Hoverfly Hoverfly GPS is much better now







Aerovideo

Member
Interesting that their "Ghost" handheld gimbal uses the alexmos controller when they are developing their own?

I am interested in their brushless gimbal controller.

My Super X is here to stay though :)
 

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
Is the 4.8 firmware safe to say as "safe" as the 4.3.8? I still have not upgraded from this and have been afraid. I dont ever plan on adding gps but I would be interested in a reliable AH or an active AH. I know they have been working on this but when i read Hoverfly themselves say " some have had problems, dont use it for now until further updates" I tell myself to not mess around being a beta tester. Also does the new 4.8 require you to re calibrate? Is there a known issue with jumping in firmware versions this much? Thanks for the input. Still love my HFP and dont plan on giving it up until something as reliable comes out.
 

mspencer1

Member
4.8 is the best firmware. I've been using it on shoots for a long time now and it works really good. The altitude hold is a bit different than previous versions. It does react much more quickly. However it does sometimes have a tendency to oscillate up and down. I've never used it on a 30+ pound ship though. I still have to test that. The standard and auto leveling mode work perfect as always. The GPS functions (PH, RTH) work much better. My ship fully loaded would hold in a 25 foot radius. Not very good but it did work. Now i've moved to the Ublox Test beta firmware and it holds even better (10 foot radius). Turning up the Auto Levling also seems to help the GPS functions. The GPS functions rely on the Auto Leveling. With a heavy ship turning up the auto leveling aggressiveness in the setup client helps me a lot. it makes it harder fighting winds when i'm trying to fly the ship home but it works quite well. It may only hold in a 10 foot radius but it holds very smoothly. It doesn't make aggressive banks. It only seems to make steeper banks and pitches when far away on a RTH. I remember this was a function that was written into the code. When it approaches home position it slows down and makes smooth movements. Overall I recommend 4.8 or the Ublox beta. firmware. I've flown this ship 100+ hours and never had a crash using this firmware and a 30+ pound ship. I would always be one of the first people to load, test and evaluate the latest firmware release. 4.3 had some major issues. 4.8 took care of all that and then some.
Is the 4.8 firmware safe to say as "safe" as the 4.3.8? I still have not upgraded from this and have been afraid. I dont ever plan on adding gps but I would be interested in a reliable AH or an active AH. I know they have been working on this but when i read Hoverfly themselves say " some have had problems, dont use it for now until further updates" I tell myself to not mess around being a beta tester. Also does the new 4.8 require you to re calibrate? Is there a known issue with jumping in firmware versions this much? Thanks for the input. Still love my HFP and dont plan on giving it up until something as reliable comes out.
 
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DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
Thanks but I am confused, you said at first you never used it on a 30+ lb ship then you said you flew 100+ hours on a 30+ lb ship??? :)
 

mspencer1

Member
Sorry. I have never used the Altitude hold function while flying a fully loaded 30+lb ship. I worry about it hopping up and down too much. All the other functions like Auto Leveling, PH, RTH all work very well while flying on my heavy ship. I'm flying a flat Octo with 17 inch props to give you an idea how big it is. Were flying a Canon 5D on a custom made brushless gimbal (similar to the MOVi)and sometimes fly a Red Epic. All these hours have been flown with 4.8. I have only done one professional shoot so far with the Ublox beta and it flew great. There are a couple bugs about it but nothing big.
Thanks but I am confused, you said at first you never used it on a 30+ lb ship then you said you flew 100+ hours on a 30+ lb ship??? :)
 

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
thanks. Roughly how long does it take for it to establish enough sats? I found the last firmware i tried gps on took forever which was part of why I ditched it all together.
 

mspencer1

Member
If your still using the original GPS that came with the HF GPS get rid of it. It works but its a cold start GPS meaning it has no onboard battery to remember its last information when unplugged. I've been using a 3DR mediatek 2.0 GPS for all those 100 hours. It usually locks in 10 seconds. It may take up to a minute if your in a whole new location. However i've been now using the Ublox lea 6 GPS with the beta firmware from Hoverfly. It locks extremely fast and has better performance. However if you fly by FPV and watch the OSD it will show 0% GPS even though its locked.
thanks. Roughly how long does it take for it to establish enough sats? I found the last firmware i tried gps on took forever which was part of why I ditched it all together.
 

mspencer1

Member
PS. The problem I had with the Altitude Hold was it had a tendency to over shoot its target altitude when climbing or descending. If you rapidly or even moderately bring the throttle stick back to center from a climb or descent it will overshoot its target and fight to get back to it possibly overshooting the opposite direction causing it to hop up and down. If your already maintaining altitude it did just fine. This was tested on another large octo carrying no payload. I'll give it a try fully loaded and see what I get.
thanks. Roughly how long does it take for it to establish enough sats? I found the last firmware i tried gps on took forever which was part of why I ditched it all together.
 

