Gremlin Noob having trouble arming the motors. Day 4 :(
- Thread starter Frolic
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- arming issue build gremlin
Looks like you got the angry one 
looks like it!
thank you ElectriSean for all your help. I REALLY appreciate it. So I have 35 min of flight time. Dozens of crashes. I have broken all but 5 of the plastic screws. Lost all but 7 of the prop screws. Broke one of the video antennae loops. (resoldered that). But NOT A CHANCE! SO much faster. Really pushing my skills. I have been having a great time.
Still don't have the 3 flight modes figured out yet. But will use your feedback this week to figure that out. Found a video to put a buzzer on the fc. Have you done that"? I think just use the pads on the fc and solder on a buzzer. then in Betaflight configure it? Is it that easy? I already had it stuck in a tree. only 7 ft off the ground but if I am to make it around my house FPV. (personal summer goal) all the trees seems like it would be a good idea for a beeper.
Thanks again! Will keep you updated this week as to the progress of my Gremlin. Hopefully no more blood! But I am not holding my breath.
Do these settings look ok? And on the bottom of the second one is that where I could get the beeper to be active? Pick a switch and make sure it is mapped on my tx and it could beep when turned on?
Also does the femto f3 give a value of the battery to the tx? If yes how is that set up? I have been flying some of by Genoang 450mah down to 3.45 per cell. I think that is pretty low.
...gotta get a better charger..... more $....
So is there any telemetry on the f3 and how is THAT set up?
thank you ElectriSean for all your help. I REALLY appreciate it. So I have 35 min of flight time. Dozens of crashes. I have broken all but 5 of the plastic screws. Lost all but 7 of the prop screws. Broke one of the video antennae loops. (resoldered that). But NOT A CHANCE! SO much faster. Really pushing my skills. I have been having a great time.
Still don't have the 3 flight modes figured out yet. But will use your feedback this week to figure that out. Found a video to put a buzzer on the fc. Have you done that"? I think just use the pads on the fc and solder on a buzzer. then in Betaflight configure it? Is it that easy? I already had it stuck in a tree. only 7 ft off the ground but if I am to make it around my house FPV. (personal summer goal) all the trees seems like it would be a good idea for a beeper.
Thanks again! Will keep you updated this week as to the progress of my Gremlin. Hopefully no more blood! But I am not holding my breath.
Do these settings look ok? And on the bottom of the second one is that where I could get the beeper to be active? Pick a switch and make sure it is mapped on my tx and it could beep when turned on?
Also does the femto f3 give a value of the battery to the tx? If yes how is that set up? I have been flying some of by Genoang 450mah down to 3.45 per cell. I think that is pretty low.
...gotta get a better charger..... more $....
So is there any telemetry on the f3 and how is THAT set up?
PsyBorg
Wake up! Time to fly!
WAHOO!!!! Another one joins my "Fly Angry" movement!!!
Bet that stings a bit though huh.
Edit: I would set it up on your mode switch like I have my Gremlin.. They get quite hoppy when landing with air mode on..
I set my flight modes as horizon.. (if you have flown for more then five minutes and its not an ap ship you dont need angle mode) in low position, Acro in mid and high position, Then on that same aux set airmode for high position.
This way you can take off in horizon mode as a new pilot and just think about throttle till you are in the air. Switch to acro with air mode to fly with. Then drop down to acro without air mode to land.
Bet that stings a bit though huh.
Edit: I would set it up on your mode switch like I have my Gremlin.. They get quite hoppy when landing with air mode on..
I set my flight modes as horizon.. (if you have flown for more then five minutes and its not an ap ship you dont need angle mode) in low position, Acro in mid and high position, Then on that same aux set airmode for high position.
This way you can take off in horizon mode as a new pilot and just think about throttle till you are in the air. Switch to acro with air mode to fly with. Then drop down to acro without air mode to land.
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You are correct about the buzzer, set the mode to a switch and it will beep when active. If you enable voltage monitoring on the config tab it will beep on low voltage as well. Unfortunately Spektrum doesn't do telemetry without extra gear, so no voltage on your Tx. The beeper is really all you can do.
PsyBorg
Wake up! Time to fly!
Air mode is only for acro flight mate. Angle and horizon mode are assisted modes and not normally used for stunt flying or tricks although Horizon is used to start with basic flips and rolls. To be honest assisted modes will only teach you habits you will have to unlearn later.
