Zero UAV UAV Zero Steadi470

R

robone

Member
johnno said:
Rob I will check the video if it is the one from UAV I have seen it, the only reason I had it on the ground because I couldn't get it right by holding it and I thought I had a problem, anyway I will keep trying, by the way how is the YSX4 ? I have one sitting in a box.
Cheers,
john.
Click to expand...

The YS-X4 is good.

Just for interest, I installed my YS-X6 on a new frame and installed the new FW. I then tried to do the compass calibration, and I could not get a LED light to come on when doing the Horizontal portion. Got it for the Vertical calibration. Anyway, the circles were still perfect. So, I don't know if it is my YS-X6 or they have changed the FW. As long as it works :)
 

R

robone

Member
Okay guys I need your help.

A customer of mine is having problems getting his roll to work on the Steadi470. He is quite far away from me so, it is difficult for me to help in anyway, and on top of that, I have not used the Steadi470 at all.

What are the calibration steps and settings needed to get the Roll to work?

Thanks
Rob
 

johnno

johnno

Member
robone said:
Okay guys I need your help.

A customer of mine is having problems getting his roll to work on the Steadi470. He is quite far away from me so, it is difficult for me to help in anyway, and on top of that, I have not used the Steadi470 at all.

What are the calibration steps and settings needed to get the Roll to work?

Thanks
Rob
Click to expand...

Hi Rob, I try , is he running an SBus install? Your saying getting his roll to work are you referring to the roll function of the Gymbal?
I've got to assume its an sbus install but after you go through the Gymbal roll and pitch calibration you can lose control of both or either that just needs a reset.
I really need a bit more info did he set up the roll and pitch to pots on the Tx?
I bought an futaba 8fg which has 2 pots 1 for roll and 1 for pitch. Can you get me more info Rob and see what we can come up with.
john..
 


D

drjlsmit

Photogrammetrist
johnno said:
Hi Rob, I try , is he running an SBus install? Your saying getting his roll to work are you referring to the roll function of the Gymbal?
I've got to assume its an sbus install but after you go through the Gymbal roll and pitch calibration you can lose control of both or either that just needs a reset.
I really need a bit more info did he set up the roll and pitch to pots on the Tx?
I bought an futaba 8fg which has 2 pots 1 for roll and 1 for pitch. Can you get me more info Rob and see what we can come up with.
john..
Click to expand...

Hello John

Rob was referring to me, so here are the details of what I am experiencing:

1. I am using a Futaba 8FG Rx and S-BUS communication to the Rx
2. I am have assigned CH7 to the Pitch control using one of the Tx dials (CH8 is assigned to Roll control using another Tx dial)
3. I am using the latest FW from ZeroUAV, so Roll can no longer be controlled by the Tx (unless you setup the GCS into 'Settings' mode, in which case the CH7 Tx dial then controls Roll and not Pitch)
4. When I follow the instructions shown on the ZeroUAV gimbal calibration video I get some rather odd effects:
  • I change the aircraft mode to '6' in the parameters
  • Roll PTZ sensitivity is set to 50 (factory default)
  • Pitch PTZ sensitivity is set to 40 (factory default)
  • I then power up the servos and imediately the gimbal slaps against the back RHS of the frame under the GPS/compass. It then moves from left to right (all the while pressing hard against the back of the frame)
  • At this stage I disconnect the power to the servoes in fear of damaging them
  • I cannot get to the capture of Pitch and Roll extents and I then set the aircraft mode back to '2'
5. I then power of the AP and restart the GCS software (if I don't do this then the gimbal issue in point 4 persists)
6. I now don't press 'Stedicam Alignment' in the GCS software and power up the servos.
7. The gimbal aligns more or less vertical, but is slightly off vertical in the roll axis
8. I new select 'Settings' mode in the GCS software and use the Tx CH7 dial to get the gimbal into vertical alignment in the Roll direction (the ZeroUAV support guy told me about this little trick). Once done I 'Quit Setting" mode.
9. At this stage if I move the aircraft frame in the Pitch direction (front-back) the gimbal stays vertical
10. If I roll the aircraft frame in the Roll axis (left-right) then the gimbal goes off vertical and aligns with the aircraft frame (i.e. staying at 90 degree to the frame) and not vertical. there is also a notable wobble in the gimbal in the Roll direction.
11. I now try increasing and decreasing the Roll PTZ sensitivity parameter. Decreasing has a 'slackening' effect and the gimbal sways around in the roll axis. Increasing the parameter increases the tension in the Roll axis, but has the effect of moving the gimbal off vertical (I then have to repeat point 7 again). Neither increasing or decreasing the Roll PTZ parameter value has any effect on keeping the gimbal vertical when the aircraft frame is moved form side-to-side and it keeps aligning close to 90 degrees with respect to the aircraft frame.

