OK after many hours and several IT people working on this i have finally managed to get the software downloaded and even speaking to the radian! Next problem!.. When I plug it all in i can see my stick movements and 3 position switch movements fine but the radian does not respond at all to any physical changes in orientation. The servo out slider does not move at all when i move the radian around. also, the servo output needs reversing because it goes into a positive feedback cycle when the gimbal is hung from the mounting plate. how do i reverse the servo output ?? Thanks Laurence
....... Somebody please!!! its 1.30 in the morning. I have been working on this thing for days and i have a big shoot tomorrow! i am about to give up on the radian and get something else i think! I'm tearing my hair out here!
Ok i will make a video now but basically It is all wired up fine, I link it up to the software, (i am using PWM) I can make the input slider work with my control stick but can not make the 3 position switch work despite it being wired up correctly and set to the right channel in the software. I am just working on the pan at the moment. When I put it in Pan i get no servo output from either stick inputs or physical movements of the radian. I tried putting it in roll mode and I do get a runaway action with that which i can control with the stick input but it does not respond to any physical orientation changes. Although I get no reaction from the servo out slider, i do get a reaction from the 'current angle demand' box in the configuration page so it is definitely sensing angle changes but just not reacting on it. So.. Problems are... 3 position switch does not work- it did earlier but now it doesn't so i must have changed something without realising. no servo out response for either stick or physical inputs on pan mode one more question. What is the difference between Pan-1 and Pan-2, or Tilt-1and tilt-2 etc? Thanks very much for your help! Laurence
Laurence: We need just a little more information to understand what is going on. Can you tell me how many radians you have and how they are connected up please? At the end of this message is a short "fill in the blanks" questionnaire that will help you provide the information we need in a structured way. Please copy the text of this on to the clipboard on your windows machine, then start a new message in reply to this one and paste the text from the clipboard into the message and then edit in your answers. If you're uncertain about how to take the screen shot, here's a link to the procedure: http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/general/ht/winscreenshot.htm Thanks Andy. --- Here's the form --- Aircraft Type: Gimbal Type: Radian Type ( 1, 2 , 3 axis) Gimbal Power source: Gimbal Radio Type: Radian Communication Protocol (S.Bus, PPM, PWM, Spektrum) Connections: Change these to match your setup Roll Sensor: Port 1. 2. 3. To Tilt sensor 4. To Roll Servo Tilt Sensor: Port 1. 2. 3. 4. Pan Sensor: Port 1. 2. 3. 4. Symptoms: Laurence: You have already described these, but any additional information you can provide will be helpful. Steps taken to resolve: Video of problem (this one is critical! If you can give us a good iPhone video with audio explaining what you are looking at we can usually resolve the problem very quickly. Please tell us what is going on in the video and at what time the issue happens.) Please also do the following: a. With the gimbal powered off, connect up the USB and adapter from your PC to the Radian sensor to which you have the receiver connected. b. Power on the gimbal and sensors with the transmitter set to the Off mode for the Radian sensors. c. Use the Radian software, connect the Radian cable to the Radian sensor connected to your receiver. d. Click on the Connect button to connect to the Radian sensor, and check you have a connection. e. Click on the Read button. f. Take a screen shot of the Diagnostic and Configuration windows and post it to this thread with your response to Question 1 above. g. Then connect up to the other two Radian sensors in turn, do a Read, and take a screen shot of the Diagnostic Window and Configuration Window and post those screen shots too.
just had a thought.. is there any way we can screen share or something? there are just too many problems to know where to begin!
Let's start with the answers to the questions above and work out way through the answers. We really need to understand how things are connected up -- and screen sharing doesn't solve that problem... Andy.
Aircraft Type: cinestar 8 Gimbal Type: cinestar 3 axis Radian Type ( 3 axis) Gimbal Power source: 2cell 1200mah Gimbal Radio Type: turnigy 9x Radian Communication Protocol (S.Bus, PPM, PWM, Spektrum) - the one with lots of wires! Connections: Change these to match your setup Roll Sensor: Port 1. NA- just working on Pan axis 2. 3. To Tilt sensor 4. To Roll Servo Tilt Sensor: Port 1.NA- just working on pan axis 2. 3. 4. Pan Sensor: Port 1.input from channel 1 on receiver 2. 3.input from 3 position mode switch 4. output to servo will send screen shots shortly, thanks for all your help and understanding so far guys, you will have to bare with me, i have been working on this for 2 days strait now with no sleep so I'm going a bit bonkers
this is the settings i have at the moment. 3 pos. switch set to input 3, getting no reaction on servo output slider. poor quality video to come...
