I'll preface this with i'm a noob to the phantom and RC/quadcopters in general, but I have learned a few things out of necessity. Feel free to take all this with a grain of salt and correct me. I don't know ****, but I was surprised info about gains wasn't easily available and discussed constantly here.
I was experiencing poor stability when in yaw and I wanted to fix it so I thought I might be able to help it by adjusting the motor gains. You can read all about that here:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10116
What do gains do?
There are two sets of gains. Basic and Attitude. Basic gains are power levels the naza uses in GPS and ATTI mode to hover, stabilize, maintain altitude, fight wind etc... Attitude gains are power levels as a result of your controller stick movements. If your phantom is blown by a gust the basic gains are how much power is available to the motor to get back to horizontal, maintain altitude and position.
If you're in a full throttle pitch, higher gains will also mean your phantom will go back to horizontal quicker because it has more power available to do so. Naturally, going horizontal quicker means you don't drift as far. I suppose you can think of it as breaking speed. Also, like flying on rails rather than floating around in a boat.
Why would I adjust the gains?
Because you want to make the gains either higher or lower You want to lower them if your phantom is oscillating. You want to increase the gains to increase stability. Every phantom has a different signature, i.e. different weight, different props so your should adjust your gains accordingly. If the point of the basic gains is to provide enough power for the naza to get back to level then it should be obvious that adding more weight would take more power to get back to level efficiently. Different props provide different lift and different RPS at different power. (motors too) If you added a gimbal you need to adjust your gains. I think a big reason aftermarket props have been such a bust is because a lot of people are not adjusting the gains accordingly. DJI says you want your gains as high as you can get them without oscillation.
How do I adjust the gains?
The quick and dirty is you increase them until you notice the phantom oscillating and then move them back down 10%. Start with the roll and the pitch. They should be set pretty much the same. Increase both by 10-15% and fly a bit, pitching and rolling hard. If you don't have any oscillation, increase 10-15% again. You'll first notice the oscillation when you're moving in the direction of the gain you're adjusting. When adjusting the roll gain pay attention for oscillation when you're in a hard roll. Do Basic Yaw then Basic Vertical.
You maybe have some subtle oscillations difficult to observer to the naked eye. You might be able to hear the difference. You should hear a constant buzz like a bee. A choppy buzz is an indication that you've got some subtle oscillation that might show up in your video.
Attitude gains are a personal preference IMO. How quickly do you want your phantom to react to your stick movements. The attitude gains should be adjusted last because they are relative to the basic gains.
Why might the optimized gain settings NOT be ideal?
You use more power. I'm not sure what the impact is on flying time. The movements might be more abrupt and less fluid. You'll have to take into account video quality.
I sill don't understand the yaw gain.
Me neither, at least not completely. The obvious one is when you're in a yaw, when you release the stick how quickly does the phantom stop yawing? Do you motors have enough power to stop the yaw? It's more complicated when it comes to moving all over he place when in a yaw. I think it has something to do with having no spare thrust because you have to create so much angular momentum to rotate and the naza automatically prioritizes altitude over maintaining position and some thrust is taken away from keeping position and applied to maintaining altitude.
What are the P2V's default gain settings?
The P2V comes from the factory with different gain settings than the "defaults" in DJI's assistant software. Thanks to xgeek later in the thread we got to the bottom of this. This is very important because if you hit defaults the flying characteristics will be different.
From the Factory
Basic Gains:
Roll/Pitch/Yaw 120%
Vertical 120%
Attitude Gains:
Roll/Pitch 200%
Defaults in DJI's assistant software
Basic Gains:
Roll/Pitch 125%
Yaw/Vertical 100%
Attitude Gains:
Roll/Pitch 125%
What are your settings?
Basic Gains:
Roll/Pitch 165%
Yaw 185%
Vertical 125%
Attitude Gain:
Roll/Pitch 125%
I am very happy with my new settings. The difference in stability in hover , predictability in movement, resistance to wind are night and day. I'm not anxious the phantom is going to do something stupid anymore, it does exactly what I want it to.
