APM 2.5

[swsc4133]

Just purchased this; http://store.diydrones.com/APM_2_5_N...-apmpwrkt2.htm Got it with the UBLOX GPS

Going to put it in a 600E, anyone have pics of how they mounted this in their particular application?

[jolyboy]

I'm about to order mine, I'll post pics when its mounted

[jolyboy]

As promised, here are pics of my setup. I got it flying yesterday, nd almost have it 100% tuned now. I'm really satisfied with it and I recommend it to anyone willing to spend the time required learning the system

I took off in altitude hold today, and man that was scary - I dont recommend that to anyone - just use it mid-flight only!! It shot up about 5 meters (the I-term built up a lot), then dropped to about 20cm off the ground, and yo-yoed like that for about 30 seconds. It was a miracle I didnt crash. That said, altitude hold works brilliantly when used as recommended

[R_Lefebvre]

Huh, that's an interesting way to mount it! Simple. But can it move around or are those foam pads sticky? I only worry if it comes out of alignment with the frame, it wouldn't be good.

Yeah, you can't really use Alt_Hold starting on the ground with a heli, not yet anyway. With a multi-copter it works, but not a heli.

Hey, where's your auto-rotation gear?

Yesterday I flew a full auto waypoint mission for a competition. Had to make it fly a cube pattern in the sky, pausing at each corner. I had it loiter at each corner for 4 minutes, then came back and auto-land. It landed, literally within 3 inches of where it took off.

So it flew, hands-off, for about 24 minutes. Pretty cool.

[jolyboy]

Impressive, was that with a quad or a heli?! I want that!!

I attached it to those pads with industrial double sided tape. Its as good as welded on - the case will snap before the tape lets go

Ah yes the autorotation gear thats in the bin. This tail mod has opened up new avenues for the 450 class - I'm running two RPM modes with my ice 50 ESC now, 1798 and 2100. The reason being I have now synced the main rotor RPM to the shutter on my gopro so the jello appears 'paused'. The jello's still there, but is invisible to the camera once the rpm reaches its set-point because the vibration is always is the same part of its 'phase' for each frame The thing was, I needed the 480 stretch with 350mm Spinblades and direct-drive tail to get it to fly well at that rpm because stock blades are too light and dont produce enough lift, plus the stock tail wouldn't hold at that rpm. Now it flies like a dream and is stable and whisper quiet - the blades just patter the air lightly. Hover uses about 6 degrees of pitch lol. The 2100 rpm mode is for when I want more lift for whatever reason

[Khosravi]

You guys are making me jealous. I've been eyeing the traditional heli forums on diydrones for over 2 years now waiting to see more success with it. It seems like the code has matured quite a bit since then. I may have to order myself an HK 600 to test it out.

Keep up the good work guys.

-Chris

[jolyboy]

The last release is what turned it for me - its fully functional. Now that its installed my heli flies as good if not better than any FBL/Stabilization unit I've tried. The only problems I had were with me not knowing stuff, ie. no problems with the product. The APM heli community is really helpful, I'm not even a developer and they helped me out heaps. Nows the time to get one

[Ivor Hill]

Video of it hovering/flying would be great.

[R_Lefebvre]

Joly, that was with the quad. I always do things with the quad first. Much cheaper to repair.

Can you speak to flight time with those Asym Spinblades? I tried a set on my 450, but didn't notice any change in duration. But that was at the standard speed which is around 2800?

I typically only get about 8 minutes with my 450. Unfortunately I broke the Spinblades before I could really test them.

Ivor, I've posted these a few times, you must have missed them, so here again:

[jolyboy]

I got 10 minutes yesterday with the gopro and headspeed @ 1798rpm and 2200mah 3s. Id expect more time at 2000rpm because my blades are on the brink of stalling

The key with these blades is to keep headspeed between 1900-2200rpm, less is better until you get under 1900rpm, then efficiency is lost due to the excessive pitch required. At those rpms these blades increase payload without much trade off power-wise, so you can add a whole extra battery if you want - this is how people are getting those monster flight times. At high rpm you end up throwing that whole airfoil advantage away, I only got 6 minutes at 2800rpm!!

