My Quad Build with MultiWii Controller

[voipmonkey]

I have been looking around at finding a way of protecting the electronics and i found a dummy cctv dome camera. i thought for a couple of quid i will order one and see if it will work.
well turned up yesterday and i was quite please as it looked like it was a perfect size for the quad frame i had built.

Out of the box


so i started ripping the thing apart


A little hot glue later (Was all in separate parts) it was on the quad


Placed on the Quad (Nice Fit)


as you can see it fitted like a glove. was wondering how i was going to attach it to the quad but a press fit is very tight so i guess i may not need to attached in any way might have a couple of screws though to be on safe side

 

[Casshern]

Looks nice.
How much weight does it add to the quad?

 

[voipmonkey]

Not too much 59 Grams



got good motors so not too concerned at the moment. will weigh it all when complete.

 

[voipmonkey]

i could not wait for wii controller to turn up so fashioned a mount for my spare HK board. this will get things moving until my parts arrive then a quick swap out should be easy.





I also made a little battery tray to help me secure the battery better.



I think i need to re think the landing gear though getting a bit heavy.

 

[voipmonkey]

Look at what has turned up today



Now all i need is the Arduino Pro and i can build the thing. Header pins first I guess

 

[voipmonkey]

well not a happy bunny today. got the quad finished I set-up everything. well thought I had. took it outside for a maiden and could not get it to hover at all. all i ended up with me another smashed prop
Guys any advise on what i am doing wrong. i have followed all the advise on this forum and David site and others but seem to be missing something. All the bits have finally turned up for my Multi wii board so will try this as it has nice gui but I am sure these HK board are ok as everyone seems to be using them. HELP !!!! getting a little down hearted.

 

[ananas1301]

You only gave us very little information about your problem.

What it really wrong!? Can you go for full throttle and it doesn´t generate enough lift?!

On a first glince I´d say have a look at your throttle way. Sometime you have to program the ESC with the throttle movement, so that it knows what "half" throttle is.
Look into the manuals of the ESC´s and try to look out for how to do it. The ESC needs to memorize what minimum and what maximum throttle is. Do that with every ESC one by one by connecting them each to a receiver now using the KK board.

 

[voipmonkey]

will have a check on the esc i have a feeling i might have reversed the yaw gyro. What happens on start up is i seem to have to provide alternate inputs aileron and pitch just to stop it trying to flip over. I am guessing this should not be required for a normal hover.

 

[voipmonkey]

Well been a while since i update this build log but here you go. Been having fun with my Flyduino Worthox Shield and getting any movement out of the WMP gyro. As you know from previous posts i got my self a clone WMP V3.0 from eBay and unlike all of the information I found on the internet i could not find anything that was identical to the on I had. Mine did not have a chip that the legs could be lifted on to isolate the SCL and SDA lines. I did try the "Cut the two tracks method" as I found in one post,but word of warning guys if you ever get to this point "DON'T CUT THE TRACKS" i did mine and i lost all the SDA (Data) and SCL(Clock) signals (3.3v). So i thought what to do ? i then found we had an original WMP so it got broke apart straight away
removed all the wires and soldered the wires as per instructions found on the web, Nice. Then connected to PC and fired up the MultiWii GUI. Connected to the Arduino fine could read the values but again no movement from the gyro's
At this point loosing the will to live so started some tracing to see what had happened. After about 5 minutes I realised I had no voltage on the SDA line (don't have a scope I think I need one ) removed all power and then using my multimeter I found I had a dead short to ground
I then spent about 10 minutes trying to clean the board so i could see any bridges i might have created and found none ???
could not see any issue at all strange. So i got out a bit of flux and re worked the now very clean joints. re tested and the short had gone??
The only thing i can think is that i created a short in the middle of the multi layered board? but hey short gone so i then re soldered all the wires back onto the board and tested for a final time and no shorts :applause:
connected to pc again and finally got some movement in the gyro which was smooth as you like very happy now but I guess lessons learned.
I now have a simple MultiWii board working, few.
here is a picture of the semi completed board, Now for the Acc (Nun-chuck)

 

[voipmonkey]

Well guys i am not far away now i finally have the Multiwii control complete with WM+ and NK. All set-up in the GUI now and finally got something that will fly

I managed to get a good hover (Over my bed, don't tell the wife) at about just over quarter stick which is not bad say how heavy this thing is 1.5 KG. i must admit that this MultiWii stuff is very cool. I am running the V2.0 code too which got released 4 days ago and seems to be working great.
One more small issue i have and we may see a maiden flight

Some pictures on nearly finished Board and Copter.

Completed Board (WM+ and NK)



The Whole Thing

 

[voipmonkey]

I do have one dilemma guys i could do with some help with !!

I originally fitted a 450 Size skid to my Quad but this has proven to be too small (Thought it would, Measured with smaller battery) due to me changing my 20c 2200 mah pack for a nice 50c pack the size is a little different and it hits the floor below the skids.



i am thinking of making some legs for each arm to give me a big area to land on but wanted to know all your options on the right way forward. it has to give enough clearance and be light

Mark

 

[Tritium]

Use some standoffs to make a shelf for the battery between the bottom plate of the copter and the landing gear.

Thurmond

 

[voipmonkey]

Use some standoffs to make a shelf for the battery between the bottom plate of the copter and the landing gear.

Thurmond

I had thought about another layer but did not want to make the thing too tall, needs to be short like me
food for thought though thanks
Mark

 

[voipmonkey]

Well got my legs sorted today and looks good( will post pic soon) getting some strange reading though had problems arming and disarming. Seem to be very random too seem max throws on transmitter don't always go to end on screen. Has anyone seen this using a dx8?
Seems strange when set it up was perfect and hovered nice now a bit hit and miss.
Confused

 

[Manfet]

How old is the dx8? Some of the first ones had a problem with the sticks. With the new firmware you can do a stick calibration. If the problem is still there after that or the throws jump around you should probably contact Horizon or have a look for your yourself if the warranty is already gone.

 

[voipmonkey]

How old is the dx8? Some of the first ones had a problem with the sticks. With the new firmware you can do a stick calibration. If the problem is still there after that or the throws jump around you should probably contact Horizon or have a look for your yourself if the warranty is already gone.

Thanks bud
I have tried the calibration but you can only do up and down not side to side
does seem to have made things a little better, although in the monitor it does jump around i might give Horizon a call after I see if things are better with a true dsmx receiver(been using a cheap one :S).
Mark

 

[Johntra]

Hey Mark,
Do you know the difference between your multiwii and and the MWC? Say like this one?

 

[ananas1301]

@Johntra: There is no difference.
The only minor differences would be that Mark uses slightly differenz sensors then the built-in sensors on the Crius Board.