Hoverfly HFPro, Failsafe?

[Bowley]

Am I right in saying HFP has no native failsafe function when used without HF GPS, ie Autoland?
So failsafe has to be set on the Rx with the only way to activate being to switch off the Tx.

Another question: My Altitude hold function has got scary again,.. massive range of altitude and fast ascend / descend. how do I tame this down, increase or decrease Alt hold gain? not sure if over correcting or undercorrecting!

 

[DucktileMedia]

correct. AFAIK, there is no failsafe even with the gps. You can manually RTH, but it is not self landing nor triggered automatically by low voltage. What you can do however is set up your radio where it will activate RTH when it loses signal. I am too scared of AH to answer that question.

 

[Bowley]

Almost needed a change of underwear today, flicked into AH about 25ft...whoosh, up goes, then came down real quick, just managed to switch out and catch it with the throttle a foot off the ground when I could clearly see it wasn't going to recover altitude.
Had a good fly though for no real reason other than just keeping my hand in flying out of Autolevel mode. HFP's dreamy to fly, AH aside. Had one question answered though, would HFP cope with an X8 in-flight prop failure...Yes:highly_amused:

 

[Efliernz]

I gave up on AH with 4.6.anything - you have to be pretty stable in a level hover for it to work apparently. I tried to set it up - 20 minutes of takeoffs, climb to 50', try it, land, change it, try again and I got +/- 4' but it wasn't consistent. Certainly not enough to hit AH and solo-shoot.
I gave up on the whole 4.6... after I had two machines flip in AL costing me over $2k including a camera. 4.3.802 is working nicely - I am waiting for positive (including AH) reports from the latest firmware...

Pete

 

[ed.ge]

You put a piece of foam over the sensor? That worked for me!

 

[Bowley]

You put a piece of foam over the sensor? That worked for me!

Thanks Ed.ge, I'll try that, although my sensor is well covered by the X650 cowling, I dont think that is the issue in my case. If it was oscillating erratically about the datum then yeah, but it doesn't do that. It seems to give 2 levels of command one for a fast ascent and one for a fast descent. doesn't seem like its even trying to hold datum. if its oscillating then its around a range I haven't managed to establish yet without the ground getting in the way.
What sort of hold are you getting, +/-??
Did you have to adjust your AH Gains much off +/-25?

 

[Bowley]

OK so I ran diagnostics on Setup Utility and all boxes check except Altitude resulting in test Failure. guess I've got a goosed Baro sensor. Ah well who needs Alt Hold anyway, its got altitude reading on the OSD!

 

[Bowley]

Er.....which of course will not work either with a shagged baro!! Duh!!

 

[JZSlenker]

Did you try changing the altitude at least 4 - 6 feet when doing the test. It takes quite a change in position to register in the setup client.

 

[Bowley]

Thats kinda what I wanted to hear JZ, I will have to find a longer USB cable and give that a go. Cheers.

 

[mbsteed]

I had the problems you described in previous versions but I tried it the other day with 4.6 and finally got AH working and it held quite nicely. I have AH gain on a dial on my Spektrum 10t and just played with that till it was dialled in.

 

[Bowley]

I'm on 4.6r3, haven't tried AH again, I'll see if I can get the diagnostic 'Altitude' box to check first.

Going back to the original topic. been functioning failsafe on the Rx, ie switching off the Tx. Not ideal form of Failsafe for MR's with variable loads, potential for flyaway is there.
In the unlikely event it had to be used, you would have to hope your all up wieght is the same as when you set the failsafe or else its coming down hard or climbing.
I wouldn't normally be so hung up about it and certainly wouldn't be deliberately inducing failsafe's, but I am trying to get BNUC rated on a Hoverfly X8, but have serious misgivings about presenting this FC for a commercial assessment.
If I do and WILL have to induce a failsafe it will have to be last task I do because of the potential for damage as the craft will no doubt roll on landing with the motors running close to 50% throttle.

 

[ed.ge]

So is there any statement about whether failsafe will come in a new firmware or is that impossible by hardware design?

Thanks

 

[JZSlenker]

If you are concerned about flyaway, why not set your fail safe to AH on and RTH on. That's what we use.

 

[Bowley]

No GPS JZ and got isues with AH.

 

[DucktileMedia]

Has anyone heard anything from Hoverfly recently? They seem to have disappeared lately.

At least set your fail safe to throttle down for a slow decent.

 

[CX4]

JZ I have the HFGPS and a spektrum dx8 radio, can you guide me on how to set up a failsafe with RTH.

If you are concerned about flyaway, why not set your fail safe to AH on and RTH on. That's what we use.

Droidworx CX4, HFP, HFGPS, DX8, AXi2217-12, Castle Creations Phoenix-25.

 

[Bowley]

Has anyone heard anything from Hoverfly recently? They seem to have disappeared lately.

At least set your fail safe to throttle down for a slow decent.

Thats what I've done Yuri, I think I'll can the certification plans with the HFP until I've added a GPS, it really takes that for it work at its full potential. Does the GPS improve the AH? I really want to make this work because its so bloody nice to fly.

 

[DucktileMedia]

I cant answer about the AH/GPS as I dont use them at all.

 

[JZSlenker]

We don't use AL, AH, PH, or RTH either. HFP flies so well there really is no need for any of them. We only have the GPS board to use as a failsafe. If our radio link drops I want my bird flying home.

CX4 - Get your bird flying well first. Get your flight gain set right, get your AL gain set right and your AH gain set right. We use Hitec radios so I can't comment on how to setup your Spectrum Fail safe but I'm sure that you can look that up in the manual or online. Basically you will set your RX to goto whatever failsafe settings you want. Some people prefer AL on and throttle just below hover. I prefer AH on and RTH on.