Filmed with cinestar thailand was great, got back yesterday. Had a shoot today 5 hours away and I have no yaw control on my cinestar. It heli turns slow to the left and my telemetry on my TX acts up. Has anyone seen this? I have 5 hours before I need to drive back. This is my most important shoot ever, super bummed. Any help is appreciated!
Chris: I'm assuming that you're using Radian sensors? If you are, do you have time to connect up the Radian software to connect to the Radian pan sensor please? We need to see what the Radian pan sensor thinks is going on. What Transmitter are you using? MX-20? To get a faster response, please email me at ajohnsonlaird@me.com Andy.
I'm using the spektrum DX8 Ok, so I've figured out that I can yaw left but not right. I've been testing with the radian gimbal turned completely off and it still has the issue. I've quadruple checked my motor connections and confirmed they are spinning in the proper direction. When I try to yaw right they speed up but don't actually turn it, when I yaw left it works as expected. I've checked mktool and the transmitter in "channels" yaw seems to be working? Would replacing the flight control be an option? Could the BL's be bad? Or do you have any other recommendations?? I know that when I would initialize before, the heli would beep 3 times, now it beeps 2. Not sure if that matters.. Thank you so much, I'm still on thaliland time, jet lagged and freaking out here. It's a huge shoot. Thanks in advance! Chris
Uneven yaw can often be correlated to props being out of level. Can you confirm all the props are even and level? Tabb
Thanks, Tabb. I'm on the phone with Chris right now. We're working through some diagnostic strategies. MK Tool/Channels shows all is well -- no asymmetry. He's also reseating all the bullet connectors. Next up is to swap out the FC. Fortunately he has a spare. No GPS/NAV board so those are not a factor. Prop orientation good. Motor direction good. Individual motor test with MK Tool good (both in terms of speed, direction, and bearing noise -- a couple that are a little rough, but not mission critical). Keep you posted. Andy.
Any word on if the flight controller swap worked? If not I would suspect some setting in the transmitter limiting your yaw. Maybe something got changed in Travel adjust or a mixing setting?
I agree with Brad Make sure your yaw is set at "0" and "254" If left is ok but right is not then maybe is a travel adj. issue Bill
Chris if you are getting two beeps on initial power up the FC has shifted from the normal mode of "3" to a setup mode "2". That means all of the settings in controlling the FC are different than what you have been flying. Easy to check with MKTools attached. From memory there is a little box in the lower left on the setup screens in advanced mode. If it shows a "2" change it to a "3". I think you can do this from the transmitter through the sticks but don't remember those positions. Likely by accident it was the sticks that changed it if this is the issue. Been there and had it happen. Real head scratcher. Hope this fixes it for you quickly.
Sorry for the delayed response. Didn't get to bed until 2:30am Pacific. I'll take the liberty of answering for Chris. The things we checked were: 1. Replace FC. No change. 2. Trim control (using MK Tool, we could see that channels 2, 3, and 4 were all reporting 128 when the sticks were centered and ≃1 and ≃255 at limits so we were sure that was all good. Overnight I got email from Chris (he must have pulled an all nighter) that Tabb's suggestion turned out to be correct. He was following the advice on another forum about rotating the booms to take the prop shafts out of vertical to make the copter more responsive in yaw. That seemed to be the problem -- although the last message I got from him just said that there was now "no yaw." What I hope that means is that there was no uncommanded yaw and that now he could yaw left and right. We'd discussed that being the issue as soon as I saw Tabb's post, but Chris' take was that he'd not changed the offset angles on any of the motors from when he last flew (in Thailand) a few days ago. He'd obviously had to break down the bird and re-assemble it, but I suspect he had reference marks on the booms/hubs. (He, like me, numbers all the props, etc. etc. to try and ensure repeatable setup....) More to the point, I'm not sure whether Chris made it to the shoot -- it was a four hour drive from his house and he needed to be there at something like 7:00 AM Mountain Time. I think there's even more merit in building an Azzarelli Gauge (Joe's aluminum L-bracket with two holes that you put across the prop shafts to ensure they're vertical). @Chris: Gary suggests you double check that the transmitter has not inadvertently switched from Mode 2 to Mode 1 as well. I think that's about it. Chris: Let us know how everything panned out (pun intended). Andy.
