Thinking of switching to NAZA - what really changes?

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I just did my first flights yesterday (2 of them). Everything went surprisingly well. Did some figure 8's, etc... and landed without tipping over.

The only surprise I had was how fast the phantom stopped (like it hit a brick wall) when I was trying to go out a ways. I forgot that I had set the range to 100feet. Will need to change range to about 300, and altitude to 100 for the next flights.

I have flown my Hubsan H107 for about a month and now the Phantom twice. No surprises and everything went as I would have hoped. I would like to switch to NAZA and calibrate for that mode.

1) From what I get from reading and Youtube, the main thing about NAZA is the setup of S2. Is that the only thing? As along as both switches are up, it is in normal Phantom mode?

2) I need to go to Colorado next month, and I know I will have to fly out at least 200-300 yards from side of a mountain. I know I will not be able to see the orientation of the Phantom, and I see Homelock would be a BIG advantage in this case. Just switch S2 to position 3 and pull back on the right stick and it will come back to me no matter which way the phantom is or was facing?

3) As for course-lock, which ever way the phantom was facing , the controls will always be oriented to whatever way it was set at when starting up. How is this done?
I turn on TX, then phantom, then compass calibrate, wait for satellite links. But how do I know Course-lock is set when it comes to orientation? I know that if I start out facing North, the forward up stick will always make the phantom go North, no matter which way the phantom is facing.

4) I read that the LEDs are different for NAZA. What does this mean? that there is a new set of extra blinks if there is a problem? or the setup sequence is different (compass cal, satellites, etc...)?
 
I've only flown in Naza but I do think that another difference is the ability for S1 to select ATTI instead of GPS. I may be wrong on that. You can also select FAILSAFE in the bottom position for S1.
This video does a great job of describing Home Lock. He mentions details that I've never seen anywhere else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYVyRVGE-8
 
Enabling NAZA will give you the ability to use IOC. Which you can have course lock and home lock. I find home lock is useful when you are flying line of sight...rather than turning off the Radio and enter fail safe. You can easily bring back the phantom by holding the right stick back. I said line of sight, since if flying FPV, it will be hard to lose orientation especially with iOSD mini. And course lock is great if you are tracking some moving objects in a straight line, like following a car or in the sideline of a soccer game...

And with Naza, you can select Atti and enable either failsafe or manual mode on your right top toggle switch.

Do keep in mind, Naza has its own set of LED than phantom mode. I suggest get familiar with the LED patterns before your mountain flight. And please remember to do a proper compass cal when you are there, away from cell phones and metal objects! Enjoy your flight.
 
Although the highlight here is turning on IOC and enabling S2; pay close attention to how you now enable S1 in ATTI2 position (all the way down). This can be configured (as has been mentioned above) in either failsafe or manual. It is very easy to knock these switches, and I suggest that accidentally ending up in manual is unlikely to end happily for anyone.

I would recommend you ensure that S1 ATT2 it set to failsafe.... and NOT manual.
 
I'm at the same point as the original poster rockhillrob. Can someone directly answer his eloquently put questions...one by one?

Or as the kids say: BUMP! :)

Thanks in advance guys!

mark
 
vintageb3 said:
I'm at the same point as the original poster rockhillrob. Can someone directly answer his eloquently put questions...one by one?

Or as the kids say: BUMP! :)

Thanks in advance guys!

mark
1. Yes
2. Yes - providing the home point is recorded, and providing you are in GPS mode.
3. You get two sets of green flashing lights at initialisation time. The first means that its direction has been recorded, the second means that its home point has been recorded and it has enough satellites.
4. Not sure about this because it is a while since I used Phantom mode - but you really should be familiar with the manual anyway, and this stuff is in there.
 
Finally had a chance to switch to NAZA-M mode. Just came back from test flights and everything behaved as expected (except for 1 thing... question about it below)

Hughie has all the right answers above. Thanks!

Now my question:

I started out in phantom mode (both switches up) and took off and flight is fine. Switched to Course lock, everything behaved as expected.

