Radio calibration issue ch 3 so can't set fail safe

Either I found a bug or I’m not understanding something. The radio calibration on ch 3 seems messed up. When I do the calibration the green bar is high when the throttle stick is low and vice versa. Naturally my first thought is to check ‘reverse’. That does reverse the throttle as needed for servo control but it does NOT reverse the green bar OR the ppm number [ I think it’s called PPM sorry I forget and doesn’t have access to that right now ]. This is a problem for setting up throttle fail safe! I cannot reverse the servo throw itself via my TX as I cannot mechanically change the servo arm as there is no room in my plane. Thanks

govsux: It’s odd that your TX is backwards from others, but that’s what the reverse checkbox is for. If it is reversing the servo properly when you check the box, the failsafe should also be reversed, can you test failsafe to verify? I will see if my TX lets me reverse so I can try this tonight or tomorrow morning, but reverse should also reverse the calibration bar; that is an issue.

I made a new issue ticket for it here: github.com/diydrones/apm_planner/issues/471

[quote=“malcom2073”]govsux: It’s odd that your TX is backwards from others, but that’s what the reverse checkbox is for. If it is reversing the servo properly when you check the box, the failsafe should also be reversed, can you test failsafe to verify? I will see if my TX lets me reverse so I can try this tonight or tomorrow morning, but reverse should also reverse the calibration bar; that is an issue.

I made a new issue ticket for it here: github.com/diydrones/apm_planner/issues/471[/quote]

I’m certain that it does change the servo direction but looking at the number values… ppm or whatever… this does not reverse which is the problem. The green bar stays high when it should be low as well. So I don’t know how failsafe would work. I can try and set up FS and see if it’s just a glitch with the graph not the actual ppm outputs. I’ll try that tonight. But I have my doubts. Thanks for looking into this and the new ticket.

BTW on a separate issue with FS how would throttle FS work with a gas engine? Wouldn’t it kill the engine then go into RTL which obviously won’t work :astonished:

There’s a parameter you can set for engine idle speeds for gas engines.

Also the input is not the output, so even though the input goes low, the output on the APM on CH3 will keep the plane flying :wink:

[quote=“billbonney”]There’s a parameter you can set for engine idle speeds for gas engines.

Also the input is not the output, so even though the input goes low, the output on the APM on CH3 will keep the plane flying :wink:[/quote]

Good to know!! Nobody want’s the ‘dead stick’ mode :open_mouth: ha

Thanks for the report, this is now fixed see github.com/diydrones/apm_planner/issues/471

You can test it by downloading the daily build (when it arrives) from here firmware.diydrones.com/Tools/APMPlanner/daily/ and it will be in the dated folder 2014/09/26

Hope that helps :slight_smile:

[quote=“billbonney”]Thanks for the report, this is now fixed see github.com/diydrones/apm_planner/issues/471

You can test it by downloading the daily build (when it arrives) from here firmware.diydrones.com/Tools/APMPlanner/daily/ and it will be in the dated folder 2014/09/26

Hope that helps :slight_smile:[/quote]
Bill are you sure the fix actually made it in the daily because it still does the same thing for me. I just installed 2.0.15 rc1-22-ge5-2cce

I’ve just downloaded and installed the daily version and 100% works as described.

Did you remember to press the safety button (if using Pixhawk) and put the mode to Stabilize?

[quote=“billbonney”]I’ve just downloaded and installed the daily version and 100% works as described.

Did you remember to press the safety button (if using Pixhawk) and put the mode to Stabilize?[/quote]

I have the button disabled which you can do in apm-plane. I have it in manual mode whilst testing. This video shows the reverse button in the radio calibration page doesn’t change the values to match the throttle stick. High is low low is High.
youtube.com/watch?v=WbgOCe9ldi8

Also if I select throttle fail safe in the fail safe set up window it goes into circle then RTL no matter where my throttle stick is or if the radio is on of off. The real alarming thing is even with my radio on and I try flipping mode to regain control I cannot. It would simply fly around above home until it ran out of gas and crashed. So that is very odd… don’t think I’ve ever seen a situation where you cannot regain the mode selection manually.

up date
For some reason if I select throttle FS on the initial set up window it instantly goes into THR FS and I cannot regain control from the TX But if I turn that on in the full param list it works as it should.

I got it all working but the only way is to reverse the channel on my TX which won’t work without mechanically changing the linkage. I still have the issue like in the video above where APM P won’t reverse the pwm to make my low throttle stick the low number even if I check the reverse box. :frowning:

The UI shows the PWM correctly, it just doesn’t reverse the view, which is confusing. sorry we should get around to fixing that.

You have to be in stabilize to test, in manual mode the APM is pass through only. APM doesn’t interfere in anyway with the signal in pass through Manual mode.

I’ll check that out, I used the UI, not the param to disable THR FS

[quote=“billbonney”]The UI shows the PWM correctly, it just doesn’t reverse the view, which is confusing. sorry we should get around to fixing that.

You have to be in stabilize to test, in manual mode the APM is pass through only. APM doesn’t interfere in anyway with the signal in pass through Manual mode.

[quote]
I got it working just fine with a servo reversing cable. Kinda silly but that’s the only way I could get throttle fs to work. If I reversed channel 3 in APM P it went right into FS [ even with TX on mid throttle ] and I am then also unable to to change the mode back to stabilize or whatever. That’s very bad :astonished: I think that should be investigated I will post a log tomorrow if that helps.

I am going to try again by reversing ch 3 in APM P then recalibrate the radio tomorrow and will let you know. I’d really like to know if there is an issue or if it’s just the pilot. ha Probably is. Thanks for your help Bill!