Baby Tri back in the air

[MadPoet]

After struggling with the RCE F3FC and making little progress, I swapped it and the PDB out for the Matek F405-CTR which was fairly painless. I will bench test the f3fc and replace it if needed, as I wanna play with dronin at some point. Currently using the latest hex for this board based on bf 3.2.2, it’s a bit twitchy. I’ve lowered my rates and flattened out my mid stick positions, flies fine when taking it easy but yaws fierce after a punch out then zero throttle. If you take the throttle down slow, no issue.

Here’s a few laps in the back yard.

I’ll edit the post later for diff and maybe black box data

Just taking it easy at this point, enjoying the sunny English summer. picture attached, excuse the blue parts, I ran out of Orange filiment, will restock TPU and ABS when I can but still gonna fly it in the mean time.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_20180706_190505_kindlephoto-659071948.jpg
   

[LitterBug]

Looking smooth @madpoet! Been updating my RCE fleet today too and hope to get some FPV in this weekend. All LOS in my tiny back yard.

Cheers!
LitterBug

[MadPoet]

Loaded up AndyRC’s PIDs and took the Baby Tri out to bash the sticks around. Much better, but I am going to either adjust my anti-gravity or lower my yaw P and I a bit more. I should take this to the bigger field so I can really open her up. Here’s some specs and stuff…

FC: Matek F405-CTR (soft mounted – no Cap)
Triflight on Betaflight 3.2.2 v2 / MATEKF405 (MKF4) 3.2.2 Dec 31 2017 / 15:24:22
BMS210-DMH Servo (no feedback)
Aikon SEFM 30A BLHeli_S ESC
Emax RS2205 red bottom motors (soft mounted)
Dalprops T5045
Flit10 w/ telemetry module
Matek VTX-HQ
RunCam Split 2
4s 1100mah / 1400mah
3d printed parts:
Dronekeeper Micro with TPU Dronekeeper mount https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2930145
Impossible Tilt https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2869393
Camera Mount TPU https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2874148
Battery Protector / Launcher ABS https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2588938
Motor Soft Mounts https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2771210

P I D
Roll 45 47 31
Pitch 44 74 35
Yaw 54 36

Here’s the RC Splitv2 footage, excuse the date/time stamp I didn’t sync it before flying:

BTW That’s not a power loop, it’s practice sky writing a pear shape 😉

—20180708—diff—RCEBabyTri
# version
# Triflight on Betaflight 3.2.2 v2 / MATEKF405 (MKF4) 3.2.2 Dec 31 2017 / 15:24:22 (30f68c8) MSP API: 1.36

# name
name Mad Tri-170

# resources
resource MOTOR 3 C09
resource MOTOR 4 NONE
resource MOTOR 5 NONE
resource MOTOR 6 NONE
resource SERVO 1 A08
resource LED_STRIP 1 NONE
resource CAMERA_CONTROL 1 A00

# mixer

# servo
servo 5 1223 2057 1638 100 -1

# servo mix

# feature
feature LED_STRIP
feature ANTI_GRAVITY

# beeper

# map

# serial
serial 1 4160 115200 57600 0 115200
serial 2 8192 115200 57600 0 115200
serial 3 16384 115200 57600 0 115200

# led

# color

# mode_color
mode_color 6 1 3

# aux
aux 0 0 0 1700 2100
aux 1 2 2 900 1300
aux 2 13 4 1275 1675
aux 3 28 2 1700 2100
aux 4 32 4 1700 2100
aux 5 33 5 1300 1700
aux 6 34 3 1300 1700
aux 7 36 1 1700 2100
aux 8 37 5 1700 2100

