I had issue arming Quantum Nova from Hobbyking and never could get help from those guys. Then i watched your video and it helped me to resolve my problem. thank you very much for your clear detail step by step instruction.
Hi, I have watched all your videos and you have great knowledge of the ardupilot, which I have purchased to install on my first build (x450 quadcopter). Using a 3D power distribution board 3 cell 550mah lipo battery, 30 amp esc's 2600 kv sunny sky motors and turnigy 9x controller. After setting up my board through mission planner, I was able to successfully install firmware, calibrate compass, calibrate radio, calibrate esc's, set up fail safe to rtl. When I perform motor test, only 3 of the 4 motors worked. After swapping motors around and getting all 4 motors to work, I put it down to an esc problem. As I was also able to move the working esc and motors to different parts of the distribution board and with the help of a voltage tester, I was able to determine that the power distribution board was fine and was outputting 11.1 volts for each terminal. After replacing what I thought to be a faulty esc, I was able to get all 4 motors to work. Although 1 esc seems to get hotter than the rest. On the first flight test, the front 2 motors seemed to be producing more power than the back 2. When you try to lift off, only the front will let. Adjustments by sliding it forwards and trying To make trim adjustments on the controller. Then it tried to pick right up at the front so I switched off the controller instead of disarming it. It then acted strangely, the front two motors and back right seemed to slow right down, I think the front two actually stopped, the back left started to spin at full rpm and as I was holding it down I was able to disconnect the battery without losing any fingers. Any advice would be great as I am very lost as to what's going on. Tks Simon
Self cocking home made crossbow I would check that the accelerometers read ok and you can see the board is 'level' in Mission Planner. Manually calibrate the ESCs and make sure that the COG is in the middle of the frame. One ESC will be a little hotter - this is due to being the one supplying the majority of the current via it's BEC. Best of luck..
So glad you have done these for the APM noobs. Though I am new to RC I appreciate the backgrounding that you accomplish here. I am just getting my 800mm modified Tarot FY680 Hexa ready for flying. Alot of cash aloft and it has got to be right before I out the gimbal and camera on her. Going over the WIki and nowhere does it mention this simple matter of Arming with Rudder down and to the right. Got more to share re Autotune issues on a more appropriate video in this series. Best regards, don't bother responding P360,...letting you know that you are appreciated
Extremely helpful videos!, I have a problem with my quadcopter though, the motors are only responding to the throttle command but not to pitch,roll or yaw, will arming the motors and ardupilot allow my quadcopter to respond to pitch, roll and yaw commands from the transmitter?
Hi Painless.. thanx for all the vids, i have a F450 frame with the Apm 2.6 with external Gps&compass... 2 problems here. my 1st problem was my quad keeps on toiletbowling in loiter and PosHold modes. But now have a bigger problem. when connected via USB to mission planner my Quad arm perfectly.. when disconnected from Usb is does not want to arm, gets GPS lock but just a red light blinking. maby some advise please?
First one - this is usually down to interference from magnetic fields or vibration (see th-cam.com/video/3CBxyY0lS6g/w-d-xo.html). If all else fails you can run through a CompassMOT process.. Second, sounds like a power issue. If you are powering from the ESCs then check that J1 is installed, if it is then you may have blown the 500ma fuse (see th-cam.com/video/TS4OWAcfAQY/w-d-xo.html). Best of luck..
Hello.. I followed the 8 videos and learned a lot... Thank you very much!!!! based on that I could finish my tricopter with a HK MEGA 2.7... the only issue is that when it is "armed" the motors start to spin at very low rpm. In that stage I have no control on the tail servo... just have to accelerate a little and everything seems to work ok... if I move throttle to the lowest position again motors will spin at very low rpm.... Any clue? could the ESC? I calibrated all three as you show in your video... Well, please if you have any suggestion I will appreciate it very much!!! Thanks again for your nice job here!!
thanks for this video. I am using an APM 2.8 with my Taranis for a delta wing. I don't have Yaw for delta wing with just elevons. do I need to set up a channel for yaw so I can arm the APM 2.8. currently the APM will not arm. My guess is because yaw is not setup so there is no signal on that channel to do the arming procedure. Or is it possibly something else?
I was wondering whether it might be the Power Module that I am using, (GM Ver. 1.0). Incidentally, when in Mission Planner, and I am connected to the Controller, when I go into the section for testing the motors, I can only get 1 motor to spin when I click on the, “Test all motors in sequence” button, so I am wondering whether this has something to do with it perhaps.
Is this related to another comment? It sounds like it is. Please use the 'reply' function otherwise it's impossible for me to keep track of what we've already talked about with all of the questions and comments that I get on a daily basis. Best of luck with it..
Doing my first Pixhawk build with a 2.4.8 My motors won't spin during motor test/won't arm. I have an error in Telemetry "Bad AHRS". I thought I properly disabled GPS for arming (I can't get satellites indoors) Do I need to recalibrate the compass in Mission Planner? Any tips for resolving "Bad AHRS"?
@@Painless360 Yes, was a million little things, and I deactivated most of the pre-arming checks, but the final fix was flipping the 3 wires between the FC and ESCs (signal and ground swap, with 5v in center, brown wire up (ground)). At first only one motor would spin. All motors worked on one ESC, so it seemed the other ESCs needed also to be ‘woken up’ and calibrated by attaching battery with controller at full throttle (SimonK firmware preloaded on the ESC) then remove battery, reattach, and then wait for telemetry message to reduce throttle to zero to complete ESC calibration :)
Hello painless360, I’ve built two quad copters and I wish I could say it was painless but they have been anything but painless. They both took off but both crashed within 10 secs of flight, both went up a few metres then flipped and crashed to the ground. If the battery is slightly lose could that cause a crash ?
Great video, short and well explained, Thank you. I just downloaded the newest version of Mission Planner which is recommended, and can not find the settings to accelerate throttle; the problem is that not matter how high i lift the stick, the motors reach an speed and stay there. Those settings used to be in the Advanced Parameters, as far as I remember. Can you help me out with it?
I've had a few people ask about this in the last few weeks so you are not on your own. Sadly I no longer use APM here so can't plug it in and try it out. I'd suggest a look in the forums for other pilots who've had this recently and fixed it. Best of luck with it!
I need your help because can not arm it after days of trying. I don't understand if channels 7 & 8 have to be different or not. In my APM 2.7 channels 6, 7, and 8 are the same and there is not way to make them change. I have a Spektrumo DX7s and a Receiver AR8000. I Have eventually on in display: check FS-THR-VALUE. Any Idea will be greatly appreciated.
+Victor Rodas The error is all about the throttle channel value. I'd start there and make sure the throttle range from the radio is above 1000 at the low end and below 2000 at maximum and that you've not set the failsafe to a level that is seeing the normal range as 'failsafe'. See our build videos for the APM for more tips..
Hi. I've found your videos an incredible help to me but I'm stuck and I cant find anything on the net about this, I'm hoping you have an idea of whats wrong... I am using a micro apm 2.7.2 on a trifecta frame. I'm using APM Planner 2.0.17 on my mac. I had the FC all programmed ready to go, I cut the switch SJ10 to use the compass with my GPS and ever since when I press connect it starts to download the parameters from the board but always gets stuck. I changed one of the parameters on the APM Planner to use the external compass (something I found out after a load of googling) but it stuck again. Do you have any ideas what I can do please?
Rowland Stanley The board should still connect when with the track broken. I would remove everything from the board and try and connect, if that fails solder the track back and try again. I do have a setup video for the APM Mini - see here - th-cam.com/play/PLYsWjANuAm4pCP3jjSAcmDJIEmyaEregs.html I'm not a fan of the HK APM versions, too many problems in the past. I would get in touch with them for help. Best of luck with it!
Hello I have 4-1400kv motors with 2200mah 25C battery And using apm 2.8 flight controller. 2 of my motors are responding slowly they are rotating after 25% of trottle. What was the reason behind it ??? Whether the issue is due to battery or ESC or apm
Hi I have just assembled my first quad with the help of your videos however when I arm the board all four motors fire up at a very low rpms. they seem to throttle up fine. I have set all the motors individually as per your recomendation but when hooked up to the apm they run at low idle after initialisation. Trimming down on the transmitter does not help. Any ideas or is this normal? I have the latest HK micro 2.7.2 board. thanks.
+Muz You're not searching on the channel are you ;) They playlists are very handy for finding related videos to the one you're watching.th-cam.com/video/cXSNgCQ9WJwH/w-d-xo.htmlope it helps.
Hi there ~ I've followed your series to the letter and still having problems arming the board on my Dead Cat with APM unit plus Turnigy 9X Tx. I've gone through the wizard carefully in Mission Planner and when in Flight Plan screen each time I try arming the board by holding yaw ( rudder ) stick to the right for no more than 7 seconds the screen says "DISARMED FAILSAFE NO RC RECEIVER". Can you help please ? All controls and flight mode switches are showing correctly. Tx is in PPM Mode. Cheers !
Hi, I've just had a go at calibrating my ESC's. It works great but I'm not getting the battery cell count beeps after I lower the throttle? These are Afro 30 amp ESC's. Any ideas?
my next issue is probably a parameters issue also but i cant find it. in parameters there is no setting for Y6A only X. when i set the parameters for X only 4 motors opperate. when i set the parameters to 'Plus" 5 motors will turn which is most likely just an esc issue, but my frame is Y6A. any idea what the proper parameter for Y6Ashould be. listed values are 0 thru 5 and then it jumps to 10 but none are assigned to Y6A
Followed your APM 3.1 video series to the letter. Will not arm, and no HUD message on the type of error. Followed Arducopter Pre-Arm checks But have no errors to follow up on. Checked GPS’s HDOP it is 2.2. Mag field is 188. GPS has 3d fix with 5 Sats. Disabled all pre-checks. Re caliberated Radio and all radio movements are correct in Misson Planner. I have Telemetry radio link so all response is in real time. No telemetry logs are created to be downloaded. Any ideas? Thank you Derrill
+Derr Nav HDOP seems a little high but not sure what you expect me to say when there are no error messages. Id check rudder and throttle endpoints are enough. ardupilot.org/copter/docs/prearm_safety_check.html may help. Best of luck!
+Painless360 Found the problem. First I identified that the power wires coming out of 3.1 for receiver were correct. Next I checked each channel and discovered two channel reversed. Fixed that and it arms now. Thank you for all your videos and help. Derrill
Hello , I really enjoy your videos ,I have question about the RTL and the Stabilize switch position at ch-5 I am using a Futab 6J Tx. at this time my motors speedup when I flip Ch. 5 from Stabilize to RTL . is this the correct or should I rev the setting. stabilize to be the higher motor speed.
