HoverFly Pro - AL Stabilization and camera trim changes while flying

[Efliernz]

Any Hoverfly pilot here experience this???

I see lots of stabilized videos on the net but no one is videoing and flying around at the same time (eg. following a motorcross circuit).
My camera stabilization wanders badly - but so does the AL perception of the board when flying.

This video used firmware 3.1.458 but it behaves the same on 3.1.460 and the last 2.x firmware.
Green board, 4S.
Mount setup as 200 roll, 130 tilt, 1500 center.
Board gain set as main 80, AL 60.
Temperature Cal done
gyro cal done using spirit-levels.

The model flies (manual control) very well - but the camera mount movement and stabilization trim change are no good.
The AL (atitude Level / attitude stabilization) is perfect if I want to hover on the spot.

The AL trim moves and this makes it impossible to fpv the machine. An experienced model pilot is used to flying with partial stick to keep a model trimmed in wind but fpv is different as the model wont stay level after every turn until it re-balances 10 seconds later.

Do I have a board problem or are others experiencing similar issues? There are lots of these boards in successful AP machines. I have been flying AP for 5 years and rc for 25 years. If I have missed something basic, please tell me as while it flies (manually) great, the AL / camera stab is a no go for me and after spending many hours getting this far, I am ready to jump on it...

Confused - watch the video and listen to the commentary...

Pete

 

[Macsgrafs]

Pete, I'm going to be totally honest with you, I don't know enough about how these things work to be able to comment, but that's certainly worse than useless for you.
My main thought is either a duff board? Servos not man enough & drawing too much current..maybe taking it away from the FC board itself?
Have you tried it Without the camera mounted or even without the gimbal attached to see what results you get?

Ross

 

[Efliernz]

I get the same AL trim reaction without the servos connected. I turn to the right in AL mode and it wants to slide out of the circle to the left. I have another blackboard coming for my to try from "Stacky".
The strange thing is that the tilt reaction occurs even thought I'm doing a flat turn...

Pete

 

[Macsgrafs]

It is sounding liek the FC board to me, what else could it be?

Ross

 

[wayno complaino]

You shouldnt be getting 'gimbal smash' (as its now known) on the latest firmware, the gimbal is now efectively off while the board is not armed.

I also used to have problems with trim in AL but have found that if i pay peticular attention to having the bird level when first arming then its all OK. I also firts take off in standard flight, get a good level hover then flick on AL, as long as it stays level then i know the whole flight will be good with no triming needed.

All that said, when i can afford it i will be switching FC's for something that flys out of the box with no computer, even if it has less features. I follow the Hoverfly forum over on RCG and there seems to be a lot of unrest right now, i think they need to stop adding new features and hardware until they nail the existing.

 

[Efliernz]

I have now put the latest firmware on and the "smash" has gone

I get the same results if I take off in manual mode or AL. I suspect my 2nd-hand board is not healthy... It passed the tests with the previous owner - I suspect he had no idea it wasn't well. I am not a "hover and do nothing" pilot. Stacky is lending me another board to compare mine to. It is a strange fault but it is looking like a stuffed FC If stuffed, it will be my fpv hack board without stabilization...

As for the lack of support from the HF team. They do need to realise that a quick update on what they are working on with time-lines would shut us up! Without that, we just think they don't care...
I too want an out-of-the-box solution and the HFP is close to it. Much nicer to work with than the constant tweaking on the Openpilot CC and mine flies just awesome. I have flown the hex in 40km/hr wind, between trees, over the fence with sooo much turbulence. Much nicer than I ever got my CC board to do.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Pete