So, the Pitch control of the gimbal is good, but I have no idea how to get the Roll axis to behave itself (i.e stay in vertical alignment).

Any ideas?

Julian
 

S

socratic

Member
drjlsmit said:
Hello John

Rob was referring to me, so here are the details of what I am experiencing:

1. I am using a Futaba 8FG Rx and S-BUS communication to the Rx
2. I am have assigned CH7 to the Pitch control using one of the Tx dials (CH8 is assigned to Roll control using another Tx dial)
3. I am using the latest FW from ZeroUAV, so Roll can no longer be controlled by the Tx (unless you setup the GCS into 'Settings' mode, in which case the CH7 Tx dial then controls Roll and not Pitch)
4. When I follow the instructions shown on the ZeroUAV gimbal calibration video I get some rather odd effects:
  • I change the aircraft mode to '6' in the parameters
  • Roll PTZ sensitivity is set to 50 (factory default)
  • Pitch PTZ sensitivity is set to 40 (factory default)
  • I then power up the servos and imediately the gimbal slaps against the back RHS of the frame under the GPS/compass. It then moves from left to right (all the while pressing hard against the back of the frame)
  • At this stage I disconnect the power to the servoes in fear of damaging them
  • I cannot get to the capture of Pitch and Roll extents and I then set the aircraft mode back to '2'
5. I then power of the AP and restart the GCS software (if I don't do this then the gimbal issue in point 4 persists)
6. I now don't press 'Stedicam Alignment' in the GCS software and power up the servos.
7. The gimbal aligns more or less vertical, but is slightly off vertical in the roll axis
8. I new select 'Settings' mode in the GCS software and use the Tx CH7 dial to get the gimbal into vertical alignment in the Roll direction (the ZeroUAV support guy told me about this little trick). Once done I 'Quit Setting" mode.
9. At this stage if I move the aircraft frame in the Pitch direction (front-back) the gimbal stays vertical
10. If I roll the aircraft frame in the Roll axis (left-right) then the gimbal goes off vertical and aligns with the aircraft frame (i.e. staying at 90 degree to the frame) and not vertical. there is also a notable wobble in the gimbal in the Roll direction.
11. I now try increasing and decreasing the Roll PTZ sensitivity parameter. Decreasing has a 'slackening' effect and the gimbal sways around in the roll axis. Increasing the parameter increases the tension in the Roll axis, but has the effect of moving the gimbal off vertical (I then have to repeat point 7 again). Neither increasing or decreasing the Roll PTZ parameter value has any effect on keeping the gimbal vertical when the aircraft frame is moved form side-to-side and it keeps aligning close to 90 degrees with respect to the aircraft frame.

So, the Pitch control of the gimbal is good, but I have no idea how to get the Roll axis to behave itself (i.e stay in vertical alignment).

Any ideas?

Julian
Click to expand...

Hi Julian, I had the exact same issue as you. I did finally get the gimbal to calibrate correctly but I believe the behavior didn't really make sense. If I recall correctly, each time I went through calibration I needed to totally exit (close out) the gcs. If I didn't do that each time ANY calibration was made using the GCS setup menu, then all kinds of bizarre behavior occurred For a while, the confirmation screens on the alignment were not coming up correctly - but eventually worked as it should - don't have a clue why. You might want to try a clean alignment of the gimbal from a cold start on your android/gcs. It might slap around - if it does, I just unplugged power from the quad and it rarely slapped around the second time????? I guess, there are some bugs between the android operating system and the GCS software. Unfortunately, much of the setup on this quad requires a whole lot of trial and error. Documentation (and QA?) is severely lacking. Hope this helps a little. Jim
 

D

drjlsmit

Photogrammetrist
socratic said:
Hi Julian, I had the exact same issue as you. I did finally get the gimbal to calibrate correctly but I believe the behavior didn't really make sense. If I recall correctly, each time I went through calibration I needed to totally exit (close out) the gcs. If I didn't do that each time ANY calibration was made using the GCS setup menu, then all kinds of bizarre behavior occurred For a while, the confirmation screens on the alignment were not coming up correctly - but eventually worked as it should - don't have a clue why. You might want to try a clean alignment of the gimbal from a cold start on your android/gcs. It might slap around - if it does, I just unplugged power from the quad and it rarely slapped around the second time????? I guess, there are some bugs between the android operating system and the GCS software. Unfortunately, much of the setup on this quad requires a whole lot of trial and error. Documentation (and QA?) is severely lacking. Hope this helps a little. Jim
Click to expand...

