Quad + Pixhawk used to get along great - Now Quad is wobblig like crazy - Discussions

Hi everyone,

I've flown my Quad + Pixhawk twice and it worked GREAT.

Then I started to tweak things in APM Mission Planner to get the Tarot Gimbal tilt control working. Now it does.

But I must have messed with some parameters in the progress: I tried to fly yesterday and the quad wobbles like crazy.

Only tried in stabilize mode.

When I push the throttle (around half the stick), it starts to wobble on the roll axis quite hard, up to the point where it gets out of controll with motors alternatively spinning different RPM/almost stopping.

I thought it was a motor issue.

I changed all 4 and the problem is still here.

I changed propellers... same problem.

I calibrated again the ESCs... no luck

I reinstalled the arducopter firmware... same

I then thought I may have changed some parameters without knowing in APM Mission Planner.

I completely uninstalled the software and reinstalled a clean version to have the "factory settings" back.

Problem is still here.

Could this be caused by wrong PID settings I would have messed with in APM Mission Planner?

I attached screenshots of the settings.

Do they look right?

Also, I tried to push the throttle hard without the propellers on and it seems to be working fine...

I'm getting crazy.

Don't know what I changed, but I shouldn't have... :(

Thanks for all the help!

Mathieu

Configuration:

Frame: TBS Discovery

Pixhawk running arducopter 3.1.x (last version released) + 3DR GPS (+ compass) + 3DR telemetry

ESC: Afro ESC 30Amp Multi-rotor Motor Speed Controller (SimonK Firmware)

Motors: NTM Prop Drive Series 28-26A 1200kv / 286w (short shaft version)

Battery: Turnigy nano-tech 4500mah 4S 35~70C Lipo Pack

Tl;dr Quad worked fine, tried to control gimbal tilt through Pixhawk, messed with APM Planner parameters (most probably),

now quad wobbles like hell and is impossible to control,

I'm lost and frustrated, and begging for help ;)

Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 7.37.38 PM.png

Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 7.37.48 PM.png

Replies

Jerry Normandin April 24, 2014 at 8:23am

Good screen shots. adjust the pitch/roll rate 30% of the way to the right and test again.

I had the same problem with the default settings... but this is something you need to adjust.

Also if it helps I have to adjust this when I switch prop sizes and prop types.
- Mathieu > Jerry Normandin August 26, 2014 at 1:06am
  
  Sorry Jerry,
  
  I totally missed your reply.
  
  Again, I got it fixed by resetting everything.
  
  I suspect I messed with PID settings when I was trying to configure the gimbal. I may have assigned the channel 6 knob to PID tuning and probably changed them while crazily turning the knob to see the gimbal tilt.
  
  Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Mathieu
Mathieu April 24, 2014 at 12:27am

OK,

Somehow I got it fixed by

- deleting apm planner + parameters, and reinstall it clean,

- reinstalling arducopter firmware several times on the Pixhawk, (and once installing arduplane firmware, then reinstalling arducopter)

- pushing the reset button on the pixhawk's right side

- resetting eeprom via CLI.

Not sure which step fixed the issue, but now the crazy wobblings are gone and I can confidently crash my quad :)

Mathieu
Mathieu April 14, 2014 at 7:29am

Sorry, I forgot to mention that, of course, I tried several times to recalibrate the accelerometer, the compass, the RC, and made sure the right frame type was set.

No luck at all...

Thanks again to everyone.

Mathieu

This reply was deleted.