+Fr Robert Ballecer, SJ Question for you quadcopter guys, I need a calibration method that ca...

[G+_Steve C]

+Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ  Question for you quadcopter guys,  I need a calibration method that can not only calibrate the ESCs but the motors and props also.  I've tried the full throttle battery connect method several times but the problem with this procedure is that it don't take into account differences in motors and props too.  Has anyone ever come up with a way to do them all together?  I'm trying to get a Hobby King Quanum Venture to fly that was supposed to be a RTF model but their idea of RTF seems to be quite different than mine since I expected it to actually be able to fly!  I had to replace the 8" props that came on it with 1045 props to get it to even try to lift off the ground but it wants to go backwards and to the left unless I hold the control stick 3/4 of the way forward and to the right or have the trims set almost all the way up. From just holding it and giving it some throttle I found the right front prop was pulling harder than the left rear one. The left rear motor also sounded different from the others so I replaced the motor and esc but it still doesn't pull any harder.  I took of the right front prop and exchanged it with the left rear and now it's more level front to back but wants to go to the left all the time!  If I can't get more power out of the motors on the left side is there some way to tone down the ones on the right?  How the heck do you ever get them balanced so they all pull the same?

[G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ]

I just emailed Hobbyking to send me a Quanum Venture. I'll see if I can replicate your problem.

[G+_Carlton Dodd]

I had a very similar problem with my home build.  It turned out that I had calibrated the accelerometer on a workbench that was a few degrees off level.  Have you calibrated yours on a level surface?

[G+_Steve C]

I  hope it's not too late to cancel since the Venture is a big piece of junk!  I mean I hope you get it so you can iron out all the bugs and get it to work. Yeah, that's the ticket!  There are videos on YouTube showing it flying really nicely but they must all be fakes since mine has never been able to get more than 2' off the ground because it's too heavy and underpowered to fly!  So far it's had a bad motor and bad ESC and after replacing them I had to remove everything that's not absolutely necessary off of it, even the bottom cover, to get it to try and fly with the 10" props but I can't figure out how to get it level.  Removing the bad motor was a big problem because they used either red thread lock or epoxy on the threads so the screws won't come out.  Another problem is that it just has an H shaped frame so there's not much room for anything and everything has to mount either on top of or underneath the frame so it mounts the FC on a plate underneath which means it will be UPSIDE-DOWN!    I had to remove the FC mounting plate from the bottom and put it on top of the frame in order to mount the FC upright which was a pain because the screws were glued in and had to be drilled out. Then I put the battery on the bottom but now there isn't room to put the cover back on.  Also the motor wires go through the tubes that mount the motor pods but the screws also go through the tubes and cut into the wires.   Well I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

[G+_Steve C]

Carlton, I've tried calibrating it every which way including holding the front down about 30 degrees to try and get it to go forward more without so much trim but that doesn't seem to matter if one motor is pulling harder than the others.

[G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ]

Steve C We've had this conversation before when you couldn't get the Syma X5 to fly the way you wanted.

 

Just because YOU can't get something to work, that doesn't mean that dozens if not hundreds of videos are fake. Especially since those people have nothing to gain by faking their videos.

 

I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with your setup, but please don't start ranting about how the world is out to make you purchase defective gear. -- Stay cool, and we'll all help you to get it working.

 

Cool?

 

Peace,

Padre

[G+_Steve C]

There seems to be a lot of difference in how the props perform.  I ordered a new set from Banggood a while back but never did get them because those idiots never seem to be able to ship my orders so I'm going to try the hobby shop tomorrow and see if they have a matched set. I've seen sets of 2 but are there sets of 4?

[G+_Carlton Dodd]

Steve C

Though props can be balanced pretty easily, it would be near-impossible to "calibrate" a motor.  Heat and wear will change the motor over a short time.

One motor pulling harder than the others should be compensated for to a large degree by the FC.  That's what it's for; control the output of each motor, several times a second, to put the quad in the attitude you are requesting through the controls.

