Hi Arduplane Users,
Seeking some help if anyone has experienced this problem before with their APM.
We are currently using APM 2.5 on a Skywalker 1880. Its flashed with 2.40 firmware as we had some custom code changes to trigger camera and also log headings.
Th problem seems to happen randomly..we can fly the plane for like a total of 100km distance traveled in total at a crash will happen on the 101km..or it can happen on the very first mission. Initially we thought it was a mechanical failure but since most of the time we are like 2-3km away from where the crashed happened we couldnt really determine. But recently we are closer to where the plane is flying and this is what it will do:
1) As its banking or on a straight path..throttles up to almost full
2) Dives straight to the ground.
3)Any attempts to switch to stabilize and manual is not possible
All this happened only in Auto mode except one occasion in stabilize it dived but we had the airspeed sensor on for that incident so that may have caused it. Other than that the airspeed was not enabled.
I have some logs but im not sure it will be helpful as we only log certain parameters and at 4 secs apart.
Some of my setup info:
Plane: Skywalker 1880
APM: APM 2.5 with UBlox GPS Lea 6 & 3DR 433MHZ Telem Set
Motor: OS Motor OMA3820-1200/Turnigy G10 1200 KV
ESC : Tahmazo 60A/Turnigy 60 A (Red wire is disconnected as we use seperate BEC)
Servos: 4 X Emax ES08MA
Tx & RX: Futaba 12FG with 7 chn RX / JR 9303 with AR7000
UBEC: Hobbywing 5a, MAX 7.5A switching at 5V
Battery: 2 x 14.8v 3300mAH parralled to ESC and Balancer connected to BEC to supply 5v to APM
Others: PRISM IR Trigerring device, Airspeed Sensor(disabled after one of the crashes as we suspected it may have contributed)
We are migrating to the 2.67 code after successfully porting our custom codes as we felt that all the crashes exhibit the same behaviour and may be down to some bugs in the 2.4 firmware. But we just want to make sure that its not any of of the other electronics .
I could post the TLogs or onboard logs when i get the data from my work laptop tommorrow. These crashes are driving us nuts as we thought we solve the problem and happens again after a while.
Any comments and suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers and have a good weekend,
Khairul
Replies
Btw,
Anyone knows hot get the logs to log heading? previously on 2.4 we could get to read the headings now it just shows as zero even after modifying the log code and edited the libraries.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks ,
khairul
Now we are testing on 2.67 on a Bixler..so far so good, have clocked 24km mileage..fingers crossd all will be ok till we hit 200km of flying :-)
And using the ALT_CTRL_ALG set to 1 seems to be better than the default setting. Pitch while turning and throttle increments are not so drastic while turning.
Will update how it goes.
Cheers,
Khairul
I have exactly the same problem last week with APM2.5 on a Skywalker 1.8m (black).
Took off on manual, checked stabilise mode OK, then switched to Auto. The plane immediately powered up, banked and dived. I switched to manual mode but no responses to any controls. It went it vertical from 300ft and make a 6" hole in the ground. The recovered motor was very hot.
I have to say I flown this configuration for about 15 flights. This is the second time it did an uncontrollable dive. The first time was repairable because it dived into mud. This time the plane was totaled.
Chris
Hi Khairul
I've had a very similar experience, it would crop up every now and then. See this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17GaSx7UbJY
Thinking back, it could very well have been 2.4 as well.
It would happen mostly when the APM was on for a while, it would just go nuts, even in Stabilize - so maybe it's not exactly what you're seeing - I could switch modes while it's trying to kill itself.
I hope you're problems disappear with 2.67. I know all about celebrating solving a problem only to have it re-appear.
Can I go slightly off topic, how the heck do you get 200km on one flight with a Skywalker??
1. remove any user code for test. user code may stop cpu
2. Use two separate supplies, one for the servo and other powerful transmitters, another for the autopilot. otherwise the voltage brownout due to congestion servo often leads to failure of autopilot. APM 2.5 requires a stabilized power supply 5volt + -5%
3.ardupilot take care of humidity, even mist condensed in some places (circuit quartz resonator) can lead to a shutdown of the processor.(I cover these areas protective paint)
That's very old and many bugs have been fixed since that version. Hard to say which of those was causing your issues but glad you're updating to 2.67, which is solid.
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