Co-Pilot II - How To, Made Simple!

[trondhindenes]

Originally Posted by trondhindenes

Hi guys, I'm having a few issues with my CPII that I got the other day. I hope the community can help me figure these out:

I have set up the CPII on my T-rex 600GF as per instructions and pics found here. The main sensor is boom-mounted just in front of the horisontal stabilizer, and the vert sensor sits on the rudder servo, all pretty standard setup.

I have set stick priority to 70%, and gyro gain on the CPII to 41%, all other settings are left alone.

What I'm noticing is that during spool-up the heli will tilt HEAVILY front and left, even if im on level ground with at least 100 meters to any obstacle/tree on all sides. I'm guessing this has to be trimmed out, but what I don't get is how to do this. From what I have read, I can use either auto trim or set angles to level out the bird. When using auto-trim am I supposed to trim the heli using the trim sliders on my transmitter, or by using CPII programming? If so, I guess this is the way to do it:

1. Make sure heli is properly trimmed before installing the CPII
2. Install, go through quick setup
3. With the CPII installed and switched OFF, trim out any necesarry adjustments using the transmitter trim sliders
4. With the CPII turned ON (Set to LEVEL FLIGHT), re-trim using the transmitter so that trim is equal in OFF and ON (LEVEL FLIGHT)

From what I can see, step 4 will be performed whenever flying conditions vary drastically (new flying field, big temp change etc),is this correct?

Any pointers appreciated

regards,
Trond Hindenes
Norway

Guys, just wanted to give an update here,

After reading the thread a bit more thoroughly, I went back and did the following:
1. With the CPII OFF, i trimmed out the heli
2. Turned the CPII ON, and trimmed it to a stable hover
3. Landed the heli, shut everything off and then on again, turned CPII on. The IRnet controller reported sticks NOT in center, and asked me if I wanted to center sticks. I chose YES
4. Reset all trims on my transmitter

Now, it flies so well, I might have to dab the trims a bit from day to day as winds/skies and flying conditions vary, but that's okay. Thanks for all help!

[nightflyr]

Glad to hear you sorted your issues out..ENJOY!!

[dyuen888]

You need to go into the DX6i menu and set the gear switch to gear

Should look something like this stock setup...Gear/Gyro you now want Gear/Gear and you to the travel adjustments for gear and set the extreme's to the maximum values allowed.


I having a hard time finding that menu setting:

I have DX6i and I can't seem to find the option to change the gear switch assignment. I have created a new model and the Model type is HELI...

The only option I see under the Gyro menu for SW are: GYRO, INH, and F. MODE
I may have an older TX model

[plux79]

Hi guys,

I just purchased CPII recently and followed this thread closely regarding the installation and setting up. However I have a few questions hopefully the experts here could help me out.

I am setting it up on the trex 450 pro and using the JR DSX7 Tx and JR RD731 Rx. I set it up according to this thread. I left the Rudder and Gyro gain channel wire in channel 4 and AUX2 channel of the Rx respectively. So here is my question, where do I plug the On/Off wire from the CPII computer into the Rx? Do I just plug it into the Channel 5 (which is the Gear channel) of the Rx?

Before I installed the CPII, the heli is trimmed and had flown about 20 packs of hovering. Now, I can't do the quick setup and is stuck in the Remote On/Off setup screen. As when I move the gear switch on the Tx, the value on the programmer doesn't change.

Thank you in advance.

[Woody_99]

Go back and take a look at this section in the how to.
The rudder should stay plugged into your receiver like it was before. The gain wire for the gyro goes to slot 4 on the CPII.
On/Off from CPII will go where the gain wire was on your receiver.

Hope this helps.





"Now if you have a 6 channel receiver and would like the option of turning the CPII On and Off here's how you do it ..

1) Locate your gyro gain lead (single wire out of your gyro) on your receiver( should be the gear port of your receiver) and remove it.

