Picloc 3x setting experience etc.

BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
check georges page there are 2 different HD55 pro version.

you need this one to have I and D working again

Firmware for your PICLOC-3X STD and PICLOC-3X PRO.. ( Version HD55 with X3 ( times three amplified) gain of D and I)

Boris
 

GeorgeM

Member
I apologize for short absence. Just got back from one of the most terrible weeks.

Currently working on tidying up the firmware and Toolz, and incorporating a lot of fixes / adjustments as suggested by customers from various fora including this very important thread.
This should bring the same 'vibe insensitivity' as Boris mentioned in his v53 report, and include all the functions added till now + some extra tools needed to (more) accurately set up your Picloc.
I also need to test fly this code... so allow 1-2 days and then enjoy !
 
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achta

Member
Thanks George, hope you found Time for you, to get all the thinks running ;-)
Good Time...
See you soon...
Michael
 

Thank you BorisS. It worked accelleration is OK now.

But!

I made a testflight today in some wind. Everything was fine when after about half the flying time(9 minutes) the pan servo started turning slowly. The kopter was outside for a longer time so I dont think it has to do with temperature.
Any ideas?

Thank you in advance

Derek
 

rene.m

Member
However, when it is ON-axis, as you wish to do, i.e. on the camera plate, the PL is limited to around 55° of tilt before the Roll axis starts becoming a second Pan axis. At this point PL gets confused, doesn't know what to do and ... "goes crazy".

I have addressed this on the big gasser heli by mounting the PL on a swivelling bracket that allows it to be set at up to -35°. As we do not need very much upward tilt (blades, booms, motors etc. are NOT photogenic) the PL will not be subjected to very much more negative tilt than that. Perhaps another 10° at most. So at -45° of total tilt the PL is still comfortable and keeps its hair on.

Hi.

do you mount your picloc in- or flexible?
and another question: are you using Goto Home? when you turn it on, where is it moving? to the horizontal position (-35°; and probably the start-up-position?) or is it nicking down (0°)

a wish for the next firmware-update: going home to the start-up-position.
 
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MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
... the pan servo started turning slowly...

At the present time this drift is 'normal'. As I understood it the magnetometer (or compass in everyday-sprach) is there to address this inherent gyro characteristic. However, it seems we have discovered that there is too magnetism around the gimbal servos for the Picloc to ever be out of range and this renders the magnetometer function useless. The Pan servo drifts in both Stabilisation AND Manual modes. One hopes a cure might be available one day.


Hi.

do you mount your picloc in- or flexible?
and another question: are you using Goto Home? when you turn it on, where is it moving? to the horizontal position (-35°; and probably the start-up-position?) or is it nicking down (0°)

a wish for the next firmware-update: going home to the start-up-position.

Sorry, I cannot decipher the first question.

Yes, I use the RTH function. It is one of the two invaluable advantages of Picloc over standard tail gyros, along with ATV End-Points. As you have indicated, the RTH and Start-up positions will not necessarily be the same. With the PL mounted at a negative angle the camera plate is brought to horizontal with SVR1 servo centre adjustment slider. Hitting RTH will bring the plate back to this position. Depending upon the amount of negative tilt of the PL there might not be sufficient SVR1 adjustment to bring it to absolute horizontal, but it can come pretty close.

The Start Position is set separately although, as you have stated in your FW wishlist, ideally we would prefer them to be the same.
 


MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
To follow up on my first response, the servo centering facility SVR1 which allows the RTH position to be adjusted has a maximum throw of 500us. This is sufficient to compensate for about 15-20° of negative tilt of the mounted PL. If the mounted PL is set at a greater negative angle than this the camera plate will not be able to come back to horizontal. It will be tilted forward slightly - perhaps 4-5°. This is sufficient though to return to a useful starting point if the cameraman gets disorientated.

The Start position can be set at whatever you want, either horizontal, in which case it will differ from the RTH position, or it can be set the same as the RTH position, tilted forwards. Note that all of this applies only to 360° servos with the PL mounted on the same plane as the camera plate. None of this applies to standard servos with the PL off-axis.