I was experiencing poor stability when in yaw and I wanted to fix it so I thought I might be able to help it by adjusting the motor gains. You can read all about that here:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10116
What do gains do?
There are two sets of gains. Basic and Attitude. Basic gains are power levels the naza uses in GPS and ATTI mode to hover, stabilize, maintain altitude, fight wind etc... Attitude gains are power levels as a result of your controller stick movements. If your phantom is blown by a gust the basic gains are how much power is available to the motor to get back to horizontal, maintain altitude and position.
If you're in a full throttle pitch, higher gains will also mean your phantom will go back to horizontal quicker because it has more power available to do so. Naturally, going horizontal quicker means you don't drift as far. I suppose you can think of it as breaking speed. Also, like flying on rails rather than floating around in a boat.
Why would I adjust the gains?
Because you want to make the gains either higher or lower You want to lower them if your phantom is oscillating. You want to increase the gains to increase stability. Every phantom has a different signature, i.e. different weight, different props so your should adjust your gains accordingly. If the point of the basic gains is to provide enough power for the naza to get back to level then it should be obvious that adding more weight would take more power to get back to level efficiently. Different props provide different lift and different RPS at different power. (motors too) If you added a gimbal you need to adjust your gains. I think a big reason aftermarket props have been such a bust is because a lot of people are not adjusting the gains accordingly. DJI says you want your gains as high as you can get them without oscillation.
How do I adjust the gains?
The quick and dirty is you increase them until you notice the phantom oscillating and then move them back down 10%. Start with the roll and the pitch. They should be set pretty much the same. Increase both by 10-15% and fly a bit, pitching and rolling hard. If you don't have any oscillation, increase 10-15% again. You'll first notice the oscillation when you're moving in the direction of the gain you're adjusting. When adjusting the roll gain pay attention for oscillation when you're in a hard roll. Do Basic Yaw then Basic Vertical.
You maybe have some subtle oscillations difficult to observer to the naked eye. You might be able to hear the difference. You should hear a constant buzz like a bee. A choppy buzz is an indication that you've got some subtle oscillation that might show up in your video.
Attitude gains are a personal preference IMO. How quickly do you want your phantom to react to your stick movements. The attitude gains should be adjusted last because they are relative to the basic gains.
Why might the optimized gain settings NOT be ideal?
You use more power. I'm not sure what the impact is on flying time. The movements might be more abrupt and less fluid. You'll have to take into account video quality.
I sill don't understand the yaw gain.
Me neither, at least not completely. The obvious one is when you're in a yaw, when you release the stick how quickly does the phantom stop yawing? Do you motors have enough power to stop the yaw? It's more complicated when it comes to moving all over he place when in a yaw. I think it has something to do with having no spare thrust because you have to create so much angular momentum to rotate and the naza automatically prioritizes altitude over maintaining position and some thrust is taken away from keeping position and applied to maintaining altitude.
What are the P2V's default gain settings?
The P2V comes from the factory with different gain settings than the "defaults" in DJI's assistant software. Thanks to xgeek later in the thread we got to the bottom of this. This is very important because if you hit defaults the flying characteristics will be different.
From the Factory
Basic Gains:
Roll/Pitch/Yaw 120%
Vertical 120%
Attitude Gains:
Roll/Pitch 200%
Defaults in DJI's assistant software
Basic Gains:
Roll/Pitch 125%
Yaw/Vertical 100%
Attitude Gains:
Roll/Pitch 125%
What are your settings?
Basic Gains:
Roll/Pitch 165%
Yaw 185%
Vertical 125%
Attitude Gain:
Roll/Pitch 125%
I am very happy with my new settings. The difference in stability in hover , predictability in movement, resistance to wind are night and day. I'm not anxious the phantom is going to do something stupid anymore, it does exactly what I want it to.