Flying Iris Things I've learned/Tips

Archive
1

*Setting WPNAV-SPEED TO 750 yielded about 18 mph. This was a much more comfortable speed for me.

*Using Droid Planner 2 and setting the last waypoint to RTL instead became a circle. I it really threw me off. Once I got it into an orientation I liked I flipped into STD mode and landed it myself. The thing that stunk was its speed of 35-40 mph in the circle. Should have just flipped into pos hold.

*Keep trim setting neutral or it will screw up GPS modes. I was wondering why pos hold wasn’t holding…trim was out. I put it that way for STD mode to compensate for the camera pulling it forward. POS hold didn’t like it. Put it back and it’s fine.

*It’s a twitchy little bird in the GPS flight modes. Both pos hold and loiter show this. I’ve tried loosening up the sensitivity but it still does it. Still trying to figure that out. I’m not one for making big setting changes without knowing the consequence, so I may adjust the pitch/roll sensitivity a little more.

*When planning a mission be aware of your Geo Fence being on. If you plot a waypoint too far out beyond the fence Iris will do a good job of ending your mission and RTL. Ask me how I know. (Fence Breach)

*For the new guys…know what switch does what and practice getting the feel of them without looking. If you flip RTL and thought you were flipping into loiter you’re going to wonder what the hell is going on. It’ll freak you out. For that matter I’d suggest you get decent with flying in STD before you go too far. It may save you cash later.

*Buy a better battery charger so you can really see how many mAh your putting back into the battery. About 4000 mAh puts you at 80% on a 5100. You can also charge at 1C or 5.1 amps 40 to 45 min charging time. You can also set a 50% charge for storage of about 3.85v per cell. Also number your batteries so you don’t accidentally use the same one twice and end up in a failsafe land. Could ruin your battery if you dip it below 3.1v too.

*Be aware of all the different units of measurement. Between mission planner, pixhawk logs, droid planner and so on they are numerous. mp/s, km/h, cm/s, mph, m, Ft…you get the picture.

*In Droid planner/Tower, you can have your telemetry called out to you if you like. From every 15sec to 60sec it will call out Battery volts, Altitude, Airspeed, Signal Strenth. Settings-User Interface-Periodic Status. Check it out.

*I’ve found that some tutorials/calibrations are outdated as updated hardware, software, firmware have been introduced.

*Last for now anyway, I’m really enjoying the flying and videos I take. I’ve got somewhere in the range of 35 flights long and short on it now and it has been good to me. I upgraded firmware to 3.2.1 and flew today with great results. When I think of more I’ll post here. Feel free to add to this.

2

Nice post. Keep posting other tips, everybody!

I can’t add much except to say a relatively small tree(s) nearby can have an affect on how well the quad loiters. A few trees in a relatively open space can cause the bird to want to cycle up and down 5-8 feet in loiter mode. GPS reception is not all equal, and some areas can lend to errant signals bouncing around, confusing the GPS nav/attitude system. Don’t get me wrong, the bird is still relatively stable, but if the bird wants to meander a bit in loiter mode, it is getting errant GPS signals, or maybe needs to be re-calibtaed (compass)

3

*Clear your last mission on Iris by deleting the mission in your planner. Send the cleared mission with no waypoints to the drone. This way if you accidentally flip into auto it won’t go flying off to your last mission, wherever that was.

*Protect the wire to your status LED on the battery door. It rests up against a sharp edge that will over time wear into the wire. Possible short. I used some old fuel line. See Picture…

4

What should I do if the copter begins to miss a waypoint? What mode do I switch to?

Thanks
Keith

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

5

I recommend RTL if something is not going your way. It should not miss a waypoint. If it does you may have lost GPS and in that case it will go into failsafe land or RTL (check your settings on that). If you’ve got the flying skill and still have orientation you can put it in standard and fly it back yourself as another option.

6

*Access Denied Arming IRIS W/O GPS Lock. I get it…for safety in GPS Modes but not non-GPS STD mode. I don’t know if this was part of 3.2.1 firmware change or what.

