Board Alignment in iNav 3.0 - Aligning your Flight Controller and how to adjust for level flight

[@AdamGdoesFPV]

Hey Darren, great work you’re doing to support the iNav community here, I hope everyone appreciates the effort this takes. After converting many of my planes to 3.0 I think this auto level works extremely well. My only minor dislike on this and something people need to be aware of is that when you activate AutoLevel there is no feedback on the OSD to let you know autolevel is on. Cheers

[@MrD]

Thanks Adam, you’re too kind. Where’s the pi55 taking 😄 I agree about the on-screen warning, that its in use. I think it was missed as it was added close to launch. But it would be good if it was sorted for 3.1, if not before. I’ll have to check the PRs or current OSD code to see if it has been added yet. If not, I could add it. I’ve done plenty on the OSD recently 🤣🤣

[@ApappieK]

Thanks Darren. What I learned today is to do each flight a short Autolevel and switch off after 15 seconds of level flight. Until today I used Autolevel one time, just for setting up the plane and saved settings after flight. Your approach makes more sense.

[@MrD]

No problem Awappie. Its not essential to do it every flight. But there will always be slight differences. If you're doing a long flight, it would make sense to do a quick level at cruise throttle before heading off.

[@SILVIOFRANCO1]

Hi, Darren. Good explanation on the board alignment. Thanks

[@MrD]

You’re welcome Silvio. It’s always good to hear that the video will help 🙂

[@MHdeJong87]

Nice again Darren! Keep up the great work and clear way of explaining!

[@MrD]

Thanks Maarten. Its always great to hear that the videos are clear. That’s always been a goal from the start. In fact, why I started.

[@maxun1]

Super video. I was reluctant to 3.0 for this specific reason. Love it.

[@MrD]

Thanks, I appreciate that. 3.0 on the whole is much better. There are a couple of teething problems with the newer features, but nothing that can’t be addressed. I’ve been happy flying on it. Though lately I’ve been flying on 3.1 pre-alpha builds more as I’ve been testing out new features.

[@emmanuelsab1095]

GREAT VIDEO ONCE AGAIN

[@MrD]

Thank you 👍🏻

[@rcinfinity9842]

Thanks! Could you run auto level and auto trim at the same time? One switch?

[@MrD]

I use it on one switch, but on 2 positions on that switch. Towards me is autotune, away is auto level. I wouldn’t run them at the same time.

[@Nic-xw4sj]

Hi Darren, thanks for your explainer, very helpfull indeed. As I turned my FC so that the USB socket is to the front, I had to change the yaw setting to 270 to make it work. I redid the accelerometer calibration and found the position is automatically detected, even if I followed the steps in orientation it still detected another direction. Is this an issue or will the acellerometer work correctly?

[@MrD]

You should really perform the calibration without any board alignment settings. It’s the first thing I do with a new FC. Once it’s calibrated, then add the board alignment offsets.

[@Chazz155511]

Can the flight controller be installed off axis on the roll ??

[@MrD]

Yes. You need to correct the board alignment in the CLI.

[@husky041]

The FC in my new AtomRC Swordfish wasn't mounted straight at the factory. It's pointing somewhat to the left. I've considered ripping it out and re-mounting it, but I'm new to all this and am worried that I'll upset the factory calibration for level flight. I could adjust the yaw setting I think, but how to know by how much, and which way? I'd appreciate your advice Darren. Cheers 👍

[@MrD]

If it’s only out by a little. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It shouldn’t affect level flight. I don’t think they even set this. That is the Fixed Wong Level Trim setting in the PID Tuning > Mechanics tab.

[@husky041]

@MrD do you mean remount it or leave it as it is? It's pointing left by a couple of degrees I think. Anyway thanks for the reply 👍

[@M-H433]

Another great video Darren thankyou,may I just ask when the auto level is done does it really need to be done each flight as long as battery is in same position and nothing else has been moved,I'm just asking as I have very few channels I can leave connected for all these functions now and once auto level is done to remove it

[@MrD]

Thanks Mark. You could do it once, and it would be close enough. But there will be some variance based on flying conditions too, not just the CG. Flight speed will also make a difference. Just in case it helps, what I have on my setup is Continuous servo trim enabled. Then on the switch where auto trim used to be, I have auto level. I know all about channels disappearing. Especially if you use something like Crossfire, which is limited to only 12 channels, and you start adding cool things like pan and tilt. Channels soon disappear. That's one of the reasons why I started looking in to putting all flight/nav modes on a single channel. It seems like a waste spreading them over multiple channels.

