Remote controlled flying things-Quads, Hex, Octo or anything

[Marschy]

I'm also yet to face any major interference on the video line from any of the other electronics and I use unshielded wire.

I have a drawer full of surplus cables, including single channel shielded RCA cables. So, my philosophy is, if you've got 'em, use 'em.

I never throw wire out, it's too expensive to throw in the bin and always comes in handy.

[Crisp Image]

I am trying to calibrate using the apm. I wondered if i had the rx not connected correctly but all the slides moved the way they should in Mission planner. I may have to fry an individual setup.  The end points were in excess of 1000 so should be good.
But working today and tomorrow so i will have to wait till later in the week.  Storms are coming in the weekend so might be busy with the SES.
Regards
Crispy

[CBRK]

I am trying to calibrate using the apm. I wondered if i had the rx not connected correctly but all the slides moved the way they should in Mission planner. I may have to fry an individual setup.  The end points were in excess of 1000 so should be good.
But working today and tomorrow so i will have to wait till later in the week.  Storms are coming in the weekend so might be busy with the SES.
Regards
Crispy

Hi Crispy,

If your bottom end point is above 1000 or is your upper above 1000?  Either way that is not good.  A low PWM signal will be around 990 and below, an uppper PWM signal is around 2000.

The ESC's will need to see a signal closer to the 2000 to enter into the calibrate mode.

Best to try them individually first then but you'll need to get the PWM signal more towards that 2000.  I hope you meant try and not fry :-)

Your another one of us orange people :-)  I hear good things about VIC SES.  Its been constant up here was out on a crane job till 4am the other night, almost got pulled into a job at another unit today after my 4WD assessment.  I passed my the assessment this morning (been doing it for years just never got around to the assessment till today...)  Way different doing it in a service vehicle to mine, so much more ground clearance on mine, mine stops so much more easily, mine has a lower CG, etc.....

Chris

[CBRK]

I have a drawer full of surplus cables, including single channel shielded RCA cables. So, my philosophy is, if you've got 'em, use 'em.

I never throw wire out, it's too expensive to throw in the bin and always comes in handy.

Hi Mark,

If you've got it then it sounds good.  Looks like my wires bit box, I have a bunch of the stuff too :-).  I did have to throw some out as my wife was looking at me like I'm crazy when I started a 3rd box, so I decided best to keep her happy  .  She doesn't know about the 2nd box, it's the one that magically has whatever cable she needs......      She doesn't know about the draw with all the nice silicon stuff I've now acquired..... 

Chris

[CBRK]

Back to work today after the Christmas break.

I have just finished a marathon quad copter build fortnight. I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but I completed the Alien560 and the X-mode Alien.

I finished the X-mode Alien last night, minus a few screws and cable ties. I just have to calibrate and tune, then fly. This is the second of the two Hobbyking pan-tilt servo gimbals that I have pinched the parts from to make a tilt gimbal. I have replaced the fibreglass frame with an aluminium one for tilt only and hooked the servo up to the APM so it tilts automatically.

Those Elites look sweet Chris.

Hi,

Yep those elites do look nice on the frame 

The tilt gimbal looks good.  You'll get to see more sky from now on.  Thinking of doing the same on my Tri, the mini Quad will keep it fixed.

You used the sides of the kit but changed the board it mounts to?  I bought some standoffs so that I can mount the camera to the board.

Funny thing is I have two of those tilt kits too.

Chris

[Marschy]

Hi,

Yep those elites do look nice on the frame 

The tilt gimbal looks good.  You'll get to see more sky from now on.  Thinking of doing the same on my Tri, the mini Quad will keep it fixed.

You used the sides of the kit but changed the board it mounts to?  I bought some standoffs so that I can mount the camera to the board.

Funny thing is I have two of those tilt kits too.

Chris

I didn't use the board that came with the pan-tilt kit, I made my own out of PCB board and removed the copper. Yep, just the fibreglass has been swapped over for aluminium and haven't bothered with pan.

Because I had no choice with this frame but to set the tilt gimbal back so far, I've adjusted the limits of the servo in Mission planner so the servo goes no lower than 1500 which is pretty well level. Otherwise I just get a really good view of the top plate. Gotta love Mission Planner, so well thought out.

[Crisp Image]

Well an update.
Got the ESC cal done but not with the apm.
Checked the end points and they are 1050 to 1850 about.
Cant arm the fc. Cant figure out the compass cal and to top it all off the cables that came with the telemetry is a 6 pin to 6 pin so cant plug it in to the fc. Will contact hk later today and see if they will send me a cable that is correct.
Does anyone have Skype for a phone s friend if needed?
Does anyne have a spare telemetry cable incase i cant get one from hk?
Still no magic smoke!
Regards
Crispy

[Marschy]

Cant figure out the compass cal

Hold the quad level, roll it in a complete circle through 360 degrees, then pitch it through a complete circle 360 degrees.
Hold the quad nose up, roll it through 360 degrees, then pitch it through 360 degrees.

