Hi all. Our little Movi Dick (really that's its name) is actually out with a client looking for whales and dolphins. They are having trouble with it booting into operation. I've noticed that sometimes booting it when it has a little motion on one axis or another can keep it from coming "alive". I was concerned about this issue powering up while on a boat moving on the sea... it sensing motion that they can't isolate ... and it seems that might be the problem. When they got to the hotel tonight it powered up fine. Does anyone have any suggestions for them, a work around? Big bummer if it can't be used on a boat...? I suggested they hold the gimbal really still in relation to itself, but will it still fail because it's moving on mass on the boat? Please help. Thanks steve.
Initialize on land. Then switch the remote tx to the off position. When you need to shoot on the boat, switch the remote tx switch to majestic or remote. When you finish the remote, switch to off. I am talking about the (off, majestic, remote) switch. We call the this switch in the off mode the "kill" option.
could i suggest to make this thread sticky, so that we can grow the knowledge of movi operation at sea. http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/movi-at-sea.1999/ Shame that Steven obviously missed this thread, before he went on a job.
It is now a sticky. Steven there was another thread about this same subject. Simeon is correct. If the boat is moving at all it may be impossible to keep the MōVI stable enough to get an initialization.
here is my report on this . Yes, used the movi at sea. I think have a thread on it . Just did a night shoot with the Movi out in open waters. In Choppy conditions. We sailed out with the gyro switched off. When we reached the location and tried to start the movi the gyros failed to work and the system did not want to come to life. I though perhaps there was a loose wire, was checking through the system and gave up. We sailed to an area which was calm with a harbour for a swim to cool off our frustrations. But as the conditions were calmer when we switched the gyro again and it is started working! We kept it on, moved to location and nailed the shots. The system worked great. Keeping a flat horizon, in choppy seas. I was wondering, from this situation we learnt that The gyros sensors have a problem trying to initialise when in a chaotic environment such as a rolling boat in open seas. Wonder whats the reason for this and if there is anyway to overcome this problem. Other positive . The lipo powered system gives it a incrediblity long operation duration. Enough for me to sail 1 hour to location , 1 hour shoot , and 1 hour back. And the batteries was still healthy charged up. http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/movi-out-in-open-sea.2473/
MOVI at Sea operation procedure. any further knowledge please copy and add or amend 1 power on land to get a fix or calm harbour 2 leave the gyros working as u travel to destination. notes : the movi is very power efficient . I had on movi in operation at sea for 4 hours and it only drained 40% of a lipo battery. However despite this, perhaps a hot swap battery system should be made just in case. 3 leave the gyro on the stand and working in operation while travelling to destination
Thanks gang... bummer if they are out all day looks like it won't be possible to swap batteries... ouch. Maybe they'll have calmer waters tomorrow.
Does anyone know for sure if I can run my Spektrum DX7 while it's plugged in? I know the graupners have an awful problem in that they trash the charging system if you turn them on when they are plugged in. If he can run the spektrum off power on the boat, they can leave the movi in "kill" saving battery life, they are going to be out all day so I'm trying to find a solution that will last more than a couple hours. Thanks for any help.
i think the movi can stay locked on without the controller . so u should able to conserve and charge the controller.
steve , if you go to that link . there are some good folks which suggested some solutions. but since this thread is now sticky . i will post them here. 1 If you use two or more of the MoVI batteries that you parallel charged (so they were balanced to be at the same voltage), you could extend the life of the LiPo installed on the MoVI, disconnecting the external LiPos when you were at the right location. The problem would be that if you were to use the MoVI for a while, then the installed battery's voltage would drop and there would be large current flow if you connected up the external LiPo's to transit to another location -- the external LiPos would "flash charge" the installed LiPo (with the emphasis on the "flash" if the current flow was too high). Perhaps a better way would be to have some larger capacity LiPo's in a belt pack and have them connected up as the sole power source, and of sufficiently large capacity that you never powered the MoVI off. You'd need to get a cable from the belt back to the handle-bar, and then a thin, flexible cable down to pan-part of the MoVI so that it didn't impede the ability to pan. I would tune the MoVI for hand-held operation by hand-holding it -- but I don't think you gain anything (other than the opportunity to get sea-sick) by tuning it while it's rolling and pitching on the boat. I could be wrong on that though. Andy. Help make our voices heard. Join PARCAP today. www.parcap.org Forensic Software Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA) : Trees = 2, Ground = 1 Props = 11. C8's (prime/backup), 2 & 3-Axis CS gimbal, Radian, MōVI MR, Hexa XL, Graupner MC-32, MX-20, Futaba 8FG, Spektrum DX6i
another suggestion - but it's sounds risky to me . best test this idea before going out. "You can also initialize the MoVI with the mode switch on the controller in the off position. This will leave the motors powered down while keeping the IMU and bluetooth powered up. When ready to shoot, flip the mode switch to majestic or dual and the motors will then be powered. It'll save some battery." Brad Meier, Oct 14, 2013
Yeah, the long life battery would be great, but that's out for tomorrow. What I was thinking was that rather than leave the movi in "on" on majestic mode, wouldn't be longer battery life to tune it, turn it on on shore, then leave the movi on but use the remote to switch it to the "kill" position where its not holding the camera in position like in majestic mode? But for that the radio needs to be one, I thought maybe he could run the radio off a power source for the day rather than draining the transmitter battery. Just wanted to see if the radio can run while plugged in... cuz the graupners can't... and i found that out the hard way.
I wonder if 2 controllers could be solution. hot swap the controls . I am not super sure about 'kill' position. Would be curious to know if the gyro can maintain a lock on 'kill' .
You need a parallel "Y" Harness. The harness has three connectors on. A female connector that plugs into the Movi and then two male connectors that will plug into the batteries. The Movi is running off of one battery and when that battery gets low you can plug a fresh battery into the other connector and then unplug the near dead battery. However it is important to remember that the other battery plug with the two exposed terminals is hot and needs to be protected when the Movi has a battery connected to it to prevent it from shorting out against anything metal. These parallel "Y" harnesses are available at most hobby shops. Some of the other controllers on the market have a box that you can check in the GUI that allows the camera mount to instantly start working when you connect power. It bypasses the startup calibration steps. This is very useful when operating off of boats in rough water. The unit uses the last power up with calibration as its reference. Then once you are off the boat and on dry land you can enable the start up calibration process. Wayne
Steven I looked at the manual for the DX7s. Unlike some of the other radio brands I don't see any warning other than an instruction to turn the radio off. Other manuals for some of the other brands are very specific with a warning not to use the radio while charging.
Guys, initialize the MoVI but then put it in the kill position using the dx7. You will have to leave it on the entire time until your done shooting to keep it in kill. Like most transmitters, if you plug in then turn on the transmitter, it will stop charging. There are options to replace the nimh transmitter pack with a lipo pack. This would last you probably a few days of continuous transmitter use. If you do go the lipo route, you will need to find a charging solution other than the dx7 charger.
Another option is to open the Application and take all the stiffness settings to 0. Then you could leave the MoVI powered and turn off the transmitter and maintain minimal power draw. We are working on a 'boat' mode which will allow booting on a moving object. It will be released in future firmware after it is thoroughly tested. Thanks Tabb