Zero UAV Zero UAV YS-X6 [Owners Thread] *Autopilot system for multirotors*

[Dale UK]

Hi Kari, thanks for coming back.

I have two 3 position switches, the first switches between manual (pos 1), altitude (pos 2) and GPS (pos 3). The second 3 position switch I understand is not active unless switch one is in GPS (position 3).

According to the flashing lights on the LED these switches are active and correctly assigned (I think).

I understood that I should spool up in manual mode - ie both switches in position 1. If this is the case I would have expected the motors to all spool up at the same rate and not turn off until the throttle is at its lowest position. Am I missing something because I would have expected a linear reaction to my throttle position otherwise if I am in flight and I reduce the stick to anything less than 25% its going to drop out of the sky!

I have tried various combinations without success.

Cheers,

Hi Vulcan

Guess I'm at about the same stage you are in learning the YS-X6 - and I had exactly the same problem during set-up just a few nights ago.

I totally solved this by calibrating the esc's all together on the multi using the set-up guide on the Android GS program. They don't call it esc calibration in 'chinglish' it's referred to as esc 'stroke calibration' (haha!!!) anyway ....

You MUST only power on the Zero mini wi-fi and the AP control unit first (DO NOT power the esc's at the beginning) - this is what the funny split power lead allows you to do (I mistakenly hard wired everything to the main battery supply terminals to begin with - but I now know that's not a good ides.

GOOD SAFE PRACTICE IS TO REMOVE THE PROPS FOR THIS PART - or tie the beast down and avoid possible prop contact (although motors should not fire)!!!

Go to settings, go to installation guide, acknowledge data connection, skip the rest and get to esc stroke calibration. Follow the slightly bad english instructions at the top of the guide screen - (from memory it's .....) setting the throttle at full - then plug in power to esc's - let them beep, beep etc - then throttle down to minimum - go next and skip through everything else until you pop out of the 'guide'. Then remove all power to YS-X6 and re power up .......

Did that work?? (fingers crossed)

Dale UK

 

[socratic]

Vulcan, For what is it worth, I ran into a similar issue when assembling the of Zero Steadi470. After many hours of calibrating and re-calibrating --- determined to correct the problem of one motor stopping altogether when throttling down to 50% while testing, I finally just bit the bullet and went with Peters suggestion (support at Zero) to "just fly it and it will be okay." It operated perfectly - though no matter what I did while on the ground, #4 motor would always stop (I confirmed the #4 position by swapping the leads with #3 and same issue). Try tying down the multi or doing a low hover after you are sure you have calibrated your ESCs correctly. You will probably be fine! We used to call this behavior "undocumented features" - Good luck.

 

[fredor]

(I posted this in error on the X4 thread - so lets try again....)

I'm slowly making progress with my X6 but I have hit a bit of a brick wall and could do with some advice.

I've got communication via my android device and I can see all the settings etc. The motors arm however, this is where I have a problem.

Despite multiple attempts at calibrating the throttle / esc (I've done calibrated each ESC (on their own, all together, a combination of both and I've also tried changing the throttle end points to maximum and then re-calibrating) - the motors do not spool up at the same rate until at 50% throttle. If I drop the throttle to less than 25% one, two or even three of the motors stop (not good for real flight!!).

I think I know that the problem is with the ESC's which are the DJI 30a Opto's. After trawling through numerous threads until my eyes bleed, some suggest that the DJI esc's are not compatible and others seem not to have had a problem.

Any suggestions gratefully received - I want to get this in the air!!

Cheers,

Could you let me know if the DJI OPTO ESC are in fact a problem as I already have them soldered in place for the build

 

[Dale UK]

I'm using x6 dji 30a opto esc's - no issues, no problems - follow my previous advice

 

[conprot]

Magnetic declination

Hi everybody
i downloaded the "GetMagnetic" from zero uav and run it for my location which is Athens Greece. The result i got was EAST 0.95 and was promted to put this number in NEGATIVE .
However, when i obtain the Magnetic Declination for my location from any other source for example " Magnetic-Declination.com " the declination i get for my location is EAST 3degrees and 57".
Which is the correct number? Has anybody else tried the Zero uav program and checked the results with previous numbers for your location?
I will appreciate any reply

 

[robone]

It looks like it is a nice bit of software. However, it is not working. It have me 0 deg and I am 18 deg west. I will play around some more with it though

I checked the settings for Athens on my iphone app and it is 3.76 deg so you must enter -3.76 into the system. The app is called Declination if you are interested.

Cheers
Rob

 

[conprot]

thanks Rob. i thought so!

 

[johnno]

It looks like it is a nice bit of software. However, it is not working. It have me 0 deg and I am 18 deg west. I will play around some more with it though

I checked the settings for Athens on my iphone app and it is 3.76 deg so you must enter -3.76 into the system. The app is called Declination if you are interested.

Cheers
Rob

Hi guys, tried declination eastern Australia where I am seems to be correct cheers John.

 

[vispaaja]

Hey.

I have a problem. My octo works great without gimbal and with large fixed payload. But with the gimbal, I have to reduce the gains to 30 to stop oscillations. How does "I" values affect the heli? I tried with different values but couln't find a good compromise. Should I modify the gimbal somehow?

