Morning everyone!
So i decided to try the whole Dji thing. It took all of about 20mins to swop the APM2 with the Naza.
The setup is as simple as it gets. That took no more than 10 mins.
After installing the hardware and software I took it outside and attempted the first flight.
All I have to say is wow! A truly awesome piece of engineering! Dont get me wrong, I love my ardupilot!
But the Naza is just amazing! Im not a very experienced pilot so im still a little wobbly flying the APM2.
The real reason behind buying the Naza, is for videography. I cant fly the APM2 stable enough for videography, obviously its perfectly suited for that, Im just not experience enough to fly it well enough. Duran DeV flies all his copters on APM and his videos are mind blowing. So its not the FC, its the pilot!
For a not so fresh noob, the Naza makes the whole experience a dream. I did a direct swop out of the FC on the standard jDrones Arducopter and it worked like a charm, no tuning or anything.
I only flew it in atti mode. Which I think is awesome for videography, the alt hold is accurate to within a few centimeters.
And when I put my gopro on it, which threw out the COG, the flight dynamics remained exactly the same!
I hope the Ardu boys dont get upset with me for posting this, but one has to have an open mind to all new tech :)
G:)
P.S. I bought a ST Discovery high wing foamy trainer for my APM2 for photogrammetry, so Ill post some vids and or crashes of that soon!
Comments
@ellison, you can take off as gently as you like.
With regards to low hover. When the throttle is at 50% its locks the altitude, even when its on the ground.
When you throttle up, it'll rise until you bring the throttle back down to 50% then lock that altitude.
Ellison, sound like something is iffy. On my WKM setup even full throttle is a nice controlled climb, and at just over 50% you can hardly tell if the copter climbs at all.
John, it actually doesn't climb at the 50% throttle, I think that the alt hold is fine. The problem is that after I start throttling above 50%, there's a bit of build up, and it just climbs too quickly for me to control it properly. Basically I don't feel that I have a fine enough control. Basically, its like driving a car in 1st gear all the time. Next time I get out, I'll probably put a dead weight on it, equivalent to the camera, to see if things improve, with some payload.
Ellison: If you setup is overpowered so that you climb at 50%, you should lover the idle position in the DJI setup to compensate.
Gareth, it's the "off she goes" thats hard on my nerves. So, I have to throttle above 50% for it to start climbing and pop it back down to 50%. to alt hold. I probably just have too much power on the Hexa, since I don't have any heavy payload, and just the 550 frame an motors, which is relatively light for the power available.
The other thing is, how do you get it to do a low hover, if you need to raise it above 50% to get an alt hold?
I have mentioned a couple of time that DJI stabilization and loiter performance is something APM should strive for. I know some people have achieved close/same performance levels, but that is definitively not the case for the average APM setup yet.
Finding the optimal gain settings with DJI WKM is dead simple. Start at 100% gain and assign the gain variables to X2/X3 inputs (assuming this is also possible with the Naza). Then map the X2/X3 R/C channels to variable pots on the R/C radio. Hover the multicopter and move a stick to a side and release it so that it falls quickly back to center. The multicopter should level quickly. Raise the gain using the variable pots and try again, until the multicopter starts to oscillate when you release the stick quickly. Turn the gain down again so that it is just below the point where it started to oscillate and you are done.
Notice all tuning is done it the air. I have never done any "hold in the hand" tuning with the DJI. Just start with moderate settings (100%) and it will fly just fine.
I also did my first FPV today! Will post when the vids are uploaded!
@Ellison, dude I absolutely LOVE the vario throttle!!! TX on, copter on. Wait for the led to flash green four times. Arm the motors, they start then put the throttle at 50%. If you dont do it within three seconds it automatically stops the motors. Then juice the throttle to 75% and off she goes. Reduce back to 50% and it maintains the altitude. On mine, within less than 10cm. Reduce to 30% and it slowly descends. The autoland lands the copter better than I do, could land on a buttercup :)
@PACEFE, With regards to loiter and nav with the arducopter. I havent been able to get it to work. With 5.5 code from mp, when I engage loiter it takes off with a mean speed to the left. I havent been brave enough to try any navs... Hopefully all with go well with my arduplane :)
@Chris,
I guess its time you find a better argument.
My APM 2 is grounded until 2.6 is released. Hope my best for this release or I will give up. Only problem I have is I wont llike to sell any one else a not working system, so I have to build a balancing robot to use APM with. At least crashes wont be that bad in this case.
I fly a 50USD multiwii and it does just the same as APM but without the crashes.
The only thing I could ever fly navigation with is Arduplane.
Now it looks that good navigation can be achived with Ublox 6 as shown by Mario.
Hope we all get the integrated APM 2.0 Gps replaced by the new one free....
Arducopter can actually not fly waypoints or rtl, at least as my quad concerns. Will be great to know how much people in this forum can do navigation and how many not.
Pablo
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