Hi Jim

I recall you mentioned this before and I agree a complete restart of the AP and GCS is required when things behave oddly like this. I have been doing that but with no sucess. Every time I press the 'Stedicam Alignment' button in the GCS I get the same result. It's made me very weiry of that button (it should prehaps say only use with extreme caution as you may break your servos and fingers at the same time).

I'm still waitign for Peter from ZeroUAV support to give me some more suggestions, but we've spend today going over old ground and I've not managed to find out what's going wrong or how to solve it.

I think my next move is to make a video of what I am doing and what happens when I do it. I can then post that and see if anyone has an idea of what is going wrong (or perhaps if I am missing something in the process).

Regards,
Julian
 

S

socratic

Member
drjlsmit said:
Hi Jim

I recall you mentioned this before and I agree a complete restart of the AP and GCS is required when things behave oddly like this. I have been doing that but with no sucess. Every time I press the 'Stedicam Alignment' button in the GCS I get the same result. It's made me very weiry of that button (it should prehaps say only use with extreme caution as you may break your servos and fingers at the same time).I'm still waitign for Peter from ZeroUAV support to give me some more suggestions, but we've spend today going over old ground and I've not managed to find out what's going wrong or how to solve it.
I think my next move is to make a video of what I am doing and what happens when I do it. I can then post that and see if anyone has an idea of what is going wrong (or perhaps if I am missing something in the process).

Regards,
Julian
Click to expand...

Julian, the only other thing I can think of is to be sure you downloaded the correct firmware. The basic YS-X6 firmware does all kinds of weird things to the Steadi470 - I worked with Peter for many hours only to find out I was working with the wrong firmware. Zero didn't seem to differentiate between the basic and the 470 versions on their download page. I believe Rob has the correct firmware on his site. Peter should be able to get you through eventually......it is a very tough, time consuming, irritating process! Once you get it figured out, be sure to post your solution for others. Take care. Jim
 

D

drjlsmit

Photogrammetrist
socratic said:
Julian, the only other thing I can think of is to be sure you downloaded the correct firmware. The basic YS-X6 firmware does all kinds of weird things to the Steadi470 - I worked with Peter for many hours only to find out I was working with the wrong firmware. Zero didn't seem to differentiate between the basic and the 470 versions on their download page. I believe Rob has the correct firmware on his site. Peter should be able to get you through eventually......it is a very tough, time consuming, irritating process! Once you get it figured out, be sure to post your solution for others. Take care. Jim
Click to expand...

I'm quite certain that the firmware is correct - at least it is the version supplied to me by Peter and is the same one that Rob has on his web page for the Stedi470.

Assuming I get this sorted out I will be sure to put up a post on what's the problem was and how to solve it.

For now though I live in hope that it will be solved.

REgards
Julian
 

D

drjlsmit

Photogrammetrist
socratic said:
Julian, the only other thing I can think of is to be sure you downloaded the correct firmware. The basic YS-X6 firmware does all kinds of weird things to the Steadi470 - I worked with Peter for many hours only to find out I was working with the wrong firmware. Zero didn't seem to differentiate between the basic and the 470 versions on their download page. I believe Rob has the correct firmware on his site. Peter should be able to get you through eventually......it is a very tough, time consuming, irritating process! Once you get it figured out, be sure to post your solution for others. Take care. Jim
Click to expand...

I know I did originally get the firmware update wrong and uploaded the YS-X6 firmware, but I have subsequently installed the Stedi470 firmware, several times actually.

Do you know of a way to completely erase the firmware before installing new firmware (I know it's supposed to perform an erase on its own when you do a firmware update but perhaps that has not worked in my case)?

Also, is there any way to confirm the firmware loaded (in all parts of the AP memory)? In other words how can I find out exactly what's loaded in the AP?

