Best Controller for Phantom 2 - FrSky Taranis

Sorry that I haven't replied to a couple of questions. My wife and I have 3 girls under four years old, and they consume a lot of time and energy! They do like to grab transmitter sticks when daddy is flying.

OK, figured out how to PM, so mattpitts74, you've got mail.

mattpitts74, you might have to make a connector. I think that connector might be called a JST-XH, but don't quote me. I kind-of like not having to pull the battery out of the radio for charging, but you probably have a good reason for wanting to.
 
Hi Chipwich, thanks very much for your help, and the eeprom file, I will burn it to the taranis tonight.

I just wanted to check what else I need to do before taking a test flight?

I have already done the binding of the transmitter to the receiver.

I will also run the naza assist to calibrate the sticks and switches with the taranis
I will also do the sticks calibration on the taranis itself.

I will also test the phantom with the props off first.

I was also concerned that I have the failsafe and various naza flight modes (gps atti etc) working properly, before an actual flight. Do I just test this using the naza assist? is there any other way to test before putting the phantom in the actual air??

Any guidance on this final stage of the process is so much appreciated. Thanks, Matt
 
Testing Faillsafe in Assistant is the only way that I know of outside of flying. On the model that I created, switch SF fwd is Failsafe on, back is off, with audible call-outs. You should also test it by powering off your transmitter. In Assitant you should verify that all of your flight modes, IOC, and Failsafe all work properly. If not adjust the input on the Servos page while wathing Assistant. Also check that you like where I have the gimbal at center point, which is about 45 degrees down. You might want something different.
 
chipwich said:
Sorry that I haven't replied to a couple of questions. My wife and I have 3 girls under four years old, and they consume a lot of time and energy! They do like to grab transmitter sticks when daddy is flying.

OK, figured out how to PM, so mattpitts74, you've got mail.

mattpitts74, you might have to make a connector. I think that connector might be called a JST-XH, but don't quote me. I kind-of like not having to pull the battery out of the radio for charging, but you probably have a good reason for wanting to.
Hey, I know you're busy, but I bet you know why I would need to burn an eprom for my Taranis? I'm on tour right now, and won't actually get my Taranis until I get back at the end of the month, but I need to know how to set it up properly for my Phantom 2 and H3-3D.

Is that like a manual way of setting up the firmware? Or is just a short-cut to set up all the Taranis settings?

Thanks!
 
Thanks to Chipwich for a great eeprom, I've been going through all the checks before a first test flight, within the naza software and my switch position when in failsafe is as in the attached image, is this OK or should I try and move the black slider more to the middle of the blue failsafe box?? I have tried adjusting the servo setting, for that channel, but it seems to mess with other switches if I do that.

Also such wondering where the black line should be when failsafe is off, mine goes back to GPS when I switch off failsafe, is that the correct behaviour??


Any guidance with servo numbers for the switch positions would be much appreciated.

I've also come across this video on youtube and wondering if the method described in the video is a better way to setup failsafe? [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gA5o_g4oW4[/youtube]

Thanks Matt
 

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mattpitts74 said:
Thanks to Chipwich for a great eeprom, I've been going through all the checks before a first test flight, within the naza software and my switch position when in failsafe is as in the attached image, is this OK or should I try and move the black slider more to the middle of the blue failsafe box?? I have tried adjusting the servo setting, for that channel, but it seems to mess with other switches if I do that.

Also such wondering where the black line should be when failsafe is off, mine goes back to GPS when I switch off failsafe, is that the correct behaviour??


Any guidance with servo numbers for the switch positions would be much appreciated.

For the NAZA flight control switch positions my outputs are set at the following values:

Top position (GPS): 70
Middle position (ATTI): 3
Bottom position (also ATTI in your set up): -62

For failsafe I have it switch to an output of -27 which puts it in a different range for that than yours but it still works both ways. When you switch failsafe off, the slider should return to whatever position the switch is in currently.
 
mattpitts74 said:
Thanks to Chipwich for a great eeprom, I've been going through all the checks before a first test flight, within the naza software and my switch position when in failsafe is as in the attached image, is this OK or should I try and move the black slider more to the middle of the blue failsafe box?? I have tried adjusting the servo setting, for that channel, but it seems to mess with other switches if I do that.

Also such wondering where the black line should be when failsafe is off, mine goes back to GPS when I switch off failsafe, is that the correct behaviour??
Thanks Matt

It doesn't really matter that they are not centered in the flight mode section, as long as it stays there, doesn't jump around, and you can select the other flight modes. As far as it jumping back to GPS, well that sounds like your flight mode switch is in the GPS position, or switch SC in the UP position. In other words if you move SC to the middle position, then the flight mode indicator should move to Atti mode. Then when you switch Failsafe on, which is SF toward you, it should move to Failsafe indicated. When you move SF back again, the flight mode indication pointer should move back to Atti. Same with manual mode which is SC DOWN.

Note if you haven't put Assistant in NAZA mode, then none of this will make sense. Phantom mode is for p-----s, by the way :lol: Real men take off in Manual mode and buy lots of replacement props.

Same thing with IOC. When you switch to Failsafe, IOC should be disabled as long as switch SF is moved fwd toward the pilot.
 
Kelso Kubat said:
Futaba T8FG with programmable flight characteristics like fluid pan mode.

