Ultrasonic range finder and stuff

My trials with the ultrasonic range finder shows that it doesn't get too much interference from the other electronics that are located close by. I still made the rookie mistake by connecting the Echo and Trigger cable the wrong way around and spent much time trying to figure out what was wrong until I figured it out. I've also tried to activate AltHold while having the range finder activated. Didn't see much difference in it's behavior but it'll be essential for automatic landings.

Also, yet another motor has started showing signs of problem. It's slaming back and forth before spinning up but doesn't seem too big of an issue with that. However, after running for a while, 5-7 minutes, it gets really hot while the other three motors stay cool. I'm wondering why I'm having these problems with the motors all the time :(. Therefore I've made another order for more spare motors and I also threw in some more propellers. This time 8 inch x 4.5 propellers. Will try and see if these propellers are more suitable for the quads weight.

It's alive again!

 

I found some replacement screws for the one I lost in a local DIY store :). This afternoon I've also done some test flying to see that everything is OK and it seems so.

Regarding the package of replacement stuff and battery I ordered, it arrived in Sweden this morning but haven't got any updates from package trackers since 4.53 this AM. Hopefully I'll get it tomorrow but my hopes aren't that high for that to happened. Tuesday would however be a more realistic time of arrival.

Next I'll do some more trimming on the AltHold and will also try the AutoLand function soonish :).

Stay tuned!

One motor down..

Yesterday, I started trimming the AltHold function that relies on any altitude sensors. The sensor I have so far been using is the barometer, which is very noisy. That means it's less then perfect at holding it's altitude, but works +/- 1-2 meters.

Today, I thought of doing some more testing, maybe even try the AutoLand function as the AltHold seemed to work. However, after a few minutes of flying this happened..

 

One of the motors came off upon takeoff and took a piece of the radio antenna with it. The motors are fastened with two screws at the bottom and it seems as it came unscrewed, possibly due to vibrations. This seem to be the case for one other of the motors when I checked them all. It seems as checking the screws before going flying is a bullet on the pre-flight checklist.

Now, I only found one of the screws, which means, I have to get another somehow. Not sure if I should order a whole new frame as spare part or if I should try to find one in a local utility store. I'm going to try the second option tomorrow to see if they have any thing available that would work as a substitute.

Yes, there will be more videos. I have two that I filmed yesterday when doing some trimming but I haven't uploaded them to YouTube yet as my bandwidth is limited and the amount is not unlimited at the moment.