Programming a Gimbal?

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Hi, I've had a DJI Phantom 1 for a little while now, I bought it used. I use it with the Futaba T8FG transmitter. It works fine, but it's missing a gimbal. I already got a "home made" 2 axis gimbal without a gimbal controller. I'm thinking about buying this one: HMBGC Micro Brushless Gimbal Controller Driver w/Sensor Russian Firmware V2.2
Is it possible to control the gimbal with my transmitter?
I think i will use the alexmos firmware.
-Leon
 
Leon,

It's not difficult to control a gimbal from your Tx as long as you have a spare unused channel and a a free switch/dial on your Tx. Of course you also need a Rx with a free channel that you can assign to the gimbal.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing on my P1 but will be using a Futaba 14SG Tx instead of a T8FG.

I'm going to use a STorm32 gimbal controller board for a 3 axis gimbal that I'll be building.
Quick Start Guide - STorM32-BGC Wiki

Fred L.

P.S. Can you offer any advice about modding the P1 to accept a Futaba Rx?

What Futaba Rx did you put in the P1?
 
Fred,

Thanks for the reply. I have to apologize for my late answer, I've been on vacation.
I'm pretty new to RC sooo what do you mean by Rx an Tx? (If its using the futaba controller with the P1 all I can offer is this tutorial:
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)
PS: I bought another controller: Large Current Controller Board for Brushless BGC3.1 Gimbal PTZ - Blue + Black
It works, but i need some help with programming. How do i tune the PID and how do i count the number of poles in my motor? link to motor: GBM2208-80 Brushless Gimbal Motor (GoPro size camera)
 
Rx = Receiver
Tx = Transmitter = Remote = Controller

Before you program your Tx, you need to first link (bind) your Tx and Rx together.

Have you successfully completed the binding? If not you must first get that done.

What do you mean by "It works" in your above comment?

PID's are only adjusted LAST after the gimbal has been properly balanced ( i.e. mechanically). Default PID's (those built into controller board on arrival) should be adequate for a new pilot. I would not play with changing their values unless you have a lot more experience. PID's make the sticks more or less sensitive to different parts of the stick travels and should be less sensitive for new pilots.

Here's a goggle search result for how to count motor poles on a brushless (outrunner) motor.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+count+poles+on+brushless+motor&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

P.S. Have you already successfully changed Rx's in your P1?
 
Fred,

About binding the receiver:
I bought my P1 used off the internet, so i have not bound the receiver and transmitter myself, BUT I followed the instructions in the video I linked in the last post and re-programmed the Transmitter to my liking. What exactly are you struggling with?

About the gimbal:
What I meant by "It works" was that the gimbal does its job but when the drone gets in a weird angle the gimbal starts going back and forwards until i straighten out the drone again. The roll works fine but the pitch can't handle the drone going full throttle forwards.

About the PID:
Everything is set to zero when i reset the gimbal to factory settings.
Will the gimbal work without tuning the PID?
 
????

Scratching my head here... o_O

Your wording ("The roll works fine but the pitch can't handle the drone going full throttle forward") implies that your already flying your quad but you say that you haven't yet bound your Rx and Tx???

Your gimbal has not been setup correctly if it does not "freeze" the camera in space regardless of what attitude the quad has... to properly complete a gimbal setup you MUST have the camera that you plan to use attached to the gimbal when you're testing the gimbal.

Factory default settings should allow the gimbal to work properly without you making changes, You should not play with PID's until the gimbal with attached camera ALREADY remains stationary regardless of how you move the quad. A properly setup gimbal will NOT move when the quad changes orientation in any of its 3 possible axis (i.e.,roll, pitch or yaw). Please re-read my earlier comments about adjusting PID's. Playing with PID's can very easily (and usually does) make things worse.... stabilize your gimbal first.... then worry about PID's
 
Fred,

I understand that what I wrote about the gimbal was hard to understand. (My english is not the so good)
The gimbal controller I bought was a very cheap gimbal controller from China. After I hooked it up with my gimbal and a battery nothing worked. Therefore I watched a Youtube video on how to program a cheap chineese made gimbal. I have not touched the PID's they still are what the factory setting was (zero). All I have done is calibrating the accelerometer and programmed how much power the gimbal will use. No more. the gimbal works fine, but when I lean the P1 (with the gimbal attached) 45 degrees forwards the gimbal starts twitching because it has no more room to move. (Tis is what i meant by "The roll works fine but the pitch can't handle the drone going full throttle forward")
I have not bound my transmitter to the gimbal. I have only bound the transmitter to the P1. The P1 and the transmitter was programmed and bound together a few months ago.

