John C.'s Discussions

Informative Flight Today

Hello All,

I was actually able to capture a good amount of data on my flight today.

Also a miraculous landing on video!

I had 4 waypoints set to repeat twice, with an AUTO takeoff. Here is my WP file.

#define WP_RADIUS 30 // What is the minimum distance

Started by John C.

Wild ride today!

Had a relatively good one today. Kind of fun to watch on the video.

I brought the PID gains back to stock.

I set up AUTO takeoff and some waypoints. You'll notice in the video that I didn't seem to get the 20 degree pitch for takeoff in auto. I also

Started by John C.

Good flight today with AUTO on APM

Hello All,

When I got to the area I fly in today, the wind starts picking up, and looking back at the weather station, it was average 5mph with gusts to 8mph.

Not that much, but a decent amount for testing new small aircraft.

I said to my self, "discret

Started by John C.

Another good flight with APM

Hi All,

I got another good flight in today, and learned some things.

You'll see in the video that stabilize and auto both work great to keep the plane flying true.

Around 4:20 you'll see some good stall inducing turns and quick recoveries.

Things I need

Started by John C.

GREAT success with APM today

3rd flight with APM on-board today, only the 2nd time I've turned it on while in the air.

Stabilization is *awesome*. Really works well.

FBW_A works well, I was able to get good right-bank going, but my left-bank seemed weak.

I had on-board video, but

Started by John C.

APM - Poor startup behavior

Hi all,

I know it's very early in the APM game, but I have a strange issue with the r628 code and startup.

I have to reset the AP for it to boot normally. A regular startup puts my ESC in programming mode, with no control over the plane.

Just wondering

Started by John C.

My APM Maiden

Hello All,

Got a chance to get my APM setup in the air today with wireless telemetry.

Here's a quick video of the setup.

She actually seems fairly well trimmed. Here's my initial concern that I need to investigate.

When she's flying fairly straight and

Started by John C.

Getting a little confused on gains

Hello All,

I've been tweaking my gains a bit, and I'm not understanding something correctly.

The Attitude gains will stabilize the aircraft.

The NAV gains will control how quick it turns to hit a waypoint, right?

Are the two related? ie: if I turn one d

Started by John C.

2.6 Success!

Hello All,

Got the bird back in the air again this morning. 2.6 is looking good with thermopiles!

I need to turn my servo gains down, as I'm driving a little drunk, but other than that.....

Altitude hold is excellent.

WP navigation is excellent in my bo

Started by John C.

2.6 Flight Testing

Hello All,

I downloaded the code that Chris linked to, and loaded it up on the plane. EZ* with thermopiles.

I've got the stabilization tuned fine.

Here are my existing issues:

1) I'm no longer getting a lock on my uBlox GPS. I'm going to go back downl

Started by John C.

FBW roll/pitch authority

Hello All,

Got a chance to put my thermopile plane with 2.6 in the air today.

In FBW_A I do not have enough authority of the roll/pitch.

I've got the stabilization dialed in pretty well, but need to improve WP nav response, and FBW authority. My AUTO n

Started by John C.

Got Mine

Hello All,

I got my mega board today. Forgot a couple misc parts so it will be a few more days until I get it fired up.

Also have the AVR programmer.

Just wondering if we've started any docs for this yet? Any pictures of a board with more than just th

Started by John C.

Hello All,Well, I tried to repair my uBlox antenna, and I'm not sure it went that well.I downloaded u-center, and when I use the same port settings I use to connect to ardupilot, I get this in the "Packet Console". Doesn't seem good, should this app

Started by John C.

Date variable?

Hello All,I want to add the date / timestamp to the serial output of ArduPilot.I can see where to add it, but I don't really see a date variable or method in the code.Does it exist?Thanks!John C.

Started by John C.

Flight Logging / Ground Station

Hello All,Just added some XBees to my setup. Everything works great with the Ground Station.I can see my plane in Google Earth, but can't seem to figure out how to log/record a flight.I'm sure I'm missing something easy, but searching turns up nothin

Started by John C.

Waypoint Accuracy

Hello All,I seem to have lousy tracking to a GPS point. Either RTL point or pre-defined waypoints.I wouldn't exactly say that it has no idea where it's going, it just doesn't seem to make concise decisions. Seems like I get a RTL radius of a couple h

Started by John C.

Realistic Waypoints?

Hello All,Is it realistic to expect an easy star to fly these waypoints?

Seems like they may be a little close together, but I'm not sure.

Started by John C.

Complete EasyStar Parts list

Hello All,After a couple of crashes, I've had to rebuild this a few times. Also, since I'm new to this, I have a lot of the orders laying around. I searched and didn't find this as succinct, so I thought I'd post it.This is a complete parts list with

Started by John C.

Oscillations

Hello All,Got a new rudder/elevator easystar back in the air today, and when I switched to fly-by-wire it didn't roll-over and dive! Making progress.The stabilization appears to be working, but it's over-correcting itself. The nose wobbles in a 12" c

Started by John C.

Reversed Servo Reminder

Hello All,Just a friendly reminder to everyone that there are MULTIPLE reversed servo variables in the *.h files.I grenaded a nice aileron EZ* yesterday by having REVERSE_ROLL and REVERSE_PITCH correct, but the REV_FLY_BY_WIRE_CH1 and REV_FLY_BY_WIRE

Started by John C.