F550 will not hover with Herelink

ArduCopter
21

Hi,

I tried raising my mot_thst_hover as far as .68 (from .35) and it still would not hover. It didn’t even look like it was getting closer to a hover.

I did get out to a place where I could do an auto take off and it worked flawlessly. straight to a rock solid 3 meter hover. Swapped to loiter and it dropped immediately.

Dropped 2 more logs in the folder.

Log playing with mot_thst_hover setting

Log
for auto takeoff

I got a new battery for my Taranis and will start going through videos on binding and setup. It will likely take me a day or 2 to get it to a point I am comfortable hovering as I haven’t used it in years.

22

Hi Cory_R, you stated:

Here’s something quite simple that you may have missed. If the Herelink is using ArduPilot firmware, have you configured the flight modes, from the setup menu, in Mission Planner? I have a straight Pixhawk ArduPilot firmware setup with F550. Once I’m in the flight mode configuration screen, I select Stabilize flight mode as one modes and loiter for the remainder of the modes. I then configure a switch on the flight controller to change from Stabilize flight mode to Loiter mode, once my quad is in the air just switch to Loiter.

Not sure this will be helpful in your situation. You stated “It has to be something glaringly, face palming obvious I just can’t seem to figure it out.” Maybe this is it.

23

Hi,

I think I have that set properly. On herelink I have stabilise, alt hold, and loiter mapped to 3 different buttons.

When I change modes there is an obvious change in flight characteristics. Loiter keeps the drone within a half meter area. Alt hold makes it easier to keep at a specific height but won’t actually hold it, and Stabilise is the most difficult(outside of acro but I am no where near there yet) to maintain position and altitude.

I have not set in mission planner though. I wonder if there can be a conflict between what is set in mission planner and what is set in herelink that causes the hover issue?

That would definitley fall under face palming obvious!

I have dusted off my old taranis x9d+ and L9R to see if I could get it to hover with those. Although that presents the problem that I don’t remember how to setup the taranis anymore​:disappointed_relieved::joy:

I am relearning how to use it now. After so many years of stupidly easy dji products opentx is hurting my brain​:rofl::rofl:

I will see about setting modes in missionplanner to match herelink mapping. Hopefully that is easy.

If that doesn’t work then it’s back to the taranis for troubleshooting. Rather it is back to YouTube to figure out the taranis​:rofl::rofl:

25

Hi everyone,

So I relearned how to use my Taranis X9D and got it all setup with the F550.

In loiter and Althold it hovers at about 1 click above center throttle. Is that pretty normal? I never really got a chance to use the Taranis or any other non-spring centering controller so I have no experience to pull from.

Here is the link to my last flight.

It seems to maintain altitude pretty well. There was a little bit of wind, it seemed to hold a hover much better in loiter than alt hold.

MOT_THST_HOVER is at 0.49 with the Taranis. With Herelink it was always around 0.33.

RC3_trim is still right at the lower limit, although I don’t know if that is something I am supposed to change or if it is supposed to happen during a calibration. I did calibrate the taranis in missionplanner.

I will try autotune tomorrow if I get a chance. There is a bit of a weird yawing action it does every 30 seconds or so. The motors change pitch and it yaws about 30 or so degrees (I think nose right, but am just realizing I didn’t pay enough attention to whether it is the same direction each time). It always self corrects, but wondering if I can tune it out. Not entirely sure if there is something in the logs I can check to base a tune change on.

Thanks for any help,
Cory

26

Wondering where you got some of the tuning parameters. Doesn’t an F550 Hex have 10" props and you are on 4S power? I ask because the initial tuning parameters need to be right before considering Auto Tune or it can just fail. Also you should configure the Dynamic Notch Filter before running it.

27

Hi, it came with 10 in and 8 in props. I am using the 8in as that was what was suggested when using 4s batteries.

I read from others that a 10000 mah 4s battery would give the longest flight times.

I will tune the notch filter tomorrow before trying auto tune.

28

Ok, so after a few more flights (link to last log) it seems to hold hover with throttle at center in Althold and Loiter. The dead zone seems to be from center throttle to one line mark above and below on the Taranis X9D. Slowly moving the throttle within those marks does not seem to affect hover, only when I go above or below.

So either there is some parameter in MissionPlanner that is critical to Herelink specifically, or a calibration issue with the Herelink controller :thinking:

I had tried calibrating and recalibrating around 6 times with no luck before I swapped to the Taranis and L9R.

I am going to play with THR_DZ to see how it works with the Taranis. I had adjusted it with the Herelink with no success, but worth another try when I get to a point that the Herelink goes back in.

I setup a Dynamic notch filter using the throttle method. It brought all the GYRO readings right down, but only ACC0 X and Y. ACC0 Z doesn’t look to have changed.

I haven’t had a chance to autotune as I need to go to a bigger area. But it seems to be pretty stable in Althold. I read in the arducopter docs that is can sometimes create a tune that is unnecessarily responsive. This F550 is mostly for testing purposes, learning Pixhawk, missionplanner, and how to integrate Hereflow and a Terebee evo 60. I want it to fly nice and smooth, with no worry of aggressive flight inputs.

I suppose I could save all my parameters and try autotune. If it doesn’t work I can always reload.

I will continue to tune to try and get it dialed in tight, but not sure how much better I can get it as a noob.

My hope now is that if it is tuned and hovering with the Taranis, it should be fine with Herelink :crossed_fingers: :crossed_fingers:

One strange thing (off the hover topic) is the Yaw. I didn’t time it, but throughout the flight the motors would massively change pitch (as in sound) and it would yaw 10 degrees or so (I think it was nose right each time) and become a bit unstable. Nothing crazy, just a bit unstable. Then the motors would change back to a nice lower, smoother pitch and it would go back to quite stable. This happens at intervals throughout the flight. I can time it tomorrow to see if they happen at specific times (i.e. every 10 seconds).

I am uncertain if there is something I could check in the flight logs to trouble shoot.

I can take a video if that would help with troubleshooting.

Also, dkemxr, I saw in another post where you were getting 35 minutes out of an F550 (or 450?). I would love to know that setup. Your questions in the last post made me do a much longer search on battery prop combos.

I know I have a lot to learn about the math that goes into prop/esc/motor/battery combos for max efficiency. I am trying to power through, it’s just a bit daunting of a task. So many parameters that can be changed in missionplanner and conflicting information about what setups are best.

Thanks again for all of your help.

29

post a log of the flight

30

Over 40 minutes in one version of that craft. It had extended G10 arms, 14" props, 6S power with a low C battery and low kV motors. It also wasn’t carrying any load. The frames are junk but I did add some rigidity between the top and bottom plates with some stand-offs. If I was going to build another larger craft (not likely) I would use a quality X-Class frame.

The notch filter is not active on the accelerometers, Gyro’s only.

31

I have great experience with a similar frame to the F550 running the following setup.

10" Props
4s 10.5Ah LiIon Battery (18650 Cells)

No payload flight time is roughly 40 minutes (80% usage). The entire battery pack can take 30A constant - I rarely pull over 20A in flight.

32

Hi, the link to the last log should be at the top of the post.

Blockquote Ok, so after a few more flights (link to last log) it seems to hold hover with throttle at center in Althold

Thanks in advance for any help :slight_smile:

33

your yaw is very unstable you need to fix your yaw gains, if you have it hovering ok then you should try autotune.

yaw
yaw1068×494 76.6 KB