VersaCopter 280 standard setup, PID

Ludodg

Member
Hello all
I consider myself still very noob but learning.
I bought and build the Versacopter with the suggested FT Powerpack E because I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share and use the PID-settings of other enthousiast and more experienced multicopter-pilots.

I allready build a tricopter and two quad's before. I did fly and am able to do some basic MC-flying without crashing, LOS-style.
I still have it difficult however when the MC is yawing, turning, ... to orientate.
That surprised me as I do have some experience with RC-offroad-buggyracing. I also did fly some foamies with reasonable results .. but MC-flying seems a real challenge for me.

having a non-tuned MC does not help things. And whenever you build one yourself, it is custom and not always perfect to use the PID-settings from another pilot.
I could have bought a flying MC but that is not how I prefer things. I like to learn myself.

I do however have a 10cm little indoor quad which is great for training indoors and is superstable.

well, ... I would like to get the Versacopter as stable to get on with training without having to fight with its controls.

I took some pictures from my build and will post my findings here.
Please help with comments, advice ... if you can.
All help will be much appreciated ... and - the main reason for this post - might be a very helpfull base for other beginners.
I am CONVINCED that a basic and stable beginning-PID-setup will help others.
So let's get on with it.
 

Ludodg

Member
addendum: I'm from Belgium (Europe).
This means that I'm not Englisch native and also does not help when ordering FT-stuff. (delivery takes ages and shipping-costs are a scandal)
 

Ludodg

Member
So let's start with some info and pictures:

It is the basic Versacopter 280-frame. I heared and read about some new (delrin?) frame-parts comming up which will be stronger. This frame is still the softer plastic.

Also I installed the suggested E-powerpack: BLHeli 12Amp-ESC's and EMAX 2204-motors with 6 x 4.5-props

I use a naze32 acro-flightcontroller as I allready have some experience with this
This combined with a Frsky X8R-receiver which unfortunatly does not have PPM (but SBUS, which I might switch to later, to be able to get rid of some of the leads within the tiny frame.)

Also the X8R has some special antennas which are more difficult to stick outside of the frame.
For the moment I tucked them inside the frame, being very aware that this is asking for problems.
Antennae tucked away in between lots of other wires does not seem the prefect solution and a recepy for interference.
But for now, it'll have to do, just the time of the tuning, which will only involve some close-by flying.

Versac_01.jpg
 

Ludodg

Member
As you might have noticed, I turned the Naze32 90° so that I had access to the FC without opening the frame.
This will have to be addressed in the configuration .. in CLEANFLIGHT.

Versac_07.jpg
 

Ludodg

Member
I wanted to post some pictures of my Cleanflight-configuration but there seems to be something wrong with my naze32.

At first the MC wouldn't arm .. so I connected it to the pc again ... and there I noticed that the board reacts strangely.
In the setup-TAB the FC reacts with delay and very slow. If I tilt the FC to the right .. I can see the picture of the quad moving, tilting but very slow.
Also whenever I try to save some data, I can read REBOOTING (in red) above in the console ... but where this usually is done in a second or two now the reboot does not happen.
I tried reflashing the FC to Cleanflight 1.9 (1.10 before) bu this does not change the strange reactions.
I'll try reflashing it to baseflight ... but I think there is suddenly something wrong with the board.
 

dale_p

Junior Member
I did a cutout in the side so I can plug a usb cable into my mini apm FC as well.

Nice to see an X8R, I'm looking to move from my Spektrum setup to a FrSky Taranis and a X8R. Kind of cramped in there with it.
 

wippo76

Junior Member
You need a dr4 ppm frsky receiver
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...I_4ch_2_4Ghz_ACCST_Receiver_w_telemetry_.html
Much much smaller and only 1 cable ppm to your naze32
And telemetrie so the taranis tells you the voltage from your flight pack with a nice vouce
I have not so good experience with the emax 12amps
You really need them to flash to the blheli 14.1 than its ok still not the best
If your naze react slow you have to calibrate the sensor
There is a button for in cleanflight
After every flash you need to do this
If you use the pids josh suggest it flys already good
Try to fly in acro mode its way smoother
 
Last edited:

Ludodg

Member
Thx Wippo.
I too thaught about getting another receiver. The X8R came with my taranis, but is abit overkill, AND is rather big.
Thinking about D4... or X4... Thus deciding between PPM and SBUS.
All the other electronic seems ok, exept for the FC going, reacting wonky.

I now have added a video-transmitter, antenna and all the wiring for a FPS-camera. Will be testing this in near future.
 

MototechRyan

Wannabe Jedi
How did drilling the PDB go for routing your XT60 connector? Cause I was afraid to drill mine thinking I might cause a short between + and -. Not sure how the PDB is made, like a pcb with traces or like a laminated busbar.

So far I like the PIDs in baseflight, only changes I made was the roll and pitch rates to 0.8 and yaw rate to 1.0. Using baseflight and not cleanflight cause I'm having issue's getting my satellite rx to work with it. But have a naze 32 rev 5 and the Frsky XJT module with X8R rx on order from HobbyKing. So should be able to rock cleanflight or betaflight with that setup.

Will post what PID changes i make when I get that new setup going and tuned;)
 

Ludodg

Member
Hello M-Ryan

When drilling I noticed that the PDB has been made of different layers. I could clearly notice the layers of copper in between layers of epoxy-plasticy...
I made sure that there were no leftovers, debris from teh drilling, and CA-glued the drill-walls in an attempt to insulate them.

No problems with this.

About PID.
My first test was Cleanflight 1.10, standard profile 1 which uses setting-profile 0
The Versacopter was certainly flyable, but not very easy.
When using Horizon and Angle-mode I noticed that the MC was "trembling". The FC had troubles correcting for stable flight, over ompensating.

I am now planning on trying out setting-profiles 1 and 2 (lux...)
After that I want to test BOris' Betaflight.
 

Ludodg

Member
Also, the Frsky X8R-receiver is rather big and the antenna's not easy to route in this little chassis. I used because it was the only one I had. If I could ( and might) I would replace it with a D4 ... And use sbus, I think.
 

wippo76

Junior Member
In the setup movie from josh he explains his naze32 settingsand you can download a file with his settings
they work great for me
I have bad experience with the emax 12amp esc coming with the e power pack
the quad was never stable until I switched to afro escs
the easy way is ppm one click in cleanflight and only 1 wire from rx
also the telemetrie is good with the reccomended rx one wire from rx to naze and your taranis speaks the voltage from your lipo really handy
 

Ludodg

Member
Mmm, in some situations you have to disconnect one or two of the wires of this cable.
An example: connections of the different channels from the RX to the flightcontroller. You only need one channel with pos and neg + signal. All the other channels can be connected with one signal-wire.

RCBreakoutCableforNaze32474.jpg

How do you call such a cable then? A wire minus two wires? ;) ;)
 

Dr. Jekyll

Junior Member
Im running cleanflight with the betaflight firmware. Using luxfloat with yaw rate turned up to. 5

Thanks for replying. Are you able to do flips and rolls in Horizon mode? Would you mind sharing your RC rate settings and also PID settings? And just to confirm, this is with a Versa Copter right? Thank you.