More Dart250, playing with vTX power and smart audio. iNav 5 next!
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- Just another quick flight with the Dart 250. I set up smart audio, which is necessary since my GPS insists on sitting outside for 45 minutes before eventually getting a lock... lol (swapping it out soon!) Just playing with vTX power trying to beat the weather coming in, nothing too exciting! iNav 5 is out as of this morning, so it's next!
Darren's video on auto vTX power levels: • The Ultimate Auto VTx ...
Pawel shows a basic setup on a switch: • INAV VTX power on a ra...
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Last year I built a 4" quad that had serious issues getting a GPS lock, and the problem was the VTX. I tried shielding and grounding the GPS wires but it made no difference, but then I found a solution that worked 100% of the time - I put pitmode on a switch! With pitmode enabled the GPS could get a lock in 1-2 minutes no problem, and once it had a lock, I could disabled pitmode and the sat's would stay locked. It worked perfectly.
That said, I did however eventually end up replacing the VTX with one that had a built in heatsink (which also acted as a RF shield) and that was an even better solution.
I'm looking forward to the INAV 5 video and the detailed explanation of the upgrade process 👍👍
I'm pretty sure they're recommending start fresh with 5.0, as a number of things have changed and some settings may not carry over. Basic stuff would I'm sure, like port and mode configs, etc. but all that stuff is quick to set up anyway. I'll be doing a "clean" install and running Autotune with 5. The only thing I copied over for a shortcut was the OSD layout, but still changed a couple things there while I was at it. Each new version has a quick guide for upgrading on the release page, scroll down a bit and look for "Upgrading from a previous release" github.com/iNavFlight/inav/releases
Strong Solar storms may be the culprit.
I don't know exactly when he flew to record this video, but it's definitely possible.
And I've been reading about a solar spot that is growing a lot... And pointing right at us. 😬
Pretty weird issue indeed, Keith... And it definitely could be lots of different issues, as other people already commented. 😕
Either way, great flying as always!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
A quick test you could do with GPS is to move it's power (+ lead) over to 3V, or 4V5 pad, like is commonly used for Rx. This allow allow you to plug in USB and test getting a GPS lock without VTx, and ESC being powered up. (battery can remain unplugged)
ie: with lowest RF noise as possible. If this improves the situation, then adding RF shielding to the wires between the GPS wires and FC should help. If not ... definitely replace the GPS.
Yeah it won't be hard to diagnose. I know it worked fine the last time I'd flown this plane some months ago, before the two recent flights. I'm thinking the battery on the GPS may have died. It's either a BN220 or a M80, I forget which. I think I have a spare too, worst case I'll grab a new one. I'll fix it when I get a chance! lol
New battery, or new gps?
I have issues like that with the SN FC in my Z84 and Nano Goblin. I was told sitting on the ground doesn't help so now sit them up on a fence which seems to speed things up a bit!
Two things that have caused this for me with BN220. Galileo, if you somehow turned on this i have experienced this to cause this kind of problem. Same with turning "Ground assist" to automatic. Don't affect all BN220's but sometimes these thing make them take forever to lock on.
I'll play around with those settings one day just out of curiosity. I know I have Galileo switched off, and selected the US ground assistance. I know I've seen at least one video suggest switching Galileo on just in case you might pick up a couple extra sats, but I never tried. If it's causing a slower lock with it on, then I'd definitely leave it off... lol
If this is an HGLRC that would explain it. This is the worst GPS module I ever had. Needs around 5-10min to get a GPS fix when just on USB and took sometimes 20min+ to get a fix when the Raphax was ppowered. I swapped it with a BN-220 last year and since then it gets way better. At least as good as a 220 can be.
I still haven't pulled it out to see. I know I had two HGLRC, one is in my Dart XL, and this could be the other one. (If not it's in the Talon 250G lol) I know the other one in the big Dart works really well, I liked it so much I bought the second one later. Since then I've seen a mixed bag of comments about them. People either love them or hate them... lol I'm wondering if there's some good and some bad, or maybe some cheap clones floating around. Both of mine came from Amazon. I believe TBS has the same one with their branding on it too that people seem to like. HGLRC is a plain old M80. I'll get out to the shop later this evening and pull the module out and see what it is, and what I have to replace it with. Even if the onboard battery is dead, a cold start still shouldn't take 30-40 minutes before first lock... lol I'll check it outside the plane too to rule out anything onboard, but it was working great before it sat up for a while.
I was wrong! lol It already had a BN220 in there. The two HGLRC are in the big Dart, and the AR Pro. Never had an issue with those two. I've swapped the BN220 in this plane for another new one I had, it's sitting outside right now, 5 minutes so far and 0 sats. I guess there's some other issue going on, yay! Time to troubleshoot... lol
Following up, now that the rain has past and I can get out and finish troubleshooting... lol Turns out it was the Crossfire antenna too close to the GPS. I thought back to all the changes I've made recently. In the recent flight, before the one here in this video, I'd mentioned changing the servos to some that work well with Crossfire onboard. Prior to that I'd flown this plane with R9 and 2.4GHz FlySky. I guess the GPS issue came up the same time the issue with the servos did, after I'd installed the Crossfire receiver... Moving the CRSF antenna farther from the GPS gives me about 10 sats on the ground in around 2 minutes from a cold start. Works for me! Now I just need to make it permanent... lol
Do you like Inav more than Ardupilot? I know Ardupilot is really advanced. Or do you use Ardupilot in your longer range planes?
I like how much easier inav is to setup. Ardupilot has loads more features, most of which I'll never use, and some I like that are missing from inav. Inav is slowly closing that gap though adding new stuff. I guess it depends on what you're looking for, and how much effort you're willing to put into getting there... lol My best advice is to try both, they're both excellent and we're lucky to have such awesome tools available, so why not take advantage of it!
I have tried smart audio through Arduplane and cant get it to work. I have a Rush Tank Solo, I'd love to be able to set the power on the ground and on the go.
I haven't set up smart audio in AP yet, all my builds with it have been on 1.3GHz so far. I know it's supported though, there's a good write up on it here: ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-vtx.html