LitterBug's dRonin / iNav / Aura5 / ArduPilot / *Flight FC enabled Wingy Thingys

[LitterBug]

The ZOHD Drift tail boom came in. There will be some unexpected gluing needed. There is a slip ring that should have been glued to the carbon boom, but it is not. Hopefully I get it all aligned and glued correctly without losing the ability to pull it all apart. plan to use CA and accelerant.

 

[LitterBug]

Weather has not cooperated this week. Doing some bench flying to catch up on builds, reconfigures, learning, ETC...

Boom has been glued.... Didn't get it quite as level as I'd like, but oh well.

Was able to successfully calibrate the ZOHD ESC too.

Working on switching the ZOHD over to the TX16s from the pocket radio. Remapping inputs and adding flight modes.

Debating adding HD OSD config since I do have a spare Serial port that would work......

 

[LitterBug]

Couldn't help myself. I picked up Nano Goblin #3 in kit form to replace retired nano goblin #1. This will be getting ArduPilot, ELRS, and Walksnail. The ZOHD drift is no substitue for the simplicity, durability, and flying characteristics of the Nano Goblin.

I will be reusing the Motor, ESC, and prop from #1. Using new servos. One of the old ones was dead after the high speed impact. Also would rather not take a chance on 7 year old servos from a heavily used, high mileage plane.
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[LitterBug]

Got the ZOHD Drift out to the field to maiden the new config with a new boom and the INAV setup. Kind of breezy out at the field so I was able to do a lot of glide testing. Got 30-ish minutes out of a 750mah 3S battery. Unfortunately, with a FC and NO FPV gear, it is already over 250g at 273g. I set the CG where they recommend it, which is very far back. Launched in auto-launch mode which went very well, but when I cancelled it and switched to manual mode, it pitched straight up and climbed. So full manual mode is still sketchy. Still need to run some of the tuning modes. Best to do those in calm air not gusty/windy like tonight. Flew my other 5 configured "NAV" flight modes with no issues. (horizon, angle, cruise, loiter, RTH) Actually flies really well in the NAV modes on default settings. Need to decrease the cruise speed and loiter radius. Both are to high. Will get some walksnail gear in it soon. Need to get the INAV lua scripts configured to Imperial units. So as I've already figured out, it really isn't a good repalacement for one of my Nano Goblins. The Drift is NOT meant to be a fast flyer, and can actually get into an unrecoverable dive in overspeed conditions. Max recommended is 50MPH. I am interested in trying it out as a proxïmity flyer in calm conditions with FPV.

Nuts.... thought I was taking video and took a picture instead. D'OH!

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[Foamforce]

View attachment 244991

What software is in your display? Is that EdgeTX with a fancy LUA script or something?

 

[LitterBug]

What software is in your display? Is that EdgeTX with a fancy LUA script or something?

Yes, that is EdgeTX with the INAV lua script. It takes the telemetry data and presents it in a more meaningful way. Also has audible alerts and callouts for flight mode changes, RTH status, Telemetry, battery ETC. Easily adds a ton of useful features.

I also have FM2M which was written by one of the EdgeTX devs. Didn't have it on my radio at the field tonight. It also has ability to change VTX channels and power right from the screen. (really need to download the right picture for my model)

 

[Foamforce]

Yes, that is EdgeTX with the INAV lua script. It takes the telemetry data and presents it in a more meaningful way. Also has audible alerts and callouts for flight mode changes, RTH status, Telemetry, battery ETC. Easily adds a ton of useful features.

I also have FM2M which was written by one of the EdgeTX devs. Didn't have it on my radio at the field tonight. It also has ability to change VTX channels and power right from the screen. (really need to download the right picture for my model)
View attachment 244996

Woooo! I now have the motivation I need to finally install my F405 Wing in something. It’s not that I <need> any of that immediately, but it looks so cool that I have to have it. 😀

 

[LitterBug]

Woooo! I now have the motivation I need to finally install my F405 Wing in something. It’s not that I <need> any of that immediately, but it looks so cool that I have to have it. 😀

There is also a LUA script for ArduPilot called Yappu.

I run that one with the F405-wing in my StratoSurfer. Once I get Nano Goblin #3 done, It will be on that model too.

 

[Mehvish99]

Wingy thingys, huh? I'm in! Let's see what this LitterBug can do.

 

[LitterBug]

Flown the Drift close to two hours now with the INAV set up. It was a bit breezy again tonight, but did manage to get some mostly calm air near dusk. First pack tonight was with the 3S 750mah pack. Again close to 30 minutes. 2nd pack was a 80% charged 2S LiIon. Dropped by about 30% after flying 30 minutes. Launch mode has been working flawlesly along with all the other flight modes. Going to remove full manual mode which will then default to acro. (gyro without leveling) I need to get the extra serial port set up so I can get the OSD telemetry connected to a Walksnail to do some FPV now.

EDIT: I've made a few changes to the default navigation parameters after my initial test flights and attached the current INAV Diff.

EDIT2: Ordered some 4-pin JST-SH1.0 sockets so I can add HD-VTX connectors/ extensions to my FCs that did not come with them. Vv,Gnd,TX,RX

 

[LitterBug]

Have over 3 hours on the ZOHD Drift this week. Got another 1+ hour on a LiIon pack the other night. Got my lua script battery alerts dialed in to the 2S LiIon pack instead of the 3S LiPo pack. Tested my INAV config changes to make the tiny (not sub 250g) plane fly in a small area rather than a BIG radius large plane. Small changes and good progress!

Been doing more bench testing of the Walksnail gear connected to my old BrainFPV Radix Li WPB 20x20 stack in the ZOHD Drift. Using Serial6 did not work, but after switching to Serial1, the OSD is functioning correctly! SWEET!

Will post flight video as soon as weather and schedule permit! SUPER Stoked to fly HD FPV!

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[LitterBug]

Flying the INAV/Walksnail ZOHD Drift at the field last night. Did a little plane chasing and flew for over an hour between two Li-Ion packs.

 

[LitterBug]

OK, new learning experience for ArduPilot and PWM passthrough today. I added a pan servo to my HD pod for the stratosurfer and was not getting any noticeable change in potion when changing the PWM endpoints for the servo channel. Only getting 90 degrees of travel and was hoping using extended PWM range would eek out a bit more pan throw. Turns out there is PWM passthrough which just forwards the pwm signal from the TX/RX (what I am currently using), and there is a SCALED passthrough which scales the rx input range to the output range defined in the ardupilot settings. So now I need to test modifying the radio range for passthrough, and compare it to the scaled passthrough to see which provides better range and/or precision.

Autopilot Output Functions — Plane documentation

ardupilot.org

EDIT: Did a quick check of adjusting the TX channel output and did get a noticeable increase in travel. Should be able to see the leading edges of the wing now. Still need either a 180 degree servo, or to modify a servo to make it do 180 or possibly even 270 degrees to get the amount of motion desired.. Servo travel can be adjusted by adding resistors to the +/- wires going to the servo potentiometer.