DucktileMedia
Drone Enthusiast
Ben, if your making a shield, make it out of carbon. G10 is transparent to rfi from what I understand. Bart would know best though since he tried this. It shouldn't be this complicated.
Hoverfly Finally gave the GPS board a try...
- Thread starter Benjamin Rowland
- Start date
So what I am gathering is that the Hoverfly GPS is more than double the cost of the NAZA and works about as well or less so? Trying to get familiar with Hoverfly since someone I am looking at building me a quad uses it but this is a bit worrisome. Why does the hoverfly cost so much but only works about as well as the NAZA. Now granted the Hoverfly pro versus the wookong is cheaper. But the hoverfly sport don't even have altitude hold from what I have read. The hoverfly sport is just a board for manual control if I read it right. Still a little confused on the benefits of the more costly Hoverfly products?
Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Bruce,
THe flight control market is a bit f'd up. It seems obvious as to what it would take to check all the boxes but to date no one manufacturer has been able to deliver a package that actually can check all the boxes. NAZA is sort of a one trick pony in that it does the GPS position hold better than all the rest. Mikrokopter gets a 9 out of 10 for flying qualities, is full of features, and has lots of adjustments but the overall package is fragile and fails for no apparent reason. Arducopter isn't as simple to tune or set up. Hoverfly has awesome flying qualities (10 out of 10) but they're just getting a handle on their GPS performance (they've recently had an internal reorganization and certain people have new responsibilities) and as such lack some of the advanced features the other products have.
It's all very confusing for someone trying to pick from the current options.
Generally speaking, I recommend the Hoverfly PRO as it has the best flying qualities that I've seen so far. It's also easy to set up and the camera controls are very competent. If you start with a HF PRO you can use it for years to come. If someone is looking for GPS waypoint capabilities and the ability to do autonomous tasks at the waypoints then I believe MK is still the best option as you can loiter, yaw, adjust camera tilt, take photos, etc. at each waypoint.
It's all just a matter of what you really need to do and the more a person can wrap their head around that question, the better prepared they can be to pick a flight control system.
Bart
Benjamin Rowland
Member
In my experience, the Hovefly Pro is very reliable. I've got over 1600 flights on my Cinestar with Hoverfly Pro and haven't had an issue. Manual flight is awesome and the board is easy to set up. Auto-leveling has worked great for several months. As of v4.8, the altitude hold works really well too (with a bit of foam). In all of these categories the Hoverfly is superior.
I'm just starting to try the Hovefly GPS board. We'll see where it goes...
I have run a few more tests today without really changing anything. Sometimes the GPS works well and sometimes it doesn't, all within the same flight. Yaw can be a little twitchy so I'm thinking that EMI is the source of the problem.
To be honest, the GPS performance isn't critical to what I use our multi-rotor for, but there are instances where it would be a great feature to have working well, so that is my goal.
Bowley
Member
I think Hoverfly should be radically rethinking their GPS from the ground up. Fact is its a huge board comparitively speaking and from what I read, does not seem to be compatible with an MR.....without reworking wiring, fasteners, shields etc. I'm just sitting on the fence drumming my fingers at the moment regarding the GPS add on.
DucktileMedia
Drone Enthusiast
I am really curious to see how the freefly FC works out. I'm betting they nail all these factors but charge a little more for it, but who knows. I still haven't seen a pic of their gps but I bet it comes in a nice shiny enclosure with an external led.
Mainly for me being a complete and total newbie to RC and to flying. I would like the auto leveling and the altitude hold to work. It would be nice to have the RTH feature but I could live without that. Stability is the big thing I guess and the fact you all say that I can learn this pretty easy. I am mainly looking to to do FPV and hobby type aerial photo or mainly video. I was disabled with an on the job accident and need a hobby. I can move around fine and still have all my marbles lol. But I have really gotten into the multirotors from all my reading and have always wanted to do RC flying. But my job never allowed me the time to invest into a hobby. Thanks to everyone for all the answers and help so I can make the right decisions in what ever it is that I do decide to get. I will be taking the advice and getting a mQx very soon. So that I can start learning how to fly and get better at it.
Mactadpole
Member
Excellent decision on the mqx! You'll have a blast while getting your wings. Best of luck. As you have read it is fun and addictive.
