I’ve been lurking here for a couple of weeks now, reading what I can to help me set up my Y6 mr but I’m now seriously wondering if I’ve chosen the wrong fc for me…
I’ve flown quite a lot over the years, planes and more recently a Gaui 550 copter. For the last 3 months I’ve been using a Phantom quite successfully then decided that I wanted a larger platform mainly for video. I chose the Sky Hero Spy 600 and was persuaded to chose Pixhawk by the shop despite having reservations, not about the fc as such, more about my capabilities to set it up properly.
I’ve finished the build and was going to take her for her maiden today after I’d set up the failsafe but here’s my issue… Having spent £1,800 on the kit, I read so many stories of problem with APM and I know there will be similar stories about Naza but as it’s such a simple system to set up, would I really be safer going that route? I really love the functionality of APM but I don’t want to be picking up a pile of bits from the field having missed one of what appears to be so many critical settings or worse, never seeing the mr again…
Running her without props, everything appears to be good, there’s the obvious change in motor control when switching for stabilize to loiter, alt hold, etc.
I’m sure others are in a similar position when it comes to choosing the right fc system for them so any comments, advice, observations would be really appreciated.
We’ll, mine carry payload that is 3 times that amount, often over sea.
Pixhawk / APM down not cause crashes, bad builds, insufficient testing, and User error does.
Sorry, you’re correct, there isn’t actually a question there is there… I suppose my question would be and this may be difficult for you to answer given the fact that you’re obviously technically experienced/qualified to be an administrator on this site but would you regard Pixhawk as a system that’s ‘safe’ to be set up and used by somebody relatively inexperienced in programming such flight controllers? Overall, ignoring poor build and poor programming, how reliable would you say the actual system is?
May be it’s about investment of time, invest the time researching and programming to get to the point where you are as sure as you can be that everything is as it should be…
Well, I’m admin because I know the forum software, not because I know the autopilots .
2 years ago (that’s about when I actually started), I would have answered your question with “no”.
But nowadays, the documentation is significantly better and if you take the time and read through it and make good use of this forums, I think, even a total newbie is able to get a bird flying without crashing it.
Most crashes I read or hear of are caused be operators which didn’t read before flying or were operating more or less carelessly.
Of course, there have been bugs in the firmware and also in the hardware but those you find also in competing products. The difference is, “our” bugs are not only quickly discovered but also usually quickly fixed!
So - bottom line - yes, APM and Pixhawk are more complicated but that is manageable with patience and discipline.
In return you get a system with features and flexibility which will by far outperform every other system on the market today, even systems which cost 5 times the money and - for me - that’s worth it. It even was worth the crashes and rebuilds I had in the beginning.
As for the reliability - I would say, the Pixhawk now is a very reliable system. There are still a few caveats which you will find when you read through the latest Copter software forums but also those are manageable.
And, if I remember right, some major aviation manufacturer (was it Boeing?) actually used the Pixhawk’s predecessor, the PX4, in some big research project, so they can’t be that bad .
Read the docs and ask questions in the forum! And start slow. Don’t go on a 5km BLOS mission on your maiden.
Then, all will work out just fine.
I don’t suppose it’s possible to access a ‘settings file’ that could be checked over somebody knowledgeable to look for obvious errors or omissions?
I’ve just bought a Graupner MZ-18 tx and GR-24 rx to use with this build. I’m fairly confident about following the failsafe set up looking at other brands of radio but if somebody is using this radio and has set up their failsafe a few words of guidance would be much appreciated… The Graupner manual is severely lacking imo, it appears to have been translated by somebody who is non-native English speaking.
Actually, it is possible but unless you changed some parameters already, it’s not really necessary and for most copters you should be fine with the defaults for the moment.
Assuming that you double checked the setup, especially, motor directions and correct ESC wiring, your next step would be to get the bird in the air. Put a battery in, set stabilize mode and carefully pull the throttle and see how it hovers. Don’t start flying around like crazy. Get a “feel” for it. Don’t forget to activate logging! If you think that the copter behaves weird, post a logfile to the Copter software support subforum.
Next step: Tuning. You can do it manually or automatically. Both ways are nicely documented .
Graupners manual are like most of German products; ignoring that the rest of the world are capable of learning English.
Anyway - Graupner MX Failsafe is a no-brainer, easily programmed, connect a servo and test out.
If you use PPM ratner than PWM connection to pixhawk, the Ardu* part will work independently of whatever reciever failsafe you set up - the reciever failsafe setup apply only to PWM outputs.
Thanks Andre. It’s the MZ-18 not MX but as I’m using PPM directly to the Pixhawk are you saying that I can ignore the radio and just set failsafe in Mission Planner?
[quote=“StefanG”]Actually, it is possible but unless you changed some parameters already, it’s not really necessary and for most copters you should be fine with the defaults for the moment.
Assuming that you double checked the setup, especially, motor directions and correct ESC wiring, your next step would be to get the bird in the air. Put a battery in, set stabilize mode and carefully pull the throttle and see how it hovers. Don’t start flying around like crazy. Get a “feel” for it. Don’t forget to activate logging! If you think that the copter behaves weird, post a logfile to the Copter software support subforum.
Next step: Tuning. You can do it manually or automatically. Both ways are nicely documented .[/quote]
Thanks Stefan… I’m going out in about an hour to do exactly that, motor directions are all fine… Do you have to activate logging immediately prior to flying, i.e. without powering down or will the Pixhawk remember that I set write params last time it was connected to Mission Planner?
If you don’t forget to click “write params”, the Pixhawk will remember the settings . Also remember to always click “read params” to download the data from the Pixhawk before you make any changes.
You do want to change the actual parameters and not the MP defaults
Ah well, first rooky mistake, take your tablet so you can calibrate the magnetometer, flying site is 5 miles from home, she wouldn’t arm. Got home, armed no problem. My back garden is too narrow for comfort but I span her up and noticed that the pitch and roll are both reversed, will sort that now… Will try again tomorrow after work, weather permitting…
Finally sorted the failsafe over the weekend, nice calm evening here so decided to go for it… Absolutely faultless, easy take off, nice and controllable in stab, rock steady in alt hold and stuck to the spot in loiter… Am sooo happy!
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