William Booth RTL has a height that it wants to get to (see the other videos in this playlist) so will increase the motors to rise to that level before flying back to the stored home location. Follow the setup tutorial and the APM will take care of the rest.. Best of luck.
When I armed the board without prop and try fly everything should go right. But when I fitted the pro and try to fly (take off) one motor stop when i trottle raise.chennel 3. Is stopping and esc are bipiing. And my battery voltage is 8.45. Because. I use 3s 2200 mah. But one cell is damaged. So is there battery fault?
Lee, followed your advise to watch this video and now my quad is arming fine....thank you. However, do have a slight problem. The motors are not turning fast enough to take off the quad. I went in MP...Full Parameters and set the Throttle Max from 80 to 1000...still won't take off....went back in and set to 2000....same thing. I am using the Taranis plus with X8R receiver....and my throttle shows 1000 and 2000 with mid 1500. Please help, what I'm I missing??
Not sure, we retired all of our APM stuff about a year ago. There are lots of others in the forums who've had this problem so maybe one of them has the answer.. I'd recalibrate your ESCs after the change you just made in case too. Let me know if you find out what it was..
Lee, so far not luck finding help to my problem. Besides the Throttle Max sub-menu in Full Parameters in MP. Do you know of any other sub-menu that would affect motor speed in the Full Parameters section? Since I have the very same issue with two Quads it seems to all point to a programming issue from MP.
Thank you Lee, I totally understand. Let's try this....I know Pixhawk is a better FC...and I notice though there are a lot of clones out there. Would you recommend a Pixhawk and if so would you buy a clone or stay with a real 3DR one? I just want something that Mission Planner totally recognizes and downloads firmware to with no issues. Truly appreciate your help and your replying to me.
Good day I have been following thus build I am useing the hobbywing 4 in 1 esc. I can't get them to wrk! I have done the calibration one by one and all together. That seems to be the only thing holding me back. Do you know why this is? I see im not alone in THIS but your build seems to be dummy proof but here I am! Any help would be grand. I just get the fast or slow continues beeps
Thanks for the response! I will get on that asap! I do love flying and this is my first really real build. So I know it's not gonna be perfect but I will take all the help I can. Thanks again I will wrk on thAt video.
I have a question. I'm using Arducopter 2.8 and I can't get the motors to run. When I'mconnected via the computer using APM Planner2 the motors arm & run and everything isokay but as soon as I disconnect and try to arm the motors they jerk and stops and willnot arm.Please help me get this running! I've been following you for quite some time and it lookslike you are the person to ask!!!!!P.S. This is a Quadcopter.Thanks Painless360
I'd use the GUI to see what the error is on the logs/live with the model connected. I'd suspect a pre-arm check is an issue or maybe the health of the 5v supply on the model. Best of luck!
Hello again ! Since last question I've tried again and screen changed to ARM mode not armable. Motors spooled up at low rpm for a few seconds and stopped. I'm really baffled now.
+Eddie Lloyd I had the same problem and what is was, is you have to choose another model on your transmitter. you must have changed your receiver or lost your bird. But any way try that.
Eddie Lloyd if you have that problem before the motors spool down imidietly hold your quad down and switch to alt hold at full power then go back to stabilize test the throttle up and down then your good it needs a runup just like how you start your car have a safe flight i hope this will help and theirs one problem if this spools up and disarmed again you cannot rearm the board
The GPS on your model hasn't had time to get a 3D lock. Normally leaving it a little bit longer will get that sorted. It's all in the documentation ardupilot.org/copter/docs/prearm_safety_check.html
ever heard of this? I put params from no nova on my 450 I built with 2.8 and one motor woukd not spin I flashed it back and 2 motors wouldn't spin so I reset and reloaded everything.. and now those motors are fine and another one is spinning slow I recalibrate the esc several times.. even with resets from the button and the from mp it still has my motors set to not spin when armed so I'm thinking that it's not really reseting... any videos on that?
Im using an apm 2.8 and I am only able to arm the drone through apm planner and I tried arming it by setting the throttle to the right but it doesn't arm unless it's connected into apm planner. Any suggestions or ideas why I can't arm through my controller?
Not sure, I'd suspect the 5v supply in the model.. Have a look at the logfiles in case you can see anything and measure the voltage on the craft with, and without, the USB connected..
Mine arms when connected with the usb, try with the battery and the lights flash like it's arming and then back to solid blue with the other flashing. Any clue what's wrong? Checked the regulators and fuses, both good.
+joblessalex Not sure, anything in the logs? Does J1 make a difference? I would recheck all the power connections and attach a voltmeter to make sure you are supplying the same voltages as the board gets from the USB cable.. Best of luck.
Painless360 For all who need the answer, YOU CAN NOT JUST HIT THE WIZARD!!!! It will install the pixhawk firmware and not 3.2.1.... It has to be that or it will not work. My second issue was with throttle. It would not go high, even with full throttle on the stick. Solution: Check your max throttle value, it's most likely 80, it needs to be 1000. Third issue, return to home and loiter weren't functioning. Solution: check gps orientation. It needs to face forward to work properly. Works perfect now and compared to a kk2, acro mode feels like autolevel!
Hi painless! I just upgraded my quad to the f550 hex. I ran through the mission planner to change the frame type to a hex. The weird thing is now when I go through the wizard to recalibrate my compass and gyro, mission planner only gives me tricopter and quadcopter frame types. Is this normal? I would think it would give me a hex shape. Mission planner sees all of the motors and i can test each of them through the software.
Thanks for the reply! I did that first. I got the message about the board being retired, and thanks to another one of your videos, I wasnt super worried. Mission planner did download the latest firmware it could, and it appears the upload completed to the board. I was just wondering if when you went through the wizard, did you see the hex frame type or did it only give you quadcopter frames? In your hexacopter build video, I see the icon on the gps panel is a quadcopter. I wish i had a screenshot to show you, but I'm at work.
In the versions of Mission Planner here the icon in the map will continue to be a quad/generic multirotor. You should see only hex frames in the basic configuration steps though (+ and x variants). Hope this helps..
As always, I enjoy your videos. I am trying to configure a APM 2.8. Is a compass and GPS mandatory? I have an external compass and GPS modules but am waiting for cables to arrive. When I connect the battery, there is a constant beeping. Is this something you've encountered? Thanks for any info you can share.
Ooops. I did as you suggested and tried to arm in MP and got this error msg: PreArm: Compass not healthy. Also on the screen was: GPS: No GPS. Is there a way to turnoff/eliminate the compass check since the APM 2.8 does not have an internal compass?
Got another problem now haha, mine keeps coming up with the error code FS_THR_VALUE Which I understand but cant bloody find whats wrong with it . Obviously it is to do with the fs but where could the problem lie?
This is all about the failsafe setting for throttle, you need to watch th-cam.com/video/iXxkJ9V41EQ/w-d-xo.html Throttle failsafe needs to be below 1100 and the throttle value when arming needs to be above whatever you have the failsafe throttle set to.. Best of luck, I hope you get it armed and flying after this bit!
dear mr painless360, i think it was too heigh gains, but not sure and i cant get into flight logs with apm2.6 to see, mayby you could give me some advice....... i hope you can help me here as i have an MAJOR ISSUE, i build an x8 spider on 700mm frame turnigy multistar elite 4006 740 kv 30 amp afro esc otpo, and of course the apm ( arducopter 2.6 with power module ) very happy with the board, had it wth neo m8n external compass running fly s nice until i start messing round with tuning i autotuned it and give me a base to do in flight tuning , and in the end got it pretty stable expect a few wobble here and there, so did one more alteration and took it outside for test flight, flew good for 2 min, i shoot it up in the air on nearly full throttle,height about 80metres and then.............all 8 motors stopped spinning !!!!!!! then i tried throttle up and down no response !! failsafe did not kick in neither as i thought mayby signal loss...so it was FREE FALLLL omg.....but in the end about 5 second before it nearly hit the ground engines start spinning slowy up again ...but too late so full wack hit on grass...after testet connection ...no loose connection......my suspect to high gains ( but could that cause engines to shut down in mid flight ?? mayby esc cut off but i read that afro simonk dont do that....so i am thinking to buy an APm ( arducopter clone 2.8 )m as i dont trust this board no more...but i want still apm as its awesome....mayby you have an explanation or idear...i would HIGHLY appreciate that...cause dont want this to happen again . thank you,
+Painless360 i thank you for your reply i am currently connecting mavlink came today from ebay will have a closer look and maybe i can find something , but if not i will get back to your online support, i will check your website for charges , is the website to find on your channel , i will have a look now. thank you so much. kind regards
+Painless360 thank you again for your reply highly appreciated just wanted to let you know that i found the problem it was the powermodule the way i wired it, it said online maximum READING 90 amps so i presumed connecting all electrics including esc after PASSING through the powermodule would be ok , but after few test today it wouldnt even lift of as power cut off again so tried full throttle lift and the complete plane become dead not one single led light working, so of everything passing through the module including led light i knew then, so will order new powermodule and will get t60 splittler and bypass and the powermodule can only take what it need and disable my batteryvoltage failsafe feature, thank you kind regards.
@Painless360 I have this problem with the internal compass. I am using the AMP2.8 and I get absolutely no contact to the compass. I have tried all the jumper settings imaginable. Many people say you need a compass; many do not. People say the APM 2.8 HAS an internal compass, many do not. Please help me out here! I really want to get my quad flying. Is it possible to disable the compass / check? And is it necessary to fly? Please help me. I have spent days googling and making forum posts!
While arming APM 2.8 mission planner says pre arm:rc isn't calibrated I followed all the steps of radio calibration still didn't slove it Please help me
Hello, I know it's been awhile for this video but I think some of us that using APM is having a problem with arming the FC. done all the setup, follow all instructions and calibration is good. arming is my nightmare? For some odd reason, apm would not arm can you help me.
+Sen Pen all i know is in this video, and the associated manual pages. The best bet is to try and ARM while connected to the mission planner app - it'll tell you what the problem is. Best of luck
+김주호 If you Google that error then you'll see ;) There are lots of others who've seen (and resolved) this problem. It's about the range of your throttle and it's setup. Best of luck!
Hi, I still can´t arm the apm, the red led is single blinking, the blue led is solid blue, so I think is just waiting to be armed. The messages box in the mission planner stays in "Initialising APM..." forever. I have tried by changing the firmware version, I don´t know how to get some log, please help me. Thanks
Sounds like one of the systems isn't coming up. You need to download and read the logfile to see which one and rule out a hardware issue. See copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/downloading-and-analyzing-data-logs-in-mission-planner/ for full details. Good luck..
