RCTimer Brushless gimbal controller - How to get it to work.

[Gaza07]

Here you go this is looking from the front of the quad and the sensor is on the bottom 

[attach=1]

It may have been answered before but a quick question. The sensor/IMU has two arrows marked X and Y. Which way is which and component side up or down when mounted?

Ta!



Tomorrow the build starts!

[ChrisH]

Thanks for that Gary!

Minor thought, would it make sense for the sensor to be directly under the camera lens or am I being OCD now? 

[Gav]

Here';s my IMU position on a 2 axis goodluckbuy gimbal with Martinez v3, if it';s of any use?

[Gaza07]

Yea you got gimbal OCD  the sensor keep the platform level dont think the position of the lens on that platform matters, but you could move it across a little if you feel you need to     

quote author=ChrisH link=topic=2291.msg24058#msg24058 date=1371239509]
Thanks for that Gary!

Minor thought, would it make sense for the sensor to be directly under the camera lens or am I being OCD now? 
[/quote]

[ChrisH]

Just learning from those who know better... 

One more que....

::)

[Gav]

I had the sensor on the otherside to where I have it now.  The pitch movement on the goodluckbuy gimbal is attached on the motor only with no support on the other end. unlike the rc timer gimbal. You can ';boing'; the end of the gimbal arm like a ruler on a table playing a tune. therefore my pitch motor was humming a high pitch squeel from a bit of imu oscillation.  Moving the sensor back close to the motor where it is hard fixed helped get rid of the oscillation and motor squeel. 

 
Ok I just need to wash my hands now 10 times.  Ps my dinner was ruined tonight because the beans were touching the sausages on the plate.  Night all just need to bleach the sink and kitchen floor before bed.

[ChrisH]

Got the thing built. A challenge given that you only have the pictures on RCT';s site. Certainly seems well designed but I had the same problem as several others, grub screw holes not tapped right through!! I solved it by finding a spare 2mm bolt and filing two grooves in the end of the thread and VERY carefully using it like a tap, fraction of a turn then back off and repeat. It would be so easy at the manufacturing stage to resolve but a pig if you';ve not got any taps!!

Now to get the board loaded. It goes berserk as others have said when powered up. So far been unable to connect to the SW even though the drivers loaded automatically and assigned COM5. Given up for now but will not be beaten

Getting on with the frame so there';s something to hang it off (holes match centre plate spot on!).

Oh well, time for a 

[Balders]

Wasn';t sure how this was gonna work out at first, but it';s getting closer :)

http://youtu.be/LDHBik10rZ4

[Balders]

Here';s a video from today:

http://youtu.be/u_7P25wjHAo

[Gav]

Arrghhh   NO  ANOTHER gimbal in mirror video    Steve delete it NOW!    PS  the second video much better lol but you have seagulls camping on your chimney mate you might want to do something about that lol


here';s another vid from my goodluckbuy gimbal

Sunday flight at South Hants Heli field on Vimeo

[Balders]

Yeah sorry about that...I was gonna call it "The obligatory gimbal in mirror" video :)

[Calomile]

So my second attempt at configuring the controller board didn';t end up with me zapping it to death (Gaza confirmed it was DOA in the post) and I got it on my quad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B70VXgeEguE#ws

It';s way too heavy for my set up at the moment, but I';ve got some beefier motors and a new frame kit to make my quad into a hexa on the way from rctimer. Major problem going into loiter in RC5 of APM, it kicked the quad to the side and then made it very unstable, only just recovered it. I wont be flying with the gimbal on until the new parts arrive.

[coastersteve]

I tried R77 last night but couldn';t seem to get it to trim level like I could in the previous version so went back to R69 which seems fair. Two videos, both filmed during an Auto mission running APM V3 RC6 with auto take off and landing, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=holJJl9BffE#ws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj1Up2PEtPE#ws

[Gav]

Great super smooth videos, chaps.  We';re going to have to have a brushless gimbal video of the month comp at this rate lol  Nice one

[powerlord]

It';s kinda annoying. I spent over a year trying to perfect my old style gimbal setups. Now anyone can do it !

