Plug-N-Play 3DPower 2-Axis Gimbal (aka Taco Supreme)

[tizzl10]

- Plug-N-Play - No soldering, no disassembly of the phantom frame

Update the gimbal gains in DJI assistant software
You've got to essentially turn off the gimbal controller built into the phantom so it's managed by the new Basecam controller by setting the tilt gain to 0. You also have to adjust the center point and range of the tilt control and slow down the speed of the tilt. Here is an exampled with a good starting point.

Load the default profile onto the controller


Thanks Slacker for all of the information! Regarding the Servo Travel Limits above. I installed the 7th channel lever, which worked, but I noticed that the sensitivity was not very good. If you go into Simple BGC GUI under the RC tab, the Taco profile sets the Pitch Min and Max angles at -35 and 180. If you change those to 0 and 90 and then go to the RC assistant and change the pitch t0 1000, -100, -900 that sets the gimbal up to turn 90 degrees (horizontal to straight down and give a lot more sensitive control with the lever. You might have to adjust to slightly difference numbers, but it gives you a larger range and smaller increments with each slight move of the lever. (I also set LPF to zero to reduce lag and speed to 30 to increase the rotational speed and and in the R assistant changed the manual pitch speed to 40. But those can be adjusted to individual taste.) I should mention that I am still using the velcro mount. My other mount is on order.

thanks for posting this..definitely helped with the sensitivity!

 

[amkorp]

Did some fiddling around today with the pitch and roll numbers for on the Phantom assistant software.

I got the tilt to be a little more responsive and it doesn't drift as much when you tap the up and down buttons on your phone. This makes the pitch control more sensitive though so a quick tap will suffice.

Anyone who is having issues with the pitch drifting up or down after you let go of the button can try these numbers.
Also, I've adjusted the minn value to get rid of any propellers from showing up in video at full up tilt as well as have the center point face more straight than down.

 

[SilentAV8R]

Here's where I am at. I changed the values in the BGC_GUI for the Pitch to 0 to 90 from -35 to 180. Then I did the numbers shown below in the Assistant software.

Gimbal now moves from straight forward to 90 degrees straight down. The value of 40 for the Manual Control Speed for Pitch works out nicely too. Gimbal moves as it should and then stops when you want it. No more slow drift.

Now I have a little jello to get rid off, which I suspect is tweaking the dampeners a bit.

Once you get over the learning curve this seems pretty straight forward to do. I've done some test videos and overall I'm pretty pleased. A marked improvement over the stock gimbal. Adding the roll axis stabilization seems to get you to about 90% of what the full 3-axis will do from what I've seen.

Overall, I'm pleased with this device. The only downside was that I could find no easy way to balance it with the lens filter on.So for now I'll live without it.

 

[amkorp]

Here is my first test video with the V3 gimbal. Haven't done any damper adjustments yet, but jello effect seems to be minimal.

I think the horizon is slightly tilted, I'll have to fix that. But even with very aggressive yawing, the gimbal holds horizon.

I am really liking this gimbal!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxu152q_GgE

 

[grochester]

Here is my first test video with the V3 gimbal. Haven't done any damper adjustments yet, but jello effect seems to be minimal.

I think the horizon is slightly tilted, I'll have to fix that. But even with very aggressive yawing, the gimbal holds horizon.

I am really liking this gimbal!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxu152q_GgE

WOW! That looks great. Taco has a V3 mount on the way for me. I absolutely couldn't get the horizon to stay flat when yawning with the Velcro version.

 

[SilentAV8R]

Question about the dampeners. I used the parts sent with the Taco V3 gimbal and have the bolt just far enough into the nut to keep it in place. I have a pretty wicked vibration. So, do I go tighter or take the bolt and plastic parts off??

Other than that I am very pleased.

One other weirdness is that I do not seem to be able to load any of about 4 gimbal profiles that I have. I can enter the P/I/D and other values manually, but i cannot select and load a profile from my computer using the BGC_GUI. Window 8.1 running as Administrator.

 

[amkorp]

Question about the dampeners. I used the parts sent with the Taco V3 gimbal and have the bolt just far enough into the nut to keep it in place. I have a pretty wicked vibration. So, do I go tighter or take the bolt and plastic parts off??

Other than that I am very pleased.

One other weirdness is that I do not seem to be able to load any of about 4 gimbal profiles that I have. I can enter the P/I/D and other values manually, but i cannot select and load a profile from my computer using the BGC_GUI. Window 8.1 running as Administrator.

I've got my damper screws in until I can see them come out of the bolt on the other end. I think tighter will reduce vibrations.

