Hi!I'm new to this site and kind of new in the RC world.After searching a lot on this forum i didn't find out a good configuration for a tricopter, for a beginner. Please tell me what do you use, what do you recommend. What motors you use, what ESC, what servo, what remote, everything. This would help a lot people who are new to APM and don't know how to use it. Aslo, a tutorial of setting up a APM tricopter would be nice.Please spare some time for the new guys, you were once like us :)Thank you!
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Feel free to pm me, I do a lot with tricopters with apm and other controllers. Happy to help you with your setup, use the rc explorer v2 tricopter frame it works flawless with all controllers including apm 2.5.....
- NTM Prop Drive 28-30S 800KV / 300W Brushless Motor
- RJX FS-0435HV Metal Gear Digital Servo
- Turnigy Talon Tricopter (V1.0) Carbon Fiber Frame
and now starting to find some setup guide on youtube..but lack of luck so far.... any insturction for me to help me setup my first DIY tricopter ? please help !!
follow these videos, they are ok for a beginner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jIfPHFkXHI even if they're not for apm. if you've got some other questions feel free to ask
i am still in the stage of all parts on my table and configurating my apm
nothting soldered , just hook 3 ESC (took out the red lead ) RX bound and connected to APM , GPS...everything should be configurated but when i try to Arm it , it keep saying check mag field.... do you know what should i change ?
so the way the APM is built, it is doing that for safety reasons... the safety of others as well as the craft that you're employing the APM on. it wants to do all of those checks ( I believe there 12 or 13 checks) in order to see if the APM is in good health for takeoff. sort of like a preflight check on a traditional commercial or private aircraft. it checks everything... literally, without going into detail. the magfield that it is referring to is created by the motors spinning nearby (to the APM) which creates a "mag"netic interference field, that it wants to evaluate, and make sure it's not too high which could interfere with the performance of the motors ei craft.
Once you're done building your tri entirely, wiring, mounts, motors, double checks... everything...
Load into the CLI and go to "test" > "compassmot" this will arm your APM and motors.. then throttle up from your transmitter and you'll see the motors spinning, do this with propellers on as the amp draw will be realistic to what is it flight. strap your copter to the table or anywhere you can or put your propellers on upside down *still be careful while doing this part* throttle up to middle stick for approx 5 seconds so the APM can see the mag field, which is registering on the CLI very rapidly at this point. throttle stick back to lowest position, and hit any key on comp. Theres some good setup videos done by a guy named peter king on youtube. good instructional videos on doing all the preflight checks for the first time.
In general though, I'd suggest building your entire copter start to finish before bothering trying to arm the copter, its a waste of time as I've experienced for countless hours.
if you're really concerned with seeing the "armed" in red print on your screen in APMplanner without doing the preflight checks, you can go to advanced parameters and turn the "prearm check" item to 0, which will nullify any of the preflight checks the APM does but will fly at your own risk, as you'll be able to operate the craft without confirming the health of things like accel, gps, compass, baro, and a lot more which is dicey.
Thx for all helpful advice , it give me alot of help !
i will take your advice and buld the entire copter first and try testing again.however i still have something i dont understand
1) if my Throttle lowest value is 1102 what value i should set in FS Pwm failsafe value ?
2)i can arm with out error message if i set FS Pwm to 1100 , is that the right value i should use ?
3) i get in FailSafe setting and look at those bars and the current mode ...i arm it and try push up my Throttle and pretend flying and turn off the radio, but dont know why after i turn off the radio it still in Stabilize mode . i am using Spektrum DX9 and the Orange RX 7 CH receiver ...is there some spacial way to bind like here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUr2Bjvjlsk in order to make the failsafe kicks in when the radio is off ?? i follow that video to bind agian but it just like normal bind , seems like i hold the right stick to left is useless...
4) i am using USB to power up the APM now, since my Power module is not working and i will get the replacement , so for now i can only use the USB to power it up, i Pluged the tail servo to APM board output rail CH7 ...but dont know why when i Armed and move the Yaw it still not move at all (actually didnt move for whole time since i plug it) but i plug to the RX it move the first time (cause the RX is power on )
Replies
Feel free to pm me, I do a lot with tricopters with apm and other controllers. Happy to help you with your setup, use the rc explorer v2 tricopter frame it works flawless with all controllers including apm 2.5.....
