Motor output won’t be right if not flying since the flight controller is trying to compensate without actual reaction.
Eric,
OK! So Maiden, and let the cards fall where they may? !
Gary
Eric,
OK, that makes sense. It kinda felt like “directed” action, just wasn’t sure the FC would do it. It WANTS to run at 80mph, and doesn’t like idling, eh?
I’ll balance a bunch of props tonight, and maiden tomorrow. My worksite has large grassy areas perfect for the task at hand. I’ll have my buddy video the “launch” (as us Navy guys would say!!).
Thanks for all your excellent help; it’s been fun!!
I don’t forget I promised a SBus install tutorial (but don’t ask for vid - I’m sure I would sound so pedantic no one would survive 60 sec. of it!!).
Gary
Eric,
I put the props on and tried a test, but the same problem with 3 of the motors not spinning up. I couldn’t go over @ 10% Thr because I did the test inside and didn’t want it to launch… Any ideas?
Thanks!
Gary
Earlier i asked that you might need to change the “Min Throttle” value in WinGUI but you got confuse and changed something in your Transmitter.
This value might need to be raised a bit above what it is at the moment to have all the ESC’s start at the same time.
This parameter is found in WinGUI
WinGUI / FC Config / Throttle limits / Min Throttle
Rise the value 50 points and click “Write Settings” and test. If they still don’t work you can do it again +50 points.
Here is a little video showing our Quadrino Nano in Armed state at about 50% throttle. Look what happen when we move the board in the air, the motor outputs change since they try to stabilise.
Eric,
OK, I got it now. I had to raise the min throttle to 1250 ! I tried to fly in @ 5-8mph wind and on horizon mode, but the Y6 circled off to the left and kept going up, so I brought it down rather hard and broke 2 arms (easily replaced). I am waiting for no wind to fly again. I’ll try turning up the flight aggression in the FCT to give me more control, and trim the Tx sticks.
Thanks for all your help and patience!
Gary
One thing to look at is if all the channels are centered when you do not touch them, they should be 1500 on all of them.
If not you can use the trims on your transmitter to center them.
Next you will want to activate “MAG” at the same time as “Horizon” mode as this will stabilize the copter in YAW so it should not turn on itself.
Make sure you did the “MAG” calibration first.
Eric,
thank you for the information. there’s no problem with programming more than one mode on the same switch?
Gary
Yes you do, just click both for the AUX state you need.
Great!
thank you will do it tonight.
Gary
Eric,
I added Mag to the switch for Horizon mode and turned the flight aggression in the FCT way up. I did several low hops, but the Y6 wants to flip backward and to the left on takeoff, and still yaws left. I have to hold down pitch, right yaw and right roll to get it off the ground evenly, and even giving pitch and roll several trim adjustments didn’t help.
The very first soldering I did on this build (with a too-cool soldering iron - I have since bought a X-tronic dual soldering station and cranked up the heat for very fast soldering…) was to shorten or lengthen the ESC power and motor wires so I could lay the ESC’s on the tops of the arms without a bundle of extra wire. When I was soldering the 16 awg power wires to the ESC’s, I remember it really took a long time for the soldering iron to get the wire and circuit board hot enough to melt the solder… Possibly I overheated the ESC circuit boards and damaged them. This might be why the 3 motors are so slow to spin up? Or could the different lengths of wire be affecting the timing? I currently have Min Thr set at 1260, but the left lower motor still seems to be slow to start, and is always first to stop. It may have to go to 1300, but isn’t that really high?
If you think it is warranted, I’d be willing to replace the 3 ESC’s that are slow, and not change the wire lengths…
My feeling is that the ESC tuning / operation is the problem based on the way it wants to fly.
Any suggestions are very welcome!
Gary
Eric,
Forgot to tell you that I did check the channel mid points, and all are very close to 1500 (ie: 1494 - 1499). Is that close enough?
Also, how important is the Acc and Mag calibrations? I did both a while ago when I first got everything talking to each other, but these were done on my boat (I live on a 40’ power boat), and not where I fly. Should I re-do them using the Tx stick commands at the flying site?
Gary
The ACC and MAG calibrations are mandatory and very important.
If the ACC is not done on a fully level surface, the Horizon mode will try to stabilize your copter to that Not-Level state.
Eric,
Alright, I finally found the problem. The rear lower motor is partially shorted from me using too-long screws to mount a LED ring under the motor. Also, my elevator stick needed to be reversed on my Tx.
The symptoms were that upon take-off, it would try to flip over backward, and would only take off with down-elevator (pull back on the right Tx stick). Any flight at all took constant down elevator, and a constant yaw to the left could not be overcome. I had NO right yaw at all.
A new motor is on the way, and should be here this week. I’ll update when I get the motor switched out.
One other thing that may have been contributing is that I am reasonably sure I did not give the nano time to fully write settings before unplugging the USB cable a couple of times. When the blue LED on the board is rapidly flashing, does that mean it is writing settings?
I saw it somewhere, but now can’t find the LED color / flashing or steady / FC state list. Could you send me a link?
Thanks!
Gary
Hi Gary,
That would be an issue (lol).
About the Read / Write thing, you must be very quick to unplug the board while it’s writing something.
The serial LED which give you information about data transmission are next to the USB connector. They will blink all the time when connected to the WinGUI as communication is underway to show the info on the screen.
Blue LED on the Nano are both GPS related.
- Next to the SMA Antenna connector is a blue LED directly connected internally to the Venus GPS chip. Even if there was No MultiWii firmware in the board this LED would behave the same way. It will be steady ON when you have no or bellow 5 satellites locked.
- On the LEFT of the board the top blue LED can have two different behavior depending on the FCT options
If the option “FCT / Options / GPS / Options / Indicate 5 satellite lock on FC” is activated it will show information on GPS
Eric,
Got it on the FC LED’s. One other question - doesn’t the FC calibrate the ACC and GYRO every time it boots up? My quad does, and I have had some interesting flights when I powered it up and it wasn’t level. 
Gary
The ACC is calibrated only when you do it manually. The GYRO is at each startup but doesn’t give 3D position so should not affect anything.
It’s always best not to move it around when you power it.
Eric,
OK, got it. I calibrated the ACC after very carefully levelling the FC, but I live on and am building my Y6 on a boat. It may be impossible to hold the FC totally still long enough. Unfortunately, I don’t have a laptop that I can use to calibrate the ACC on solid ground… Is it possible to use a tablet? I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, but would need to pick up a micro USB to micro USB cable.
Gary
It’s possible to use a bluetooth module and connecte to a Tablet / Phone with EZ-GUI.
Lynxmotion Quadrino Nano - Wireless Communication
Lynxmotion Quadrino Nano Bluetooth Module w/Harness