DJI Naza-H GPS

[Stumblebee]

This is for TRex 550e FBL pilots running NazaH/GPS and Naza BEC doing sport flying (no 3D). I am curious as to what flight times you are getting from your lipos and what size of lipos (maH and C rating) you are flying with? I would like to focus as much as possibe on "stock" TRex 550e FBL machines using single lipo packs. I am much more interested in flight times than in specific lipo brand names. Comparing lipo brand names has been exhausted several times over in other forums.

[NexxuSix]

Originally Posted by Stumblebee

This is for TRex 550e FBL pilots running NazaH/GPS and Naza BEC doing sport flying (no 3D). I am curious as to what flight times you are getting from your lipos and what size of lipos (maH and C rating) you are flying with? I would like to focus as much as possibe on "stock" TRex 550e FBL machines using single lipo packs. I am much more interested in flight times than in specific lipo brand names. Comparing lipo brand names has been exhausted several times over in other forums.

I'm "almost a 550" with my Trex 500e I am flying two Turnigy Nanotech 2650s 35c in parallel, no 3d flight, just slow and steady maneuvers whilst I film a bit (not FPV either... yet). I am managing to get 12 minute flight times, and I still have about 1-2+ minutes of reserve battery to land. The only "downside" is I fly without a canopy... I have a Naza-H with GPS, and BEC. And fly with a DX8, AR8000, with telemetry TM1000, all on a DFC FBL setup and TT upgrade.

[Stumblebee]

As of this morning, I have over twenty flights on my TRex 550 fbl Naza/H GPS. I have to say that I am very pleased with how everything operates. To give credit where it is most properly due, I have to thank both my LHS and Tahoe Ed for their energies on the setup and installation. A serious "hats off" to them both.

For me at least, this system does precisely what it is supposed to do. It doesn't hold position as tightly as the Naza/M GPS does on a multirotor but multirotors and helis are two totally different aircraft. A multirotor requires precision continuous adjustment of the rpm for each of the lifting motors. A heli requires continuous precision adjustment of the main motor rpm, four servos and a collective pitch mechanism. That is a lot of mechanical stuff.

My Naza /M GPS was designed to be integrated into my DJI FW 450 quad whereas my Naza /H GPS has to be adapted to my TRex 550 fbl. Differences in performance are to be expected. I am pleased that those differences are as few as they are.

For now, I will enjoy my Naza H/GPS until the now "legendary" firmware updates are available.

[Tahoe Ed]

Stumblebee, Thank you. You are too kind. I am glad that you are enjoying your 550. Your LHS was integral in your set up and it is nice that they were willing to do the set up for you. I am sure it was a learning process for them as well. I like the Naza H and I too am waiting for the Latest and Greatest upgrades to come.

[Stumblebee]

You will be interested to know that my LHS has now become the Align APS and Naza H/GPS "go to guy" locally. He has now installed both and both have worked flawlessly from the maiden. Other things going on in my life have meant that I just did not have the time to set up and install this one.

Originally Posted by Tahoe Ed

Stumblebee, Thank you. You are too kind. I am glad that you are enjoying your 550. Your LHS was integral in your set up and it is nice that they were willing to do the set up for you. I am sure it was a learning process for them as well. I like the Naza H and I too am waiting for the Latest and Greatest upgrades to come.

[Stumblebee]

I am on both sides of the fence regarding this upgrade. On one hand, I want the upgrade and I want it yesterday. On the other hand, I cannot blame DJI for going slow on this one. They have a global reputation for their products. Many of their products have prices that simply take one's breath away. These products are designed for the "professional" market which can write off or pass on the costs. Now they have a couple of lines of "entry level" products for those of us spending our own money who actually have to work for a living (Flame Wheel and Naza). I suspect this has resulted in a vastly increased, totally wired, highly demanding and connected customer base. As well, this upgrade has to work with a wide variety of helis. In contrast, Align APS only has to work with Align products.I am sure that DJI is intensely aware that anything they introduce to this new customer base HAS to be right. If it is not right, DJI risks getting smeared quickly right around the planet thanks to the power of the net.


