NAZA Responding strangely

[Quad-SA]

I need help to figure out what is going on. When I set up my quad to acquire satellites and the green light is blinking, I start the motors and only one or two will power up. If I push the throttle they eventually start, but when I tried to fly after this happened it fell out of the sky swaying back and forth until it hit the ground. What am I doing wrong or could this be a bad unit. I have flown it successfully once, so it does not make sense that it would just stop working again.

Thanks for your help.

 

[DesJardins]

Did you complete the whole assistant set-up with transmitter calibration as well as GPS calibration afterwards?
Also gains?

 

[Bowley]

Have you done an ESC calibration also.

 

[kloner]

and one last thing to try, go ahead and do what you did to turn it all on, put the mode switch to manual and start the motors, is it still doing it?

is this a complete dji flamewheel arf or just the naza, if just naza, whats the other parts?

 

[Quad-SA]

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts. I bought this as an RTF from Ali Shanmoa and have not had a chance to talk to him since they are 11 hours in advance on my time zone. Since it was RTF he set the controller settings. I will try to answers everyone question to see if you can help. I also plan to give him a call to get some direction as to how he set it up.

The quad has been set up and I did fly it successfully once. The first time I flew it I encountered this problem I described earlier. I was able to talk to him and found that he reset the quad and controller after acquiring the GPS signal. The second time out, that seemed to work and had no problem. The first time the props acted the same way, only one or two would start. When I pushed it all would start and once it was in the air at some altitude I was trying to bring it down. That is when the swaying motion seemed to occur. All the motors were not running correctly.

Now I can not get all the props to start at the same time. I think they do if in the manual mode, but not always. Even if they start in manual mode, when I switch to Atti or GPS some stop. I have a friend that has a quad he bought from HeliPro. They had a recall on some bad boards(not NAZAS). But he said his was doing the same thing. Could I have a bad NAZA?

I have not done any calibration as it was an RTF. This quad has the complete NAJA unit. The box says NAZA-M

As far as the gains or VR knob on the Futaba controller, it does not appear to make a difference in flight to move the knob. It does change the camera gimbal. What actually controls the start up of the props, is the NAZA main controller?

Thanks for everyones help.

 

[kloner]

I still didn't understand if this is a dji frame, esc's, motor, etc....


yes, naza controls everything. when you turn it all on and plug it into a pc, open the dji assistant, the latest firmware has a bunch of motor idle speed settings. Don;t know why it wasn't set to work but you might want to ask him.

There is a screen called TX CAL, open that and your gonna see some green bars, ail, ele, rud and they should move when you move a stick. move one stick at a time. While there let go of the sticks and flip switches, eventualy your gonna see some stuff move at the bottom under x1 and x2. Those can be assigned to gimbles, gains, things like that. If you look at gimble, it'll show you want it is set at, if you look at autopilot, it'll show what if any channels are assigned to gain

Without a ton of more info, we can't help you much. Talk to your guy, i'm sure he was planning on it

if you change the idle adjustment and it doesn't make the motors all spin, i'd look towards the bullet connectors, especialy if these are dji parts doing this. If the idle isn't in the middle, start there, if it is, move it one click up and try again

 

[Quad-SA]

Sorry,
This is an XAircraft 650 frame with 980 kvs Hobbywing ESC and Brushless Outrunner Custom 900kv High Efficiency motors. I fly it without the black plastic cover. I have attached pictures if this helps. View attachment 6108View attachment 6109View attachment 6110

 

[kloner]

OK, now this makes since

if the esc's are not flashed with simonK and you turn this thing on with throttle input or even if failsafe is set right with 10% throttle and the craft is booted before the transmitter it'll make the esc's enter calibrate mode. If you enter that mode without having the servo lead plugged straight into a throttle port on the receiver, it will un calibrate the throttle setting. Did you ever plug this thing in and went into a weird solid beep but with a gap like beep------- beep--------beep....... usually folowed by a notice you turned on the craft before the radio

 

[Quad-SA]

The first time it crashed, the camera gimbal flew off which unplugged the battery and gimbal servos. I did not fly it until the next day and then it did fine after understanding that I needed to reboot it after setting home and finding the satellites. I flew it for about 7-8 minutes without any problems. At this point I was just trying to see what the different flight setting would do, Atti, GPS etc. I can remember one time plugging in the battery before turning on the controller. I am not sure which flight this was. When I realized it I unplugged the battery and them turned on the controller then plugged the battery back in. The only thing I can remember seeing when I plugged in the battery without having the controller on was the red LED flashed rapidly. I do not remember it making any sounds.