In the first post you said the servo is causing the positive feedback cycle when the mount is being hung. Im assuming that means you did have the servo working? Do you have the Pan Radian mounted as per the instructions? http://www.freeflysystems.com/pdf/radianManual-v1-print.pdf Also when connecting that Radian, hit Read (Step 5, Defaults) to populate the fields. You will have to tell that Radian it will be Pan by clicking on Pan-1 under defaults. Then you will have to Write those settings to the Radian. This process will have to be repeated for each Radian (Tilt, use tilt defaults... Roll, use roll). Pan-2 is used for pre-release Radians that were mounted in another location. The Radians have to be mounted in the correct location for you to get the results you want. For example, mounting a Pan Radian on the opposite side of the gimbal would give you reversed sensing and cause you a real headache. As Tabb said, please post a few photos so we can see where your at. Also, make sure you aren't skipping any steps in the setup process. We will do our very best to help you.
What transmitter are you using? Channel 3 is normally throttle or rudder. Do you have a 3 position switch on your transmitter? normally 5. If your using throttle for your mode switch, idle will be one position, mid throttle another, and full throttle the last. Im not sure thats what your trying to accomplish.
Laurence: I really need to manage your expectations about the Radian and the gimbal. So, please don't "kill the messenger" here, but I am really concerned that, even if you manage to get the Pan Radian sensor working the gimbal will not be able function well enough for your shoot tomorrow. You will need to test fly and adjust the gimbal and, without several test flights I can almost guarantee you are going to be frustrated beyond belief with the results you get. That said, I do have some additional questions for you in the hope that I can get you further along towards getting the gimbal operational: 1. When you measure the voltage of the 2 cell 1200 mah battery what does it read. If it is more than 6 volts you will damage the Freefly servos irreparably. The Radian sensors can handle from 3 to 12 volts. The servos maximum is 6 volts. Many people use what is called a BEC (battery eliminator circuit) that is a DC to DC voltage regulator that will provide a steady 5 - 6 volts (some are adjustable output) so that the full battery voltage is not connected across the Freefly Servos (which will fry them). 2. Are you using an stabilization on tilt and roll, please? I've not seen anyone just use one Radian on pan and no stabilization on tilt and roll. Manual control of the tilt and roll will make it nigh on impossible to produce usable footage -- the Cinestar just moves around too much in the air. 3. Can you also confirm that you have read this FAQ about the Radians: http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/radian-faq.220/ 4. Can you also confirm that you watched the Gimbal tutorials and Radian tutorials at http://www.freeflysystems.com/media/tutorials.php 5. Can you take a digital still image showing how you have the Radian pan sensor installed on the gimbal please? I'll be off-line for an hour or two, but please do post those screen shots and videos. Once we get the electronics of the Pan sensor set up, you are going to need to: 1. Balance the gimbal with the camera on it. See FAQ #4 on the link above. 2. Suspend the Cinestar by the battery plate so that you can adjust the "gain" -- the sensitivity -- of the Radian pan sensor. You cannot do this with the gimbal on the bench because the Radian Pan sensor expects to be able to turn the gimbal and, of course, when it's on the bench, the gimbal doesn't turn, but the Cinestar above it does. See FAQ #9 on the link above. More later when I hear back from you. Andy.
Sorry about my posting arriving almost at the same time as Brad....Brad, I've got to head out for about an hour and half, can you be on-line with Laurence as he posts? Back later. Andy.
IT WOOOOOOOOOOOORKS!!!!!!! YEH!!! IT WOOOOOORKS! SO.. brad's post made sense, I had channel 3 confused for radian port 3.. its been a long day! so that sorted the issue of the 3 pos. switch not working. then i mounted the gimbal on the opposite side to how it is in the picture in your manual and that sorted out this issue of the positive feedback loop. Im too tiered to bother to figure out why the sensor in my pan radian seems to be reversed to the one in your picture but it works so I'm not complaining any more! thanks for being so patient with me everyone!
Good news, glad we could help. Remember as Andy said, the Radians do take some tuning so don't expect perfect results right away.
Glad Brad got you lined up. Would you be kind enough to change your user name to your real first name and last name, please? The reasons for this (and how to do do it) are explained here: http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/real-names.497/.