Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted May 1, 2012 Club Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 (edited) Do I have?.................the only FireFly with a 3 Axis Gyro fitted................... Edited May 2, 2012 by Guest Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Trevor 25 Posted May 1, 2012 Club Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 Careful, it will become autonomous and won't need you to fly it anymore Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk 2 Link to post Share on other sites
arun 0 Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Dave - would you mind telling me where you got it please? Would like to have a play around with one of these Link to post Share on other sites
Administrators Rich 26 Posted May 1, 2012 Administrators Share Posted May 1, 2012 The controller board for my Tri-copter has a 3axis gyro on it... Was £40 on ebay... No idea how good it is, but I dare say dave is going to claim his is much better lol... Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted May 2, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Dave - would you mind telling me where you got it please? Would like to have a play around with one of these As said at field, when I have tested it and got better feel for it (or not) and can report fully! No need to "claim" its better Richard, I KNOW its better....................... All its done so far is fly the garden one way and static test. This is a FIXED WING specific gyro, NOT intended for Helis. They do a Tri/Quad etc board, but not what I wanted currently, though I do fancy a large quad camera platform. Initial setting up was tricky ONLY because I was fitting it to a Wing, and the "Wing" setting didn't work for the elevons. Took me a few mins to remember that the Tx being used was a DX6i, and as their Elevon mixing is bugged and total crap (and still being sold like it!) the work round is to use dual aileron and a mix. Needless to say, the Gyro didn't know WHAT was coming at it in the way of signals as it wasn't getting normal "wing" mixing input!!. (You might think if it moves the servos in the same way, the outgoing signals from the Tx would be the same......not so!!) Corrected that at the Tx and instantly it was working, didn't even have to reverse any servo in the gyro. I have chosen a Firefly because:- I have three It has a nice flat top deck to locate the small 40mm x 30mm board level and pointing forwards, and easy to bring the leads through from the underside Rx, board exposed so it can be adjusted quickly to play with gains, etc. It has roll coupling on rudder to test the gyros Its so light that wind effect cancellation from the gyros will be evident if any good without needing a gale to fly it in. It won't write off anything expensive if it fails or glitches. Given that it seems OK from a minimal test, I have ordered another because of the lead times from China. Today might prove if I have wasted my money............twice. Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted May 2, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 BTW, for those not up the field yesterday, I flew a micro Firefly homegrown lookalike at Swanley on Sat a friend had built.........with a board from a HyperTaxi he'd written off after a very few flights. (VERY Expensive way of doing it!) It flew well, though the plane didn't have a lot of power so would not loop, kept falling off the top. Rolls were superbly managed though, and it "tracked on rails" to use the over worn metaphor. NOT self correcting, but very much "stay where put". Having got lots of hours outdoors (in lots of wind) and indoors on std size Fireflys, I should be better placed to feel the effect of the gyros on overall flight performance with mine than a flight on his "stranger". Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted May 2, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Here's the first report:- IT WORKS!! Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted May 2, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 You want more..............???? OK, so it was f..f..f..f..freezing cold, trying to rain (but not really succeeding) and a blustery breeze from nothing to 10mph and back again swirling off the trees to the north across the patch when I first arrived. Flew one battery, then raised the gains on all three axis, not because it needed it, but just to see. The feel is quite nice, it doesn't take over (Sorry Trevor!) or otherwise intrude, but def adds to the stability. I set it into a large banked turn, then kept completely off the sticks for a complete circuit before the turn tightened and I had to command. In those conditions with that plane sans gyro I'd have been constantly correcting before even a quarter of a circle. It holds the elevator in rolls quite well, though not completely if very slow, and low n slow inverted feels quite locked in. Well worth the £19.44 delivered!! (that price was a couple of weeks back, the second one I have bought has gone up to £20.99) OK. it's a:- Eagle Micro Aeroplane Flight Controller model A3 Firmware v1.0 Build 2012.02 direct from China via EBay. Link to post Share on other sites
