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Hoverfly programing and quadcopter flipping over — Parallax Forums

Hoverfly programing and quadcopter flipping over

grayfoxgrayfox Posts: 39
edited 2014-10-14 09:40 in Robotics
Finally got my quad copter running! Now the problem i have is, no matter what i do, the elev-8 flips over to the right and the propellers smack the ground. Ive looked and looked and cant find the cause.....
Ive checked the hoverfly board and made sure all the esc's are in the proper order...and Ive checked to make sure the propellers are spinning in the proper sequence (ccw,cw ect..)

When I open hoverfly and connect my receiver and transmitter to the board, all my values are even....when I unplug the receiver and transmitter, the Aileron and Rudder on the hoverfly setup tool go all the way to the right...

Is there something I am missing?

Grayfox

Comments

  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    edited 2014-09-28 06:13
    grayfox wrote: »
    Finally got my quad copter running! Now the problem i have is, no matter what i do, the elev-8 flips over to the right and the propellers smack the ground. Ive looked and looked and cant find the cause.....
    Ive checked the hoverfly board and made sure all the esc's are in the proper order...and Ive checked to make sure the propellers are spinning in the proper sequence (ccw,cw ect..)

    When I open hoverfly and connect my receiver and transmitter to the board, all my values are even....when I unplug the receiver and transmitter, the Aileron and Rudder on the hoverfly setup tool go all the way to the right...

    Is there something I am missing?

    Grayfox
    Sounds like my first experiences with the Elev-8. I think I finally decided that my problem had to do with a propeller that wasn't securely mounted and was spinning freely rather than being driven by the motor.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_UJtbGraAg
  • grayfoxgrayfox Posts: 39
    edited 2014-09-28 07:23
    so far I've checked all 4 motors and they are as tight as I can get them.....
  • trangertranger Posts: 179
    edited 2014-09-28 08:42
    It is important that all the ESC's are scaled to the radio / xmitter setup.

    It goes something like this.... throttle on full, power up quad, beep(s) from Esc's, throttle to zero, beep(s) from Esc's. It the ESC range isn't set to the radio, you'll get all kinds of weird behavior.

    Does the Hoverfly tool show the correct direction for each axis? In other words, left Aileron on the radio results in left movement of the screen slider etc...


    -Russ
  • grayfoxgrayfox Posts: 39
    edited 2014-09-28 17:33
    yeah I did all of that, and repeated it several times, still flops to the right. I also went and double checked all motors are in the proper order....I labeled them when I built it and doubled checked it again...
  • trangertranger Posts: 179
    edited 2014-09-29 09:39
    grayfox wrote: »
    When I open hoverfly and connect my receiver and transmitter to the board, all my values are even....when I unplug the receiver and transmitter, the Aileron and Rudder on the hoverfly setup tool go all the way to the right...
    Grayfox

    With the receiver and transmitter unplugged, there is no valid input for the setup tool to read. It's looking for pulses between 1 and 2 ms and getting nothing. That doesn't seem unusual on its own. Do the Aileron and Rudder channels respond correctly to the stick inputs. Left Aileron = left slider etc...

    Here's a clip I took of the setup tool a while back. You may see something there.

    Have you tried adding left aileron trim? Does it flip with no stick input?

    How about the control board orientation? (you never know....)

    -Russ
  • grayfoxgrayfox Posts: 39
    edited 2014-09-29 15:54
    Yeah I spent 2 hours last night checking my controller and going through all the settings one by one according to the install guide. When I hook the hoverfly board to my computer, the settings are all in the center and do respond accordingly to the imputs I give.
    Now when the elev8 flips, im just giving it elevation aka go up and it still flops to the right.
  • grayfoxgrayfox Posts: 39
    edited 2014-09-29 17:08
    And no....if I dont give any imput and just let it sit there, nothing happens. The moment I try to lift it off the ground is when it flips to the right.
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,400
    edited 2014-09-29 20:48
    My guess is that the receiver is not wired correctly or the gain on CH5 is set to something other than 28%.

    If I had this in front of me we could figure it out in a few minutes.

    If you have Skype contact me on Tuesday at penguinrobottrainer and we'll get this ELEV-8 flying.

    Ken Gracey
  • grayfoxgrayfox Posts: 39
    edited 2014-09-30 06:41
    channel 5, as in the gear? yes I set that at 24 or 28..... can't remember off the top of my head which one, I'll look after work tonight. I have Skype but I won't be able to work on the elev8 till late Wednesday evening....alternator died in my car and need to rip it out and replace it tonight. wife doesn't like driving the truck to work haha!
    I could swear on my life that the receiver is wired properly....I've pretty much memorized the install guide at this point lol! but if you are willing to have a look see, I won't turn it down! I'm in Eastern standard time. can you do Wednesday instead?
  • grayfoxgrayfox Posts: 39
    edited 2014-10-01 20:21
    It flies! Omg it flies! So im definitely going to need some spare props until I get this thing under control but thats nothing. So I ordered a spare programming card and reprogrammed the e.s.c for each motor. That did the trick. Chucking this first card lol! Not sure what went wrong with the old one but whatever.
    Thanks everyone for their help....now we need to wait for the elev-8 super to come out and build another one lol!
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,400
    edited 2014-10-01 20:42
    Yeah, these ESCs and their programming card are a weak link.