Hi mate my gps hdop only goes below 2.1 but has ten sats,When i go into loiter or rtl the quadcopter drifts.Would the hdop cause this,Would i be better getting a better gps like a Ublox Neo-M8N.Any help would be great
Possibly, sounds like there is a little interference too? I'd move it further away and see if that makes a difference. We're using the M8N here and it's such an improvement over the Gen 6 and 7 GPS we've used..
hello there, i have an arducopter 2.8 version on am x58 frame with 4in1 ebec esc. I made the calipration, the motors spin but only and always in the same speed. can t stabilize and cant fly/ Please help cause I m new on that
Can I Connect the APM BOARD to the Computer while the Battery's are Connected!? Because I am shore that in a couple videos where they said in them that one should never connect the board to the Usb and computer while the Board in turned on with lipo batries!? Thank you very very much Brother
Bisholi M The APM is designed for this and the CLI (before it was retired due to lack of memory) had great commands that allows you to spin up and check the motors - that needed both flight battery and USB power connected. The problem comes when you have J1 installed and have a UBEC voltage that is very different from the +5v that the USB supplies. This drives current in all sorts of undesirable paths. Make sure that the UBEC/power is very close to 5v and you should be fine. Best of luck.
Painless360 Ok then, So I guess It is possible then to Connect the Board to the Computer with USB Cable, and the J1 is removed and One of the servo's have power( or the servo's are all in linear mode)?then one can connect the Lipo to the board and have it connected to the usb also? Am I getting it right then?Thank you
Again - yes. The problem comes when you have J1 installed and have a UBEC voltage that is very different from the +5v that the USB supplies. This drives current in all sorts of undesirable paths. Make sure that the UBEC/power is very close to 5v and you should be fine.
Painless360 Thank you , Thank you, and Thank you.....:)A thank you for everytime I troubled you :) ( sry my bad English)I have actially installed everything now, and the osd is running very goodilly :), But the weather here has been horrible. Tooo much Wind and rain...:( so I am waiting for a good day for the first flight..
hello! i have problem my quadcopter. i have apm 2.6 and ublox 7m.. problem is when i go to out for flying my copter everything going well. but when i press loiter/rtl mode on copter fly away and i got hurry click back stabilize mode and fly back to me.. apm got solid blue led and ublox blinking blue led. mission planner show me gps 3d fix. it found 7satellite indoors.. i cannot get my pc outside i try enable geofence but not help.. any advice? ps. good videos i am new for this hobby i got my copter week ago and i get it fly your apm video series!
+wilho250 This most commonly happens when the compass isn't solid, calibrated and being moved by the power delivered to the motors. Look up our video on why GPS modes need a solid compass.. I'd also look up the CompassMOT process too.. Best of luck.
Hi Oliver, it could be a few things. I'd start with the compass. Watch th-cam.com/video/3CBxyY0lS6g/w-d-xo.html and then check that the compass isn't getting any interference from the power lines. If you can see any deflection above a few degrees when the throttle is up then run through the CompassMOT process to help the board compensate). Failing that check the logs and check that the GPS signal quality isn't dropping due to vibration or something else. Hope this helps.
@Painless360 I am running APM 2.6 FW - 3.2.1 I am a mode 1 user on my transmitter, which means i use rudder to arm the copter, I have build a Tricopter, My issue is I would like to limit my servo throw, and of which if i do it via transmitter, i will not be able to arm the board, is there anyway if i could arm the board using switches? I have followed the instructions on Arducopter wiki whereby it says RC7 is able to make the changes on the servo throw, but however it is not working, could you please help me out, Thanks a million.
+Painless360 Yes I did, Cause if i use End points to do the servo travel to avoid servo binding then i will not be able to arm the board, so now i am looking at possibilities of arming the board via a switch, so that my end points remain as it is. with normal end points i am able to arm the board without any issues.
hi, it seems that i have a problem with my mini apm 3.1: i can not arm my board when i am outside and it is cold. I have tried it at room temperature and it works fine but when i went outside i was unable to arm it (outside temperature 8 degrees celsius) Can you please help me to solve this problem? Thank you very much!
Hello I've got a problem. First I would like to thank you My problem is that the engine is not working I've pressing direction I left more than 5 seconds and did not work These come on the last step for me, I've followed all of your videos
Hi i just got a apm 2.8 kit from amazon it has a orange light that flashes next to the green power light it shows up on my pc but wont let me load any firmwear to set it up any help would be greatly appreciated i treid theu rest butto. with no luck. thanks!
Got it going had some bad driver installed for the apm to talk to the pc through the com port deleted the drivers and reinstalled good to go . Thanks for all the hard work you put into your videos they have helped me out a ton!!! you rock!!!
I've never bought an APM 2.8. We tend to use places like HobbyKing, Banggood, GearBest or good 'ole eBay (check the seller has a good reputation). Best of luck!
Centered where? If you mean the yaw channel then use the sub trim to get the channels to be 1500 at the middle position. See the APM setup videos - it's all in there..
yup , this the limitation of this flysky cheap radio(CT6B), but with a small mechanical motification on the left stick i increased the travel, and everything is now fine.thanks for your nice videos, vithout em i could not have made it.
Painless360 Thanks, ya that's where I was like "wait what?" lol I hear allot of people say not that is a nono... but I'll take your word for it because you seem to know what you are talking about... :) thanks for the great video!
It's only a 'no-no' if you are running the APM at a very different voltage from the one supplied from the USB i.e. USB provides 5.0v and the BEC if providing 5.8V. This causes an excessive current to flow in key parts of the board due to the difference and blow the 500mA fuse and potentially damage some of the voltage regulators too. The APM is designed to work in this way (that's why we have things like the motor test in the CLI commands to run the motors using the PC) but some are not being careful enough and checking that they don't have different voltages. Check it to be sure and you should be fine. Every board is different though so there are NO guarantees ;)
Hi i am havig a problem with mine, When it's plugged in and i go to arm it, it does nothing, i dont get an error message either when in mission planner, But there is always an orange light flashing/flickering constantly and i don't know what it is, the blue and red lights are flickering slowly too. Please help :D
Has this ever worked? Sounds like you are putting the APM into ESC calibration mode by holding the arming position on the Tx for more than 15 seconds. Make sure you are only holding the throttle to the lower right hand side for 7 seconds max. Hope this helps.
Painless360 hey, I figured I had no GPS lock then, Although now when I have a solid blue light for GPS lock, I get the red blink once for disarmed and 2 orange lights flickering by the center of the board , but it will not arm!?
I have f450 drone apm 2.6 board my arming stick is on pitch side and i connot pitch nor yaw when its armed how do i chaing it to the throttle stick please help
Sounds like you have the channel order or wiring from the reciever to the APM wrong. Check out the other videos in the series for how I set it up.. Best of luck
something i wanted to ask,, with the board armed When I push up the throttle, the motorss dont exceed about 20% speed , even at full throttle ... what do i do here ??
Can you see the throttle move all the way up in Mission Planner? What are the low and high values shown in the GUI for the throttle? What do the logs show?
Could be a number of things. Check that the rudder mid stick value is 1500 (use the sub-trim on the transmitter to change) and rerun the radio calibration in Mission Planner. If that is all ok then check that you are not using compass to maintain heading and if you are, ensure that it isn't getting any interference from the power lines. Hope this helps.
Please help!!! No matter what I do I can not get the motor to turn powerfull enough to get it up from the ground!!? Maybe the worse place to ask, but I was watching your video and I have tried to be a member at the forrum, but as yet I havent recieved any emails from them...Thank's
Painless360 My fault!? So Creasy I am ashame to write it here! I had forgotten the motor spec.'s and they sould run on 4s( I know stupet) sry about that!! But I have had another problem. Like your video I tried to connect throu the terminal to the 2.6 board, and It wont let me write any commands there, It keeps printing mambo jumbo's!? and now that I have a 2.8 apm board(it worked fine until I connected the 3Dradio's) is doing the same!!? Any Idea's why?and No this time I hunestlly cheked everything acouple of times to make shore I am not doing Creasy mistakes like the last time. But one thing for shore when both Board are doing the same Creasy thing I dont think they are Faulty, there is something I am doing wrong or the win8-1 like always doing something that I done know about?By the WAY LOVE YOUR VIDEO'S :)
Bisholi M Ok I found about that too!! :) The new Upgrades remove the Possibility of using Terminal!? Dont ask me why? But the I learned that it is no longer possible to use it, and that doesnt mean that My Boards are faulty :) SO EVERYTHING IS COOL.I LOVE YOUR VIDEO's BY THE WAY....
When Im trying to calibrate my esc's, it makes the musical tone when i plug the battery in but nothing else indicating successful calibration. Help!!!!!!!
Without more detail it's impossible to offer any advice. Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
@@Painless360 I've followed the Apm series did all the calibrations including the one for the radio set the flight modes however they won't change and its saying current mode is RTH. In addition it saying failsafe.
Do you know how to trouble shooting APM on APMplanner2 which is an alternative of mission planner. APMplanner2 is coded in Qt so it can be implanted on any platform. I am on linux. Mission planner only supports Windows platform.
Hello, i have this weird problem where the artificial horizon is shown upside down and when i calibrate the acc it goes to normal but when i reboot the apm it goes back to the same problem
I had an issue and I would like to describe it and give the solution in case somebody else has it. Issue: when I give a little throttle, motors are spinning very fast and quadcopter is taking off. Solution: I calibrated the esc manually, automatically through the APM and nothing changed. At the end I found out that I had to change the parameter THR_MID to the lowest value, because it was scaling up too much my throttle.
+Painless360 I have reflashed my firmware to version 3.2.1, I set up a new model on my taranis x9d plus, I individually calibrated all six esc's and the motors worked fine. I have calibrated all switches on the x9d multiple times. made sure it was in stabilize mode. recalibrated my compass (i have ver.2.8 apm with an external gps and compase),
+Mike Thomas - recalibrated my accelerometer, made sure that no fail safes are set, triple checked all connections but it still wont arm. It did however arm very briefly once but when i turned everything off and back on again it would not. I have also tried various versions of mission planner and apmplanner2.
Hi sir. I I did everything in order but my apm 2.6 still not arming I did my radio mode from the top stabilize,stabilize,stabilize,loiter,stabilize,RLT. my gps all working, apm board all looks good but still not arming. could help me please.? by the way merry Christmas.
+Painless360 I tried to arm the board. I think it's arming problem. Red light is blinking twice. I soldered the GPS port's ground pin and next pin to the ground pin(hope this pin is not connected anywhere in the circuit) together to connect Crius 4pin gps module. GPS is working fine. Does that cause to this trouble?
Hi friend i have problem , my apm quad copter three moter work well but one moter to slow it , i change moter and reset apm and recalibration but it can't fix plase help me sir
The process that I follow to get an APM working is all covered in this series. It’s probably worth a look in the forums too, I’ve not seen this issue personally. Best of luck!