I am comfortable waiting for DJI to make sure it is right.

Originally Posted by Tahoe Ed

Stumblebee, I like the Naza H and I too am waiting for the Latest and Greatest upgrades to come.

[Hizlimax]

Hi everyone,

Since there is no trimming function of the tail servo to have a 90 servo horn on the Assistant Software, do we use subtrim from the TX to achieve that?

My second question is I'm setting this up on a Trex 500 and Hitec Aurora 9...When I increase the HH gain number on the Gyro menu of my TX, the number on the Assistant Software for the HH gain decreases. Am I doing something wrong or is this a possible situation with different gyros and TXs? Thanks.

[zeeflyboy]

Don't use subtrim...

Just put the horn as close to 90 as you can and then adjust pushrod length to centre your pitch slider.

As for question 2, I'm not familiar with the radio but the value the Naza assistant shows you is the value it's seeing from the Tx. As long as you know what change does what I don't foresee a problem.

[Hizlimax]

Thanks for the answer zeeflyboy. I have everything setup and working perfect on my Trex 500 ESP except the tail. There is no way I can use a gain of 40 cause the tail starts a wag. It enters a continuous left-right movement when I use a full rudder input and stop the stick in the middle. Higher headspeeds (100% flat curve) make this even more aggressive. When that happens I go back to a lower headspeed and the heli stops that left-right movement and goes back to stable hover. I lowered the gain to 17 on the assistant and the tail is happier now, but it still wags when I slide the heli on its side to the right, with the tail facing me. Similarly during an 8 figure, when I turn the heli left I get the wag. Forward, backwards or left sideways are all smooth. Going below 17 on the gain can't hold the head well anymore. Any ideas if this is a Naza or mechanical problem? The heli used to fly perfect with a FB head and Spartan gyro. I just installed the DFC head with 3G blades along with the Naza.

Thanks.

[zeeflyboy]

The fact that you had it flying perfectly before points to being a Naza or Naza specific setup issue...

Few thoughts:

The Naza is hard mounted using the supplied tape?

Have you checked for vibrations?

Do you get roughly 100% each way on the tail section in the assistant?

Have you correctly entered your servo information (hz and type) in the Naza?


What you describe sounds like you need to move the ball in on the servo arm, but given it was working with the spartan I'm not sure.

[Hizlimax]

Originally Posted by zeeflyboy

The fact that you had it flying perfectly before points to being a Naza or Naza specific setup issue...

I have checked the points that you mentioned. The Naza is hard mounted using the supplied tape. Tail servo is DS520 and I entered 1520μs/333Hz on the software. I get 100% each way on the tail slider mechanically and my numbers on the software are 75 and 95. I also have the ball on the closest hole to the center of the servo horn. I removed the main and tail blades and spooled up to 100% throttle and there are no visible vibrations at all. When I touch the tail boom I feel a very low frequency vibe but that should be normal due to rotating mechanics. Is there a better way of checking for vibrations besides installing a Vbar?

I just reset the Naza to factory defaults, updated the firmware and went through the whole setup process again. It keeps saying there is still an update available but I guess that is a bug. I have the Naza installed backwards and choose that on the software...could there be a bug in that? Shall I change it to the default way meaning the LED and GPS sockets facing the tail? If this doesn't work as well the tail assembly is going apart to check the bearings. I will report after testing this evening.

[zeeflyboy]

Not sure it's going to cause problems, but just to rule it out try to centre the tail so you get equal travel each way and the fact you don't hit 100 means you could probably do with a ball slightly further in - you could try a shorter horn or if it's plastic then drill your own hole maybe.

For vibes it sounds okay, but if you have a smart phone you can always download a vibe analysis app and strap it to your heli for a flight.

Bit strange why you have this problem from the sound of it. I was quite fortunate - using a futaba BLS251 on mine and the stock gains it flew perfectly in manual... Only thing I needed to adjust was the brake.

