[DaveL]

Can someone post a diff or dump for a V4 ?
Thanks
DaveL

[DaveL]

If it helps to encourage you, watch this video in which my INAV F3FC M8N tricopter holds position in gusty turbulent conditions where the wind swirls around the house and shed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj3BcXBH82g
I might add that the sky view presented to the GNSS receiver was fairly terrible. And the firmware was running defaults, no tuning done yet. Not a bad starting point.

[DaveL]

Better pictures Here. Use some tubing or rubber fuel line where the post crosses the tail boom, it will flex if needed but won’t spin.

[DaveL]

This fall I bought someone’s v3 and upgraded it to the F3FC Frame. I couldn’t position the fairly large esc’s where I wanted to because the motor leads were a bit short, so I decided to run my esc wires outside the arms. Figured I could always rewire it, get smaller escs or different motors. Outside wiring was easier, and later I was able to run the LED cables through the arms. Looked kinda evil with the black zip ties so I left them uncut.
Some photos to help you decide…

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[DaveL]

Good idea, I’ll pull a heatsink from an old motherboard.

Wilco thanks for the update.

In case it helps someone when adding a GPS to use with INAV – if you leave the F3FC’s BEC at default of 5V, you’re good for 3A continuous and 5A burst (giving some headroom for the servo I presume). But if you run the BEC at 6V or 8V, the 5V supply current becomes quite limited (around 200mA).

See the F3FC description page:

Fwiw, I run the on-board BEC at 5V, and used the serial ports as follows:

uart1 – Frsky Telemetry (powered by BEC)
uart2 – GPS (powered by I2C 3.3V)
uart3 – OSD (powered by VTX 5V output, and VTX is powered from RAW battery connection)

[DaveL]

Oh yeah, it’s working, and I didn’t smoke any boards, just had to battle the dreaded Mavlink Heartbeat Error.
Have to credit all who went before me, mapping the way and marking all the pit-falls. Darnm these 600mW vtx’s get hot when bench-testing!

[DaveL]

Oh I like the idea of routing several tx switches through one aux channel.
I don’t have a Taranis but someone else might benefit from seeing your configuration.
I’m working on FPV wiring this weekend and might finally get a crack at acro flight with decent FPV range.
Thanks again for the info!

Marlon – don’t be afraid to use the ‘safety-net’ of gps modes. I for one am a terrible pilot, slow to develop the skills I need to avoid crack-ups, so anything that helps is good.
\
INAV works so well that I gave two friends their first flying experiences via PH+AH, each flew for nearly 20 minutes, gently puttering around with the goggles on and happy smiles.

[DaveL]

Same here, Wilco. Great to have you sharing what you learn.

Fwiw, I have my tx switches set up such that I can quickly trigger rth mode in a panic.
Also have a three-position switch set up for:
1.–
2.Altitude-hold
3.Position-hold & Altitude-hold
And a switch for angle / acro + air mode.

I can take off, flip to PH+AH, get my heart-rate down, go to angle mode for some warm-up, then a few terrifying seconds of acro practice…
It’s comforting to have these options, so I don’t break the bird every time I fly it.

[DaveL]

Wilco, thanks for the info! Yes, no-pulses and other essential tips which I’ve set and forgotten about.

Wilco, I noticed your current nav pids are changed quite a bit from the defaults, would you tell us about these settings? I’m trying to tame a wobbly position hold with cruise mode enabled. For mine, the transition from hover to movement in any axis is very touchy and I’m not at all sure which things to tweak.

I think that changing nav_user_control_mode from CRUISE to ATTI will cure this because I’ll have direct control of the transition to movement, will have to try it this weekend.

[DaveL]

Stupid soft-mounters Unite!
Great video, thanks Wilco, it is “a big freekin deal”, especially for our hard-mounted FC’s!
Do you have some insight into how to tame the PH-cruise wobbles? I’m only around 380 pages into the 700-page INAV thread (plus the recent stuff) and the suspense is killing me. Can you share a recent CLI dump ?

Marlon,
Trust the failsafe code, it works.
But check your wiring and your solder joints and your CLI configuration.
Plenty of ways for you and I to screw up, it’s a complicated machine and everything has to be right.
Test carefully, so you can trust the system.
I can shut off my tx and it will park itself on the launchpad.

I just received my micro minimosd, so I don’t have experience with it yet, but I think you can get rssi direct from rx to osd.

If I get a tune that I like, I’ll post up my CLI dump.

[DaveL]

Marlon, start with the current iNav defaults (and save them so you can go back to check what the defaults were). Change the obvious things in iNav configurator, then look for these items in your CLI dump:

feature PWM_OUTPUT_ENABLE [to enable the motors]

set looptime = 2000
set i2c_overclock = OFF
set gyro_sync = ON
set gyro_sync_denom = 1
set acc_task_frequency = 500
set attitude_task_frequency = 250
set async_mode = GYRO

set gyro_lpf = 188HZ

set motor_pwm_rate = 2000
set motor_pwm_protocol = ONESHOT125

set nav_user_control_mode = CRUISE

set align_mag = CW90 [depends on your compass]
set mag_declination = -1030 [look up for your area, mine is -10.3]

set nav_posr_d = 40 [to tame the poshold wobbles]

Also grab kdiff3, makes easy to see what has been changed.

[DaveL]

Marlon!
‘Bout time, been waiting for you!
Must read the Wiki, and get a better gps same as mine.
I’m slammed by work today but will try to answer stuff as it comes up. I have a bunch of settings/CLI tweaks for you to change before you fly it.
I still have to work on pids and make it smoother, but it does fly, chased this around on the weekend…

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[DaveL]

As long as the landing gear attachment is flexible or fragile (zip-ties), because they will have so much more leverage to twist the airframe on touch-down.
Here’s a photo showing attachment using crossed zip-ties.

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[DaveL]

Yeah, could use some good weather here too, hoping to film some Timbersled action on Sunday.

I have a suggestion about using a gymbal with the V4:
– this is a stand-launch and catch-recovery method
– mount the gymbal & camera under battery tray but don’t install tall landing gear
– set the aircraft on a stand, even a plastic pail/bucket, to be motionless during power-up
– take-off is easy
– recover by hovering overhead and hand-catching, facilitated by INAV with its excellent position & altitude hold performance
– usual cautions apply, don’t give yourself a haircut

[DaveL]

Yup, tx, rx, pwr, gnd. And two wires for I2C if you use the compass.
They work so well that I’m using one in a geophysical survey rig. But be advised, they don’t have enough flash memory to do a firmware upgrade, so no Galileo reception unless new stock comes in with the update.

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