When i do arming, it doesnt work. i have observed that if i do armimg with usb cable connected and battery as well, only then arming works but when i disconnect usb cable arming no more works. Also my arming happens with other stick and not throttle one
Not in the same way as things like Betaflight.. You could make a switch on your radio that would set the throttle to zero and put in full right rudder for 3 seconds..
With OpenTX it's the same process on all radios. Have a look at the OpenTX mix school videos, I'd use a special function to set those rudder and throttle channel values for the time needed when the switch is set..
hi .. is there a way to decrease the throttle power in stabilise mode? I like my quad to behave in a very economic way. .. :D I found an option to decrease the lean angle in all flight modes.. now set to 20 degrees and that is fixed.. now u need to decrease climb rate in stabilise mode.. please help me
+Ashish Faustine I would flatten out the throttle curve around the hover point to help. I would be using dual rates on the radio to manage the craft in case you ever needed to get the full range of movement in an emergency from your model. Best of luck.
Well I know that's right but it seems to me like 1047 props are twice efficient when paired with sunnysky x2212 980 kv than emax 2216 810kv both on 4s5000 30c on 1900 grams
I couldnt find any clue to what my problem might be; GPS is connect via 6Pin connector, No light on the GPS at all, both red light on the apm 2.5 do blink, green is solid, set the PreArm checks to None and I am in Acromode but I cant arm.
@@Painless360 The PWR LED should on the Neo-6M light up on the GPS, right ? since my set-up is identical to the Ardupilot Video here: th-cam.com/video/CZQoGfCKKLo/w-d-xo.html I exactly have my own thread (with pictures) in the FliteTest Forum and a second thread with a similar problem on a second APM that has a GPS Fix but wont arm else. forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/apm-2-5-wont-arm-and-no-gps.58569/ forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/f450-clone-and-apm-wiringquestions.56124/ APM should be able to arm without GPS when in Acro mode (which is the case) and show any problem in the artifical horizon (which is not the case). I even switched PreArm Checks off and tried it again but no Success.
hello painless360 please help me i beg you ,i heve spent so much of money and nothing works out. i am having apm 2.8 when i plugg it into laptop it arms by pressing the rudder stick to right when i place ardupilot on drone and plug it with lipo ,it doesnot arm . please tell me the solution
yes sir! i have tried that all none of you tube video explains how to solve that problem there was discussion on diydrones forum about the same problem but nobody responded on that and no solution sir ! please help me i am really in big trouble
Painless360 yesterday it was armed but automatically disarmed after a few seconds and one point more that it does one thing either it arms for few seconds or esc(s) are callibrating one thing is happening at a time only and i tried :- before all that i wasnt using 5 channel to set the flight modes in stabilize ,acro and althold but after this also nothing happened :( :( help me !!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Guys I am in need of some help please. I have been following all of the videos on how to setup the APM, I have the APM Arducopter 2.8, I dont have any external compass's yet, so all i have is the receiver and a power module which is a GM ver. 1.0. So, when I move the Throttle stick to the right for 5 seconds to Arm the Controller, 2 of the motors spin at low speed but not the other 2, however, when I increase the Throttle Stick, the other 2 motors spin at a higher speed than the other two, which means that when you attempt to take off, it will tip up because 2 of the motors are spinning faster than the other 2. Obviously in accordance with the videos, when you Arm the Controller, none of the motors turn, so could anyone please help me to stop these motors from Spinning when the Controller is armed. Thank you!! Mark
There is no error but not arming i am uploading a video and sharing a link sir .i am ur fan from 2015 trying to make a hexa but not success till now by apm.now i am again tring to make hexa bye apm 2.8 but same problem facing .only big problem compass not calibring and dots are not showing
It will not arm until the basic calibration is done for the compass, radio and accelerometers. You'll need to get that compassion sorted first. I've not used APM for years so am very out of date with that old technology. Best of luck
ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-prearm-safety-checks.html covers how to disable it (bottom of the page). The docs are excellent and you can usually find what you're looking for without having to use lots of jargon. Best of luck!
My GPS catches 8 or 9 satellites. Sometimes 10. Still HDOP is around 4.0 :( Maybe GPS module is defective. Anyone has other hints what I could try to fix it?
Michal Gloc Sounds like you may have interference from something else on the craft. Make sure that there isn't too much vibration and that the GPS is well away from the other antennas and power systems that may cause interference. Also check all of the connections on the cables are good and check there isn't any dry solder on the back of the unit..Hope you get to the bottom of it.. Happy flying!
Painless360 I removed everything I could. All that's left is just APM in center on anti-vibration pad, ESCs on the beams, and GPS module on a mast (about 15cm above away from APM), Still HDOP 2.97 with 8 satellites tracked. Then I noticed something strange. When I removed APM from the pad and moved it away, HDOP fell to 1.85. The pad is made of 2 pieces of carbon fiber. I know it can conduct electricity, but with all those cf drones everywhere I didn't expect it also scrambles GPS. Edit: Removing the pad completely I got HDOP to 1.6 with the drone just sitting by the window. :)
@@Painless360 I have reconfigured the APM setting but issue not resolves. Also getting error messages: 1)RC not calliberated 2)need 3d fix Please advise.........
I had issue arming Quantum Nova from Hobbyking and never could get help from those guys. Then i watched your video and it helped me to resolve my problem. thank you very much for your clear detail step by step instruction.
Hi, I have watched all your videos and you have great knowledge of the ardupilot, which I have purchased to install on my first build (x450 quadcopter). Using a 3D power distribution board 3 cell 550mah lipo battery, 30 amp esc's 2600 kv sunny sky motors and turnigy 9x controller. After setting up my board through mission planner, I was able to successfully install firmware, calibrate compass, calibrate radio, calibrate esc's, set up fail safe to rtl. When I perform motor test, only 3 of the 4 motors worked. After swapping motors around and getting all 4 motors to work, I put it down to an esc problem. As I was also able to move the working esc and motors to different parts of the distribution board and with the help of a voltage tester, I was able to determine that the power distribution board was fine and was outputting 11.1 volts for each terminal. After replacing what I thought to be a faulty esc,
I was able to get all 4 motors to work. Although 1 esc seems to get hotter than the rest. On the first flight test, the front 2 motors seemed to be producing more power than the back 2. When you try to lift off, only the front will let.
Adjustments by sliding it forwards and trying To make trim adjustments on the controller. Then it tried to pick right up at the front so I switched off the controller instead of disarming it. It then acted strangely, the front two motors and back right seemed to slow right down, I think the front two actually stopped, the back left started to spin at full rpm and as I was holding it down I was able to disconnect the battery without losing any fingers. Any advice would be great as I am very lost as to what's going on. Tks Simon
Self cocking home made crossbow I would check that the accelerometers read ok and you can see the board is 'level' in Mission Planner. Manually calibrate the ESCs and make sure that the COG is in the middle of the frame.
One ESC will be a little hotter - this is due to being the one supplying the majority of the current via it's BEC.
Best of luck..
So glad you have done these for the APM noobs. Though I am new to RC I appreciate the backgrounding that you accomplish here. I am just getting my 800mm modified Tarot FY680 Hexa ready for flying. Alot of cash aloft and it has got to be right before I out the gimbal and camera on her. Going over the WIki and nowhere does it mention this simple matter of Arming with Rudder down and to the right. Got more to share re Autotune issues on a more appropriate video in this series. Best regards, don't bother responding P360,...letting you know that you are appreciated
Excellent series of videos, tips are helping me set up my Crius board, thank you, John
Extremely helpful videos!, I have a problem with my quadcopter though, the motors are only responding to the throttle command but not to pitch,roll or yaw, will arming the motors and ardupilot allow my quadcopter to respond to pitch, roll and yaw commands from the transmitter?
You need to try a very low level hover to test the controls. I normally do it above grass and keep it below about 12 inches. Best of luck.
Amazing APM videos series ever ! Thanks a lot !
Hi Painless.. thanx for all the vids, i have a F450 frame with the Apm 2.6 with external Gps&compass... 2 problems here. my 1st problem was my quad keeps on toiletbowling in loiter and PosHold modes. But now have a bigger problem. when connected via USB to mission planner my Quad arm perfectly.. when disconnected from Usb is does not want to arm, gets GPS lock but just a red light blinking. maby some advise please?
First one - this is usually down to interference from magnetic fields or vibration (see th-cam.com/video/3CBxyY0lS6g/w-d-xo.html). If all else fails you can run through a CompassMOT process..
Second, sounds like a power issue. If you are powering from the ESCs then check that J1 is installed, if it is then you may have blown the 500ma fuse (see th-cam.com/video/TS4OWAcfAQY/w-d-xo.html).
Best of luck..
Hello.. I followed the 8 videos and learned a lot... Thank you very much!!!! based on that I could finish my tricopter with a HK MEGA 2.7... the only issue is that when it is "armed" the motors start to spin at very low rpm. In that stage I have no control on the tail servo... just have to accelerate a little and everything seems to work ok... if I move throttle to the lowest position again motors will spin at very low rpm.... Any clue? could the ESC? I calibrated all three as you show in your video... Well, please if you have any suggestion I will appreciate it very much!!! Thanks again for your nice job here!!
+Juan D you missed the answer then ;) Google 'painless360 apm motor running' Happy flying!
thanks for this video. I am using an APM 2.8 with my Taranis for a delta wing. I don't have Yaw for delta wing with just elevons. do I need to set up a channel for yaw so I can arm the APM 2.8. currently the APM will not arm. My guess is because yaw is not setup so there is no signal on that channel to do the arming procedure. Or is it possibly something else?
You’ll need all of the main flight controls. See my video adding an APM to a wing..
Thank you!
my APM is not arming
I was wondering whether it might be the Power Module that I am using, (GM Ver. 1.0). Incidentally, when in Mission Planner, and I am connected to the Controller, when I go into the section for testing the motors, I can only get 1 motor to spin when I click on the, “Test all motors in sequence” button, so I am wondering whether this has something to do with it perhaps.
Is this related to another comment? It sounds like it is. Please use the 'reply' function otherwise it's impossible for me to keep track of what we've already talked about with all of the questions and comments that I get on a daily basis. Best of luck with it..
No worries. I doubt the motor issue is related to the 5v power side.. See the other videos in the series - I'm a little rusty with the APM now..
Doing my first Pixhawk build with a 2.4.8 My motors won't spin during motor test/won't arm. I have an error in Telemetry "Bad AHRS". I thought I properly disabled GPS for arming (I can't get satellites indoors) Do I need to recalibrate the compass in Mission Planner? Any tips for resolving "Bad AHRS"?
