Significant Current Draw Increase After Damping Vibrations

ArduCopter
1

I recently encountered vibration issues which I believe has to do with 120Hz vibrations on the Z-axis and harmonic resonance with my Pixhawk 6X. After trying multiple solutions without success, I decided to use this 3D-printed anti-vibration mount: Thingiverse Link.

This anti vibration mount reduced my vibrations down to extremely low levels that I’m very happy with, However I also noticed my current draw has doubled, No weight was added, I’ve attached both logs below, I crashed at the end of the second log due to performing heavy maneuvers without tuning ( me being dumb ).

Drone Information:
Hexcopter
Pixhawk 6X
6S 6000mAH HRB Batteries 25C ( x2 Parallel )
GARTT 5008 400KV Motors with 1755 Propellers
Holybro F9P Rover DroneCAN (Primary GPS)
M10 (Secondary GPS)

https://www.mediafire.com/file/3j9j51h6v1eyq7b/log_32_2025-1-1-13-29-18.bin/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/sadxhyv3oe04ke6/log_33_2025-1-1-16-48-18.bin/file

2

You did a step in the right direction when you lowered the vibrations.

But you do need to tune it correctly after doing that: Quick start guide | MethodicConfigurator

3

After further looking into the logs, I noticed that motors in the second log are actually oscillating (C1-C6), So I tried reducing PIDs by 50% and now my current draw has been improved and is lower than it was before. I’ll be performing a proper auto tune in the future. I didn’t think that damping vibrations would require a new tune to fly properly.

4

A correctly configured vehicle:

  • needs less power
  • has less wear and tear
  • is more resilient to wind

You think you are saving time and effort by not configuring it correctly, but in the long term you are not saving anything.

1 Like