Hi Gary: Are you talking about the number at the bottom of the MK Tool window to the left of the Read button? That's the Parameter Set value, not the mode, I think. So 3 is Easy or Beginner set of parameters. I don't think it controls the flight control mode does it? That number just shows which Parameter set is currently loaded into MK Tool for display/changing/writing back to the MK Boards -- you have to manually select Parameter set 3 with the sticks (left stick up+left, right stick up). Let me know if I've got that all wrong. Andy.
Just a note on prop alignment. I tend to put all the props on then just site each prop by eye while comparing the tips to each other as I spin the machine around on the 360 gimbal. Usually I can get the props withing 5% of perfect pretty consistently. The Flight Control heading hold loop will mop up the rest. A good way to test prop alignment is to compare your yaw speed on left vs right yaw....if they seem pretty equal you are getting damn close to perfect prop alignment. Tabb
I do the same, Tabb, with the addition that I rotate both of the props 180 degrees during the eyeball check just to make sure that both blade tips on both props are in the same plane of rotation. Edit: Call me anal, but if you do, please spell it Andy. Andy
Andy you are correct on the naming, wasn't at my computer. The value that is set there controls the number of beeps. So if it is set to 2 you get two beeps at calibration. 3 beeps on that setting and so on. My understanding is that the values on the various tabs are assigned to each of the parameters. So in a worst case you have setup parameter 3 to be an octo and parameter 2 is a hexa. Bad karma could happen. From the wiki or Dennis O'Hara's compilation: www.mkmanual.com Radio Transmitter Parameter Selection: parameter sets can be loaded using the transmitter by moving the sticks into the following positions. · Setting 1 = Throttle up / Yaw left + Roll left · Setting 2 = Throttle up / Yaw left + Nick up / Roll left · Setting 3 = Throttle up / Yaw left + Nick up · Setting 4 = Throttle up / Yaw left + Nick up / Roll right · Setting 5 = Throttle up / Yaw left + Roll right Warning: All settings are preset. If changes are made to the settings, please take care, that you use valid data. If you load a setting with wrong data, the Kopter can malfunction or crash! Warning: Don't change a setting during flight (e.g. using Wi.232 etc.) - the MK can be lost or crashed! always land first, then write settings and start again. While performing the calibration, the actual "Setting" (amount of beeps represents the setting-number) can be chosen.
Right. That was what I was going by for the DVD on which I'm working. There are five different parameter sets that can be stored on the MK Boards -- each set is independent, so making a change on one parameter set does not propagate to another value set. So you need to keep very careful records as you what parameter set has which values and for what purpose. I think this means that if, say, you want to make a channel/POTI assignment that applies to all five sets, you have to systematically do a Read, make the change, and then do a Write, then switch parameter sets and do a Read/Write. When you do a Save, you save only the current set into a text file with a file type of .mkp (see the end of this posting for an example of the contents). This is the easiest way to communicate the current settings that you have -- just Save and upload the .mkp file. For brave souls, an alternative method of dealing with parameters is to edit the text file and then Load the text file into MK Tool, and then Write it out to the MK Boards. This is not for the faint hearted and, in the wrong hands, will cause you to fly like I do. Andy. ---- CONTENTS OF A TYPICAL .MKP FILE [Setup] Name=Easy