 

[kloner]

Talk to your guy and see what he thinks about all that......

the red light rapid flash is right, no sound means they could or not have been un calibrated....... never had those exact esc's....... but make sure the guy you got it from knows all this. It''ll be important to save you and him a bunch of troubleshooting

When i sell these things like this, i always mark up the transmitter, sure makes it easier for a group like us teh buyer might be around to help decipher it all very fast.

 

[alishanmao]

OK, now this makes since

if the esc's are not flashed with simonK and you turn this thing on with throttle input or even if failsafe is set right with 10% throttle and the craft is booted before the transmitter it'll make the esc's enter calibrate mode. If you enter that mode without having the servo lead plugged straight into a throttle port on the receiver, it will un calibrate the throttle setting. Did you ever plug this thing in and went into a weird solid beep but with a gap like beep------- beep--------beep....... usually folowed by a notice you turned on the craft before the radio

your knowledge is good on these topics. I would share mine. I used hobbywing ESCs, first time with Naza (when GPS extension did not come out) did not flash ESCs, did not calibrate throttle. All ESCs armed motors and spin them on CSC command.

a week later GPS extension came out. I added GPS, Upgraded the firmware on Naza and the same setup, that used to spin 4 motors normally on CSC command, spun only two motors diagonally. I thought there was a problem. spent an hour fiddling with settings on DJI assist, but only two motor spins. talked to DJI, no comment no solution. I then increase throttle and found that nothing is wrong. as soon as throttle goes up, all motors spin and quad flies normal without any issues.

using Maytech ESCs or other brand ESCs, all motors fire up and spin normal on CSC command. only hobbywing ESCs show this issue (two motors spinning on CSC command) its very strange and i have not found any solution.

using older firmware Naza without GPS, same escs, same setup fires up 4 motors normally, using naza with latest firmware and GPS only two motors spin. strange.

now regarding the customer crashing the quad, and wobbling, possibly the gains setup must be wrong, and or Calibration was not not done right.

well i will be doing a skype session and will help him out to solve the issue. no worries. but any light you can shed on this matter i described above will be good.

 

[Quad-SA]

OK, now this makes since

if the esc's are not flashed with simonK and you turn this thing on with throttle input or even if failsafe is set right with 10% throttle and the craft is booted before the transmitter it'll make the esc's enter calibrate mode. If you enter that mode without having the servo lead plugged straight into a throttle port on the receiver, it will un calibrate the throttle setting. Did you ever plug this thing in and went into a weird solid beep but with a gap like beep------- beep--------beep....... usually folowed by a notice you turned on the craft before the radio​

Kloner,
please explain what you said about "flashed with simonK". I am not that deep into RC and all the jargin that goes with it but want to understand it. I did speak with Ali over the weekend and we hooked up the Futaba controller and aircraft to the NAZA software. He was able to see all the settings. The motors will still not start at the same time and based on past experience, when I push it to get it off the ground, it has always had a bad outcome when trying to bring it down. I dont think it will take to many more hard landings. So I am thinking something must be mis-calibrated as you have mentioned. How can I tell and what can I do about it. If I did put these into a calibration mode by turning on the unit before the controller, how can I fix it? I am sure it is pretty simple for someone that understands the programming and set up of NAZA. Also Ali said something about NAZA with the use of Hobbywing ESC's having this poblem I have been experiencing. Could it be these are not compatible?

Thanks for your help.

 

[kloner]

OK, the easiest way out of this is to calibrate your esc's. Take off all props, take each esc servo wire off, put it on the rc receiver throttle port, put your throttle to full and boot up the quad, it should beep different after a few seconds then you drop the throttle. It is instructions that come with every esc. if we knew the exact model could probably find you the manual online. this is a generic one

http://www.hobbywing.com/uploadfiles/sx/file/manual/HW-01-V4.pdf

this is on page 3
Throttle range setting: (Throttle range should be reset whenever a new transmitter is being used)
Program the ESC with your transmitter (4 Steps):

S w i t c h o n
t ransmi t ter,
move throttle
st ick to top
Connect battery
pack to ESC,
a n d wa i t f o r
about 2 seconds
“Beep-Beep-” tone emits,
means the throttle range
highest point has been
correctly confirmed
Move throttle stick to the
bottom, several “beep-” tones
presents the quantity of battery
cells
A long “Beep-” tone emits,
means throttle range lowest
point has been correctly
confirmed

Do us a favor and do all this with no props till it acts/starts right. prevents injury, you been warned.


flashing them with simonk firmware is really hard to do. Takes a generic programmer, gotta make a way for the 6 tabs on the esc insides mate to the homemade plug, then you gotta run a bunch of weird software. I'm an avid rc guy, but this open source firmware stuff that doesn't have a software interface and normal plugs is a pain to deal with. i'd send em off and pay for the upgrade...... the one big thing it does is disable throttle cali so if you did reset them, prevents from happening. it is similar to whats in the dji esc's

 

[kloner]

this is a post here, has all the info for updating if you want to
http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?5814-FLASHING-E.S.Cs.

