First test fly

[Y0urDaddy]

So I tried my first test flight today with my FlameWheel. Unfortunately it did not actually get off the ground. I am not too sure why right now. I put the throttle up to 100% but I could not get it to lift off. My guess right now is I may have the protection voltage set wrong on the Naza. Basically it is at its defaults. I am using a Pulse 3S 25C 2700mha battery right now, 11.1v.

As I recall both the first level and second level protection are set to the same values right now, which is basically 11.0v. My guess is that since the protection is set to 11v the motors will not spin up fast enough to lift off.

I read through the stuff on the Naza, but I wanted to see if folks had any general recommendation on how to set the the voltage levels for first and second level protection.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

I don't think that is your problem. What colours was the led flashing at the time? Did you go through the transmitter calibration setup in the assistant properly?

 

[Y0urDaddy]

I don't think that is your problem. What colours was the led flashing at the time? Did you go through the transmitter calibration setup in the assistant properly?

As far as I know the transmitter is calibrated as it should be. I actually mounted the LED on the bottom of the frame so I did not notice what color the LED was. I was going to try another flight a bit later so I will see what color it is flashing. My thinking at the time I mounted the LED was that if the quad is in the air above me it would be easier to see the LED if it put it on the bottom.

We will see how attempt 2 goes.

YD

 

[Y0urDaddy]

ok, at a glance the problem looks like the motors are not turning the right way. I am 90% sure I hvae them connected correctly so I don't know why that is. On my flame wheel the white arms are the nose. Based on the DJI video the front right motor should be M1, front left M2, rear left M3, rear right M4. M1 and M4 should spin counter clockwise, M2 and M4 should spin clockwise. that is how the motors are mountend and connected, I am not sure why they are spinning the wrong way

YD

 

[Cheshirecat]

Connecting them in the sequence M1, M2 etc.. will not determine which way they rotate, this is down to how the phases are connected to the ESC's.
To reverse any motor you just need to swap over any 2 of the 3 wires connecting them to the ESC's so you end up with every other motor spinning the opposite to it predecessor as per the diagram in the FC

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

As above.

Also, M1 and M3 should spin counter clockwise. I think it is just your typing as you mention M2 and M4 as clockwise.

 

[Y0urDaddy]

Connecting them in the sequence M1, M2 etc.. will not determine which way they rotate, this is down to how the phases are connected to the ESC's.
To reverse any motor you just need to swap over any 2 of the 3 wires connecting them to the ESC's so you end up with every other motor spinning the opposite to it predecessor as per the diagram in the FC

Thanks a lot! That was the issue, it fly's fine now. I had watched all of the DJI videos on the Naza, so I did not think it mattered how the motors were connected to the ESC's. I still need to figure out the right values for the protection in the set up. What I have set now lands the quad after about 3mins, or whenever the voltage gets down to 10v. In the Naza users guide there don't really look to be any recommended settings. Makes sense, they don't know what kind of battery I am going to fly with and all. Since this was my first test flight I only took it to about 8ft. I want to be sure everything is going to stay together before I take it any higher.

 

[FlyGirl]

I turned off that voltage protection... I had a couple of times where the protection triggered and I still had battery juice to land so instead, I flew first for 5 minutes and measured the voltage then I flew 7 minutes and measured again. I kept doing this until I got a rough idea of what time limit was ideal for a given battery. I didn't want the protection deciding when, and therefore where, to land.

 

[Y0urDaddy]

I was just trying to find some general guidelines such as, if you are using a battery of voltage x, your protection settings should be x-2v for first level and x-4v for second level. it does not seem like that kind of info is out there. I will likely have to do some measuring and timing to come up with it. Being new to flying I just don't really know what voltage is too low. with my cars the worst that happens is they get slow & run in to something. Since I don't know what the battery's roll off will be I am not too sure if I get down to say 5v does it just fall too fast. I think if I hover it at about 1.5ft over something fairly soft I should be able to get an idea of the voltage curve of the battery I have.

