RTL not working - help!!!

[guest325]

The past few times I';ve tried to use the RTL my quad has climbed and then gone anywhere but where it should have gone resulting in 1 crash that broke an arm, one that ended up in a big patch of brambles fortunately unharmed (more than I can say for me!) and finally one today where I was ready for it so quickly flicked switch off and got it back on the right course.
I';ve tried re-routing the wiring so it';s not too close to any other wires, let it find the satellites for a good 5 mins before I tried to fly it but still no joy. I am still on 2.8 firmware but didn';t have this problem until about a month ago, anyone got any ideas     

[kilby]

Would suggest hooking it up to a computer and leaving it running for a while to see if it loses the signals after being switched on for a while

If its one of the newer ublox models could the antenna be suffering disconnects?

[guest325]

Having spoken to Peter King last night (who built my quad) it looks likely that the magnetometer has lost calibration so I am now going to upgrade my firmware from 2.7 to 2.9 add ons and recalibrate the magnetometer. I am also going to rebuild it putting the FC on the top plate as he has suggested rather than in the middle - so watch this space!
I will report my findings in case anyone else has the same problems in the future.

[guest325]

Moved my FC onto the top plate tonight but got interrupted by a knock at the door - delivery of another new toy as it happens; lost my train of thought and forgot the exact location of the last terminal to go on the board.
See pic below, is this correct or should it be one pin to the right?

[firey1]

the two yellow pins at end are for your 5v into board
and assume the cable you have plugged on one of the pins is from your receiver it shouldnt be on the yellow pin but back one 

[guest325]

the two yellow pins at end are for your 5v into board
and assume the cable you have plugged on one of the pins is from your receiver it shouldnt be on the yellow pin but back one

The cable plugged into the two yellow pins is from one of the esc';s and is split black/red as in picture and white into the group of terminals the rest of the esc';s go to, but one of that group has all three wires in the plug the other two have the red wire cut short and not connected. The overhead view shows that it is in line with AIO Pro on the board. The plugs to the right of it are the receiver plugs.

[firey1]

Sorry was hard to tell by picture but closer look it seems that you have it right
the positive and negative to yellow pins third is empty just make sure you have the pos / neg right way round lol

also i see that the cut red is exposed would pay to cover it incase it finds its way to the board
if one set of esc has all 3 wires connected to board and your powering through the yellow pins  make sure the  jumper 1  is removed otherwise you will fry the board

[guest325]

Thanks, that';s all I needed to know all I have to do now is load 2.9 add ons and set it all up again, done the complete rebuild tonight including fitting new dji arms and I';m now having the battery underslung instead of on the top, should make it more stable I hope!

[guest325]

Just to check thins were correct I plugged a battery in last night and fired it up - no magic smoke  armed it and ran the motors - all is good  firey 1 for your help; next thing to do is the firmware upgrade etc. 

[firey1]

what firmware are you going to load Darrell

[guest325]

what firmware are you going to load Darrell

I';m loading 2.9 add ons from Peter Kings website along with his config file, watched his video of how to do it all and think it looks pretty straight forward.
When I calibrate the magnetometer I am going to run the motors while I';m doing it, I think I should get a better result that will take into account any effects of interference from the motors.
The only other thing I';m thinking about is relocating the GPS sensor - at the moment it';s sitting on one of the arms directly above an esc so I';m wondering about making a bracket for it to raise it a couple of cms and also protecting it with some heat shrink.

[firey1]

i made a gps stand out of some carbon rod and 4 arm servo arms

[guest325]

Very happy bunny, upgrades done and test flight done - fanbloodytastic!!!
Everything feels so much more stable and locked in even though it was a bit windy for me to be flying a maiden.
Special thanks to Fiery 1 for help when it was needed, absolutely over the moon - next job to make a mount for the gps sensor and build my new flying wing (a Mini bee) but with a nice brushless motor instead of the brushed can motor that came with it!

[guest325]

Just a few pics of the rebuild - specially for barneyg
Now need to find a cover for the FC, hmm tuperware.......

[barneyg]

is that a 450 or 550 sized landing gear ?

[guest325]

It';s the 500/550 TRex landing gear, cost me £8 from lms - much better for landing on grass strips with the extra ground clearance!

[firey1]

they sure do make good landing skids nice and solid no flexing on a hard landing
im running 600 size had a spare set from my huey build

[guest325]

Just out of interest, what I';ve done with the red wires from the esc';s that have been cut off is just applied a small bead of hot melt glue to the very end so they are now insulated, nice and simple!

[guest325]

This will be my final post on this thread unless anyone has any questions.
Here is what my 450 Flamewheel looks like now - now has  bonnet improvised of course, it';s part of a disposable fruit desert dish!