2) Insert the gain lead into SVO4 slot of the CPII computer ( the wire should be at the bottom when plugging in.
3) Find the On/Off lead out of the CPII computer and plug that back into the port you removed the gain lead from the receiver

Now you need to go into your radio and change the gear/gyro setup..for DX6i set gear to gear and set the end points to +100% / - 100%

Now the GEAR switch will turn the CPII on and off once programmed in quick setup, and you will also set your gain through the 4th channel of the CPII, this will be during the Quick setup..and the gain you input is 'ACTUAL" gain somewhere between 25%- 37% is a good range to work in."

[majuro15]

Nightflyr,

First, let me bow down to you in respect for your write up. Absolutely stunning and answered a lot of questions that I had! I'm definitely ordering this now for my 600 scale ship.

One question I do have is how does this work with multi-bladed heads? I plan on using a four bladed head on my 600 and am hoping that the APII will not only help me be more confident in flying a very nice scale bird, but also help out with the FBL assistance. I'm also wondering how it will work with any mixes I have set up to account for electronic phasing (to get the links from swash to blade grips straight and still maintain 90 degree precession). What are your thoughts? Thank you in advance!

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by majuro15

Nightflyr,

First, let me bow down to you in respect for your write up. Absolutely stunning and answered a lot of questions that I had! I'm definitely ordering this now for my 600 scale ship.

One question I do have is how does this work with multi-bladed heads? I plan on using a four bladed head on my 600 and am hoping that the APII will not only help me be more confident in flying a very nice scale bird, but also help out with the FBL assistance. I'm also wondering how it will work with any mixes I have set up to account for electronic phasing (to get the links from swash to blade grips straight and still maintain 90 degree precession). What are your thoughts? Thank you in advance!

First thing is that the CPII is NOT a FBL unit....if your planning on a multi-bladed head, you will need to use one of the FBL platforms to operate it.

The CPII can be installed along with a FBL system, but do not attempt to use it as a stand alone unit.

[TeeJayShelton]

<~~~~cheap skate...
with the usb cable can you look at/change settings on copilot??? hence not need the ir net at all???

[Woody_99]

Originally Posted by TeeJayShelton

<~~~~cheap skate...
with the usb cable can you look at/change settings on copilot??? hence not need the ir net at all???

From the last post in this thread, it looks like the answer is no, but that is a great idea!
I guess we would need a user interface on the PC.

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=183924

[TeeJayShelton]

Originally Posted by Woody_99

From the last post in this thread, it looks like the answer is no, but that is a great idea!
I guess we would need a user interface on the PC.

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=183924

I just got off the phone with FMA..... YOU CAN I just ordered combo 5(without IR net stuff) and the usb cable... instead of 209 for the ir net ready combo with usb so you can upgrade you get it without ir net for bout 165 which will work great for me.

The design engineer said it looks like in abouut 2 months they will have a firmware upgrade for existing units and a hard deck add on so cp will take over when you get within say 50 feet of the ground!!! He said it will be for planes only at first with helis to follow!!

Now the wait begins... they are out of stock on everything I ordered...
Supposed to be in early next week.
I got the cp-2, the usb link, and 2 of the cpd4 one to throw on a cheap fp heli I use to let peeps try and the other for my trainer plane...

I currently use flymentor on one of my heli's and can't wait to have this side by side.

[Woody_99]

How do you do the CPII programing from the USB link from the PC?
I understand how to upgrade the firmware, but have never needed to use it yet. Is there a feature in there to do the CPII settings?

[nightflyr]

The combo he purchased is for people who already have the full hardware..the IR Net can be used on many units along with the hand held programmer so if you have one full package the need for just the basic hardware is all that will be needed.

[TeeJayShelton]

FMA has an ir net emulator that you load on your pc then you can talk to cp2 from your pc.

[nightflyr]

I just got off the phone with FMA..... YOU CAN I just ordered combo 5(without IR net stuff) and the usb cable... instead of 209 for the ir net ready combo with usb so you can upgrade you get it without ir net for bout 165 which will work great for me.

