Co-Pilot II - How To, Made Simple!

[nightflyr]

Those heli eating trees are a pain aren't they.....


glad to hear damage was minimal

[mhoebrec]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Those heli eating trees are a pain aren't they.....


glad to hear damage was minimal

They sure are, but luckily this one wasn't too hungry.

[TeeJayShelton]

One reached out and grabbed mine in the dark the other night..... flying with glow blades I could see the heli but that tree just snuck outta no where....

[philippets]

What is the benefit of upgrading to the latest firmware ?
Although I'm not having any problems besides a little bobbing up and down during wind gusts, should I bother upgrading the firmware on my CPII ?

Thanks

[nightflyr]

The new firmware increases the operational window that the CPII can effectively operate in

[CrazyHeliDude]

Originally Posted by TeeJayShelton

I wasn't expecting it to do very well where I did my maiden flight with it.... It was pretty dark and I did it behind a shopping center near my house very close to the buildings... It performed all but flawlessly right off the bat I need to play with it away from the buildings to trim it up but it was great and fast to level it out...I even lost sight of it in the dark backed off it slowly and it landed level!!! I could barely see it....Couldn't see its attitude or orientation at all.
Once I get it dialed in I will have to pit it against Fly mentor for recovery time but at first glance I think its going to win.... Thanks for everyone who chimed in with their positive experiences with it... .. it help convince me to buy it and I am very glad I did.

Hey TeeJay, Glad to hear it worked out well for you on the first shot. I'm curious, did your horizontal sensor have a clear view to the horizon on any side?

I had my CPII laying around for a while and just got around to installing it on my blade 400 today to test it out. Funny thing is I can't tell the difference from when it's switched off to when it's switched on. Although the CPII is operational, it doesn't seem to be doing a thing, as if it wasn't there at all. Preflight checks out ok. Trouble shooting now to try and find the issue.

[TeeJayShelton]

It didn't have a "clear" view of the horizon in any direction... On on side was the back of a bowling alley and grocery store with a good sized field on the other side but houses on the otherside of the field/trees/other buildings/ no good view of the horizon anywhere really... which is why I didnt think it would work well.... I did hav a tendacy to try to slide away from the buildings but would easily let you evercome it with the stick....but it wasnt much out of level even then... just a slow downward slide.... I have since used i a lot in the mountains and around tall trees experimenting with it... I have never put it up close agains a real steep slope but have flown it all over the place with large moderate slope trees and rolling hills around..... It does fine just if you turn it on to level it out it is not going to go "level" it is going to level with the ground which still isnt bad at all very controllable even when it is on on the side of a hill... It will want to slide down it but you can correct it.... In the hills I playuing with it I have been turning autotrim on so I could get a feel for what it will try to do when I really turn it on.... It works great in every situation I have put it in so far....If you are on level ground in a field it still slow slides a little but who cares the point is it will get your heli(very close to) level with the flip of a switch in a hurry...

What are you adjusting your CP2 on off with??? you know the CP2 on off controls the amount of throw CP2 has over your Heli not sensor gain

[TeeJayShelton]

I had my CPII laying around for a while and just got around to installing it on my blade 400 today to test it out. Funny thing is I can't tell the difference from when it's switched off to when it's switched on. Although the CPII is operational, it doesn't seem to be doing a thing, as if it wasn't there at all. Preflight checks out ok. Trouble shooting now to try and find the issue.


have you taken it up high and tipped it over hard then let go of the cyclic? I don't rec that first first set it up on the ground with it on and put your hand in front of the thermal windows of the main sensor.... It should looks at your hand as if it was the ground and the swash should try to move the heli away from it.... is this happening???

[CrazyHeliDude]

TeeJay thanks for your insightful reply on this. When I move my hand around the main sensor, the swash plate always moves away from my hand, just as you described. I have the on/off set up on my gyro gain channel. On the DX6i, I set position 0 at 0% and postion 1 at 100%. The IRNet programmer seems to reflect that position 0 and 1 are indeed 0% and 100% respectively. So I asume that means CPII is at full gain when switched on.

The area I'm flying in is somewhat confined ... buildings on one side and mostly tall trees and a fence on the other side(s) .. all within about 100 feet of the heli's position. I wouldn't think it would work in these circumstances but someone (Nightflyr?) did a vid of the thing flying in some pretty nasty weather, I think it was even under a tree or something, and the thing was working great.

It's been hot, humid and overcast lately. Maybe this has something to do with it. Also I've been setting up the menus indoors but always run through the preflight in the area I'm going to be flying. Wondering if I should be setting up all the menus outdoors.

[Woody_99]

Make sure that when you go through the set up, that one switch mode is set to be on and horizontal flight. By default it is not set to horizontal flight mode, and will act like it's not doing any stabilization.

[TeeJayShelton]

yes what woody said is important if you dont set what it is supposed to do in the switch position its not going to work well.... The swash will move a little bit if auto trim is on and cp2 is off but will move a lot more when cp2 is on... you can set it up indoors that is no problem at all.... just dont fly it indoors unless both cp2 and auto trim are off!!

[CrazyHeliDude]

Originally Posted by Woody_99

Make sure that when you go through the set up, that one switch mode is set to be on and horizontal flight. By default it is not set to horizontal flight mode, and will act like it's not doing any stabilization.

