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ESC update

Discussion in 'ALTA' started by Rolf Ableiter, Mar 3, 2016.

  1. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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  2. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    There have been some heat-related issues with ALTAs in certain flight profiles, particularly operating at the edges of the operational envelope (high temps, high loads, high speeds, etc.). It's not a simple mod, as it requires disassembly of part of the ALTA to get to the USB connector on the SYNAPSE. It's not the same as a SYNAPSE firmware update, unfortunately.
     
  3. Stefan Helborg

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  4. Glenn Barry

    Glenn Barry New Member

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    Hi There,

    I've successfully completed this update for a client. Test flown with a hover to get a baseline for the CW Yaw bias
    I finally got a machine to run the Flight Date Viewer and the CW Yaw Bias is +2.9% - well within the mentioned tolerance, however...

    If I were to be a perfectionist, how much time and effort would it likely entail to get that down below |1%|?

    I don't want to unnecessarily spend hours chasing .05 degree adjustments on the motor mounts, for no net benefit, when I may have the unit re-assembled back to equivalent factory specification.

    thanks

    peace out

    Glenn
     
  5. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Glenn: I'm not sure anyone will be able to give you a rational answer to your question, but I would start by actually measuring the angular offsets on the ALTA using the technique described on page 109 of the ALTA manual. and assess how far off the nominal +/- 2.5 degrees the motors are.

    I have not seen any data that correlates with the angular error on the motors with the yaw bias so it's hard to know how to know whether a yaw bias of 2.9% is easy to improve or not.

    Andy.
    ----------
    Forensic Software & sUAV, sRPA, Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA) : Trees = 2, Ground = 1 Props = 11. :(
     
  6. Mike Rau

    Mike Rau New Member

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    I wish I'd seen this before I did the update. Your post prompted me to realize checking the factory yaw bias before working on the Alta would have been a good baseline to compare with once completed.

    Andy, I did the functional flight and I'm having trouble running the viewer software to check the yaw bias. My win 7 machine is 32 bit and my win 10 machine doesn't seem to like it. Shouldn't I be able to run it on my Win 10 machine or should I just email the file to Adam/support? We have a big scan job on Tuesday which probably is going to rain out but I hate having an aircraft sitting around not flight ready.
     
  7. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi Mike:
    As I recall, FF posted their Flight Data Viewer with the caveat that they could not provide support for it.
    Certainly I would ask Adam if he would be kind enough to run it for you.
    Or put it up on Dropbox and post a link. You never know who amongst the forum members might be kind enough to run it for you! :D

    Andy.
    ----------
    Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. :(
    The Ground Is The Limit™
    ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
     
  8. Mike Rau

    Mike Rau New Member

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    Thanks Andy. I did know they don't support the viewer I was just thinking about asking them to run the file for me and pass on the value. I'm about start charging a whole bunch of big lipos and I'll have another go with the win 10 machine while I'm battery baking.

    Now the Dropbox idea is a good one. I'm never the sharpest tool in the box but I should have thought of that. Do I have to say "Uncle" first?
     
  9. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    No need to say Uncle. :)

    And by the way, the only reason I suggest Dropbox is that the ALTA log files can be pretty large and there's an upper bound for posting attachments on the forum that you might exceed. I just checked and the limit is 4 Megabytes -- so if the particular log .CSV file is < 4 MB, then post it directly to the forum.

    I'm away from my Windows machine today, but perhaps another forum member can run it through for you before I can get to it.

    Andy.
    ----------
    Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. :(
    The Ground Is The Limit™
    ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
     
  10. Glenn Barry

    Glenn Barry New Member

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    there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason as to why the flight data viewer errors out on some machine and not others.

    For my case there's two governing factors, it's a vanilla install of Win 7 with .Net framework and SlimDX under virtualbox.
    This install likely doesn't support Direct-X functionality fully. The initial error is related to slimDX, choosing to ignore opens the window of the flight data viewer.
    Next issue is the screen resolution, the program window is larger than the screen resolution supports.
    Dragging and dropping the flight log yields no response from the program.

    I will not run windows native on any machine - any virus that large and vulnerable needs to be safely contained, it's only there for legacy configuration programs.

    I will say when the flight data viewer is running it's a very nice piece of software, giving some very detailed and powerful analysis tools.

    On the baseline figure YAW CW Bias, perhaps someone with a flight log prior to any disassembly, and working viewer, can give their YAW CW bias figure for a stable hover.
     
  11. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Yeah, one of the machines on which I tried to run it took personal issue with SlimDX and displayed an incomprehensible error message....well, tell a lie, it was more of the form "There has been an error. See if you can guess what it is." :mad:

    I certainly don't know what the defining trait is that determines whether it will run or not....

    Andy.

    ----------
    Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. :(
    The Ground Is The Limit™
    ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
     
  12. Mike Rau

    Mike Rau New Member

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    Well, I'm calling Uncle anyway Andy. I'm hard headed, but the software glitches win this round.:(

    dropbox link: https://db.tt/6toVFJJJ

    So if anybody who is sharper than me and has the data viewer working wants to help a brother out it would be greatly appreciated. I just need that yaw bias number. If you're in the Houston area I'll buy you a beer. I sure want to install the data viewer at some point. The features in the manual look like an outstanding all around tool.

    Mike
     
    #32 Mike Rau, Apr 17, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2016
  13. Humberto Barchini

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    Hi MIke... I have downloaded the file... tomorrow morning I will process it for you...
     
  14. Mike Rau

    Mike Rau New Member

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    Hey Humberto. Thank you very much. All I need is that yaw bias value. Looking at that manual for the viewer it shows a visual simulator that mimics the flight. I brought the Alta back in quickly because my 8 year old and four of his buddies noticed my test flight in the park next to our house and started charging towards my landing area. When it landed I tipped it backwards a bit. No ground contact with props or anything, but it was a noticeable tip. I'm very curious as to whether the data viewer shows that amount of detail or not. If it isn't a time waster or if you can fast forward could you look at the last part and see if it shows that amount of detail?

    No biggie if you can't. I just greatly appreciate you looking for the yaw bias number.

    Thanks,

    Mike
     
  15. Mike Rau

    Mike Rau New Member

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    Humberto my friend:

    FreeFly ran the file for me today and I'm within 1-2 percent on my bias. Thank you again for your generous offer.

    Mike
     
  16. Humberto Barchini

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    Hi Mike... sorry for the delay... but a lot of work here and after my VBOX brokes... :( but yes only today I can see that the bias is 2% better than mine hahahahaha
    cheers and sorry again!
     

    Attached Files:

  17. Mike Rau

    Mike Rau New Member

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    No worries Humberto and sorry about your troubles. Don't ask me how my bias stayed so low. It was definitely luck; but I always say I'll take luck over skill any day, :)

    Thank you again!
     
    Humberto Barchini likes this.
  18. Jose Luis Ocejo

    Jose Luis Ocejo Active Member

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    I just want to let others know that I successfully updated my Alta 6 ESC using my trusted Mac directly in Bootcamp running Windows 7
     
    Humberto Barchini likes this.
  19. Chris Jordan

    Chris Jordan Member

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    Can't seem to find step 8g's loader: "csv2_power_usb_loader_2573c74_v1.0.1.exe"
    Wasn't in the email I received - tell me i'm blind~!
     
  20. Chris Jordan

    Chris Jordan Member

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    On step 8, item G it wants the csv2_power_usb_loader_2573c74_v1.0.1.exe program, and I can't find it I'm also doing the mac route. any help ?
     

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