It could be a few things. I've not used this FC for a long time so I would have a look in the forums... best of luck
@@Painless360 Yes, was a million little things, and I deactivated most of the pre-arming checks, but the final fix was flipping the 3 wires between the FC and ESCs (signal and ground swap, with 5v in center, brown wire up (ground)). At first only one motor would spin. All motors worked on one ESC, so it seemed the other ESCs needed also to be ‘woken up’ and calibrated by attaching battery with controller at full throttle (SimonK firmware preloaded on the ESC) then remove battery, reattach, and then wait for telemetry message to reduce throttle to zero to complete ESC calibration :)
Hello painless360, I’ve built two quad copters and I wish I could say it was painless but they have been anything but painless. They both took off but both crashed within 10 secs of flight, both went up a few metres then flipped and crashed to the ground. If the battery is slightly lose could that cause a crash ?
That would not help.. see my 'for beginners' builds for series that show every step.. best of luck!
Great video, short and well explained, Thank you. I just downloaded the
newest version of Mission Planner which is recommended, and can not find
the settings to accelerate throttle; the problem is that not matter how
high i lift the stick, the motors reach an speed and stay there. Those
settings used to be in the Advanced Parameters, as far as I remember.
Can you help me out with it?
I've had a few people ask about this in the last few weeks so you are not on your own. Sadly I no longer use APM here so can't plug it in and try it out. I'd suggest a look in the forums for other pilots who've had this recently and fixed it. Best of luck with it!
www.dronetrest.com/t/apm-2-8-beginner-probs-and-solutions/3172 looks promising..
I need your help because can not arm it after days of trying. I don't understand if channels 7 & 8 have to be different or not. In my APM 2.7 channels 6, 7, and 8 are the same and there is not way to make them change. I have a Spektrumo DX7s and a Receiver AR8000. I Have eventually on in display: check FS-THR-VALUE. Any Idea will be greatly appreciated.
+Victor Rodas The error is all about the throttle channel value. I'd start there and make sure the throttle range from the radio is above 1000 at the low end and below 2000 at maximum and that you've not set the failsafe to a level that is seeing the normal range as 'failsafe'. See our build videos for the APM for more tips..
Hi. Mine says need 3d fix. I put the gps in the gps slot not the icc. Was that incorrect?
Hi. I've found your videos an incredible help to me but I'm stuck and I cant find anything on the net about this, I'm hoping you have an idea of whats wrong...
I am using a micro apm 2.7.2 on a trifecta frame. I'm using APM Planner 2.0.17 on my mac. I had the FC all programmed ready to go, I cut the switch SJ10 to use the compass with my GPS and ever since when I press connect it starts to download the parameters from the board but always gets stuck. I changed one of the parameters on the APM Planner to use the external compass (something I found out after a load of googling) but it stuck again. Do you have any ideas what I can do please?
Rowland Stanley The board should still connect when with the track broken. I would remove everything from the board and try and connect, if that fails solder the track back and try again.
I do have a setup video for the APM Mini - see here - th-cam.com/play/PLYsWjANuAm4pCP3jjSAcmDJIEmyaEregs.html
I'm not a fan of the HK APM versions, too many problems in the past. I would get in touch with them for help.
Best of luck with it!
Hello
I have 4-1400kv motors with 2200mah 25C battery
And using apm 2.8 flight controller.
2 of my motors are responding slowly they are rotating after 25% of trottle.
What was the reason behind it ???
Whether the issue is due to battery or ESC or apm
Could be a few things. I'd look at ESC calibration as No.1. Best of luck!
Hi I have just assembled my first quad with the help of your videos however when I arm the board all four motors fire up at a very low rpms. they seem to throttle up fine. I have set all the motors individually as per your recomendation but when hooked up to the apm they run at low idle after initialisation. Trimming down on the transmitter does not help. Any ideas or is this normal? I have the latest HK micro 2.7.2 board. thanks.
+Muz You're not searching on the channel are you ;) They playlists are very handy for finding related videos to the one you're watching.th-cam.com/video/cXSNgCQ9WJwH/w-d-xo.htmlope it helps.
+Painless360 Thanks for that. not only are the motors spinning but so is my head after watching your excellent videos.....i must have got lazy.
No worries - the channel is getting bigger every week! Happy flying!
Hi there ~ I've followed your series to the letter and still having problems arming the board on my Dead Cat with APM unit plus Turnigy 9X Tx. I've gone through the wizard carefully in Mission Planner and when in Flight Plan screen each time I try arming the board by holding yaw ( rudder ) stick to the right for no more than 7 seconds the screen says "DISARMED FAILSAFE NO RC RECEIVER". Can you help please ? All controls and flight mode switches are showing correctly. Tx is in PPM Mode. Cheers !
+Eddie Lloyd If you need one to one support then we do offer it but it isn't free. See the website for charges.. Best of luck..
Hi, I've just had a go at calibrating my ESC's. It works great but I'm not getting the battery cell count beeps after I lower the throttle? These are Afro 30 amp ESC's. Any ideas?
Jim Tolan If they power up when you lift the throttle then I'd not worry for now..
my next issue is probably a parameters issue also but i cant find it. in parameters there is no setting for Y6A only X. when i set the parameters for X only 4 motors opperate. when i set the parameters to 'Plus" 5 motors will turn which is most likely just an esc issue, but my frame is Y6A. any idea what the proper parameter for Y6Ashould be. listed values are 0 thru 5 and then it jumps to 10 but none are assigned to Y6A
+Mike Thomas Best of luck finding the answer - we are mostly X frames here..
Followed your APM 3.1 video series to the letter. Will not arm, and no HUD message on the type of error. Followed Arducopter Pre-Arm checks But have no errors to follow up on. Checked GPS’s HDOP it is 2.2. Mag field is 188. GPS has 3d fix with 5 Sats. Disabled all pre-checks. Re caliberated Radio and all radio movements are correct in Misson Planner. I have Telemetry radio link so all response is in real time. No telemetry logs are created to be downloaded.
Any ideas?
Thank you
Derrill
+Derr Nav HDOP seems a little high but not sure what you expect me to say when there are no error messages. Id check rudder and throttle endpoints are enough. ardupilot.org/copter/docs/prearm_safety_check.html may help. Best of luck!
+Painless360 Found the problem. First I identified that the power wires coming out of 3.1 for receiver were correct. Next I checked each channel and discovered two channel reversed. Fixed that and it arms now. Thank you for all your videos and help.
Derrill
Hello , I really enjoy your videos ,I have question about the RTL and the Stabilize switch position at ch-5 I am using a Futab 6J Tx. at this time my motors speedup when I flip Ch. 5 from Stabilize to RTL . is this the correct or should I rev the setting. stabilize to be the higher motor speed.
William Booth RTL has a height that it wants to get to (see the other videos in this playlist) so will increase the motors to rise to that level before flying back to the stored home location.
Follow the setup tutorial and the APM will take care of the rest..
Best of luck.
Painless360 Hello ,and thank you so much
When I armed the board without prop and try fly everything should go right. But when I fitted the pro and try to fly (take off) one motor stop when i trottle raise.chennel 3. Is stopping and esc are bipiing. And my battery voltage is 8.45. Because. I use 3s 2200 mah. But one cell is damaged. So is there battery fault?
Yep, the battery voltage should be between 10.5 and 12.4 volts depending on the charge level. You need to dispose of that pack..
thank very for quick response. error is acro _ ball _ roll/pitch.
+Aydin Atik what have you found when you've googled that error?
Lee, followed your advise to watch this video and now my quad is arming fine....thank you. However, do have a slight problem. The motors are not turning fast enough to take off the quad. I went in MP...Full Parameters and set the Throttle Max from 80 to 1000...still won't take off....went back in and set to 2000....same thing. I am using the Taranis plus with X8R receiver....and my throttle shows 1000 and 2000 with mid 1500. Please help, what I'm I missing??
Not sure, we retired all of our APM stuff about a year ago. There are lots of others in the forums who've had this problem so maybe one of them has the answer.. I'd recalibrate your ESCs after the change you just made in case too. Let me know if you find out what it was..
Lee, so far not luck finding help to my problem. Besides the Throttle Max sub-menu in Full Parameters in MP. Do you know of any other sub-menu that would affect motor speed in the Full Parameters section? Since I have the very same issue with two Quads it seems to all point to a programming issue from MP.
Sorry, we've not played with APM for a long time. I'd just be searching in the forums.. Best of luck!
Thank you Lee, I totally understand. Let's try this....I know Pixhawk is a better FC...and I notice though there are a lot of clones out there. Would you recommend a Pixhawk and if so would you buy a clone or stay with a real 3DR one? I just want something that Mission Planner totally recognizes and downloads firmware to with no issues. Truly appreciate your help and your replying to me.
Hi having problem with arming prearm need 3D lock
Good day I have been following thus build I am useing the hobbywing 4 in 1 esc. I can't get them to wrk! I have done the calibration one by one and all together. That seems to be the only thing holding me back. Do you know why this is? I see im not alone in THIS but your build seems to be dummy proof but here I am! Any help would be grand. I just get the fast or slow continues beeps
Hi Cordell, I've not used this 4 in 1 ESC myself. A video of the problem would be helpful...
Happy flying.
Thanks for the response! I will get on that asap! I do love flying and this is my first really real build. So I know it's not gonna be perfect but I will take all the help I can. Thanks again I will wrk on thAt video.
I have a question. I'm using Arducopter 2.8 and I can't get the motors to run. When I'mconnected via the computer using APM Planner2 the motors arm & run and everything isokay but as soon as I disconnect and try to arm the motors they jerk and stops and willnot arm.Please help me get this running! I've been following you for quite some time and it lookslike you are the person to ask!!!!!P.S. This is a Quadcopter.Thanks Painless360
I'd use the GUI to see what the error is on the logs/live with the model connected. I'd suspect a pre-arm check is an issue or maybe the health of the 5v supply on the model. Best of luck!
Hello again ! Since last question I've tried again and screen changed to ARM mode not armable. Motors spooled up at low rpm for a few seconds and stopped. I'm really baffled now.
+Eddie Lloyd If you need one to one support then we do offer it but it isn't free. See the website for charges.. Best of luck..
+Eddie Lloyd I had the same problem and what is was, is you have to choose another model on your transmitter. you must have changed your receiver or lost your bird. But any way try that.
Eddie Lloyd if you have that problem before the motors spool down imidietly hold your quad down and switch to alt hold at full power then go back to stabilize test the throttle up and down then your good it needs a runup just like how you start your car have a safe flight i hope this will help and theirs one problem if this spools up and disarmed again you cannot rearm the board
Yes plug in to mission planner and that's the problem but not shaw what it's trying to say or how to fix can you help Regards Gary
The GPS on your model hasn't had time to get a 3D lock. Normally leaving it a little bit longer will get that sorted. It's all in the documentation ardupilot.org/copter/docs/prearm_safety_check.html
ever heard of this? I put params from no nova on my 450 I built with 2.8 and one motor woukd not spin I flashed it back and 2 motors wouldn't spin so I reset and reloaded everything.. and now those motors are fine and another one is spinning slow I recalibrate the esc several times.. even with resets from the button and the from mp it still has my motors set to not spin when armed so I'm thinking that it's not really reseting... any videos on that?
