Help please! How to make to board know it's a tri not a quad, Multiwii

[SGrog]

I'm no programming expert myself, but is there anyway you could either post the code somewhere, or pm it? I should be able to take a look at it tonight and let you know if there is anything that stands out to me. How did the ESC calibration go if I may ask?

Other questions that pop in my mind are:
-What edition of GUI are you using?
-Are the signal wires from the ESC's in the right spot on the board? (typically signal is on the inside of the board, then negative, then positive if memory serves correctly)

EDIT:
For the Aux 1, do you have a cable going from Rx to the board for the Aux one channel? That is how I have mine set up, and on my set up, Aux 1 on the Mwii goes to gear on the Rx, and then under the GUI, I have the high position of the gear switch set to arm it. After hitting the write button in the GUI, that is how I Arm my copter.

 

[Saschafi]

I cant get the arm "button" to go from red to green though.

 

[tigert10]

So in multiwii GUI, when you move your transmitter sticks you should see all of the values for throttle, roll, pitch and yaw change on the screen...if this is not working you need to double check that you have all the connections from the receiver to the board in the right spots. Let me know how that goes.

 

[Saschafi]

They are all moving as expected.

 

[Craftydan]

Are the aux channels (highlighted "H M L") changing as you flip the switches?

did you remeber to write the AUX settings to the board?

 

[tigert10]

Then the problem is between the flight controller and the esc's. Double check that the esc's are plugged into the correct spot on the board with the correct orientation of the wires (ground to ground and signal to signal, etc). If this is ok, then try plugging the esc's directly into the throttle channel on the receiver to ensure they are working. If they are working, then it is a calibration issue. Try re-calibrating them.

It could be something as simple as the range that your transmitter is sending for the throttle is not what the board is expecting. What values are on the multiwii gui when your throttle is at min and max?

 

[Saschafi]

throttle 1110to 1898
pitch 1100 to 1898
roll 1100 to 1890
yaw 1103 to 1887
aux1 1100 to 1898
servo reads normal 1490 no input 1905 all the way 1030 the other way
I can turn on horizon baro and mag with aux but cant get it to arm.

esc's
d9 tail
d11 front left
d10 front right
black where the ground signal picture is on the pins then red where it shows + and white at signal

the motors spin up fine(all three) when separately connected to the rc

 

[tigert10]

Check out this link:
http://www.multiwii.com/faq#The_motors_still_do_not_start_or_start_but_do_not_stop_any_more

I think you need to adjust your transmitter settings so that your throttle value drops to at least 1000. There is also a min throttle value in the multiwii config.h that can be adjusted. But I don't think the board will arm unless the throttle is below the minimum value.

 

[jhitesma]

With your throttle not going below 1110 you're probably not getting low enough to arm. But if you have an aux switch setup for arming then stick arming won't work anyway so there are two possible issues here to work out.

For switch arming:
1) When you flip your AUX switch on your TX do you see the value for that aux channel change in the GUI?

For stick arming:
What's your MINCOMMAND set to? If your throttle/yaw never go below 1110 then your MINCOMMAND should be set to 1110. Otherwise your throttle/yaw is never going to go low enough for arming/disarming to be possible. And if you use switch arming you'll have other issues due to your throttle/yaw never going low enough to hit "zero" in the mind of the controller.

I'd say disable the switch arming and either setup your TX limits so you get a full 1000-2000 range - or if that's not possible then change your min/max throttle settings in config.h to match what your TX actually gives.

Best bet is to setup your TX so you get a full 1000-2000 range. What TX are you using?

 

[Craftydan]

one other random thing that will keep you on the ground . . . have you calibrated the accelerometers since the last flash?

 

[Saschafi]

Check out this link:
http://www.multiwii.com/faq#The_motors_still_do_not_start_or_start_but_do_not_stop_any_more

I think you need to adjust your transmitter settings so that your throttle value drops to at least 1000. There is also a min throttle value in the multiwii config.h that can be adjusted. But I don't think the board will arm unless the throttle is below the minimum value.

She FLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you that was the issue is that I was trying to arm with throttle above 1000 I adjusted the trim on my spectrum and now it flies! videos coming shortly=) like ten min

 

[tigert10]

Great! Glad to hear it! That was the fun part...now comes the hard part...learning to fly it...lol!