IniVersion=4 GlobalConfig=107 GlobalConfig2=162 GlobalConfig3=4 [Channels] Nick=3 Roll=2 Gas=1 Gier=4 Poti_1=5 Poti_2=6 Poti_3=7 Poti_4=8 Poti_5=9 Poti_6=10 Poti_7=11 Poti_8=12 Receiver=6 MotorSafetySwitch=5 [Stick] Nick_Roll-P=6 Nick_Roll-D=10 Gier-P=4 ExternalControl=0 [Altitude] Setpoint=255 MinGas=30 P=15 Barometric-D=30 Z-ACC-Effect=0 Gain=15 HoverVariation=8 GPS_Z=20 StickNeutralPoint=0 MaxAltitude=150 [Gyro] P=100 I=120 D=27 Gier_P=100 Gier_I=120 DynamicStability=70 ACC_Gyro-Factor=27 ACC_Gyro-Compensation=32 DriftCompensation=0 Stability=6 Main-I=16 MotorSmooth=0 [Others] MinGas=8 MaxGas=230 Compass-Effect=64 UnderVoltage=140 NotGas=90 NotGasTime=90 Orientation=0 CarefreeControl=0 FailsafeTime=45 FailsafeChannel=0 [User] Parameter_1=0 Parameter_2=0 Parameter_3=0 Parameter_4=0 Parameter_5=0 Parameter_6=0 Parameter_7=0 Parameter_8=0 [Camera] ServoNickControl=128 ServoNickCompensation=50 ServoNickMin=15 ServoNickMax=230 ServoNickFilter=0 ServoRollControl=128 ServoRollCompensation=85 ServoRollMin=70 ServoRollMax=220 ServoRollFilter=0 ServoInvert=2 ServoNickRefreshRate=4 ManualControlSpeed=60 Orientation=0 Servo3=125 Servo4=125 Servo5=125 [Loop] Config=0 GasLimit=50 StickThreshold=90 LoopHysteresis=50 TurnOverNick=78 TurnOverRoll=78 [Coupling] YawPosFeedback=90 NickRollFeedback=55 YawCorrection=70 [Output] J16_Bitmask=95 J16_Timing=40 J17_Bitmask=255 J17_Timing=40 WARN_J16_Bitmask=170 WARN_J17_Bitmask=170 [NaviCtrl] GPS_ModeControl=254 GPS_Gain=90 GPS_P=90 GPS_I=90 GPS_D=90 GPS_P_Limit=75 GPS_I_Limit=85 GPS_D_Limit=75 GPS_Acc=0 GPS_MinSat=6 GPS_StickThreshold=8 GPS_WindCorrection=90 GPS_AccCompensation=42 GPS_MaxRadius=245 GPS_AngleLimit=140 GPS_PH_Login_Time=5 CH_Altitude=25
Nick: Yeah. Joe did. http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/how-to-align-the-motors.312/ Joe: I apologize. I seem to come up with a different spelling of your name every time I write it. If you need to return the favor, Johnson-Laid is my personal favorite! Andy.
So just to confirm, the prop alignment was the problem even though I lined up the offset marks that I have been using for 9 months. Special thanks to Andy for almost pulling an all nighter with me on the phone troubleshooting. One of a kind guy that Andy! I made it to the SHOOT!! I went to sleep at 5am woke up at 6am, red bulled it up, drove 4 hours to the shoot. I was a bit late but I made it, and it was freaking awesome. The video is a viral video and the guy I filmed with has 15 million views on his last video that was similar to this one. The video will go online in a few weeks. I will share it when it's available. Only issue I had was cold batteries, or maybe a cold charger charging the batteries? The charger would finish charging and my telemetry would read 16.5v and then on take off my telemetry would freak out. Is that typical of cold batteries?
So glad to hear you made it and everything was a success. Just FYI: My CS8 has all booms numbered as well as the props and I also have alignment marks on the booms where the meet the bottom center plate. Turns out those marks are not very accurate and I end up using the method above by aligning each prop with each other. If you happen to have the camera mount off you can also lay the copter flat on a wood floor, etc. and get each boom fairly close before tightening. As for cold batteries, ill have more experience after next week. I do know from my still shooting those canon batteries do not last long at all in cold temps. Just ordered 3 more from amazon as a backup.
Nice! Great when it all turns out after a period of EXTREME stress. Another thing I notice is I can spot a prop that is out of level in a hover much easier then when I do it on the bench.....I assume it is because the disc looks 'solid' and gives a better idea of its angle relative to the others.