ZOHD KOPILOT Flyaway

[Marcin]

I have an idea to check yet - if Kopilot needs a while to accuire correct GPS position, and the RTH is low why not start immediately in manual, circle manually at some altitude waiting for gps fix? It should then add the RTH height to the already manually reached altitude.

 

[mopi007]

Hello ,
I am new to the forum but not a beginner. but on the other hand I can not adjust the AIL gain with the kopilot. my procedure is:
I plug in the configuration module.
I plug in the battery
I met in stabilization mode and I wait for the leds to stay on.
I modify the gain. Servo stroke is well modify.
I unplug the battery
I unplug the setup module
I reconnect the battery .. and the gain and again as at the beginning and was not changed. arrrg

can someone give me the procedure they use?
how many neurons am I missing?

 

[Bricks]

I really do not know much about this stabilizer but is there a save feature some where other stabilizers I have used utilize a save feature.

 

[mopi007]

There is a "set" button on the setup module, but it is used to change the configuration 'v-tail' 't-tail' ect .. (press 1sec) and also to recalibrate the level by pressing 5sec .
I also tried by pressing the set button, 1sec , 5sec, less than a second .. nothing is saved

 

[Bricks]

I really do not know much about this stabilizer but is there a save feature some where other stabilizers I have used utilize a save feature.

I should of added I usually program my stabilizers thru my PC not sure if that is how this one is done.

 

[Aireal Anarchist]

Hello ,
I am new to the forum but not a beginner. but on the other hand I can not adjust the AIL gain with the kopilot. my procedure is:
I plug in the configuration module.
I plug in the battery
I met in stabilization mode and I wait for the leds to stay on.
I modify the gain. Servo stroke is well modify.
I unplug the battery
I unplug the setup module
I reconnect the battery .. and the gain and again as at the beginning and was not changed. arrrg

can someone give me the procedure they use?
how many neurons am I missing?

@mopi007

The step where you unplug the battery is out of sequence....you must unplug the control board module before you power down or settings are not saved and can all be reversed when repowering

edit: here is a setup video I made for my grandsons but it has helped many others, its real beginner tutorial
I also can post you a video of Taranis QX7 settings if thats a radio you are using

 

[Aireal Anarchist]

I have an idea to check yet - if Kopilot needs a while to accuire correct GPS position, and the RTH is low why not start immediately in manual, circle manually at some altitude waiting for gps fix? It should then add the RTH height to the already manually reached altitude.

@Marcin not required or recommended......how do you know if all or any of the sattelite connections were completed?

the kopilot has an onboard barometer that determines pre programed altitude of 70m/229ft while in RTH mode with GPS....if NO sattelites are aquired (and you can do this by unpluging the GPS harness ) the aricraft will fly level and MAINTAIN CURRENT ALTITUDE when ever you let go of the sticks while in RTH mode with NO GPS.........they way you were suggesting could very well just be a fly away....maintaing altitude when you ran out of radio range instead of returning to home

 

[mopi007]

thank you very much Aireal Anarchist !! now it's ok .. pfff how many hours have I spent for that! I'm going to buy neurons: p

 

[Aireal Anarchist]

thank you very much Aireal Anarchist !! now it's ok .. pfff how many hours have I spent for that! I'm going to buy neurons: p

happy to help

 

[Caloosa]

I thought I lost my Orbit wing today with a new Kopilot in it. I launched it and forgot to take it off Launch/RTL mode and it went flying way over a creek and mangroves but after a while it came directly back to me. I remembered to flick to Stabilized mode and landed it. That was a crazy way to test out RTL.

With all my big planes I put a small 10amp UBEC in them just to make sure. Remember some UBECs are no better than the the standard BECs in the speed controllers. Also 90% of the videos on youtube show fitting UBECs the wrong way. You must not use the positive and negative from the ESC, as indicated in the video:

I have been adjusting the pots on the controller board but the rear of my Orbit wing still flaps up and down a lot when power is on. I'll keep adjusting the pots lower unless the problem is the thin double sided tape they put under the Kopilot is too thin and rigid and causing too much vibration in the controller. Hopefully I'll sort it out soon.

Is your RTL pot adjusted correctly? Hope you sort out your problem.

Col

Hi Firepowers ,

Im a newbie to this site... and a little confused with your post ( don't worry its me) ... are you saying the video you attached is the CORRECT way or is it an example of an incorrect way of wiring EUBEC to speed controller ?.....

if i may add .. i have for for many weeks been going insane that i am unable to get my Kopilot to work ( having also watched numerous tutorials !!) as i'm just getting back into the sport ... i thought it may have been faulty , but i now finally discovered & understand after many hours and frustration digging around the internet and trying to get the damm thing working , that it appears the Kopilot is not compatible with all ESC, especially the generic ones that come with a ARTF kit ... totally bummed that kopilot never mentions this on their website or user manual and even the many youtube tutorials, i watched don't know this or have forgotten to mention it if they do ..