Takes about 20 seconds.

[Marschy]

Does anyne have a spare telemetry cable incase i cant get one from hk?

Yep, I have an APM to minimOSD cable. Plus an APM to telemetry radio cable. In fact I have two of each of the little buggers.

If you need a set, pm me your address and I'll send a set in the post.

[Marschy]

The reason the motors wont arm is by default, the configuration parameters indicate that there is a compass. If the compass is not calibrated, or the GPS does not have lock, the failsafe settings will not allow the quad to arm.

If you want to bypass the failsafe, connect the quad via USB to your PC, open mission planner, connect, then go to the CONFIG/TUNING page. Click on the 'Full Parameter List', then change the value in 'ARMING_CHECK' to '0' (zero), then click on the 'Write Params' button on the right hand side of the screen. This will allow you to at least check that you can arm your quad by moving the throttle stick to bottom right, bottom left to disarm.

[Marschy]

I made a simple jig for getting the centre of gravity sorted out. The quad just teeter totters on two blocks of MDF. I move the battery backward and forward until I am happy.

[CBRK]

Well an update.
Got the ESC cal done but not with the apm.
Checked the end points and they are 1050 to 1850 about.
Cant arm the fc. Cant figure out the compass cal and to top it all off the cables that came with the telemetry is a 6 pin to 6 pin so cant plug it in to the fc. Will contact hk later today and see if they will send me a cable that is correct.
Does anyone have Skype for a phone s friend if needed?
Does anyne have a spare telemetry cable incase i cant get one from hk?
Still no magic smoke!
Regards
Crispy

Hi,

You can modify the cable, on one of my cables was for the pixhawk (which is what yours is likely to be).  Check your box it might have both sets of cables.  I popped one cable and then put it in the right spot and trimmed off the end.  It will fit in the spot, or you can wait for the cable from HK or Marschy.

If you need help just PM me and I'll dig out my skype id for you.

Just be careful if you do the disable arming checks, I'd recommend only do that if you have the props off.  Also be aware that when you switch it back on it will require a power cycle to reread the value.  Odd that it takes effect immediately when I turn arm check off but to turn it back on it takes a power cycle.  I have on rare occasions turned the arming checks off with props on but that is for indoor tests with it tethered for the power module current calibration.

Regards,

Chris

[CBRK]

The reason the motors wont arm is by default, the configuration parameters indicate that there is a compass. If the compass is not calibrated, or the GPS does not have lock, the failsafe settings will not allow the quad to arm.

If you want to bypass the failsafe, connect the quad via USB to your PC, open mission planner, connect, then go to the CONFIG/TUNING page. Click on the 'Full Parameter List', then change the value in 'ARMING_CHECK' to '0' (zero), then click on the 'Write Params' button on the right hand side of the screen. This will allow you to at least check that you can arm your quad by moving the throttle stick to bottom right, bottom left to disarm.

Hi Crispy,

It shouldn't take long to sort out the issues (on AC3.2 the compass cal takes next to no time and can be done connected to via the USB), I recommend that you try to fix the issues, just that if you miss any of these when you go to fly you'll have a bad day.  I know it's tough but best to work through them, cant recommend that enough.

Chris

[Marschy]

I think it was the telemetry kit that came with all the extra cables. Needless to say, but I'm keeping one set myself as a spare.

Strange that you didn't have to do all the calibrations when you loaded the firmware Crispy!!

[Crisp Image]

I had to do the calibrations when I loaded the firmware but could skip the compass one.
The cables I have are 6 pin with the white plugs on each end. One needs to be a 6 pin and the other end a 5 pin.
If I knew the configuration of the pins I could modify the plug to get it connected.
They can with the HK AMP master kit so I thought it should have fitted.
Not doing anything tonight on them and working again tomorrow.
There are lots of wires to make tidy. I am using my scratch built quad at this stage and plan to get a new frame at some stage.
Regards
Crispy

[Marschy]

I had to do the calibrations when I loaded the firmware but could skip the compass one.
The cables I have are 6 pin with the white plugs on each end. One needs to be a 6 pin and the other end a 5 pin.
If I knew the configuration of the pins I could modify the plug to get it connected.
They can with the HK AMP master kit so I thought it should have fitted.
Not doing anything tonight on them and working again tomorrow.
There are lots of wires to make tidy. I am using my scratch built quad at this stage and plan to get a new frame at some stage.
Regards
Crispy

Hello Crispy,

Please confirm that you have a 6 pin and a 5 pin. The cables for my APM are 5 pin into the APM and 4 pin into the telemetry radio. It's not a problem though, I can make up a suitable cable for you.

