Triflight setup guide

[Terje]

@lauka straight up flying in horizon mode. Seems odd that the flight controller can correct in one mode and not another though? Does not correct the same when I fly straight up on acro mode.

[kang]

Wondering if anyone successfully setup the F3FC board with smartport + CPPM.
I’ve smartport on UART1 but RSSI does not show up in cleanflight configurator.
Also tried to set it up on UART3 same issue (UART2 is in use by GPS).

I’m using Triflight 0.5 release. Also found this which maybe is related to the issue: https://github.com/lkaino/Triflight/issues/43

[wilco1967]

I use F3FC with PPM / Smartport (but iNav, not Triflight).

As far as I understand, RSSI is not sent from the receiver to the FC by SPort (correct me if I’m wrong, and there is an other solution).
RSSI is sent directly from receiver back to the transmitter, without the help of the FC. (At least it is for Frsky/Taranis).

If you want it visible on the FC, some people use a spare channel and have the transmitter sending the RSSI value back up to the receiver again as a channel. you can set the channel in the configurator so it will show up in cleanflight/triflight/whatever as RSSI
Only useful if you want it for an OSD….

[kang]

Hah yes that must be it. Thanks!

[kang]

Here’s another thing I kinda struggle with. I used a TGY servo a while back (well, 1mo ago) with cleanflight and betaflight and has no issues calibrating everything, including PIDs.

Now I have a F3FC board and the bluebird servo with feedback from rcexplorer.se (running triflight 0.5). No matter what I do I can’t get completely rid of the tail wag. If I switch back to the TGY servo, it’s fine. (The TGY is not as strong as the bluebird one in theory – but also this proves there’s no play in my setup – and yeah, there’s no play i checked a thousand times).

I ran the calibration several times using the tool, to no avail. I can get it a little better but even stationary as soon as there’s a little wind or any movement, there’s a bit tail wag which is especially easy to see on camera (it’s dancing ;P). Changes to PIDs do not seem to affect it much (and then again I could configure PIDs just fine on the other servos with clear changes on P and I).

I’m wondering now if that’s because i run the servo at 6v (I gotta try 5v still!), or if the servo is potentially damaged (i have only one bluebird) or what. I also tried running clean/beta flight without any of the servo calibration and this changes basically nothing.

Unfortunately I can’t record blackbox logs on the F3FC (or can I? 😉 or fly tethered (though I’m thinking of a long usb wire now ;P)

I’ve read through the various threads but honestly, all this seems to point to faulty servo. I also tried to offset the center in case the gears were damaged but that also did not change it. I could open it, but then I lose David’s warranty 😉

Note: never crashed, it’s still all brand new.

[lauka]

@kang, so you changed the servo and the FW? You can run BF and CF on the F3FC and see if it helps.

[kang]

Yes I ran CF/BF and same issue, so im suspecting the 6v vs 5v or the servo hardware itself, Maybe I’ll end up getting another one from david and see if it fixes it (when he gets them back in stock).
I’m just not ruling out some of my own mistake during config or what not 😉

Ninja edit:

turns out my accelerometer gets a lot of noise when my motors are between 30% to 85% throttle (approx) on the yaw axis… even on the table/not flying and that my turnigy servo is just not all that fast so it seems to smooth out the issue.

I’m going to test next with some 3M VHB on the motor mounts and the arms – I highly highly suspect it fixes it. My tail dances a bit indeed only between 30% and 85% throttle and I fly in horizon mode. In rate mode, no tail dance so far..

Also note that i’m using different motors and props than the default setup with the F3FC board (I’ve RTFQ 1400kv motors with 7×4.5 props) so vibrations are probably different from “most” and I seem like to hit the wrong sweet spot. I also suspect a lot of people like David only fly rate anyway.

[quaduino]

Hi, is anyone here using an X-Racer 303 FC with Triflight?

I have one tricopter and am preparing to build a second (hopefully one of David’s). I’ve started the process of converting my 5 quads to XRacer 303’s as their current Naze32 controllers fail and also because the newer ESCs are adding features and are starting to outpace the Naze.

I’d like to build this tricopter with the same FC I use for my quads to make tuning a little easier and to minimize the types of spares I need to buy but I also want to be able to run Triflight.

