Drift when auto level is selected.

[PugMaster]

I did a factory reset and set up a new model in my DX9, thought i had this licked last week but sadly not.

[blade_crasher]

I don't know anything about a dx9 but if you can set trims that are active when you toggle whatever switch your A/L is on then maybe just experiment with a few clicks of trim to counter act the drift.

Thus is sort of a no no with fbl normally but for your situation it might be a workaround.

I did something like this on my old dx8 when I first played with A/L which I have disabled at this point. I only use rescue now.

[R.C. man]

Originally Posted by etherbatxx

if you post a screen shot of the vibration data, we can help you find the issue.

No vibs... I had it working perfectly on the earlier FW. But now the SL is useless.
If the controller has a feature, I want it to work.
I dont use it, but want it to work right anyways.
If I activate the SL on the bench, without the motor running, it does the same thing. The swashplate moves back and to the left.
It cant be that hard to put the SL sliders back in the new FW. It would save MSH a lot of customer problems. Or just make it possible to revert back to the old FW.

[kayakboy69]

Originally Posted by R.C. man

No vibs... I had it working perfectly on the earlier FW. But now the SL is useless.
If the controller has a feature, I want it to work.
I dont use it, but want it to work right anyways.
If I activate the SL on the bench, without the motor running, it does the same thing. The swashplate moves back and to the left.
It cant be that hard to put the SL sliders back in the new FW. It would save MSH a lot of customer problems. Or just make it possible to revert back to the old FW.

What model ?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[kayakboy69]

There is almost always a reason it won't rescue straight. With all the control components programing of unit ad radio mechanical parts everyone goes right to the FBL unit being bad.

Try turning the unit 90 degrees re set the direction and see if swash continues to tip back and same side with the orentation of unit .

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Bladecpnitro]

If your in self level mode and not on a momentary switch for instance, will the helicopter not respond at all to cyclic stick movements?


I figured if you were locked into self level full time that the heli would simply continue to return back to where level was stored on the bench.

Or does it lock you out of controlling it during auto level?

[npomeroy]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

If your in self level mode and not on a momentary switch for instance, will the helicopter not respond at all to cyclic stick movements?


I figured if you were locked into self level full time that the heli would simply continue to return back to where level was stored on the bench.

Or does it lock you out of controlling it during auto level?

Auto level on FBL units does not lock you out of controlling it.

I've just bought a used MSH Brain and was intending to use it the same way as I use the SK720. Self-level on all the time including take off and landing. I'm an older, slower, "pilot" and fly scale helis. But what I read here suggests the Ikon behaves much less reliably. Anyone compared them from this point of view? Sorry if I'm diverting the thread.

[Dansy]

Originally Posted by npomeroy

Auto level on FBL units does not lock you out of controlling it.

I've just bought a used MSH Brain and was intending to use it the same way as I use the SK720. Self-level on all the time including take off and landing. I'm an older, slower, "pilot" and fly scale helis. But what I read here suggests the Ikon behaves much less reliably. Anyone compared them from this point of view? Sorry if I'm diverting the thread.

The ikon and the brain FBL are the same, just choose what color cases you want

[npomeroy]

Originally Posted by Dansy

The ikon and the brain FBL are the same, just choose what color cases you want

I understand that and was using ikon/brain interchangeably. Sorry if I was unclear - I am looking for comments on the comparison between SK720 and brain/ikon SL

[mike96r]

When I was down a IRCHA this year I was in the process of setting up my T-Rex 500L and was using the iKon 1 and it was updated to the latest firmware at the time. I had a hard pull to the left and back when I would use the bailout / auto level also. I took it to the MSH booth and asked them to look at it. They told me the set up was good on the heli and the setiings in the iKon was good what I need was Futaba tape. I didn't really think that would fix the problem but I needed to do as he recommended before disagreeing with him (he was the gentleman that wrote the software from what I was told). I found the tape there, bought some and put it on the heli. To my buddies and my surprise it fixed the issue.

I was told in normal flying mode its using the gyros and in bailout or autolevel its using the accelerometers. The accelerometers are a lot more sensitive to the vibrations (as mentioned earlier in this post) than the gyros.

I had issue with my 180CFX also and it was due to vibrations.

[etherbatxx]

always try and fix the vibes first.

if you can't for some reason, tape can can be a viable solution.

but keep in mind, you still have a badly vibrating helicopter.

[Steve Graham]

Yep the Futaba, low density foam, tape worked for my Nitro 700. The engine is smooth as near as I can tell on this heli but the Glow engine just makes the accelerometers job that much tougher.