The combo you purchased was actually setup for those who already have a full CPII..the basic hardware is bought and the use of existing IRNet and HandHeld Programmer can be used from another setup

The design engineer said it looks like in abouut 2 months they will have a firmware upgrade for existing units and a hard deck add on so cp will take over when you get within say 50 feet of the ground!!! He said it will be for planes only at first with helis to follow!!

I've made inquiries about these add on's for the CPII a few months ago,.... the response was that continuing R/D will be required to see if these options are viable and cost effective to the general public.. in other words they are looking into them, but I would not be holding my breath for anything anytime soon

Now the wait begins... they are out of stock on everything I ordered...
Supposed to be in early next week.
I got the cp-2, the usb link, and 2 of the cpd4 one to throw on a cheap fp heli I use to let peeps try and the other for my trainer plane...

I currently use flymentor on one of my heli's and can't wait to have this side by side.

[Woody_99]

Originally Posted by TeeJayShelton

FMA has an ir net emulator that you load on your pc then you can talk to cp2 from your pc.

Do you have a link to this emulator? I looked on their site and couln't find it, unless it is part of the CPII update utility.

[TeeJayShelton]

I called them back today after not being able to find it on their site. The guy I talked to was annoyed that the person had even talked to me about it's existence but acknowledged it does exist but stated they had yet to even beta test it and that it wasn't available to the public yet.... Good thing for me though he upgraded my order to include the ir net stuff at almost the exact same price. At first he it sounded like he didn't believe me till I gave him the same description the person gave me of what it looks like on the computer screen and how it works. I told him I wanted to be in on the Beta test but got no reply. Thankfully though he hooked me up. I should have it in a week or so they have yet to ship it out. I guess they got some stuff in today but have yet to put together any packages from it.

[tomrinkevich]

So im guessing that you still need the ir programmer? and can you give us some details on what he told you it will look like on the computer Thanks

[philippets]

Originally Posted by trondhindenes

Guys, just wanted to give an update here,

After reading the thread a bit more thoroughly, I went back and did the following:
1. With the CPII OFF, i trimmed out the heli
2. Turned the CPII ON, and trimmed it to a stable hover
3. Landed the heli, shut everything off and then on again, turned CPII on. The IRnet controller reported sticks NOT in center, and asked me if I wanted to center sticks. I chose YES
4. Reset all trims on my transmitter

Now, it flies so well, I might have to dab the trims a bit from day to day as winds/skies and flying conditions vary, but that's okay. Thanks for all help!

When you say on item 4. Reset all trims on my transmitter.
What do you mean really by that ? Reset to what ?
Also, under what menu is IRnet controller supposed to give you this message ? preferences, preflight or else ? it's not even mentioned in the numerous flowcharts of the manual.
thank you in advance.

[Tim Marks]

Originally Posted by philippets

When you say on item 4. Reset all trims on my transmitter.
What do you mean really by that ? Reset to what ?
Also, under what menu is IRnet controller supposed to give you this message ? preferences, preflight or else ? it's not even mentioned in the numerous flowcharts of the manual.
thank you in advance.

Hi:

When you get the message "AIL/ELEV sticks not centered" all it means is that you changed your trims since setup was completed or since you performed the "center now" routine. This is normal and in most cases, you can ignore the message. CPII only needs to know precise center information to make Stick Priority exactly linear on both sides of stick travel. If the center uS changes slightly, it means that going, e.g., right stick, you might have to push the stick a little further out to turn the CPII gain down as much as it did before the trims were changed. In practical application, you will probably never even notice this unless your trims changed severely. It has nothing to do with what the CPII sees as "level", or how quickly it will return to center, etc.

I hope this explanation helps you.

Sincerely,


Tim Marks

[bald_noggin]

Exactly right Tim.

You get that "Sticks not centered" message because the throttle/collective is down. This messages show up when you go through the "Preflight" check.

You can set your throttle hold on (still, just make sure she doesn't start up on you) and then centre the throttle/collective stick. Then you'll see the message change to "Sticks Centered"

I also just ignore it.

Col.