I have a group on FB about Roban RTF GPS Helicopters and very often someone asks if there is a way to start the motor and take off without GPS lock. That’s because sometimes pilots keep on waiting for several minutes for a GPS lock, sometimes no lock at all and it is frustrating. I don’t know if just eliminating the GPS mode under flight modes on Ardupilot will do the trick, I am guessing that would be a Firmware problem? Be able to take off on ATTi or Angle modes without GPS lock would be awesome.
If its running ardupilot you should be able to turn off the GPS pre arm check.
There are implications of disabling this check. return to home can not work properly with out GPS. I dont remember what happens in ardupilot if it gets a gps lock in flight but possibly that might set your home to where ever it first gets the lock.
Alternatively you should be able to arm in non GPS modes like stabilize flight with out a GPS lock IIRC. Would need to have a switch setup to select modes.
Oh also refreshing my self here Arm without GPS fix - #3 by skimans
I’m reminded that having a fence turned on also requires GPS to arm.
Thanks, The RX is set to flight modes in 3 position switch, GPS, ATTi , Angle Modes. If I change GPS to ATTi will that work? No fence is set and don’t care about RTH.
You are going to need to connect the flight controller to a computer to look for sure unless Roban documents some place what those are setting on the flight controller.
This doc outlines what modes ardupilot offers.
However looking in the manual for these roban helicopters I found this
It seems to both directly answer your question and have some more details on what each setting on the flight mode switch does. There is even more info about flight modes on page 29 of your manual if I’m looking at the right manual.
Either way I highly suggest you familiarize your self with both ardupilot (since you got a ardupilot fc and it has a lot to offer) and the manual for your helicopter.
With out having the exact model as you or even knowing what specific one you have its impossible for me to say anything for sure. Hopefully this helps you get in the right direction to find the answers to your question and understand your model better.
I want to reiterate that I do not know what specific model you have or if this is the correct manual for it. I just did a quick google for “Roban RTF GPS Helicopters x f407” then clicked around the Roban site until I found a model with a manual download listed. You need to verify the operation of your helicopter as well as everyone else in that group.
I appreciated the info I got via email, I have studied the Roban manual, unfortunately their manual information is wrong, they have 4 helicopter Models and all with X2 or 407 flight controllers, they all have the same mechanics etc and TX programmed the same, so the models are basically the same. What they got wrong in the manual is, you will not be able to arm the motor without GPS lock, either in Angle or Manual modes. Thank you for your assistance!
the Chart showing that one can start without GPS is bogus, FC will be bilking blue waiting for GPS lock, and if not locked none of the flight modes will arm. They also got all the LED colors chart wrong in their manual.
You should definitely be able to change how it works in ardupilot. Thats part of the beauty of having and opensource FC firmware instead of the black box you get in a lot of heli controllers. It will take some figuring out ardupilot though.
First steps should just be figuring out what ardupilot flight modes they are setting on the flight controller.
Personally I like mission planner better for heli over qground control but either should work.
With the link above for setting up mission planner you should be all set to do the next step of looking at your flight modes. Here is a wiki to help you get in to that faster.
Yes, that’s what I am using, the Mission Planner. Originally they come from ROBAN with GPS, ANGLE,MANUAL modes, I was able to change to GPS, ATTi, ANGLE mode. Now, I believe that simply eliminating the GPS mode by changing GPS to, for example, ATTi mode will not stop the FC need of GPS lock in order to start the motor? Sorry, I am new to this system
Can you identify which FC your heli has on board. Does it have a SD slot and USB connector.
If it has USB you can connect it to PC with Mission Planner and see the configuration and also messages during startup. With SD card or an inbuilt Flashmemory you can write logs which shows what happens or missing while you try to arm.
Replying correctly now….The FC is a 407, have a USB-C and it does have a SD card slot. I have accessed the flight modes, but not sure if just eliminating GPS mode will grant to turn the motor on ATTi or Angle modes
The 407 is for sure not the brand or name of the FC. So check if there are more information about it. Maybe also photos can help.
Enter a Sdcard formated to Fat32 for logfiles.
Connect the FC via USB to mission planner and read out all parameter.
FC - QioTek Adept F407
When you connect in mission planner on the “Data” tab there should be a sub tab on the left side of the map for “PreFlight”. Here is should show you want checks are not passing if its anything other than GPS.
Does it let you arm once you have a GPS lock? Have you verified that is actually the issue.
In ardupilot for trad heli usually there is both an Arming sequence than a motor interlock to actually get the motors going.
I think you need to verify if the board is not arming or just not starting the motors after arming.
You can always reflash from mission planner to you go back to the basic trad heli settings then go though the trad heli setup docs.
!!One last thing, before you go making a bunch of changes in mission planner make sure to save a backup of your perams that roban shipped the heli with!!