GlassKnees
Well-Known Member
I seriously don't know what I did to perturb the cosmos, but it must have been something serious... I took my two quads out for test flights - my Tarot Sport, to do a video shoot to test out everything - landing gear retract, adjustment to the gimbal (to get the horizon level), and endurance; the Elev-8 with its new FPV setup..
First, was the Tarot - I could not arm the motors and it seemed as the receiver was not communicating with my transmitter - no camera tilt, no landing gear retract and the little orange LED on the receiver was not lit, which indicates it's connected to the transmitter.
So, I tried the Elev-8. When I turned on my video monitor, it automatically shut off after about 10 sec. I did manage to fly it, but without the fpv experience..
After taking both aircraft home and doing some troubleshooting, I discovered that the monitor didn't like the SD card I had inserted in it. So I took one out of my GoPro and the monitor accepted it. I then put the other SD card in my GoPro and the camera was fine with it - I guess the GoPro is less discriminating - who knows?
The Tarot was another problem... I went through the bind process and got the receiver to connect to the transmitter, but while redoing the radio configuration in Mission Planner (both aircraft have APM 2.6 flight controllers), I was able to set the limits of all the sticks, but not the three position flight modes switch - its as if there is no signal coming from the modes port (#5)... That is probably why I could not arm the motors. I checked the switch settings on the transmitter and I'm convinced that it's working okay. My receiver has eight channels, so I tried using AUX2 for the modes - no joy. So, either the receiver is bad or the APM???
After solving the video monitor problem, I took my Elev-8 back out to the field to try flying fpv. Got the monitor working okay and turned on the dvr and took off. I was disappointed in the video quality but later suspect that I was not on the same vtx channel, but on an adjacent frequency.
But shortly after takeoff, the quad experienced a momentary power loss, as if I throttled to idle and quickly returned to full power... This happened twice and spooked me so much that I made an quick landing. I tried to take off again, but not only experienced a brief power loss, but the monitor blue screened on me, so I landed again.
So, now both aircraft are grounded. I am looking at taking the Elev-8 apart to search for an elusive electrical break. I'm thinking of pulling it's F.C. and putting it on the Tarot to try to determine which is the faulty LRU - flight controller or receiver...
Also, the gimbal on the Tarot won't tilt on command even after I successfully bound the receiver and transmitter. I may have a bad connection at the servo plug which I am going to replace as soon as I get some servo pins. Or it may be that the gimbal itself is faulty, in which case, I'm looking at replacing it; if I go that route, I may buy a Trot T4-3D as it's a little cheaper than the Feiyu-Tech Mini 3D...
Don't know what to do to appease the Gods - there are no virgins around to sacrifice!
First, was the Tarot - I could not arm the motors and it seemed as the receiver was not communicating with my transmitter - no camera tilt, no landing gear retract and the little orange LED on the receiver was not lit, which indicates it's connected to the transmitter.
So, I tried the Elev-8. When I turned on my video monitor, it automatically shut off after about 10 sec. I did manage to fly it, but without the fpv experience..
After taking both aircraft home and doing some troubleshooting, I discovered that the monitor didn't like the SD card I had inserted in it. So I took one out of my GoPro and the monitor accepted it. I then put the other SD card in my GoPro and the camera was fine with it - I guess the GoPro is less discriminating - who knows?
The Tarot was another problem... I went through the bind process and got the receiver to connect to the transmitter, but while redoing the radio configuration in Mission Planner (both aircraft have APM 2.6 flight controllers), I was able to set the limits of all the sticks, but not the three position flight modes switch - its as if there is no signal coming from the modes port (#5)... That is probably why I could not arm the motors. I checked the switch settings on the transmitter and I'm convinced that it's working okay. My receiver has eight channels, so I tried using AUX2 for the modes - no joy. So, either the receiver is bad or the APM???
After solving the video monitor problem, I took my Elev-8 back out to the field to try flying fpv. Got the monitor working okay and turned on the dvr and took off. I was disappointed in the video quality but later suspect that I was not on the same vtx channel, but on an adjacent frequency.
But shortly after takeoff, the quad experienced a momentary power loss, as if I throttled to idle and quickly returned to full power... This happened twice and spooked me so much that I made an quick landing. I tried to take off again, but not only experienced a brief power loss, but the monitor blue screened on me, so I landed again.
So, now both aircraft are grounded. I am looking at taking the Elev-8 apart to search for an elusive electrical break. I'm thinking of pulling it's F.C. and putting it on the Tarot to try to determine which is the faulty LRU - flight controller or receiver...
Also, the gimbal on the Tarot won't tilt on command even after I successfully bound the receiver and transmitter. I may have a bad connection at the servo plug which I am going to replace as soon as I get some servo pins. Or it may be that the gimbal itself is faulty, in which case, I'm looking at replacing it; if I go that route, I may buy a Trot T4-3D as it's a little cheaper than the Feiyu-Tech Mini 3D...
Don't know what to do to appease the Gods - there are no virgins around to sacrifice!
)
