Great deal on a 3 axis gimbal with Alexmos controller

Gary McCray July 25, 2015 at 5:16pm

Hi Dan,

Just a quick thought, I have read that when you power the board from the USB it doesn't power the 3rd (yaw) axis ESC (although on mine Yaw does work to a degree, sort of, somewhat, not very well but it's trying).

I am using a 7.4 volt battery and with direct battery power Yaw follow actually works pretty much as it's supposed to when powered.

I have now updated my firmware (required to use the GUI I downloaded from Basecam) and now the Alexmos boards clearly need recalibration and reinitialization.

It is stable but if you move the base of the gimbal to fast or far it can lose sync.

But at least it now comes up and shows a green LED solid connection rather than a (green LED blinking) error.

I am going to follow the initial setup instructions linked to at the DYS Manual PDF link I posted originally and see if that helps:

http://www.getfpv.com/media/wysiwyg/documentation/3AxisbrushlessGim...

I do think that actually getting yaw to work is dependent on using the battery for power not the USB.

Dan Murray July 25, 2015 at 1:26pm

Hey Gary,

Thanks for your message. Actually, DSLRPros felt the gimbal was bad too and sent me a new IMU and processor. I just replaced it today, and things are significantly better, but not fixed.

Now, it only seems to freak out in the yaw direction. I fired up the software and disabled the yaw-follow and it works like a normal 3 axis gimbal, holding the camera in one spot exactly. The problem is, that doesn't work great either - I need the yaw to "track" or at least stay pointing forward, not hold heading. The instant I turn the yaw follow back on it just starts randomly spinning back and forth again.

Will have to keep messing around I guess..

Gary McCray July 24, 2015 at 5:06pm

FYI update,

I finally had a chance to plug in and test my DSLRPros / DYS gimbal at least as far as basic stabilization with the following result.

No additional firmware programming or testing has yet taken place on my Gimbal.

With laser rangefinder attached to the Camera tray and counterbalanced for roll and pitch, when the 7.4 volt power was applied the laser rangefinder immediately leveled to horizontal and level in roll.

When the chassis was pitched and rolled the rangefinder remained level.

When the chassis was yawed, the camera remained stable and followed the yaw with a short < 2 second lag (which is what I would expect of yaw stabilization).

I think this is a good opening test for the rangefinder and if it doesn't do this I think it is safe to assume something is wrong.

And Dan, from the results you have reported above, it seems pretty likely (to me at least) there is something wrong with your Gimbal.

You will need to have a GoPro or weight simulating the GoPro in the camera mount pod so that you can achieve good static balance.

I used a 7.4 volt battery but note that on the DYS web site that their 3 Axis Gimbal is listed to work with anything from 7.4 to 25 volts.

If anyone can do so I would greatly appreciate clarification of the input voltage range of this DSLRPros version - Mike Perhaps???

Obviously 7.4 volts will work and is safe for testing, but I suspect that 11 volts (3 cell or higher might achieve faster tracking) if it is OK.

Best Regards,

Gary

Dan Murray July 21, 2015 at 12:33pm

Mike?

Dan Murray July 18, 2015 at 3:23pm

Mike,

I tried every single one of the profiles you sent, and none work. It's still seizing as much as before. Even sitting still with the motors turned off, the gyro and accel readings are all over the place, which just doesn't make sense for something sitting still. A real bummer as I lost a weekend on the water's worth of aerial shots.

I know this was an eBay auction, but is there any chance of exchanging it?

Thanks

Mike Knott July 16, 2015 at 8:15pm

Dan,

I'll make sure that's sent in the morning. Sometimes you need to do a 6DOF calibration on the IMU to get a good value. Usually, though, the problem is either the IMU value is off, or the motor direction isn't set up right. I've rarely had a bad gimbal rear its head during testing. We can help you through this.

Dan Murray July 16, 2015 at 8:08pm

Mike,

Thought I saved the profile (I do have a file) but may have missed a step. Would be great if you could resend. FWIW, it was going crazy from the second I plugged it in, only started messing with it in an attempt to fix.

Thanks

Mike Knott July 16, 2015 at 7:55pm

Dan, when you updated the firmware, had you saved the settings from the factory? When I get into the office tomorrow, I can send you a config file. The default settings in the gimbal software are not the same as what is shipped from the factory.

Quadzimodo July 16, 2015 at 7:50pm

Dan - Got mine sitting in the box still and haven't fiddled with it yet. Will have a look over the next couple of days and let you know.

Muhammad Al-Rawi July 16, 2015 at 7:49pm

I had a similar experience after updating mine. Solved by correcting the IMU orientation on the basic page.

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Great deal on a 3 axis gimbal with Alexmos controller

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