Recent content by Manfred

  1. Manfred

    Looking for recommendations, photo quad built from parts

    After having been playing with my very humble Syma X25PRO for some time, learning the basics, I'm considering a bigger project: Assembling a quadcopter from individual parts, reasonably optimized for my purposes. And since there are so many options available, I would very much appreciate...
  2. Manfred

    X5HW headless mode

    My Syma X25PRO is also useless in headless mode. I systematically experimented with that mode, and haven't been able so far to figure out where is "forward" in headless mode. Mine starts roughly correct, taking for "forward" the direction in which the quadcopter was looking while entering the...
  3. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    Mark, glad that yours works as it should. Meanwhile I did a lot of indoor flights with mine, to practice and to test what's really happening. The main problem I have is very strong sensor drift. After sensor calibration and takeoff, it's quite stable at first, then starts drifting to the right...
  4. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    I opened it again and measured the voltages. No problem there. The 3.3V chips actually get 3.3V, from a second stage of regulation after the 5V regulators. I made some more indoor flights and discovered that I need to do the sensor calibration with the drone NOT level, but slightly tilted to...
  5. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    I would love to get into contact with other people who own the same model of drone, or a similar one, to compare experiences and find out whether there is a generic problem. Looks like I will have to take it apart again, and measure if the 3.3V chips are really getting 5V, and if so, try to...
  6. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    I opened the drone to look for problems I might be able to solve. And that was a good idea! One of the motor freewheeling diodes had shifted during soldering, so that one of its leads wasn't soldered at all, and was completely in the air!!!!! It's funny that the drone flew at all. Just see the...
  7. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    Today I made some more indoors test flights. I started with the battery fully charged, and tried to just keep it hoovering in the middle of the room for as long as possible. At first it wasn't hard, I only needed about one third of the joystick range, to the lower left, and make small...
  8. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    I cleared out a room for indoor test flights. So I can rule out wind and GPS trouble. The results: No loss of control so far, but the stability is indeed poor. I can't do any long flights, no longer than 30 seconds or so, because of poor stability. Just after takeoff it hoovers almost stable...
  9. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    I WILL try again, that much is clear. But right now the weather is horrible. I'm wondering whether to try it indoors, in the smoothest and emptiest room I have, or else try again outdoors but with a fishing line attached, so it can't fly away, just crash! ;-)
  10. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    I did the compass calibration in an open place, without any cellphone, keys, etc in my pockets, and no watch. The nearest magnetic object was my car, about 40 meters away, surely not a cause for significant field distortion. I'm familiar with this kind of compass calibration, because I have...
  11. Manfred

    Syma X25PRO loves freedom... and flies away!

    A while ago I did the first flight of my new (and first ever) drone. And I ran into a problem that puzzles me. I prepared everything as best I could: Fully charged drone battery, fresh alkaline transmitter batteries, I calibrated the sensors (gyros/accelerometers, and compass) according to the...
  12. Manfred

    Syma Fly app won't run

    I will look into that. As I wrote before, I know almost nothing about Android, since my only Android device is that tablet, which I use mainly as an ebook reader. Still I guess I have to learn more about that system. I must be about the only one left in the world who doesn't use a smartphone...
  13. Manfred

    Syma Fly app won't run

    Well, it seems to be definitely a compatibility problem with older Android versions. I asked a friend who has several smartphones to test this app on each. The result: It runs on every smartphone that has Android 6.0 or higher, and it crashes on every smartphone that has Android 4.4.4 or lower...
  14. Manfred

    Syma Fly app won't run

    Doesn't work. Five attempts, five fails. The best I got from Google Play was starting the download, only to fail 3% into the download. Instead downloading from other sites works - but I only ever get Chinese language versions. Seems that I will have to fly this drone without the benefit of a...
  15. Manfred

    Syma Fly app won't run

    Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable with Android nor with Linux in general. I started with Atari and progressed to MS-DOS and Windows, with some excursions into various other systems, just not these ones... Meanwhile I downloaded several earlier versions of the Syma Fly app, from various...
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