Total UAV noob with a Quad Arducopter -- looking for some help!

[Jim Mann]

Hi all,

It doesn't look like this forum is very active given the very few and dated posts, but I thought I would give it a shot anyway.

I am a total noob to the UAV world, but am really interested into getting into this area.  I have a long career as a technologist, but just have never ventured into UAV's.  My 15 year old son is also interested in flying UAV's, so I'd really to get us both started.

To that end, I bought a pre-built ("ready to fly") Quad Arudcopter from 3DRobotics, along with a Spektrum DX8 transmitter.  However, I am quickly figuring out that this beast is far from "ready to fly".  My concept of "ready to fly" was take it out of the box, charge the batteries, and fire it up! :)  I find the online documentation lacking (and confusing), and the Spektrum manual is beyond (my) comprehension.

So, what I'm wondering is...is there anyone in the Houston area (preferably North Houston area) who has an Arducopter or knows how to get this beast flying and could spend some time with my son and me showing us the ropes to at least get us going.  I'd be more than willing to make it worth someone's time to meet with us and teach us the ropes.

Thanks!

Jim

[Ted Chu]

Hi Jim,

I can totally relate to you. I bought a quad from 3DRobotics last year. You are right. It is far from ready to fly.

Have you bought the lipos, charger, and power supply yet? If not, I think those are thing that you will have to get first.

Ted

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[Jim Mann]

Yes, I purchased a LiPo and charger, got that all to work.  I can plug the battery in and get the lights to come on accompanied by a lot of beeping! :)

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[Ted Chu]

Have you had your receiver connected to the APM2? After that you need to bind the receiver and transmitter. 

Ted

 

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[Jim Mann]

It came pre-assembled and the receiver is wired to the APM2, so I assume that is wired corectly.  I did attempt to bind the DX8 to the receiver, and I *think* it worked.  However, whenever I plug the battery into the copter now the motors continuously beep, and I don't know how to get them to stop.  Also, I'm not sure I'm setting up the DX8 correctly.  There could probably be a whole graduate-level course on that thing :)  In one of the instruction manuals online I read that it has to be setup in an airplane mode, not copter mode.  And then there is also a Mode 1 and Mode 2...not sure I get the difference between those nor which one it needs to be set in.

[Ted Chu]

I remember I had that beeping problem, too. It went away after I recalibrated the ESCs. https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/AC2_ESC, I followed the automatic calibration instructions. The transmitter should be mode II, default mode in the US. Yes, you need to use the airplane mode.

Ted

Make sure you remove the props. It is very dangerous if you leave them attached to the motors.  

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[Ted Chu]

You also need to download and install the mission planner for you to perform initial setup and calibrate your transmitter. https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/AC2Installation

Ted

On May 27, 2013, at 8:39 PM, Jim Mann wrote:

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[Jim Mann]

Yep, definitely have been leaving the props off until I know I can control the spinning of the motors.

I can't seem to make the automatic calibration work.  I still just get continuous beeping/flashing.  I don't know if it's because I don't have the DX8 setup properly, or doing something else wrong.  I selected "Airplane" for the "Model Type", and then "Quad" for the "Model Select".  There are a whole bunch of "Acro" listings after "Quad".  Should it be one of those?  If so, does it matter which one?

Thanks so much for all your help!  It's great just know there's someone else who has gone through all of this before and is willing to help!

[Ted Chu]

I don't have the DX8, but I don't think you need to change any of those default settings (quad, arco ....). You can calibrate your transmitter through the mission planner. I still think the peeping is coming from the ESCs.

No problem! It took me a couple of months to get the quad to fly ^^

Hang in there.

Ted

 

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[Zac Hinkel]

Hi Jim,

What area of north Houston are you in?

I have a 9x that I use with a couple of versions of the APM. I will say you can't change much (such as your throws) and do the ESC test. Pretty much the basic way it comes is what you need. Also calibrate your radio in the FlightPlanner and then do the ESC test after that or else it might not send the full range and cause the test to fail. It sounds like that is probably where you are getting stuck.

Zac

[FPV - John]

Jim,

I am new to the RC world also. I bought the full Arducopter Hexa C, just clicked every box 3DR had listed and ordered it complete with a DX8. The Hex cam in last week. Lipos, chargers, XT60 connectors, a prop balance gizmo, more extra parts, a soldering iron etc.are gradually arriving.

I'm going to setup a little 8'x8' bench area for just the gear and parts and start messing with this thing (hopefully this Sunday)

The first rule of trouble shooting issues is "your probably not the first one with the problem". The answer to whatever road block I encounter will be solvable by money or brain-power.

Today I opened the box and said to myself, I hope this is not a $2000.00 brick. I was in IT for 25 years, the tinkerer in me says otherwise.

I will read down through this thread and let you guys know how things progress.

John

North Houston 

[Jimmy Picone]

Take this for what it's worth...

For me, flying helicopters in the RealFlight simulator helped. 

Prior to practicing on the simulator, I was hopeful that I would be able to supplement my lack of RC pilot skills by using Simple mode, but I was getting gyro drift and had a couple of near crashes. That was very early APM code though (October 2011), Still, it would probably be a good idea to hone your flying skills before piloting the real deal if you are not an experienced RC pilot.

Just my two cents....