[@M-H433]

@@MrD Yes agreed

[@aaronwood8500]

Do u know if inav supports maytek h743 wing been waiting to use this FC been tempted to move to ardupilot but have only used inav

[@MrD]

In 3.0.1 it is supposed with the MATEKH743 target. But it has some features missing. In 4.0 it will be fully supported with the exception of CANBUS.

[@nofluxgiven1949]

So what if my board is tilted ~5 degrees on roll and I positioned the FC so the arrow points right? If i change board settings in CLI pitch changes roll and roll changes pitch. Will pitch adjustments with autolevel mistakenly affect roll?

[@MrD]

No, auto level will always change the pitch of the model. Regardless of the orientation of the flight controller. You can quite happily rotate the yaw alignment, then fix the -5 degrees. It won’t affect auto level.

[@AllAroundTube50]

My FC has the arrow pointing forward, yet, when I hold my plane and tilt the wings, the alierons move in the wrong direction (not the stick control, but the auto assist option). If I change the 'YAW degrees to 180, the movement of the ailerons is now good, but when I go to the setup in Inav, the image of my plane shows that the wings are reversed (when I dip the plane to the right, the right wing in Inav goes up instead of down). I have tried everything but cannot solve it.

[@MrD]

Don’t use the board align yaw to fix stabilisation problems. You only change the board align parameters to get the physical plane moving the same as the 3D plane on the setup page. If the stabilisation is wrong, the first thing to check is the receiver page and make sure that down/left = 1000 and up/right = 2000 for the correct axis. Some folks reverse channels in their radio to get the surfaces moving correctly. But this is wrong. You only reverse channels in the radio if the bars on the receiver page are wrong. When that is correct, you need to get the surfaces moving correctly in Manual mode. If a surface needs reversing, there is a reverse option on the outputs page. Next check that this is the same in Angle mode and that the stabilisation is correct. If the first three (3D model mimicking plane, receiver page bars, and control surfaces correct in manual) are correct. The angle test should just be a formality.

[@AllAroundTube50]

​@@MrD Thanks. So I have the physical plane moving the same as the 3D image in Inav. WHen I go into Inav 'receiver', if I push the stick (ailerons) to the right, the aileron channel (1) moves left (1000) and if I push left, the bar moves right to 2000, but the physical plane is correct (pushing the stick right moves the wing down). SO I went in and changed this in the OUTPUTS settings on my radio per your message, but that changes the actual aileron setting and the phydsical plane is then backwards. I can't get the stabilization setting to match the physical setting. THis same thing has happened on both my planes, with the flight controller using default settings (I didn't reverse anything to make this happen). I just don;t get what is going on. SO the physical settings of the aileron seem good (the radio does what I want it to do). My issue is that the stabilization is reversed (the pitch matches, it is only the ailerons that is reversed on the stabilization). But again, my radio inputs are correct in that when I push the stick right, the right wing dips.

[@MrD]

Your transmitter setup is wrong. If you move the aileron stick on the transmitter to the right, the bar on the receiver page should also go right, to 2000. When you move the ailerons stick left, it should go left to 1000. You have this reversed. You need to reverse that in the transmitter to get this correct on the receiver page. Yaw should be the same. For pitch stick down (pitch up) should move the bar left to 1000, and stick up (pitch down) should move the bar right to 2000. This needs to be correct before you move on. This is what is causing the stabilisation to be incorrect. Once that is right, switch in to manual mode and use the reversal in the outputs page so that the control surfaces are correct to the stick movements on the transmitter.

[@AllAroundTube50]

@@MrD Thankyou! It works now! I've spent hours, no days, trying to get this to work. With your instructions, I fixed it in 5 minutes. Thank you so much!

[@MrD]

@@AllAroundTube50 glad I could help 👍🏻

[@Chris-vc1dh]

HI IF THE MODEL ICON IN INAV IS NOT LEVEL ON ROLL AND THE BOARD IS PLACED LEVEL THEN WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO LEVEL IT?

[@MrD]

Click the reset Z axis button. If it is still not correct on the roll, was it calibrated before you put it in the plane?

[@Chris-vc1dh]

@@MrD yes still not level and yes i calibrated the fc before putting it in the plane

[@MrD]

So basically its not flat in the plane. How far out is it? If its only a degree or so, I wouldn't worry However you can adjust it using the align_board_roll (if the arrow is facing forwards or backwards) in the CLI. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIWWeqqIoM-jfsk

[@Chris-vc1dh]

@@MrD thank you 🙏 my friend

[@MrD]

No problem Chris 👍🏻

[@dawirelessg]

if the yaw is turned 180 degrees , the pitch value is inverted, how to correct that?

