Hello Tomas,

as i announced yesterday i need good advise from you. I searched the forum about a too fast descending velocity on Auto Landing. You advised to reduce the Landing Velocity from the average 25%.

My Setup is a TRex 450 V2 with flybar. Servos are cheap turnigy on cyclic. I know it's not the best for FBL Systems but this is only a test heli. I did the installation procedure with the installation assistent and like it is described in the procedure.

So then i tested it and i had rapid movements on RTH and fast descend on Auto Landing. It was with the presets from your program for a TRex 450 and the old Spirit version 3.4.1 and 1.3.1 with the GeoLink V2. Position hold was a little bit circling. So i read the forum and you advised to calibrate the GeoLink. I did not calibrate it yet.

Then i reduced the percents for auto Landing from 25% to 18%. Still rapid descent.
For RTH i reduced the horizontal and vertikal movements in the GeoLink Tab from 100% to 80 %. Still rapid movement backwards.

Then i updated to Spirit 3.4.2 and tested with the reduced gains. No change in behaviour.

Now i updated to the actual Version 3.4.3 and GeoLink 1.3.2. I tested again and had the same movements as before. Position hold was better despite i didn't calibrate it.
Then i reduced Auto Landing to 10% and horizontal to 50% and vertikal to 50 %. But in my opinion there are not really effects on the behaviour of the heli although i reduced the gains massively. On Auto Landing the heli really loses height rapidly and on RTH the heli moves very strong backwards.
In my opinion the GeoLink Modul takes no changes. Is this possible? The gains are written in the software. I controlled this and noticed the different gains and the side effect on the heli. The GeoLink had 16 satellites.

And one side effect i think is different in the new update. I need much more pitch to lift the heli off from the ground and when i go on full pitch the heli moves only slowly upwards. The same when i snip the rescue switch.

This effect with the rapid movements i didn't have on my TRex 700 which is my next test heli. Although i have higher gains.

The Spirit itself is functioning very well. The heli is very stable in Stabi Mode and has a neat flight characteristic. But all functions depending on the GeoLink Modul are not as i expected it to be.

My setup is a Jeti DC16 and Spirit GTR. Robbe Roxxy esc;


What is the mistake i do?

Is it helpful for you to have a video from the situation?

How can i create a ds file for you. I typed it in the search. I found nothing.

Hello,

thank you for your message.

First from all I recommend to verify following:
1. Start the Spirit Settings and open the Servos tab
2. Click at the Subtrim (tuning)
3. All servo arms should be at the center at this moment - as close as possible to check with eye - usually it is hard to measure with other tools. If you are not sure, then please take a photos of the servos in this moment.
4. Check if swashplate is really levelled at the same time - still in the Subtrim (tuning) menu.
5. Check if there is 0° between main blades - still in the Subtrim (tuning) menu.

All these steps must be checked and configured it is really good - all at the same time, because all Altitude related features are dependent on precise configuration of the swashplate/blades.

You can start with the lowest Vertical Correction Gain. In this case there must be very clear difference in behavior for Altitude Hold. But not in the speed of Auto landing, but how strong corrections in the collective pitch are.
Auto Landing speed should be quite slow at the lowest value. Good for Scale model.

If base settings are not correct, then the model can start to loose altitude very quickly and possibly start reacting somehow slow.

Are you using Bank Switching?

You can save all settings to the file in the Backup tab - upper Save button and attach it here. Then I can check all parameters.

Without calibration GeoLink will not maintain horizontal position well - all functions that are controlling model in horizotal axis will be imprecise.
However Altitude related functions are not dependent on calibration.

There is no change for collective pitch between firmwares in a normal flight modes. If this happened, then some settings was changed.
Model must fly identically before and after update between versions 3.2 to 3.4.

_________________
Spirit System developer

Thanks for the fast reply.

No. I use no bank switching. I made it on channels.

I have one channel Stabi:scale on a Switch
one channel Rescue on a Snip Switch
one channel RTH on a Switch
one channel Auto Landing and Position hold on a 3 way Switch
one channel rescue automatic on a Switch

OK. I will again control and readjust the swash plate and do a calibration of the GeoLink.

If Position Hold will work well, then RTH should work well too.
If there is strong movement only in RTH then Home position is set somewhere more away and it tries to reach this position as fast as possible. Maybe I dont understand the problem clearly. So a video can be helpful a lot.

If model will move strongly with Position Hold when you activate it, then something could be wrong in the swashplate settings or Center of Gravity of the model is very off from the center.
On a smaller models GeoLink will move this CoG so battery must be more in the front of the model.

_________________
Spirit System developer

I set the home position as from the point the heli lifts off. I thought i can calm down the backward movement with the reducing of the horizontal percents. The heli was about 10 m away from lift off when i snapped RTH. Or is there a extra tab where i can change the velocity for the movement when activating RTH ? That would be a possible feature in the future

On Position hold is different. Mostly in the beginning of the flight tests it holds very well and after three flights it began to move and drift sideways to the left ( although there was no wind on Sunday ). I have no Altitude hold.
The Swashplate i have to control. CG is ok. Nose is down a little bit.

Thanks

If behavior is correct at the beginning but is getting worse later then there is some very different problem.

If you are saving new RTH position by switch manually then I recommend to use mode 4, because it is taking always lift off position automatically from the last moment which is the most precise.
Do you have a separate battery for electronics and ESC? Is this battery plugged in all the time?

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Spirit System developer

I use the mode where the heli recognize the lift off and set the home point. Mode 4 ? Right ?

No. I have no separate battery. It's a 3S 2200 mAh battery. And i have more of them. It's not always the same battery.
My roxxy esc has 40 or 60 A and there is a built in bec. Should i do the bec test ?

I plug the battery in when i reach the starting point. Then i wait for initializing and after initializing i place the canopy and start flying.
The heli has no movement between pluging in and initializing.

Great,

it is only important to lift off after GeoLink LED light is ON.
If you will lift off few seconds later then acquired position from GeoLink will be even more precise.
So it should return more accurately to the lift off position.
No BEC test is needed.

If precision is somehow different between batteries then I fear something mechanical is changing.
For example in the first flight motor and bearings are cool. When they are later hot model could produce much more vibrations which could affect precision of GeoLink functions in theory.
This can be verified by observing S Vibes telemetry value in your radio.
If they are same each flight, then this is not a problem.

_________________
Spirit System developer

That's a good point to look at with mechanical interferences. The motor is getting little hot. But this was always the case on this heli.

SVibes i have on telemetry. They vary between 15 to 22 %. The higher the rpm the higher the vibes

When the heli initialized i wait for about 5 seconds before i put on the canopy and then another 5 seconds before take off.

If you will not wait until GeoLink will be ready (LED light steady ON - acquire enough satellites) then all GeoLink functions might work improperly. Also RTH point could be programmed incorrectly in the air instead of from lift off position.

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Spirit System developer