Odd things happening with F450 + naza

ChopperAddict

ChopperAddict

Member
Hi again guys
I am a relative newbie at quads, but with your help I did have it flying, and pretty well at that :02.47-tranquillity:

All was well, and a couple of days ago I even braved the elements and tried FPV for the first time with the 450 tied down to a big block of MDF so it could not disappear off into the distance). That worked pretty well too.

I decided to make a new link cable up from the quad battery connection ready to take a lead I am going to run up the tether rope to carry 12v from a big 12V battery to overcome lipo recharge times.:tennis:

Since I did that, I do the CNC with both sticks, but no way will the motors spin up. I have tried changing the GEAR settings in my JR PCX9, as they control the switching between stable and active. There is only a range of around 10 degrees where the LED on the naza USB connector does not just flash rapidly.


Any one got any ideas why it should suddenly have decided not to spin up in either mode. ?? I really need to get in the air again to continue my FPV training.
Thanks guys.
 

Droider

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
Seems an odd one... both the rope idea and the fault!

Do you have any expo dialled in to your radio? I am not familiar with the naza but can u see your stick inputs in the computer screen?

If you aint getting 100% travel they wont arm.. well thats how it is on the WKM

Dave
 

J

Jackella

Member
we used a long 12v power tether line yrs. ago on our ECO8 helis,it does work quite well for hover practise.
Bring the quad round Ian if you want and i'll have a look at the problem..

You really need a spotter when starting in FPV.
 

ChopperAddict

ChopperAddict

Member
Hi Guys
Managed to resolve it after much fiddling about due to my hangar PC having gone down with all my Naza settings etc. Got it all set up on my office PC, discovered I needed to update that copy of the Assistant, then had to install the driver, and finally, got the assistant up with all buttons alive.

I read in the last settings from the MC and started going through them. First tab was fine, second tab however showed that Attitude and Manual settings in my Gear settings were fine, but I noticed that the throttle was BLACK above that so I hit Start and waggled the stick about. All but the throttle centred just fine, but throttle didn't. The help doesnt help ! so I guessed that I needed to save it with the throttle full closed....

Wrong, it needed saving with the Throttle centred and green. Once I did that, and remembered it will do nothing sensible with the USB all connected, I rebooted it all and PRESTO, the CNC started all four motors.

Worth noting that somehow my throttle setup moved or I changed it somehow, and that requires a new run through the Assistant, or that at least is my assumption.

As far as the tether is concerned, the short one worked just great. I am going to make a light one around 35-40 feet long, with a light electric cord attached, and then go to an open area, put a big 12V battery on the ground next to me and power the F450 with it. I should get a flight time even in Attitude mode of about xx hours eh ?

Thanks for replies guys - Ian
 

J

Jackella

Member
Longer cable will need thicker cable or you will get resistance in the wire with the highish amps and get a bad voltage drop.
 

ChopperAddict

ChopperAddict

Member
Very True Jackella, as we discussed on the phone yesterday. However, for the short tether initial training where the tether is only around 6 foot maximum, I don't expect much drop at all. I am going to check out voltage drop today with both lengths and maybe an interim to see what results I get. I want to try to get as much height as possible while using this setup as it will save a lot of hassle charging lipos etc, and I can keep a student flying a lot longer, apart from stopping and letting the ESC's cool down, and their eyeballs from going around !

I will post my test result here for anyone else interested in using this idea. I have various types of cable lying around so hope to compare several to see what is the best SWG to achieve this.
Cheers-Ian

Jackella said:
Longer cable will need thicker cable or you will get resistance in the wire with the highish amps and get a bad voltage drop.
Click to expand...
 

ChopperAddict

ChopperAddict

Member
Hi Jackella

Well, I got around to doing some basic voltage checks using my jelly type Lead Acid (PB) battery from my nitro flight box as the power source.

the first one was my initial FPV training tether system, which has a tether of about 5 feet long, but the power cable is longer so that the battery is not directly below the MRC !. The overall length of this cable was 12 feet.

the next one was my "high altitude" FPV training tether system, which has a tether of about 40 feet long, and again the power cable is longer so that the battery is not directly below the MRC !. The overall length of this cable was probably 50 feet. To my total surprise, there was still NO VOLTAGE DROP at the top end of that 50 foot cable.

I am using 3 core lighting cable but the part that goes up the tethers I stripped out of the outer insulation and I only use 2 wires, the 3rd is removed. I have wound the free wires going up the tether to help avoid any RF from them. ???

Any comments on these results would be very welcome ?
Cheers - Ian
 

ChopperAddict

ChopperAddict

Member
Correction to my previous post....

The figures I published were only the OFF LOAD voltages. The ON LOAD voltages dropped by a full volt - EEEEEEEEk. Back to the drawing board methinks.
Cheers - Ian
 

R

rwilabee

Member
What I don't understand is if you have your FPV goggles on how do you know you are at the end of your tether. Seems like hitting the end to hard could cause your quad to go out of control.

Rich
 


ChopperAddict

ChopperAddict

Member
Hi Rich

You feel the end of the tether quite easily actually, because my tether system has a length of bungee rubber at the top to avoid those sudden jerks that could cause a crash. When the quad hits the top when going straight up and stretches the bungee, it simply stops in that position. If you try to go up when the tether is at an angle, the quad is forced to move in a parabolic direction toward TDC.

It is not a perfect solution by any means, but with a spotter alongside you as well, it will work very well as they can tell you what to do. Without a spotter you can still use it as I did to practice, practice, practice. ?

rwilabee said:
What I don't understand is if you have your FPV goggles on how do you know you are at the end of your tether. Seems like hitting the end to hard could cause your quad to go out of control.

Rich
Click to expand...
 


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