Typhoon H 480 PX4 v1.10 (Stability issues ;-)

Pöllö · Mar 8, 2020

h-elsner said:
I started to create some kind of User Manual. It is an early, early draft! Please review, correct and comment. Don't hesitate to criticize.
Everybody is invited to help. Thank you.

Latest docs are always here:

Thunderbird/Documentation at Typhoon_H_480 · h-elsner/Thunderbird

Thunderbird Firmware, A fork of PX4 Autopilot Software for Yuneec Typhoon H - h-elsner/Thunderbird

github.com

br HE

Hi Helmut,

Those manuals look extremely good! Thank you very much for your effort! ;-)

Sorry for not being active here for a while.. had too many other things going on and havent't had a chance to test the latest version of the Thunderbird until today. Bad weather, nasty flu (no Corona Virus, more like Lapin Kulta Virus. Which is pretty craptastic Finnish beer

).

Outside the Thunderbird development, I partially ported the PX4/Thunderbird to STM32 Nucleo F767ZI board for testing various stuff. Like redundant IMU's and their failure mechanisms, if someone wants to hack some redundancy (Dual IMU, Dual GPS...) into the Typhoon. The PX4 is really incredible. I set up a system with MPU6050 and MPU9150 IMU's and other sensors that were left-overs from my previous DIY-drones many years ago. You can pretty much mess up anything you want with the sensors while the system is powered on, as long as there is one functional IMU on-line. The magnetometers can go, the second IMU can go, and the PX4 is still alive and kicking. You can even add them back while the PX4 is powered up and running.

The test flights today were awesome, although pretty boring... The Thunderbird flew itself and I had to find a way kill my time meanwhile. The LED is now fully functional, landing gears are functional (again

) and telemetry improvements are there. I'll upload the logs for you probably tomorrow. Looking good. I think I'll do few more extra test flights and I'll release the logging/telemetry/mission/LED/landing gear fix -enabled firmware after them! ;-)

Br,

Toni

Pöllö · Mar 8, 2020

Testing the latest version of the Thunderbird before release. The blinking purple LED looks nice. ;-)

Enrico Jorysch · Mar 8, 2020

That's good... looking forward to the latest firmware. Thanks for your great effort, Toni.

Stewart_helotech · Mar 8, 2020

I thought it was pretty good flying myself. But I am a newbie.

h-elsner · Mar 9, 2020

No hurry Toni. I have also a backlog in testing here due to the weather. It's either cold or wet plus windy all the time.
Got a MCU with SD card slot. It is flashed successfully now and tested on the ground, but was never in the air.

And I forgot to put the SD card in - uaaahhh.
BTW: Does the same firmware work for MCU with and without SD card?

br HE

h-elsner · Mar 15, 2020

The MCU board with SD card slot was tested today. It runs fine. RTH worked perfect:

Thunderbird_RTH.avi

AVI File

1drv.ms

Some fun:

Microsoft OneDrive

1drv.ms

br HE

h-elsner · Mar 19, 2020

A really bad idea to make rolls with a CGO3 gimbal onboard. A reason to try it:
But the results didn't look nice and it is also not good for the gimbal. Needs gimbal calibration afterwards.

Better to have a fix mounted cam as I have used for the other on-board videos.

br HE

Enrico Jorysch · Mar 19, 2020

Is it technically possible to fly on your back for a long time?

I would use the Typhoon Thunderburd to trim the hedges... of course with the correspondingly ground rotors

h-elsner · Apr 21, 2020

@Pöllö: Did you update the GitHub repository recently?
I would like to test the latest firmware, hoping the landing gear at my drone will raise. I have now a SD card on board and want to compare ulog files with flight logs on ST16. Can't wait to see the status LED its full splendor ?.

br HE

n8it · Apr 21, 2020

I only need to tack on some wires flight controller and I will be ready to flash. I wait a bit to see if there is an update coming.

n8it

Pöllö · Apr 27, 2020

Hi h-elsner and n8it, sorry for the delay. I have the update almost ready, haven't just been able to test it enough that I would feel confident to release it and push its codes to the Github. I've been a bit cautious recently due to the corona. I'll try to test it a bit more this week. ;-)

However, if you would like to help in testing the latest firmware, here is an extremely unofficial and experimental Crazy Destroyer -build, the one that actually is running on the video above. Feel free to try, but remember that you are running something that is not tested that much.

This one is fully mission capable, but please be careful with it. There are at least few important things to remember:

- Check the channel mappings and if you want to fly missions, you have to map "Mission mode" to the channel selector, whichever switch you are using for it. ;-)

- Plan the missions very carefully, especially pay special attention to the altitudes on waypoints, to avoid crashing into something between the waypoints. The drone flies straight line between the waypoints, ascending or descending smoothly. It will not ascend or descend on the waypoint, but smoothly in between them.

- Maximum number of waypoints is ~50.

- The mission needs to be uploaded to a powered drone via the USB and QGroundcontrol

- !!! This one is important: Do NOT, and I do mean this, do NOT slide "start mission" on the QGroundcontrol when the USB is attached. The current parameter set allows arming the drone when the USB is connected, for development purposes, and this slider WILL ARM THE DRONE AND TAKE OFF with full power when the USB is connected and you are close to it. Bad things will happen. !!!

