P4P Pulling a bit to Right

[bkushner]

My P4P just started in the past few days pulling to the right when trying to fly a strait line. Out of the box it did not do this.

Haven't changed anything between not doing and it doing this. Since it started I

1. Calibrated Compass
2. Calibrated IMU
3. Calibrated Controller
4. Calibrated Gimbal

Is there anything I'm missing?

 

[GadgetGuy]

Camera is likely misaligned, and not aimed directly forward, but off center by 5-10°. You probably didn't notice it initially in all the excitement. Mine looks like this:

Look down from above and check yours. Place a ruler across the front struts level with the center of the camera, as I have above. You can see it's crooked.
If it can't be fixed by all the calibrations (mine couldn't either), you will need to replace the aircraft for a staight one. The QC on these units is definitely lacking. No unit should ever leave the factory with a misaligned camera.
Here's what a straighter one looks like (still defective, but because of a rubbing gimbal cable while making left turns)

 

[F3honda4me]

Mine is doing this but the craft is actually sliding left. It's not a crooked camera in my case. If I do compass calibration it fixes it for a short time but comes back. Here's a video. Mine also never did this but just started couple days ago. I have to push stick almost all the way right in forward flight just to fly straight.

 

[Techcop50]

My P4P just started in the past few days pulling to the right when trying to fly a strait line. Out of the box it did not do this.

Haven't changed anything between not doing and it doing this. Since it started I

1. Calibrated Compass
2. Calibrated IMU
3. Calibrated Controller
4. Calibrated Gimbal

Is there anything I'm missing?

5. Calibrate Operator

 

[GadgetGuy]

Mine is doing this but the craft is actually sliding left. It's not a crooked camera in my case. If I do compass calibration it fixes it for a short time but comes back. Here's a video. Mine also never did this but just started couple days ago. I have to push stick almost all the way right in forward flight just to fly straight.

Definitely not something that should be accepted or tolerated. I'd get it replaced, preferably from some place with multiple units to test and swap out. The QC on this batch is lacking, and its up to you to reject it!

 

[GadgetGuy]

5. Calibrate Operator

Dry out operator.

 

[Traveler]

Mine is doing this but the craft is actually sliding left. It's not a crooked camera in my case. If I do compass calibration it fixes it for a short time but comes back. Here's a video. Mine also never did this but just started couple days ago. I have to push stick almost all the way right in forward flight just to fly straight.

Just a thought on what may or my not be an issue, but have you ruled out any magnetic items that you may keep next to the drone during storage or travel, i.e. iPad case has a magnet. Just using some logic, if it works as expected after a calibration, then fails over a period of time, I would speculate that either the compass is being influenced, the compass is moving internally, or the compass is faulty.

My P3 drifted like your P4, but after a compass calibration, it was fine.

Again, just thinking outside the box.

Good luck


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[bkushner]

Not sure why a crooked camera would cause drone to not fly straight?

 

[Raptorman0909]

My first P4P has a camera that was pointing right about 3-5 degrees and also had a gimbal homing problem so I returned it. My new one is still off but probably less than a degree and is acceptable to me at this point.

One more thing you can look at is to confirm whether or not you are putting some side force on the right stick and 'telling' the drone to fly a bit sideways. This can happen to anyone particularly this time of year when wearing gloves -- even thin ones. The way to confirm if you're putting a little side force on the stick is to review the CSV file for the flight and look at 'column S' (rc_aileron) -- with no side force on it the value should read right at 1024, if you have side force it will read higher or lower.

Now, it is possible the sticks need calibration and that's one more thing to do in addition to IMU and gimbal calibration.


Brian

 

[F3honda4me]

Just a thought on what may or my not be an issue, but have you ruled out any magnetic items that you may keep next to the drone during storage or travel, i.e. iPad case has a magnet. Just using some logic, if it works as expected after a calibration, then fails over a period of time, I would speculate that either the compass is being influenced, the compass is moving internally, or the compass is faulty.

My P3 drifted like your P4, but after a compass calibration, it was fine.

Again, just thinking outside the box.

Good luck


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

I do tend to get my iPad quite close to the drone (within inches). Let me do some calibrations and I'll ensure to keep my iPad at least a few feet away and see how it goes.

 

[smiller]

One more thing you can look at is to confirm whether or not you are putting some side force on the right stick and 'telling' the drone to fly a bit sideways. This can happen to anyone particularly this time of year when wearing gloves -- even thin ones. The way to confirm if you're putting a little side force on the stick is to review the CSV file for the flight and look at 'column S' (rc_aileron) -- with no side force on it the value should read right at 1024, if you have side force it will read higher or lower.

It is indeed very easy to bias the right stick a small amount and not realize it, even with bare hands. The above technique is a good way of verifying whether this is or isn't a factor in cases of 'drift'.

 

[F3honda4me]

Yea for me it's not me moving the stick. I have to give almost full right aileron to fly a straight line if going forward at full speed.

 

[smiller]

Yea for me it's not me moving the stick. I have to give almost full right aileron to fly a straight line if going forward at full speed.

Well if your P4P has ailerons then that could be your problem.

 

[Raptorman0909]

Well if your P4P has ailerons then that could be your problem.

Yeah, the naming convention is a bit off but it's not hard to figure out what they mean. Throttle isn't appropriate either but it does make a bit more sense. Of course, using terms from helicopters wouldn't make any sense either as there is no collective etc.


Brian

 

[F3honda4me]

Buncha wise guys.