What air mode does is allow pitch and roll to spin the motors up when the throttle is at the lowest position so you can still have control when upside down and not pile drive your quad into the dirt. Its all kinds of fancy programming that takes a long winded explanation which will mean nothing if you are new to the hobby.
If you look up a few posts I show how I set my flight modes and air mode and explain why. Also don't ever feel bad about asking any questions here as someone will always have an answer and your safety is more important then anything else as these can do some serious damage if not treated and set up properly.
What air mode does is allow pitch and roll to spin the motors up when the throttle is at the lowest position so you can still have control when upside down and not pile drive your quad into the dirt. Its all kinds of fancy programming that takes a long winded explanation which will mean nothing if you are new to the hobby.
If you look up a few posts I show how I set my flight modes and air mode and explain why. Also don't ever feel bad about asking any questions here as someone will always have an answer and your safety is more important then anything else as these can do some serious damage if not treated and set up properly.
Hi Guys,
Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I have been busy at work. Psyborg, so you describe the acro mode as allowing pitch and roll at zero throttle. So it is correct then when I have it flying in acro. It crashes, due to my flying, and it is bouncing off the ground and it is continuing to lurch, but in acro it will continue to try and control pitch and roll. But because it is running into my fingers and such it will still seek control until it stops? So maybe nothing is wrong with my set ups.
That makes sense, but did I explain it right? Been trying to fly in acro as to not learn the bad habits. I can see what you mean by that. Horizon is so much easier. I am still struggling trying to figure it out. One question which will be hard to describe but would like the answer is this.
Acro mode, Flying level with nose to the front. Pitch to the right. As it now is moving left to right I start to yaw ccw. To point the nose to the left. It seems like it will maintain the angle of pitch to the right. So as it yaws ccw the nose tilts up and the movement of left to right is maintained.
Does that seem correct? The one way I thought it may happen is that it would yaw ccw and maintain the roll pitch and would start to fly forward.
Got about an hour of flying in and having a great time. Still figuring out FPV. My camera spiral antenna has not had a good time with my flying and many solder fixes my range is hurting bad. I ordered a little, straight antenna to make it a little more durable.
Getting a bit closer to my goal of flying around my tree surrounded house from my porch. Bit sketchy and don't want to get stuck way up in an oak tree. Also thanks for the tip about the buzzer ElectriSean. Ordered one of those too as I had it fly over 150 yards away and literally lost sight with NOTHING in the way. It just got so small! Dropped the throttle, walked in a straight line and luckily found it. Bad golfing trick comes in handy. Pick a tree in the distance you last saw it and walk straight to it. Beeper would have made me feel much better. Also put it in my wife's flowerbed within 10 feet of me and spent 5 min looking for it!
Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I have been busy at work. Psyborg, so you describe the acro mode as allowing pitch and roll at zero throttle. So it is correct then when I have it flying in acro. It crashes, due to my flying, and it is bouncing off the ground and it is continuing to lurch, but in acro it will continue to try and control pitch and roll. But because it is running into my fingers and such it will still seek control until it stops? So maybe nothing is wrong with my set ups.
That makes sense, but did I explain it right? Been trying to fly in acro as to not learn the bad habits. I can see what you mean by that. Horizon is so much easier. I am still struggling trying to figure it out. One question which will be hard to describe but would like the answer is this.
Acro mode, Flying level with nose to the front. Pitch to the right. As it now is moving left to right I start to yaw ccw. To point the nose to the left. It seems like it will maintain the angle of pitch to the right. So as it yaws ccw the nose tilts up and the movement of left to right is maintained.
Does that seem correct? The one way I thought it may happen is that it would yaw ccw and maintain the roll pitch and would start to fly forward.
Got about an hour of flying in and having a great time. Still figuring out FPV. My camera spiral antenna has not had a good time with my flying and many solder fixes my range is hurting bad. I ordered a little, straight antenna to make it a little more durable.
Getting a bit closer to my goal of flying around my tree surrounded house from my porch. Bit sketchy and don't want to get stuck way up in an oak tree. Also thanks for the tip about the buzzer ElectriSean. Ordered one of those too as I had it fly over 150 yards away and literally lost sight with NOTHING in the way. It just got so small! Dropped the throttle, walked in a straight line and luckily found it. Bad golfing trick comes in handy. Pick a tree in the distance you last saw it and walk straight to it. Beeper would have made me feel much better. Also put it in my wife's flowerbed within 10 feet of me and spent 5 min looking for it!
PsyBorg
Wake up! Time to fly!
