Align APS Maiden Flight Success!

[SharonNoelle]

Hi All,
Went to my favorite flying spot with a friend to do some tests on my newly installed Align APS. Everything went as advertised!!

Needless to say I had great concerns after reading some of the threads about the trouble others have had, but I am here to say my 550E flew like it was on rails with very little tweaking.

I did the "magnetometer" calibration in my back yard. Did my testing 3.5 miles away. Forgot to re-do the mag-cal at the flight line, but it didn't seem to affect it.

1. Did the vibration test. "Failed" the first time probably because of a generally shaky flight and a very firm landing. "Passed" on the 2nd attempt. What was strange was the APS unit never indicated that the vibe test was not done. From the first time I powered it up it always had green lights for Link & GPS. After the first vibe test the Link & GPS lights went red, indicating "Failure". With a softer landing on the second test it came up with green on Link & GPS.

2. Accidently set "Home" while on the ground by switching to APS 1 time while Tx & heli were powered up, but not flying. But I remembered that I had done that so it was OK.

3. Did light sport flying to check tail gain and general stability in 3GX mode. Flew perfect.

4. Checked APS mode. Flipped switch to APS and prepared to switch it back to 3GX mode, but nothing!... except very stable flight control! COOL!

5. Checked GPS mode. Flipped switch to GPS mode, waited a couple of seconds and the heli began to rise, way up, then it quickly turned towards me and began FF to "Home", slowed down when it got to "Home" and slowly descended to about 1.5m above the spot I registered as "Home" and hovered there.

6. Autonomous take-off mode. Flipped the switch to APS and applied power. It lifted straight up. Not real crazy about the 0-50-100 on the pitch and throttle, seemed like it was straining with a very low head speed. But it was stable. Auto'd the landing.

So, my final review is

Recharging now and will go back out to try some more tests! I'm lovin' it!!

[nightflyr]

Good to hear

I believe there will be those who get the setup correct and have it perform as it should... all need to be watchful and ask questions during the setup.

[cruzroy]

but this align aps is way above my pay grade, i hope someone will do one ???, and if someone could do it with a nitro.....that would be cool, ill have to wait ten years, when they sell for a 100 used,,,,

[Wesley888]

Originally Posted by SharonNoelle

6. Autonomous take-off mode. Flipped the switch to APS and applied power. It lifted straight up. Not real crazy about the 0-50-100 on the pitch and throttle, seemed like it was straining with a very low head speed. But it was stable. Auto'd the landing.

Wow! Good to hear it works well! I would be EXTREMELY nervous trying it.

[SharonNoelle]

Originally Posted by Wesley888

Wow! Good to hear it works well! I would be EXTREMELY nervous trying it.

During all the flights I was so nervous! I let my friend fly it first because he has a lot more experience flying. I flipped the switch while telling him what to expect... both good or bad! That worked well for me. He was nervous too because he hadn't been flying at all this year.

Today I will be trying some new/different settings. I will try to initiate the governor into the mix. Yesterday I was using End Point throttle settings as instructed by the manual, which worked OK, but the variance in the head speed was too much, or I should say, uncomfortable. It seemed to take extra work.

I was using a Sky Tach with a fresh battery and as soon as I could get a reading it would change. So we will see how running the gov will work on the CC ICE 100 in Set RPM mode.

SN

[SharonNoelle]

Well, the governor works just as it should! I figured that the APS does not have any control over the throttle so why not. It's about the same ole thing during semi-autonomous take-off / landing... collective management. That's it!

There is no hocus pocus, voo-doo or any thing like what others are talking about. But you have to have a good handle on the 3GX setup procedures. Like nightflyr told me "triple check everything". The only setup the APS wants is you have to do the "hokey-pokey" and spin yourself around... a couple of times. Then the vibe test.

The APS has tests that must be performed. The magnetometer (the hokey-pokey), vibration, and command tests. My advice is to make sure you get the correct results, especially on the GPS tx value.
I don't do this all by myself, I have my dad and others to thank!... like nightflyr!!

That's it for now.

SN

[vojta]

congrats!

Originally Posted by SharonNoelle

I figured that the APS does not have any control over the throttle so why not. It's about the same ole thing during semi-autonomous take-off / landing... collective management. That's it!

SN

That's what I've been trying to highlight all the time, from the moment the APS and 3GX v2.1 were released.
According to Dino's posts, it may be improved in the next version of 3GX/APS firmware.

[Kattinkc]

Got to try one of these... Currently bidding on eBay on 3GX..
I did about a dozen hands off TO and landings today with my Wookong H it was really weird to watch it do it better than I can. I can't imagine what the future is to bring and with competition it has to get cheaper.

Katarina

[SharonNoelle]

Originally Posted by Kattinkc

Got to try one of these... Currently bidding on eBay on 3GX..
I did about a dozen hands off TO and landings today with my Wookong H it was really weird to watch it do it better than I can. I can't imagine what the future is to bring and with competition it has to get cheaper.

Katarina

+1!
With the removal of a lot of the "risk of cost", translated: crashes!, I believe you can practice more by keeping your bird in the air and fine tune your skills quicker. When you are trying your best and 1 hard landing takes you home, that's no fun. These new devices make it easier for us regular enthusiasts to participate.

I'm excited

SN