# adjrange

# rxrange

# vtx

# rxfail

# master
set acc_trim_roll = -2
set rssi_channel = 12
set serialrx_provider = IBUS
set ibata_scale = 179
set servo_center_pulse = 1520
set servo_pwm_rate = 250
set tri_unarmed_servo = OFF
set deadband = 2
set yaw_deadband = 2
set osd_vbat_pos = 2497
set osd_rssi_pos = 374
set osd_tim_1_pos = 54
set osd_tim_2_pos = 2487
set osd_flymode_pos = 333
set osd_throttle_pos = 225
set osd_vtx_channel_pos = 377
set osd_crosshairs = 200
set osd_ah_sbar = 200
set osd_ah_pos = 200
set osd_current_pos = 2464
set osd_mah_drawn_pos = 2432
set osd_craft_name_pos = 2089
set osd_gps_speed_pos = 218
set osd_gps_lon_pos = 82
set osd_gps_lat_pos = 65
set osd_gps_sats_pos = 51
set osd_home_dir_pos = 302
set osd_home_dist_pos = 303
set osd_compass_bar_pos = 266
set osd_altitude_pos = 2144
set osd_pid_roll_pos = 423
set osd_pid_pitch_pos = 455
set osd_pid_yaw_pos = 487
set osd_debug_pos = 1
set osd_power_pos = 321
set osd_pidrate_profile_pos = 345
set osd_warnings_pos = 2505
set osd_avg_cell_voltage_pos = 2519
set osd_pit_ang_pos = 257
set osd_rol_ang_pos = 289
set osd_battery_usage_pos = 392
set osd_disarmed_pos = 138
set osd_nheading_pos = 311
set osd_nvario_pos = 279
set osd_esc_tmp_pos = 82
set osd_esc_rpm_pos = 83
set osd_stat_max_spd = OFF
set osd_stat_max_alt = ON
set vcd_video_system = 1

# profile
profile 0

set p_pitch = 44
set i_pitch = 74
set p_roll = 45
set i_roll = 47
set d_roll = 31
set p_yaw = 54
set i_yaw = 36

# rateprofile
rateprofile 0

set rc_expo = 40
set rc_expo_yaw = 40
set roll_srate = 50
set pitch_srate = 50
set yaw_srate = 50

[Kevin_Erik]

@Madpoet

Glad to see things coming together for you! Did see some Tail wobble but i think this is more of an issue with Triflight than your build. Could never get rid of my wobble so I’d expect it to get worse as you open up the throttle more.

Post your BF log and i can make a Plasmatree step response log for you.

Btw: Those powerlines are going to ruin your day if your not careful.

[MadPoet]

@Kevin_Erik Thanks dude! Your posts helped a lot, decided to use the same board as you as I saw your success and it was only 28 quid. Oh I guess that was the flight where I flew between the power lines, that was a OH SHIT moment. I have hit them before, almost a point of pride now to get as close as I can without hitting them.

Assuming I haven’t filled up my sd card, I will fish out the last blackbox log and post it when I get home today. I still haven’t gotten into analyzing blackbox data – maybe this is the excuse I needed.

I’ve had to split my resources between this and my quadcopters as well as FPV gear. I really wanted to get better at acro, which I have, but the true motivator to get it back in the air was getting my XJB145 stuck in a tree (it’s still up there, the big pine tree I sit under in these videos).

[MadPoet]

@litterbug and @jihlein I’ve started building my dev environment on the Mac to compile jlhlein’s dRonin fork for the RCE F3FC – thank you for your hard work on this. Once I have the environment set up I will follow this guide: https://dronin.org/docs/development-setup/development-setup-os-x/ and use this fork https://github.com/jihlein/dronin/tree/myDronin . As there isn’t one currently, and should I be successful, I’ll look into making a triRonin installer for OS X.

[jihlein]

@MadPoet – A few years back I inherited my Dad’s iMac. Don’t use it much, but dusted it off last night and picked up where I left off trying to setup the dRonin build environment. After much struggle and frustration, I finally got it to work, only to find the myDronin branch won’t compile one of the targets, flightd, which is the dRonin simulation that runs on the host system, in this case, the iMac. I can build flight control targets and the GCS okay, so you should be able to get what you need built, the F3Fc target and the GCS. Making the installer will be problematic until I/we can figure out how to get flightd to build. I’ve got one of the errors fixed, I’m looking into the other (it’s in the triflight state machine that controls the tail tuning).

