Multiwii Pro - Quad drops out of the air...

brycejlowe · Post by **brycejlowe** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:18 am

Hello, i am in need of help!!!
i have spent the last few days researching how to get my new quadcopter in the air. I am using a Multiwii Pro board from hobbyking (with GPS but not connected or set up)
The issue i am having is the copter just randomly falls from the air... it is doing it randomly, i cant find a reoccurring factor that could be causing it?? It flys fine for a few seconds then it seems like one or more motors just cut out! i have calibrated the ESCs multiple times and it shouldnt be a motor/esc issue because i am using the same motors and ESCs as my other quad which is using the KK2 board and it works fine. The FC or ESCs aren't rebooting when this happens as i can just take off again straight away with no delay... any help will be appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sure it has to be something in the config.h file i have not set right..

scrat · Post by **scrat** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 8:33 am

Did you erased eeprom prior flashnig? And check what is your mincommand, minthrottle and maxthrottle.

brycejlowe · Post by **brycejlowe** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:01 am

ok i am a bit new to this!!! what is eeprom and how do i erase it??
minthrottle i have tried from 1000 to 1300 including 1150
maxthrottle 1850
mincommand 1000

********EDIT********
well i took the initiative and looked up how to clear the eeprom then i re uploaded multiwii 2.3 aaaaaaand now i just get a constant red flashing LED (LED1)
in the post i followed to clear eeprom it said to change the 512 value to 4096 because it apprently doesnt clear the entire thing..... i think this might be my problem.
not sure what to do now?

scrat · Post by **scrat** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 9:23 am

If led flashes constantly 1sec on and 1 sec off...then you have uploaded BLINK sketch...Do eeprom clear again and upload mwii v2.3 again and set everything according to your needs and board in config.h.

brycejlowe · Post by **brycejlowe** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:43 pm

I am sure I didnt upload blink sketch I just re-uploaded multiwii 2.3 and it wouldnt work all of a sudden... I tried to upload it a few times after that and no go. Anyhow I dont know how I did it but I managed to upload multiwii 2.1 and it seems to have fixed some other issues I was having! (Couldnt arm it with the sticks but it would work while it was connected to gui..)
Now... i have multiwii 2.1 flashed but I am having serious trouble getting it to fly. I am trying to tune PID settings but for some reason no matter what the settings are i can not obtain stable flight! (Which I could when 2.3 was flashed) now it just kind of spirals out of control as soon as it leaves the ground... almost as if too much I gain.. but it does it when I is set to zero!!!!

Noctaro · Post by **Noctaro** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 2:14 am

Hi.
Did you dismount and remount your props while programming? Maybe they rotate into the wrong directions. That may cause a spiral flight behaviour. (unstopable yaw)

Greetz Noc

brycejlowe · Post by **brycejlowe** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 6:57 am

Gday,
No I dont usually take the props off but they are definatly going the right direction. The quad takes off fine with the default 2.1 settings but it just seems to over correct within about 1 or two seconds then shakes itself to the ground, just like it would with high I settings. But it does it even with I on zero or as low as 0.001!!
Current PID settings are:
Roll- P: 4, I: 0.030, D: 23
Pitch P: 4, I: 0.030, D: 23
Yaw P: 8.5 I: 0.045, D: 0

brycejlowe · Post by **brycejlowe** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:10 am

Here is a video with the quad Using the above PID settings.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/101539916/20131229_164430.mp4

sismeiro · Post by **sismeiro** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 4:32 pm

Hi,

Did you check for vibrations? From the video I cannot see any problem?

Regards,
Luis Sismeiro

scrat · Post by **scrat** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 5:26 pm

Hi. This is MWii v2.3 everythnig set for your board and GPS too.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/125 ... ii_2_3.zip

brycejlowe · Post by **brycejlowe** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:37 pm

What is the best way to check for vibrations? In the video I am just trying to hover the quad slowly over corrects and becomes uncontrollable. Thanks scrat I will give that a try!! Although I still have the issue where I cant upload MWii 2.2 or 2.3 for some reason? It uploads fine but then after the board boots the red led jist flashed contantly! About 2 flashes/sec
**edit**
yepp... still have the mysterious red flashing LED...
the steps i take to upload the sketch is: examples, eeprom, eeprom_clear, upload that then upload the sketch... am i missing anything? is there a way of completely resetting the board? i believe it has only done it since i followed some genius' instructions of changing the eeprom clear value from 512 to 4096

brycejlowe · Post by **brycejlowe** » Mon Dec 30, 2013 3:27 am

Ok so I worked out why I couldnt pid tune it... its so obvious im actually embarresed to say... i had accidently defined it as a quad+ insteas of a quadx!!! Yet to try flying it, mwii 2.2 and 2.3 still just gives me a flashing LED :/

scrat · Post by **scrat** » Mon Dec 30, 2013 9:24 am

Did you try my sketch? I think you have uncommented #define ESC_CALIB_CAN_NOT_FLY and you didn't commented it back?

brycejlowe · Post by **brycejlowe** » Mon Dec 30, 2013 11:04 am

i did try your sketch it was no good

because it is MWii v2.3 as i said for some reason my board just will not accept it anymore!! even when i downloaded it again and all i changed in the config.h was #define quadx and #define FFIMUv2.. The red LED just continually flashes. It is strange because it boots up fine when i flash MWii v2.1
i cannot find anyone else with the same problem so i have no idea how to fix it haha... i dont know much about Arduino but could it be possible i need to re write the bootloader?

Johnnynunes · Post by **Johnnynunes** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 1:10 pm

Hello. Using your topic, do you know where i can find the led explanation file? I dont know what the diferente flashes mean...

Tks

MultiWii