Alternative Flight Controller - CC3D
I've swapped out the Hoverfly Open on my Elev-8 v1 for an OpenPilot CC3D. I wanted to try out attitude control w/ an accelerometer in addition to a gyro.
Mounting and installation were very simple since the CC3D is rather small. It has a 30.5mm pitch between mounting holes and there are a set of holes on the top plate that are about 33.5mm apart. I elongated them into slots and hard-mounted the new board. I know it would be better to use anti-vibration mounts, but wanted to give it a try with the hardware I had on-hand.
The board is supported by nice Ground Control Station software that includes a setup wizard. All that went just fine. After all the motor testing was done I mounted the props and did a small test with the craft strapped down. Everything good. However, the first take-off didn't go so well.
The quad would yaw quickly on take-off. After asking questions on OpenPilot's forum and obtaining an RMA for the board, I double-checked rotations one more time. Aha! The OpenPilot default motor rotations are just the opposite of the Hoverfly's. Fortunately there is a tick box that changes all motor rotations at once (not actual rotations, just expected rotations). That did the trick.
Haven't had a chance to fly with it much, it gets dark early and it started to rain last night, but so far so good. You can definitely tell that the quad right's itself on neutral sticks and seems to almost cog between different attitudes. I think it is a touch too snappy as-is. Fortunately there are a ton of settings. Unfortunately there are a ton of settings (to weed through).
-Russ
Mounting and installation were very simple since the CC3D is rather small. It has a 30.5mm pitch between mounting holes and there are a set of holes on the top plate that are about 33.5mm apart. I elongated them into slots and hard-mounted the new board. I know it would be better to use anti-vibration mounts, but wanted to give it a try with the hardware I had on-hand.
The board is supported by nice Ground Control Station software that includes a setup wizard. All that went just fine. After all the motor testing was done I mounted the props and did a small test with the craft strapped down. Everything good. However, the first take-off didn't go so well.
The quad would yaw quickly on take-off. After asking questions on OpenPilot's forum and obtaining an RMA for the board, I double-checked rotations one more time. Aha! The OpenPilot default motor rotations are just the opposite of the Hoverfly's. Fortunately there is a tick box that changes all motor rotations at once (not actual rotations, just expected rotations). That did the trick.
Haven't had a chance to fly with it much, it gets dark early and it started to rain last night, but so far so good. You can definitely tell that the quad right's itself on neutral sticks and seems to almost cog between different attitudes. I think it is a touch too snappy as-is. Fortunately there are a ton of settings. Unfortunately there are a ton of settings (to weed through).
-Russ
Comments
I think I have 4 grommets left for the Hoverfly board. Send me a PM and I'll send them.
Jim
Never Mind. I used my last 4 on another board.
Nee to order some more,.
Since this is a Parallax forum I wouldn't normally post this stuff, but I think and hope that Parallax gathers up all of the capabilities of simple flight controller (including GCS) and implements it into their own. The setup wizard is great on that board!
I also hope that the Parallax FC will have 3.3v for Spektrum satellite rx unlike the CC3D where you have to solder a wire to get it...
I hope to see that Parallax FC has all of the features of the CC3D, and obviously it will have more advanced features. It's important to remember people will go through a few multicopters and usually stick to the same FC.
As far as I know neither the CC3D or the HoverflyOpen has or supports an altimeter or GPS position hold. Wouldn't be the first time I missed something though.
I'm also interested to see what Parallax comes out with for their new controller. A setup wizard similar to OP's might be very helpful in ensuring first-time success for builders. However, that also looks like quite an undertaking.
One thing I miss from the Hoverfly is the beeper and the clear indication of "armed" and "dis-armed" via the multi-color LED.
My Hoverfly Open is on the bench right now, but I suspect it won't be forever. I really enjoyed having the source code for Jason Dorie's firmware and felt that with enough time and effort that I could dabble in modifying and tweaking it.
-Russ