I have a new, one-week-old IRIS that refuses to start. I do the following steps in this order:
Turn on transmitter, with the left (throttle) stick down.
Plug in the battery on the IRIS and close the battery door.
Hold down the activation button on the IRIS until it’s solid red.
Hold the left stick down and to the right to start the IRIS.
Nothing happens, even if I hold the stick down for 30 seconds or longer. The large flashing light on the back indicates the IRIS has a GPS lock (flashing green) and the activation button is solid red (armed). The antenna on the IRIS is vertical and both the IRIS and the transmitter have fresh batteries. The 3DR tech I worked with last week had me plug the remote antenna into my PC and run the Mission Planner software, and MP reflects the orientation of the IRIS correctly and no errors show up.
I opened the top shell of the IRIS to see if any wires were unplugged or obviously damaged - they all look fine and solidly plugged in.
The 3DR tech wants me to mail the IRIS back for service, but I’m hoping someone here has a solution so I don’t have to go through that hassle.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Have you changed any switches on the TX. I don’t have an Iris but if you connect it to mission planner and look at the RC calibration do all the sticks move correctly?? Do this without the props on, in fact for this experiment certainly remove them. They might catch you out one day.
Yes, I’ve set the switches on the Tx several times to different configurations. Per the 3DR tech’s advice, both front right switches are currently in the up position (STB) and the CH7 switch is set to H. All top switches are down.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by the sticks moving correctly in RC calibration. My MP only shows the orientation of the IRIS (alt, yaw, groundspeed, etc.) - I don’t see any control stick feedback on the Flight Data or Initial Setup screens.
Sorry, but I’m new to this and not familiar yet w/ MP functionality. That’s good advice about removing the props, thanks.
Yes, I’ve set the switches on the Tx several times to different configurations. Per the 3DR tech’s advice, both front right switches are currently in the up position (STB) and the CH7 switch is set to H. All top switches are down.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by the sticks moving correctly in RC calibration. My MP only shows the orientation of the IRIS (alt, yaw, groundspeed, etc.) - I don’t see any control stick feedback on the Flight Data or Initial Setup screens.
Sorry, but I’m new to this and not familiar yet w/ MP functionality. That’s good advice about removing the props, thanks.[/quote]
Once everything is powered up (RC Tx, Iris battery connected, etc) and you connect via mission planner go to Initial Setup -> Mandatory Hardware -> Radio Calibration. From here you should see the green bars move in the same direction as the sticks on your RC transmitter. If not something is not setup correctly. Before curiosity gets the better of you do not click the calibrate button unless it is determined you need to and understand what that entails.
cctaylor410, thanks for the explicit steps - much appreciated. (And yes, I removed the props. )
Per your instructions, I verified that the transmitter sticks do register on the Radio Calibration screen as expected, as do the various switches. Using the transmitter to start the IRIS props still doesn’t work, though, and I didn’t see any option in MP for arming the IRIS / starting the props.
So, it would appear that both the transmitter and on-board receiver are working okay, but the IRIS still won’t arm. What could be causing that?
[quote=“Terpinol”]cctaylor410, thanks for the explicit steps - much appreciated. (And yes, I removed the props. )
Per your instructions, I verified that the transmitter sticks do register on the Radio Calibration screen as expected, as do the various switches. Using the transmitter to start the IRIS props still doesn’t work, though, and I didn’t see any option in MP for arming the IRIS / starting the props.
So, it would appear that both the transmitter and on-board receiver are working okay, but the IRIS still won’t arm. What could be causing that?[/quote]
Did you happen to bump the trim up for the throttle on the transmitter? If the trim is set high then the Pixhawk isnt seeing idle so I think that would prevent it from arming. It doesn’t ever emit a tone when trying to arm correct?
