sacrificial training drone

[SelfBiased]

before i crack up a phantom.....;

picked up a Hubsan 501s standard, got it up, everything works!

my question is about stick trim;
low, outta the wind she's fine, 30m up she starts widening ccw circles with no stick. wind ~5 mph
looking for "understanding" on when/how to trim it back to "normal"

thanks

 

[lannes]

Have you got the "GPS hold mode" turned on ?
It the switch on the left side of the controller, nearest the top of the screen

also have you tried a control stick calibration

 

[SelfBiased]

I was in GPS, 7 sats RC 11 sats AC
just hovering 10' up rock solid, all controls fine
move to 30' slow ccw, expanding circle, controls sluggish
I went to 50', circle expanded, I smacked into the canopy before I could gain full control
got out climbing gear, scaled tree, couldn't verify it was there!!
I did hear motors stop and telemetry quit for AC
nudder one here in 5 days!!!!

I was trying to get it home to re-cal everybody when the tree moved

 

[Deleted member 62848]

I was in GPS, 7 sats RC 11 sats AC
just hovering 10' up rock solid, all controls fine
move to 30' slow ccw, expanding circle, controls sluggish
I went to 50', circle expanded, I smacked into the canopy before I could gain full control
got out climbing gear, scaled tree, couldn't verify it was there!!
I did hear motors stop and telemetry quit for AC
nudder one here in 5 days!!!!

I was trying to get it home to re-cal everybody when the tree moved

Bummer ,sounds like the odd toilet bowl effect ,,my p3 used to do this and yip compass calibration was needed,,so did you find,,need one of those tree shakers ,,

 

[SelfBiased]

I made it to the 6" branches, shook best I could, it's an Oak, so they don't move well. I was still ~15' from the other side of the canopy, much as i'm doing for $100

 

[JimD.]

I made it to the 6" branches, shook best I could, it's an Oak, so they don't move well. I was still ~15' from the other side of the canopy, much as i'm doing for $100

Your first lesson - if things don't seem right land right away until you figure it out.

 

[DoomMeister]

It has all the earmarks of a classic toilet bowl. This is caused by a difference between the compass reading and the GPS reading.

Are you perhaps launching from a concrete structure that would have rebar or wire mesh imbedded in it? This would cause what you are describing. Any compass calibration should be done in an open area away from things that could cause electromagnetic interference.

The other thing to try would be to turn off the GPS hold when you start getting the spiraling effect. You would have to compensate for any wind with manual stick inputs.

 

[SelfBiased]

Thanks, that's kind a why I went with the learn to crawl before you walk drone. it's logged as 100% pilot error, lack of understanding "normal"
I like the term "toilet bowl" very apt. My brain thought "drunken sailor", they usually intersect at some point anyway

my yard is NOT ideal for a beginner, but with 2 batteries and 10 min flight times, traveling seems unrealistic. One goal I have learn to fly in small places basically "manually" another is learn to open 'em up, fix 'em, mod 'em. IF it ever gets found I might have a candidate

 

[SelfBiased]

UPdate;
after many days finally spotted in tree, chainsaw and she's down. 1 broke prop, otherwise came up, compass cal and a quick fly!!

I noticed if I shake it, gps goes to 0 from 11
opened up, found factory installed crimp on the Compass wire, repaired. Re-seated gps cable, shakes fine.

My RC gps is "bad"? AC never gets less than 11 sat
RC never gets more than 7 sat, most of the time 5-6 and GPS keeps going green then red, then........
opened up, looks like pee-poor/broken solder on module shield.
got new/upgrade antennas coming in case it's antenna, so for now just low n slow practice!