crayfellow
Member
How is this guy flying now? Any pictures/video? My tri is still my favorite, even with 'professional' reasons to focus on heavy lifters.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
APM 3.5 Mini Tricopter no tail servo movement
- Thread starter Ted Conowal
- Start date
Ted Conowal
Member
Hey Cray,
No lift off quite yet.... I am trying to get things just right, so I can consider this thing "done"
I could though, but I am still hammering out some loose ends. Most of my instructables come from a guy on Youtube, called Painless360.
excellent basic stuff. You said you were going to want to try the "auto tune" feature, and I suggest that you check him out. Very easy to do, and an amazing feature. It is in his APM series.
I was just going through some last minute things like setting a switch on my TX for flight modes. I just got the 3DR radios talking, so that is out of the way. Now I am trying to figure out how to get my retracts working through an AUX channel. I have to reassign CH 5 on my TX to a 3 pos switch for Stabilize, RTL, and Auto, for the auto tune feature No biggie. Then ,I'm on to making sure my OSD is configured the way I want, and that my VTX, and camera are on the right frequency for my eye box RX.
Everything is working now, I just am refining it. Unfortunately, (if you want to call it that) I am a little obsessive compulsive, and a perfectionist on my machines, and take my time, until it is right. Less chance for error. It is hard for me to take that I literally spent 6 months trying to get this thing figured out, but now I am over a hurdle with it, and feel more confident about it. I am also doing a pre flight check list for everything I build from now on, along with Team Black Sheeps #1 rule. Check all nuts-bolts after every 3 flights.
Next I have an APM plane, and a Mini Quad to finish.
Busy little bee
I will post some video once it lifts off. probably after this weekend barring any problems that pop up.
Cheers
Ted
No lift off quite yet.... I am trying to get things just right, so I can consider this thing "done"
I could though, but I am still hammering out some loose ends. Most of my instructables come from a guy on Youtube, called Painless360.
excellent basic stuff. You said you were going to want to try the "auto tune" feature, and I suggest that you check him out. Very easy to do, and an amazing feature. It is in his APM series.
I was just going through some last minute things like setting a switch on my TX for flight modes. I just got the 3DR radios talking, so that is out of the way. Now I am trying to figure out how to get my retracts working through an AUX channel. I have to reassign CH 5 on my TX to a 3 pos switch for Stabilize, RTL, and Auto, for the auto tune feature No biggie. Then ,I'm on to making sure my OSD is configured the way I want, and that my VTX, and camera are on the right frequency for my eye box RX.
Everything is working now, I just am refining it. Unfortunately, (if you want to call it that) I am a little obsessive compulsive, and a perfectionist on my machines, and take my time, until it is right. Less chance for error. It is hard for me to take that I literally spent 6 months trying to get this thing figured out, but now I am over a hurdle with it, and feel more confident about it. I am also doing a pre flight check list for everything I build from now on, along with Team Black Sheeps #1 rule. Check all nuts-bolts after every 3 flights.
Next I have an APM plane, and a Mini Quad to finish.
Busy little bee
I will post some video once it lifts off. probably after this weekend barring any problems that pop up.
Cheers
Ted
Ted Conowal
Member
Hey Cray,
Sorry to have disappeared.
I still have not flown my Tri yet, because only as of today, I have finally solved the very last problem, that DID pop up.
The "No Mav Data" issue when running Telemetry, with a Minim OSD. Phew, What a hair pulling ordeal.
Telemetry works fine, but no OSD overlay. What it seems to boil down to is that all the schematics I have found on the net are incorrect, so I just made a jumper set of wires, and got it working. I also considered just using a standard "stand alone" style OSD, and ran across a guy who modded the old Remzibi OSD to work with the APM, to bypass modifying the code in Mission Planner. This was my plan B.
I may still go this route on future projects.
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/port-minimosd-to-remzibi-s-hardware
What this does is to bypass the APM's sensors in favor of others on a smaller version remzibi. Not cost effective, but a solution to the No Mav Data thing.
Now just a few more things to button up, and attempt a flight. I have been working on this thing for a year, and every time I run into a snag, I find something else I over looked that could have caused a fatal crash. This time I noticed more cable problems, as the "Mini" APM I have installed in this thing, has very delicate cables that are easily damaged by multiple plug ins, and unplugs, and will easily work themselves out of their sockets with vibration once worn. I have a fix for it now.
So anyway, it will be in the air soon LOL. Like I said I am a stickler for details, and these things are expensive ($450 for this one) and they are very dangerous in a lot of ways, so I try not to over look anything.
Here is the correct schematic along with a switch to turn things on and off if needed. I will be in touch.
Cheers
Ted
Sorry to have disappeared.
I still have not flown my Tri yet, because only as of today, I have finally solved the very last problem, that DID pop up.
The "No Mav Data" issue when running Telemetry, with a Minim OSD. Phew, What a hair pulling ordeal.
Telemetry works fine, but no OSD overlay. What it seems to boil down to is that all the schematics I have found on the net are incorrect, so I just made a jumper set of wires, and got it working. I also considered just using a standard "stand alone" style OSD, and ran across a guy who modded the old Remzibi OSD to work with the APM, to bypass modifying the code in Mission Planner. This was my plan B.
I may still go this route on future projects.
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/port-minimosd-to-remzibi-s-hardware
What this does is to bypass the APM's sensors in favor of others on a smaller version remzibi. Not cost effective, but a solution to the No Mav Data thing.
Now just a few more things to button up, and attempt a flight. I have been working on this thing for a year, and every time I run into a snag, I find something else I over looked that could have caused a fatal crash. This time I noticed more cable problems, as the "Mini" APM I have installed in this thing, has very delicate cables that are easily damaged by multiple plug ins, and unplugs, and will easily work themselves out of their sockets with vibration once worn. I have a fix for it now.
So anyway, it will be in the air soon LOL. Like I said I am a stickler for details, and these things are expensive ($450 for this one) and they are very dangerous in a lot of ways, so I try not to over look anything.
Here is the correct schematic along with a switch to turn things on and off if needed. I will be in touch.
Cheers
Ted