One thing you can check is the PWM input on channel 3 compare to the output. You can monitor this with everything powered up and connected in MP on the Flight Data screen and select the Status tab just below the HUD. Look at the value of ch3in vs ch3out (the first 4 channel outputs should be the same). Is ch3in greater than ch3out? If so that is probably the problem, it isn’t seeing throttle idle.
cctaylor410, I checked the transmitter out as you recommended. The lowest I can get ch3input is 1162. When I peg the throttle at highest, the value hits 2016. When I adjust the throttle trim control, it affects the value of another input (ch2in or ch4in, I can’t recall which). The only thing that seems to affect the value of ch3input is the throttle itself. ch3out stays at 1094. Here’s a screenshot of the static values, FWIW:
[quote=“Terpinol”]cctaylor410, I checked the transmitter out as you recommended. The lowest I can get ch3input is 1162. When I peg the throttle at highest, the value hits 2016. When I adjust the throttle trim control, it affects the value of another input (ch2in or ch4in, I can’t recall which). The only thing that seems to affect the value of ch3input is the throttle itself. ch3out stays at 1094. Here’s a screenshot of the static values, FWIW:
Thanks.[/quote]
The trim issue is weird. Not sure what is going on there. But it definitely looks like the throttle is not returning the all the way to the calibrated idle. It should be about 1094, just like the motor outputs.
I guess the next step is to contact 3DR support again and see if they can explain why the throttle won’t go down to its full idle setting. And better yet, hopefully how to fix it without having to ship the whole mess back to them.
If any 3DR support-type folks see this thread, I’d appreciate it if you could contact me. Otherwise, I’ll call again.
If I get resolution on this issue, I’ll post it, to hopefully help someone else in the future.
[quote=“Terpinol”]Thanks for your help, much appreciated.
I guess the next step is to contact 3DR support again and see if they can explain why the throttle won’t go down to its full idle setting. And better yet, hopefully how to fix it without having to ship the whole mess back to them.
If any 3DR support-type folks see this thread, I’d appreciate it if you could contact me. Otherwise, I’ll call again.
If I get resolution on this issue, I’ll post it, to hopefully help someone else in the future.[/quote]
Unfortunately the Iris I have used did not use the stock radio so I can’t comment on Tx programming. However my personal Iris is coming tomorrow. Once I have the stock radio in my hands and dig into it I might be able to help you out a little more.
Success! It finally started! Your idea of checking out the trim settings seemed a very good one, and it had me wondering if my idle farting around with the other trim tabs (when I first got the transmitter and didn’t know any better) might be contributing to the problem, so I decided to check all their settings again in MP.
Right away, I noticed that earlier I’d been adjusting the wrong trim tab (the one across the bottom). I didn’t even notice the two vertical trim tabs. (D’oh! Did I mention I was a n00b?) I noticed that the vertical trim tab affected ch3in, so I set its value as close to 1094 (the setting for ch3out) as possible. I got it to 1090, but much to my chagrin, it still didn’t work. I tried setting it a bit lower (1080). Success! It finally fired up as expected!
I can’t tell you how happy I am now - thanks very much! I’m so glad I didn’t mail the unit back to 3DR. It’s a shame the techs don’t know as much as you do.
Success! It finally started! Your idea of checking out the trim settings seemed a very good one, and it had me wondering if my idle farting around with the other trim tabs (when I first got the transmitter and didn’t know any better) might be contributing to the problem, so I decided to check all their settings again in MP.
Right away, I noticed that earlier I’d been adjusting the wrong trim tab (the one across the bottom). I didn’t even notice the two vertical trim tabs. (D’oh! Did I mention I was a n00b?) I noticed that the vertical trim tab affected ch3in, so I set its value as close to 1094 (the setting for ch3out) as possible. I got it to 1090, but much to my chagrin, it still didn’t work. I tried setting it a bit lower (1080). Success! It finally fired up as expected!
I can’t tell you how happy I am now - thanks very much! I’m so glad I didn’t mail the unit back to 3DR. It’s a shame the techs don’t know as much as you do. [/quote]
I glad I was able to help but I am sure the techs are more knowledgeable than me about the Iris. It is very difficult to diagnose these sort problems over the phone but we got lucky . Hopefully the trims for the rest of the channels are set properly. If you notice a constant drift or rotation while flying, especially in loiter, it may be because the trims are out of center. The loiter performance on the Iris is amazing so it will be pretty obvious if its drifting due to trim.
)
Did I mention I was a n00b?) I noticed that the vertical trim tab affected ch3in, so I set its value as close to 1094 (the setting for ch3out) as possible. I got it to 1090, but much to my chagrin, it still didn’t work. I tried setting it a bit lower (1080). Success! It finally fired up as expected!