won't fly waypoints?
Greetings,
I'm running the latest versions of everything, including the new (excellent) HappyK config tool. The first thing I worked on was getting the RTL mode, and that's working quite well now.
The next step was to create a couple waypoints, and see if it would fly to them. Unfortunately, after a number of attempts, I haven't seen any indication that the waypoint mode is working. Selecting the center "waypoint" postion of the switch, does exactly the same thing as selecting the upper "RTL" position.
The first thought was that maybe I had the radio programmed to give the mid and upper positions the same output value. That's not the case though. I've verified that off is -100%, center is 0%, and upper is +100%. A servo plugged into that channel confirms this is really what's happening.
The next question is whether I'm even getting waypoints entered. I'm using the latest (08-31-09) version of HappyK's config tool, and it appears to be working normally. The only indication of a problem is when I do a write. I always get the "something is wrong" message. If I delete the waypoints from the screen, then do a read, it says "read successful", and shows me the waypoints I had entered before doing the write command. This seems to me to be proof that it really is writing them. Powering off and on, then doing a read always shows the waypoints, until I change them with another write command.
My typical test has been to enter the waypoints at home, allowing the "home" position to be shown as my house. My understanding is that this home position will move to the point where I do the field setup, but won't change my 2 waypoints.
The only other possible clue is the "home" position when I get back to my house. I powered it all off at the field of course, so the last "home" position should be shown at the field. When I got to the house, I unplugged the GPS, plugged in the FTDI, powered up, and connected to the config tool. When I did a read, I expected the "home" position to be shown at the field, but instead, it's still shown at my house. The two waypoints I entered earlier are right where I left them, so none of that seems to have changed. Obviously it was using the field setup "home" position since it was circling obediently over my head.
So the question, can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks,
Rusty
I'm running the latest versions of everything, including the new (excellent) HappyK config tool. The first thing I worked on was getting the RTL mode, and that's working quite well now.
The next step was to create a couple waypoints, and see if it would fly to them. Unfortunately, after a number of attempts, I haven't seen any indication that the waypoint mode is working. Selecting the center "waypoint" postion of the switch, does exactly the same thing as selecting the upper "RTL" position.
The first thought was that maybe I had the radio programmed to give the mid and upper positions the same output value. That's not the case though. I've verified that off is -100%, center is 0%, and upper is +100%. A servo plugged into that channel confirms this is really what's happening.
The next question is whether I'm even getting waypoints entered. I'm using the latest (08-31-09) version of HappyK's config tool, and it appears to be working normally. The only indication of a problem is when I do a write. I always get the "something is wrong" message. If I delete the waypoints from the screen, then do a read, it says "read successful", and shows me the waypoints I had entered before doing the write command. This seems to me to be proof that it really is writing them. Powering off and on, then doing a read always shows the waypoints, until I change them with another write command.
My typical test has been to enter the waypoints at home, allowing the "home" position to be shown as my house. My understanding is that this home position will move to the point where I do the field setup, but won't change my 2 waypoints.
The only other possible clue is the "home" position when I get back to my house. I powered it all off at the field of course, so the last "home" position should be shown at the field. When I got to the house, I unplugged the GPS, plugged in the FTDI, powered up, and connected to the config tool. When I did a read, I expected the "home" position to be shown at the field, but instead, it's still shown at my house. The two waypoints I entered earlier are right where I left them, so none of that seems to have changed. Obviously it was using the field setup "home" position since it was circling obediently over my head.
So the question, can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks,
Rusty
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Greg Fletcher on -
When in waypoint mode you should have a green led with the red led. You must have the green led for wp,if not then your transmitter is not calibrated for wp mode. You don't need a servo, the ardupilot will tell you. Trust me ,I know. I hacked my transmitter switches with a custom resistor board to select modes. I also made a sub channel in the manual mode. I wired the control chnl to digital input 8. I want to set wp's in flight. I have the controls down, I just need to get the eeprom write patr written.
GREEN LED ==WP MODE
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Permalink Reply by 13brv3 on -
Thanks for reminding me about the green LED. I've had the AP buried inside the fuselage so long that I forgot about it. I just pulled it out, and verified that the green LED is coming on when I select the center waypoint position on the switch, so we can rule that out.
Now for people who have waypoints working, can you verify that it should work the way I'm setting this up. In other words, can you write the waypoints before leaving the house, then have it fly them at the field? Do you manually set the "home" position, or let it do it automatically via the field setup?
Thanks,
Rusty
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Permalink Reply by mmormota on
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Both possible.
The read back function of the HappyKillmore ConfigTool didn't handled well the automatic (jumper on-start-remove jumper) home position. Only the latest version handles it well, the v1.4.12
If you are not sure about the wp mode, install the HappyKillmore emulator software. Great fun using it, and much more easy and safe then testing Ardupilot on the field. It's described here in detail:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1102975
While the topic is about the integration of the remzibi OSD, the emulation is working without the OSD very well.
However using Ardupilot with the OSD is a big step ahead. Allways clear what's going on. It displays the modes (manual, rtl, wp), in wp mode it shows the current wp number, and the remaining distance to the wp. Big fun.
I did many tests with the emulator, very useful tool - I even found a bug in the Ardu code using it. Sometimes the rtl function's target altitude was 0. I corrected this, the simple mod is in the same topic (in the last few days).
My very first real flight test was today, and it was big success - the plane followed the plan and hit all 5 waypoints. It was the planes 2nd flight - the first one was a manual and fly-by-wire test...
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