BETAFLIGHT 4.0.3 and KAKUTF4V2

[Claude]

Hi,

my tricopter flies well with a KAKUTEV4 Under BF4.0.3

The only thing I can’t use actually is a LED strip:

As instructed here on RCExplorer the servo uses the LED output. Then I had to assign the LED_STRIP output C08 to SERVO 1. And in principle the LED_STRIP should use the M4 output A02.

BUT when I assign A02 to the LED_STRIP 1, the motor 3 doesn’t spin anymore. If I free A02, the motor 3 spins again with the 2 others.
The only explanation I have for this is that motor 3 output is A03. I can suppose that using A02 for LED_STRIP disturbs A03 because they are related ???

Anyway, I have to find which output I can use now for the LED_STRIP 1, to have my leds working too.

Any idea ?

[swissfreek]

I’m no expert (at all), but I suspect that has to do with the timing banks. My understanding is that’s the reason the servo is on the LED pin in the first place, because it can’t share the timing with Motor 3 (1/2 share a timer and 3/4 share a timer) since the PWM rates are completely different.

I might just be inventing stuff in my head but I’m pretty sure that’s what was posted by @jihlein (resident wizard).

Side note: tell us more about how it flies in BF 4! How’s the tail behave? Post a video! @jihlein is of the belief (and I tend to agree, but again, he’s the wizard and I’m just “some guy on the internet”) that the triflight optimizations are much less important on the bigger tricopters because of the way they handle and how they are intended to be flown (more smooth flying, less flippy-floppies). I have tried iNav and there’s a lot of tail wag to tune out (but I haven’t given up yet). It would be pretty cool if BetaFlight was also a viable option.

[mrmattbill]

I too am working on getting one going on betaflight. I can’t help with your LED issues (just not using any on my build). But I would LOVE to see your BF dump or at least your PIDs!

[Claude]

Hi guys !

I tought about something related to timers. I will try soon to use the Motor4 output for LED_STRIP but “releasing” M3 output, just to see …

My tricopter flies very well. The tail is locked, no wag at all. Hovering is clean. I fly for fun, usually big ovals with as smooth as possible bank turns (coordinated).
I’m sure I can fine tune it, but actually I’m already very happy how it flies 🙂

My actual pids are:
set p_pitch = 70
set i_pitch = 25
set d_pitch = 15
set p_roll = 70
set i_roll = 25
set d_roll = 15
set p_yaw = 100
set i_yaw = 10
set d_min_roll = 0
set d_min_pitch = 0

My build:
– KakuteF4V2 FC
– Matek PDB (I keep my BabyPDB for my bicopter)
– Emax 1600KV motors
– AIKON AK32 ESCs
– BMS-210MH servo
– Graupner 8×5″ Elektro-PROP props, carefully balanced !!!

I use an Eagletree E-logger to get a report of current and RPM during a typical flight.

With my actual config the RPM is around 6000, and Current is around 7.5A, with peaks up to 12A when I push the throttle hard …

I don’t want actually to use the blackbox to fine tune, as I find it too “advanced” for my needs…

[mrmattbill]

I am going to load in your PIDs and try it myself later today. What revision of BF are you running? You didnt post Feed Forward numbers so I am guessing not 4.x?

[swissfreek]

4.0.3

[mrmattbill]

Ahhh, I see he posted that originally.

@Claude, I flew your PIDS today with the default FF values and man, I have to say, pretty damn good sir. Much improved over where I was. Let me know if you changed the FF values at all.

[Kevin_Erik]

Be aware that some of the BF features may not work well on a Tricopter. After all BF wasnt made with Servos in mind.

[Claude]

These are my PIDS

I will eventually fine tune them in the following weeks. I’m still statisfied with these values… Actually I started building the bicopter and I can’t wait to see it fly …

[theluxembourgishguy]

Hey Claude

I would also be hugely interested in a complete Config Dump of your setup if you wouldn’t mind.
I’ve build the Tri LR with the suggested Electronics Pack, and it flies ok under dRonin, but I’m just not happy with that firmware, my FrSky Telemetry is buggy, Smartaudio seems to be doable but only with some programing skills which I don’t have, and overall the interface of the dRonin GCS drives me a bit mad… Apart from Autotune, I reckon there are mostly downsides to using dRonin instead of Betaflight. Ok the rant is over 😉
Merci beaucoup if you could share it!

[Claude]

Hi guy,

I will post it this evening, no problem 😉

[Claude]

Hi again,

this is my actual dump …

Attachments:

1. DUMP02.txt

[Ilias]

Hi Claude,

Would you mind to get another dump with the “diff” command?
It would be easier for people to transfer the changes needed for them using the output of the diff command.

Thanks in advanced,
Ilias

[theluxembourgishguy]

Thank you very much Claude, I have to admit, with BF 4.0.3 and your PIDs, the Tricopter LR flies like a charm!
I did the whole autotune and taletune process under dRonin, but this still flies a lot better! Only on very low throttle after a punchout (the kind of maneuvers the TriLR is not made for anyways), yaw control is lost near completely… I’m not a tuning specialist by any means, but tweaking Yaw PIDs, Airmode parameters, TPA and Idle Throttle may solve those issues.
To make BF work, I just had to readjust the throwangles and center on the servo and re-assign motor outputs (contrary to dRonin, BF expects Motor 1 to be the tale motor). Also, I activated Airmode and Anti Gravity, but I still have to test how the copter is doing with it enabled vs. disabled.
In any case, my first flight under BF4.0.3 was a plain success, I got 25 minutes of stable, moderately aggressive flying on a (quite heavy) 5000mAh battery and the recommended electronics.
Believe me folks, this firmware setup is definitely worth having a look.
My Dump and Diff configs are below, but all credits for the tune go to Claude 😉

Attachments:

1. TriLR-Config-Diff-1.txt
2. TriLR-Config-Dump-1.txt

[swissfreek]

That’s good news. Might have to give BetaFlight a try, too. Initial tests show iNav is also a viable option. Nice to know we have familiar choices that are still under active development. As much as I appreciate all the work done on dRonin, it sadly seems that dRonin in general is at end-of-life, and is unlikely to see much, if any, future development (the baseline I mean, I know @jihlein is still maintaining the tricopter fork).

That yaw control on punch out is a big part of what triflight was meant to address. I portant for the mini and baby where that type of flying is expected, but as you said, much less common on something like the LR or v4.

[Author]

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