[Solved] Need some guidance on RC switches, arm, disarm, tuning approach, observations

ArduRover Miscellaneous
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Yes, lots of stuff in this subject line…

My questions are related to the practical arrangement of RC functions and switches for easier remote control of the rover (here mower), and go through the tuning procedures.

Sitting on a mower to tune it, holding the laptop and remote is simply impractical.
… and I may have well the wrong approach to it all.

Having to use MissionPlanner (MP) to select disarm/arm is cumbersome (needed to download a log). Can this be put on a switch on the RC?
I say cumbersome, hold RC in left hand, navigate mouse to bottom left screen, select the action tab, press arm, confirm force arm… I need a short cut for this.

Also, how do people tweak their settings when the flight controller (FC) is in the garage, and MP in the home? I would have to leave the FC on to get the values… or pull the SD card to download logs? Or do you pull the FC from the vehicles and connect USB?

Also, despite a RTK fix on both GPSes, I get ‘bad AHRS’ most of the time.

Why would I sit on the mower while tuning? How can I tell what the mower is doing if it is somewhere on the paddock? In particular acceleration/deceleration rates?
Well, if supposed to look at the log files, I can’t open the telemetry file while MP is still running. Have to close and open for it to release/close the file.

I tuned the wheel spin for the hydros. Neutral has no range in my mower. a tad over goes forward, a tad under goes backward.

I also noticed that manual mode control reacts nicely, while acro mode is slow in responding. I reckon this is the whole idea of tuning.
How do people quickly replay the recorded piddesired/achieved values. The log can’t be downloaded while the vehicle is armed… and is often too big hence takes ages to download, or fails to download.

How do I stop viewing a telemetry log? It has load and play, but no stop.

Do people “fence” off an area in MP and test/tune the mower in there?
It is difficult to look at the tuning graphs and see where the mower is going.

What is the best way to take tuning values and replay these and go again?

At the rate I am going with tuning I need days to do the lot.

Back to the RC… which switches do people use for what function? Is there a sort of standard? E.g. left throttle is 1 and right is 3.
Where does engine throttle go?
Where does choke go?
Which switch is usually used for flight modes?
What switches are a must, which ones are desirable or practical to have?

As for the log files, I am re-reading Downloading and Analyzing Data Logs in Mission Planner — Copter documentation

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Yes, this is quite simple, you just need to have a calibrated RC. Arming / Disarming — Rover documentation

You can use a radio telemetry: Telemetry (landing page) — Rover documentation

Have you callibrated your IMU?

You shouldn’t be onboard of it, ardupilot is for unmanned vehicles only.

Your doubts look pretty basic at all.

It is strongly recommended to read the docs here:
https://ardupilot.org/rover/docs/gettit.html

Specially the “First Time Setup” and “First Drive and Tuning” sections.

After reading, let us know if you have more doubts.

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Truly appreciate your reply…

In hindsight this post was probably more about frustrations than technical issues.
There a two, non-obvious things that are bugging me, which nobody but I can fix:

  1. pressured for time; I only have until the end of this month to get this automation working.
  2. The mower in its current state is unusable; hence, I realise, despite back and forth and should have ‘electronified’ the mower first; that is change mechanical controls to a sensor ↔ actuator type set-up and then automate the mower.

I have telemetry, but running the mower (even on its own) and monitoring graphs, then encountering the odd software (operator) issue, has its difficulty.

Despite the (self-inflicted) rush, I should have set up arm/disarm functionality first (would remove ym cumbersome steps), etc.

So the last two days saw me walking away from the project, and taking a mental break.

Given I am new to all this, there is quite a lot to learn and remember… combined with my overly ambitious timeline, do not add up well.

In any case, I appreciate your reply.

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