The only reason I didn't add the extra battery is because my headspeed is too slow. I wouldn't have enough lift to get out of trouble lol.

Joly

[salience]

Looks like a great autopilot - I think I'll go for this rather than the NAZA-H.
I'm all for direct drive tails - my 450 also very smooth and silent. Now finishing up a 500 with same.
What Rx/Tx are you using on that 450 jb?

[R_Lefebvre]

I'll have to get another set of the Spinblades. It's just a shame the shipping is as much as the blades!

[salience]

Can one of you kind folk supply me with the dimensions of both the side and top entry versions?

[tide88]

Anyone running specktrum with this? Do you have to use a reciver or can you use satt rx?

[jolyboy]

Hey salience, good to hear of someone with a DD tail also. Yours is VP right? Mine is FP for simplicity sake. It is really soft, but that's ideal for FPV
I think they are the same size, mine is side entry, 84x45mm without connectors.

I run frsky radio gear because it has longer range and costs half as much. I used to use spektrum and there are dudes who use spektrum with APM well. I don't know about spektrum satellites so can't comment on that. APM does support PPM sum though.

Rob, I know what you mean I only put the expensive blades on because they were already mildly chipped from a tip over (thanks cc10a). The good set are for special occasions lol. I'd be interested in a group buy if we weren't living on opposite sides of the globe

Joly

[R_Lefebvre]

Some people are using Spektrum, and but I don't know a lot about it. Spektrum channel usage tends to be a bit odd-ball and poorly documented, so it's a science experiment trying to figure out which channel goes where.

[salience]

Originally Posted by jolyboy

Hey salience, good to hear of someone with a DD tail also. Yours is VP right? Mine is FP for simplicity sake. It is really soft, but that's ideal for FPV
<snip>
Joly

I guess not enough coffee yet this A.M. What's VP & FP?
My direct for the 450 is a HK Parkfly, a bit too fast but have an extra channel to control the 2nd ESC. But only 25gm.

Thanks for the dimensions - had my finger on the BUY button for a whole day now while I make the "final decision". It'll be for a Trex600 - poor thing, bought it many months ago and it sits there while I figure out what I want to do with it. Been flying my 450 and 500.

I've also switched to FrSky from Spektrum. The FrSky have another strong point: easy to attach custom antennas. The stock whips are notoriously too long, and not very good according to many users. I'm using a SPW / cloverleaf combo for my new 500 now that I got the hang of making them. Not air-tested yet but seems good on the bench. The TYCO laptop antennas seem to work well also, there's a thread on this over at FPVLAB.

Those asymmetricals look nice, and "only" 15€ shipping to me. Only €3 if you live in Germany. Anyone have a good friend living there? But I'd be interested only in the 435's for my new 500, which is overloaded with AP gear and extra batteries.

[salience]

Originally Posted by tide88

Anyone running specktrum with this? Do you have to use a reciver or can you use satt rx?

I haven't bought or setup my APM yet, but looking at the manuals I'd strongly suspect it doesn't work with satellites only, like the Helicommand et al. Channel assignments don't seem a problem however.

[R_Lefebvre]

IMO, the #1 easiest, best, cheapest, most reliable and highest performance thing to do is use FrSky modules in a Futaba radio, and feed PPM to the APM directly.

That's what I am doing, it's never given me a hint of trouble. It's easy to use and "just works".

[Ivor Hill]

Originally Posted by R_Lefebvre

IMO, the #1 easiest, best, cheapest, most reliable and highest performance thing to do is use FrSky modules in a Futaba radio, and feed PPM to the APM directly.

That's what I am doing, it's never given me a hint of trouble. It's easy to use and "just works".

+1 I use Futaba 9C super with Frsky module, I does every thing I want it to,has 3 position switches, slider pots etc. Easy to set up and find your way around, perfect for use with stabilization systems.