[G+_Steve C]

> that doesn't mean that dozens if not hundreds of videos are fake. Especially since those people have nothing to gain by faking their videos..

That's not true since a lot of the videos are made by PAID reviewers!  Some of them even admit getting the models to test for FREE!  I'd estimate that about 90% of videos must be fakes.  If not totally fake they must have edited them heavily to make it look better than it really is.   If you don't believe it just look for ones showing perpetual motion machines that are supposed to be running and cars that run on nothing but water!  I think a lot of the folks who used to make perpetual motion machine videos have moved on to quadcopters!

For instance there are a series of videos by Painless360 where he shows how to setup the Pixhawk and get it working but never has a single problem in any of them like you would have at home!  When I try to do the same thing he did the program crashes or freezes at nearly every step!  After a while it becomes obvious that he started with an already configured and working board then just went through the motions without actually doing anything!

There are even videos that say Mission Planner works well and is easy to use although I've been trying to get it to work with my Pixhawk for a year and a half now!  At first I tried Qgroundcontrol for a year while they kept putting out updates with hundreds of bug fixes while it went from not running at all to working pretty well most of the way through but could never get as far as actually trying to ARM it but now the latest release won't even run again.  I actually wore out the first Pixhawk just from handling it so much while trying all the various updates until it finally died so I got a new one and about 50% of the time I can actually get Mission Planner to work with it now!  Mission Planner has trouble calibrating the compass and will say it worked OK but after it's finished the craft will say it's pointing South instead of North!  The last time I got the compass to calibrate properly it would actually let me Arm it for the first time and seems like it might really fly if it would level out instead of tipping back or to the side.

Carlton, I thought the FC was supposed to be able to compensate for variations in the motors too but the Pixhawk doesn't see it that way. If there isn't any way presently to calibrate the motors, props and ESCs together then there should be.

[G+_Carlton Dodd]

Steve C

I'm starting to realize that this is probably not the hobby for you.

[G+_Steve C]

You may be right. Since so many companies are selling junk that doesn't work and most of the software is totally buggy it's almost too frustrating to deal with.  On the other hand it's too big a challenge to resist, kind of like getting cold fusion to work or harnessing a black hole.

[G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ]

Well... I tried... But you haven't changed from your days of raging about phone reviews and flooding my Twitter feed with charges of, "your review sucks b/c you do things with it that I can't"

 

Best wishes.

[G+_Scott W]

Steve C Do you ever stop for just a second and say to yourself, "maybe its me"?

I have 2 pixhawks and 2 APM flight controllers I use with mission planner with NO problems at all.....

[G+_Steve C]

No I don't think it's me since I didn't write the buggy software or design the Quanum Venture that won't fly. I only asked if anyone knew how to calibrate the motors and props along with the ESCs.  I don't think that calls for personal attacks!  If you don't know the answer there's no need to reply!

[G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ]

Steve C,

 

I'm only writing this because I care. If I didn't I would just mute/block. But you've been a long-time member of this community and I think you're a good guy... 

 

The problem is that people ARE telling you the answer, and you get offended if its not the answer you want. -- Just scroll through your own history of activity in this group.

 

-You insist that we can't connect & charge through a mobile device's USB port, even though we've SHOWN on the stream that it's possible.

 

-You insist that the Syma quadcopters can't be flown, even though we've SHOWN it being done on the stream and dozens of Know-It-Alls are trying to coach you through it.

 

-You're upset about Snoop Snitch not working on your device, even though we SPECIFICALLY said that it won't work on most phones.

 

-You have a bad Pixhawk, everybody TELLS you that you have a bad Pixhawk, but you insist that ALL Pixhawks are defective and you lash out at the community members who try to help you.

 

In all these cases, you ask a question, then either insult the people who are trying to help, claim all the videos are fake, or just rage out against bad programmers and engineers.

 

I hope you can see the pattern... Be a little nicer. Be slower to rant... and actually LISTEN to the people who are trying to help you instead of insulting them.

 

OK?