 

[Saschafi]

Well apparently sony nex records in its own format so the video of the first battery worth of flying will come tomorrow. As I am off to work. I am hoping my fly of the blade 1sq quad will help me master my tri much faster.

 

[Saschafi]

First battery worth of flight. Pid tuning advise anyone?

Here it is the first battery worth of flight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1h2JwV6s8&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

Does it look like i need to tune the PID?

 

[jhitesma]

Hard to say if it needs PID tuning from just watching the video. Wouldn't hurt to try. Just record what you've got when you start so you can go back to it if you make things worse.

However first I'd figure out why that left front motor isn't spinning up with the others. Have you calibrated your ESC's? The board will compensate for it in flight but you'll get a better flight envelope and more predictable handling if you calibrate them and get them all responding accurately.

Once that's taken care of you can move on to the PID's. On my quad the stock PID's for MW fly...but adjusting them it flies MUCH better. The instructions here are pretty good:
http://www.multiwii.com/wiki/index.php?title=PID

There are just two things they don't cover well - how big of a change to make when adjusting and which direction to "change" the I term when changing it. As for how big of a change to make - small changes can have a big effect when you're close, but if you're far off then it can take bigger changes. So start with small changes and if that doesn't have a noticeable affect try slightly larger changes - then once it starts to feel "good" go back to smaller changes.

After following the basic instructions on that page try flying a bit to get a feel. Then try increasing your P this gives the biggest most noticeable change for me. As you raise it the copter will feel more and more stable until it suddenly hits a point where it gets less stable. Once you find that point you can back down a little for acrobatic flight or a bit more for smoother flight. Then just follow the instructions on that page for how to tune further.

 

[Craftydan]

First, you need to increase the "MINTHROTTLE" in the config.h until all three motors start at the same time -- if you don't a strong command may casue an ESC to stop (instead of idle) which will send your airframe to the ground.

You might consider uncommenting "MOTOR_STOP" to allow the motors to stop when the throttle stick is at the bottom -- a safety feature.


Almost certianly, but I can't really tell. the only time it's in the camera frame it's while it's inside the ground effect, and too much of the propwash is ricocheting off the ground and nudging the copter around -- all bets are off. It looks fairly stable, but most airframes benefit from further tuning.

For now, though, if you feel you've got good control, focus on learning that first. get comfortable with orentation and the physical momentum of a large airframe. focus on hover, first tail-in, then as you get comfortable, point the nose to the left or right and focus on hover form that orentation . . . then point it nose-in and hover. I would burn *at least* a single pack in each orentation, and only then if you're naturally comfortable and don't have to think about correcting movement. it's probably best to stick to one orentation, burning packs until you no longer have to think about it, then move to the next.

After you've got hover down, try slow circuits in forward flight, then slow figure 8's . . .then consider tuning some more

 

[jhitesma]

You might consider uncommenting "MOTOR_STOP" to allow the motors to stop when the throttle stick is at the bottom -- a safety feature.

See, to me having the motors spinning anytime it's armed IS a safety feature as there's no mistaking whether it's armed or not. If it's armed things are moving and it's dangerous. The idea of it being armed but nothing moving or obvious to me seems far less safe.

But I don't always agree with the majority

 

[Craftydan]

Yeah . . . but I land my V-tail inverted far too often

I prefer yanking the stick down (or flip a throttle-cut switch) to waiting for the copter to realize it's not just a low throttle strong yaw -- that slight delay makes a diffrence. I've saved quite a few props inbound to a telephone pole/tree/sidewalk by cutting power to the motors a fraction of a second before impact.

One thing I don't like about multiwii (as compared to the kk2) is it doesn't have a default arm/disarm/mode-change buzzer -- the option is built into the code, but not all boards support it (my current board being one that doesn't ). Modes/arm Lights are nice and pretty, but in broad daylight not so clear. I'd prefer the copter warn me it can go live, but start w/o motion, than go live the moment you arm it with the only warning being the suddenly whirrling blades of death.

. . . naturally, that wouldn't stop me from taking your copter for a spin if you offered

 

[Saschafi]

Had my first real crash today as I was flying it seemed to loose power to one moter and took a dive head first into the grass, Crash footage and after crash recap coming soon. I figured out the problem but I am going to see if anyone else can figure it out from the first video and then from the second to make it interesting, plus it will be a learning experience for me and hopefully others as to what to watch for and what to avoid.

I Got it back up fly again already and the way it is set up now is actually way more stable and smoother.