Help Starting out with AP

[Markeydoo]

Thanks Jockstrap
I think I have the the calabration set. I configures it in my c-mix menu. Now when I flip the c-mix switch I go from calabration mode to off mode. I do have 1 slight issue. After switching on the AP2k in the air it wants to go to the left, tail to me. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Mark

[jockstrap]

I find you will never get it exactally right - it will always drift in some direction due to the nature of the heli being a "balancing" object in the sky.. is always going to be ever so slightly off..

Saying this, you can get it down to quite a slow (slow walk) drift by calibrating it in the air whilst holding a perfect hover... obviously the amount your hover is out will be the amount the drift ends up be out..

At my park there is a quite level cricket pitch from which i take off - so i simply calibrate after i put the heli down to take off.. as i walk away and the heli spools up - i flick the calibrate switch and I find for me that the heli ends up with only a slight drift in the sky..

Also if your IR sensor is mounted a little crooked it won't matter as calibration is all relative to the sensor..
So if it hovers with a tilt towards you - maybe you calibrated that way - hover the heli with a very slight forward movement and then calibrate - you should find it moves forward now when hovering by itself..

it's also worth noting - that even if you did get it perfectly calibrated and it floats in the one spot - that won't be for long as a change in wind direction will now result in a drift - just like a feather floating on the wind...

If you get my drift -

[Markeydoo]

Thanks that helps.
My hover isnt the smoothest so I will try calabrating it on the ground.
Thanks again

Mark

[nickb00]

Hey Jockstrap,
THought I'd give you an update on myAP2k adventures. Went to our local club field yesterday all armed and ready to finally try it out after all the anguish of trying to get it to work. First thing, I turned on the heli and noticed the 401 light flashing - not locking on as it should, so turned it off and on again, same thing, after about 6 goes I realised this was here to stay. I remembered reading somewhere that the gyro needs to turn on before the spektrum reciever does and to do this you had to put in some rudder input during the binding process which delays the spektrum and gives the 401 a chance to set. I did all this but still NG. I also noticed that by flicking the Gain switch up the gyro light would stay on and by flicking it down the gyro light would blink. Any ideas here?
Forgot to mention, I have both Gain and Aux2 switches down when I turned on the heli as this is the off position for the AP2k. I take it this is right?
cheers
Nick
Happy New Year!

[Tonystott]

Markeydoo, another way to counteract that consistent trend of the heli to drift is to slightly tilt the IR sensor in the direction of the drift, so it will then have a better idea of "level" which will not cause the heli to drift.

[jockstrap]

Hi nick,

Re both switches down = off... yep, that's right..

from off position (both down) I flick the left one up first ( high gain) then the right one (low gain) - becasue if you flick the right one up first - it will re-calibrate and you DON'T want that in the middle of a flight - lol

So be VERY careful not to flick the right switch fist as it's an easy mistake becasue your brain wants you to switch on low gain but you need to switch high first then low on..

Re my pinion gear (from your previous post) - nope, mine is tight... I've convinced myself i need a total rebuild -

However - I've been playing with my ep200 a lot and sidelined this for a little while.. Also getting all the parts together for a t-rex250 so they are taking my time..

Re the 401 gyro poblem - hmmm? Where do you have the gyro gain lead plugged in? receiver ch5 or ap2k servo-4 ?

If it's the ap2k servo-4 slot - try reversing that servo output as I think I had a very similar problem... I was setting aa positive endpoint but it wasn't registering and my 401 flashing also.. I then went to the servo reversing option in the ap2k and reversed output-4 and then set my endpoint and all was ok..

If it's plugged into the 5ch on the receiver - hmm not sure, should stay hard on in HH mode as this is independant of the ap2k...

let me know how you go..

[nickb00]

Hey JockStrap,
Sorry have been too busy to get back to you with Xmas and the kids on holidays and also been building my 28% Extra which I have been promising myself to do for about 6 months. I also enjoy flying planes and some ducted fan jets!

