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Cinestar 8 w/ Mikrokopter issues

Discussion in '3 Axis Gimbal' started by Alex Curry, Aug 7, 2014.

  1. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    Your giant stack of LiPos is going to cause quite a bit of interference with the GPS. Do you have the rest of the GPS "hood"? It might help to raise it up a bit, too. Remember, it needs to "see" the sky, and where you have it, quite a bit of the sky is going to be blocked.

    The GPS are also extremely susceptible to static electricity, and can easily be destroyed by touching the antenna. I know. It happened to me. And it's happened to many others, too. And the GPS will not indicate a failure...it'll just report 0 satellites forever. Not sure that'd affect the compass, per se, but if you have an extra MKGPS it might be worth a try.

    BTW, if you disconnect the Navi board altogether, does the copter fly? It should fly in manual mode just fine.
     
  2. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    I would not stack the batteries that way. For one your vertical CG will be way too top heavy. LIke Steve mentions, the GPS system is supposed to be higher than the Lipo wires. You can get a lot of GPS interference in a configuration like that.
     
  3. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    The compass is on the navigation control board so if you're getting compass errors that might be an indication of a problem with the ribbon cables going from the flight control to the navigation control. Inspect them carefully to make sure that the red-stripe is in the correct orientation.

    Using MK Tool, can you "talk" to the Navigation Control board from your PC?

    Andy.
     
  4. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Alex from your photo it looks like the GPS/NAV was on boom 1 as I can see the "2" on the boom to the left.
     
  5. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    Sounds like the batteries may be the issue. Thanks for the heads up on my incorrect mounting Steve and Dave, I've now stacked them side by side, hopefully this way works. I have not soldered the GPS Hood together yet, will do that today. The copter does start up with the navi disconnected....THAT was exciting, popped my cherry ;). At least I can fly this today!

    Gary, I bought this used and the previous owner labeled everything counterclockwise instead of clockwise. So, the GPS was technically on boom labeled 3, but would be 7 according to the motor layout in MK Tool. The labeling on the booms shouldn't matter as when I do the motortest, the motors power sequentially in the proper CW fashion from 1-8. The previous owner did not have the issues I'm having, said it was a dream to fly and rarely messed with it. I followed the pictures he sent when I put this together, hence the GPS being mounted on the left. It makes sense to raise it up over the lipo wires. That does mean I'll have to lift it another inch...just wondering why i'm having these issues and he didn't.

    Putting together a short video so everyone can see exactly what I've got going on here. Thank you much for your continued support. Andy, I've got your MK Tool dvd arriving in the mail today
     
  6. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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  7. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    And yes, I realize the red stripe on the ribbon cables are opposite as to what Andy shows in his "Rather Good Guide to MK Tool", but it only works this way...except for the debug connection on the Navi...talk about everything bassacwards!!!!
     
  8. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    Ah...Hearing those old QC motors brings back memories. Alex, if the cable is plugged in backward on both ends it will work because everything has the proper orientation. I would not run 2 batteries mounted like that. I would have them sit flat down. Your going to find your CG too top heavy for your vertical axis. Just my opinion. I would rotate the battery plate 90 degrees so that its side to side not front to back. The downside to this is that just about everything needs taken apart to orient the plate in that configuration. The battery orientation your is bolted on is really for those that use one battery.
     
  9. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    Thanks Dave...I was thinking the same thing. So, I can still use this plate, but mount the batteries flat side by side, perpendicular to the way they are currently mounted? I'm not sold on rotating the battery tray, for obvious reasons said above...This way looks alright to me, unless you have some insight on added benefits of the 90 degree rotation. Just need to switch the strap positions, maybe add two more of a longer length for the current position, so they're crossed...
     

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  10. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    I agree, Gary. That was the visual reference I was going from as well.

    Andy.
     
  11. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    In that second image youv'e posted (the one in Message #29), is boom #1 at the top (with red tape on it?)

    If so, it looks like you know have the GPS and navigation board on boom #5, Alex. Have to confess, I don't know anyone who's flying it position on boom #5.

    The Navigation Control board is also incorrectly oriented still. The two ribbon cable should emerge from the board on the left hand side of the copter as shown in this image (and assuming boom #1 is indeed the one with red tape on it).

    As was asked earlier, do you have the GPS ground plane shield?

    Andy.
     
  12. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    On post 29, we're looking directly to the back of the heli. Yes, I haven't found anyone else flying with the cinestar in this orientation. As I mentioned before, I just followed the numbers on the booms to the numbers on the power distribution board, this is how the previous owner had it set up, a bit strange. I can switch all of this, no problem...but none of this should affect the GPS issues I'm having. I'd like to make sure this is functioning properly before I solder the shield on. I'll try the calibration again with one battery, with the gps raised above and see what happens.
     
  13. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    I'll change this to the proper Y pattern with the red lights up front, but for now this is going to have to work.
     

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  14. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    Soldered GPS shield on, now I'm getting interference with the satellite receiver which will not power on with the GPS connected. They are side by side, does this make sense to you guys?
     
  15. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Alex can you confirm that the flight control board, under the battery plate, has the correct orientation with the arrow on it pointing to boom 1/motor 1, using MK nomenclature and standards?

    Have you considered buying the Cinestar/Mikrocopter build DVD's (Rather Good Guides) from someone like Quadrocopter? They may help you in this learning period.
     
  16. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    Alex

    That would work, the only thing I don't like about that configuration is if you rotate the plate 90 degrees you can have the lipo wires come out toward the back away from the navigation and GPS electronics. This gives you added protection against interference. Have I mentioned that its important to do everything you can to avoid interference with the GPS electronics? :) IF you do happen to occur interference in flight while you have GPS engaged, the GPS can wig out and make the copter extremely unpredictable.


    You should also either heat shrink or tape your lipo wires together so that they can't create a magnetic field between the wires and induce more interference.
     
  17. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    Yes, about those wires....we're in temporary mode, as the EC5's I bought did not fit the massage 8awg wires of these zippy's. I need to order some 6mm plugs asap. I'll tape the wires together for now, thanks for the heads up Dave.

    Gary, all arrows are facing towards boom 1. Flight Control, Navi, GPS, all forward. The copter functioned as expected upon first hover tests last night. It obviously only flies in manual mode, taking it out shortly to do the maiden!

    I received Andy's MK Tool Guide DVD yesterday, very informative.
     
  18. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    Excuse me? You're going to fly your copter with the wires taped together? I strongly suggest you exercise some patience. That is highly dangerous on many different levels. Oops...just realized you were talking about taping the +/- wires together instead of shrink-wrapping them. I first read this as you taping them instead of using EC5 connectors. Nobody would ever do that. Right? :eek:
     
  19. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    Hilarious. Yes, these bullet connectors need to go. Have had the bird in the air for a few hours so far. Lots of tweaking to do, but damn is this addicting! Tearing it apart now and re configuring, still need to figure out GPS issues...
     
  20. Alex Curry

    Alex Curry Member

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    Andy, I've got this all reconfigured properly and GPS shield soldered on. I'm getting around 7-8 satellites consistently so I know it's working. Still can't get the compass to calibrate. Following the procedure throttle up to left + right stick down = one beep...face copter north, right stick down = two beeps...should start chattering at me and I would proceed to roll it, but it's silent. Any other ideas? Gotta be something wrong with the compass...

    She flys nice in manual mode!

     

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