Saying that - I never managed to actually perfect anything - so it';s all good :-)

[DarrenG]

I can';t quite get my head around how to save settings changes, I';m sure it';s something stupid I';m doing but what??

I have 049B / R77 with the GUI that comes in the .zip.  I make changes in the GUI, tap ';Save'; and that is acknowledged in the status bar at the bottom. Then I understand I nee to tap the ';Save to Flash'; button to have the values written to the board?  But when I do that, nothing appears to happen, no message in the status bar or other confirmation.

If I then disconnect and reboot the controller then reconnect, the changes aren';t there when I click ';Load';.

What am I doing wrong guys?

[Balders]

i always just hit "save to flash". Are you sure you are talking to the board? If you click the Start button do you get a trace across the screen of X and Y axis type stuff?

[DarrenG]

i always just hit "save to flash". Are you sure you are talking to the board? If you click the Start button do you get a trace across the screen of X and Y axis type stuff?

No. But I do get the ';Gyro Calibrating'; messages when I click ';Connect'; and an error if I move the gimbal whilst it';s calibrating. So it';s talking to the board at some level?

I';m connecting via a USB cable if that makes any difference?

[Balders]

Do you have arduino running when you run the gui?  I do, no idea if you are supposed to. 

[DarrenG]

No, not needed AFAIK and it couldn';t connect at the same time anyway as the COM port would be in use?

[Gaza07]

No the Arduino App is only used to upload a new sketch (firmware) 

Do you have arduino running when you run the gui?  I do, no idea if you are supposed to.

[DarrenG]

No ideas on why I seem to be able to half connect to the board but not write to it? What with the issues i';m having with my Quad and now this I';m going right off open-source at the moment, been nowt but a pain in the ar*e!

[coastersteve]

Hi Darren, not sure you remember me from ontrak vehicle trackers on pgpsw ;-)

On mine, connect downloads the latest settings, I then adjust, click save then save to flash then click close then test. I never have the board powered by anything other than USB. 

Hope this helps

Steve

[DarrenG]

Progress. I first tried re-uploading the firmware via Arduino and got an AVR SCK error. That';s normally caused by an issue with the FTDI drivers.  All of this on a Win 7 laptop.

So I switched to my Mac and ran the GUI via WISH. And the chart is working now. I should';ve known it would be an issue with Windows!

And now I can write changes to the board, happy days! Now if only 3DR would write a Mac version of Mission Planner 

[Balders]

Jolly good. I know you have to use older drivers oon Win machines, not the one that if you let it will download itself.

I ended up having to configure and use my missus'; laptop for mine

Have to say though, now it';s working, I am pretty damn impressed by what is effectively a "cheap" gimbal.

[powerlord]

I just use parallels with xp for the mission planner (only macs in my house).

You could try wine/crossover ?

[DarrenG]

I just use parallels with xp for the mission planner (only macs in my house).

You could try wine/crossover ?

Mmm.  I could install Windows but would rather not have to! I';ve never had much luck with Wine or Crossover. Might have to bite the bullet and install Windows either in a VM or via Bootcamp, the Netbook I use for Mission Planner runs like a dog.

[DarrenG]

Had a good day';s flying today, ran four full batteries through her.  But it wouldn';t be normal unless I lost or broke something and on the very last flight I noticed the gimbal misbehaving.

When I landed I found the two bearings and the shaft on the side opposite the motor were AWOL.  Blast

I can replace the two bearings easily enough, and a motor shaft should suffice to replace the missing one?

[WPDruss]

Hi Guys,
After hours and hours trying to get my win7 64 bit computer to connect to the controller I finally cracked it.  I tried everything - USB drivers etc. but no luck.  I then installed windows xp on a spare HDD and bingo! connected straight away.
Managed to get the pitch PIDs set lovely (by fluke) but now I';ve noticed on the videos that the roll is a bit twitchy.  I don';t know which way to adjust each of the PIDs up or down.  I';m using the latest firmware.  Have a look, I';m open to suggestions...
http://youtu.be/7JeXZYaoGcI

[ChrisH]

Mmmm, haven';t got my Win7 32bit laptop to connect yet but haven';t tried the down level drivers yet! 

Hope I don';t have to resort to putting XP back on...