Thanks for the advice! Last night I checked my wiring again and sure enough the Gyro Gain wire was plugged into the gear channel on the reciever. I had seen lots of others saying that they used slot 4 on the AP2k for Gyro Gain, including Mark Webber, but I supposed it did not really click that I had it wrong. So after a bit of fiddling, I plugged it into slot 4 and now the gyro light stays on! Everything seems to be working right now.....thanks again mate!!

Question. you said below.........." from off position (both down) I flick the left one up first ( high gain) then the right one (low gain) - becasue if you flick the right one up first - it will re-calibrate and you DON'T want that in the middle of a flight - lol "
I suppose when you are flying - lets say doing circuits, you are right, your first instinct reaction would be to flick the right one up first ,if say you got into trouble and wanted to recover, or just wanted to switch the flight stabiliser on. So left switch up (high gain) is the go and then right switch up (low gain)........makes sense!
My plan is to firstly get the heli in a steady hover and flick CAL switch (right switch up) for a second and then turn it off. Then flick left switch up and then right switch up for 35% gain and let it hover itself for a while and then right switch down and then left switch down to turn it off again. Is that about right?

cheers
Nick

Originally Posted by jockstrap

Hi nick,

Re both switches down = off... yep, that's right..

from off position (both down) I flick the left one up first ( high gain) then the right one (low gain) - becasue if you flick the right one up first - it will re-calibrate and you DON'T want that in the middle of a flight - lol

So be VERY careful not to flick the right switch fist as it's an easy mistake becasue your brain wants you to switch on low gain but you need to switch high first then low on..

Re my pinion gear (from your previous post) - nope, mine is tight... I've convinced myself i need a total rebuild -

However - I've been playing with my ep200 a lot and sidelined this for a little while.. Also getting all the parts together for a t-rex250 so they are taking my time..

Re the 401 gyro poblem - hmmm? Where do you have the gyro gain lead plugged in? receiver ch5 or ap2k servo-4 ?

If it's the ap2k servo-4 slot - try reversing that servo output as I think I had a very similar problem... I was setting aa positive endpoint but it wasn't registering and my 401 flashing also.. I then went to the servo reversing option in the ap2k and reversed output-4 and then set my endpoint and all was ok..

If it's plugged into the 5ch on the receiver - hmm not sure, should stay hard on in HH mode as this is independant of the ap2k...

let me know how you go..

[jockstrap]

Originally Posted by nickb00

My plan is to firstly get the heli in a steady hover and flick CAL switch (right switch up) for a second and then turn it off. Then flick left switch up and then right switch up for 35% gain and let it hover itself for a while and then right switch down and then left switch down to turn it off again. Is that about right?
Nick

Yep that's correct.... it's becasue the low gain and calibrate are on the same switch and you're brain will be thinking "I want low gain" - so you might flick the right switch but that will re-calibrate it if the left switch is not up! So a bit of a trick to get you're mind around... once you do, it's not hard at all, you just have to remember....

remember, you need a quite steady hover for that 1-2 seconds when calibrating because if you move the heli slightly it might calibrate on an angle and have bad drift when you turn it on later. That's why I pick a patch of ground that looks fairly level and place the heli on it as level as I can by eye and then turn the calibrate on/off...
Then I personally takeoff with low gain on as I can now tell just before liftoff if the heli is responding properly and not going to do strange things - you will be supprised how quickly you get used to it... it's quite easy after a while.

once calibrated in hover and you turn the right switch off - just be careful and maybe take the heli a little higer first before you flick the left switch "high gain" because if something went wrong in calibration for any reason, then the heli might do strange things and zoom off in a funny direction, the height will give you that safety margin to flick the switch off again and recover - if needed...

I have my low gain around 15% now and I calibrate once and then takeoff and land in low gain - no problems... it's just getting that first calibration that you need to be carefull just incase you get it wrong....

[nickb00]

Hi Jockstrap
Yep that makes sense. I will try your technique to calibrate it on the ground first and put it inot low gain and take off a bit to see how it is going to react. Also if I calibrate in the air I will make sure its high off the ground before flicking high gain on just in case. Will let you know how it goes as I am going to fly it on the weekend.
cheers
Nick