my first quad

[andy bards]

Hello fellow builders,,

I have been building my quad for the last 6 weeks,, a very time consuming procedure when you know nothing, and are learning from scratch..

The quad is a quanum 470xj with a PX4LITE flight controller (gold metal case edition type),,
motors are 700 kv 3508 - 16 ( 4 off)
ESC are 40amp afro
taranis plus transmitter , 8xr receiver and I think its called vfas chip connected to controller
gps is the ublok neo8 with compass
4k camera upfront with 3 axis gimbal and fpv transmitter and fatshark attitude googles
I have added 433 telemetry to the quad so I will be able to monitor while flying, it connects to my ground station with 433 MHz or my mobile phone using tower app.
batterys I have bought are different, I was told 10c batterys were ok for quads so I got 2 x 8000mah batts and 4 x 5200 mah batts all 10c rating , but after reading spec power outputs for my motors (peak at 22.5 amps) I bought some 5000mah 90c just in case the others were melting..
all batts are 4s

As it stands I have all the the telemetry working , cell,cells,batt,vfas,gps,satellites connected,rpm,alt,power and so on... (took me two weeks to understand it all and get it to half work, I made the mistake of updating firmware on taranis so lua scripts would not work.. SORTED NOW
The new firmare for quadcopter also has some hidden facts that are not well documented, like the disabling ahrs until u calibrate compass and sensors.. This took a few days and many many hours watching u tube.. Peter King dronshop.biz and painless 360 are the two main suppliers of information that helped me get this far...

The quad now arms within a few minutes, when first turned on(6 sats) ,, but leave it a few more ime getting 16 - 18 sats with a HDhop 0.7 ( I believe is good)
The above was only achievable with a few changes to the EKF settings,, the quad would wonder at first even tho it was grounded..

The gimbal works great with sliders on transmitter working yaw and pitch manually or auto modes where it self levels (I got excited when got this working,, just programming the transmitter was something else to get my head round)..

I have made a few mods to the frame as well, the legs and feet looked weak so I bought some carbon fiber sheet tubes and 3d printer..and began strenghting the legs,, I will try to add some pics to show the result,, (I ended up adding a cross beam across the legs with a slight offset which now handles the lipo and servo)....
The servo works on switch SH on taranis and says bombs away when pressed.. as you probably guessed the servo is for releasing bombs... (I needed something to design n print to check 3dprinter)

So after getting this far I have two little problems, one being the throttle and the other is the battery failsafe..

the throttle is vhard to set,, I have reduced the hover settings and acceleraton speeds and still have to much power or when landing the power drops off and I have to blip the throttle to land it or it will come down to fast. I have tried throttle curves on transmitter and still not got this sorted,, I have only got 1hrs flight time in total so this landing at the moment is scary ***t..
I understand with the telemetry and ground station I am able to collect data to sort this .. (this is where I need help)_

also the battery failsafes are disabled, but I still get low cell warnings and rtl activates when flying.
I am trying many things here but my head is now hurting,, ime thinking there some settings inside my telemetry mavlink vfas somewhere .. the cells read 16.8, the cell is 4.2 and the failsafe activates on 3.9 - 4.1 volts ( I get only few mins before it returns home) I have to mention without setting a1 values on transmitter, all my voltages are correct to measurments on multimeter as well.

PID settings have been adjusted following utube jig demo -- the quad is tight n sharp in roll and pitch with the yaw and throttle left as default..

I gonna mention again this is my first build so have probably made few mistakes and my understanding of parameters/settings change with the more I read and watch.. I THINK I DIVED IN AT THE DEEP END..

Can anyone help me resolve these little issues.... thanks in advance from Andy the 40 odd year old ceiling fixer

 

[andy bards]

View attachment 1227 View attachment 1228 View attachment 1229 View attachment 1230 Hello fellow builders,,

I have been building my quad for the last 6 weeks,, a very time consuming procedure when you know nothing, and are learning from scratch..

The quad is a quanum 470xj with a PX4LITE flight controller (gold metal case edition type),,
motors are 700 kv 3508 - 16 ( 4 off)
ESC are 40amp afro
taranis plus transmitter , 8xr receiver and I think its called vfas chip connected to controller
gps is the ublok neo8 with compass
4k camera upfront with 3 axis gimbal and fpv transmitter and fatshark attitude googles
I have added 433 telemetry to the quad so I will be able to monitor while flying, it connects to my ground station with 433 MHz or my mobile phone using tower app.
batterys I have bought are different, I was told 10c batterys were ok for quads so I got 2 x 8000mah batts and 4 x 5200 mah batts all 10c rating , but after reading spec power outputs for my motors (peak at 22.5 amps) I bought some 5000mah 90c just in case the others were melting..
all batts are 4s

As it stands I have all the the telemetry working , cell,cells,batt,vfas,gps,satellites connected,rpm,alt,power and so on... (took me two weeks to understand it all and get it to half work, I made the mistake of updating firmware on taranis so lua scripts would not work.. SORTED NOW
The new firmare for quadcopter also has some hidden facts that are not well documented, like the disabling ahrs until u calibrate compass and sensors.. This took a few days and many many hours watching u tube.. Peter King dronshop.biz and painless 360 are the two main suppliers of information that helped me get this far...