I took a trip to the mountains today with my wife to relax and fly a mountainside for some beautiful footage. I full well knew I’d get bad GPS signal but didn’t care because I’d be flying in STD manual mode. I tried to arm and I would not. I don’t think I should be this way. I should be able to arm my bird anytime with the understanding that if I have no gps lock and switch into a gps mode I could be in trouble. I could be missing something here, but if I’m not this should be removed so I can fly even if I don’t have gps lock in STD mode. Comments welcome. Maybe this can be disabled. Thanks.

7

I believe the default for “Standard” mode is altitude hold, not fully manual but that shouldn’t need GPS. BUT… In my ground testing, where I have been trying to arm in the house, I have also had difficulty getting a good enough GPS fix to arm in any of the modes. What I discovered was that if Geofence is enabled you need the solid GPS regardless of flight mode since it needs to fix the initial position in order for for RTL to function. For my ground testing I changed the Standard flight mode to full manual “Stabilize” and disabled the geofence. Then the thing will arm instantly and be ready to fly manually. Good for ground run ups, but I am not good enough to actually fly that way yet!

8

*Static discharge/magnetic fields

I’m not an electronic engineer, but it makes sense to me of being aware of these two items. I live in a windy arid environment and can’t tell you how many times I’ve touched a coffee maker, toaster and even one of my chargers and wiped out the electronics/memory from static discharge. I’ve learned my lesson and always discharge myself before touching electronics. If on site flying, I even get out of my vehicle and touch the body to discharge.

I can’t imagine magnetic fields are good on sensitive electronics like on the Pixhawk either. Today’s stereo systems have been coming with better and better speakers and bigger and bigger magnets. Personally I won’t put my computers, helis or the Iris in my trunk next to the sub woofers and speakers. I put them inside the vehicle.

9

Does anyone have experience with flying IRIS near suburban electrical power lines and transformers?

I would like to know the safe distance or the danger zone - above, below, and laterally.

We have typical line voltage at something like 7,200 volts running through the neighborhood on three wires (with a fourth ground wire lower on the pole) and a transformer drum every 50 meters or so.

I have an RF meter and will post the readings from various distances from the lines, poles, and transformers in a follow up response.

I am more concerned about the electromagnetic effects on the Pixhawk, the GPS, and other onboard electronics than the FlySky transmitter-receiver.

10

[quote=“Moreflying”]*Access Denied Arming IRIS W/O GPS Lock. I get it…for safety in GPS Modes but not non-GPS STD mode. I don’t know if this was part of 3.2.1 firmware change or what.

I took a trip to the mountains today with my wife to relax and fly a mountainside for some beautiful footage. I full well knew I’d get bad GPS signal but didn’t care because I’d be flying in STD manual mode. I tried to arm and I would not. I don’t think I should be this way. I should be able to arm my bird anytime with the understanding that if I have no gps lock and switch into a gps mode I could be in trouble. I could be missing something here, but if I’m not this should be removed so I can fly even if I don’t have gps lock in STD mode. Comments welcome. Maybe this can be disabled. Thanks.[/quote]
Did you try unplugging the battery (on the Iris+) for about 10 seconds then plugging back in and trying again? I’ve not flown the Iris where a good GPS signal was not available so I can’t say if this was the issue or not. But I have had the Iris not want to arm [for whatever reason], then unplugged battery and re-plugged and it then armed.

Was the controller in STD mode when you plugged in the battery on the Iris+? Again, I don’t know if that’s an issue or not when in bad GPS area but it might be, who knows.

Who knows, 3DR may have anticipated FAA rules coming, and figured if you couldn’t get GPS signal, you were probably in an unsuitable area for flying anyway?? Just a thought.

11

[quote=“STexan”]Was the controller in STD mode when you plugged in the battery on the Iris+? Again, I don’t know if that’s an issue or not when in bad GPS area but it might be, who knows.