Yes air mode will make the quad go totally bonkers on a crash as it still thinks it is flying so it will spin the motors in conjunction with what the gyros are telling it. That is why I set mine up where the flight modes are Horizon + no air mode, then Acro + no air mode, and finally Acro + Air mode. then I have Arming on a separate switch. You KNOW when you are going to crash so get used to disarming BEFORE it hits the ground. You are crashing anyways so why not do it un-powered and lessen the total damage done. This alone will save you TONS of money on props and repairs.
So when learning you can start off in Horizon mode. You will have to tone down the strength and amount it makes changes to get steady flight where you do not fight the controller so much. Then as you get the basic up down left and right muscle memory you can start with acro and no air mode. Acro will hold the quad in any angle you set it at. This means you have to constantly correct these angles to make it go or stay where you want it to. Air mode should not be used until you have the skills to fly acro well and are ready to do flips and rolls.
Seriously start out by doing the basic lift off, move one direction a few feet and then do the opposite stick movement to return it. Get the muscles and the brain working equally in both directions. Do this forwards and back, left and right. When you can lift off. hover in one place within a foot or so, move a direction about 10 feet, set it down then do that same thing in reverse order to bring it back to start on all four directions then you can start with yaw.
Lift off and hover. Yaw left or right about 45 degrees. Get what the quad looks like from the side in your mind. Then do the same the other direction. once you can lift off, hover, yaw 90 degrees in either direction then you do this and fly forward about 10 or so feet. Stop yaw back the other way and come back and go to your opposite side the same. After that build up to slow controlled figure 8's keeping the same altitude as close as possible the whole time. Once you can do that LOS then move on to trying FPV as you now have the control and the muscle memory where turns and throttle should be automatic.
Its boring I know but will save you money and make you a better pilot faster.
So when learning you can start off in Horizon mode. You will have to tone down the strength and amount it makes changes to get steady flight where you do not fight the controller so much. Then as you get the basic up down left and right muscle memory you can start with acro and no air mode. Acro will hold the quad in any angle you set it at. This means you have to constantly correct these angles to make it go or stay where you want it to. Air mode should not be used until you have the skills to fly acro well and are ready to do flips and rolls.
Seriously start out by doing the basic lift off, move one direction a few feet and then do the opposite stick movement to return it. Get the muscles and the brain working equally in both directions. Do this forwards and back, left and right. When you can lift off. hover in one place within a foot or so, move a direction about 10 feet, set it down then do that same thing in reverse order to bring it back to start on all four directions then you can start with yaw.
Lift off and hover. Yaw left or right about 45 degrees. Get what the quad looks like from the side in your mind. Then do the same the other direction. once you can lift off, hover, yaw 90 degrees in either direction then you do this and fly forward about 10 or so feet. Stop yaw back the other way and come back and go to your opposite side the same. After that build up to slow controlled figure 8's keeping the same altitude as close as possible the whole time. Once you can do that LOS then move on to trying FPV as you now have the control and the muscle memory where turns and throttle should be automatic.
Its boring I know but will save you money and make you a better pilot faster.
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Excellent video tutorial on flying FPV, definitely worth the time spent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=391D5dX7LKg&list=PLwoDb7WF6c8kjYXam4m3msvRbkORU41GY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=391D5dX7LKg&list=PLwoDb7WF6c8kjYXam4m3msvRbkORU41GY
Huffheinz
New member
I'm a quad noob still learning how to fly. I have a DX6i that only has 2-position switches so I set one switch (AUX1) for arm/disarm, and the other switch (AUX2) for angle/acro. I fly angle mode in the house and acro mode outside. Acro is surprisingly smooth, easier while flying FPV over LOS, and necessary for combating high winds. It can be a little tricky while flying Line-Of-Sight, especially while nose-in hovering, but it's not too bad.
I set the airmode to 'always enabled' on the configuration tab in betaflight since it keeps you from losing (yaw/pitch/roll) control when cutting the throttle for tricks (I don't like it in the sim, I would hate it in real life). The only (sort of) tricky part about having airmode always enabled is during landing because dropping the throttle does not stop the props from spinning so you have to be quick on the disarm switch on touchdown. But you should be quick on the disarm switch all the time anyway so I don't see having to disarm on landing as any big deal.
So, my 2-cents. Set air mode to always on and forget it exists. Practice LOS slow controlled circuits and hovering in all orientations. My first pack is usually me handing my kid the goggles, hovering in front of her so she can see and wave at herself, then taking her around on some forward flight (close-in so I don't lose orientation). She loves it, and I get some LOS training/practice in!