Any how i'm trying to overcome this so if anyone has any solutions or advise much gratefully appreciated ..... if it is matter of just swapping out the ESC for new one, can anyone advise which one will work happily with Kopilot as i dont want to go through all this again ...or is there another solution maybe?... oh simple step by step for now please !

I thought I lost my Orbit wing today with a new Kopilot in it. I launched it and forgot to take it off Launch/RTL mode and it went flying way over a creek and mangroves but after a while it came directly back to me. I remembered to flick to Stabilized mode and landed it. That was a crazy way to test out RTL.

With all my big planes I put a small 10amp UBEC in them just to make sure. Remember some UBECs are no better than the the standard BECs in the speed controllers. Also 90% of the videos on youtube show fitting UBECs the wrong way. You must not use the positive and negative from the ESC, as indicated in the video:

I have been adjusting the pots on the controller board but the rear of my Orbit wing still flaps up and down a lot when power is on. I'll keep adjusting the pots lower unless the problem is the thin double sided tape they put under the Kopilot is too thin and rigid and causing too much vibration in the controller. Hopefully I'll sort it out soon.

Is your RTL pot adjusted correctly? Hope you sort out your problem.

Col

 

[Hondo76251]

@Caloosa what esc do you have that doesnt work with the Zohd? Ive used several different ones with no problems. I usually calibrate them with the just the receiver before i run them through the flight controller.

 

[Caloosa]

@Caloosa what esc do you have that doesnt work with the Zohd? Ive used several different ones with no problems. I usually calibrate them with the just the receiver before i run them through the flight controller.

Hi hondo,

the esc does not have a name.. it just came with the plane .. standard blue with .. but no branding ? excuse my ignorance .. but how do you calibrate the esc ? ...


when i plug the esc and all the servos directly into my receiver , everything works fine ... but as soon as plug it into the flight controller , i get the 2 green lights for about 20 secs and then they disappear... and then just a solid red... tried everything but i just get past that .... unable to get any movement from the servos or throttle etc ... unplug then power, 2 green lights for 20 secs then back again to red solid ... i am unable to progress through the set up stage ... pretty sure it has to be the ESC as people have advised i now am reading that it does not work with all...

thanks

 

[Hondo76251]

Depending on what mode you have it set to, it wont power up without a solid gps signal. In my experience it pretty well has to be outdoors and unobstructed to get a lock.

Ive used a lot of those type of no name esc's, they usually calibrate for me as follows:

With the reciever already bound to the transmitter and plugged in to the esc on throttle channel (and esc connected to motor with no prop)
Put the transmitter at full throttle
Plug in thw battery to the esc
(Motor should beep or chirp)
After the sound, put the throttle all the way down
(Motor should beep again)

That should work for most escs.

After that you can unhook everything and install the ZOHD. Make sure you have the appropriate channel set to a switch on your transmitter to go from manual to stabilize to RTH/loiter. I find its best to start in manual mode and then tune stabilization after you've trimmed the aircraft to fly well without it.

 

[Caloosa]

hi,

you should be able to set it up without the gps connected .. at least be able to scroll through the green lights and choose then type of model it is , v-tail, t tail etc .. you should not have to actually have set the model up outside.. unless you want gps light to lock solid for signal... the point being i am not able to configure anything when i plug it in , regardless of what position i have the the 3 mode switch is in

 

[Caloosa]

Depending on what mode you have it set to, it wont power up without a solid gps signal. In my experience it pretty well has to be outdoors and unobstructed to get a lock.

Ive used a lot of those type of no name esc's, they usually calibrate for me as follows:

With the reciever already bound to the transmitter and plugged in to the esc on throttle channel (and esc connected to motor with no prop)
Put the transmitter at full throttle
Plug in thw battery to the esc
(Motor should beep or chirp)
After the sound, put the throttle all the way down
(Motor should beep again)

That should work for most escs.

After that you can unhook everything and install the ZOHD. Make sure you have the appropriate channel set to a switch on your transmitter to go from manual to stabilize to RTH/loiter. I find its best to start in manual mode and then tune stabilization after you've trimmed the aircraft to fly well without it.

the other factor i forgot to mention is that this esc looks like it is nearly 10 years old and is a 18 amp csc brushless (ares generic make) .. i dug this out in very small print ....

 

[Hondo76251]

the other factor i forgot to mention is that this esc looks like it is nearly 10 years old and is a 18 amp csc brushless (ares generic make) .. i dug this out in very small print ....

