Hello everyone,
I have build a quadcopter using APM 2.6
I did the following:
Using APMPlanner 2 checked the Radio all working
Motors are spining when trhottle is pushed forward
Compass is calibrated
Accelerometer is calibrated
Arma and Disarm is done
The problem:
It just tries to go up. Elevator, Aileron and rudder are not responding.
What could be wrong? Please help.
Here video of the problem [youtube] [/youtube]
thank you
@guy9495,
Please provide tlogs and/or data flash logs to help troubleshoot your issue.
Regards,
TCIII GM
I don’t know how to get the details or log.
Please guide. Also as I watched many videos which they say look into “terminal” my APM Planner v2.0.15 doesn’t have the terminal icon. Under Advanced option there is no terminal.
@guy9495,
It is always in the Wiki: http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/downloading-and-analyzing-data-logs-in-mission-planner/
Regards,
TCIII GM
Thank you very much.
Actually I was using APM Planner
Now using Mission Planer different interface but common features.
The log file is attached.
I did calibrate everything twice.
I’ve looked at your video.
You are not arming the quad at all, what you are doing is putting it into esc calibration mode which means the apm is doing nothing at all.
You need to repeat what you did, but when you move the throttle back to minimum, you hear the beeps, then you unplug the battery again and switch off the transmitter.
This will make sure your esc’s are set.
Next up, your trims are not centered on your transmitter. When you did the radio calibration the sticks should be in the centre with a value of as close to 1500 as possible. You need to adjust the trims on your transmitter so they are 0 and redo the radio calibration, not forgetting to move the switches for channels 5-8.
Then you can plug in the quad, and hold minimum throttle and full yaw to arm the quad. Then you should get a response to throttle, pitch, roll and yaw commands.
Hi MarkM,
1- I did the arming by plugging and unpluggin and all those stuff. If you watch video it will be clear.
the motors rotate. So it is armed. Am I wrong or right? Arming mean motor should not rotate.
2- As I have watched many videos and tutorials, it says to put throttle to min and to the right to disarm. It has worked for me.
3- I am using turnigy 9x transmitter and it has multiple trim. I can do it with the switch and from the LCD screen. I will do it.
I appreciate your help. 
thanks
copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/initia … esc-motor/
copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/arming_the_motors/
Thank you MarkmM
Now the motors respond to yaw, pitch and roll.
I did try to use the trim buttons to bring them close to 1500. I will update you if it got airborne.
thanks you again .
Again Can’t disarm,
I didn’t get it. do I have do it everytime I turn it off for a longer peroid (i,e 5 or 10 min)?
Now the motors beep, and beep.
Here is what I did:
1-turned transmitter ON
2- Put throttle to max
3- connect the battery to quad
4- After hearing 1 or two beeps, disconnect the battery
5- Reconnect the battery
6- After hearing a double beep, bring the throttle back to min and hear long beeps
After this am confused. The motor respond if I push the throttle up.
According to the instruction, I have do disconnect the battery “to save the settings” I assume.
I did that but when I connect the battery again, It is makeing beep waiting for me to calibrate this it.
so I am going in a lloop and it never gets armed.
Here is the video: youtu.be/QH9xN9_FyBU
[size=150][color=#FF4040]Why don’t we have a simple turn on and fly[/color][/size]. this is soo stupid. I have spent now 5 weeks and can’t fly.
It took me 3 weeks to make motors spin and now in the past 2 weeks it just responds to throttle only.
Please help.
[quote=“guy9495”]Again Can’t disarm,
I didn’t get it. do I have do it everytime I turn it off for a longer peroid (i,e 5 or 10 min)?
Now the motors beep, and beep.
Here is what I did:
1-turned transmitter ON
2- Put throttle to max
3- connect the battery to quad
4- After hearing 1 or two beeps, disconnect the battery
5- Reconnect the battery
6- After hearing a double beep, bring the throttle back to min and hear long beeps
After this am confused. The motor respond if I push the throttle up.
According to the instruction, I have do disconnect the battery “to save the settings” I assume.
I did that but when I connect the battery again, It is makeing beep waiting for me to calibrate this it.
so I am going in a lloop and it never gets armed.
[size=150][color=#FF4040]Why don’t we have a simple turn on and fly[/color][/size]. this is soo stupid. I have spent now 5 weeks and can’t fly.
It took me 3 weeks to make motors spin and now in the past 2 weeks it just responds to throttle only.
Please help.[/quote]
[size=150][color=#FF0000]Calm down there chap! You are doing it wrong.[/color][/size]
You are trying to calibrate the esc every time, you only have to do that once or if trying cal for a reason. Once your copter is set up all you have to do is turn on your transmitter, plug in your battery, and to fly arm by keeping the throttle stick down and applying right hand rudder stick a few seconds until armed. to dis arm throttle all the way down and left hand rudder stick for a few seconds.