When you load the profile do you hit write on the software after you load it? If you do, what happens when you do that?

 

[SilentAV8R]

Question about the dampeners. I used the parts sent with the Taco V3 gimbal and have the bolt just far enough into the nut to keep it in place. I have a pretty wicked vibration. So, do I go tighter or take the bolt and plastic parts off??

Other than that I am very pleased.

One other weirdness is that I do not seem to be able to load any of about 4 gimbal profiles that I have. I can enter the P/I/D and other values manually, but i cannot select and load a profile from my computer using the BGC_GUI. Window 8.1 running as Administrator.

I've got my damper screws in until I can see them come out of the bolt on the other end. I think tighter will reduce vibrations.

When you load the profile do you hit write on the software after you load it? If you do, what happens when you do that?

When I select the profile on my computer and hit load on the BGC_GUI window, nothing happens. When I hit write, nothing changes. I never see anything except Profile 1, Profile 2, Profile 3 in the selection window.

But I can change things manually and hit WRITE and it seems to accept the changes.

 

[amkorp]

Where are the profiles saved?

if they are on your computer, try saving them onto a memory stick first and then load them from the memory stick into the gimbal software. I've seen file permission issues in Windows 8 do some wonky things to applications that aren't properly coded.

Let us know what happens.

 

[dataway]

SilentAV8R I noticed the same thing but if you watch the values closely when loading a profile they will change but the name does not change to reflect the actual profile you are loading, I had to do it a few times but finally saw the values did change. I have tried on both Windows 7 system and on my MacBook Pro and same behavior.

 

[amkorp]

I noticed that the V3 holder covers one side of the camera which is labeled: "Antenna Inside. Do not Cover."

Have any of you noticed decreased distance on video and telemetry due to this?

I didn't have my extender charged fully and couldn't get a long distance test flight.

 

[diggy5451]

Hereʻs an Idea for everyone coming from the v1 shell, few small tweaks in BGC it works very well. Not the nicest thing to look at lol. :lol:

 

[amkorp]

Wow, ingenious!

Do you have any video of it in action? Would love to see how it looks.

 

[diggy5451]

Wow, ingenious!

Do you have any video of it in action? Would love to see how it looks.

I just did a test flight with it and will post the video as soon as itʻs done uploading. It needs a little more tweaking in BGC but it looks like partial success for now !

 

[diggy5451]

It was blowing constant 20mph winds with gusts of 25 so itʻs not the best.
http://youtu.be/YOlrmEw0he0
http://youtu.be/0oqww87c1fQ

 

[amkorp]

Bro, that honestly looks like a hurricane! The video is solid, considering the winds that were blowing when you flew!

Pretty amazing! For those of us that got a V1 and a V3 mount, two for one deal!

Good job!

P.S. Definitely post up your settings (maybe a gopro profile?)

I know a lot of us here would greatly appreciate it!

 

[diggy5451]

More then happy to share what ever I come up with. Also, Iʻm really new to tuning BGC so if you folks come up with better settings then please let me know. Iʻve corrected the roll issue by upping my power levels a little and these are the current revised settings for now.

 

[brutal11]

hai..2 days ago i buy gimbal for P2V from taco toy.i send 3 email for ask them about my item but not reply.what i can do to make sure taco reply back my email...
thanks

 

[grochester]

How long should acc. and gyro calibration take and how do you know when it's complete? The BGC manual mentions 3-4 seconds in a couple of places, but when I try it I just get a note at the bottom left that calibration has started. The numbers and arrows on the gauges keep changing and moving, but the process never seems to end. Someone mentioned in an earlier post getting a green check mark. I see a green check mark in the manual, but nothing like that in the GUI. Maybe I'm just not technical enough, but I find the manual and/or the way it's written pretty much indecipherable.

 

[tizzl10]

How long should acc. and gyro calibration take and how do you know when it's complete? The BGC manual mentions 3-4 seconds in a couple of places, but when I try it I just get a note at the bottom left that calibration has started. The numbers and arrows on the gauges keep changing and moving, but the process never seems to end. Someone mentioned in an earlier post getting a green check mark. I see a green check mark in the manual, but nothing like that in the GUI. Maybe I'm just not technical enough, but I find the manual and/or the way it's written pretty much indecipherable.

that message at the bottom when calibrating is inaccurate. once you hit the cal button, it should take that 3-4 seconds to get calibration and write to board. I noticed that the GUI will freeze for those 3-4 seconds and then unfreeze. you will see you gauges moving. at that time, move on to the next calibration. also, I would recommend doing the 6 point calibration if you have not done it yet.