Hi all

I am also in the setup and configuration process of my first Geolink. I made a temporary mounting on the boom with all restrictions for the placement in mind. I used the longer cable, cause the Spirit pro is in front of the Heli. The mount is made by using only plastic components and is placed far from any electric component like servo. Free air flow should be given and the mounting inclination shows max. 0.5° deflection on both axes if I level the skids (which have some degrees nose down angle, but as Spirit and Geo are in parallel that should not mater). The value flickers around 0.4 degree (don't know if that is normal) even if I don't touch the model.
The problem I am facing is that the heading is spinning around like crazy. I get values all around 360° and it changes every second without touching the model. I tried to re-calibrate the compass and completed the sequence with no better results. If I loosen the GeoLink and manually give some angle to it regarding the Spirit Unit it gets better but does not get stable.

What am I doing wrong? Any help is very welcome.

I see you have firmware 1.0.2 on the Geo Link.
Do you have 2.5.2 in the Spirit ?
Is the nose of the Heli facing North ? You should see 90 degrees with it facing North.
Try a shorter cable, very long cables have been a problem.
Remove the Geo Link use the cable that came with it and temporarily mount Geo Link and see if it clears up.
Others have had to move Spirit to the rear and rewire the Heli especially the Align 700 X

You might try a different computer/laptop as a test. I found that the laptop that I was using did not play well with the Spirit and GeoLink, causing the Compass Heading to jump around by more than 10 degrees as I watched it.

Hello,

if you put the model near 360° or near 0° then the values will be anything between, because the heading is not perfectly stable.
To move between 0° and 360° it takes some time. So you could see random angles if you put the model exactly at this angle.

If you rotate it by few degrees more than it should be stable.

_________________
Spirit System developer

Hi all

Thank you very much for the suggestions and tips. They are really appreciated.
@LogoX2: I have made updates to the newest available software on all components before starting with the setup. It does not depend on where the nose is pointing to. I tried to make the 90° North test to see if I have to calibrate the compass or not. But it is impossible to read out any value, cause it shows another value in the whole range from 0 to 360 every second. I will try with the original cable but then I have no spot to place the Geo which covers the requirements regarding magnetic fields. That’s why I ordered the longer cable from Spirit. Rewiring the whole cabling to be able to place the Gyro also in the back is the last option I will try if everything else fails (as it is much effort). By the way it's a "original" 600DFC but with Graupner ESC.
@FrankFuss: Thank you for the hint with the different computer, will try that also this evening. The jumping is not only in between 10 degrees as shown on the two randomly taken screenshots.
@ZeXx86: I tried with the model in different positions. I also tried to move the model in spheres as in the calibration process to "initiate" the compass before reading out a value, but it is the same.

Will come back with updates from the tests this evening.

Regards
Martin

So it was working correctly previously, right?

Do you remember when it changed? Longer cable should not cause the issue but maybe there is something magnetic in the boom.
When you remove GeoLink does it help?

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Spirit System developer

Nope it never worked. I faced this problem from the beginning when I followed the installation instructions and had to check the North to 90° angle in §2.1.
The boom is made of Aluminum. I can't imagine what could cause magnetic fields in the boom especially if the tail rotor is not driven.
What do you mean with removing the GeoLink? If I remove it I have and need no heading with the SpiritPro alone.

Update from the new tests (I describe it in detail to help other users which have possibly the same symptoms):
1st Test new Laptop: Test at same location with the rest of the equipment not changed (same Spirit Interface, still longer Geolink cable, still same Position of the GeoLink, aso.) => Heading showed a much more stable value. It flickered only in between +-5°. So I was very happy at first moment and made the conclusion that the laptop switch was the solution. I switched back to the old Laptop to make a check and to verify the bad behavior on that Laptop.
2nd Test old Laptop: To my big surprise also the old Laptop showed stable values this time. I have not changed another thing since the last test except of the Laptop exchange. Then I wanted to make the 90° North test again and recognized that heading only showed values between around 120 and 340° no mater which direction the Heli pointed to (full circle). So after a night of thinking about it I decided to test it again today on another location (this time indoor) with same results. Then I made a new re-calibration with the result, that I have now full 360° and it only flickers if the Heli stands in between 350° and 10° which I think is the behavior described in the post I quoted above. On the rest of the directions it is stable in between 5°.

=> My conclusion or trial to explain the symptoms: Can't say what the initial cause was but in my opinion on the first tries something was wrong with the compass. Might be possible that it somehow stuck around 0° and showed the same behavior as now if I point it around 0°. But at these first tries I also moved the model in full circle and it flickered all the time. I made many tests this time and powered the link off and on again and again. When I did the re-calibration with the compass not working correctly, wrong values were learned and therefore the heading at the second session showed only values between 120-340°. The second re-calibration with the compass working solved that problem also.

So long words short: The compass heading is now more or less stable and also shows more or less accurate values. I have to organize a analog compass now to verify the 90° North exactly (because I don't fully trust in the calibration at the moment) . If any one has an explanation what was wrong at the first tries it may possibly help other users.

Hello,

it is possible that the model was too close to the laptop.
At the front side there are speakers. If you performed calibration near then it was certainly not good.
So maybe this was reason why it was showing a wrong values.

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Spirit System developer

I assume this is a torque tube tail drive? Could the Geo be placed directly above one of the bearings in the tube causing a magnetic problem?