Futaba makes arguably the best RC radios you can buy, and for those of us who don't want to swap receivers, they are certainly a great choice. But, they also have an incredible amount of institutional inertia. Like their really kludgey software needed to download/upload models, but one that doesn't let you edit or simulate your configuration. If Futaba would put telemetry, audible call-outs, haptic response, a module bay, in a $300 transmitter, much less a $200 TX, I might switch back. But once you have those features, it's really hard to fly with anything less.

I think that FrSky is great for the market in that it will make the traditional manufactures up their game, offer more features, and become price competitive. You can already see that with Spektrum.
 
Hello Everyone..........
I installed a X6R with Sbus only, nothing plugged into X1. I have gimbal control on my H3-3D but notice when I went past 90 degrees of yaw from forward flight, something took over control to put the nose forward again or should
i say tried. It was very erratic. I also went back to 1.08 from 3.04.... I know I should have done this in steps. When I loaded 1.08 , I had the H3-3D unplugged. My thinking is the Gimbal has its own Firmware? Now I wonder is it best to upgrade to 3.04? and hope with the Taranis I will get the Fly ability I had with 1.08
 
Fz1pilot1 said:
Hello Everyone..........
I installed a X6R with Sbus only, nothing plugged into X1. I have gimbal control on my H3-3D but notice when I went past 90 degrees of yaw from forward flight, something took over control to put the nose forward again or should
i say tried. It was very erratic. I also went back to 1.08 from 3.04.... I know I should have done this in steps. When I loaded 1.08 , I had the H3-3D unplugged. My thinking is the Gimbal has its own Firmware? Now I wonder is it best to upgrade to 3.04? and hope with the Taranis I will get the Fly ability I had with 1.08

When you say erratic, do you mean the gimbal? Because prior to 3.0.4 / 1.0.1.31 main board there was erratic gimbal behavior that would suddenly slew the gimbal left when yawing left. Once they patched the main board with 1.0.1.31, mine has been flying really smoothly.
 
Thank you Chipwich for inspiring me to use the X6r and your input!

My test Flight was first just to hover @ 5' , roll to left then right then sudden ascend and sudden descend ...I seem to have the fast reaction back. The erratic part was me just watching the gimbal react to the sudden yaw command and I think I held the stick to left just a little to long and went past 90 degrees, My phantom 2 turned one way then then other way like to was trying to find the shortest way back to forward with some tilting. All the other inputs given to it seem to work ok.

Did you use two cables? One for sbus and one for tilt on X1?
 
Yes, on the Phantom X2 to S-Bus on your X6R, and X1 for gimbal control to your main board. On non Zenmuse gimbals, I just go direct from the GCB to receiver port 5. Something isn't right for sure. How does Assistant look on the control calibration page? Are the inputs smooth and not twitchy? I've seen rapid altitude loss or gain when people switch in and out of Manual mode, but just not on it's own in Atti or GPS. Can you take a photo of your Mixer and Servos pages of your Taranis and post? That would tell a lot.
 
chipwich said:
Yes, on the Phantom X2 to S-Bus on your X6R, and X1 for gimbal control to your main board. On non Zenmuse gimbals, I just go direct from the GCB to receiver port 5. Something isn't right for sure. How does Assistant look on the control calibration page? Are the inputs smooth and not twitchy? I've seen rapid altitude loss or gain when people switch in and out of Manual mode, but just not on it's own in Atti or GPS. Can you take a photo of your Mixer and Servos pages of your Taranis and post? That would tell a lot.

Pitch is very smooth, You can tell expo value. One thing I noticed is the Gimbal will yaw upon stick input befor spin up. Is that normal? Also In bind mode , I did not use jumpers as I only used sbus, I believe I would need to rebind with jumpers to have channels on 1-6 to have an active channel for X1 input?
 

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I've finally managed to get outside and test my P2 with the taranis with the X8R. This wasn't a great first flight. I wanted to test the GPS mode, so waited for lights to go green and took off the the P2 was completely unstable, I couldn't seem to get it to hover when letting go of the sticks.

The P2 wanted to constantly go left or right, which was very un-nerving compared to behavior with the stock controller. The P2 also appeared to moving forward and back on its own and when taking off seemed to immediately move towards the left.

Is this something I have setup wrong?? I have already calibrated the sticks and it was pretty scary for me being pretty much a complete beginner. Any advice would be much appreciated. I had begun to wish I hadn't removed the stock receiver
 
I've done some more test flights in a larger open space this evening and things seem much better, my earlier flights were around some trees, which wasn't the best for a test flight. I have noticed that when I yaw the quad it seems to take a very wide loop. I am using an eeprom from Chipwich, so using it currently in a confirned space is rather scary as mentioned before. I am trying to get to grips with the taranis setup, but could do with alittle more help. I assume the reason the loop while yawing is because of the way the taranis is setup differently compared to the stock controller? Can you advice Chipwich? I am guessing its to do with these input settings??
 

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mattpitts74 said:
I am guessing its to do with these input settings??

It's possible, and if you want to try different yaw rates you can change the Expo value in line 1 ("Rud")...lowering that value lessens the dead zone on your yaw stick (rudder) and can help make that motion less sloppy.

This shows how you can set up any (or all) of your sticks to use multiple expo rates at the flick of the SD switch, 0% and 50% in this example...you can substitute any values or switches you want:
gSFYffSl.png
 
Yes you can absolutely remove the expo from any or all channels if you want, some people prefer that. I'm not sure if DJI's stock controller has no expo at all, but you can tinker with the values till you find the one that suits you best.
 

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