Help Needed with Tuning Issues on 5L Payload Drone in PosHold Mode

ArduCopter
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1

Hello everyone,

I recently built a drone with a 5-liter payload capacity for agricultural purposes. I’ve followed all the Ardupilot instructions, completed the necessary calibrations, and performed motor testing. The drone flies well in Stabilize and AltHold modes.

However, I’m encountering an issue with PosHold mode, both with and without tuning. When the drone is carrying the full 5-liter payload and I try to hover it in PosHold mode, I’m experiencing significant deviations. Specifically, when I give roll input to the drone forward and backward, it doesn’t maintain a straight line.

Interestingly, during the same flight, I completed a small Auto mission and then tried the forward movement again in PosHold mode. This time, the deviation wasn’t as pronounced as before, but it still wasn’t holding a straight line. Without any payload, the drone performs much better and there’s minimal deviation.

Here are the components I’m using:

  • Controller: Pixhawk 4
  • PMU: Holybro PM07
  • Firmware: Arducopter 4.5.4

I’ve attached the log files for your reference. I would appreciate it if you could review them and provide suggestions to resolve this issue.
Log file: 2024-06-28 16-52-32.bin - Google Drive

Thank you in advance for your help!

2

It looks like you have done no tuning at all and the Vibration levels are high with clipping events. Work on the vibration levels and then start over with the Configurator:
The Configurator

And don’t bother with Position Hold, which should be deprecated, use Loiter.

3

Hello Dave,

Thanks for the reply. As you mentioned, there was no tuning done while taking that flight. Initially, I completed autotune on all axes, but the same behavior persisted. After that, I did a full firmware reset and tried again, but the issue remained. The logs I uploaded are from that latest attempt.

Regarding the vibration, I agree that dampers might help. I am planning to use the following vibration dampers for my controller. Please find the attached image of the dampers. Let me know your thoughts on this approach.

image
image640×640 50.1 KB

Thank you!