Flyduino Quad With Drotek Controller

[pheasant_plucker]

Controller: http://www.drotek.fr/shop/en/51-multiwii-itg3200-gyro-bma180-accelerometer-hmc5883-bmp085.html
Centre plates: http://flyduino.net/Quadrocopter-Centerplate-with-onboard-power-distribution-set-of-2
Four KEDA 20-26M and four 18amp hobbywing speed controllers
8x4.2 counter rotating props
10mm ali arms 500mm motor to motor
The board isn't mounted to the standoffs as shown but a piece of vero-board is and then the controller is mounted to that using servo tape to isolate it.
Multiwii 1.9 and Shaun has even spent a while on the phone with me and sent me a few sketches to try with no success.
I'm going to try balancing everything again as the props have kissed the deck when it's tried to tip over. Holding the quad in my hand and opening the throttle it tilts one way then corrects and goes the other but these movements are too large and sweeping. I'm fairly sure it's down to the PID settings and I may have screwed them up myself initialy.





Gerry

[Gaza07]

oops sorry didnt read your whole post and just saw it was unfinished in the pics  ::)

The first thing I would say is that 8 inch props are a little bit small fora 500mm frame

Its looks like your setting it up to fly X configuration 2arms pointing forward rather than 1,

Have you double checked the motor connections

Front left   to  pins 3 running clockwise
back left   to   pins 9 running clockwise

front right to pins 10 running counter clockwise
back left top  pin 11 running counter clockwise

you will be surprised how many people get one wrong and every thing goes pear shaped

[pheasant_plucker]

Yes it's finished and has been for a while. The only thing I haven't done is decided on a permanent under cart so at the moment I'm using the one off my old concept 30.
Here's some more images.











Gerry

[Gaza07]

Sorry if im asking things you already have double checked but you never know we might find your problem

when you edited the sketch did you edit the the line in the bottom of the drotek define section in the config.h

#define ITG3200_ADDRESS 0XD2  <----- should be changed to 0XD0

[pheasant_plucker]

oops sorry didnt read your whole post and just saw it was unfinished in the pics  ::)

The first thing I would say is that 8 inch props are a little bit small fora 500mm frame

Its looks like your setting it up to fly X configuration 2arms pointing forward rather than 1,

Have you double checked the motor connections

Front left   to  pins 3 running clockwise
back left   to   pins 9 running clockwise

front right to pins 10 running counter clockwise
back left top  pin 11 running counter clockwise

you will be surprised how many people get one wrong and every thing goes pear shaped

Sorry, not enough detail on my part.
prop size, I initially bought 10x4.5 but was recommended to drop to 8". These makes the quad feather at under half throttle and produces plenty of thrust.
All props run in the right direction.
All props are balanced to within an inch of their lives.
All speed controllers have been calibrated
X configuration as you say.
Yes it's set right in Multiwii too!
Props on and running multiwii shows really flat sensor output so not much vibration getting to them.
R.E your question about the sketch, It was already set to 0xd0 but I will check it again.

I'm tempted to buy a different controller and try that but that would be giving in and I'm too stubborn for that.

[pheasant_plucker]

Yes double checked and it's def.h
#define ITG3200_ADDRESS 0XD0

Gerry

[Gaza07]

Looking at your pictures i can see the props are correctly fitted,

When you load the gui and your connected to the copter did you make sure the copter was level then hit the calibrate acc i always use a spirit bubble thing  :)
When you calibrated the compass (mag) did you rotate the copter several times in all axis

[pheasant_plucker]

Yes it is sat level when calibrating the acc and I did the mag but the test hops are done with everything off except gyros. I'm stuck as where to go next!

Gerry

[Gaza07]

Would you like me to give you a call

[pheasant_plucker]

Thanks gaza that would be a great help. I'll pm you my numbers.

Gerry

[Gaza07]

yea 

[Gaza07]

Hi Gerry I enjoyed the chat sorry I could resolve your problem, heres the links to the boards we spoke about, both from china so delivery is around a fortnight

http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=765&productname=

http://www.goodluckbuy.com/rabbit-flight-controller-high-precision-barometer-for-quadcopter-multicopter-w-free-esc-connection-board-and-ultrasonic.html?&currency=usd

Good Luck Buy are ok to deal with I have had quite a bit of gear from them, the link is the newer version of the rabbit we spoke about, the only thing with GLB is its prob best to ask them first about stock as they will still sell when out of stock

[pheasant_plucker]

Cheers Gaza, I'll take it with me this weekend to the rcmf fly-in and see if anyone has any experience there. Failing that I have talked myself in to a new controller.