Let us know how you progress.

[jihlein]

@MadPoet – Fixed the two offending files, even got it to build and create a macos installer. You can find it here:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Am7KDquQANJl5lfMzx_IAaulZNWn

Please let me know if the installer works! If it does, I’ll clean up the modified files and add them to the git repo.

[Kevin_Erik]

@jihlein if you even compile a version for the Matek F405, Madpoet and I would try it on the Tri-Baby. We both have Tri’s running the F405-CTR.

Note: F405 includes the entire series of FC’s including the CTR (current offering), AIO, OSD, STD. While some of those are EOL, they are still easily avalible and very cheep. Add on the FCHUB-VTX W/5.8G Video Transmitter and you’ve a fairly compact system. Only down side is that the BEC outputs 5v not 6v which is usually the norm for Servos. (can be done with 5v) In that case an extrenal BEC could be used just for the Servo: http://www.mfrtrade.top/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=14362

[jihlein]

@Kevin_Erik, it’s not a trivial thing to create and maintain a target, particularly so for a board I don’t have access to and there’s no schematic (that I’ve found) available. While I won’t say no at this time, it’s not high on my priority list.

[Kevin_Erik]

I’d be will to donate you a board if you would ever be interested in pursing it.

[MadPoet]

@kevin_erik (Felt bad I hadn’t gotten you some logs, so went out for a quick flight and pulled it for you.) Here’s a log from a good flight: https://www.dropbox.com/s/omle4i6i6vfp92j/LOG00059.BFL?dl=0

Here is a link the flight video: https://youtu.be/pTzyf0rLf3o

But I did find the time to load @jihlein ‘s GCS/firmware and can confirm this should work. I loaded the hex w/ betaflight configurator as jihlein wrote sometime back. I am getting input errors, but that is to be expected, as I’ve only hooked it up to the F3FC board itself.

I’ll add a RX, couple of motors and a servo sometime soon. Looks like after I get back from California I’ll be swapping my boards around again – or I could pick up one of these when I am in the States: (link removed) The Trickster – hmm, i dunno. I read the thread on RCGroups about it, looks cool – anyone have any experience with it? (Should I even be mentioning it on @rcexplorer ‘s site, I dunno – moderate me please 😉 I should just save up for a mini tricopter.

Thanks for the help everyone! I’ve been having a blast with this build.

[jihlein]

The Matek F405 Ctr board, does it have any inverters for SBUS, Sensor Hub, or SPort?

The one thing I see that can’t be supported is the SD Card, dRonin doesn’t have any SD card drivers at the moment. Logging is typically done either by an onboard flash chip or an external logger. dRonin doesn’t support soft serial either.

Due to the implementation differences, WS2811 LEDs may not be implementable, due to resource contention, this need a careful look at. Also looks like the 6 motor outputs can all support DShot.

There are other questions around I2C. I’m assuming the BMP280 is I2C. I see there are pads for attaching external I2C devices, such as a magnetometer. Is this the same I2C bus as the BMP280, or do they split out one of the other 2 I2C buses?

This is from a 5 minute look at what information is available on the Matek web site.

To do this right I’d need a board, otherwise it becomes weeks/months of back and forth, frustrating for both developer and user.

[Kevin_Erik]

@jihlein I wire my Frsky receiver up directly to SBUS without having to use the extra pads. I will contact you directly via RCGROUPS, maybe can Amazon you a new FC.

You have the same name on RCgroups right? “jihlein”

[jihlein]

Can you explain your SBUS setup some more? I don’t see a software controlled inverter for the SBUS signal. If I understand correctly this board expects the SBUS signal on uart2 (any serial rx for that matter). Is there a solder pad to enable an inverter, or have you modified your rx to output non-inverted SBUS? Not sure how this interface gets setup.

I’m also pretty sure there’s no drivers available for all the VTX configuration stuff, at least none that I’m aware of since I don’t use those features. So this port could be somewhat limited in capability as compared to BetaFlight. The OSD should work.

Same on RCgroups, or:

jihlein
at
hotmail
.
com

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