    The ESC we've currently qualified (which you likely have, a yellow version) is built by GemFan. I have worked with them to improve their yield with recently. Showing them how a bad ESC can bring down a $500 quadcopter was helpful. In the past we didn't open the ESCs. Today, we open them, test them and program them. That's why they arrive pre-programmed, out of their bag. We've been able to catch a few failures along the way through this process.

    Sorry it took you so long to get into the air. Please e-mail me your address kgracey@parallax.com and I'll get you a complimentary Crash Pack for the hassles.

    Ken Gracey
  • trangertranger Posts: 179
    edited 2014-10-02 09:58
    grayfox wrote: »
    It flies! Omg it flies! So im definitely going to need some spare props until I get this thing under control but thats nothing. So I ordered a spare programming card and reprogrammed the e.s.c for each motor. That did the trick. Chucking this first card lol! Not sure what went wrong with the old one but whatever.
    Thanks everyone for their help....now we need to wait for the elev-8 super to come out and build another one lol!

    :lol: Yeah, these things are awesome. Probably the next 'investment' you want to make is for a flight simulator for bad weather days and just for practicing. [Realflight]

    Congratulations and have fun!

    -Russ
  • trangertranger Posts: 179
    edited 2014-10-02 10:01
    Ken Gracey wrote: »
    Yeah, these ESCs and their programming card are a weak link.

    Showing them how a bad ESC can bring down a $500 quadcopter was helpful.

    Ken Gracey

    Yeah, in a heartbeat. :smile:

    -Russ
  • mklrobomklrobo Posts: 420
    edited 2014-10-13 14:37
    :frown: Truely, the copter crashing is a tragedy. I have purchased an ELEV - 8, and was thinking about putting
    an emergency parachute on it. Hit the emergency chute button, and the props stop, and the chute pops!
    Is this a possible thing to do with the copter?:innocent:
  • trangertranger Posts: 179
    edited 2014-10-13 17:51
    mklrobo wrote: »
    :frown: Truely, the copter crashing is a tragedy. I have purchased an ELEV - 8, and was thinking about putting
    an emergency parachute on it. Hit the emergency chute button, and the props stop, and the chute pops!
    Is this a possible thing to do with the copter?:innocent:

    :lol: You know I had the same thoughts at one point. Things were getting too complicated for me to implement as I thought through the process. What if the quad is inverted or flipping? Then I thought about an 'airbag' - not too seriously though.

    Here's an example of a chute on YouTube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D8OB-t3B_c

    As bad as the crash might look, I only broke a couple of props on that one. My worst crash was when I lost orientation of the quad and had to cut power to avoid hitting my apartment building. That time it hit a sidewalk. This crash bent a motor shaft, broke a motor mount and broke the translucent cover on top. Even that was pretty easy and inexpensive to fix.

    A practical addition might be a prop guard, especially if it can protect the motor shaft - the props really aren't expensive.

    I guess my attention is focused on other areas as opposed to crash protection as time has gone on. If you do develop something, be sure and post it.

    -Russ
  • grayfoxgrayfox Posts: 39
    edited 2014-10-13 19:48
    Im working on that very thing right now! Just today I wished I had one because I was too high up and lost orientation and just about panicked lol! And I mean I was high lol...just a spec!
    Some people do crazy setups with tupperware containers and a servo, and a chute...it works but looks gaudy....yes I said gaudy lol! Ill start a thread on this once I have tested more!
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,400
    edited 2014-10-14 08:06
    tranger wrote: »
    Yeah, in a heartbeat. :smile:

    -Russ

    What I saw in that video is probably a cold solder joint, providing an intermittent connection and motor failure.

    Ken Gracey
  • trangertranger Posts: 179
    edited 2014-10-14 09:40
    Ken Gracey wrote: »
    What I saw in that video is probably a cold solder joint, providing an intermittent connection and motor failure.

    Ken Gracey

    Oh that's it, blame the guy who put it together. :smile: (not a bad guess though)....

    Actually it was 'equipment failure'. One of the ESC's let out its smoke.

    FriedESC.png


    You guys sent me a replacement and it's been running fine since. It's been about a year.


    -Russ
    FriedESC.png
    566 x 555 - 204K
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