[Hizlimax]

The tail is working fine now! Here is what I did...I reset the Naza back to factory defaults, updated the firmware again and entered all the numbers for setup again. I applied some light oil to the tail shaft and the push rod to be sure even though they were moving freely. The tail is very solid now but it still does not perform perfectly on sideways slides. I have read somewhere that someone else reported the same weakpoint. Anyways, I'm happy with the Naza H performance at the moment. I still need to adjust the brake settings for the tail. Atti and GPS modes perform very well as well...which will come handy for FPV and Scale pilots.

One side note: I had my Gain channel reversed on the TX so that I'm in HH mode when my switch is up. I changed that back to normal on the TX before the whole second setup process thinking Naza might not like to see anything reversed on the TX. However, after the successful flight I reversed it along with the gain to match the Naza Assistant gain and its all fine now. Also DJI should really fix the issue of Naza Assistant telling you to update even though you have the latest software and firmware.

Thanks zeeflyboy for all the help. I downloaded Vibration from the Appstore. I did not use it on the heli but it looks like a very useful tool to have.

[zeeflyboy]

Excellent news!

I'm afraid I can't comment on the performance in more extreme flight as its on my 7kg, 5 blade scale rig lol.

[Hizlimax]

Originally Posted by zeeflyboy

Excellent news!

I'm afraid I can't comment on the performance in more extreme flight as its on my 7kg, 5 blade scale rig lol.

Is there anything different you do about the setup of Naza when its used with multi blade heads? I might use it for a scale project later on.

[zeeflyboy]

Nope...

Well that's not entirely true, it depends on the head... If it is a design that requires phasing adjustment then you need to do this in the advanced tab of the swash setup (it's somewhere around there anyway). If its a head that takes care of the phasing for you then you just proceed as normal.

You'll also probably generally want slightly lower AP gains and pitch due to the increased authority, but this is also dependant in headspeed etc.

[flim63]

Been a while since my first flights, I moved back east and just found some abandoned farmland to get my Bergen Observer gasser in the air again. The Naza H is performing perfectly on it. GPS mode locks it down to about a meter square even with wind. The heli is a little tail heavy as no camera on it yet, just a dummy weight thats a tad too light. That makes atti mode drift backward a bit, but it is handling a 19 pound gasser just fine.

[DJI Innovations]

DJI has officially released the new assistant software & firmware for Naza-H helicopter autopilot system here.



1. Latest Version:
•Firmware version: 2.00
•Assistant software version: 1.20
•User manual version: 1.06

2. What's changed?
•Fully optimized Flybarless algorithm;
•Optimized braking feeling of tail gyro.

3. What’s new?
•Added two new parameters -- "Start Para." and "Stop Para.", and deleted one parameter -- "Stick Boost" for FBL in Advanced of Common page;
•Added "Brake Gain" for tail gyro in Advanced of Common page.

4. Functions:
•Manual Mode
•GPS Atti. Mode(option)
•Built-in FBL system
•Built-in tail gyro
•Auto hovering F&S
•Battery monitor and warning (option)
•S-Bus Support
•IMU Calibration

Please log into DJI website for more information or you can reach your dealers directly if you have any questions, thanks!

[zeeflyboy]

Still no Semi-Auto landing and take off?

Glad to see you putting out the updates, but when can we expect this feature?

[Stumblebee]

SIgh.... what we wanted and what has been promised is NOT what we get. Sigh...

Originally Posted by DJI Innovations

DJI has officially released the new assistant software & firmware for Naza-H helicopter autopilot system here.



1. Latest Version:
•Firmware version: 2.00
•Assistant software version: 1.20
•User manual version: 1.06

2. What's changed?
•Fully optimized Flybarless algorithm;
•Optimized braking feeling of tail gyro.

3. What’s new?
•Added two new parameters -- "Start Para." and "Stop Para.", and deleted one parameter -- "Stick Boost" for FBL in Advanced of Common page;
•Added "Brake Gain" for tail gyro in Advanced of Common page.

4. Functions:
•Manual Mode
•GPS Atti. Mode(option)
•Built-in FBL system
•Built-in tail gyro
•Auto hovering F&S
•Battery monitor and warning (option)
•S-Bus Support
•IMU Calibration

Please log into DJI website for more information or you can reach your dealers directly if you have any questions, thanks!