Calibration of: Compass, Accelerometer, Gimbal Camera

[CAPTAINDRONE]

Here is a long overdue "Typhoon H calibration" video I recently put together. It is designed for new Typhoon H pilots (you experienced pilots already know all of this and much more). Instead of three separate videos, I put all 3 calibration items together in one video for easy reference.

I added the "magnetic north" compass calibration issue that many on this forum speak of. I don't know if there is any truth to it, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I also added the "heat" issue when performing an accelerometer calibration (for Phantom pilots we have all grown up knowing never to perform an IMU calibration with a hot battery or drone). I 100% don't know if it applies to the Typhoon, but I threw it in regardless.

Enjoy!

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[MikeB]

Very well done. I enjoy all your videos.

 

[Brent]

Thanks again for all of the work you put into the videos! Doesn't matter if you are new or a seasoned user, the videos are a great resource.

Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk

 

[Typhoon Charlie]

Well done Cap. I think where a lot of people go wrong is calibrating the accelerometerer in an unlevel surface. Calibration is only as good as hour level the surface is.Also moving the aircraft while it is booting is not a good idea. Always place the aircraft on the ground and then press the power button and don't move it until it is fully booted. Again well done.

 

[Photo]

Here is a long overdue "Typhoon H calibration" video I recently put together. It is designed for new Typhoon H pilots (you experienced pilots already know all of this and much more). Instead of three separate videos, I put all 3 calibration items together in one video for easy reference.

I added the "magnetic north" compass calibration issue that many on this forum speak of. I don't know if there is any truth to it, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I also added the "heat" issue when performing an accelerometer calibration (for Phantom pilots we have all grown up knowing never to perform an IMU calibration with a hot battery or drone). I 100% don't know if it applies to the Typhoon, but I threw it in regardless.

Enjoy!

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WOW! Great CAPTAINDRONE, thanx alot. Good job done!

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

Thanks again for all of the work you put into the videos! Doesn't matter if you are new or a seasoned user, the videos are a great resource.

Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk

Thank you kindly Brent.

 

[JCFlippen]

Thank you kindly Brent.

Yuneec should license your easy on the eye but accurate videos for inclusion with the H. If everyone watched these guides the traumatic occurences of fly-aways or moans about camera quality would be cut dramatically.

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

Well done Cap. I think where a lot of people go wrong is calibrating the accelerometerer in an unlevel surface. Calibration is only as good as hour level the surface is.Also moving the aircraft while it is booting is not a good idea. Always place the aircraft on the ground and then press the power button and don't move it until it is fully booted. Again well done.

Very true. If the Typhoon is shaken by wind or vibrations while calibrating the accelerometer the potential for a negative outcome is high.

One thing I've found is that the order of calibration also has an impact. A compass calibration sometimes seems to mess up the existing gimbal & accelerometer. Could be due to all the spinning of the Typhoon but I'm not really certain. So after a compass calibration I fly for a bit and when I get home I do the accelerometer and gimbal which seems to fix any lingering issues.

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

Yuneec should license your easy on the eye but accurate videos for inclusion with the H. If everyone watched these guides the traumatic occurences of fly-aways or moans about camera quality would be cut dramatically.

Thanks! If Yuneec ever wanted to partner on a video(s) I'd certainly be open to it.

 

[Old Jar Head]

Excellent and simple video. Yuneec really should hire you.

 

[Rayray]

One thing I've found is that the order of calibration also has an impact. A compass calibration sometimes seems to mess up the existing gimbal & accelerometer. Could be due to all the spinning of the Typhoon but I'm not really certain. So after a compass calibration I fly for a bit and when I get home I do the accelerometer and gimbal which seems to fix any lingering issues.

As usual an informative and easy to follow video. Kudos.
Out of curiosity, what were you looking at during the compass cal?
The compass calibration: I can do it it OK, but I wish there was a different process. Some folks apparently fling it around with force, lol.

Ah...here's a question for you Cap. That blasted green arrow on the ST-16 screen when flying. I rotate the H and the arrow turns, but not necessarily like I anticipate. Now I know if you steer the H toward the arrow the H will come back to you, but what about the direction it points?

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

T

As usual an informative and easy to follow video. Kudos.
Out of curiosity, what were you looking at during the compass cal?
The compass calibration: I can do it it OK, but I wish there was a different process. Some folks apparently fling it around with force, lol.

Ah...here's a question for you Cap. That blasted green arrow on the ST-16 screen when flying. I rotate the H and the arrow turns, but not necessarily like I anticipate. Now I know if you steer the H toward the arrow the H will come back to you, but what about the direction it points?

Thanks! I was looking at the blinking lights. I had my glasses on for items close which means next to no peripheral vision so I have to look directly at an item (Typhoon arm lights on my right).

The compass calibration is a bit insane compared to other drones. Most drones it's just hold the nose out to the horizon and turn entire body around 360, then hold the nose toward the ground and again turn entire body around 360. I would not be surprised if all that spinning (for those who calibrate many times a week) is having an affect on the Typhoon H performance & reliability.