arun 0 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Thanks Dave, certainly sounds like a successful project... congratulations on the "maiden"! I assume that if you have two aileron servos on separate channels, you would have to switch to a Y-lead on a single channel to use this? Is there any easy way to assign this gyro to a Tx switch so it can be disabled if it didn't behave as you expected/you just didn't want it active? Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted May 2, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 It not unexpectedly says use a Y lead, but of course uses two channels for wing servos in wing mode. No remote or physical "off" switch, well if there is, I don't know how, and it's not mentioned in the unexpectedly well written instructions. It should make something like a mega fast wing or Fun Jet much easier to fly. Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted June 9, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted June 9, 2012 "PRO" version now available, can be switched in flight! Link to post Share on other sites
arun 0 Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Funnily enough I received my "standard" one today - i.e. non-switchable. Have listed it on eBay for £17 and ordered a PRO as much prefer to switch in flight so my test bed RCF Flash model isn't always "cheating" and a I can use it for real practice too if I can turn the gyro off easily. Shame this wasn't available a few weeks ago Dave as I remember we had this very conversation about switching. I was actually just starting to think how I could build an circuit from common components/semis to read the signal wire on another channel from the Rx and isolate the gyro if switched... but now I won't need to as they have built it in for me. One less thing to do Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted June 9, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted June 9, 2012 I'm quite happy having non-switchable gyros on indoor lightweights, so am happy with what I have there (second one arrived while I was away this week to fit to my Piaget with fast servos)............have ordered a switchable one with heading hold and will probably fit to a Heli flybarless, maybe a 450, maybe a 500........... Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Peter Royall 47 Posted June 10, 2012 Club Members Share Posted June 10, 2012 I was given the opportunity to fly a mini GB racer, with 3 axis gyro at Old Warden, in May. Absolutely fabulous, and why has it not been done before? TTFn Oily Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted June 19, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted June 19, 2012 Couple of pics of the installation of my second non-switchable 3 axis gyro on my Indoor TechOne Piaget, flown successfully today in 5-8mph. Very impressive, setting as default, needed to reverse the elevator gyro action only. I was able to do an on the spot prop hang with multi turn torque roll despite the variable breeze, and a stable good looking knife edge was simple. and for comparison the one on my FireFly:- Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted June 20, 2012 Just got home to find the postman has delivered the third board. Opened the package and I have been sent another A3, NOT the A3 PRO. Checked PayPal order, and def ordered the right one:- Eagle A3 Pro Micro Airplane Flight Controller with AVCS and Mode Control Function Item Number 83148 GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR..................... Link to post Share on other sites
arun 0 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Dave - I had exactly same issue yesterday! I contacted the guy I bought it from in China (eBay - gadgetextreme), he has agreed to rectify the issue and said it would be in post today, with me in a couple of weeks. I put this down to packing error, but not good to hear it happened to you also. I wonder if he was trying to pull a fast-one. Here's hoping I actually get a Pro. So far he doesn't seem interested in me sending the other one back, so at least I have something. Arun Link to post Share on other sites
Club Members Bravedan 106 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Club Members Share Posted June 20, 2012 Well, he has the choice:- 1. Send me the right one as quickly as he can. (I'll happily post back, but it won't have stamps on it!!) 2. Find he has a PayPal claim against him, and me posting in every Forum I can that they are unreliable and not to be trusted. SIMPLES..................... Link to post Share on other sites
arun 0 Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 The guy gave me the normal gyro for free (rather than pay for me to post back), and was good for his word - a pro arrived a few weeks later. Sadly, both are still in their boxes due to realities of parenthood. Might try and get the pro fitted on an RCF Flash for some evening flying at SMAS. Off topic, but am on way to France for 2 wks. Have the Blade MCPX packed for flying each evening in the chalet grounds Link to post Share on other sites
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