I have not yet flown the PL mounted on the PH 360 mount so I have no idea how it will perform yet. The PL mounted on the Copterworks heli is mounted on the same plane as the camera plate and is therefore subjected to the same attitude changes as the camera. It is not mounted on any absorbing material, gel or gyro pads yet. It is actually strapped on with a couple of bicycle inner tube rubber bands for now. The reason for this is that from past experience with the Picloc TRv3 and 2X series the PL's were going on and off the mount with alarming regularity and using up expensive, difficult to obtain gel at an unhealthy rate.

I have made only two test flights with the Copterworks mounted PL 3X so far. The first one was shown HERE. The general response was immeasurably better than the 2X, even with the bench settings, but it obviously required further work for the most important axis - Roll. The Tilt axis has always worked remarkably well with Piclocs of all generations. The Pan is significantly better than before but still suffers from an annoying drift. For some reason the built-in magnetometer is not that helpful at all.

Some parameters were changed and a second test flight showed that the Roll axis was probably now too sensitive and was prime candidate for some slight oscillation of the roll axis in flight. At some point I will isolate the PL with gel or something to see whether or not vibrations are causing it to oscillate the Roll axis.

If you are doing all this with an electric powered heli/MR there is no particular need to isolate the PL but there is never any harm in doing so.
 





smooth man ... what audio track is that? Great jazz!

Has anyone experiencing the magnetic problem with the picloc, tried to solve it yet? I think all that anybody has tried is positioning. I'm trying to get hold of some iron foil. I'm thinking that if you wrapped the servos with a couple of wraps, the magnetic field would be reduced ... I just don't know by how much.

If I can get hold of some, I'd be happy to send it to one of you that is fighting the problem, or has given up. I won't be ready to test it for several more weeks. It has to make some difference.

Kenny
 
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yeehaanow

Member
Wouldn't iron foil have a magnetic polarity to it?
Maybe Lead foil is what you need.

Isn't the mag sensor only good for the pan axis anyway? Or, if you mount the PL on the camera plate and tilt down, then maybe the mag will help interpret the new orientation.
Either way, I find it holds near a perfect heading long enough for me not to need the mag sensor on.
 

I think it needs to be ferrous, like iron, to contain the magnetic field. It won't eliminate the field, but I hope it will attenuate it so that the mags work ok. I'm very new to this but it would seem like the mags are an essential component in the camera stabilization scheme, to help stabilize the yaw. If this does work, it would be a simple fix for the problem.
 


MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
... Has anyone experiencing the magnetic problem with the picloc, tried to solve it yet? I think all that anybody has tried is positioning. I'm trying to get hold of some iron foil. I'm thinking that if you wrapped the servos with a couple of wraps, the magnetic field would be reduced ...

Ferrous metal wrapped around the PL, or even very close to it, would only interfere with magnetometer's reading of the earth's magnetic field and lead would block it completely. A Mumetal shield placed between the offending servo and the PL magnetometer might be effective but where does one obtain mumetal?
 


Ferrous metal wrapped around the PL, or even very close to it, would only interfere with magnetometer's reading of the earth's magnetic field and lead would block it completely. A Mumetal shield placed between the offending servo and the PL magnetometer might be effective but where does one obtain mumetal?

Same place you get unobtainium:)

I wouldn't put the iron on the PL ... only on the servo's. It might not work, but it won't cost much to find out. I'll let you know how it works.
 
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MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
Ferrous metal wrapped around the PL, or even...

Duh! Stupido. I didn't read your post properly.

With the PL mounted in the front it is still picking up magnetism from the Roll Servo (which appears to have the strongest field of the three, followed by the Tilt). It won't be easy shielding that Roll servo. Hell, it won't be easy shielding any of them.

As for the Mumetal, I guess we will just have to make do with Applied Phlebotinum.
 

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