YS-X6 flight controller

[RTRyder]

It finally arrived yesterday! My current testbed frame had a WKM on it, I removed the WKM and installed the X6, and then spent the rest of the evening read the manual and getting it setup to fly. This morning I did the maiden flight in the backyard, first impressions are good, still have some tweaking and setup work to do. The frame was setup to fly well with a WKM, small props with high disc loading, I'm getting a bit of high frequency oscillations with the X6 on the exact same setup. Next I'll swap out the props and do a little tweaking to see how it goes. More later...

Ken

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Thanks for the update Ken. I ordered one as well and it will be here on Monday. I spent some time reading the manual and for those that complained about the DJI manuals should read this one. It is in beta form for sure. I am glad to hear that the controller works better than the explanation on how to set it up. Maybe once I get it the instructions will be clearer.

 

[RTRyder]

Thanks for the update Ken. I ordered one as well and it will be here on Monday. I spent some time reading the manual and for those that complained about the DJI manuals should read this one. It is in beta form for sure. I am glad to hear that the controller works better than the explanation on how to set it up. Maybe once I get it the instructions will be clearer.

Yeah, the current manual is a tough read even when you have it all running in front of you! Already found a small bug in the firmware, the maximum allowed value for declination is +/- 12.7 which is probably more than enough for mainland China but where I live I needs to set it to -14.9. Can't do that right now and consequently I'm not getting a good solid GPS position hold with the max allowed value. Everything else is working super now though, being able to land and quickly tweak the settings with my Android phone sure beats any other method short of having things set to sliders on the TX and with the phone, I can change any setting I need to unlike having to hardwire a setting to a TX channel.

The most impressive thing is how stable it is in the wind, it absolutely puts a WKM to shame on that level. As the day goes on it's getting a bit windier here and I've been able to dial the settings in to a point where if it weren't for seeing the limbs of the trees blowing around while in flight, I'd swear it was calm air the way its flying. I'm starting to believe this thing is going to be a killer on large frames for stability. Just as a comparison I took my MK Hexa V1 out back about a half hour ago for a test flight to compare. The Hexa is one of the most stable multis I have in any and all conditions and right now for altitude hold and autoleveling the YS is just as good if not better. I was watching the YS make small corrections in the wind gusts that would have the WKM on the Cinestar jumping and bouncing fairly hard, it is most definitely a lot smoother in wind than the WKM and no where near as fussy about the props in use.


Batteries charged, time for more flying. Here's a size comparison, DJI vs Zero UAV...

Ken

 

[redridinghood]

Very nice.

Ken are you using reflashed esc's on your testbed or stock firmware?

 

[RTRyder]

Very nice.

Ken are you using reflashed esc's on your testbed or stock firmware?

Reflashed DYS 30A, could probably use an firmware update too...

Ken

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Thanks Ken did a little flying and testing today. Wind got a little much for FPV at the end. But I was flying with two guys that really enjoyed pushing the envelope with flips and rolls. Of course the last flight of the day ended with a dirt dart at the end of a roll, or was it a flip, in either case the little F330 came down hard. 4 props was the only damage.

It looks like the only difference is in the IMU and MU with the MU being the biggest difference. Is it true that you need a USB to DB9 adaptor for upgrades? If so I cannot believe that in this day and age. Totally retro. Let me know so I can go shopping this weekend.

 

[Reginak]

Any new flights with YS-X6? Mine is getting here tomorrow and I want to learn the maximum I can before I gets here lol

 

[redridinghood]

First impressions of the YS-X6

The build quality is similar to DJI.

The GPS acquisition is much better than DJI. I got 5 sat's in 10 seconds just sitting close to a window on a cloudy day. Same location and out on the balcony the DJI stays with 3 red blinks.
I had the GPS unit sitting on the IMU and on top the wifi module and I got no change in GPS performance.

In the GS you get main lipo volt and mah consumed.

 

[Siteline]

Yeah, the current manual is a tough read even when you have it all running in front of you! Already found a small bug in the firmware, the maximum allowed value for declination is +/- 12.7 which is probably more than enough for mainland China but where I live I needs to set it to -14.9. Can't do that right now and consequently I'm not getting a good solid GPS position hold with the max allowed value. Everything else is working super now though, being able to land and quickly tweak the settings with my Android phone sure beats any other method short of having things set to sliders on the TX and with the phone, I can change any setting I need to unlike having to hardwire a setting to a TX channel.

