Article on airmode that was recently done... info lacking?

[PsyBorg]

First I will say I am posting this here as I tried to post in the article section and I kept getting blocked saying wrong name or password when I am already logged in...

I saw the episode and wondered why they had changed from clean flight to beta flight to set up airmode when it works perfectly fine in Clean flight after version 1.2.1. I run 1.2.2 cleanflight and it works awesome on my versa.

Just thought I would put this out so people know they do not have to switch to beat flight if they are using the latest clean flight just to make air mode work.

Also I would like to address the switch usage they suggested.. It seems like its way more complicated then need be to me.
Every radio has a dedicated mode switch and a dedicated throttle hold switch. To avoid confusion I set my rate switch with Horizon mode at position 0, Rate or acro mode on position 1, and rate mode with airmode enabled on position 2.
That way you have horizon for take off and landing (without airmode hops) then rate mode for racing or general flight if you do not use air mode and a rate mode with airmode so you can do all that fancy flying we all want or can do.

Lastly I set up the throttle hold as an emergency shut down of the motors in case of a crash or other problem where it takes the throttle settings down to -120% so they can not spin if the throttle is bumped (also works great if you set your motors to spin when armed) or in case of a crash in air mode they don't keep trying to spin up and fry an esc or motor.

Keep it all simple and you can have less damage in a bad situation

 

[Craftydan]

First . . . The articles section is a separate registration . . . as is the store. Your username and password can be the same, but you'll have to register it with each one first.

As far as the coverage of airmode . . . yeah. What I saw unfold was a local experienced pilot telling them "I'm using betaflight and I'm loving it" and "you gotta try airmode" Not realizing they were separate things. Betaflight has new features earlier, but they're not always good new features. Airmode has been a solid feature in cleanflight since February.

In fairness, TBone may or may not have known this, nor that the latest versions of betaflight has airmode as an "always on" feature . . . which should cue the "my quad won't land/takeoff right in betaflight" questions here on the forum . . .

I love Josh as a brother, and respect what he has to say, but when it comes to multirotors, when they cover the cutting edge features they tend to generate more "it doesn't work" questions than answers. The FT team are good pilots and builders to the last one, but they can't keep at the cutting edge of every topic they cover.

It is annoying, but it does encourage people who aren't keeping up with the advancements to turn on a new feature or two. Part-and-parcel to that is the new guy demanding the new feature because it's "better", even though it won't help them fly better until they learn how to fly.

 

[PsyBorg]

Thank you for the login info. That's a great idea having each section a separate log in. Keeps the security a bit tighter in case of a hacking somewhere.

As for the information given. I wasn't slammin anyone for not putting it out there. As you say Tbone may not have known and the FT crew obviously can not keep track of every little thing in the RC world. I just wanted people out there, specially people new to quad set up like myself that it was not necessary to switch to beta flight to use airmode. I don't think new people need to be working with something that is new and not necessarily working fully as intended like beta flight can be. I do appreciate the guys working on all that for us for sure though as without their work and knowledge we will stagnate.

I can attest that air mode set up had me screwed up for a long time before I understood how it worked and what to expect after setting it up. Just look at my thread where I rebuilt my Versacopter after I was attempting to upgrade to larger esc's and at the same time add airmode into the mix. I don't want to see anyone go thru all that if a simple warning or a little attention to broader knowledge could help them avoid it.

That's one of the reason I am glad people like you are around to help us keep track of all this and walk us thru what we may be doing wrong to help us grow and fly better.

 

[Craftydan]

Um . . . sure . . . more secure. Totally not-hacked-together from three separate webservers that didn't integrate together. Not that at all

Perhaps I'm the one more griping -- I still cringe a little every time I see a new thread containing "Oneshot".

These little vids are cool, and practically off the cuff, but it's the subtle details that the new guys latch onto that aren't quite right (like you should move to baseflight if you want airmode) and they don't know how to get around the gotchas. Some end up over here -- which is good -- but how do you tell them "Josh is wrong" or "It won't work that way" without making them feel like Josh misled them? We deal with it as it comes, and there's more good info here than misdirection, so as much as I might whine about it, overall these vids are a good thing.

Kinda sad, also, plugging the Cleanflight dump vid . . . when every version after cleanflight 1.13 (out earlier this month) will automatically transfer the settings . . . Part of my point, I guess -- cool vids, but the info becomes dated so very fast . . .

 

[FlyingMonkey]

(I hate Oneshot)

 

[PsyBorg]

Having to flash esc's to GET oneshot is teh debbil. I STILL don't have that working yet. Gave up on it after killing my Skyline 32 advanced trying to get that and the new esc's set up. The way my versa is flying now I don't see a need yet.