By the way, this thread was very helpful as I worked through my first build. Thanks, Frolic, and everyone else for letting me eavesdrop and learn a few lessons that have saved me time and trouble.
I set the airmode to 'always enabled' on the configuration tab in betaflight since it keeps you from losing (yaw/pitch/roll) control when cutting the throttle for tricks (I don't like it in the sim, I would hate it in real life). The only (sort of) tricky part about having airmode always enabled is during landing because dropping the throttle does not stop the props from spinning so you have to be quick on the disarm switch on touchdown. But you should be quick on the disarm switch all the time anyway so I don't see having to disarm on landing as any big deal.
So, my 2-cents. Set air mode to always on and forget it exists. Practice LOS slow controlled circuits and hovering in all orientations. My first pack is usually me handing my kid the goggles, hovering in front of her so she can see and wave at herself, then taking her around on some forward flight (close-in so I don't lose orientation). She loves it, and I get some LOS training/practice in!
By the way, this thread was very helpful as I worked through my first build. Thanks, Frolic, and everyone else for letting me eavesdrop and learn a few lessons that have saved me time and trouble.
Huffheinz,
Not a problem, Psyborg and ElectriSean did most of the work. I have over 2:15 hours of flight in. I must admit the FPV which didn't work well because of connections. Maybe because I smashed the CRAP out of the camera. It was just too flaky. BUT I did get the thrill of flying through some bushes. Psyborg and ElectriSean it was so FUN! But I must tell you that the figure 8's LOS are a pain in the butt. I am still working on it though and I know it will help when I get a new camera with a rubber antennae.
Still have the question though. Why does the quad still tilt to what ever roll I set as I move the yaw? It doesn't seem to make sense. I would think that the pitch to the "right" would translate to forward as I yawed ccw 90 degrees.
I will learn it but I want to learn the "normal" way. So hard for the 51 yr old to play Call of Duty with my son when the sticks are not "inverted" So I want my quad thumb memory to work correctly.
The Gremlin is so fun to fly. I can't believe how durable. The high speed forward and back runs for 40 yards that I have done are crazy fast and a dumb thumb tumble crash. No big deal. Bend a prop. make sure the battery is still attached. Laugh at the condition of the camera antennae, and fly away. Awesome. Exactly what I was hoping for.
Not a problem, Psyborg and ElectriSean did most of the work. I have over 2:15 hours of flight in. I must admit the FPV which didn't work well because of connections. Maybe because I smashed the CRAP out of the camera. It was just too flaky. BUT I did get the thrill of flying through some bushes. Psyborg and ElectriSean it was so FUN! But I must tell you that the figure 8's LOS are a pain in the butt. I am still working on it though and I know it will help when I get a new camera with a rubber antennae.
Still have the question though. Why does the quad still tilt to what ever roll I set as I move the yaw? It doesn't seem to make sense. I would think that the pitch to the "right" would translate to forward as I yawed ccw 90 degrees.
I will learn it but I want to learn the "normal" way. So hard for the 51 yr old to play Call of Duty with my son when the sticks are not "inverted" So I want my quad thumb memory to work correctly.
The Gremlin is so fun to fly. I can't believe how durable. The high speed forward and back runs for 40 yards that I have done are crazy fast and a dumb thumb tumble crash. No big deal. Bend a prop. make sure the battery is still attached. Laugh at the condition of the camera antennae, and fly away. Awesome. Exactly what I was hoping for.
This is the essence of rate or acro mode. Pitch, roll and yaw are completely disconnected from each other. In order to turn properly you need to add roll and yaw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYXVXiHGFA
FLY ANGRY!!
While I'm not on DAY 4 with the Gremlin, I am miffed and about to start joining the "Fly Angry" movement, if only I could get them to fly. I think I have a short to track down...
I will confess to blowing up 2 ESCs (in addition to the first) on my Robocat build trying to get that to fly, prior to nearly finishing my Gremlin. I was looking for the sweet taste of success, not the bitterness of defeat (twice). That is for a different thread.
While I'm not on DAY 4 with the Gremlin, I am miffed and about to start joining the "Fly Angry" movement, if only I could get them to fly. I think I have a short to track down...
I will confess to blowing up 2 ESCs (in addition to the first) on my Robocat build trying to get that to fly, prior to nearly finishing my Gremlin. I was looking for the sweet taste of success, not the bitterness of defeat (twice). That is for a different thread.
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