 

[soler]

Get a cheep lipo balanced plug alarm, at least you will hear if the alarm triggers, you will need to fine tune what voltage you decided to land at for your system, if you set the lipo alarm for 3.6V and then check how much when you recharge you should be adding around 80% of your total battery capacity back, the adjust the 3.6V setting accordingly.

It also depends on how you fly, you do not want the alarm set at the minimum voltage setting and then for it to alarm when you are at the other side of your flying field.

 

[Y0urDaddy]

I will likely get an alarm today. I had the quad out this morning and flew for about 8 mins 15 sec before I noticed the LED start to blink red. I landed it after that time, it did not land itself at all. The voltage on the battery seemed a bit higher than I expected when I measured it.

I still need to do some trim work, or perhaps re-calibrate the compass. It hovers decent but will not hold its exact position without a little stick work. I also need to put a little more research in to the differences between the flight modes the Naza has.

I did not take it very high, only around 10ft max. I want to get a handle on my fly time before I take it any higher.

 

[cootertwo]

Just be ready for a "OH CHIT" moment, when you try "manual" mode!:shame:

 

[RobBurn]

I will likely get an alarm today. I had the quad out this morning and flew for about 8 mins 15 sec before I noticed the LED start to blink red. I landed it after that time, it did not land itself at all. The voltage on the battery seemed a bit higher than I expected when I measured it.

I still need to do some trim work, or perhaps re-calibrate the compass. It hovers decent but will not hold its exact position without a little stick work. I also need to put a little more research in to the differences between the flight modes the Naza has.

I did not take it very high, only around 10ft max. I want to get a handle on my fly time before I take it any higher.

Some simple advice, please make sure ypu understand and can verify the led light sequence before you take off. You can put the led out on a leg so it points horizontal to the ground and you will see it just fine then and quite a ways up in the air, maybe 100 feet up. You need to verify you have the home point registered and then enough sat's to hold you position in gps flight. lipos are interesting and let me tell you they have a steep cliff after they hit a certain point in time and i mean steep as in seconds and its to late to land under you control. Ok after you land and test the voltage it will rise a bit as there is now no load so its deceptive.

i would not turn off the voltage safety until you feel comfortable with what you doing. You can slightly reduce the voltage cutoff and get more flight time but you need to figure out how not to over expend the lipo, it should only be warm to the touch after flight and not hot. The longer you run it and it gets close to the voltage cliff the hotter it will get and possibly damage it. Id stay no higher than 20' while you figure this out.

 

[Y0urDaddy]

I have the LED mounted on the bottom of the quad now. It is not really on a leg at all, just the bottom of the frame. I still have a number of things to learn more about the Naza before I take it out for a flight of any real height. While the Naza user manual is pretty good it does not really detail some of the differences in the flight modes. I see the table there but no real description of differences.

As far as manual mode goes, I would guess that will be similar to my 1SQ V-Cam. I flew that around for several months before I built the flamewheel. It is pretty forgiving to crash since it is so small. I was also surprised that it does take pretty good video. Once I learn to fly the flamewheel better I plan to get a gopro for it or something like that.

 

[cootertwo]

That's it, "you're hooked!" Hide your wallet and credit cards!:tennis:

 

[Y0urDaddy]

That's it, "you're hooked!" Hide your wallet and credit cards!:tennis:

Yeah... They are a lot of fun and all. I would fly my 1SQ more, but the little charger it came with kind of sux. The batteries false peek a lot & I don't really have a plug that will work on my LiPo charger for them. I tried out intelligent orientation mode today. It actually did not seem to do anything. I am not sure if perhaps the GPS signal was poor & it did not set its home position. According to the Naza users manual it stores its home point prior to take off. If I take it out later on I will try again. It is pretty hot here today so I am not too sure I want to be out in the afternoon heat.