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
Right now I have no reason to change as I see it. I dont have GPS and AH is completely disabled. it sounds like I just need to wait for a better controller to hit the market. Thats what I needed to know.
 

kjella

Member
hello
i am new to this hoverfly board,but i have got the pro and the gps board soon:),but is all come with the gps board or do i have to buy a gps too??
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
hello
i am new to this hoverfly board,but i have got the pro and the gps board soon:),but is all come with the gps board or do i have to buy a gps too??

if you want to do the GPS mod discussed in this thread then you'll likely need to buy the new GPS antenna listed in the first post.
 



kjella

Member
Hello bartman
thanks for all info about the ublock gps
i have now get my gps from 3d robotick and i have flash the pro and gps board with 4.8 ublock firmware
now i am looking at the wires mod
i dont understand it
is it possible for you to take a pictures of your wiering so i can se what cables goes were,like the wires are stretch out so i can see how it shal be done?
thanks
Hi guys,

I flew it again today and was going to make a more formal report but if I can get this done here and now I'm all for it. :)

It was windy today which is what I was waiting for to make a more informed report. It was probably blowing 12 to 15 with gusts to 20. Using position hold it held its position very well. The gusts would knock it off position, maybe twelve to fifteen feet from its "spot" but it would fight its way back and resume holding its spot pretty well. Much better than before.

Using "Return to Home" it made steady progress back to the point where it first got a satellite fix. I tried it from an upwind position, crosswind, and then a downwind position about 50 yards away and each time it got home pretty well. It didn't race back, it didn't crawl back, it was a nice comfortable pace. The wind was gusting when it was doing RTH from the downwind position and it took some time for it to fight its way back but it did it. From the crosswind position it was blown downwind as it was flying home with the crosswind so the final return path was L shaped but it did it.

A couple of notes;
  • the modified Hoverfly PRO/GPS system is using the new LEA6 GPS antenna from 3DR, https://store.3drobotics.com/products/3dr-gps-ublox-with-compass
  • install the new antenna with the white arrow pointing forward and the square GPS receiver facing UP. the GPS board will automatically adjust for declination so there's no need to point the antenna anywhere other than straight forward.
  • a firmware update is required for both the PRO and the GPS (I think it was called ubloxBeta or something like that), both firmware updates are considered "Beta" to be used at your own risk (as is this review)
  • the HF PRO/GPS isn't using the magnetometer that is resident on the new GPS antenna so if you haven't done the external-mag modification, and if your wiring isn't very clean allowing for magnetic interference then you might still have issues with the HF GPS performance ( I still have some HF GPS mounting kits available that lift the GPS board 2" off the PRO board to help minimize interference from the surrounding electrical environment, it's an option instead of going the external-mag route)
  • compass calibration needs to be redone after doing the mod and installing the Beta firmware
  • the process of trimming and then setting the trim into the PRO (I forget what the procedure was referred to) needs to be done and done well. if the heli isn't trimmed just right then the non-centered heli will fight against the efforts of the GPS to hold position making it appear as it the GPS is at fault.
  • in the photos below you'll notice the red wire from the GPS was clipped and there are two wires going to the ground position on the new antenna

What impressed me most was that the position hold was a smooth effort. The heli wasn't rapidly and aggressively twitching to hold it spot, it did it in a way that seemed well thought out, determined, and with control. I plan to use the same heli to go shoot a commercial building tomorrow and will be using the Position Hold feature to help fly the heli so I can be in the goggles when I need to to set up the camera. I haven't been able to do this with this heli before now because the GPS was so prone to wandering and making sudden and drastic control inputs.

Overall it's a good update if you ask me. It's not like a NAZA on a calm day but a NAZA would have been upside down in the weeds today with the winds blowing as they were. Give feel free to give it a try and please chime in if you have any questions or other details to add.

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Bart
 

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