My electric 700 has always leveled perfectly and I'm using 3M hard tape there. I suspect any electric that won't SL using 3M tape may very well have vibrations that can be isolated and should be fixed. This is where the accelerometers really earn their keep from a troubleshooting perspective.

[jhan1]

Just picked up a used Ikon v1. Updated to the newest firmware. Flies great but get a forward and right drift in self level mode. Was looking for the adjustments for ail and elev in advanced but cant find them. Am i correct to assume they have been removed in the latest update?

[pctomlin]

Originally Posted by jhan1

Just picked up a used Ikon v1. Updated to the newest firmware. Flies great but get a forward and right drift in self level mode. Was looking for the adjustments for ail and elev in advanced but cant find them. Am i correct to assume they have been removed in the latest update?

The adjustments for aileron and elevator have been removed in the new firmware. If you are having drift issues in self level I would be looking at vibrations and FBL mounting for causing this problem.

[Bladecpnitro]

One thing to realize is that self level and rescue doesn't have GPS positioning and its not going to stay over home plate indefinitely.

What it does do is give you one last chance to save your heli if you've become disorientated and don't know if the heli is coming or going or its past that and already headed for the ground fast. I don't know if I trust self level to save my heli in every situation so I'm gonna do my best first by centering the collective and leveling the heli.

Always center the collective and level the heli.
Thats how I bail out. Center the collective and level the heli and you'll likely never slam your heli again.

[PugMaster]

I'm not expecting the heli not to drift with wind etc just not dart off in some other direction as if it has collective input.

Just ordered the futaba tape and will give that a go, sounds like that has worked for a few and at least there is an explanation as to why.

One thing I keep coming back to is that this all worked on firmware 1, does firmware 2 make the accelerometers more sensitive?

[Tragl]

Originally Posted by PugMaster

...but when I hit auto level I get a severe (almost like cyclic input) drift back and to the left.

I get the same behavior on a good configured Protos 500. I'm happy that I found this thread.

I used the original tape (3M) which was delivered with the new Brain 2 to lock the Brain into position. (TOP, wires front) So I wonder why to use a Futaba tape instead. But lets see. PugMaster, please give feedback when you have tried out the Futaba tape.

I really believe that vibes have to be removed and that they may cause bad things to FBL systems. But I wonder in this case that different type of vibes (different helis, different mount directions) may cause the same behavior of error. (drift back to the left, as reported from different users). For me it looks more like a systematic error.

By the way, is there already an answer to dlgnut's question
a) Does the unit initially use it's position during initialization (on the work bench at home) as it's level reference?
b) Does the unit continually adjust it's idea of level?
c) Does the unit initially use it's position during initialization (on the field while connecting the akku) as it's level reference?

Thank you all for this thread and forum

[pctomlin]

I think I have got my rescue issue solved on the Outrage 550. One day it will be perfect, the next day goes left and forward and the next day negative pitch and hard roll 90 degrees left. Those are the most fun, will scare the crap out of you the first time.
I firmly believe it is all vibration driven, this iKon is hard mounted on 3M gray tape exactly like my other helis. On the bench, no blades vibration looks great. In the air on realtime analysis through Bluetooth is a different story. Head speed vibes are above the gray area so something is wrong with a bearing on the main shaft etc.. The other four helis rescue perfectly.

My conclusion is if your helis does not go straight up from a stationary hover you either have a vibration issue or a gyro mounting issue. This should be a warning sign that you have some more work to do with rescue or self level. MSH has supplied us with the tools to find the problems and fix them, we just need to put them to work for us.

Will update my findings on the Outrage 550 when I find the vibration culprit and retest rescue.

[Mike680]

Originally Posted by PugMaster

Just ordered the futaba tape and will give that a go, sounds like that has worked for a few and at least there is an explanation as to why.

I'm one of them. I couldn't get rescue to work reliably at all on a 550 and I'd tried several mounting options. Only when I used a Futaba gyro pad did rescue work properly. It's very solid, now. Amazing what a different type of mounting can do as I was just about to give up and just decide that it simply wouldn't be with rescue. Vibes weren't even that bad. I had a BeastX on it before, so I couldn't see vibe analysis, but the heli was always smooth in flight with zero bad tendencies. When I put an iKON 2 on it, I saw that I did have some vibes which, again, weren't that bad and were well below the grey shaded threshold. I worked to get them down as low as I possibly could. Rescue still wasn't reliable or predictable until I used the Futaba gyro pad.

[etherbatxx]

vibrations are a curse and you should always try to find the source and minimize them.

you can use the Brains vib logging facility to help track them down.