BUT... in Home Lock... the phantom behaved somewhat like I expected. Forward is always away from home point, etc... but I thought that if the phantom went out and brought it home by pulling back on the right stick, that it would stop about 10 meters from home point. Then I would have to switch to course lock or normal mode to continue back to landing point. But it was off by about 20 meters. In other words, if i fly back to home point from the south ( going North) it would stop about 20 meters south of Home point. But if I switch to Course Lock and continue North about 50 meters. then switch back to Home Lock. It would PASS the home point and continue SOUTH about 20 meter before it stopped. It was all at ONE single point rather than a 10 meter radius.

I thought there was a 10 meter radius that it would stop, so if I am coming home from the South, it would stop 10 meters south. If I am coming home from the North, it would stop 10 meters North of home point.
And I would expect that if the Phantom is 15 meters out, that I could "go left" and it will fly a 15 meter circle around home point (counter-clockwise).

Is this the right thinking? If so, then I guess I need to do more tests, or recalibrate?
 
I read that a few times and maybe I'm to old to retain info but here goes. Let's say you started your bird facing north. You got home and course lock. Now you take off and fly in front of you, facing north, and to the left at a 45 degree angle . So it's out there 150 feet. You select course lock and pull back on right stick. No matter the orientation of the quad, it goes straight South as long as you hold the right stick back even if it is behind you now. Now, lets go back to where we started CL and set S2 to home lock. This is out in front of you to the left at about the 45 degree angle. Select HL. Pull back on right stick. Quad heads back to home point and when it is about 30 feet out....it doesn't stop...it automatically goes to course lock and heads straight south. Now it may be behind you still going south. The S2 switch in HL Mode still will not bring it home because it went to CL MODE. OK...FLIP S2 up to CL and back down to Home lock.
Now when you pull back on right stick even though the quad is behind and south of you, it heads north to home point. When it gets within the 30 foot area, it will go back to course lock and head south again. This is providing you are using the startup points for reference. These can be changed while flying to set new CL and HL .
 
OH !! OK !!! I was thinking it would stop at that 10 meter from home point and wait for me to switch to another mode (either CL or normal).

Well then... I better go back and try again. I thought at some point, depending on which way I was going it would actually stop and I could not go North unless I move the S2 switch to CL.
I will just go out there again and carefully watch what is going on.
 
I have the Phantom 1 and have tested this. I doubt it works differently for other models. Understanding how this works is important. I'm sure many have lost or crashed a bird when it was doing what it's supposed to but they were confused.
 
Thanks to Hughie for answering the OP's questions.

This has helped me immensely with my test flights today. I now agree that learning to fly in Phantom mode is best...and then turn to NAZA M when you can fly.

Thanks once more!

mark
 
Finally got it... I had the right idea, but only 90%....

If I set up the phantom facing NORTH with both switches UP. Then fly NORTH say 100 FT, then switch S2 to Home Point and pull back on the stick. The Phantom WILL return to home, but once it got to Home, it brakes for 1/2 sec, then to keeps going south. This is because it has switched to Course Lock and I am pulling back on the stick, so instead of going HOME, it it going SOUTH (after it got home)!

If I switch S2 back to OFF (normal mode), and continue SOUTH, then switch to Home Lock and pull back on stick, it will come home, BUT once it got home, it switches to Course Lock and since I am still pulling back on the stick, it starts going back SOUTH again. This is because I originally set it up facing North.

All of this behavior is correct, I just needed to understand the "rules" of the Phantom! I can see why some of this can cause Fly-Aways... but in this case I didn't panic and just let go of the sticks to think it out.
The key to understanding all of this is Home Lock works, but ONCE it gets HOME, it switches to CL and stays there until you move the S2 switch to CL or Off, THEN BACK TO HL.

NOW this is FUN !!!!
 
Sounds like you got it. Now...when testing home lock...dont just fly out straight in front of you. Go left or right a ways. If you just go straight out and it comes back...you won't really know whether it was home lock or course lock that brought it back. Also then you fly out...turn the craft at least 90 degrees. If not and you pull right stick back, it will come straight back not being in cl or hl . You need to confirm you have set home point and course lock is in the proper direction. It is fun.
 

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