Bowley
Member
Bart, I Was talking more about the GPS being incompatable with the electromagnetic environment of an MR Airframe.
Steve
Mactadpole
Member
My intuition tells me it will be beyond my reach. MK works excellent for me and haven't had too many issues after some initial Bl problems. I am really eyeing the Autoquad fc right now. GPS performance looks incredible and it has a lot of high end features at a great price point. What is intimidating is the initial calibration and the graupner hookup with telemetry.
tahoelight
Member
The freefly has some great features like dual receivers and built in OSD (already on the HFP). The price will be higher than others, but they will sell well if the features they advertise work from day one. They are vague in the actual functionality, which is probably smart to start with.
I know I have RFI interference as it does effect my Yaw, I just don't know how to get ride of it for the HFP to work. I have wires twisted, but it is a jumbled mess between the center plates.
I know I have RFI interference as it does effect my Yaw, I just don't know how to get ride of it for the HFP to work. I have wires twisted, but it is a jumbled mess between the center plates.
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Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
guys, my shop won't be open until the middle of next week but here's the link for the mounting kit I've put together.
http://aerdro.com/?product=hoverfly-progps-mounting-kit
It puts the GPS board 2" above the PRO board to get it away from RFI and EMI and has improved the performance of my heli's. There are also 1.25 standoffs in the event that the full 2" isn't necessary.
THe kit does away with the plastic hardware and grommets that come with the PRO putting everything on rubber stand-offs much like MK does it. If I can get the antenna mount made for less $$ I'll drop the price of the kit, fwiw.
Regards,
Bart
http://aerdro.com/?product=hoverfly-progps-mounting-kit
It puts the GPS board 2" above the PRO board to get it away from RFI and EMI and has improved the performance of my heli's. There are also 1.25 standoffs in the event that the full 2" isn't necessary.
THe kit does away with the plastic hardware and grommets that come with the PRO putting everything on rubber stand-offs much like MK does it. If I can get the antenna mount made for less $$ I'll drop the price of the kit, fwiw.
Regards,
Bart
Benjamin Rowland
Member
Well I tried Bart's kit and I saw a noticeable improvement. So I can definitely recommend it. I look forward to Hoverfly further developing the GPS functionality.
Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Hi Ben,
Thanks for posting that. Hoverfly has room to improve the performance of the GPS software but at least the mounting kit cleans up the magnetic performance of the GPS board allowing it to perform as well as possible. With the improved mag performance the carefree mode works very well (although it's a bit of work to get used to) and the yaw/heading performance is very stable when just flying around with a GPS board connected.
Bart
Thanks for posting that. Hoverfly has room to improve the performance of the GPS software but at least the mounting kit cleans up the magnetic performance of the GPS board allowing it to perform as well as possible. With the improved mag performance the carefree mode works very well (although it's a bit of work to get used to) and the yaw/heading performance is very stable when just flying around with a GPS board connected.
Bart
Benjamin Rowland
Member
Bart,
No problem - it's a quality kit and very well thought out. It could just be in my head, but it seemed like flight in manual mode was slightly improved as well. Does the GPS board impact manual flight mode?
No problem - it's a quality kit and very well thought out. It could just be in my head, but it seemed like flight in manual mode was slightly improved as well. Does the GPS board impact manual flight mode?
Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Krzysiek
Is the heading changing because of the roll input or is it changing throughout the flight for no reason? If it's changing during roll inputs you may have a motor that is out of alignment. If it's wandering around for no reason throughout the flight then you may have magnetic interference affecting the GPS board's magnetometers.
Is the heading changing because of the roll input or is it changing throughout the flight for no reason? If it's changing during roll inputs you may have a motor that is out of alignment. If it's wandering around for no reason throughout the flight then you may have magnetic interference affecting the GPS board's magnetometers.
Bartman,
I armed HF, I lifted the platform (motors were not spining, throttle = 0) and I simulated roll movement (with no yaw movement). I noticed on my OSD that heading is dependent on roll movement.
I add I have ext. mag. around 15cm above FC.
Should it be like that? Maybe that the reason we have bowl effect?
I armed HF, I lifted the platform (motors were not spining, throttle = 0) and I simulated roll movement (with no yaw movement). I noticed on my OSD that heading is dependent on roll movement.
I add I have ext. mag. around 15cm above FC.
Should it be like that? Maybe that the reason we have bowl effect?