Gerry

[Gaza07]

Hi Gerry I have been giving your problem some more thought and then thought about a problem I had some time ago that no one seemed to be able to solve, the symptoms where similar to yours,
After trying every thing possible to resolve the problem and just before I gave up, I decide to have a much closer look at the board, and thats when I found a short on two of the mcu legs, which must have occurred at the manufacturing stage as I had not done any work o this part,
Im not saying this is what is wrong with yours but it might be worth getting a magnifying glass and just going over your board and checking, I removed the short with a sharp scalpel and this board then worked perfectly 
The picture below shows the short I had and it looks easy to spot in the picture but it wasnt so easy with the naked eye

[pheasant_plucker]

Thank, it's worth a try.

Gerry

[pheasant_plucker]

Breaking news....
The mother is flying! I decided to flash 2.0 dev today and try that. Still no joy. So an hour ago I was bored so I connected it to my PC and checked the sensor orientation again. All was right but I noticed the gyro showed no output at all. It remained at zero. So I flashed the original 2.0 on there, did the Drotek settings in Def.h and config.h and the gyro output was active again. Took it downstairs and off the little bugger went. Just spent 10min hovering with and without the acc switched in. No harder to hover than a 30 size heli. I can just presume an error has crept in somewhere when the code has been flashed.
On the plus side I spent half an hour balancing the motors today and it's as smooth as a babies bottom now. And I can get loads of practice in at the rcmf fly-in tomorrow 
Many thanks to both Shaun and Gaz for there patience and long phone conversations.


Well happy,
Gerry

[Gaza07]

Thats great news Gerry do you use the new win Gui its a bit more user friendly 

[pheasant_plucker]

Both, I used the old one first as for some reason the new one wouldn't communicate with the 2.0 dev. When I flashed the original 2.0 I switched to the win gui version. As you say it's more freindly and easier to follow. On a side note I mentioned last night that I had never had to use the Motor stop parameter well in 2.0 I have to or the motors spin when armed. Very happy with the result and my quad copter experience has finally gotten off the ground.

Gerry

[MadMax]

Another flyduino frame these do look good quality and pretty robust 
Glad to see you have resolved your problem and got your copter airborne will we be seeing a video soon  ::)

[teslahed]

Another flyduino frame these do look good quality and pretty robust 

I'm very pleased with the one I'm building - although i have only flown it over my bed so far.

[pheasant_plucker]

Another flyduino frame these do look good quality and pretty robust 
Glad to see you have resolved your problem and got your copter airborne will we be seeing a video soon  ::)

The frame is home made, I bought the centre plates because of the power distribution. I would make my own in future from fibreglass PCB.

Gerry

[MadMax]

Do you have a good source for fibre glass pcb ? and would you etch it to make your own power distribution  8) 

[pheasant_plucker]

Yes I have a 3' square sheet of double sided fibreglass board 
I would probably just trim away the unwanted copper using a sharp knife to cut the outline then carefully applying heat you can peel away copper sheet. I could etch it but to me this method is quicker and easier.

Gerry

[MadMax]

That is a large piece of pcb but I didnt mean how much of it do you have, I meant do you have a cheap source for it you might like to share a link to  8)

[pheasant_plucker]

Yes I know what you meant but no I don't. What I have was a gift from a friend about ten years back and used to be a 4'x8' sheet. have you checked Ebay for PCB?

Gerry

[MadMax]

Blimey that was huge Ill check out ebay for some cheers 

[pheasant_plucker]

I don't suppose anyone knows how to enable the HLED 12v 1amp led strip output on this board?
It's got a permanent +ve and the earth is switched via a transistor from the micro-controller so it must be a setting in multiwii somewhere.

After a months break (if you count putting a new roof on the house as a break!) Yesterday I finally mounted the undercarriage proppery, made a permanent battery tray and a cover for the electronics. I have added two led strips down the front arms which are wired to a plug and connected to the HLED pins. I just need to enable them now. I would like to switch these via a tx aux if possible but it's not critical.

Gerry

[Gaza07]

It would appear that HLED is just an extension of the staus led and not user switchable

[attach=1]

Here's the archive the picture is from

[attachurl=2]

[pheasant_plucker]

That's what I thought and it's been confirmed by Drotek but it's not switching the LEDs on 

Here's a few more images of where I am now. I've just spent 20min hovering around on the patio and it's getting easier.

[attach=1]

[attach=2]

[attach=3]

[attach=4]

[pheasant_plucker]

I have now wired all of the LEDs straight to the 12v distribution on the board and added a rear light board consisting of three leds from a strip along the bottom of the board then two hyperbright white LEDs with a flashing red in between them. It doesn't half stand out well even on a bright day like today.

Gerry