Hi
I am same situation as Emi too... new to RC world and just get all the parts and try to build my first tricopter
Here is the parts i got
- APM 2.6 board /w LEA 6H GPS combo with power module , telemetry, miniOSD
- HobbyKing 30A BlueSeries Brushless Speed Controller
- NTM Prop Drive 28-30S 800KV / 300W Brushless Motor
- RJX FS-0435HV Metal Gear Digital Servo
- Turnigy Talon Tricopter (V1.0) Carbon Fiber Frame
and now starting to find some setup guide on youtube..but lack of luck so far.... any insturction for me to help me setup my first DIY tricopter ? please help !!
thx so much Peter
David
follow these videos, they are ok for a beginner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jIfPHFkXHI even if they're not for apm. if you've got some other questions feel free to ask
ya i saw that one before too... but seems its only help me for the hardware assembly part, since he is using KK board i am using APM 2.6
its good to know anyways , thx so much for your reply. if you know any video teach how to config a tricopter it would be much help !!
what exactly do you need to know?
you can find most of the instructions here: http://copter.ardupilot.com/ under the instructions tab
also i just record a video for the salesmen
do you think i plug something wrong or it the power module is defected ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke3qT-36Qr0
i am still in the stage of all parts on my table and configurating my apm
nothting soldered , just hook 3 ESC (took out the red lead ) RX bound and connected to APM , GPS...everything should be configurated but when i try to Arm it , it keep saying check mag field.... do you know what should i change ?
so the way the APM is built, it is doing that for safety reasons... the safety of others as well as the craft that you're employing the APM on. it wants to do all of those checks ( I believe there 12 or 13 checks) in order to see if the APM is in good health for takeoff. sort of like a preflight check on a traditional commercial or private aircraft. it checks everything... literally, without going into detail. the magfield that it is referring to is created by the motors spinning nearby (to the APM) which creates a "mag"netic interference field, that it wants to evaluate, and make sure it's not too high which could interfere with the performance of the motors ei craft.
Once you're done building your tri entirely, wiring, mounts, motors, double checks... everything...
Load into the CLI and go to "test" > "compassmot" this will arm your APM and motors.. then throttle up from your transmitter and you'll see the motors spinning, do this with propellers on as the amp draw will be realistic to what is it flight. strap your copter to the table or anywhere you can or put your propellers on upside down *still be careful while doing this part* throttle up to middle stick for approx 5 seconds so the APM can see the mag field, which is registering on the CLI very rapidly at this point. throttle stick back to lowest position, and hit any key on comp. Theres some good setup videos done by a guy named peter king on youtube. good instructional videos on doing all the preflight checks for the first time.
In general though, I'd suggest building your entire copter start to finish before bothering trying to arm the copter, its a waste of time as I've experienced for countless hours.
if you're really concerned with seeing the "armed" in red print on your screen in APMplanner without doing the preflight checks, you can go to advanced parameters and turn the "prearm check" item to 0, which will nullify any of the preflight checks the APM does but will fly at your own risk, as you'll be able to operate the craft without confirming the health of things like accel, gps, compass, baro, and a lot more which is dicey.
Thx for all helpful advice , it give me alot of help !
i will take your advice and buld the entire copter first and try testing again.however i still have something i dont understand
1) if my Throttle lowest value is 1102 what value i should set in FS Pwm failsafe value ?
2)i can arm with out error message if i set FS Pwm to 1100 , is that the right value i should use ?
3) i get in FailSafe setting and look at those bars and the current mode ...i arm it and try push up my Throttle and pretend flying and turn off the radio, but dont know why after i turn off the radio it still in Stabilize mode . i am using Spektrum DX9 and the Orange RX 7 CH receiver ...is there some spacial way to bind like here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUr2Bjvjlsk in order to make the failsafe kicks in when the radio is off ?? i follow that video to bind agian but it just like normal bind , seems like i hold the right stick to left is useless...
4) i am using USB to power up the APM now, since my Power module is not working and i will get the replacement , so for now i can only use the USB to power it up, i Pluged the tail servo to APM board output rail CH7 ...but dont know why when i Armed and move the Yaw it still not move at all (actually didnt move for whole time since i plug it) but i plug to the RX it move the first time (cause the RX is power on )
any advice ?
i want to know 2 question so far ,
1) the wire from APM to receiver, like which jumper to plug for each channel and which colour of wire plug to which pin
2) where to plug for the tricopter tail servo
let me know if you found any info about it . thx so much ! ;)
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