WK refresh - recommendations

[Kilby]

Hey all,

I haven't had my Hexa AP rig out much since last Fall. I spent the winter flying FPV or working on my AP set up. I'm still on old firmware (5.12) and wanted to upgrade to something a little newer, but stable. Any recommendations? I see a lot of people using 5.16 or 5.18. I don't need all the newest features, more concerned with reliability.

I've also increased the motor to motor distance (800mm now) and have larger props (12x3.8) on my Avroto motors. I'm sure my gains need to be adjusted to deal with the larger frame and props, but I wanted to figure out what firmware to run first and then start from the defaults again.

Has anyone else made a similar transition and care to compare notes?


-Terry

 

[ChrisViperM]

Either go with 5.16 or flash 5.20, which was released after a software bug was found in 5.18, which would stop a motor during flight in rare cases (these are DJI-words).....RC-Groups is full with reports about crashes due to 5.18....I also use 5.16 and found it the most stable so far (if you can waive some gimmicks found in newer FW's)


Chris

 

[Kilby]

Thanks for the input, Chris. I ended up getting 5.16, but I haven't tested it yet. Hopefully these winds will die down around sunset. I don't need any of the newer features, I never use them. All I need is solid performance of the FC itself. I can fly my own circles around things. ;-)

So what are you flying on 5.16 and how did that update effect your gain structure? I'm just now using remote gain adjustment for the first time and am not sure how it effects things. Are you using this?


-Terry

 

[ChrisViperM]

Was just about to go to bed.....I use it on a S800 (damn bird) and hardly change anything on the gains.....took a while to get it right, but once set, I only change the gains (with a small Laptop) for more serious wind. Remote gain tuning will come once the BT-LED is here.


Chris

 

[ChrisViperM]

Good morning.....I guess with remote gain adjustment you meant to use one or two knobs/sliders on your Tx and set it to any gain channel via X2 or/and X3....yes, I did that, but only to get the required gains a bit more convenient than hooking and un-hooking the WooKong 100 times in an hour to the Laptop. Once it is set, I disable this function....had it once that I put my Tx on the ground to change LiPo's in the Copter....a dog from a by-passer decided it needs to sniff arround on my Tx....he must have "changed" my gain settings by shifting the slider I had the gains assigned to....next start the bird freaked out. When I hooked it to the Laptop, I saw the gains were completely away from where they should be.
Trouble with remote gain setting: you don't see any see numbers, only able to judge the behavior of the bird by watching it .....but with the Bluetooth LED this should all be a lot easier...


Chris

 

[Kilby]

Agreed. I had the same problem last weekend when I was setting this thing up. I had the range on the knob way to hight and I was able to take off with the gains twice what they should have been. I tuned it in now though with a range of only 30... -10 or +20 from my starting center point.

I'm worried about updating to the newest firmware to get access to bluetooth. I'm going to sit this one out for a little while and watch what happens. It would be nice to have that control, but honestly i don't touch the settings that much, I just thought gain would be nice to adjust for windy days.

 

[ChrisViperM]

I have a strong gut feeling that the latest Firmware is developed/optimized around the new IMU V2.....although it does not do the lop-top away, but I have a few sets of tested settings exported to disk. If the wind changes, I just hook up the WooKong and import the matching setting file.......takes maybe 3 minutes and takes a lot of guesswork out.


Chris

 

[Kilby]

How do you export the settings? I didn't realize that was possible. I was just talking with my buddy that flies APM the other day and he does the same thing for 3s vs 4s flights.

 

[ChrisViperM]

I had the same proplem.....check the yellow circles on the pic:


View attachment 11581


Just make your settings and then hit ""EXPORT"...a window will pop up and you will be asked to give it a name...I name my settings like: no_wind....slight_wind.....gust_wind....whatever you like. If you want to change, just hook the WooKong to the Assistant software and click "IMPORT"....you then will be asked to choose a file from wherever you saved it to....click the file. Once the settings are imported into Assistant, click the "WRITE" button (next to the IMPORT button)...this will load the settings into WooKong.




Chris

 

[Kilby]

Nice one. Thanks for sharing that!