Not sure what you're asking. I would always setup a model from scratch and not copy settings across. Best of luck!
Im using an apm 2.8 and I am only able to arm the drone through apm planner and I tried arming it by setting the throttle to the right but it doesn't arm unless it's connected into apm planner. Any suggestions or ideas why I can't arm through my controller?
Not sure, I'd suspect the 5v supply in the model.. Have a look at the logfiles in case you can see anything and measure the voltage on the craft with, and without, the USB connected..
Mine arms when connected with the usb, try with the battery and the lights flash like it's arming and then back to solid blue with the other flashing. Any clue what's wrong? Checked the regulators and fuses, both good.
+joblessalex Not sure, anything in the logs? Does J1 make a difference? I would recheck all the power connections and attach a voltmeter to make sure you are supplying the same voltages as the board gets from the USB cable.. Best of luck.
Painless360 For all who need the answer, YOU CAN NOT JUST HIT THE WIZARD!!!! It will install the pixhawk firmware and not 3.2.1.... It has to be that or it will not work.
My second issue was with throttle. It would not go high, even with full throttle on the stick. Solution: Check your max throttle value, it's most likely 80, it needs to be 1000.
Third issue, return to home and loiter weren't functioning. Solution: check gps orientation. It needs to face forward to work properly.
Works perfect now and compared to a kk2, acro mode feels like autolevel!
Hi painless! I just upgraded my quad to the f550 hex. I ran through the mission planner to change the frame type to a hex. The weird thing is now when I go through the wizard to recalibrate my compass and gyro, mission planner only gives me tricopter and quadcopter frame types. Is this normal? I would think it would give me a hex shape. Mission planner sees all of the motors and i can test each of them through the software.
Tim Rooks You don't mention that you did this but you need to reload the firmware from the start really, that should help. Best of luck!
Thanks for the reply! I did that first. I got the message about the board being retired, and thanks to another one of your videos, I wasnt super worried. Mission planner did download the latest firmware it could, and it appears the upload completed to the board. I was just wondering if when you went through the wizard, did you see the hex frame type or did it only give you quadcopter frames? In your hexacopter build video, I see the icon on the gps panel is a quadcopter. I wish i had a screenshot to show you, but I'm at work.
In the versions of Mission Planner here the icon in the map will continue to be a quad/generic multirotor. You should see only hex frames in the basic configuration steps though (+ and x variants). Hope this helps..
As always, I enjoy your videos. I am trying to configure a APM 2.8. Is a compass and GPS mandatory? I have an external compass and GPS modules but am waiting for cables to arrive. When I connect the battery, there is a constant beeping. Is this something you've encountered? Thanks for any info you can share.
+abenwinUT we always add them to ours. not tried it without. There are better flight controllers if you're not bothered about GPS.. Best of luck!
Ooops. I did as you suggested and tried to arm in MP and got this error msg: PreArm: Compass not healthy. Also on the screen was: GPS: No GPS. Is there a way to turnoff/eliminate the compass check since the APM 2.8 does not have an internal compass?
Thanks for the quick reply. I do want GPS, so I will wait for the cables.
We've not tried it. Best of luck!
Got another problem now haha, mine keeps coming up with the error code FS_THR_VALUE Which I understand but cant bloody find whats wrong with it . Obviously it is to do with the fs but where could the problem lie?
This is all about the failsafe setting for throttle, you need to watch th-cam.com/video/iXxkJ9V41EQ/w-d-xo.html
Throttle failsafe needs to be below 1100 and the throttle value when arming needs to be above whatever you have the failsafe throttle set to..
Best of luck, I hope you get it armed and flying after this bit!
dear mr painless360, i think it was too heigh gains, but not sure and i cant get into flight logs with apm2.6 to see, mayby you could give me some advice....... i hope you can help me here as i have an MAJOR ISSUE, i build an x8 spider on 700mm frame turnigy multistar elite 4006 740 kv 30 amp afro esc otpo, and of course the apm ( arducopter 2.6 with power module ) very happy with the board, had it wth neo m8n external compass running fly s nice until i start messing round with tuning i autotuned it and give me a base to do in flight tuning , and in the end got it pretty stable expect a few wobble here and there, so did one more alteration and took it outside for test flight, flew good for 2 min, i shoot it up in the air on nearly full throttle,height about 80metres and then.............all 8 motors stopped spinning !!!!!!! then i tried throttle up and down no response !! failsafe did not kick in neither as i thought mayby signal loss...so it was FREE FALLLL omg.....but in the end about 5 second before it nearly hit the ground engines start spinning slowy up again ...but too late so full wack hit on grass...after testet connection ...no loose connection......my suspect to high gains ( but could that cause engines to shut down in mid flight ?? mayby esc cut off but i read that afro simonk dont do that....so i am thinking to buy an APm ( arducopter clone 2.8 )m as i dont trust this board no more...but i want still apm as its awesome....mayby you have an explanation or idear...i would HIGHLY appreciate that...cause dont want this to happen again . thank you,
We can take a look but not for free I'm afraid. See the website for charges..
+Painless360 i thank you for your reply i am currently connecting mavlink came today from ebay will have a closer look and maybe i can find something , but if not i will get back to your online support, i will check your website for charges , is the website to find on your channel , i will have a look now. thank you so much. kind regards
+Painless360 thank you again for your reply highly appreciated just wanted to let you know that i found the problem it was the powermodule the way i wired it, it said online maximum READING 90 amps so i presumed connecting all electrics including esc after PASSING through the powermodule would be ok , but after few test today it wouldnt even lift of as power cut off again so tried full throttle lift and the complete plane become dead not one single led light working, so of everything passing through the module including led light i knew then, so will order new powermodule and will get t60 splittler and bypass and the powermodule can only take what it need and disable my batteryvoltage failsafe feature, thank you kind regards.
@Painless360 I have this problem with the internal compass. I am using the AMP2.8 and I get absolutely no contact to the compass. I have tried all the jumper settings imaginable. Many people say you need a compass; many do not. People say the APM 2.8 HAS an internal compass, many do not. Please help me out here! I really want to get my quad flying. Is it possible to disable the compass / check? And is it necessary to fly?
Please help me. I have spent days googling and making forum posts!
From what I remember, the APM 2.8 doesn’t have an internal Compass. That might be part of your problem..
Alright, I should of known.
Do I need a compass to fly or is it optional?
All covered in the series - best of luck! :D
While arming APM 2.8 mission planner says pre arm:rc isn't calibrated
I followed all the steps of radio calibration still didn't slove it
Please help me
Hello, I know it's been awhile for this video but I think some of us that using APM is having a problem with arming the FC. done all the setup, follow all instructions and calibration is good. arming is my nightmare? For some odd reason, apm would not arm can you help me.
+Sen Pen all i know is in this video, and the associated manual pages. The best bet is to try and ARM while connected to the mission planner app - it'll tell you what the problem is. Best of luck
I will do that thanks for the help.
hello previously i succeessfully armed but after a while the mission planner says me to check FS-THR-VALUE what does this mean?
+김주호 If you Google that error then you'll see ;) There are lots of others who've seen (and resolved) this problem. It's about the range of your throttle and it's setup. Best of luck!
Painless360 thank you!
I have a hexcopter I ordered from overseas. when I try and arm the hexcopter it won't arm. the motors give off a tone. what can the problem be?
+Gezus Jones Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
Hi, I still can´t arm the apm, the red led is single blinking, the blue led is solid blue, so I think is just waiting to be armed. The messages box in the mission planner stays in "Initialising APM..." forever. I have tried by changing the firmware version, I don´t know how to get some log, please help me. Thanks
Sounds like one of the systems isn't coming up. You need to download and read the logfile to see which one and rule out a hardware issue. See copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/downloading-and-analyzing-data-logs-in-mission-planner/ for full details.
Good luck..
Hi mate my gps hdop only goes below 2.1 but has ten sats,When i go into loiter or rtl the quadcopter drifts.Would the hdop cause this,Would i be better getting a better gps like a Ublox Neo-M8N.Any help would be great
Possibly, sounds like there is a little interference too? I'd move it further away and see if that makes a difference. We're using the M8N here and it's such an improvement over the Gen 6 and 7 GPS we've used..
Hi, i can't arm motors... it appears a message BAD COMPASS health... but i've already configured the compass... what could i do?
+Mario Salinno Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
hey. nice video!
when i pitch forward, the quad goes backward.. what could be wrong ?
I'd reverse the elevator channel on your radio and then recalibrate the radio in Mission Planner if that works..
hello there, i have an arducopter 2.8 version on am x58 frame with 4in1 ebec esc. I made the calipration, the motors spin but only and always in the same speed. can t stabilize and cant fly/ Please help cause I m new on that
Calibrate the ESCs manually as a first step, see my video on it. Best of luck!
Can I Connect the APM BOARD to the Computer while the Battery's are Connected!? Because I am shore that in a couple videos where they said in them that one should never connect the board to the Usb and computer while the Board in turned on with lipo batries!? Thank you very very much Brother
Bisholi M The APM is designed for this and the CLI (before it was retired due to lack of memory) had great commands that allows you to spin up and check the motors - that needed both flight battery and USB power connected.
The problem comes when you have J1 installed and have a UBEC voltage that is very different from the +5v that the USB supplies. This drives current in all sorts of undesirable paths.
Make sure that the UBEC/power is very close to 5v and you should be fine.
Best of luck.
Painless360 Ok then, So I guess It is possible then to Connect the Board to the Computer with USB Cable, and the J1 is removed and One of the servo's have power( or the servo's are all in linear mode)?then one can connect the Lipo to the board and have it connected to the usb also? Am I getting it right then?Thank you
Again - yes. The problem comes when you have J1 installed and have a UBEC voltage that is very different from the +5v that the USB supplies. This drives current in all sorts of undesirable paths.
Make sure that the UBEC/power is very close to 5v and you should be fine.
Painless360 Thank you , Thank you, and Thank you.....:)A thank you for everytime I troubled you :) ( sry my bad English)I have actially installed everything now, and the osd is running very goodilly :), But the weather here has been horrible. Tooo much Wind and rain...:( so I am waiting for a good day for the first flight..