- Instead: disconnect the USB. Walk back, arm the drone as usual and flip the channel selector to the Mission mode. The drone will automatically throttle up, take-off and fly the mission, eventually auto-landing and disarming by itself, if you created a LAND waypoint for your mission. ;-)

Have fun! ;-)

Br,

TR

Edit (20.9.2020): This build had bugs and I've removed it from here. I will investigate the issues reported and release a new version of it based on later PX4 for safety later on this autumn. Until then, fly the original, stable one. ;-)

Pöllö · Apr 27, 2020

Enrico Jorysch said:
Is it technically possible to fly on your back for a long time?

I would use the Typhoon Thunderburd to trim the hedges... of course with the correspondingly ground rotors

Theoretically, yes. The "TAP_ESC" motor driver supports changing the rotation directions of the motors using software, possibly during flight...

Enrico Jorysch · Apr 27, 2020

Pöllö said:
Theoretically, yes. The "TAP_ESC" motor driver supports changing the rotation directions of the motors using software, possibly during flight...

Helmut, dass musst Du testen... wenn das funktioniert können wir viel Geld damit verdienen um uns dann wieder neue Männerspielsachen kaufen zu können.

h-elsner · Apr 27, 2020

@Pöllö: Thank you very much. I will report soon how it works. I'm not the mission expert. Even CCC I did test once and forgot. Like to fly manually.

@Enrico: OK, Reutlingen is nearby. I will go to Aero-naut and ask to develop a symmetrical carbon fiber propeller with integrated razor blades. Then we take a photo of the garden from above and create an app to transform the shape of the hedge into a misson. Then we flip the drone, start the mission, go drinking beer and when we back, the hedge was cut, the owner has a new haircut and we will get rich. Good plan, right? ?

br HE

DoomMeister · Apr 27, 2020

Now I know I’m doing this mod when I get my second TH. Nothing better than having a beer and a grilled brat while the machine does the work.

??

Mrgs1 · Apr 27, 2020

I'll drink to that.

h-elsner · Apr 29, 2020

Firmware updat was successful. Did it the first time with Windows PC. Windows finds the COM port only if the drone is powered up with flight battery. 5V from USB is not working. I do not know why. However, to start the batch file file first, then press the power button and hold it until the flashing was successful. In this time you need to disconnect/connect the USB again in order to start the flash procedure. This does the trick for Windows.

First fly was successful. Now the landing gear goes up, also automatically down for RTH. All looks fine now. After having fun I had a hard landing that costs me a landing gear. Reason was a bad battery that lost power in a few seconds. One cell is defect. The winter was too long and the curfew order does the rest. Sh*t happens.
The ST16 is not monitoring the voltage. Seems that thing waits on the the Voltage warning flags that never come from Thunderbird. All pilots should be aware about that.

br HE

Pöllö · Apr 29, 2020

h-elsner said:
Firmware updat was successful. Did it the first time with Windows PC. Windows finds the COM port only if the drone is powered up with flight battery. 5V from USB is not working. I do not know why. However, to start the batch file file first, then press the power button and hold it until the flashing was successful. In this time you need to disconnect/connect the USB again in order to start the flash procedure. This does the trick for Windows.

First fly was successful. Now the landing gear goes up, also automatically down for RTH. All looks fine now. After having fun I had a hard landing that costs me a landing gear. Reason was a bad battery that lost power in a few seconds. One cell is defect. The winter was too long and the curfew order does the rest. Sh*t happens.
The ST16 is not monitoring the voltage. Seems that thing waits on the the Voltage warning flags that never come from Thunderbird. All pilots should be aware about that.

br HE

Hi Helmut,

Thank you very much for testing the Windows update method and for your observations. It is also - as always - nice to hear that the firmware works for you and the landing gear works fine.

However, I am sorry to hear about your damages on the landing gear after a hard landing. Are you able to fix it? The batteries can be tricky sometimes, I managed to wreck my gimbal mount a while ago when I was testing my DIY replacement batteries and found out, that the particular royal Chinese hobby store overrates their battery capacities. If the label of the battery says something, the real capacity can be expected to be 75% of that. The voltage drops -rapidly- when LiPo batteries are close to empty. When the battery indicator on the ST16 went low, things happened in seconds.

That low voltage warning needs to be implemented, thanks for letting me know about that one. I have a habit of staring at that percentage indicator and voltage level, so that I even forgot that there were any warnings. Thanks for bringing that to my (and our) attention!

On my parameter set the battery calibration is slightly on a pessimistic side. You could also set the Thunderbird to RTH or land automatically in low or/and critical voltage tresholds, but to be honest, if a cell goes bad during flight, you have only seconds to react.

Please let me know if I could help you somehow in fixing the landing gear.

Br,

Toni

h-elsner · Apr 30, 2020

I gave advice to other not to drain their batteries and did it by myself. What more to say... It was my own fault. The only problem are those hard to find alu holder YUNTYH131. My reserve is now zero. When I find some I will buy it to have spare parts. The carbon tubes can replaced by cheaper alu tubes (12mm and 10mm). 12mm tubes I had already, the 10mm I will buy at next visit at the hardware store.

The Status LED has now nice color codes. Rattitude is not white blinking but purple blinking.
Altitude and Stabilize Mode I have to check again. I believe it was both blue blinking but I'm not sure.
Testing ongoing what it stops to rain.

br HE

Edit: I have updated the Thunderbird manual.