Carefree system.

No distance limitation except if you are using Teachible Carefree which normalizes the copter to your home position no matter where it is it has to be at least 20m away from the takeoff point and must have a good GPS signal and the home recorded on takeoff. Otherwise it will normalize your Like Andy said its not an ideal system to use. In my opinion it causes more confusion then good.

I only found one practical application for its use and that is if you are using a 2 Axis gimbal setup and an Autopilot that uses PWM inputs like DJI or Ardupilot for example, I you can give your camop the Yaw axis of the aircraft with the use of a multipexer switch where you can relinquish control of your yaw axis to a second controller i.e. cameras. It allows the camop to yaw the aircraft while allowing you to have a predicable axis. I tried it once on a cheap Hexacopter that I built using Ardupilot and it actually worked well. (I dint think can use a multiplexer with a MIkrokopter FC, since the use PPM or other similar modulation devises)

I will never use CF on my cinestar though. I had an issue in August of last year where the FC did not delete CF through Koptertools, from my switch that I needed to use for my underside lights. The flight controller added that switch to my lights but never overwrote the carefree function. In effect what was happening, was that every time I was turning on my lights I was also engaging carefree unbeknownst to myself. Most of the time I kept the front boom always in the same heading since it is not necessary with three axis gimbal to rotate the nose. But on one flight I decided to rotate the nose to left just practice orientation, and I pushed the stick forward expecting the copter to move left, then it started to fly away from me. Obviously, this invoked some serious confusion. Thinking that I would use cam op to help bring it home, I told the cam op to lock the gimbal on the front nose and I yawed the aircraft to our direction. Once I saw us in view I pushed the nose forward thinking that it fly towards me and that I would see the boom arm in frame. Nope, it flew further away at real high rate of speed. We lost video signal on the camera at 3/4 of mile and I thought I was screwed. My only option at that time was to hope Return Home worked as advertised, and luckily it did. Once I got the copter overhead to control it I realized it was in was in carefree . Intuitively I shut the lights off to see if control returned to normal and it did. I was able to land although I was at a severe power state, destroyed the battery by the time I landed when it was at 13 Volts.

I learned 3 things that day.

1. if you make configuration changes to your flight controller especially the switches, make sure they take through koptertools OSD. I found out that Atmel Microprocessors sometimes may not overwrite a memory address leaving something you deleted out and only an EEPROM reset and re-upload of the Hex file will be necessary.

2. Have an On Screen Display for the system that lets you know what modes you are in like carefree. Before every flight I make sure all of the switches are functioning with the flight controller correctly, and that nothing inadvertently engaging.

3. If you do use these functions make sure copter is behaving predictably and you have situation awareness (SA) of all the modes you are in.

Shaun

 

Here is a tip for beginners who are afraid of loosing orientation:

(This tip is for MK since it has built in telemetry)

Always check the angle from MK Telemetry screen before taking off. If you loose orientation just trigger the PH and AH, then find that angle by yawing. Once you reach the angle ( you will see that in your screen) just pull the nick stick back. The copter will be in tail-in position.

(If there is an interference around, like power lines, I can not guarentee that it will work %100)

 

Here's my advice: Don't use it or you will crash eventually because you will lose your orientation.

 

You might be able to technically do it, but not legally, and you could end up in a lot of trouble. There's a lot of reasons that a traditional helicopter is a better solution for some things like that right now. That looks to be about 400-500 feet AGL, which is above the recommended ceiling for UAVs in the US. There are also a lot of sources of radio and electrical interference in large metropolitan areas like New York City. Plus, there are real copters operating in that area!

Someday, it may be both legal and technically possible, but right now (especially in the USA), there's no way anybody here would recommend you do something like that.

 

I personally like the option of CF mode. My eyesight is not very good, and if I get disoriented I just flip it on and steer it home. I also use PH and AH simultaneously, and take my time. More than once, for whatever reason, CF was not working correctly.

 

No! You misunderstood me.
A small FPV airplane is potentially WORSE.
I meant a regular airplane or helicopter with a pilot.

 

That is one of the reasons many of us do not trust Carefree mode. Replace the word "CF" with the word "Parachute" and you'll get how I feel about an unreliable safety-oriented feature. If you can't rely on it nearly 100% (or absolutely 100%), what use is it?

 

Thanks, Luis. Altitude Hold with the 2.2 ACC is very stable, and I know the area here very well (I flew from my back yard). The signal from the FPV was very weak and breaking up that far away, but I just kept flying straight. The copter was nearly invisible to me, but I just kept going straight (nose in, too!) and eventually the video signal got stronger again.

I always fly with 2 fresh 8000mAh Zippy or Quadrocopter batteries. The copter uses almost exactly 1000mAh per minute of flight time with the GH3 on board, so I can get 8 minutes of flight time and use only 1/2 the power. I rarely fly longer than that...my fingers get tired easily!

 

Steve: I understand your point, but without CF I'm really distance limited, with my eyesight. I'd rather fly CF then not at all. I've tried all kinds of "helpers", and a big red and yellow noodles on the legs. I also have video feed through Pirate Eyes, and Smart OSD, all of which help.