The green arrow? From memory I'd say it just points towards the controller doesn't it? You then just point the nose of the Typhoon in the direction of where the green arrow is pointing to head home. I could be mistaken as I'm doing it from memory.

 

[Rayray]

From memory I'd say it just points towards the controller doesn't it? You then just point the nose of the Typhoon in the direction of where the green arrow is pointing to head home.

I don't think so. With the H stationary in the air, as you rotate it the arrow direction changes. As you fly the entire arrow moves on the screen and if you fly toward the entire arrow the H comes back toward you. Heck, I don't know...one guy on here claimed his arrow always pointed toward China. Maybe it did, lol. When you have time, take a look.

 

[PatR]

We should come up with some kind of award for CaptainDrone. Some of us are capable of doing some of the heavy lifting he has done but haven't. The Captain always comes through for everyone though. The man both cares and has skills.

 

[Atomic08]

Great Video !
Copied and saved to my Video How To Files on the S16!
One question for clarification...
When you say to turn on the controller then the H, do you do that quickly, one after the other
or first wait until the controller boots up and then turn on H ?

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

We should come up with some kind of award for CaptainDrone. Some of us are capable of doing some of the heavy lifting he has done but haven't. The Captain always comes through for everyone though. The man both cares and has skills.

Wow, thanks Pat! No award necessary, I'm like the everyone else who enjoys the hobby. I just bring along a camera now and then on my way to an early morning flight & coffee.

 

[CAPTAINDRONE]

Great Video !
Copied and saved to my Video How To Files on the S16!
One question for clarification...
When you say to turn on the controller then the H, do you do that quickly, one after the other
or first wait until the controller boots up and then turn on H ?

Thank you!

I turn on the ST16, wait until it displays "Yuneec", then power on the Typhoon H. When I land to change batteries, I just leave the ST16 on & turn off the Typhoon H, replace the battery, power it back up and the ST16 picks up the signal rather quickly and I carry on where I left off. When I'm finished for the day, I stop the video recording on the ST16, shut down the Typhoon H, then shut down the ST16.

 

[PatR]

CD,

Something many may not know is that GPS lock time is more important to positional accuracy and system stability than the number of satellites acquired. One can have 20 satellites in view but not maintained a lock on them long enough for a good position fix to resolve. A 4 or 5 satellite fix can have better resolution if the lock has been established long enough. I've flown a lot of very high dollar military unmanned systems and even with the quality of that equipment the lock times are critical to accurate position fixes. Some function effectively with only four satellites in view if the fix has been established long enough.

My way of thinking, and considerable operational experience, provides reason to believe too many people are in a rush to get off the ground and hitting the arm button as soon as they see what they think is a reasonable number of satellites, if they bother to review that information at all. It would explain many of the control and positional issues some experience from time to time. Until the arm button is pushed there is very little drain on the battery. Allowing a minute or two after the basic boot up before arming the motors will provide much better GPS performance. We can use that wait time to set up our cameras and spend less time messing with it once in the air, or reviewing our area of flight to gain a better grasp of wind and obstruction conditions.

 

[gwhuntoon]

CD,

Something many may not know is that GPS lock time is more important to positional accuracy and system stability than the number of satellites acquired. One can have 20 satellites in view but not maintained a lock on them long enough for a good position fix to resolve. A 4 or 5 satellite fix can have better resolution if the lock has been established long enough. I've flown a lot of very high dollar military unmanned systems and even with the quality of that equipment the lock times are critical to accurate position fixes. Some function effectively with only four satellites in view if the fix has been established long enough.

My way of thinking, and considerable operational experience, provides reason to believe too many people are in a rush to get off the ground and hitting the arm button as soon as they see what they think is a reasonable number of satellites, if they bother to review that information at all. It would explain many of the control and positional issues some experience from time to time. Until the arm button is pushed there is very little drain on the battery. Allowing a minute or two after the basic boot up before arming the motors will provide much better GPS performance. We can use that wait time to set up our cameras and spend less time messing with it once in the air, or reviewing our area of flight to gain a better grasp of wind and obstruction conditions.

I concure with PatR's assessment. It can take a maximum of 12.5 minutes to completely download an updated GPS Alamanac. I've seen 15 to 18 satellites on the ST16 within 30 seconds of power up, then all of a sudden within a minute or two, the ST16 says it lost GPS, I keep waiting for 8-10 minutes and no more lost GPS. At this point I feel I'm good to go. For what it's worth 8-10 minutes can seem like an eternity when all you want to do is fly but like PatR said you can be getting other things ready while you wait.

I know a lot of users here have said, where does it say to wait in the documentation? Unfortunately it doesn't. I've just used a lot of GPS enabled devices and done a lot of reading about GPS. Waiting works.

Greg

 

[Typhoon Charlie]

Exactly what PatR and gwhuntoon said. When I got into GPS guided UAV 5 years ago, I was thought to wait 15 min for acquisition and data download . I wish the ST16 would give Hdop reading along with number of satellites.