Cheers, Mark

[Marschy]

I've had a Eureka moment with the sonar.

1) When it is enabled (RNGFND_PIN = 0) sit it on the ground. Go into 'Initial Setup', 'Optional Hardware', 'Sonar' and record the average voltage that gets displayed while it is sitting on the ground. With my Maxbotics LV-EZ04 it is consistently around 0.04-0.05 volts.

2) Go into 'Config/Tuning', 'Full Parameter Tree', 'RNGFND', and change the 'RNGFND_OFFSET' value to the opposite of the voltage recorded above. i.e. if you recorded 0.05, then set the value to -0.05.

3) Tether the quad a metre or so above the ground and get a reasonably accurate measurement of the height.

4) Go back into 'Initial Setup', 'Optional Hardware', 'Sonar' and record the voltage that displays when the altitude displays close to your measured altitude (flickers around a bit).

5) Calculate the scaling using this formula

(measured voltage from step 4 - RNGFND_OFFSET) / measured height

6) Record the value in the RNGFND_SCALING value and compare the measured altitude with the calculated altitude displayed in the 'Initial Setup', 'Optional Hardware', 'Sonar' screen

My altitude is within 20mm at all heights, how good is that?

[Marschy]

I had to do the calibrations when I loaded the firmware but could skip the compass one.
The cables I have are 6 pin with the white plugs on each end. One needs to be a 6 pin and the other end a 5 pin.
If I knew the configuration of the pins I could modify the plug to get it connected.
They can with the HK AMP master kit so I thought it should have fitted.
Not doing anything tonight on them and working again tomorrow.
There are lots of wires to make tidy. I am using my scratch built quad at this stage and plan to get a new frame at some stage.
Regards
Crispy

Hello Crispy, I'm pretty sure the APM 2.7 Telemetry socket is 5 pin, but only 4 cables get connected, same as the APM 2.6, but I need you to confirm that and the telemetry radio number of pins in each socket.

[Crisp Image]

The apm is 5 pin and the radio is 6pin as you can see in the photos
Regards
Crispy

[Marschy]

The apm is 5 pin and the radio is 6pin as you can see in the photos
Regards
Crispy

Crikey, I just noticed your telemetry radio is 433 MHz, you need a license to operate that radio in Oz. You need to get a 915MHz telemetry radio.

[Crisp Image]

Bugger.
Is this the cable i should be using between telemerty port and radio and mimun osd? It has a 5 p 6 p and mimnu connection.

Crispy

[Marschy]

Bugger.
Is this the cable i should be using between telemerty port and radio and mimun osd? It has a 5 p 6 p and mimnu connection.

Crispy

Hey Hey, that's the little bugger you're after. Phew, no cable making tonight.

You only need to confirm that 5V, GND and TX are common between the servo type plug and where it connects into the minimOSD and the Telemetry radio. 5V, GND, TX and RX should be easy to work out on the telemetry radio because it's marked on the case.

The 5 pin plug should have 4 wires going to it which will be 5V, GND, TX and RX, but I don't know without pulling my top plate off my quad which is RX or TX. GND is the closest connection to the edge of the APM board, 5V is the connection on the opposite end of the APM plug from GND. There should be a blank pin between GND and the RX or TX pin. If this is how the APM plug is configured, I reckon you'll be right to go.

[Mandrake]

Sorry to interrupt .. Banggood just emailed this little unit ... Any comments ??
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Tarot-Mini-250-QAV-Carbon-Fiber-Multcopter-TL250A-for-FPV-Photography/32248366154.html

[Crisp Image]

Just emailed ACMA regarding frequency allocations.
Should find out in a couple of days.
Thanks for your help guys.
Regards
Crispy
PS Chris. Yes an orange person with 25 years service and considering I am 46 now it is over half my life. I do everything from Road Rescue, Storm, Boats, Alpine Search even a little vertical work in the past. A team I was in competed in the international road rescue comp and ended up with a 3rd place. Not bad for a bunch of volunteers up against professionals.

[Marschy]

Sorry to interrupt .. Banggood just emailed this little unit ... Any comments ??
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Tarot-Mini-250-QAV-Carbon-Fiber-Multcopter-TL250A-for-FPV-Photography/32248366154.html

The only issue I see is that some of the hardware will need to be mounted on the top plate. Given the propensity for crashing these mini-quads, that's not a good thing.

Check out the ZMR250 on Aliexpress, and also look at how popular they are on RCGroups. The thread gets close to 20-50 posts per day, it's nuts.

Here is a link to the one I bought, which is a ZMR250 in all but name.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Blackout-QAV250-Carbon-Fiber-Mini-250-FPV-Quadcopter-Frame-Unassembled/2004383973.html