Hi All, I am in Cape Town.
Built a 650 quad with pixhawk FC
Flying in stablz etc.
I cannot really eval whether the kit is properly 'tuned' since I have very little experience.
Is there someone who can help me 'hands-on' to eval my rig?
Thank you.
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If you read through that wiki page, you will be able to auto-tune your quad without any issues. A couple of things, I would like to add:
1) Make sure you are using a low voltage battery buzzer. Auto-tune can cause the motors to draw lots of power from the battery, and if you don't have one of this buzzers, you are in for a big disappointment.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/331798925873?limghlpsr=true&hlp...
2) Make sure the propellers are well balanced. High vibration can lead to poor auto-tune performance, in addition, use an anti-vibration mount, when installing your flight controller to the frame. That helps reduce vibration to the flight controller.
That's all for now and good luck...
Hi All,
Thank you for your valuable input re ATun etc.
Steps I am going to take includes -
Upgrade to latest stable FW
After setting the default params and fly in stbz m
Fly in AltH to record frame vibes.
If this is within the params, I am going to attempt ATun.
I will keep you posted on my progress.
Once again, thank you DIY.
Regards,
Gerhard
Cape Town
After you've done the firmware upgrade, do go over the basic calibration again... And let us know, how you go.
Hi Jack,
Excellent feedback, thank you.
I did read your comments, followed recommened vids, wiki, your topic on the forum, re ATun.
Your topic on the forum makes me rather apprehensive to do ATun..... ~)
I have tested in stblz mode that, when, giving large step R&P inputs, the rig appears to respond 'ok' ?
Without repeating what I have said elsewhere, I have posted this topic also on copter 3.x here -
http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/autotune-successfull-on-low-kv-mo...
Anyway, I understand that ATun, or in fact, PID adjustment to optimize flight dynamics,
is craft-dependant, hands-on action for one may not necc work for other. Reading through
all the info, with your input particularly, as per your topic gives me a lot of food for thought.... :)
btw I have a very solid electronics background, in fact I am working within this industry,
providing various r&d services. So, uav-tech is a natural and interesting field for me.
Regards,
Gerhard
Gerhard,
I'm unfortunatly in Jhb, so can't really "come and help" you :-) but I understand your frustration ! I built a Tarot 680 Hex and spend quite a while to get it to fly in such a way that I felt comfortable to try an auto tune. Every one refer back to the wikki, but if you don't fully understand PID settings, things quickly go South... I know !!
Anyway, my own experience is that the basic setting is quite close enough to fly it in stabilize mode, I do small corrections at a time and only on one parameter at a time and then fly it and see what the difference is. Once it is stabilized and alt hold mode is working well, you can try auto tune. It scared me the first time because of the sudden ( and to me quite voilent ! ) moves, but after the initial adrenaline rush, it worked out very well. I use a wide open rugby field to do this and at any stage you can bring the quad back if it drifts off too far.
I'll see if I can put up a pict of my PID settings tonight.
One other thing, CHECK vibration levels, it makes a huge difference in the way the quad flies !
Francois
Hi Gerahard
Have you come right with the vibrations on your quad
Hi George,
Steps I took so-far included -
Installed ArduCopter 3.3.3 over the weekend incl re-calib accel/compass etc.
Balanced the CF Props, which were out-of-balance, according to my Prop Balancer,
(I hope the PB is trustworthy, first time I am using it.....)
Further, I reset the connecting cables to the FC which could have caused vibration.
I had a look at the mounting of the FC, compared to what others are doing,
I think I am on the right track with it, so I kept it as is, for now.
I am going to do test flights with the craft during the week and then re-access
the vibration status.
btw, with 3.3.3, is there a way one can determine the state of COG of the craft,
iow, if it is way off. Perhaps looking at the data flash log file in-flight stats after a flight?
I would have thought that, during a stable hover, the motors should ideal exert the
same rpm, or power.
I will post again once I have do so.
btw, It looked like an excellent day for RC flying yesterday?
Regards,
Gerhard
Hi Francois,
Great to hear from a fellow-SA, albeit from Jhb :)
Thank you for your input and advice.
One of the checks I am going to re-evaluate to prior to ATun, is indeed Motor Vibes.
During the past week since I have posted on DIY, I received a lot of info, advice, pointers,
fair comments which I am busy digesting.
Have a great day!
Regards,
Gerhard
Cape Town, South Africa
Not huge Francois ALL the difference ;-)
Hi Jack
Thank you for your valuable comments.
(btw - It appears that there is no-one in South Africa who have interest/exprience in PixHawk, else the locals keep to themselvesnot wanting to share and assist fellow hobbyists. I come to this conclusion since no replies in this SA group)
I read the wiki info and watched the vid you referred me to.
I think the vid may be a bit above my current experience-level to attempt properly.
I want to option for the Auto-tune, however, I read somewhere that Auto-tune can
fail on bigger, heavier quads, with low kv motors.
My build is based on the Tarot 650 Sport Quad Frame (X-config)
FC : PixHawk (3.2.1)
Motors - Tarot 4114 320kv
ESC - HobbyKing Xrotor 40A
Batt - 8AH 6S
AUW : 3kg
I would like to know if Auto-tune can be done sucessfully on this build.
( I am posting this in Copter 3.x as well)
Your opinion?
btw, I posted in Copter 3.x (multi-rotor) a question re Auto Landing, any comments?
Regards,
Gerhard
Cape Town, South Africa
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