-Jimmy

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[Jim Mann]

Thanks all for the great feedback and ideas. Unfortunately, I got caught off guard a little with some other activities that came up, so I haven't had much opportunity to try anything out yet. But, I will definitely look into the RealFlight simulator and when I get some time to experiment more with the copter to see what I can get going, I will let everyone know how it goes!

Love the community and forum here...

Thanks,
Jim

[z3...@yahoo.com]

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From: Jim Mann <jpkb...@gmail.com>
To: houston-are...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 9, 2013 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: Total UAV noob with a Quad Arducopter -- looking for some help!

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[Jim Mann]

Great news...I am finally back from travels, got some time to spend this weekend with my ArduCopter and got it airborne yesterday! :)  Thanks to the help y'all provided here, plus a little additional online research.  In a nutshell, below are the things that got the copter going for me (just in case there are any other noobs out there who need additional 'getting started' help).  There is, of course, a lot of great online material for getting the ArduCopter up and going, but for some reason, not everything seemed to logically flow for me (being a noob)...I think some of it just makes assumptions about the people who buy these copters. I'm not providing extensive detail here, just the key steps.  If any others want details on this to help them, let me know and I'll send or post it.  Anyway, the key things that got mine going were:

1. Download the Mission Planner software, connect the copter with the USB micro cable, and install the latest APM firmware

2. Calibrate the ESCs (as was pointed out by Ted).  This was a bit tricky and I think I didn't do it exactly right the first couple of times.

3. Now you should be ready to arm the ESCs (still without propellers!).  On my Spektrum DX8, this is done by holding the throttle all the way down and to the right for about 3-4 seconds, after which time the red LED on the copter will switch from flashing to solid.  However, as discussed in #5, I somehow had some of the levers reversed, so that it actually required me to hold the throttle down and the left.  Anyway, if one direction doesn't work, try the other.  If it's to the left, then you probably need to check step #5.  When armed, you should be able to give it a little bit of throttle and see/hear all the motors go!  There was much celebration when this finally happened for me! :)

4. Calibrate the Hardware, again using the Mission Planner.  It's a pretty easy, step-by-step exercise.

5. I have a Spektrum DX8 transmitter and found that I had somehow gotten some of my lever directions reversed, as was covered in the last post on this forum: https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/AC2_sensorGU.  I had to go through the DX8 Function List configuration steps to reverse my 'Aileron', ' Elevator', and 'Rudder' so that the roll, pitch, and yaw directions were oriented correctly (as indicated by the high and low PWM rates in the Mission Planner calibration).  The first time I tried to fly it, since these were reversed, it was REALLY confusing. Once I found this post and got my DX8 straightened out, it made a lot more sense on my second flight :)

6. It took me a while to figure out which switch on my DX8 was my "Radio 5" to control the Flight Mode.  It is the "Flap Gyro" 3-position switch.  I had all of my Flight Modes set to "Stabilize" in Mission Planner / APM, so I wasn't overly concerned about it, but it was frustrating not knowing.  This seems to be an example where the people writing manuals just assume that the person using the DX8 know this.  Anyway, now that I got it figured out, I've setup different 2nd and 3rd Flight Modes to experiment with after I've had some more flight time on Stabilize.  Note that the switch position number is inverse of what you would expect in terms of corresponding to the Flight Mode number.  Meaning, switch position 0 = Flight Modes 5/6, switch position 1 = Flight Modes 3/4, and switch position 2 = Flight Modes 1/2.

7.  Once you've calibrated the ESCs and the rest of the hardware on the copter, made sure your transmitter levers are oriented correctly, and have been able to successfully arm (and disarm!) your ESCs, you should be ready to attach the propellers.  There's plenty of material online to help you figure out which propeller go on which arm of the copter, but I recommend the following since it also shows you HOW to attach the props, as well as discusses balancing the props:   https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/AC2_Props.  Note that you MUST put these on very tight.  The first time I fired up the ESCs with the propellers on them and started to ramp up the speed, one of the props came flying off!  Fortunately, it went straight down so it didn't injury me or cause any damage, but definitely stay a safe distance away the first time you ramp up the propellers to full speed.

8. Just a recommendation, but the first several times I took my copter outside to give it "flight", I rigged up a tie down system with string to all four of the legs of the copter to make sure I didn't kill anyone and destroy the copter.  I just gave it a little bit of slack in the string, like maybe a foot on each leg so that it could get airborne and I could experiment with the sticks for altitude, roll, pitch, and yaw.  Next time, give it maybe 2-3 feet on each leg to let it get a little more height.  This also gave me a safe/easy opportunity to adjust the trim on the levers.  For instance, it was pretty easy to see that as the copter started to lift, that it was rolling to the left, so I could safely adjust the trim to level it out without fear of crashing or destroying anything.  I haven't yet actually had a chance to got to an open field and try it without the tie-downs...maybe later today :).

Anyway, that's my experience thus far.  Thanks again to everyone who provided advice and hints.  I've clearly got a LOT more to learn about this, including just getting some airtime and experience, and then starting to learn more about the Mission Planner software and how to do autonomous flight.  But, in the meantime, at least I've now got a little bit of success under my belt to keep me energized about moving forward!

[Leslie Newhouse]

 I have tricopter with an apm 2.6. Looing for other to fly with. Live in Bear Creek, but can drive.

[Graphics Plus]

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