I used to have my gps at the base (circle in red), How much of negative impact does it have having it that close? That’s my best location. But I’m moving up to with post and trying it to see if there’s an improvement even though I haven’t had gps issues. Only issues I’ve had is tuning is been difficult for auto mode. For loiter and steering mode the tuning has worked very good. In auto it zig zags a lot.
Higher and away from sources of interference is always better. Based on what I can see in that enclosure, I don’t think it’ll make much difference whether it’s mounted directly on the housing or a few inches higher.
If satellite reception was good and position was consistently reported, moving the GPS antenna is not likely the solution to your tuning issues. Follow the steps here:
https://ardupilot.org/rover/docs/rover-first-drive.html
If your autopilot supports scripting, try the QuikTune script.
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Yeah there was no gps errors from MP. I’ll try it up and away like that anyway and thanks for the reassurance.
Would you recommend I reset all the parameters to default before doing QuickTine? I’ve changed so many things I’ve lost track. Also, how much of a difference does it make to have the parameter set to thrust vector vs not? My boat is a kayak with a trolling motor so I’ve been using it but I wonder if I didn’t if it’s make it worse or better. I wish I could do all these tests and see but I have very limited time available in the water. Other than that I’m super happy with the performance of steering and loiter. Auto would be the cherry on top because I’d be able to do guided mode (“fly to here”) and let it do its thing. Which I can now but will get there dizzy with all the zig zagging lol
Try it with existing parameters first. It will usually end up with a better result if the tune is already a bit closer to ideal than default settings.
Do follow the entire tuning guide from start to finish, employing the script at the point where it is suggested as an option.
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Trust me I’ve spent hours reading and re-reading. The only thing Is not consistent with the guide and the steering tuning video is the gentleman says to use manual mode first to find the steering rate which shows in blue on the graph, then use that to set the Acro turning rate: however, when I do that the blue line doesn’t move as a steer, but when I switch to Acro both blue and red show up. So I’m been tuning with a guess of my turning rate since I can’t get it from the graph. Another note, I noticed that the boat does better (the zig zag is better tries to stay in line better) in auto after I increased the cruise speed and throttle %. Seems like it tracks better going faster. But I increased it from 75% to 90% not sure I want to do that long term since the trolling motor pulls 20 amps.
Share a .bin log where you accelerate to cruise speed and hold it roughly stable for a good 5 or more seconds and then decelerate to a near stop with the throttle bottomed out. Then do some turns representative of what you want to see in assisted modes. Do all of this in manual mode.
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