Best of luck with the maiden flight!
hello! i have problem my quadcopter. i have apm 2.6 and ublox 7m.. problem is when i go to out for flying my
copter everything going well. but when i press loiter/rtl mode on copter fly away and i got hurry click back
stabilize mode and fly back to me.. apm got solid blue led and ublox blinking blue led.
mission planner show me gps 3d fix. it found 7satellite indoors.. i cannot get my pc outside
i try enable geofence but not help.. any advice? ps. good videos i am new for this hobby i got my copter week ago
and i get it fly your apm video series!
+wilho250 This most commonly happens when the compass isn't solid, calibrated and being moved by the power delivered to the motors. Look up our video on why GPS modes need a solid compass.. I'd also look up the CompassMOT process too.. Best of luck.
My Quad keeps doing circles in loiter mode some times its rock steady and some times it does circles to the ground how can i fix this?
Hi Oliver, it could be a few things. I'd start with the compass.
Watch th-cam.com/video/3CBxyY0lS6g/w-d-xo.html and then check that the compass isn't getting any interference from the power lines. If you can see any deflection above a few degrees when the throttle is up then run through the CompassMOT process to help the board compensate).
Failing that check the logs and check that the GPS signal quality isn't dropping due to vibration or something else.
Hope this helps.
@Painless360 I am running APM 2.6 FW - 3.2.1 I am a mode 1 user on my transmitter, which means i use rudder to arm the copter, I have build a Tricopter, My issue is I would like to limit my servo throw, and of which if i do it via transmitter, i will not be able to arm the board, is there anyway if i could arm the board using switches?
I have followed the instructions on Arducopter wiki whereby it says RC7 is able to make the changes on the servo throw, but however it is not working, could you please help me out, Thanks a million.
Have you setup as per copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/tricopter/?
+Painless360 Yes I did, Cause if i use End points to do the servo travel to avoid servo binding then i will not be able to arm the board, so now i am looking at possibilities of arming the board via a switch, so that my end points remain as it is. with normal end points i am able to arm the board without any issues.
hi I am facing a problem with a pixhawk 2.4.6 I did all steps and calibration but it arms and motors not spinning any idea please?
+Charlie Farrugia Not without a bit more detail. I'd check the throttle is moving and the ESCs are calibrated.. Best of luck.
+Painless360 yes I did all process esc calibrated also I calibrate them one by one do I need a bec on pixhawk? on the servo rail??
You do, you need to power the board... Best of luck..
hi,
it seems that i have a problem with my mini apm 3.1: i can not arm my board when i am outside and it is cold. I have tried it at room temperature and it works fine but when i went outside i was unable to arm it (outside temperature 8 degrees celsius)
Can you please help me to solve this problem?
Thank you very much!
+Groza Marius Try and arm it outside connected to the PC and then see what error comes up in Mission planner. Best of luck!
Hello I've got a problem.
First I would like to thank you
My problem is that the engine is not working I've pressing direction I left more than 5 seconds and did not work
These come on the last step for me, I've followed all of your videos
How to know if you are in the autotune mode please. Ia have been trying to arm my quad since it is not arming i am using an apm2.8
Use telemetry on your radio or the OSD to see the mode... Happy flying
Hi
i just got a apm 2.8 kit from amazon it has a orange light that flashes next to the green power light it shows up on my pc but wont let me load any firmwear to set it up any help would be greatly appreciated i treid theu rest butto. with no luck. thanks!
Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
Got it going had some bad driver installed for the apm to talk to the pc through the com port deleted the drivers and reinstalled good to go . Thanks for all the hard work you put into your videos they have helped me out a ton!!! you rock!!!
Hello, where is a reliable place to buy the APM 2.8 in AU online?
I've never bought an APM 2.8. We tend to use places like HobbyKing, Banggood, GearBest or good 'ole eBay (check the seller has a good reputation). Best of luck!
Thanks for your help!
My Apm 2.8 won't arm even when disabling the pre-arm check, any idea, nothing appear on the MP screen except of course Disarmed.
Without any error messages on the screen it's tricky to suggest that may be the problem. I'd check the basics like endpoints... Best of luck!
success , in pushing the Yaw trim completely to the right, now i am not centered anymore!Is there a parameter i can change in MP?Thank you.
Centered where? If you mean the yaw channel then use the sub trim to get the channels to be 1500 at the middle position. See the APM setup videos - it's all in there..
yup , this the limitation of this flysky cheap radio(CT6B), but with a small mechanical motification on the left stick i increased the travel, and everything is now fine.thanks for your nice videos, vithout em i could not have made it.
you can plug in the usb while the APM is powered?
Hi, this is answered at 5:42 in the video.
Happy flying!
Painless360 Thanks, ya that's where I was like "wait what?" lol I hear allot of people say not that is a nono... but I'll take your word for it because you seem to know what you are talking about... :) thanks for the great video!
It's only a 'no-no' if you are running the APM at a very different voltage from the one supplied from the USB i.e. USB provides 5.0v and the BEC if providing 5.8V.
This causes an excessive current to flow in key parts of the board due to the difference and blow the 500mA fuse and potentially damage some of the voltage regulators too.
The APM is designed to work in this way (that's why we have things like the motor test in the CLI commands to run the motors using the PC) but some are not being careful enough and checking that they don't have different voltages.
Check it to be sure and you should be fine. Every board is different though so there are NO guarantees ;)
Hi i am havig a problem with mine, When it's plugged in and i go to arm it, it does nothing, i dont get an error message either when in mission planner, But there is always an orange light flashing/flickering constantly and i don't know what it is, the blue and red lights are flickering slowly too. Please help :D
Has this ever worked? Sounds like you are putting the APM into ESC calibration mode by holding the arming position on the Tx for more than 15 seconds. Make sure you are only holding the throttle to the lower right hand side for 7 seconds max.
Hope this helps.
Painless360 hey, I figured I had no GPS lock then, Although now when I have a solid blue light for GPS lock, I get the red blink once for disarmed and 2 orange lights flickering by the center of the board , but it will not arm!?
FlyingMaddLadd Did you found out why was that 2 orange leds blinking? I have same problem.
I would connect it to the APM and see what error codes are on the screen when you try and arm..
Best of luck.
I have f450 drone apm 2.6 board my arming stick is on pitch side and i connot pitch nor yaw when its armed how do i chaing it to the throttle stick please help
Sounds like you have the channel order or wiring from the reciever to the APM wrong. Check out the other videos in the series for how I set it up.. Best of luck
@@Painless360 i chek it and it does the same i am using flysky fs-i6
something i wanted to ask,,
with the board armed When I push up the throttle, the motorss dont exceed about 20% speed , even at full throttle ... what do i do here ??
What troubleshooting have you done already?
Esc calibration, radio calibration board too recalibrated
Can you see the throttle move all the way up in Mission Planner? What are the low and high values shown in the GUI for the throttle?
What do the logs show?
Painless360 yes i can see that i even set up 6-switch mode on my 9xR.
the values are fine, min goes to around 990 max to 2005
the range is a little large. normally a throttle range of 1100 to 1900 is plenty..
hey how do you reverse the pitch on apm.
thanks in advance
cheers.
+rio787 Easiest way us to reverse the elevator channel on your radio..
hello again do u have any idea why i have slight yaw to the right? :/
Could be a number of things.
Check that the rudder mid stick value is 1500 (use the sub-trim on the transmitter to change) and rerun the radio calibration in Mission Planner. If that is all ok then check that you are not using compass to maintain heading and if you are, ensure that it isn't getting any interference from the power lines.
Hope this helps.
my apm2.8 can't arm. In missing planner it shows BAD GPS HEALTH. so how to fix this.
Thanks
Alex.
+alexongpanghai could be a number of things. Lots of information on things to try in the forums I.e. discuss.ardupilot.org/t/bad-compass-health/14705
Please help!!! No matter what I do I can not get the motor to turn powerfull enough to get it up from the ground!!?
Maybe the worse place to ask, but I was watching your video and I have tried to be a member at the forrum, but as yet I havent recieved any emails from them...Thank's
Bisholi M Could be lots of things - what troubleshooting have you done?
Painless360 My fault!? So Creasy I am ashame to write it here! I had forgotten the motor spec.'s and they sould run on 4s( I know stupet) sry about that!! But I have had another problem. Like your video I tried to connect throu the terminal to the 2.6 board, and It wont let me write any commands there, It keeps printing mambo jumbo's!? and now that I have a 2.8 apm board(it worked fine until I connected the 3Dradio's) is doing the same!!? Any Idea's why?and No this time I hunestlly cheked everything acouple of times to make shore I am not doing Creasy mistakes like the last time. But one thing for shore when both Board are doing the same Creasy thing I dont think they are Faulty, there is something I am doing wrong or the win8-1 like always doing something that I done know about?By the WAY LOVE YOUR VIDEO'S :)
Bisholi M Ok I found about that too!! :) The new Upgrades remove the Possibility of using Terminal!? Dont ask me why? But the I learned that it is no longer possible to use it, and that doesnt mean that My Boards are faulty :) SO EVERYTHING IS COOL.I LOVE YOUR VIDEO's BY THE WAY....
Coolio! Glad you got that sorted.
Happy flying!
Painless360 ;)
When Im trying to calibrate my esc's, it makes the musical tone when i plug the battery in but nothing else indicating successful calibration. Help!!!!!!!
+Duane Clem Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
My hdop is at 2.7 could that be the reason ? I am using an apm 2.8 of yes how to solve the hdop issue
That is high so needs looking at. Moving the GPS away from other electronics is step one... Happy flying
Hi I've followed your instructions and I can't get the board to work. Can you help me with this issue it's always saying it's in RTH.
Without more detail it's impossible to offer any advice. Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
@@Painless360 I've followed the Apm series did all the calibrations including the one for the radio set the flight modes however they won't change and its saying current mode is RTH. In addition it saying failsafe.
Then it's a radio Failsafe issue... I'd start there. It could be one of the channels on the radio (throttle probably) is going too low.. Best of luck
@@Painless360 thank you I got it figured out.
Do you know how to trouble shooting APM on APMplanner2 which is an alternative of mission planner. APMplanner2 is coded in Qt so it can be implanted on any platform. I am on linux. Mission planner only supports Windows platform.
Sorry I've not used it. I did load it onto a machine once but it wouldn't work consistently. Best of luck..
Can you instruct me how to connect LED lights for APM2.6. To show Arm,GPS and ETC?
Ronnie Drake I have my set here, so video coming soon - watch this space!
my quadcopter's flight horizon is flipped. How to fix this, please help
You sure! Check with my video on it. GOOGLE 'Artificial horizon painless360' to find it..
Hello, i have this weird problem where the artificial horizon is shown upside down and when i calibrate the acc it goes to normal but when i reboot the apm it goes back to the same problem
I’ve not seen that. I’d make sure that any changes you make are being saved. Best of luck!
