Toy Drone Project Help

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My very first drone was a Syma X8G way back in the summer of 2016. Shortly after I got it, I bought a cheap 2-axis gimbal and mounted my action cam to it. My avatar has a picture of it flying. I powered the gimbal by drawing power from the main battery connector so that I wouldn't have to modify each battery. It worked surprisingly well - the camera stayed level and the recorded video was smooth. I had to be careful especially when descending as the wait of the gimbal and the camera would make the rig come down rather fast. I got used to it and was able to descend and land most times. Had a few hard landings though. After a hard landing/crash the gimbal got messed up and I had trouble with the roll and could never get it to stabilize. I got tired of tinkering and did not want to put any more money into it so I purchased my first DJI drone - a P3S.

That brings me to now. Just for fun, I want to see if I can get my 2-axis gimbal working again and flying on my X8G. The X8G still flies perfectly. I know I can use my P3S or Spark and get way better results but I want to see if I can get this working again.

Here is a link to a Utube video showing the drone, two axis gimbal, and action cam AND the problem I am having with the roll axis.

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Here is a screen shot of my current configuration in SimpleBGC.

Screen Shot 2019-03-20 at 2.12.58 PM.png


I have tried numerous configurations (from increasing/decreasing motor power configuration, and playing with various PID values). I am not sure what the individual PID values do but I tinkered around with them anyway. The default configuration is not working.

Anyone have any ideas on what to do or try to get it working?

Note, I do not want to purchase a new 2-Axis gimbal if I cannot get this working as its not worth it.

Chris
 
My very first drone was a Syma X8G way back in the summer of 2016. Shortly after I got it, I bought a cheap 2-axis gimbal and mounted my action cam to it. My avatar has a picture of it flying. I powered the gimbal by drawing power from the main battery connector so that I wouldn't have to modify each battery. It worked surprisingly well - the camera stayed level and the recorded video was smooth. I had to be careful especially when descending as the wait of the gimbal and the camera would make the rig come down rather fast. I got used to it and was able to descend and land most times. Had a few hard landings though. After a hard landing/crash the gimbal got messed up and I had trouble with the roll and could never get it to stabilize. I got tired of tinkering and did not want to put any more money into it so I purchased my first DJI drone - a P3S.

That brings me to now. Just for fun, I want to see if I can get my 2-axis gimbal working again and flying on my X8G. The X8G still flies perfectly. I know I can use my P3S or Spark and get way better results but I want to see if I can get this working again.

Here is a link to a Utube video showing the drone, two axis gimbal, and action cam AND the problem I am having with the roll axis.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Here is a screen shot of my current configuration in SimpleBGC.

View attachment 109784

I have tried numerous configurations (from increasing/decreasing motor power configuration, and playing with various PID values). I am not sure what the individual PID values do but I tinkered around with them anyway. The default configuration is not working.

Anyone have any ideas on what to do or try to get it working?

Note, I do not want to purchase a new 2-Axis gimbal if I cannot get this working as its not worth it.

Chris

May be able to dig out some old info on these gimbals, by the looks of it the board isn’t seeing the IMU properly and it’s jamming the motors in hold position, the IMU cables were very flaky and broke easy.
 
May be able to dig out some old info on these gimbals, by the looks of it the board isn’t seeing the IMU properly and it’s jamming the motors in hold position, the IMU cables were very flaky and broke easy.
Thanks. Appreciate that.

Chris
 
That looks pretty good set up. My younger brother need to do some aerial filming using his action cam. Gonna try with that gimbal set up when we finished installing the brake kit and 4 wheeler accessories on the TRX.
 
Haven’t been able to tinker with it lately as have been busy, but will once I get some time. Maybe tomorrow - weather doesn’t look good.
 

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