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Need Help Stabilizing Gimbal

Discussion in '3 Axis Gimbal' started by Stephan Christian, Mar 3, 2014.

  1. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    Hello Everyone,

    I have been trying to balance my gimbal for a few days now and nothing seems to really work. We added larger bolts to the camera mount to elevate the camera since it is so light but it did not do much. I have been getting very shaky footage compared to other footage I have seen from other members of this forum. I would really appreciate any help or comments. I will try to be as detailed as possible but if you need any other information let me know. I will provide photos of our set up, video of our raw footage from yesterday, and a screenshot of our radian settings.

    Our current set up:

    Cinestar 8(Avroto 2814 brushless motors)
    3-axis Cinestar camera mount + Radian Package
    DJI Wookong M flight controller
    APC 14”x5” SFP props

    Camera
    -Panasonic GH3
    -Lumix 14 mm F2.5 ASPH Lens



    Thanks in advance,

    Stephan
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Stephan:
    From the images, it looks like the camera is quite far to the rear of the gimbal. If you take the belts off the servos, will the camera stay in any arbitrary angle?

    Also, did you take the pan belt off and balance the gimbal by up-ending the copter until the booms are in a vertical plane (with two boom ends resting on the table)? You should then be able to put the gimbal into any position and not have the camera nosedive or taildive (if there is such a word).

    The next thing to check is that all the belts are tight -- you should be able to deflect each belt about 2 or 3 mm in the center just by pushing with your finger and applying a force of a 500 grams. Also check that the small pulley wheels on each servo are tight.

    Once you've done all of the above, the next thing to be checking is the Radian setup, so if you need to do that, please take screen shots by connecting up to each of the Radians in turn and capturing how they are set up. You cannot connect to just one and get (or set) all three -- you have to connect to them individually.

    It would be easier for us to try and help if you could copy and paste the text from http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/radian-issue-please-read-this-first.744/ into a new message and describe the details of how you have things set up.

    Andy.
     
  3. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    I would mount a GoPro to one of the booms and point it at the gimbal. That will do two things. It will confirm that the gimbal’s reacting in a meaningful way, and it will also show if you have a serious vibration problem in the copter itself. If one or more of your props and/or motors is out of balance, it could be causing the whole copter to oscillate in a way that the Radian’s can’t compensate for.

    Plus everything Andy said above. :)
     
  4. Janne Hoglund

    Janne Hoglund Member

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    Hi Stephan.
    Nothing wrong with the gimbal or the Radians, but if you want smooth video the Mövi or a brushless upgrade for your gimbal is the way to go. Many of us spent months trying to get the Radians to work properly, some got them working really well, Steve?!
    But compared to a brushless gimbal the Radians time of fame passed to fast :-(
     
  5. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    Thanks for the responses guys. I will be looking into everything you have mentioned. Andy I am trying to get a good center of gravity on it now. Steve which boom would I place the GoPro on?
     
  6. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    Try 2 or 8.
     
  7. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    I place it in a location where I can slide my big LiPos a little bit to compensate, although for this purposes the little bit of extra weight and imbalance is probably not a big deal. Still, I don’t like to fly out of balance, if at all possible. And I mean my copter. As for me, I do the best I can. o_O
     
  8. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    Since when? All your GPX files have huge current and temp difference between motors!!!You should really start paying attention to your GPX files Steve. :p
     
  9. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    Hey Andy,

    So here are our Radian settings I took pictures of each module. Overall our camera weighs about 775 grams. We also changed the vibration dampers to the red ones ( we had blue before).

    Please let me know if any of the settings look out of the ordinary .

    Thanks,

    Stephan
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi Stephan:
    Were these three images taken pretty much one after the other? The reason I ask is that the Mode channel (5) seems to be different for the Pan axis -- for Tilt and Roll it is showing -90% and the "marker" is above the red zone on the left window.
    Beyond that, I don't see anything obviously wrong.

    Can you tell from your footage in which axis the shake is occurring?

    Also, what Radio transmitter and receiver are you using and to which Radian is the receiver connected? Just trying to flesh out my understanding and wondering why the status indicator on the pan module is not showing anything (the three checkboxes to the left of the Connect button are not user selectable -- they indicate status).

    Andy.
     
  11. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    Hey Andy,

    We do lose control of the Gimbal once in a while for some reason. It has been acting weird. We are currently using the Spektrum DX6i and the DSM Satellite receiver.

    On the ground we usually have control of the camera but once we start getting some range the gimbal starts to spin around as well as the camera starts to pan up. Would this be the cause of the issue?
     
  12. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi Stephan:
    It's a little hard to know what's causing these issues -- it almost "feels" like it's an electrical noise issue.
    Let me know the answers to my questions in paragraphs 1 and 2 of my posting and we can start working down the diagnostic tree! :)

    Andy.
     
  13. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    So to answer your first question it seems that most of the shakiness is coming from the roll axis.

    The receiver is connected to the Pan Axis which is also connected to a Graupner Gr-12

    I have attached some photos of the gimbal set up.

    Appreciate the help Andy.
     

    Attached Files:

  14. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    Should I check for anything else in our Radian settings?
     
  15. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi Stephan:

    Were these three images (in Message #9) taken pretty much one after the other? The reason I ask is that the Mode channel (5) seems to be different for the Pan axis -- for Tilt and Roll it is showing -90% and the "marker" is above the red zone on the left window.

    Andy.
     
  16. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    Yes these were taken all within a few minutes of each other.
     
  17. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hmm. So why is the Mode channel for the pan axis different -- that seems to be an important clue as all three axes should be showing the same Mode setting.

    Any ideas?

    Andy.
     
  18. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    I really have no idea. Should I try changing the mode setting?
     
  19. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    The Mode can be set to:
    Off: No stabilization.
    Stabilized Fixed: Gimbal should be stabilized, but camera will be in a fixed position.
    Stabilized Slew: Gimbal will be stabilized, and you can control pan and tilt (typical Roll is left auto-stabilized).

    You should have a transmitter switch assigned to a channel that controls whichever channel you've designated as being the Mode Control channel. In your case, Channel 5.

    Therefore you should be able to connect up to the Radians, one-by-one, and verify that they are "seeing" the Mode control changing to each of the three modes.

    Andy.
     
  20. Stephan Christian

    Stephan Christian New Member

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    Well since its a Spektrum DX6I it only has 2 modes correct? I just checked it on each radian and they all seem to be reacting to Channel 5. What else could it be then?
     

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