I Hope this makes sense, sorry for any misunderstandings.
Do you still need help with binding the controller Fred?
-Leon
 
I've thought about what you've said and realized that there are far too many things that I don't know about your setup that affect what advice I can give you.

Here are some more questions you need to answer before I can give you any meaningful troubleshooting tips...
===========================================================================

After reading your explanation, I have to point out some slight misunderstandings you have.

You only bind a Tx and Rx … getting a gimbal to work properly only involves balancing and calibrating the gimbal (in that order) and has nothing to do with binding.

You repeatedly refer to your gimbal as working fine (I’m not sure that it is)…. unless your gimbal has some built in limitations it should not jitter (or move) at all regardless of how it’s tilted. Check the gimbals specification (or what other users say) to see if it’s got any orientation limitation(s).

Some key points
… a gimbal can only work properly if you have done the following three (3) steps in the order indicated…

1). Mechanically balance the gimbal with the camera attached and with the Gimbal Controller Board (GCB) mounted in a position on the gimbal allowed in the GCU instructions. Placing the GCB in an inappropriate spot on the gimbal will not allow the gimbal to work properly.

2). Connect the GCB signal wire and 2 power leads to the proper pins on the flight controller per the GCB instructions.

3). Properly calibrate the gimbal (with attached camera) per the GCB instructions.

Have you gotten through ALL the steps in 1 & 2 & 3 in the order indicated without problems?

Lastly about PID’s…. default PID’s only work well if you are working with the RTF multicopter that’s NOT been changed in any way. If you or anyone else has changed components within the quad, the default PID’s may very well need adjusting.

Thank you for asking about my binding situation … you’re video link helped but I have a different model of P1 than what’s shown in the video, so it was only of limited help. I should have no problems replacing and binding my new Tx & Rx when I get time to work on it.

P.S. BTW: Your English is excellent.... writing or speaking in a language that is not your native language takes a lot of courage. Discussing technical issues is even more difficult.;)
 
Fred,

The tx and rx are bound together and that works, I only need help with the gimbal.
There is just one slight problem: the Simple BGC program wont connect to the gimbal... I use the Simple BGC GUI 2.0 b3 program. It cant find any USB ports :( Therefore i cant try your 3 steps. Any advice?
BTW: Its hard to find other users with the same gimbal, because it was ordered from DealExtreme and the gimbal has no real name, so its kinda hard to find someone else with the same gimbal controller.

I have a few videos that might help you:

Video nr1
This guy has the same transmitter as you but a P2. But the P1 and P2 can't be that different, right? ;)
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Video nr2
I hope you know how to speak german, he has the same transmitter as you and also a P2
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Video nr3
If you know spanish you shound definitely go with this one, he has the same transmitter and the P1, this oughta help if you know spanish :)
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-Leon
 
Fred,

The tx and rx are bound together and that works, I only need help with the gimbal.
There is just one slight problem: the Simple BGC program wont connect to the gimbal... I use the Simple BGC GUI 2.0 b3 program. It cant find any USB ports :( Therefore i cant try your 3 steps. Any advice?
BTW: Its hard to find other users with the same gimbal, because it was ordered from DealExtreme and the gimbal has no real name, so its kinda hard to find someone else with the same gimbal controller.

I have a few videos that might help you:

Video nr1
This guy has the same transmitter as you but a P2. But the P1 and P2 can't be that different, right? ;)
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Video nr2
I hope you know how to speak german, he has the same transmitter as you and also a P2
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Video nr3
If you know spanish you shound definitely go with this one, he has the same transmitter and the P1, this oughta help if you know spanish :)
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-Leon
Thanks for the video's....I'll take a look at them and see if they can add any information to what I already know. Arthur Konze (creator of 2nd video) is someone that's produced a lot of videos about the Phantom, so I'm already familiar with his work.

Unfortunately, unless you can successfully complete the three (3) steps I listed, I can't offer any further advice. Until I read your last reply I was under the impression that your gimbal was working fine except for a jitter when it tilted too far in one direction. Your above comment indicates that you can not even connect the Simple BGC program to the gimbal. To be candid .... that is could be a MAJOR problem... not the simple one you seem to think it is!

Every gimbal controller is different and you need to find other users of the same controller to resolve your problem. I've given you the general steps to follow.... you now need to get steps specific to your make of gimbal.

You may have better luck in another forum. I recommend trying the rcgroups forum at this link:
RCGroups.com: The ABCs of Radio Control - Aircraft, Boats, and Cars!

You'll have to register and find specific threads that could help you but I've found this forum very helpful for specific problems I've had.

Good Luck...
 
Thank you Fred for all the good tips! I'll try to fix the gimbal, most likely its broken (it's very cheap after all), so maybe I''ll just buy a new one. :) I hope you figure out your binding, good flying!
 

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