As long as the esc is good, and works without the kopilot, then it should be able to work with it.

 

[Caloosa]

As long as the esc is good, and works without the kopilot, then it should be able to work with it.

Nope ... esc works fine without kopilot and when I plug the kopilot in I don’t seem to get anything ... could it be my receiver ? I’m baffled and finding it frustrating not being able to crack it .. though reading this thread .. people have mentioned that some ESC are not compatible with kopilot ... I’m just waiting on a couple of new esc to arrive that I purchased and I’ll see how that goes ...

 

[Andy321]

You say "i think the kopilot is bad.... ". It is easy to miss something and the KoPilot will not work right.

EDIT: With all that jittering of the elevons, It is not that your pots are wrong on the control board. A photo of the control board would be good.

Calibration MUST be done properly and miss one small thing and you get problems. I had a twitching servo from new and had to replace it. I guess you checked there was not too much tension from the elevon hinges. Sometimes you need to move the elevons fifty times to full extent to ensure there is not too much pressure put on the servos. Also with the power off is there a loose spot when moving the servo?arm. It should be firm.

The jitters may be from the KoPilot but make sure the pots on the control board are not too close to the top. Here is a few things to check. (just a few)

Transmitter Throttle ESC Calibration

Do transmitter throttle ESC calibration as you should do with all new installations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIQ74qp5BaY

Radio Calibration

• Plane level
• Wait for Kopilot to start and put switch to Stabilized.
• Both sticks Bottom and Centre. Wait 5 seconds until Mode indicators 1 & 2 & GPS Indicators flash at the same time.
• Wait until flashing stops
• Remove Control Board with the power on. IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!!
• Unplug LiPo.
• Calibration completed

Kopilot Angle Calibration

• Make sure the plane is perfectly at the flying angle.
• Switch to Stabilized mode, throttle to lowest position, other joysticks neutral position.
• Long press the Set button for more than 3 seconds.
• Don’t move the radio and wait a few seconds and the elevons will move two times.
• Remove Control Board with the power on. IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!!
• Unplug LiPo.
• Calibration completed.

KoPilot Operation

The Red led on the controller should blink fast as soon as you plug in and when you go outside and gets GPS lock it goes solid red. I put my wing on the ground and walk away a bit so as not to block any sats. It beeps when you get GPS lock AND Red led with be solid red. Always make sure the transmitter is not to close to plane.

The following is how the two green LEDs work:

SWITCH AWAY FROM ME IS RETURN TO HOME
Two blinking green leds.
After GPS lock and put throttle up fast but motor will not start until you throw it. To test the motor on the ground just spin around and the motor will just start a little.
With GPS lock the control surfaces will twitch a lot before you launch.

SWITCH MIDDLE POSITION IS Not Stabilized
Both leds off.
Motor works all the time including without GPS lock.

SWITCH TOWARDS ME IS Stabilized
Two solid green leds.
Motor will not start unless I have GPS lock
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHEN READT TO LAUNCH
The following should occur:

STABILIZED
The elevator/elevons should be level when plane is level.
When you move the plane wings up and down sideways the elevator/elevons should move appropriately to raise the lower wing.
When the nose is up or down the elevator/elevons should move to level the plane.

UNSTABILIZED
The elevator/elevons should be level when plane is level. Adjust push rods if necessary.
When the plane is moved from left and right and up and down the controls should not move.
With the transmitter make sure the the controls are working the correct way.

RETURN TO HOME
With GPS lock and the plane level, the controls should be level but may twitch a lot.
When the nose is up at the angle it would take off about 30 degrees, the elevator/elevons should be level.
When you move the plane left to right KoPilot should move the controls to level the plane.


Without GPS lock when moving the switch to the three positions the elevator/elevons should be level and all in the same position without twitching.

Let me know if any of the above can be improved.

Hi I have a question
Auto launch switch to top position when sats are conected motor shud not run until you throw it
But on mine its runing wats the problem pls can you help

 

[Aireal Anarchist]

Hi I have a question
Auto launch switch to top position when sats are conected motor shud not run until you throw it
But on mine its runing wats the problem pls can you help

just to make sure you dont have the flight controller switch programed backwards......put your return to home switch in the DOWN/opposite position and when you are certain you have satellite connected set to 3/4 throttle (prop removed) and grab one wing tip and spin the plane around in a circle....if you hear the motor spin up you know the problem...... your switched is programed backwards

report back and we can go from there

 

[Niko]

Hi im new here and I recently bought a zohd Drift with a kopilot and if only been having issues since. It works fine while no gos is connected but when I plug a gps in the stabeliced mode breaks and I can controll it anny mir and the controll surfaces start twitching. As soon as I in plug the gps every thing goes back to normal is my gps broken or maybe the kopilot?