and move the right TX stick corner to corner clockwise and the motors opposite on the heli should speed up as you go around. If it's on the same side as the TX stick, then either the aileron or elevator channel is reversed. You can either fix it at the TX or fix it in Mission planner radio setup.
Just to recap, the problem is likely a couple of things and the first one is the stock ESC firmware sucks. Next, since it continues to rotate, I suspect either you don't have the ltest code which did fix a major problem on the new APM2.0s, or there is a wiring problem (motor order), or maybe it's just the ESCs and the stock firmware doesn't want to work for you.
Yes, you need some type of AVR programmer, but in the long term of this hobby, if you own even one Arduino, you really should have an AVR, because one day, you will kill a bootloader and then that is your way to bring it back from the dead.