New from Wisconsin

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Mike Batson

Member
Hey guys, new member. Picked up a Quanum Nova Quadcopter PNF from HobbyKing and the Turnigy 9X transmitter cause I've still got a couple airplanes that I'd like to use the radio for. First venture into quadcopters and I'm stuck. Does anyone know anything about this quad? Hobbykings customer service really sucks. Every time I try to get a product specialist there isn't one available and the first idiot they put you into contact with doesn't know anything about anything. Does anyone know what wire does what? I THINK I have it hooked up correct (AETR to 1234, 1 to 5 for flight mode). When I hook up the flight control to my computer thru the USB, the quad powers up but my computer doesn't even see that it's there. When I watched the video on Hobbyking's youtube channel he plugged it in and it saw his right away. Also, when he powers his up, it makes a lot less beeps and flashes then mine does. When it's done powering up, I get a solid green light that tells me it's acquired the GPS signal but the red light flashes two flashes very quickly and repeats along with a flashing blue and red light on the flight controller. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Welcome to the forum!

What type of computer are you using? Which OS? Do you have the proper drivers required for connection? The flight controller is based on APM.

Do you have mission planner installed?
 

Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Hi Mike,

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com, make yourself at home and we'll see if we can help you out.

Like Motopreserve said, there may be a driver required to help the computer to see the flight controller. Have a look around at Hobbyking and see if there's any mention of the driver. If all else fails, try using whatever is available from 3D Robotics for the APM 2.6 if they're similar.

Once you get that worked out we can try to get the other details sorted out.

Bart
 

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Mike Batson

Member
Thanks for the replies guys. Update. Turns out I had a bad usb cord. Got it hooked up, took some research but figured out how to get the 3 position f mode switch to work, got it to arm and work. Next issue. Seems only to have throttle on and off. The throttle won't kick in till half stick and then there's no throttle control. Just on and off. Not sure what to make of that.
 

Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Glad you got the computer connection sorted! Often it's the simple things....hopefully! :)

If the throttle is only kicking in at 50% - that may be a feature many FCs have which is considered "auto lift-off," where it waits for mid-throttle to pop it off the ground all at once instead of gradually. Many FCs have this in any mode other than manual.

Is it acting this way in manual? Have you done the stick calibrations? It seems like it may be acting like a switch??? Check the assignments in the software and make sure the throttle is assigned to the proper channel output (sounded like you had it AETR but worth checking).

Make sure you do all these tests with the props off!
 

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Mike Batson

Member
That's the funny thing. I was using Mission Planner and went thru the initial setup steps for it. Turn it on it's two sides, it's nose, it's rear, it's back, yada yada, then calibrated the sticks and the flight mode switch. Then it took me to a screen to set up the different flight modes and manual wasn't even an option in the drop down menus. I looked for it but it wasn't there. And I'm assuming that RTL is the return to home function?
 

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Mike Batson

Member
And I probably need help actually setting up all the radio functions for a quadcopter. I dunno what flight mode (airplane or helicopter) I should be in!
 

Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
You definitely want your radio to be in the airplane mode for setup - it translates more accurately for our MRs (even though heli seems like it would). I think that "manual" mode may be called Acro in APM. It definitely was in Multiwii. There is a basic description of the flight modes on the APM wiki HERE:
 



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Mike Batson

Member
Yeah, I found a guy on YouTube who posted a couple of videos on how to set the Turnigy 9X up for three and six flight modes. I watched the first video, and I'll watch the second one when I get home. Ironically, I found another way to do it that is different but I like this guy's idea better and I'm going to try it tonight when I get home. Still doesn't solve my issue with the throttle acting like a switch. Thanks for the links!
 

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Mike Batson

Member
Alright, got the radio setup for 6 flight modes, and successfully got it to lift off the ground about 4 inches in the living room (don't tell the woman :) ). As I lifted off it totally rotated backwards. I'm guessing this is a setup issue. So what's the next step as to setting this thing up?
 

Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
The next step is to definitely NOT try this in your living room!!! :)

Seriously, take it outside. Indoors with these things could lead to disaster - which I'm assuming your wife would REALLY not like.

When you say rotated, you mean on the Yaw axis? It's hard to tell what the craft is doing if you are so low to the ground. Ground effect can cause it to act strange.

Which flight mode were you in?
 

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Mike Batson

Member
Yes I know flying indoors is no good :) I just gave it enough power to lift up a couple of inches to test to make sure that I was having proper throttle response. Basically, what happened was I had it with the two LED's facing towards me, gave it some throttle slowly, and when it started producing enough power to make lift, it wanted to lift the front (end towards me) and not lift the back and the rotated enough to strike the back blades on the ground (I caught this so they weren't under power when they did that). Almost like the front blades were producing more lift than the rear ones.
 

Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
If you need to do testing indoors, you can weight the craft to the ground/bench. Even modest nylon rope will hold down the thrust of most of these smaller quads.

Often theFC wants you to pop it up off the ground. So a quick jolt to 50% throttle will get you up off the ground and hovering (not in the house!). :)

These lift-off characteristics will vary from FC to FC, and flight mode. So double check with the APM literature to see what it's expecting.

I'm assuming the LEDs are on the rear of the craft?
 

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Mike Batson

Member
You know, I'm not too sure. I thought that was the case but then I thought I saw somewhere that they were on the front. I'll have to look into that. It's the Quanum Nova CX-20 if that helps.
 


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Mike Batson

Member
It has a green and red LED facing forward (or backward). One is the GPS LED (green) and the red one is the status (Locked, Unlocked). Then it has downward facing LED's on the arms. Two green and two red.
 



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