Solved Capt Fishbones and the Aura of Doom

[FishbonesAir]

I hate this thing. I honestly, really, do. When they work, they're great. But getting them to work? What a pain in the hindquarters.

I've been fighting with this... thing for days now. My formerly new Mini F22 is trashed. I'm not a good enough pilot to fly it without the stabilizer (I tried that too) and the (expletives) stabilizer either doesn't work or makes matters bloody worse. In the latest go, I turned on full 6 axis stabilization using the Aura lite config tool. I had previously used the Wizard to config, and told the stupid thing I wanted "level assist" which always worked great in the past. This aircraft? NOPE! Anyways, I go out to (try) and fly, expecting my "hold it steady" whoas to finally be over, only to have the stink'n Aura flip the plane on takeoff. Twice. I though the first rollout, maybe I yanked the stick or something, so I tried again. Nope. Got maybe a meter before the thing rolled me hard and into the ground.

I had trouble before getting it talk to the Flysky receiver, but once it did, it worked great. Now... it's just junk.

 

[LitterBug]

So you didn't understand how to configure it correctly and make sure it was configured correctly before flying your model. That does not make it a bad product. There are several people using the Aura here on the forums that can help figure out issues and configure it correctly, myself included. Would you like help understanding why it didn't work the way you thought it should?

LB

 

[FishbonesAir]

"So you didn't understand how to configure it correctly"
I used the wizard to configure it. That's supposed to set it up, without me having to have much of an "understanding" of the thing... right?

"and make sure it was configured correctly before flying your model"
You're right, the rest is on me. I will admit my mistakes, and my preflight was inadequate. The airplane's nose is trashed. Post crash review has revealed that the right elevon is deflecting down when the aircraft is pitching up, while the left is not responding much, if at all. Roll right/left seems to achieve correct response, but the elevons are no longer lined up correctly.

I can't honestly say whether that happened (the elevon misalignment) this crash, or on one of the previous crashes. I didn't check alignment close enough, only that I had free movement.

Corrective actions:
Rebuild nose, reinstall nose gear & test.
Remove existing wires for elevons, and replace with linkage stoppers at one end for easy adjustments.
Rewire wing lights, to smooth airflow.
Check for other damage, repair as necessary.

Thanks for your help.

Capt Fishbones (Dave)

 

[dap35]

You need to ensure that the orientation and coorection are correct prior to flying. With self-level mode enabled and your throttle cut enabled, hold the plan and move it through each axis while watching the control surfaces. So if you roll the plane left, do both ailerons move to counter that move? Some for pitch and yaw axis. It is quite possible that the outputs are reversed. I know I have made that mistake, just the other day, I reversed the rudders using my TX as opposed to correcting it in the Aura, and had a spectacular crash.

 

[FishbonesAir]

You need to ensure that the orientation and coorection are correct prior to flying. With self-level mode enabled and your throttle cut enabled, hold the plan and move it through each axis while watching the control surfaces. So if you roll the plane left, do both ailerons move to counter that move? Some for pitch and yaw axis. It is quite possible that the outputs are reversed. I know I have made that mistake, just the other day, I reversed the rudders using my TX as opposed to correcting it in the Aura, and had a spectacular crash.

I'm not positive, and the Elevons are so messed up it's a little hard to tell. I'm going to do repairs, and get them set correctly (static, servos centered), and make sure I didn't strip out a servo (Oy... did that on an Aileron. That was a spectacular crash) and then start testing.
Thank you!

 

[dap35]

You always need to check both the basic control surface operation from your TX and then the stabilization. If the basic motions are wrong, then you need to reverse that control surface through the Aura. I suspect anyone that has done a plane with elevons has spent time futzing around before they work correctly. Just get it all worked out on the bench before you fly.

The easiest to miss is the rudder stabilization . I have to hold the plane in front of me just like I am sitting in the cockpit, then rotate my body and plane together while looking at the rudder deflection. Make sure the rudder deflects to counteracts your rotation.

 

[FishbonesAir]

You always need to check both the basic control surface operation from your TX and then the stabilization. If the basic motions are wrong, then you need to reverse that control surface through the Aura. I suspect anyone that has done a plane with elevons has spent time futzing around before they work correctly. Just get it all worked out on the bench before you fly.

The easiest to miss is the rudder stabilization . I have to hold the plane in front of me just like I am sitting in the cockpit, then rotate my body and plane together while looking at the rudder deflection. Make sure the rudder deflects to counteracts your rotation.

Huh, hadn't thought of that, that's a great idea! I early on had the "elevon mixing via Tx" error. Caught that early though. I missed that I hadn't turned up my End points. This is a replacement Tx; my old one was lost returning from FF2023. I got stranded in Akron, but the hotel didn't find it. All I can figure is that TSA took it. But I digress. I was going back through Bixler's config video, and realized I hadn't turned up the end points. Not sure what that does, but I know you're supposed to do it, and that may have had some effect as well.

 

[dap35]

Huh, hadn't thought of that, that's a great idea! I early on had the "elevon mixing via Tx" error. Caught that early though. I missed that I hadn't turned up my End points. This is a replacement Tx; my old one was lost returning from FF2023. I got stranded in Akron, but the hotel didn't find it. All I can figure is that TSA took it. But I digress. I was going back through Bixler's config video, and realized I hadn't turned up the end points. Not sure what that does, but I know you're supposed to do it, and that may have had some effect as well.

The Aura, like any stabilizer tends to dampen the outputs, so without increasing the end points you would end up with shorter throw (ie less deflection).
In the video below at the ~9:00 mark, Josh talks about checking and reversing the direction of the channels where needed.

 

[FishbonesAir]

The Aura, like any stabilizer tends to dampen the outputs, so without increasing the end points you would end up with shorter throw (ie less deflection).
In the video below at the ~9:00 mark, Josh talks about checking and reversing the direction of the channels where needed.

Got it. I'll review, to make sure I've got everything set correctly, since I had to do this swap.