RE : Unable to maiontain altitude on a non-altitude hold quad

[davidhk129]

Quad is Syma X5C-1. Mode 2.
It does NOT have altitude hold. So, I need to hold on to the left stick in order to maintain the altitude.
Trouble is, I can only maintain the altitude for a second or 2, the darn quad will go up and down whenever it wishes.
At first, I supposed it was too light. So, I added some weight on its belly. That's not it.
Is there a trick to this?
I have been practising indoor for sometime now. I get to be quite OK piloting my quads, but they all have altitude hold feature except this one.
I know how to trim, but that does not apply to my problem at hand.

 

[holtneil]

Hi flying indoors then outside is completely different your now be getting wind under the props which will make it climb then drop as the gust passes , your get into a state of yoyo as your throttling up or down to control it

 

[davidhk129]

That's no good.
Spending most of the time struggling with the left stick ? What fun is that ?
On the other hand, I have watched many you-tube videos about flying this particular drone. They seem to have fun time flying it.
So, I must be missing something. Lack of skill, that's for sure. But what else?

 

[ArmyVet]

Are you trying to hover or flying forward?
Hovering can be more difficult. But still necessary to learn of course.
With forward motion you get more stability in altitude. But of course more danger of crashing. Soooooooooooooooo

PRACTICE PRACTICE
Good luck

 

[davidhk129]

What I meant was...…. when I was flying this drone, I was unable to keep it in a altitude more or less similar to what it starts with.
It does not just go up or down a few inches, which is perfectly fine. Instead it can go up or down a few feet. It can go smack to the ground by itself if I lose concentration.

 

[ArmyVet]

[ Instead it can go up or down a few feet. It can go smack to the ground by itself if I lose concentration.[/QUOTE]

Hmm a few feet sounds like no fun at all. I am not sure about the possible cause there.

We need some experts to chime in here.

Good luck!

 

[mark jackson]

I have a syma x5sw and it can be a handful worse outside as it is so light and if the wind catches it.......--------------->
It is hard to Hover! And the controls are touchy...

 

[wafflejock]

More weight gives it more inertia which is good and bad.... It will help stabilize the thing against forces but that includes things like the air/wind but also works against your motors/lift. If anything is needed for adding weight would make it more battery . Not sure there's much you can do with those quads in terms of throttle control, betaflight gives lots of fine grain control but can only be flashed to compatible flight controller boards (over USB)

 

[davidhk129]

Update to my "issue" with X5C-1...………
Isn't it ironic?
Like just about every new task one chooses to attempt, it is only prudent to "start slow".
With that in mind, I took on the quad with the low rate ( why they use the term "rate". What's wrong with "speed" ?).
As mentioned, I had hell of a time trying to control the quad which has no altitude hold feature. Had it not been purchased from China, I most likely would have returned it to the seller.
I fought it every time I tried to fly it.
Then off chance I watched a quadcopter flying video and the guy mentioned that the quad was having hard time fighting with the wind. He then switched to higher rate to give the quad more motor power to fight with the wind. It flew much better too.
So, I said to myself......hell, let's try it. Nothing to lose.
Guess what I can handle the dam quad now. Well at least 90% of the time. I still crash it now and then.....being too ambitious and inexperienced.
So..... as a beginner, start flying in slow rate. But then, better control flying in higher rate.
Catch 22?

 

[wafflejock]

Generally when I say "rate" here I mean the rate of pitch, roll, or yaw (settings in betaflight for these called super-rate and RC-rate that effect the rate of rotation based on input from the receiver). My guess is in this case they really did just mean 2 power modes or max rpm settings for the motors rather than (or maybe along with) altering the max rate of rotation on any axis (probably just somewhat poor translation). Anyhow word choice aside glad you found a mode that works better and can handle some outside flying.