Hello

I have a couple of questions about Aero 1.3. Firstly, when the model is stationary the ailerons move small amounts alternately in opposite directions and in a continuous cycle. While this occurs there is no response to tramsmitter control. Rescue is never engaged on start-up and there is nothing notable in the logs.

Also, I have set 60% throttle set for rescue, but no throttle is applied when rescue is engaged.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Many thanks
Al

Hello,

maybe you will need to reverse Aileron servo. Please check that Diagnostic tab is looking good - all channels should move in the right direction.
Then if control elements are not moving properly, you can reverse a servos to correct it.

It should move continually if some stick is deflected, but only to a certain angle. It also depends what Global Gain is configured - can be checked in the Diagnostic tab too.
With higher gain, you will usually see a bigger angles of control elements and bigger response on model movement.

_________________
Spirit System developer

Hello

Thanks for your reply. The setup seems to be fine and the model flies very well on the rare occasion that the ailerons do not move up and down continually without any input. This seems to be a bug but I've looked through all the other support threads and haven't seen this reported by others.

In troubleshooting the problem I've replaced the esc (with integral bec) with a different brand and there was no improvement. As a next step I intend to save my settings and then reset the Spirit (original black) before reloading the firmware and settings.

I will let you know if this solves the problem.

Thanks

Al

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Hello,

reloading settings and flashing firmware again will not make any difference. There is nothing hidden from pilots, so everything you can see in the software is how it will work.

Instead you can just decrease Aileron gain to solve your problem. This is for the purpose to minimize movements and reduce possible oscillations.

_________________
Spirit System developer

Ok I may not have described the uncommanded servo movement problem very well so here is some further information.

1. The issue is not directly related to gain or stabilisation of the model. It occurs to the same extent with any amount of gain.

2. The installation is a simple one. It consists of 4 servos, a single DSMX sat and a good quality, fully functioning BEC (built into the ESC).

3. Only the aileron servos move unexpectedly. The rudder and elevator servos remain still.

4. The aileron movement looks like the movement that occurs when the Spirit initialises; it looks like the Spirit reboots itself.

5. When the uncommanded servo movements occur, the Spirit does not respond to any stick or throttle movements. Usually control returns after about 2 seconds. Sometimes control does not return at all until the battery is disconnected and then reconnected.

6. Sometimes the issue occurs repeatedly around 20 times per minute. Other times it happens only occasionally or not at all.

7. The problem never happens when connected to the Diagnostic page of the Aero software, either with a PC or an Android phone over bluetooth.

8. The transmitter is fine and regularly used to fly other models without problems.

9. I have uploaded the following video to show what is going on. On this occasion the first uncommanded movement occurs at 1min 03sec. It happens 3 more times before all control is lost.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ozoGe-eB8M[/youtube]

Thank you for description.

Clearly this is not normal and should never happen.

So you have 2 aileron servos connected at the CH1 and CH3, right?

Could you power up the model without powering the radio and check if this is still happening?

_________________
Spirit System developer

Both problems now seem to be resolved.

Re the servo movement problem: this appears to have been caused by the JR DSMX satellite receiver. I have swapped this with a Spektrum one and have powered up the model about 10 times. The model initialised properly every time. Of course I need to try it a good few more times at the field before being sure that it is fixed but it looks like the JR satellite receiver was the culprit. The original JR satellite receiver is now installed in one of my smaller helis that doesn't have a Spirit Pro on it and seems to work fine, so perhaps this particular sat version is not compatible with Spirit controllers. To answer your questions: you are right in that 2 aileron servos are connected at the CH1 and CH3. Also the issue didn't happen with the radio powered off.

Re the throttle on rescue. I can see now that throttle is applied during rescue, but only if the motor is already running. The Spirit is installed on a powered glider and I only tested it when the motor was unpowered.

Thank you for your help, and for the Aero firmware.

A quick update on this. Apparently the aileron problem was not caused by the JR sat. After many successful flights, the aileron glitch returned. I had to replace the rudder servo and the issue came back immediately afterwards. So I rebound the sat and its fine again. I've since had many more flights and the glitch hasn't returned.

On a possibly related note - this Spirit is a very early version; the first generation I think. Should I update the bootloader?

Unfortunately I have not been able to resolve this. In summary:

- The issue is affecting one of the original black Spirit units. This had previously been used in a heli with no problems.

- The Spirit unit has never been in a crash.

- The aileron servos cycle back and forth periodically, in the same way as when the unit initialises. This can be every few seconds to every few minutes. The elevator, rudder and throttle channels are fine.

- The aileron servos do not move when the model is powered up without powering the DX9 radio. The aileron servos also stop moving when the radio is turned off.

- The radio is fine. The monitor screen doesn't show any uncommanded transmission signals and the radio is regularly used to fly other models.

- Sometimes the problem appears to have gone away but it has always returned.

I've updated the bootloader, changed the ESC/BEC and have tried many different cables and genuine Spektrum sats - both DSM2 and DSMX. I've also tried dual sats and with only one sat connected to the Rudder port via a sat adaptor, all with no change.

As a next step, I'm considering changing the receiver to either a Spektrum SPM4649T or perhaps an AR8000. I would however rather not spend time and money on changing the receiver if this is unlikely to solve the problem.

I would appreciate any advice as to whether trying a different receiver could be worthwhile.

Hello,

maybe it would be better if you can share your current settings from the unit.
Maybe the problem will be just some configuration issue.

_________________
Spirit System developer