s800 spinning fairly fast

[schwett]

i've only taken my s800 out a few times - still in the testing phase for sure. the last couple flights seemed successful and quite stable, especially in ATTI mode. GPS mode doesn't seem quite as good with some TBE.
today I added the Bluetooth LED - very handy - and the vibration dampening kit from the EVO. i did NOT move the IMU to the bipod frame since i haven't yet got a good method to allow it to be easily removable from that spot.
i have two 5000mah 6s batteries mounted and for now am carrying a small test camera rig which weighs about 600 grams. the final configuration i'm planning to fly weighs about 1200g. the camera is nearly dead on the COG and the two batteries balance each other. overally it's within a CM or two of the COG being dead center. i've rotated the GPS a bit for magnetic declination, and had white light after the compass calibration dance.

the only nonstandard thing on the rig is a homemade camera mount. not interested in video, so i'm going to give stills a shot without a gimbal. so far that aspect of things works fine. once the mount is painted black it will look much better.

so - the problem is it's now spinning, and spinning quite fast. it stays level and is able to move up and down smoothly, but it's very hard to control in any other direction since the directions keep changing. (i'm not using IOC.)
i'm not sure what i could have changed with the vibration mount kit and led that would cause this. all the motors are definitely turning. COG is unchanged except to perhaps offset slightly more in the Z axis because of the thickness of the isolators.
any help appreciated, thanks in advance!!

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

I like the camera mount. Very simple! It will be prone to vibrations there but might be okay for photos.

So, what gains are you using? Any settings on the assistant you're not sure about? How about your transmitter settings? Any trim/mixes accidentally programmed in?

The white lights are probably caused by vibration. I would recommend putting the IMU on the outside (using adapter plate). You'll work out a way of assembling and disassembling it.

 

[schwett]

I like the camera mount. Very simple! It will be prone to vibrations there but might be okay for photos.

So, what gains are you using? Any settings on the assistant you're not sure about? How about your transmitter settings? Any trim/mixes accidentally programmed in?

The white lights are probably caused by vibration. I would recommend putting the IMU on the outside (using adapter plate). You'll work out a way of assembling and disassembling it.

i just went through everything on the assistant software again... gains are at the recommended for s800 (haven't switched to the s800+dampening kit setting since i assume that relates to the IMU mount?), RC settings and trims look good, full range of motion and fully centered.
BUT ---- i did the motor test and M3 and M4 were reversed. OMG. it's been like this all along, which is curious since the severe rotation is new. perhaps when it wasn't fully loaded it could compensate.
i assume that could do it. :sheepish:
i'll work on the IMU. i'm thinking about printing a snap on plate which the IMU would attach to permanently and then snap over the imu mounting plate. it has enough thickness at the edge to make a little plastic arrow tab grab fairly securely.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Ahh. The simple things. In the photo they looked like they were all going the correct direction. Change something since then or are the arms in the incorrect order compared to the props?

Glad you've fixed it!

 

[schwett]

so far vibrations haven't been an issue for the camera - still experimenting with different positions and haven't made any shots since i put the vibration isolators on.
the first version of the mount was much lower and further forward, but when i switched to two batteries i recentered it and mounted it to the main legs.

shutter speeds have been around 1/2000s or 1/4000s, so i don't think vibration will matter much. of course, the copter spinning at 100RPM mattered!
a few shots so far - just tests.

 

[schwett]

the arms were all correct - x to x and o to o, m1 and m2 red....... but the outputs for M3 and M4 were switched. so when I hit "motor test" for m3, m4 spun, and vice versa. :eeeek:

 

[schwett]

as expected, having two motor outputs switched isn't good. corrected and it's now very stable. no idea how that happened! d'oh

 

[olof]

Just a note.

I would mount the LED facing back either on a leg or on the frame so it can easily be seen when flying, instead of on top of the frame.

It really helps with orientation and the LED tells you if there is a problem in flight (flashing white means stop for a while and if it does not go a way land) as well as when the Lipos are getting low. It tells you your flying mode and how many satellites the GPS is seeing, and is used to program a point to circle around.

 

[schwett]

Just a note.

I would mount the LED facing back either on a leg or on the frame so it can easily be seen when flying, instead of on top of the frame.

It really helps with orientation and the LED tells you if there is a problem in flight (flashing white means stop for a while and if it does not go a way land) as well as when the Lipos are getting low. It tells you your flying mode and how many satellites the GPS is seeing, and is used to program a point to circle around.

good advice. I saw where they mounted it in the DJI tutorials, but it wouldn't fit in that orientation on my center frame. i'll come up with a good way to mount it that's visible while flying.

 

[schwett]

quiet morning today with almost no wind, and she flew pretty well. very steady. got away from me once - landed much further away than I thought I was - but I think all problems at this point can be attributed to user error.