I update my firmware today to 3.4.6 and have a traditional heli (Logo 400) that flies well in Stabilize and Alt Hold but has the “toiler bowel” effect in Loiter. I’ve calibrated the compass but am not sure what to do next. I had a problem with a RTL where the heli drifted all over the place and I had to land it in Stabilize. Any help would be appreciated.
2017-04-23 16-53-23.bin (1011.7 KB)
2017-04-23 17-00-48.bin (1.7 MB)
Could you post a param file please.
2017-04-23 16-36-54.log.param (10.9 KB)
2017-04-23 16-46-44.log.param (10.9 KB)
2017-04-23 17-00-48.log.param (11.0 KB)
2017-04-23 16-53-23.log.param (11.0 KB)
Heli was flying really well in 3.4.3 earlier in the day.
Did you save your param file before loading 3.4.6 and then load the param file and write it after loading 3.4.6? Just want to make sure your params didn’t change.
@ozsteel the param files you posted have the default rate controller settings for 3.4.6 on rate P, and the I gain is just about turned off. Those settings will barely make a heli fly, and certainly not well enough to hold position in Loiter.
My parameters may well have changed. I will check them all and reset them back to previous values. Do the parameter files always change when upgrading? I was under the impression that the information was retained.
As a matter of interest do you have a suggested thread that shows parameters for a light electric heli like the Logo 400 that I can use to check what I have set.
Thanks for your help.
List as at 24 April 2017.param (11.1 KB)
Ok. Here is the parameter file reset as before. Does this help?
I’m also getting “inconsistent compasses” and so have turned off the internal compass.
I never trust that the parameters were updated correctly when moving from one version to the next. I always save my parameters before updating software. After I update, I load my previous file and then look to see what changed. In some cases where the developers have changed the scaling of a parameter, they adjust it from one version to the next but I try to understand what’s changed. I would not think that many parameters were changed going from 3.4.3 to 3.4.6. They did change a lot of parameters going from 3.3. to 3.4. In any case, I would suggest loading you 3.4.3 param file and use that as the starting point.
Are you getting this message after you loaded the param file from 3.4.3 onto 3.4.6?
Yes. My compass calibration was fine before but no I get that message and reading the manual it suggests turning off the internal compass.
I did a compass calibration once I had loaded 3.4.6 on both compasses. I did not use the param file from before for this.
It might be just coincidence, but when I went from 3.4.2 to 3.4.5 I had a problem with inconsistent compasses too. I tried numerous compass calibrations all to no avail. Sometimes I could pick the heli up and turn it around in a circle and I’d get the ding that the compasses agreed. But I ended up disabling compass #1 and just used the external one because I absolutely could not get it to work, although it worked fine with 3.4.2.
I disabled the internal compass and it seemed to fly better. I’ll try again tomorrow. I am getting some other errors but yet to determine what they are. Mission Planner was “talking” to me while airborne and so it was difficult to decipher.
With the two compasses its impossible to get an acceptable calibration. I’ll try that again tomorrow too.
I agree. I had one flight where I got messages that the EKF2 IMU0 kept switching back and forth from compass 0 to compass 1 every 10 seconds. Disabling compass 1 got rid of a whole bunch of problems.
So I’ve calibrated each compass separately and one is reading about 90 degrees out! So I’ve disabled that compass and have a good read on one. Off to see how the heli performs…
Just spent a few minutes in the air and I think I’m back to where I left off before upgrading the firmware. Flying on only one compass and in a rather stiff breeze the heli seemed to loiter well. Given the high wind it seemed safer to land in loiter!
My yaw axis has never been “locked in” and any advice on parameter setting here would be appreciated.
Here are the log and parameter files:
2017-04-25 16-18-35.log.param (10.9 KB)
2017-04-25 16-18-35.bin (2.9 MB)
While I’m at it, another concern is that the IMAX values are now all 1. Used to be 4500 or the like. Should I leave them all at 1 or is there a better setting?
See image
The scaling of this parameter has changed from 3.3 to 3.4. It now is 0 to 1. In 3.3 I think it was 0 to 4500.
Now whether it has to be that high. I don’t know. I have mine set to 0.4. I think having it at 1 means that the controller can use up to the full control throw for holding attitude
This is what I use for my 500 in yaw but you decide to try these settings I’d put the rate P at .25 to start with and make sure the tail doesn’t jerk back and forth, then turn it up until it seems to lock in. Another note on yaw is that if the tail twitches sometimes and sometimes not, unplug the MavLink radio and try it.
ATC_RAT_YAW_D , 0.003000
ATC_RAT_YAW_FILT , 20.000000
ATC_RAT_YAW_I , 0.170000
ATC_RAT_YAW_ILMI , 0.000000
ATC_RAT_YAW_IMAX , 0.250000
ATC_RAT_YAW_P , 0.380000
ATC_RAT_YAW_VFF , 0.000000