I’ll stick with a Naze32 if it’s the best thing to do but would really like the option of using the new features in the F3 boards–specifically the XRacer 303–so I don’t have to learn a 3rd type of FC. At the same time I’d like a FC that some people here are familiar with so I can ask questions from time to time.

Thanks!

[artemen]

Hey guys, do you think there will evwr be support for omnibus in triflight?

[onejordan]

Hi guys; I’ve had a similar thing happen twice and i’m trying to figure it out.

I’ve built a tricopter. I had a naze32 board and once i flashed it with the correct triflight firmware,
it became unresponsive. I was able to re flash it to the basic naze firmware in cleanflight. Disaster averted, i flashed it with triflight again and it wouldn’t connect to cleanflight anymore. I decided i had fried it so I got a real spracing f3fc. Then I flashed it with the correct triflight firmware. Now it won’t connect to cleanflight (unable to open serial port). And the blue light only is on solid. I retried the naze and same serial port problem. Blue and flashing green lights. Anybody else had anything like this. Boot pins, no boot pins, windows, linux, zadig, all the stuff i’ve read about. any help would be much appreciated.

thanks!!!

[Thomas]

Hey Everyone. First TriCopter build. I recently bought the Baby Tricopter, still waiting on the package to come. Since I’ve been waiting, I’ve been trying to figure out which Flight Controller to use. I’d like to use a MotoLab Cyclone, has anyone used one yet for a Tricopter. The MotoLab Cyclone has a number of 6 pins, a ~ signal and – negative side. I’ve tried plugging in a pdb which has a steady current of 5v to run the servo since the FC, doesn’t use a + positive. I’ve had no luck, even with TriFlight target installed. I’m hoping to get all these things figured out, before my frame comes. IF this FC, won’t do the job, can you recommend some other F3 FC to use for this, please.

I’m having trouble figuring out where to place the pins, in CleanFlight w/ TriFlight installed, what do I do to configure to get the servo to activate. Where do I place my motor wires, where do I place my servo wire? I’m so LOST.

Is it necessary to use a servo with a Feed Back pin?

I’m am not new to quads, thus the reasoning to prefer to build a Tri with a MotoLab Cyclone FC.

I’ve added a pic of a MotoLab Tornado FC pin layout, which is VERY similar to the Cyclone.

Thank You

Attachments:

1. 

   4xyV2Vh.png
   

[mcstan]

servo signal go’s on pin 1 you only need 3 esc 😉

and the feedback wire gos on the pwm pin so you can’t do rssi to the flight controller

[aoym]

I made this as its own thread, but I figured my questions were valid here as well.

Hey there I have been trying to get my tricopter to fly just a tiny bit better and so I was doing a tail tune. I have run into an issue where my tricopter does a suicidal flip when it goes to land for the tail tune. Does anyone have any idea why?
https://youtu.be/s-u9c0_hBOA
After this flip I went to retune, because it obviously did not save this data. My question is what do the different beeps mean? I haven’t heard them before does this mean that the tail tune was unsuccessful? Or that saving the tail tune was unsuccessful? If so what can be done about this? These beeps came after I disarmed the copter, but before I turned off the tail tune. As per protocol
https://youtu.be/5heAxWPHTUU
If anyone could let me know especially one of the experienced guys like Lauka I would appreciate it.

[LitterBug]

Different profiles for 3S, 4S, props, etc.

I have been playing around with a Baby Tri for several months now and am just getting comfortable enough with the differences in how it flies compared to my quads to really dig into the tuning. I think some of my issues may be related to changing back and forth between 3S and 4S, and/or changing between different style props without rerunning the in-flight tailtune.

Am I wrong in thinking it would be beneficial to run the in-flight tail tune and compare values with differing Props, and Batteries? It seems to me that sometimes it flies really smooth, and other times it is very waggly, and I wonder if that depends on changes in thrust made by different props and battery cell counts?

Cheers!
LitterBug

[Bengt]

@LitterBug,

Changing prop type will require a new inflight tuning. The result of this tuning is the ratio between thrust and torque and is mainly a property of the prop itself. Cell count should not matter here. Errors in the thrust to torque ratio will introduce yaw when you add thrust.

Changing either prop type or cell count (i.e. weight) may change the dynamics of the whole copter and thus it may need different PID tuning.

[Author]

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