It's not enough that I have one expensive hobby, I have several
The RC stuff has morphed from airplanes to cars to monster trucks to heli's, and now multirotors. That transition has literally taken decades to get to where I am now and I don't even want to think about the $ involved.
For an even longer time I've had a serious addiction to motorcycles that started when I was given rides on one by my uncle way back when my age was in the single digits. This summer marks 42 years of motorcycle ownership and riding for me, I had my first "real" motorcycle at 15 and an M/C license before a car license. Currently have 5 in the garage and not a Harley to seen among them, my oldest is a 1957 Norton ES2 and the newest is a 2007 BMW R1200 RT, hence the RTRYder name I use across multiple forums.
Add to that my current fascination with 3D printing and the pair of printers I have, one purchased assembled and ready to print, the second scratch built from parts printed on the first and open source plans published on the Internet.
Oh, and there's the photography thing I've dabbled in off and on since high school...
Good thing I have an understanding wife ( who has two motorcycles of her own and plenty of womanly expensive hobbies )
I can always find a way to justify whatever, the printer thing started with a desire to be able to do rapid prototyping of multirotor parts and I've certainly done lots of that so far!
Anyway, for those of you struggling with PID tuning, here's a little guide I found on the 'net some time ago and it has helped me greatly when I've managed to take a decent flying Multiwii quad and turn it into a cantankerous ill handling beast that barely wants to stay in the air...
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PID tuning theory and configuration guide for MultiWii
P is the dominant part of PID and gets you in the ballpark for good flight characteristics.
Basic PID Tuning - on the ground
Set PID to the designers default recommended settings
Hold the MulitiRotor securely and safely in the air
Increase throttle to the hover point where it starts to feel light
Try to lean the MultiRotor down onto each motor axis
You should feel a reaction against your pressure for each axis.
Change P until it is difficult to move against the reaction. Without stabilization you will feel it allow you to move over a period of time. That is OK
Now try rocking the MultiRotor. Increase P until it starts to oscillate and then reduce a touch.
Repeat for Yaw Axis.
Your settings should now be suitable for flight tuning.
Advanced Tuning - understanding impact of P, I and D
P - proportional
P provides a proportional amount of corrective force based upon the angle of error from desired position. The larger the deviation, the larger the corrective force.
A higher P value will create a stronger force to return to desired position.
If the P value is too high, on the return to initial position, it will overshoot and then opposite force is needed to compensate. This creates an oscillating effect until stability is eventually reached or in severe cases, the overshoot becomes amplified and the multirotor becomes completely destabilised.
Increasing value for P:
It will become more solid/stable until P is too high where it starts to oscillate and loose control
You will notice a very strong resistive force to any attempts to move the MultiRotor
Decreasing value for P:
It will start to drift in control until P is too low when it becomes very unstable.
Will be less resistive to any attempts to change orientation
Aerobatic flight: Requires a slightly higher P
Gentle smooth flight: requires a slightly lower lower P
Integral
I provides a variable amount of corrective force based upon the angle of error from desired position. The larger the deviation and / or the longer the deviation exists, the larger the corrective force. It is limited to prevent becoming excessively high.
A higher I will increase the heading hold capability
Increasing value for I:
Increase the ability to hold overall position, reduce drift due to unbalanced frames etc
Decreasing value for I:
Will improve reaction to changes, but increase drift and reduce ability to hold position
Aerobatic flight:
Gentle smooth flight:
AP: Requires a slightly lower I to minimise wobbles / jitter
D - this moderates the speed at which the MultiRotor is returned to its original position.
A lower D will mean the MultiRotor will snap back to its initial position very quickly
Increasing value for D:
Dampens changes. Slower to react to fast changes
Decreasing value for D:
Less dampening to changes. Reacts faster to changes
Aerobatic flight: Lower D
Gentle smooth flight: Increase D
Advanced Tuning - practical implementation
For Aerobatic flying:
Increase value for P until oscillations start, then back of slightly
Change value for I until until wobble is unacceptable, then decrease slightly
Decrease value for D until recovery from dramatic control changes results in unacceptable recovery oscillations, then increase D slightly
Repeat above steps
For stable flying (RC):
Increase value for P until oscillations start, then back of quite a bit
Decrease value for I until it feels too loose /unstable then increase slightly
Increase value for D
General guidelines:
For stable flying with less wobble / jitter ( AP / FPV):
Lower P if you have fast wobbles
Lower I if you have slow wobbles
Higher D to smooth changes
For acro flying:
Lower D to make sharper snappier movements
You will have to accept a compromise of optimal settings for stable hover and your typical mode of flying. Obviously factor it towards your most common style.
Other factors affecting PID
Taking known good PID values from an identical configuration will get you close, but bear in mind no two MultiRotors will have the same flying characteristics and the following items will have an impact on actual PID values:
Frame weight /size / material / stiffness
Motors - power / torque /momentum
Position - Motor-->motor distance
ESC / TX - power curves
Prop - diameter / pitch / material
BALANCING
Pilot skills
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Ken