The quad now arms within a few minutes, when first turned on(6 sats) ,, but leave it a few more ime getting 16 - 18 sats with a HDhop 0.7 ( I believe is good)
The above was only achievable with a few changes to the EKF settings,, the quad would wonder at first even tho it was grounded..

The gimbal works great with sliders on transmitter working yaw and pitch manually or auto modes where it self levels (I got excited when got this working,, just programming the transmitter was something else to get my head round)..

I have made a few mods to the frame as well, the legs and feet looked weak so I bought some carbon fiber sheet tubes and 3d printer..and began strenghting the legs,, I will try to add some pics to show the result,, (I ended up adding a cross beam across the legs with a slight offset which now handles the lipo and servo)....
The servo works on switch SH on taranis and says bombs away when pressed.. as you probably guessed the servo is for releasing bombs... (I needed something to design n print to check 3dprinter)

So after getting this far I have two little problems, one being the throttle and the other is the battery failsafe..

the throttle is vhard to set,, I have reduced the hover settings and acceleraton speeds and still have to much power or when landing the power drops off and I have to blip the throttle to land it or it will come down to fast. I have tried throttle curves on transmitter and still not got this sorted,, I have only got 1hrs flight time in total so this landing at the moment is scary ***t..
I understand with the telemetry and ground station I am able to collect data to sort this .. (this is where I need help)_

also the battery failsafes are disabled, but I still get low cell warnings and rtl activates when flying.
I am trying many things here but my head is now hurting,, ime thinking there some settings inside my telemetry mavlink vfas somewhere .. the cells read 16.8, the cell is 4.2 and the failsafe activates on 3.9 - 4.1 volts ( I get only few mins before it returns home) I have to mention without setting a1 values on transmitter, all my voltages are correct to measurments on multimeter as well.

PID settings have been adjusted following utube jig demo -- the quad is tight n sharp in roll and pitch with the yaw and throttle left as default..

I gonna mention again this is my first build so have probably made few mistakes and my understanding of parameters/settings change with the more I read and watch.. I THINK I DIVED IN AT THE DEEP END..

Can anyone help me resolve these little issues.... thanks in advance from Andy the 40 odd year old ceiling fixer

AM I IN THE RIGHT FORUM -- SEEM TO GET VIEWS BUT NO REPLYS..

 

[ringolong]

It sounds like it could be a calibration issue.

Have you calibrated the radio, and the controller?

I do not have any experience with the fc you have, but have you tried to enable failsafe and setting the voltage to an acceptable level?

Here is a video on calibrating the radio.

Whats the servo for?

Smoking kills! lol

 

[Jackson]

Way above my pay scale.

 

[andy bards]

It sounds like it could be a calibration issue.

Have you calibrated the radio, and the controller?

I do not have any experience with the fc you have, but have you tried to enable failsafe and setting the voltage to an acceptable level?

Here is a video on calibrating the radio.

Whats the servo for?

Smoking kills! lol

THANK YOU --- I had not calibrated sticks on transmitter -- I now have control of throttle from bottom to mid which I never had,, THANK YOU AGAIN,,

Servo is for releasing bait and fishing line,, I will be able to drop my rigs n bait by gps in the same spot week after week at ranges others cant reach (bait boats are not allowed, and no one said nowt about quadcopters)

Ill keep you informed on how it works out (FINGERS CROSSED)..


The battery failsafe I think is now sorted,, not had any rtl on last flight other than when I flick the switch to land myself,, I have disabled it, but are now going to try set it again soon..i also reset a1 and a2 values to zero... I still get voltages on transmiiter so a1 and a2 are not needed to be set


I am led to believe the px4lite is a slim downed version of the pixhawk,, the px4lite has internal damping so can be fitted straight to the chassis on double sided tape.. nice n compact..

NEXT ON LIST :- design and 3d print a parachute release system to fit on top and attach some floatation device to feet incase the worst happens, and the quad lands on water...

ime off flying now -- set me trims n try the auto tune feature.. thanks again

Andy

 

[andy bards]

Way above my pay scale.

not that dear when compared to carp fishing -- just 3 carp reels cost more than this complete kit including brand new laptop/ ground station..

3d printer was a present to myself for xmas ...

or you could have two of these complete quads instead of a DJI inspire... so pretty cheap when compared to other options around the same spec..

i just give up drinking few years back,, now have all the things i want when i want...

Andy

 

[andy bards]

It sounds like it could be a calibration issue.

Have you calibrated the radio, and the controller?

I do not have any experience with the fc you have, but have you tried to enable failsafe and setting the voltage to an acceptable level?

Here is a video on calibrating the radio.

Whats the servo for?

Smoking kills! lol

My battery issue is now sorted -- the verbal warning were set in mission planner inside the flight plan page, there is an option for speech, and on that line when enabled there are more option to set values,, altitude alarms, volts, mah remaing and so on..

few clicks on speech check box and battery check box enabled menu to pop up to enter voltage levels for reminders...... yippee..

Manual landings are now no problem,, hovers perfect and now no voltage issues..

Anyone you know got any experience with parachute systems,, I looking on utube but other than a butty box mod -- there not much about... unless spending silly money..

could be a market for cheap parachute system here..

andy