Just wanted to know if anyone is using a 3 axis gopro gimbal with their Y6 and if so which model is it and are they happy with the results.
I am currently trying to decide between the DYS Smart3, Zenmuse h3-3d (top end of the budget) or whether or not to forget the 3 axis and simply go for the Tarot T-2d.
If you have any other suggestions, and mounting tips if required, I'd be grateful for the advice.
Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere, if so feel free to politely point me in the right direction.
Replies
I recently added the DYS 3 Axis, took sime time before I could calibrate it without it going grazy on slight turn. Well, it was my first gimbal, might be smarter next time. Then some more weeks before I came up with a solution to attach it with carbon tube plus clamps, basicly those here:
http://www.flyingtech.co.uk/frames-props-parts-accessories/shock-ab...
http://www.flyingtech.co.uk/frames-props-parts-accessories/carbon-f...
The result is attached image.
Cons:
Getting DYS steady and calibrated might not be too straight forward.
Assembly was quite a tight job, with all the wires that you need to get out of the way. Yay to Y6 and wires!
Camera hangs pretty low, only a little above ground. There was a thread here were people also replaced the landing legs with higher custom legs. They do have a point.
It does weigh some and I lost ca 30% flight time, maybe more. Front motors seems to struggle more, meaning I have my Y6 off balance.
Props are in view on more agressive flight/turns
Pros:
Video is smooth :)
WP_20140802_001.jpg
Thanks for the info Heikko, looks good.
Just a couple of questions:
1. I did indeed think about, but now it is mounted under the upper plate, instead of even further in front. And that in my mind would have shifted the gimbal too much in front leaving the Y6 very much unbalanced. For some reason I understand that is not a good idea :) Already now I seem to be a little off-balance as sometimes the front motors are hotter than the tail ones.
2. Wide angle, I should try with the narrow, but I understood it is pretty much the same if I zoom in postprod. Gopro and 3+ especially is another topic, but I leave it at that. It does show me the image from above and serves to be good enough for hobby.
http://diydrones.com/group/arducopter-y6-owners-group/forum/topics/... was the thread where I got insipiration.
How far through do the carbon tubes go?
Do you only use one pair of the tube clamps (visible in the photo)?
If you use two pairs, how far back is the second pair? (Do the carbon tubes interfere with the PDB placement?)
Do you have any photos of what is between the top and bottom plates?
I've also got a DYS 3-axis gimbal and had intended to do something similar, however I ended up converting the airframe to a Y6B. The Y6B has embedded M3 nuts in the bottom plate, so I made a conversion plate out of G10 that was bolted to the DYS with standoffs, and then use standoffs again to bolt the conversion plate to the bottom plate of the airframe.
The only issue (so far) is that I use a 4S 6000mAhr battery and need to mount it perpendicular to the airframe. I've not yet come up with a good solution to this as the existing through holes for the battery velcro are too far forward.
You guessed right, I do use two pairs. The tubes go until the end of the cut that the lower plate has, also not going outside the second clamp. PDB was not in the way, but the power module wire sticks somewhat through the setup. I should probably turn it elsewhere, but there are already wires everywhere else. Did I mention the wires?
Anyway, attached are two images that should help understand what I am talking about.
WP_20140827_002.jpg
WP_20140827_005.jpg
Hi Heikko
Well I took the plunge and bought the DYS. So far all looks good but I wanted to check how you connected it to the pixhawk and configured the gimbal settings under Mission Planner to adjust the pitch.
I'm assuming once the gimbal is setup itself I simply follow the instructions for setting up a tarot gimbal in mission planner as per these instructions. The thing I was unsure of here is the Tilt channel where the image shows RC9 (next to stabilize tilt) but if you have any other pointers they'd be appreciated.
Right, after a little more self learning RC9 is the aux1 port on the pixhawk so that is fine.
Setting the servo limits and angle limits has no affect when flying on sticks but would impact when using the mission planner to control the camera although I'm not sure how this would work with the DYS as it appears to ignore secondary commands when still activating a primary command.
ie tell it to point down 90 degrees and then change that to only 45 degrees before it has passed the 45 it appears to still go to 90 nd then come back to 45 as opposed to simply stopping at the 45.I guess this may be something in the setup.
Once again any thoughts appreciated.
My setup is a little different, I have APM and hence I believe a different Rx connection, but I skipped connecting it through APM planner. I connected pitch control directly to my Rx (AR8000) that is mapped on the servo switch on my Tx (Ch6 on my DX7s). Not sure if that helps you as I guess you have a different Tx/Rx combination.
The pitch angle limits are set for the gimbal with the SimpleBGC utility. I have not fine tuned it much, got it more or less working and stopped there, tired from the long nights being lost in the PID tuning, connection options, endless unhelpful youtube videos etc. :)
Thanks for the feedback, After some further play with mine I realised I'm wrong on the overshoot issue as this only happens if it can't slow down quick enough when you reduce the angle from the one it was aiming for, if that make sense.
When connecting via the pixhawk / apm you should be able to adjust the camera position whilst flying missions automatically. I also believe you have to set the limits to be the same there as on the dys setup and ensure your servo signals, set in the mission planner, don't try to drive beyond the dys limits. this should mean that in your mission your camera angles are reflected correctly.
Anyway so far the results are good although I do probably need to do some tuning, and I can still get just over 10 minutes of flight time. In tests so far this takes about 4850 mAh from my 6000 pack which is roughly where I have my mAh failsafe.
That looks really neat!