 

[Quad-SA]

Crash video

Kloner,

Here is the link to the video of what this thing was doing on the first flight. http://youtu.be/CvRkbQG9h2Q
Still have not got it figured out. I have taken it to my local RC shop and guys that have been building and flying for years are stumped. I have programmed the ESCs but as far as the throttle calibration, it will not respond when I follow the directions you have below. I have tried reversing the throttle settings on both the NAZA software and the radio. When I follow the directions below all I get is a yellow flashing light from the LED and no beeps. If I move the throttle off of 100% the motor starts immediately. As I go to 0% it goes to full speed. The motors still will not start together. 1 & 3 start and if I push the throttle up to about 40% the other motors start, but if I back off at all they want to stop. That is where I am getting the swaying effect.
The first part of the video is boring so push through it. I am not seeing the motors starting so I am trying to figure out what is wrong. The last minute or so is where I get it off the ground after pushing the throttle to about 50% and you can see what happens after that. It was just hovering and then went crazy. I did not move the sticks. Any input would be helpful.
Thanks,

OK, the easiest way out of this is to calibrate your esc's. Take off all props, take each esc servo wire off, put it on the rc receiver throttle port, put your throttle to full and boot up the quad, it should beep different after a few seconds then you drop the throttle. It is instructions that come with every esc. if we knew the exact model could probably find you the manual online. this is a generic one

http://www.hobbywing.com/uploadfiles/sx/file/manual/HW-01-V4.pdf

this is on page 3
Throttle range setting: (Throttle range should be reset whenever a new transmitter is being used)
Program the ESC with your transmitter (4 Steps):

S w i t c h o n
t ransmi t ter,
move throttle
st ick to top
Connect battery
pack to ESC,
a n d wa i t f o r
about 2 seconds
“Beep-Beep-” tone emits,
means the throttle range
highest point has been
correctly confirmed
Move throttle stick to the
bottom, several “beep-” tones
presents the quantity of battery
cells
A long “Beep-” tone emits,
means throttle range lowest
point has been correctly
confirmed

Do us a favor and do all this with no props till it acts/starts right. prevents injury, you been warned.


flashing them with simonk firmware is really hard to do. Takes a generic programmer, gotta make a way for the 6 tabs on the esc insides mate to the homemade plug, then you gotta run a bunch of weird software. I'm an avid rc guy, but this open source firmware stuff that doesn't have a software interface and normal plugs is a pain to deal with. i'd send em off and pay for the upgrade...... the one big thing it does is disable throttle cali so if you did reset them, prevents from happening. it is similar to whats in the dji esc's

 

[kloner]

holly crap dude, wtf was that........ what the hell happened there?

When you tried calibrating the esc with the throttle, did you have it unplugged from naza straight into the receiver?

What are your gains set to?

 

[Quad-SA]

That was the soft landing. The last time I took it up it did the same thing from about 200 feet in the air. When it hit, it broke and arm and a blade and the camera gimble had some damage. When I calibrated each ESC, I plugged each one into the thottle port on the receiver #3 slot on Futaba. All the others were still plugged into their connector.
The gains were set at around 100 and the yaw was around 140. I was actually trying to get them tweeked but could never get it to fly well enough to do that.

 

[kloner]

i don't know if i should even tell ya how to finish it off here, but here we go

Move the gains to 140 across the first line, 90 across the bottom line.

the esc's really need to get programmed. There is a waited too long where it goes into program mode, when you fire up the machine with the throttle wide open and plugged straight into the rx, it makes a weird beep sequence, right then you move it down, few seconds later it beeps and that's too late. That's the only way an esc isn't calibrating. my guess is one or more are out of sync still and it stresses out mid flight. I;d suggest taking the props off and getting them esc's calibrated if it takes getting new ones or simonk/dji fixed throttle range type

This thing will hurt somebody flown in this state, aside from your wallet