Who knows, 3DR may have anticipated FAA rules coming, and figured if you couldn’t get GPS signal, you were probably in an unsuitable area for flying anyway?? Just a thought.[/quote]

I did check all of that and even tried moving elsewhere. I think the Geo Fence is the key. Turn it off. Thanks…new proposals are on the table from the FAA. I know this is not the forum for discussing legislation, so I will only post the link.

http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/media/021515_sUAS_Summary.pdf

Charls…I’m not familiar with EMF and how it would effect our machines. I would be curious about your findings. There was a video I watched where a guy flew around the Hoover Dam/power lines and vicinity with now crash. Think the youtube person was demunseed. Personally I’d fly somewhere else to fly.

12

*I’m trying to get this one sorted out, WP_YAW_BEHAVIOR. Default is value 3 and seemed to face the camera in the same direction throughout, flying sideways.
I changed to value 2 and on takeoff faced me (East) 180 deg. from takeoff until waypoint 4 and began to fly forward camera facing the waypoint track. See video. No gimbal here…My goal is to have the camera face all waypoints almost like flying FPV. I think 1 is the ticket. I’ll try that one next and report.

Yaw behavior during missions---- WP_YAW_BEHAVIOR
Determines how the autopilot controls the yaw during missions and RTL
Value
0 Never change yaw
1 Face next waypoint
2 Face next waypoint except RTL
3 Face along GPS course

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MY1Lci1Wpk[/youtube]

Droneshare mission seen in video.
http://www.droneshare.com/mission/63079

13

Definitely post your results. That woud be a good way to plan and get a decent video w/o the gimbal. BTW, I am jealous… nice weather. I could almost get out for my maiden flight today (25 degrees, sunny and NO WIND) but for the 7 inches of snow we got last night. It would be cool to see the Iris take off or hover blowing up a cloud of powdery snow. But the crystals would likely get into the electronics and motors.

14

What a nice group of people on this site! Lot’s of good info. I’m loving my Iris+, and the Pixhawk is amazing. I too was puzzled about the not arming until it got a GPS “fix”. I haven’t tried shutting off the geo fence, but that makes sense. But my question now is, with geo fence shut off, will the GPS still get a fix when it sees enough sats, and allow loiter mode? I would think so. Problem might be that whenever it does lock on, that will be your recorded “home point” I assume? I’m in SW Florida, and it ain’t nuttin like up north, but for this Miami born old man, it’s COLD! and very windy. All flights canceled until the wind slows. :wink:

15

If you want to activate the timer on the radio…

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tszUf0Hfmg[/youtube]

16

This is to confirm that testing WP_YAW_BEHAVIOR 1 Face next waypoint keeps the camera facing the direction of flight with no crabbing. I also used splined waypoints.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr7P1Khpfug[/youtube]

17

Looks like you’re getting it figured out. :wink:

18

Here are some radio videos I put together.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOKwVVkTgwc[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b7zawRpbwE[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1mSlkj-TQY[/youtube]

19

Make your personalized telemetry screen.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7kPQ-Uov5U[/youtube]

The telemetry choices highlighted I recommend looking at. A lot of the other ones may be good for diagnostics but may not be meaningful during flight. Don’t use them unless you know what they are good for is the way I see it.

TBat Transmitter battery Voltage
Time Timer 1 linked and trigger my the throttle (flight time)
Tmr2 Timer 2
Tx
Rx Connection Strength
A1
A2
Alt altitude in meters (barometric pressure)
Thr
Bat% Fight Battery Percent
Fmod
Sats Number of Satellites
Spd Speed (meters per second)
Dist meters from launch point
Galt GPS Altitude
cell
Cels
Batt Fight Battery Voltage
Curr
mAh mAh consumed since armed
Powr
Accx
AccY
AccZ
Hdg GPS Heading
vSpd Vertical Speed
A1-
A2-
Alt-
Alt+
Rpm+
T1+
T2+
Spd+
Dst+
Cur+
Pwr+