Lastly, does it matter what version of the GCS I am working with? I think I have the latest but seem to recall a post which mentioned a problem if the firmware and GCS versions were out of sync. Not sure if that is an issue though.

Any thoughts on this?
Julian
 

S

socratic

Member
drjlsmit said:
I know I did originally get the firmware update wrong and uploaded the YS-X6 firmware, but I have subsequently installed the Stedi470 firmware, several times actually.

Do you know of a way to completely erase the firmware before installing new firmware (I know it's supposed to perform an erase on its own when you do a firmware update but perhaps that has not worked in my case)?

Also, is there any way to confirm the firmware loaded (in all parts of the AP memory)? In other words how can I find out exactly what's loaded in the AP?

Lastly, does it matter what version of the GCS I am working with? I think I have the latest but seem to recall a post which mentioned a problem if the firmware and GCS versions were out of sync. Not sure if that is an issue though.

Any thoughts on this?
Julian
Click to expand...

Julian, I sent you the full dialog I had with Peter at Zero. Sounds like you are having the exact same issues I had. Hopefully you will be able to save yourself lots of time by reading through the log. I believe he also told me which tap has the info on version FW loaded. Let me know how you make out. Jim
 

johnno

johnno

Member
Rob, on your site under resourses towards the bottom there is a drawing recommending a 10amp UBEC feed the two servos in the steadi do recall when that was added because I have never seen or read about that before, is it urgent it's a must I don't no, what does concern me that they say use a 10amp UBEC 10 amps for 2 servos is a bit of a worry I realise that the servos are working all the time keeping the Gymbal vertical but drawing 10 amps? ....john
 

D

drjlsmit

Photogrammetrist
socratic said:
Julian, I sent you the full dialog I had with Peter at Zero. Sounds like you are having the exact same issues I had. Hopefully you will be able to save yourself lots of time by reading through the log. I believe he also told me which tap has the info on version FW loaded. Let me know how you make out. Jim
Click to expand...

Hi Jim

Where did you sent this to? I've not received anything yet.

Julian
 


R

robone

Member
johnno said:
Rob, on your site under resourses towards the bottom there is a drawing recommending a 10amp UBEC feed the two servos in the steadi do recall when that was added because I have never seen or read about that before, is it urgent it's a must I don't no, what does concern me that they say use a 10amp UBEC 10 amps for 2 servos is a bit of a worry I realise that the servos are working all the time keeping the Gymbal vertical but drawing 10 amps? ....john
Click to expand...

I cannot remember where I got the image from. I am not sure how much the 2 servos will draw. This image was really just to show how one should connect the servos to the YS-X6 and not to use the power from the YS-X6.
 

johnno

johnno

Member
robone said:
I cannot remember where I got the image from. I am not sure how much the 2 servos will draw. This image was really just to show how one should connect the servos to the YS-X6 and not to use the power from the YS-X6.
Click to expand...

Phi rob,so it's not a requirement for the Steadi....John.
 

R

robone

Member

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S

socratic

Member
I saw on RCGroups that Zero has released a new ground station (GCS?) download. Maybe it is the fix for some of the issues raised here. Unfortunately, the language they use when announcing the release is inconsistent with what they have for downloads on their site and I am not sure what should be downloaded. Here is the message. Maybe Rob can figure it out and put the software on his site? Here is the message from Zero:

New Ground Station Software is released, please check out the "Steadi470 Release Tracking Notes" for further details. You can download the file in the first page of this thread or on the website: http://www.zerouav.net/kefu.aspx

I found this on the thread:
Newest Release Date: January 23th, 2013
Zero Steadi470 Release Tracking Notes
Zero Steadi470 Firmware version: 2012-10-20
YS-X6 Software version (GCS)
(1)Android: 2013-01-01
(2)Iphone/Ipad: 2013-01-01
(3)PC: 2013-01-01
What is new?
YS Series GCS Software
* PC GCS: Fix the bug that the waypoint can't be uploaded if the hovering time
is changed when designing the route on the map of PC GCS.
* Android: The prompts of “ Enter Setting” and “Quit Setting” are added.
* IOS：The prompt of HJ file is added, according to which you can easily find the
HJ file.
Please download the latest GCS from official website { HYPERLINK
"http://www.zerouav.net" } and update your Zero-Steadi470 online according
to the related instruction in Quick Start Guide.


Jim
 
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