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My First ArduCopter

Posted by Scott Quartochi on July 23, 2010 at 4:00pm

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This is my first attempt at building an ArduCopter. I started with franticly searching the web for parts. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I was looking. Between DIY Drones and AeroQuad, I was able to come up with a list. I have a little background with the arduino. But nothing like this. Mostly would work with LEDs, LCD screens, and Temp sensors.

Ok on with the build. Here are some pictures of what I have so far.

I have a thousand questions, that I don’t even know I need to ask yet.

Thanks to all on this site....

Tags: arducopter
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Comments

  • Scott Quartochi August 5, 2010 at 5:42pm
    Ok, I have completed the calibration of my ESC’s. I just went around unplugging all but one ESC, apply power, arm motor, quickly plug in a second ESC (power and sig) unplug the original one. I left in (just to power the APM) and increase the throttle to full, calibrated them all.
    Now that I have got that done, I thought it was time to do some testing. So I tied it to a 20lb dumb bell in the middle of my living room. Armed the motors and slowly applied power. It seems like the back motor is stronger than the rest, I even calibrated that one again.
    I am using an old 72MHz Futaba T6XH. So I only have one extra channel. I am wondering if I have it in the right mode.
  • Scott Quartochi July 25, 2010 at 6:27am
    You guys are the best!!!! I just asked the same question in the forum. I am so glad nothing is broken. Thanks for taken the time to explain this to me. I understand you are working hard on other things also. But you made me feel much better about my project.
  • Developer
    Jani Hirvinen July 25, 2010 at 6:18am
    well Z-accel is never at zero when quad stays on table :)

    It should show around 460 when at level. Why? Answer is rather simple. It's due earth gravity. Accell measures gravity changes and when It is level and not moving x/y axis are at zero but due earth is pulling us towards it's center with aproximate force of 1G. Accell what we use on OilPan shows 460 at 1G. This walue changes a bit on different locations. Best way to find it is to calibrate x/y to zero and then told you quad 90 degrees. And you should see 460ish value on your X or Y axis depends on which way you tilted IMU.

    So after that you can make Z calibration correctly :)
    جامعة الإمام محمد بن نصر المروزي
    الكتاب والسنة على فهم سلف الأمة بفصاحة العربية
  • Scott Quartochi July 25, 2010 at 5:36am
    Thsi is what I get from APM_ADC_Test
    2047,2025,2457,1673,1679,1679,1578,2843
  • Scott Quartochi July 25, 2010 at 5:15am
    No, do I calibrate that. It just seems to far off from the start.
  • Developer
    Sandro Benigno July 25, 2010 at 5:08am
    Maybe my version of configurator isn't updated. Let me see...
    OK. Now I got exactly the same here. ;)
    About Z accel... It's weird... Do you read 0 with it static on the table?
  • Scott Quartochi July 25, 2010 at 4:41am
    Sorry the pins are pointing to me but the nose was up.
  • Scott Quartochi July 25, 2010 at 4:39am
    Thanks so much, that clears up alot. Somtimes it's the smallest things that get me stuck. Should Z Accel be zero when just sitting there?
  • Developer
    Sandro Benigno July 25, 2010 at 4:19am
    Scott, it's perfect! You are doing it with the PWM connectors pointing to you and pitching the nose down.
    It's exactly what you will read on current version because the pitch is inverted.

    For starting to understand the sensors, you need to know that gyro reads only the quick and instantaneous angle changes and returns to 0. The accels are more lazy but continuing to read the actual angle. So when you have a cooperation between them, you achieve the best of two worlds.

    If you go from the "Flight Data" to "Artificial Horizon" you can see that all is perfect, except by the inverted pitch (the team is correcting it right now).
    down.it
  • Scott Quartochi July 25, 2010 at 3:52am
    @Sandro

    This is what I get holding it at 80 Deg

This reply was deleted.