 

[vulcan2go]

Vulcan, For what is it worth, I ran into a similar issue when assembling the of Zero Steadi470. After many hours of calibrating and re-calibrating --- determined to correct the problem of one motor stopping altogether when throttling down to 50% while testing, I finally just bit the bullet and went with Peters suggestion (support at Zero) to "just fly it and it will be okay." It operated perfectly - though no matter what I did while on the ground, #4 motor would always stop (I confirmed the #4 position by swapping the leads with #3 and same issue). Try tying down the multi or doing a low hover after you are sure you have calibrated your ESCs correctly. You will probably be fine! We used to call this behavior "undocumented features" - Good luck.

I tried the "just fly it" option - hmmm nope, it just wants to flip.

So I decided to take a closer look at the set up process. I actually don't think its an ESC calibration issue, I think it's something to do with the channel set up. I cannot get the rudder, aileron or elevator to show the correct numbers as suggested on earlier threads and particularly here: http://multirotor.co.za/?page_id=964 despite multiple attempts so I'm obviously not doing it properly.

It appears that having the wrong channel "numbers" for example not having the suggested L40 / R40 on the rudder will mean that the controller is already trying to compensate for the incorrect number and will either increase or decrease the appropriate motor speed to compensate. I've tried adding trim to the appropriate sticks to see what happens and it does then allow the motors to stay synchronised. So if this is the case I need to understand why my "channel" set up is not working. The instructions are not very clear on this so if anyone could do an idiots guide to going through this I'd appreciate it! FYI I'm using a futaba 9cap with a frsky 2.4 module and rx.

Cheers,

 

[robone]

I can see you know what you are doing, but sometimes it is worth using these as a check list.

Check that you have the right aircraft type

Recalibrate the channels. I would not know how to write and idiots guide for this as I thought it was reasonably simple. Let me think about that. I always do it using the android tablet and going through the "Install guide"

I had a customer who had a similar problem of tipping and he had his motors going to the wrong channels. Check that again. Mistakes can happen.

Next check your motors are turning in the right direction

Then check that your props are on the correct motors.

Check that your motor mix table is clear and you have not entered anything in there.

Check that you have programmed your ESC correctly. Some people by mistake leave the brake set as on.

Brake: Off
Battery Type: Ni-xx
Cut Off Type: Soft-Cut
Cut Off Voltage: Low
Start Mode: Normal
Timing Mode: Middle
Music/Li-Po Cells:All Off
Governor mode: Off

Can't think of anything else. Hope that helps.

 

[fredor]

I am just preparing to start installing the YS-X6 so I downloaded the GCS to my Samsung Galaxy note and got the message it could not open so back to the drawing board I downloaded it to my Windows 7 computer extracted the files and opens OK in Windows both program and Google Earth BUT of course it is an executable file that can only be used in Windows can someone give me some pointers on what exactly to download in order to No1 get started and future downloads that I will need on my phone
Thank you

 

[robone]

You have to download the Android GCS to your Samsung.

You can find it here http://multirotor.co.za/?page_id=964

 

[fredor]

You have to download the Android GCS to your Samsung.

You can find it here http://multirotor.co.za/?page_id=964

Thanks Rob easy when you know how not so easy when you don't

 

[johnno]

Hi Fredor,
Another OZI joins the clan welcome aboard....John

 

[fredor]

Hi Fredor,
Another OZI joins the clan welcome aboard....John

Thanks John how far are you on building or flying I am a bit pi<^ed I ordered from Hobbyking Australia then get an e-mail that it is being posted from Hong Kong

 

[johnno]

Thanks John how far are you on building or flying I am a bit pi<^ed I ordered from Hobbyking Australia then get an e-mail that it is being posted from Hong Kong

Fred, You mean you odered from the Aus warehouse and they were out of stock, thats a 1st, I have had a great run with them both here and OS. I am about to put into the air a Zero Steadi470 after a long long time, had a lot of little things go wrong, or arn't explained and I was determined not to simply chuck into the air a $1900 machine plus a $550 Camera, I have had a great deal of help from the Aus Dist Michael at DragonRC he is from the homeland and speaks the lingo and the guys on this Forum, Rob and Nick who have got a lot of experience between them. But if this goddam wind would stop I will get it up so to speak, not that I hav'nt been flying I have an Xaircraft 650 and a couple of toys that keep me going. so enough of me Fred what are you getting yourself into?? John.

 

[fredor]

No mention of running out of stock seems like it is normal , I am your poor cousin John flying a DJI Naza 450 with GoPro but getting ambitious

 

[johnno]

No mention of running out of stock seems like it is normal , I am your poor cousin John flying a DJI Naza 450 with GoPro but getting ambitious

I have never had that happen with them, matey the money is spent is a one off that's it if it goes down there won't be any more but that's not the money that some guys spend I saw an YouTube video and the guy flying was asked how much he spent and he said around $10,000. I look at it this way you only get one life you may as well enjoy it cheers, John.

 

[socratic]

Anyone come up with a less clunky approach to connecting power to the YS-X6? In order to power up the FC before the ESC's requires a "Y" cable or similar This can add a lot of junk on top of one of the steadi gimbals. I am finishing up my build of the Ecilop with the YS-X6 and only have power to complete. But was looking for a more elegant approach - considered a 3 position switch but just another piece of equipment to go wrong! Anyone come up with anything? Here is a few pix of what I am talking about:

I Think I have a. Solution that will work. I'll dedicate a battery to this fc and just modify the connector by adding the fc and wifii leads. Simple. Can't believe it took me so long to realize it!!!!