Trying to get my Dualsky Hornet flying with APM 2.6 - very unstable!? - Discussions

Hi!

Today I took my quad out for a test flight. I never made it to any heights..., I settled for bouncing around on the ground. This is my first try with APM, I've just used Dualsky's FC450 and DJI's Naza FC before:. Anyway I got some issues which I would like to share and hopefully get some input on. This is my setup:

Dualsky Hornet 460

Dualsky XC-22-MR ESCs

Spektrum DX6i

APM 2.6 (firmware 3.1.3)

3DR/uBlox GPS

Mission Planner 1.3.0

I've gone through the setup and done the calibrations of accelerometer, compass and transmitter. The very same transmitter/receiver has been used with the previous FC.

My first issue was the pitch, It was reversed (stick up was moving my quad backwards and stick down was moving my quad forward). Checked the transmitter calibration in Mission planner and the pitch was moving as it should. Also checked my transmitter settings and couldn't find anything faulty there either. So I did a motor test to see the motor sequential / order. I noticed that it was not according to the manual. So I changed the output cables from my motors/escs and they match the settings here -> http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/connecting-your-rc-input-and-motors

After that I went out again to see if my inputs on the transmitter were better this time. Now it looks like the pitch is more or less moving the quad in the right direction. But it also feels a lot more unstable prior to the change of the motor sequence/order. I did try to get some altitude to get rid of turbulence, but it was way to unstable for me to feel confident in gaining any heights. The props are moving in right direction according to the CW/CCW instructions on the same URL above.

I was using stabilize mode when I tested the above.

Any suggestions what I could do next?

Thanks!

I solved my problem and had my first successful flights today. Thought I would share what I did wrong so that someone might learn from my mistakes.

First fault was my pitch setting. I thought that the slider in Mission Planner would move up when I moved my right stick (pitch) up and down the same way. But this was wrong. When moving the right stick (pitch) up the slider should move down. The wiki/manual is correct about this, but somehow I managed to oversee that part.

Once I thought that my pitch settings was correct and the quad was still moving in the oops it direction I thought that my motor sequence might be wrong. Once again I did not read the wiki/manual good enough. I thought that when I ran a motor test in the cli the motors would spin in the same sequence as the motors are numbered in the wiki. Bad idea! This was the root cause of my issues I described above. The motors should, as stated when you run the motor test, spin in clockwise order starting with the motor right of centre.

Reversed the pitch in my TX and restored the outputs of the motors. Now it's running like a dream (for a non-tuned-setup).

Hopefully this information will help someone who's as confused as me.

Replies

Fredrik T May 3, 2014 at 12:44pm

I solved my problem and had my first successful flights today. Thought I would share what I did wrong so that someone might learn from my mistakes.

First fault was my pitch setting. I thought that the slider in Mission Planner would move up when I moved my right stick (pitch) up and down the same way. But this was wrong. When moving the right stick (pitch) up the slider should move down. The wiki/manual is correct about this, but somehow I managed to oversee that part.

Once I thought that my pitch settings was correct and the quad was still moving in the oops it direction I thought that my motor sequence might be wrong. Once again I did not read the wiki/manual good enough. I thought that when I ran a motor test in the cli the motors would spin in the same sequence as the motors are numbered in the wiki. Bad idea! This was the root cause of my issues I described above. The motors should, as stated when you run the motor test, spin in clockwise order starting with the motor right of centre.

Reversed the pitch in my TX and restored the outputs of the motors. Now it's running like a dream (for a non-tuned-setup).

Hopefully this information will help someone who's as confused as me.

This reply was deleted.