As RabbitStu and I have both said, the esc calibration is only done once. After you have done it you do NOT do it again. I posted the links for how to arm the quad, that is all you need to do.
copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/initia … esc-motor/
Follow those instructions once, then never repeat them.
copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/arming_the_motors/
Use ONLY these instructions to arm the quad
what does the this “PreArm RC not calibrated” mean?
I did calibration.
It means that the radio transmitter calibration has changed, possibly due to the trims being changed, and now you need to re do the rc calibration in mission planner.
I did recalibration.
Now the response of throttle is very high.
with little push it makes crazy speed.
where should I fix this? from mission planner or transmitter?
thank you
Both; Radio/TX always first then MP.
[quote=“guy9495”]I did recalibration.
Now the response of throttle is very high.
with little push it makes crazy speed.
where should I fix this? from mission planner or transmitter?
thank you[/quote]
Hi MarkM and everyone else who helped
the issue is resolved with motor responded only with throttle. I learned in series of posts and did the following:
Here is what I did:
1-turned transmitter ON
2- Put throttle to max
3- connect the battery to quad
4- After hearing 1 or two beeps, disconnect the battery
5- Reconnect the battery
6- After hearing a short beep bring the throttle back to minimum and hear long beeps. At this point if you move throttle up, motors will spin
[color=#FF0000]7- Disconnect the battery and wait for 2-3 seconds and connect.[/color]
Done. Now motors will respond with any sticks and this is called[color=#FF0000] ARMED[/color].
thank you MarkM, Gordon and Mr. Internet.
[quote=“guy9495”]Hi MarkM and everyone else who helped
the issue is resolved with motor responded only with throttle. I learned in series of posts and did the following:
Here is what I did:
1-turned transmitter ON
2- Put throttle to max
3- connect the battery to quad
4- After hearing 1 or two beeps, disconnect the battery
5- Reconnect the battery
6- After hearing a short beep bring the throttle back to minimum and hear long beeps. At this point if you move throttle up, motors will spin
[color=#FF0000]7- Disconnect the battery and wait for 2-3 seconds and connect.[/color]
Done. Now motors will respond with any sticks and this is called[color=#FF0000] ARMED[/color].
thank you MarkM, Gordon and Mr. Internet.[/quote]
Glad it’s working!!
Now, do NOT do any of those steps again, they are ONLY for the esc calibration and now they have been done once they do NOT need to be done again.
To arm -
To disarm
[quote=“guy9495”]Hi MarkM and everyone else who helped
the issue is resolved with motor responded only with throttle. I learned in series of posts and did the following:
Here is what I did:
1-turned transmitter ON
2- Put throttle to max
3- connect the battery to quad
4- After hearing 1 or two beeps, disconnect the battery
5- Reconnect the battery
6- After hearing a short beep bring the throttle back to minimum and hear long beeps. At this point if you move throttle up, motors will spin
[color=#FF0000]7- Disconnect the battery and wait for 2-3 seconds and connect.[/color]
Done. Now motors will respond with any sticks and this is called[color=#FF0000] ARMED[/color].
thank you MarkM, Gordon and Mr. Internet.[/quote]
Guy:
I’m still on my first APM and I can understand your frustration. You seem to be a bit crossed up on what you are calibrating and why. This is what I’ve learned so far:-
(1) The APM assumes that the center of the sticks are at 1500ms. Therefore before you start anything you should reset the model memory (on your TX) so that all of the trims are in the centre and there are no mixes or servo offsets stored in the TX. (Easiest way to do this is start with a new model memory so that you know that everything is set to the factory defaults).
(2) Calibrate the ESCs (You only have to do this once):-
1- Turn transmitter ON
2- Put throttle to max
3- connect the battery to quad
4- After hearing one (or two) short beeps bring the throttle back to minimum and hear long beeps. The ESC’s are now calibrated and will work normally.
YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN (Unless you change an ESC).
(3) Use the setup wizard in the mission planner to calibrate the sensors on your APM board and also teach the APM where your transmitter stick end points are (TX calibration). Make sure that you set up the AUX channels so that you can change APM modes on switch positions that you will remember!
Once you have done all of this the ESC’s will work properly, the APM sensors will work properly and the APM will understand what your TX sticks and switches are telling it.
Power Up sequence:-
1- Turn transmitter ON
2- Put throttle to [color=#FF0000]MIN[/color]
3- connect the battery to your quad
4- You should hear long beeps (ESC’s are now armed but the APM is not).
Arming:-
1- Place the quad on the ground on a level surface with a clear view of the sky.
2- Wait for the GPS to get a lock (and check that your telemetry is working Ok).
3- MIN Throttle and hold MAX right rudder. It should arm the APM after a few seconds.
Disarming:
MIN Throttle and MAX left rudder should disarm the APM.
No one said these things were simple.
Don’t give up, you just need to understand what order to do things in and why.
hopefully my notes might clarify the setup process for you a bit.