The most impressive thing is how stable it is in the wind, it absolutely puts a WKM to shame on that level. As the day goes on it's getting a bit windier here and I've been able to dial the settings in to a point where if it weren't for seeing the limbs of the trees blowing around while in flight, I'd swear it was calm air the way its flying. I'm starting to believe this thing is going to be a killer on large frames for stability. Just as a comparison I took my MK Hexa V1 out back about a half hour ago for a test flight to compare. The Hexa is one of the most stable multis I have in any and all conditions and right now for altitude hold and autoleveling the YS is just as good if not better. I was watching the YS make small corrections in the wind gusts that would have the WKM on the Cinestar jumping and bouncing fairly hard, it is most definitely a lot smoother in wind than the WKM and no where near as fussy about the props in use.


Batteries charged, time for more flying. Here's a size comparison, DJI vs Zero UAV...

Ken

Thanks Ken. I few real key things being said here. I'm looking forward to more impressions and videos. Thanks for blazing the trail!:02.47-tranquillity:

 

[Tahoe Ed]

I got mine in today. I agree with the build quality. The mast provided is huge 15cm. I am not sure if I will use it or another one that I have that is half the size. I have mounted everything on my F550 test mule. All I have left is to connect the motors, tidy up the wiring and set up the network. Unfortunately I will not be able to fly until the weekend. I may take it with me to Lake Tahoe and fly it at a proper altitude of 6500'. Lovely views from there and a good place to test without interference. Unfortunately I do not have an Android and I refuse to jail brake my iPhone so I am left with using bluestacks.com for their Android PC emulator. I am hoping that it works better than the Mac emulator that I tried to set up. It was so slow that it would be impossible to use at the field, let alone control the craft. According to V at gothelirc.com the software for PC and Mac are coming soon. He also indicated that Apple has approved the app and the fees have been paid. So now how long will it take Apple to respond and put the app on iTunes? I am hoping sooner than later. But it is good news never the less.

Here are some photos of my build:

View attachment 4370View attachment 4371View attachment 4372

 

[quadcopters]

Hi Ed and Ken , I will be following with interest on how you find this system but it sure looks good.

 

[Tahoe Ed]

My next challenge is to set up bluestacks on my netbook. It doesn't like my screen resolution nor my graphic card. But it said it was loading a "limited version" of the software and some apps may not run. I am hoping that the YS-X6 does. If not I am stuck until they come out with PC and Mac software. I hope that this is not a large file. My netbook has limited memory with only 16GB on a flash drive. It says it is down loading now. Report back later.

 

[redridinghood]

Well I had my first flight too. Mounted it on a F550 with dji esc - motors and graupner 10x5 on 4S.

After I reversed my declination to -4.2 I get much better position hold too. I would say that some gains need to be tweaked a bit but the YS-X6 flies with crap esc a touch better than Wkm with reflashed esc. I need to do some more testing after I get back from a business trip and I will try and do a video as well.

I too am unable to get the mobile hotspot working but the router will do for now.
An updated manual would be nice.

View attachment 4385

 

[RTRyder]

Some pics of the testbed mule...

Since these were taken I've put the GPS back up on the mast that came in the kit, doesn't really seem to make much difference mounted directly to the top center plate or on the mast so I would have to say either the YS GPS is much better shielded than the one on the WKM or the YS IMU doesn't give off nearly as much RFI as the DJI unit does.

Now that I've got it fairly well dialed in and had a chance to fly it a bit I've been starting to play around with some of the advanced features. The YS comes with the equivalent of DJI's Click and Go plus waypoints. Granted the wireless connection is limited range Wifi and the distance and number of waypoints are limited, but it's all FREE, not a $1000 plus option as it is on the WKM. There is an "upgrade" license available for the YS that allows a lot more waypoints with no distance limitations I believe and it's still far less expensive than DJI.

