New to multirotor!

Posted by Steve Bramah on September 6, 2016 at 2:49pm

Hi ladies (possibly) and lads.

I have bought a Sky Hero Anakin and fitted it out with a Pixhawk 2.4.8. After a couple of minor technical connection problems, i have now got it in the air, but somewhat very precariously. I have replaced the "one shot" ESC's with T-Power 15a individual ESC's, and gone through every calibration programme known to man, including the MP calibration set up. When powering up without props, the throttle works perfect, but when props are fitted, the motor revs are extremely erratic, and engine revs seem to increase at will. Once its in the air, its fairly controllable, but the trick is getting it in the air in the 1st place. It seems like the Gyro is hyper-active!

Another winge  about Mission Planner. When you are asked which modes to choose which flight modes to assign, (stabilize, loiter, acro etc), how is a first time user supposed to know what these modes do, and how do you instigate which ever mode you choose. And what is PWM? Answers on a postcard.........

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Replies

  • Chris Hardwick September 8, 2016 at 8:25am

    I have my Spektrum set up in plane mode for all of my multirotors. I assume that by copter you mean helicopter. Helicopter mode uses very different channel mixing. 

  • Cala September 8, 2016 at 5:01am
    It's the same in my Hitec
  • Steve Bramah September 8, 2016 at 2:11am

    Just another question for those who know about this stuff. I am presently set up for this quad in "plane" mode on a Spektrum DX6i, but have just bought a FlySky 9 channel transmitter and i am about to try to set it up. Personally, i think i should be in "copter" mode! Your thoughts please.

  • Steve Bramah September 8, 2016 at 1:52am

    Hi, I think i can safely get it in the air. It flew like a dream before i added the pixhawk stuff. I'll let you know how it goes and thanks for the link.

    Cala said:

    Here you have Autotune instructions that Chris mention: http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/autotune.html#autotune 

    be shure that you can fly reasonably on alt hold first.

  • Cala September 7, 2016 at 6:33pm

    Here you have Autotune instructions that Chris mention: http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/autotune.html#autotune 

    be shure that you can fly reasonably on alt hold first.

    AutoTune — Copter documentation
  • Steve Bramah September 7, 2016 at 3:48pm

    Hi Chris, thanks for the info, and i will ty out your instructions as soon as possible, (a bit busy at work). I have a feelin i'm going to need your help again in the near future. I owe you a pint!

    Chris Hardwick said:

    Hi Steve,

    You can expect non-ideal performance characteristics until your PID gains are dialed in. Autotune is a feature that automatically performs in-flight tuning of your PID gains. You can set it up on a function switch on your radio or as a flight mode. It works really well. The result is normally spot-on for me, and in other cases close enough that I can get the rest of the way with just a few tweaks,

    To use Autotune as a flight mode, take off in Alt. Hold and when at the desired altitude switch the flight mode to Autotune. The wiki that I linked has all of the info on flight modes and use of Autotune. You can get to flight modes in Mission Planner by clicking Config/Tuning -> Flight Modes. This feature makes use of the channel 5 switch on your radio.

    Cheers,

    Chris

  • Chris Hardwick September 6, 2016 at 3:49pm

    Hi Steve,

    You can expect non-ideal performance characteristics until your PID gains are dialed in. Autotune is a feature that automatically performs in-flight tuning of your PID gains. You can set it up on a function switch on your radio or as a flight mode. It works really well. The result is normally spot-on for me, and in other cases close enough that I can get the rest of the way with just a few tweaks,

    To use Autotune as a flight mode, take off in Alt. Hold and when at the desired altitude switch the flight mode to Autotune. The wiki that I linked has all of the info on flight modes and use of Autotune. You can get to flight modes in Mission Planner by clicking Config/Tuning -> Flight Modes. This feature makes use of the channel 5 switch on your radio.

    Cheers,

    Chris

  • Steve Bramah September 6, 2016 at 3:23pm

    Hi Chris, what and where is Autotune?

  • Chris Hardwick September 6, 2016 at 2:53pm

    Many of your questions can be answered here -> http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/initial-setup.html.

    You probably have more setup to do. Have you completed autotune?

    First Time Setup — Copter documentation
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