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Problem with Wing

Posted by Toby Mills on June 14, 2011 at 3:09am

Hi


I'm just setting up a Skyfun with an APM and a JR PCM9X.

Im after some clarification around elevon mixing.


Presently APM is connected directly to Skyfun servos.
Receiver is an R770S connected to APM.

I'm not using a VTail mixer between the APM and servos (although I have tried with this as well and get a situation where I get no APM roll correction).

 

When I connect the servos to the APM it works fine in stabilize mode, both elevons respond in the correct direction for the pitch and role of the plane.

When I switch to manual mode (and the transmitter is setup for a delta wing) all the controls behave correctly as well.

However when I try to use the transmitter in stabilize mode, the elevons go crazy in all sorts of directions. They swing wildly all over the place and end up stuck at extremes. As soon as I flick back to manual all is well again and if I then change to stabilize mode (but don't touch the controls) all is also fine.


So I'm pretty sure I either need to get to a point where I turn off the delta setting in the transmitter and use a vtail mixer (do I still need the APM in elevon mode) or figure out why the elevons go crazy when I flick to stabilise mode and try to add manual input.

 

The APM instructions are pretty good but some more discussion around delta wing settings would be useful.


Specific questions:

- does the current APM firmware still need a Vtail mixer for a flying wing?

- if you are using a Vtail mixer do you still put the APM in elevon mix mode?

- when using a wing, how to you set your transmitter (to normal or delta wing mode)?


I've used the settings chris posted for his Skyfun (both with and without a Vtail mixer and both in normal and elevon mix mode and both normal and delta mode in the transmitter) and all the combinations that are possible of the above and in each condition something doesn't work correctly.


I'm again looking for the blindingly obvious thing that I'm missing?

 

 

 

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Replies

  • Toby Mills June 14, 2011 at 8:12pm

    3692223901?profile=original

     

    What would be useful is to add a table of configurations.. ie

     

     

    Model DIP 1 DIP 2 DIP 3 DIP 4 VTail Mixer Transmitter Mode
    SkyFun Down Up Down Up No Delta / Elevon
    Standard Up Up Up Up No Standard
    VTail ? ? ? ? ? Delta / Elevon

    DIP Switch Functions Down (On / Normal)
    DIP 1 DIP 2 DIP 3 DIP 4
    Roll Normal - Down Pitch Normal - Down Rudder Normal- Down Mix Mode Normal - Down
    Roll Reversed- Up Pitch Reversed- Up Rudder Reversed- Up Mix Mode Normal - Down
    Roll Normal - Down Ch1 Elevon Normal - Down Ch2 Elevon Normal - Down Mix Mode Elevon - Up
    Roll Reversed - Up Ch1 Elevon Reversed - Up Ch2 Elevon Reversed - Up Mix Mode Elevon - Up
  • Toby Mills June 14, 2011 at 2:01pm

    Ok, So I spent the night figuring this out and here is what I discovered..


    I found a post (which I can no longer find) which indicated it might be something with my transmitter.

    I performed a transmitter reset and that fixed it.

     

    The instructions on this page are wrong and need updating, I found out by trial and error that the correct DIP settings for an APM / Oilpan and SkyFun are now from left to right Down, Up Down Up. This was later confirmed by this post..

     

    I also found the answers to my questions through more trial and error.

     

    - does the current APM firmware still need a Vtail mixer for a flying wing / SkyFun?

      no, the APM does elevon mixing (4th DIP switch) so no Vtail mixer is not needed for a wing (I'm not sure which version of APM this became available from as the documentation around the net is conflicting).

    - if you are using a Vtail mixer do you still put the APM in elevon mix mode?

     no, but you don't need the Vtail mixer so turn on elevon mixing in your transmitter and get rid of the Vtail mixer.

    - when using a wing, how to you set your transmitter (to normal or delta / elevon mixer mode)?

     you set it up in delta wing mode (elevon mixing), a few users have reported eratic behaviour in stabilization mode, it might pay to reset your model settings in your transmitter if this occurs and start again building a new model from scratch.

     

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