Anyway, late yesterday I was out in the back yard and I did an entire flight using only my Android phone as a controller! I did have to start the motors using the TX, but after that I passed control to the phone, did an auto takeoff, and then flew it around with my finger. I just read that Apple has approved the GCS app so I'm looking forward to getting the software running on an iPad with a bigger screen for trying waypoints, my fingers are too big to have any degree of precision selecting waypoints on an Android phone so I'll wait a bit before I try that feature out. I know it will work, just need to be in a larger area with nothing for the multi to bump into if I can't be precise enough with setting where I want it to fly to!

At the end of the flight I decided to try RTH which worked flawlessly and much similar to the WKM. I got a bit of a surprise as I was more or less over the takeoff point so I expected it would just get it's bearings and then land. NOOOOO... as soon as I tapped OK it took off vertically while yawing 180 degrees!!!! I didn't panic, I've seen this before, and sure enough at a predetermined altitude it stopped, now facing me nose in it started to descend until it was maybe 50% of the distance to the ground when it stopped and hovered for a short time and then finished decending at roughly half the speed it was coming down at the beginning. Once it was on the ground it slowly spun the motors down and the flight was over.

Overall everything I've tried so far works as advertised, to test the remaining features I want a lot more space than I have to work with here at the house so it will have to wait for the weekend when I can get out to a big field. In the meantime I need to figure out a way to hang a camera on it, even if it's just a solid mount GoPro. I'm really itching to try the POI and follow me capability, I just have no idea of how big of a circle it will fly around a POI and don't want to risk ripping up the siding on the house with the carbon fiber props if it proves to be a fairly large diameter...

Ken

 

[Bartman]

interesting reading...good luck with this guys.

can it be flown with a traditional rc transmitter? just curious

thanks,
bart

 

[redridinghood]

can it be flown with a traditional rc transmitter? just curious

Yea, It's very similar to a WKm but you get the WiFi module for free plus 4 waypoints, follow me, click and go, gimbal lock, advance telemetry and full access to system settings by your phone or tablet.
They seem to be offering every feature DJI is not. Lets see if the PC software and the firmware updates manage to kill the wookong.

 

[Piranha]

Ken, thanks for the review!

There is an "upgrade" license available for the YS

BTW, if somebody knows the price of the upgrade license already ?

 

[RTRyder]

Ken, thanks for the review!

BTW, if somebody knows the price of the upgrade license already ?

I all I know at this point is the rumored price for a fully unlocked system license is $1000 US. While that may seem expensive, compared to what DJI charges for unlimited waypoint capability and also considering what MK charges for the extended distance licenses for their Navi board, $1000 is a bargain price.

Of course the reality of it is this, you can have an unlimited distance for waypoints but the real limitation is how far out and back the multi can fly with whatever battery and cargo load it can carry. I did some math regarding just that a while back and came to the conclusion the realistic limit is from 1 to 2 miles maximum depending on flight time as determined by battery life. Certainly you could build a specialized multi like a lightweight FPV quad that carries as much battery as possible that could go further, but not too much further and you would have to be flying at a fairly high speed the entire time to make it to a distant point and back again. For any use such as photography or video then the distanc eis considerably less as either the flying speed will be much slower or there will loiter time needed to line up the shot and then trigger the camera.

In my mind it has almost become a battle of the marketing departments, offering capabilites that sound good in print but when you actually start thinking about it don't make a lot of sense in the realm of multirotors. For something like a fixed wing airplane or even a gasoline powered heli then the distance/flight time ratio is much less of a concern as either one has sufficent flight time to get a fair distance before having to turn back and both have the ability to safely land if they run out of motive power. Run out of battery with a multi and it's going to have a quick meeting with the ground wherever it happens to be at that moment...

Ken

 

[Piranha]

Ken, thanks a lot! And could you please compare YS vs MK is it compareble in stability in wind?
I have MK in my heavy dslr video ship and consedering YS as a sevond one!

 

[Reginak]

RTRyder,

What gains are you changing? An how much? I'm usign a Skyjib6 + AV200 and without the camera I get vibration free with high gains, but as soon I add weight (right now Nex 5n, didn't try T3i or GH2, that I have too) I have to lower my gains (Roll and Pitch Sensitivity) from the 60 to 40 or less. And the Attitude Sensitivity to 70-80 maximum. If I go lower with these gains the hexa becomes too slow and hard to control.
I didn't change any of the other values, if you know something please share.

Thanks