Do you mean 'Level Flight'? It seems to be the only option offered me (in a non-3D mode). Level Flight and OFF.
I have Level Flight set for Flight Mode 1 (CPII ON).

[CrazyHeliDude]

Originally Posted by TeeJayShelton

yes what woody said is important if you dont set what it is supposed to do in the switch position its not going to work well.... The swash will move a little bit if auto trim is on and cp2 is off but will move a lot more when cp2 is on... you can set it up indoors that is no problem at all.... just dont fly it indoors unless both cp2 and auto trim are off!!

The swash moves a little in Flight Mode 0 (CPII OFF) since I have Auto Trim enabled at its default 6º. - When I switch to Flight Mode 1 (CPII ON/Level Flight Mode) the swash plate moves much more as expected. The Main Sensor will track the movement of my hand, even to the point of 100% servo throw if I move my hand close to the sensor.

Here's the break down of my setup:

PREFERENCES:

FLIGHT MODE SETUP >N

Set Gains For Stability >N

Stick Priority >75%

Max Servo Travel Limit >100%

Gyro Output Channel 4 >+40%

Disarm Flight Modes to >LEVEL

Enable Emergency Recovery >Y

Set Flight Angles >N

Choose T. Units >Fahrenheit

Show Technical Screens >N

_________________________

PREFERENCES:

FLIGHT MODE SETUP >Y

Enable Remote On/Off >Y

Change Remote On/Off on TX >Y

Rec. Modulation >2.4GHz or PCM

Confirm Rmt Work on TX (Flip gyro switch - 982 uS / 2027 uS)

Type of Control >2 Way Switch

This Control has 1 Flt Mode and OFF

Move Rem. ON/OFF to OFF Position (move gyro switch to position 0)

Move Rem. ON/OFF to Flight Mode 1 (move gyro switch to position 1)

Move REMOTE to change screens (it works, the screens change)

OFF Remote = 0%
AutoTrim >6º

F.Mode 1 Rm = 100%
>Not Assigned

**(I now assign Flight Mode 1 to LEVEL FLIGHT)**

F.Mode 1 Rm = 100%
>Level Flight

Flight Mode Setup COMPLETE

[Woody_99]

F.Mode 1 Rm = 100%
>Not Assigned

**(I now assign Flight Mode 1 to LEVEL FLIGHT)**


That sounds correct.

[CrazyHeliDude]

Update: I took the heli out a few more times today and CPII now seems to be more active. It is doing something .... only it's not doing enough of it.

I'm operating pretty close to the ground here, within 20 feet. If I put the heli into a hard right roll and release the stick, CPII does take over and start to level the heli, but slowly, and doesn't get it back to full level. The heli quickly (very quickly ) still continues sliding to the right. Same with any other direction. But at least CPII does have the right idea now and is trying to do what it's supposed to. I would trust it to, say, pull it out of a 90º vertical power dive from a high altitude, but very little more.

I realize CPII has no optical/camera sensor like Heli Command, and is not a position hold type of stabilizer, and a bit of drift is to be expected. But from many of the vids I've seen, CPII will yank a heli back to full level pretty darn quick when the stick is released, with a minimal amount of slide. The RDS75H servos (stock blade 400) aren't the fastest or most accurate in the world, but apparently the FMA guy had CPII on a B400 and it did pretty good.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u88kz_QxzOk[/ame]


I'll try turning up the gains and/or servo travels and see how it responds.

-

[nightflyr]

with out seeing how you installed and did the quick setup it will be difficult to tell where the issue is

[TeeJayShelton]

Originally Posted by Zephrus

Update: I took the heli out a few more times today and CPII now seems to be more active. It is doing something .... only it's not doing enough of it.

I'm operating pretty close to the ground here, within 20 feet. If I put the heli into a hard right roll and release the stick, CPII does take over and start to level the heli, but slowly, and doesn't get it back to full level. The heli quickly (very quickly ) still continues sliding to the right. Same with any other direction. But at least CPII does have the right idea now and is trying to do what it's supposed to. I would trust it to, say, pull it out of a 90º vertical power dive from a high altitude, but very little more.

I realize CPII has no optical/camera sensor like Heli Command, and is not a position hold type of stabilizer, and a bit of drift is to be expected. But from many of the vids I've seen, CPII will yank a heli back to full level pretty darn quick when the stick is released, with a minimal amount of slide. The RDS75H servos (stock blade 400) aren't the fastest or most accurate in the world, but apparently the FMA guy had CPII on a B400 and it did pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u88kz_QxzOk


I'll try turning up the gains and/or servo travels and see how it responds.

-

also be sure to turn on emergency recover as it when cp2 is first turned on will double the throws for the intial recovery then it will revert to the set throw... I have yet to mess with the sensor gains on mine yet but you can adjust those... you know that cp2's on"amount" affects the control throws not the sensor gains... I am sure(though I havent ever done it) you will be able to make the sensors plenty sensative for your liking.... I should try this myself....

[Bri]

Does anyone have a link to the manual for the CPII? I would like to start reviewing it and figuring out some of this stuff.

Thanks.

[nightflyr]

http://www.fmadirect.com/downloads.htm

Here ya go

[Bri]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

http://www.fmadirect.com/downloads.htm

Here ya go

Thank you very much sir.