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

[powerlord]

yup nothing to APM. rx to it if you want to control gimbal but thats the lot.

It will take anything up to 6s I think ? (certainly 4s which I run is fine). no need for UBEC

more voltage seems to give the motors more torque, but I have no real proof of that.

But you will need to set it up for the voltage you are going to use as the PIDs vary with voltage.

And make sure you don';t connect power the wrong way around as it will fry board.

[DarrenG]

Thanks, now connected to the PDB and powered up OK.

Roll seems to be working fine but pitch is all over the place, motors twitching and rarely anywhere near level.  IMU is mounted to bottom of frame with double sided tape at the moment.  Trying to figure out what does what in the v49 GUI, which is as clear as mud at the mo :)

[powerlord]

you might find this useful:

http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=2945.msg23561#msg23561

stu

[Calomile]

I recommend not plugging the negative into the positive on your battery. I have now succumb to this and now I have to pay the idiot tax as well as play the waiting game. 

[DarrenG]

Ouch!  Got roll working fine but pitch is very jittery. Going to work through tuning tomorrow, brain fried now!

[DarrenG]

Started afresh today on the Mac using the latest Beta 049 r77 available.  The default settings in this version seem bang on for me, it';s rock solid, no jitters and working very well.

As an aside, I was able to do a firmware update via the GUI on the Mac. On Win7 it just times out when trying to update.

Now I can concentrate on tidying up the wiring, sorting the rubber bungs (gonna try earplugs first) and setting up tx control for pitch.

[powerlord]

No !!!! U mean they';ve changed the yo again ??? Or is it just defaults that have changed ?

[DarrenG]

No !!!! U mean they';ve changed the yo again ??? Or is it just defaults that have changed ?

In r69 the defaults were all set at zero, in r77 it came pre-loaded with what I assume are suggested values?  These are working beautifully for my config.

Can anyone tell me which pin on the board I connect signal to if I want to control pitch from the Tx?

[Gaza07]

Use pins A1 for pitch but only connect Gnd and Signal 

[DarrenG]

Use pins A1 for pitch but only connect Gnd and Signal 

Thanks Gaz, but there are no markings on my board to indicate which is A1?

[Gaza07]

Are you sure you looked properly at the ends of the 4 rpws of 3 bent pins on the top pg the board   

[attach=1]

[Balders]

what';s the 4 unused pads for marked Tx, Rx  Grn and +5V?

[DarrenG]

Are you sure you looked properly at the ends of the 4 rpws of 3 bent pins on the top pg the board   

Cripes, how did I miss that, cheers Gaz 

[powerlord]

what';s the 4 unused pads for marked Tx, Rx  Grn and +5V?

I think that';s i2c port. Can be used for 3rd axis maybe in future

[powerlord]

Cripes, how did I miss that, cheers Gaz 

Make sure you connect signal and gnd to right pins. Should be obvious from circuit board which side is gnd - not at home so can';t check for you just now.

[DarrenG]

Make sure you connect signal and gnd to right pins. Should be obvious from circuit board which side is gnd - not at home so can';t check for you just now.

All sorted now thanks. I had CH8 configured for pitch on the previous servo Gimbal with a switch to enable/disable Tx control so it';s carried across easily enough.

Can';t figure out how to control the pitch endpoints though. Currently max pitch is about 60 deg down where I';d link the option to go to a full downward pitch if possible.

Regardless, massively impressed with how good this kit is, set up and getting all the software talking is a mess of course but once it';s done it is very, very impressive.

[coastersteve]

Another new firmware is out...

Version 049 r77
* code size reduction, because some non UNO platforms have flash size issues
  * reworked RC handling and bug fixes (thanks to micha-24 for the contribution)
  * RC channels numbers match AOI naming now
  * GUI help text enhancements
  * reduced control noise, changed PID I scale (by 10)

*******************************
  Important
*******************************
  ->  PID I must be divided by 10 for same result
      e.g. instead I=60 use I=6

[DarrenG]

With regards to powering the gimbal, currently I have just run power direct off the PDB which is fine for now but I may not always be using 4S batteries and changing to 3S means I';d need to re-tune.

So I';m thinking it may make sense to fit a voltage controller and set it for 12v output regardless of what battery I';m using. Does that make sense to do and if so, as a sanity check, this should be Ok right?

eBay Link - DC Step Down Voltage Controller

[shaktar]

With help from Gaza mines now working well

RC Timer Brushless Gimbal First test Flight

[ChrisH]

Nice and steady Shaktar, 

Waiting for mine to turn up. Just need to build the frame to hang it on then.... 

Lots of good info on here I';m pleased to see (as usual) and I';m hoping the main bugs will have been sorted by the time I get mine live! 

[Gaza07]

very nice Shaktar 

[ChrisH]

Whoop whoop!! Mine turned up today. Not bad, ordered on 6th. Now to put it together 

Shaktar, how close to straight down does the gimbal go without a problem on this software?   

[mickyt]

With help from Gaza mines now working well

RC Timer Brushless Gimbal First test Flight

now you can see your garden bout time the lawn mower came out lol

[Gav]

Awesome and nice garden too

[shaktar]

Whoop whoop!! Mine turned up today. Not bad, ordered on 6th. Now to put it together 

Shaktar, how close to straight down does the gimbal go without a problem on this software?   

Mine can look straight and straight up, it did not like looking up but thats been fixed and it works all the way.

lol yeh i know the garden needs doing, i';ve done half as you can see, but the lawn mower has packed up. Just waiting on a spark plug for it.

[Gav]

I';ve put  version r77 firmware on mine.  Excellent, my GoPro can now look straight down too.  I re positioned the IMU also to a better location.  Playing around tweaking the setting and tidying up the wiring on the gimbal n controller, was far more pleasurable than sitting and watching Coronation Street 

really is quite satisfying to get your gimbal running sweet.. You just know you';re in for a smooooth fpv flight and or silky video recording!! 

[ChrisH]

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!

[Balders]

Mine arrived today. Just about built it, but the hole for the tilt motor grub wasn';t drilled/tapped right through and I';ve managed to shear a screw off in it.  What a PITA. Not quite sure what I';m gonna do, have to try drilling it carefully out I spose. Tried to cut a slot in it with a dremel and get a screw driver in it but no joy.

Ho hum :)

[ChrisH]

Sounds like this kit has a few problems with incomplete drilling or tapping. I';ll have the benefit of your experiences and carefully check first.

Bad luck Balders!

[DarrenG]

Mine arrived today. Just about built it, but the hole for the tilt motor grub wasn';t drilled/tapped right through and I';ve managed to shear a screw off in it.  What a PITA. Not quite sure what I';m gonna do, have to try drilling it carefully out I spose. Tried to cut a slot in it with a dremel and get a screw driver in it but no joy.

Mine was the same. Had to tap it in the end to complete the thread.