I just fixed it by reseting all the parameters to default
I had an issue and I would like to describe it and give the solution in case somebody else has it. Issue: when I give a little throttle, motors are spinning very fast and quadcopter is taking off. Solution: I calibrated the esc manually, automatically through the APM and nothing changed. At the end I found out that I had to change the parameter THR_MID to the lowest value, because it was scaling up too much my throttle.
mm let me try that
If while trying to arm you get error message " RC Calibration" and you have done the radio calibration numerous times what then?
+Mike Thomas what troubleshooting have you already tried?
+Painless360 I have reflashed my firmware to version 3.2.1, I set up a new model on my taranis x9d plus, I individually calibrated all six esc's and the motors worked fine. I have calibrated all switches on the x9d multiple times. made sure it was in stabilize mode. recalibrated my compass (i have ver.2.8 apm with an external gps and compase),
+Mike Thomas - recalibrated my accelerometer, made sure that no fail safes are set, triple checked all connections but it still wont arm. It did however arm very briefly once but when i turned everything off and back on again it would not. I have also tried various versions of mission planner and apmplanner2.
+Mike Thomas more precisely the message i get when trying to arm the board is "PREARM; RC Not Calibrated"
+Mike Thomas I figured out the problem . it was in the parameters settings
Hi sir. I I did everything in order but my apm 2.6 still not arming I did my radio mode from the top stabilize,stabilize,stabilize,loiter,stabilize,RLT. my gps all working, apm board all looks good but still not arming. could help me please.? by the way merry Christmas.
+Aydin Atik what error do you get in the gui?
Painless360 error is acro _ bal _ Roll/pitch.
Then I'd look up that error in the documentation - ardupilot.org/copter/docs/prearm_safety_check.html - best of luck!
Hi,
When I tried to ARM the APM 2.8 board It shows "Pre Arm: Check_FS_THR_VALUE" error. How can I fix that?
What have you already tried?
+Painless360
I tried to arm the board. I think it's arming problem. Red light is blinking twice.
I soldered the GPS port's ground pin and next pin to the ground pin(hope this pin is not connected anywhere in the circuit) together to connect Crius 4pin gps module. GPS is working fine. Does that cause to this trouble?
+Senal Weerasinghe ardupilot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=6781 ?
Hi friend i have problem , my apm quad copter three moter work well but one moter to slow it , i change moter and reset apm and recalibration but it can't fix plase help me sir
The process that I follow to get an APM working is all covered in this series. It’s probably worth a look in the forums too, I’ve not seen this issue personally. Best of luck!
thank you reply
When i do arming, it doesnt work. i have observed that if i do armimg with usb cable connected and battery as well, only then arming works but when i disconnect usb cable arming no more works. Also my arming happens with other stick and not throttle one
The it sounds like the radio mapping is wrong for a start.. Best of luck!
is it possible to setup an aux switch to arm the apm board?
Not in the same way as things like Betaflight.. You could make a switch on your radio that would set the throttle to zero and put in full right rudder for 3 seconds..
@@Painless360 well how can i do that with open tx? qx7 to be specific
With OpenTX it's the same process on all radios. Have a look at the OpenTX mix school videos, I'd use a special function to set those rudder and throttle channel values for the time needed when the switch is set..
Painless360 ok thanks
hi .. is there a way to decrease the throttle power in stabilise mode?
I like my quad to behave in a very economic way. .. :D
I found an option to decrease the lean angle in all flight modes.. now set to 20 degrees and that is fixed..
now u need to decrease climb rate in stabilise mode.. please help me
+Ashish Faustine I would flatten out the throttle curve around the hover point to help. I would be using dual rates on the radio to manage the craft in case you ever needed to get the full range of movement in an emergency from your model. Best of luck.
Mm dual rates on the flysky th9x.. ok I'll have to figure that out :D
Well I want to make my quad efficient by reducing power consumption make it behave like the dji phantom ..
Then you need to be using lower KV motors and larger props for improved efficiency. Best of luck..
Well I know that's right but it seems to me like 1047 props are twice efficient when paired with sunnysky x2212 980 kv than emax 2216 810kv both on 4s5000 30c on 1900 grams
For arming GPS lock is necessary
I couldnt find any clue to what my problem might be; GPS is connect via 6Pin connector, No light on the GPS at all, both red light on the apm 2.5 do blink, green is solid, set the PreArm checks to None and I am in Acromode but I cant arm.
I'd check the GPS has power. What troubleshooting have you already tried?
@@Painless360 The PWR LED should on the Neo-6M light up on the GPS, right ? since my set-up is identical to the Ardupilot Video here:
th-cam.com/video/CZQoGfCKKLo/w-d-xo.html
I exactly have my own thread (with pictures) in the FliteTest Forum and a second thread with a similar problem on a second APM that has a GPS Fix but wont arm else.
forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/apm-2-5-wont-arm-and-no-gps.58569/
forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/f450-clone-and-apm-wiringquestions.56124/
APM should be able to arm without GPS when in Acro mode (which is the case) and show any problem in the artifical horizon (which is not the case). I even switched PreArm Checks off and tried it again but no Success.
If you've wired it correctly and the GPS isn't powered then something is wrong.. I'd start by figuring our that issue first. Best of luck
@@Painless360
Can I (theoretically) arm without GPS when I switch off the PreArm checks ?
I dont need GPS.
There is something about that in the documentation but I have never tried it. Best of luck
hello painless360 please help me i beg you ,i heve spent so much of money and nothing works out. i am having apm 2.8 when i plugg it into laptop it arms by pressing the rudder stick to right when i place ardupilot on drone and plug it with lipo ,it doesnot arm . please tell me the solution
Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
yes sir! i have tried that all none of you tube video explains how to solve that problem there was discussion on diydrones forum about the same problem but nobody responded on that and no solution sir ! please help me i am really in big trouble
+Ashish Kumar but what have you already tried? Without knowing that it's impossible for me to add anything useful..
Painless360 yesterday it was armed but automatically disarmed after a few seconds
and one point more that it does one thing either it arms for few seconds or esc(s) are callibrating
one thing is happening at a time only
and i tried :- before all that i wasnt using 5 channel to set the flight modes in stabilize ,acro and althold but after this also nothing happened :( :( help me !!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Guys I am in need of some help please. I have been following all of the videos on how to setup the APM, I have the APM Arducopter 2.8, I dont have any external compass's yet, so all i have is the receiver and a power module which is a GM ver. 1.0. So, when I move the Throttle stick to the right for 5 seconds to Arm the Controller, 2 of the motors spin at low speed but not the other 2, however, when I increase the Throttle Stick, the other 2 motors spin at a higher speed than the other two, which means that when you attempt to take off, it will tip up because 2 of the motors are spinning faster than the other 2.
Obviously in accordance with the videos, when you Arm the Controller, none of the motors turn, so could anyone please help me to stop these motors from Spinning when the Controller is armed. Thank you!! Mark
Sounds like the ESC need calibrating. I’d wait until you have all the components and then follow along the APM series, video by video. Best of luck!
I've not played with APM for years so I'm out of date. The forums might hold an answer - best of luck!
oups , will it work with only 6channels?
Yep (no need to post more than once ;)
I am using stablize mode. And I don't know how to turn off airmode plz help.
APM doesn’t have Airmode. If you’re using Betaflight then. See my videos on that..
How to fix the "compass not healthy apm" issue ??
+Muhanad Alrawahi Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
Sir i done all thing now my apm2.8 is not arming why
There is no error but not arming i am uploading a video and sharing a link sir .i am ur fan from 2015 trying to make a hexa but not success till now by apm.now i am again tring to make hexa bye apm 2.8 but same problem facing .only big problem compass not calibring and dots are not showing
If compass not calibrated or compass dots data not collected .in this case arming is possible or not??
It will not arm until the basic calibration is done for the compass, radio and accelerometers. You'll need to get that compassion sorted first. I've not used APM for years so am very out of date with that old technology. Best of luck
mmmmm Even in altitude hold it has to get more than 7 satelites to arm? :O
hi can u plz tell me how to arm without gps lock
i want to fly my lane without gps
ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-prearm-safety-checks.html covers how to disable it (bottom of the page). The docs are excellent and you can usually find what you're looking for without having to use lots of jargon. Best of luck!
@@Painless360 tnx a lot finally got it armed after two days of headache
i cant arm the drone in apm 2.8 plz help
Always worth checking the playlist you're watching ... th-cam.com/video/LEKSkOFHB-c/w-d-xo.html
If i habe an usb cable in my apm sometimes it works. Without it no chance. I don't know why
+Jo Jo sounds like a power issue. Make sure the APM has 5v power. See the other videos in the series..Best of luck
Painless360 I'll try it out👍
I don´t think so because it´s not important if the usb cable is plugged anywhere in.
th-cam.com/video/VdX8rPCuJ50/w-d-xo.html may help
Pre arm need 3d fix please help tp fix it ! It's not able to arm 😔
See my troubleshooting arming video for things to check and how to troubleshoot.. best of luck
@Akash Gupta did you figure it out?
Sir why my apm is not armed with radio
Happy to help but please watch th-cam.com/video/olIqTiSJHIY/w-d-xo.html and come back to me with more detail of what you've tried..
My GPS catches 8 or 9 satellites. Sometimes 10. Still HDOP is around 4.0 :( Maybe GPS module is defective. Anyone has other hints what I could try to fix it?
Michal Gloc Sounds like you may have interference from something else on the craft. Make sure that there isn't too much vibration and that the GPS is well away from the other antennas and power systems that may cause interference. Also check all of the connections on the cables are good and check there isn't any dry solder on the back of the unit..Hope you get to the bottom of it.. Happy flying!
Painless360 I removed everything I could. All that's left is just APM in center on anti-vibration pad, ESCs on the beams, and GPS module on a mast (about 15cm above away from APM), Still HDOP 2.97 with 8 satellites tracked. Then I noticed something strange. When I removed APM from the pad and moved it away, HDOP fell to 1.85. The pad is made of 2 pieces of carbon fiber. I know it can conduct electricity, but with all those cf drones everywhere I didn't expect it also scrambles GPS. Edit: Removing the pad completely I got HDOP to 1.6 with the drone just sitting by the window. :)
Looks like you've found the source of the problem :) Happy flying!
High gps hdop and pre arm velocity error anyone ??
same problem....
My drones gps isn't working . It is showing my location at South Africa while u am working in India. Pls help....................!!!!!!!!!!!!! APM 2.8
Could be a few things. That'll be the zero point for the coordinates. What troubleshooting have you already done?
@@Painless360 I have reconfigured the APM setting but issue not resolves. Also getting error messages:
1)RC not calliberated
2)need 3d fix
Please advise.........
All the steps are in the series. Make sure the GPS is powered and the connections are correct.. Best of luck
@@Painless360 ok , will try
Thanx for ur instant reply
Check your pid in misson planner ...😆