AP 2000i - It's worth it.

[staplegun]

I just finished the first flight with the AP 2000i installed on my Swift.

It's in incredible tool that turns a RC helicopter with a camera strapped to it into an Aerial photography platform.

Now it's time to re-wire the bird to reduce wire lengths and to clean up the wiring in general.

Setting up the AP 2000 is very easy.
I had a couple of issues;
First being the servo outputs from the unit relate to servo posistion on the swash and the number on the swash diagram, not the radio channel.
Second being the trimming of the servos to get a level swash. There is not enough trim on the AP 2000 to get the swash level. I had to use a combination of subtrim on the radio and trim on the AP2000.

My big problem is getting the gain/calibrate set up on my radio. (I don't think there is a way to do what I want) Right now the gain is set to a slider and (in flight) I have to guess where the off posistion is with respect to the slider. What I would like to do is have a 3 posistion switch setup in combination with the slider. Switch center would be "off", Switch up would be "cal" and Switch down would be "on" with gain controled by the slider.

[dreslism]

What radio?

Most people have the gain on a slider. Start with the gain off, then when level in the air, flip a switch that activates a mix, and this mix "pulls down" your gain channel a little lower than the current 0% off setting which in turn activates the cal function. 1 second later, you flip the mix switch back to off which brings the gain channel back to zero. Now you gently add in your slider which increases your gain to your desired setting for that day/conditions.

[staplegun]

I have a Futaba 9chp and am using Vr(d) for the slider.

[AZ ChopperCam]

on my 9CHP I have gain on left slider and cal on a dedicated 2 position switch (I forget the letter of the switch) but it's the switch on the left side.

[dreslism]

Staplegun,

Here is a cut from a post I had done before on using a switch to cal your ap2000i while leaving your gain on the slider.

In this post, the user was using KNOB A as his gain. Just assume knob A is your slider VR(d) in the following. This person was also using channel 5 for their gain. Substitute your gain channel for channel 5 below.

Let us know when you get it working.

------------------------
power up your heli and watch the lcd display on the ap2000i.

Ok, grab knob A and rotate it all the way to the left. This should turn your gain all the way off and show 0% on the ap2000i. If it says cal or done, then go into channel 5's ATV's and move up the low endpoint until it reads 0 (this is with knob A all the way to the left.)

Now get into program mode by pressing and holding the mode button, then press the mode button one more time to go into advanced program mode.

Scroll to the next page and choose PROG. MIX1
Press the up/down page until you see MIX, MAS,SLV,LINK, SW, POSI.

for mix, it is most likely on INH(inhibit) turn this to off.

For MAS, choose channel 5: GYRO
FOR SLV, choose channel 5:GYRO
Leave LINK OFF.

Pick a free switch for SW and the position you choose.

scroll down till you get back to page 1 and under RATE, choose +10% for H.

Now with the A knob still all the way to the left, the ap2000i should read 0%.

Pull your newly programed switch/mix and watch the ap2000i as you do it. It should say cal, then done. This will take about 1/2-1 second.

flip your switch back off now, you are now calibrated, and now when you feed in knob A (gain), you are calibrated.

Remember to calibrate, you must have your gain off to start with.

So turn off the gain , put the heli in the air, and when in a steady hover, flip your new cal switch for 1 second, then feed in your knob A to turn the ap2000i on.

Try it all out on the ground first and make sure it is doing what you expect it to do.

[staplegun]

Thanks for the reply. I read your setup before but could not find it.

It took about 3 minutes to get set up and test.

When I get another break in the weather I will give it a test flight.

[dreslism]

Thanks for the reply. I read your setup before but could not find it.

It took about 3 minutes to get set up and test.

When I get another break in the weather I will give it a test flight.

You're welcome.

I hope to see some blue sky picts with the results post. :wink:

[staplegun]

No blue sky pics. Weather is lousy. I can post a grey sky pic...

Once again thanks for the set up info. It works.

[MarkWebber]

Eh..guess we'll settle for gray pics :wink: Would be more than I've been getting of late.

[Cryofix]

any JR people here? I have mine setup to calibrate with a 2 postion switch, then use my right slider for gain, however there are no more programmable channels left for my gyro gain which is setup to the idle up (F switch) so I really cant go into idle up at all or my gyro comes out heading hold.

My gyro gain is plugged into my RX, can it be plugged into the AP2000I?

[dreslism]

any JR people here? I have mine setup to calibrate with a 2 postion switch, then use my right slider for gain, however there are no more programmable channels left for my gyro gain which is setup to the idle up (F switch) so I really cant go into idle up at all or my gyro comes out heading hold.

My gyro gain is plugged into my RX, can it be plugged into the AP2000I?

Sure can! Myself and many others are doing that.

Plug it into the 4th servo output on the ap2000i.

Just so you know, the adjustment % on servo 4 in the ap2000i means nothing compared to the gyro % you have in your radio.
i.e. if your gyro gain on your Tx was at 65%, then don't set servo 4 output to 65% as it will be way more than 65% gyro gain.

Best way I found to get the same gyro gain setting when using the ap2000i is to take a spare servo with arm on it, and plug it into your Rx gyro output, and mark where the servo arm moves to.

Unplug the servo and plug it into servo 4 output on the ap2000i. Adjust the servo 4 in the ap2000i (I think it is the trim setting) until the servo arm moves to the same place you marked before.

Once that is set, your gyro gain on the ap2000i will now be equal to what you had on the Rx output.

Now plug your gyro into servo 4 output on the ap2000i and your done.

[staplegun]

From what I have seen (have not tried) the gyro can be plugged into the AP 2000. With the AP 2000 providing a constant signal to the Gyro gain (no adjustability in flight)

[MarkWebber]

I'm using it in the #4 slot for gyro gain. Do just as Scott suggested and you'll be set. Nothing like gaining channels for free :D

[Cryofix]

Sweet thats perfect!

Kinda sucks JR dont let you program all your sticks its very limited as to what will mix with what and what can be programmed, love the radio though.

[staplegun]

Here is the Blue Sky pic...

[staplegun]

The weather is great this afternoon. I managed 2 test flights.

Once I got things calibrated, the ship was able to maintain a decent hover with slight drifts. The AP2000 was able to maintain a "hands free" hover with about 3 feet of drift for 20 seconds on a couple occasions.

What I have learned is, the quality of the AP 2000 control is only as good as you are while you calibrate it. In other words, if you are drifting while calibrating the AP 2000, the AP will maintain that same drift when the gain is turned on.

I did not try any AP 2000 controled flight with out calibrating it.

The AP 2000 as installed on the Swift.

[oscillator]

Where did you get the nose mount? Kinda looks like an Askman Procam with a very nice CF nose adapter. Did you make this yourself?

I'm just about ready to put a mount on the flybar-less Logo 10, but all the commercial solutions are under-slung mounts.

[d-rudie]

Where would I go about buying the AP2000i and infrared module? On the official website, it seems the AP2000i is for sale, but not the infrared module... is it out of stock? Or am i missing something??

[oscillator]

The IR module comes from FMA. http://www.fmadirect.com/detail.htm?item=1778&section=20

[MarkWebber]

Here is the Blue Sky pic...

Touche

[staplegun]

It is a Custom Askman mount. I don't think he's making them any more.

[dreslism]

Here is the Blue Sky pic...

Touche

Yep. Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

I should know by now in life to ask specifically for what I want. I saw New Mexico in his sig, and expected blue skies with mountains in the back ground. I never would have expected a "blue sky".

Good one. :tongue