Camera control issues with Typhoon H & ST-16

[CADSn26001]

I seem to have persistent issues with the camera pitch/pan wheels for the ST-16's for both my H's and now one of them has worsened.
Current symptoms are:

1) lack of fine angular control (just as before);
2) when I pitch the wheel to straight & level view the ST-16 randomly beeps;
3) at max pitch/pan the cam appears to be bobbing up & down somewhat rapidly at small angles.

Previously, (about 2 months ago) the wheel movement didn't exactly correlate to actual camera pitch/pan angle, but at a much lesser magnitude (I had to "jerk" the wheel to level the camera and lacked fine angular control). Cleaning out the electronics, gluing the appropriate hardware, re-calibrating, appeared to have solved the problem, so I thought. After a few flights in about 2 months since the fix the issue's returned with a vengeance. Yuneec Tech support was not able suggest anything useful except to recommend buying another ST-16 and camera. I've managed to fix everything thus far, but this particular issue is stubborn and consistent with both H's. Might anyone have these exact same issues and possible resolutions other than what I've already done?

 

[DoomMeister]

Do you have the same symptoms on both systems?

What got glued after cleaning the electronics for the pitch slider?

You say you calibrated the controller. Did you insure that both the rate slider and the camera pitch slider as well as both sticks were centered as the first half of the calibration was exited? The symptoms you describe sound as if the pitch slider was full up as the first half was exited.

Refer to this post How to: Maintenance Compilation and be sure to perform the cleaning before attempting the calibration.

 

[CADSn26001]

Do you have the same symptoms on both systems?

What got glued after cleaning the electronics for the pitch slider?

You say you calibrated the controller. Did you insure that both the rate slider and the camera pitch slider as well as both sticks were centered as the first half of the calibration was exited? The symptoms you describe sound as if the pitch slider was full up as the first half was exited.

Refer to this post How to: Maintenance Compilation and be sure to perform the cleaning before attempting the calibration.

Hi! Thanks for your response! I've performed the "Calibration Test" and the "Hardware Test" (accessed via tapping the "About Controller" button multiple times). While using the "Hardware Monitor" mode test, if I move the wheel slowly, K2's displacement range is limited to min- to mid-levels only. If I "jerk" the wheel upward then the indicator can sometimes jump to max or near max. Gradual movement of the wheel no longer correlates to the K2 indicator on the screen nor the camera. Sometimes if I leave the wheel in the max position, K2 remains near the mid-level and the ST-16 "beeps" randomly, sounding as as if I kept maxing-out or moving the wheel randomly, yet I'm not even touching the wheel. This issue did not appear to occur or worsen over time during my many flights last Wed. I was performing aerial shoots for 2 properties that day and it appeared to operate as expected and without issues for hours before malfunctioning. It occurred just as I landed the bird towards the end of the day. As for what I hot-glued, it was the edges of the connectors with the pots. I had a "toilet bowl" control issue with one of the control sticks 2 months ago and glued the plastic connector to the pot to minimize transient movements, so while the hood was open I did the same (the best I could) with the wheel pots; although, its hardware config was not as accessible, so I mainly cleaned them out then only spot-glued a safe edge someplace, more as a preventive and redundant measure. I'll check out the link you mentioned as well. Thanks again!!

 

[DoomMeister]

If the beeping is occurring when the tilt slider is full forward it means that is where the system thinks the midpoint is. This is a clear indication that the tilt slider was full forward when the first half of the calibration was exited. Double tap the Volts icon on the ST16 and a channel output screen should appear. With the slider full forward Ch7 should read -100%, at midpoint it should be 0% and you should hear a faint beep, and at full down Ch7 should read +100%.

It is imperative that the calibration be done properly and one of the most important is centering both sticks, the pan knob, and both sliders before exiting the first half of the calibration

Hopefully slamming the slider forward has not caused it physical damage. If so you are looking at replacing the left switch assembly.

Hot glue is not advisable on connectors as it can be too difficult to remove. A dab of RTV works well and can be removed if access to the connector is needed in the future.