[@MrD]

On board pitch alignment, yes. It is inverted because we are seeing how the board reacts in relation to the plane. Because you have rotated the yaw by 180 degrees, you are then raising rear of the flight controller, so the numbers will be opposite what you saw when raising the front. You’re not rotating the accelerometer, just how iNav interprets the data.

[@dawirelessg]

@@MrD thank you , I get that, but in the osd climbing had negative pitch value, anyway to tell it like pitch = pitch(-1)

[@MrD]

Ah, that’s different. Regardless of flight controller orientation, and board alignment adjustments to tell iNav where the front is. In the OSD, climbing should always show positive. Is your plane matching the 3D model on the setup page when you move it? So tilting the real plane’s nose up, tilts the on screen plane’s nose up?

[@dawirelessg]

@@MrD yes matches perfectly in setup screen. pointy nose up, shows airplane nose up. roll is also correct but shows negative pitch when pointed up, and shows negative pitch in osd. very annoying. even in your video, the pitch value gets inverted

[@MrD]

@@dawirelessg I don’t follow you. The OSD is not shown in the video? Or are you just referring to the numbers in the top left of the setup screen? BTW, flight controllers usually show negative values for pitch up on that screen. It is absolutely fine. So long as the model and flight controller move identically, it is fine.

[@peterthepumpkineater6363]

So helpful

[@MrD]

Thank you Peter.

[@MessingWithCode]

Thanks a lot mate.

[@MrD]

You're welcome 👍🏻

[@jhughes2286]

First off all I loaded all of Marc Hoffman's settings into the CLI for the AR Pro from the Inav site. I'm trying to obtain level flight in angle mode, the wing loses altitude when sticks off in angle mode at Cruise throttle about 35%. I didn't try a servo auto trim cuz it seemed like they were already set and it flew level handsoff, it just loses altitude. I did try an auto-tune and just kind of banged the sticks around for 5 or 10 minutes and then clicked out of Auto-Tune and landed and went into the OSD and just went to save and exit but I'm not sure if that actually saves the auto-tune or not and it didn't seem to make any improvement or difference from beginning to end anyways. The board alignment is positive 3.5 degrees pitch in inav 2.5. Do I need to adjust the angle in the positive or negative direction to hold level? Or is there a different way of achieving this and should there be other modes enabled with angle that would make it hold altitude. Also pitch authority is bad , how to increase that?

[@MrD]

Sorry it's taken a while to reply to this. I was quite long, so I wanted to reply on my laptop when I had some spare time. I'll address the pitch authority first, as the changes may impact the trim and the tune. This may sound backwards, but first think of your roll. How is this? Is that also too little, about right, or too much? - If roll is also too low, you should change the control linkages to give you more throw. Further away from the centre of the servo gives more throw, and closer to the control surface gives you more throw. Move either end by 1 hole and try again. Both pitch and roll will have more throw. Moving the control rod will adjust the trim. So if this is right, before making any changes, power on and allow the servos to centre. Next, take some pins, and use them to fix the elevons in place. Power down and remove control rod from the horn. You can then adjust the rod so that it will go in it's new position and keep the trim about right. - If the roll is fine but the pitch is too little, you will need to change the control rod as above, then change the mixer, as in the answer below. - If the roll is too much, and the pitch is too little, go to the mixer. By default, the elevon mix is 50-50. Change the 50 for stabilised roll to 40 and the 50 for stabilised pitch to 60. One of these will have a negative symbol. You need to keep this in place. This will reduce the roll, increase the pitch, but keep the total control surface movement at 100%. After you have changed any of the above, you will need to test fly and see if the throws are better, or if they need more adjustment. Once they are how you like them you will need to: retrim, set the feed forward so that acro has 90% of the movement of manual, re-measure the roll and pitch rates and set them in the configurator (pre-iNav 3.0), perform an auto tune. -------------------- With the trim. You should check this in manual or acro. Angle will level the craft, so it can give false information. If you're in manual and hands off, the plane stays flying at the same attitude (shouldn't roll or pitch, wind buffeting is fine), then the trim is fine. If not, it will need trimming. Once the trim is confirmed, you can check Angle. If you're still losing height, you'll need to add more angle of attack by adjusting the board pitch alignment (with 2.6 or below). With 3.0, this is now handled by the new pitch level trim on the PID Tuning > Mechanics tab. I often found with pre-3.0 that you had to add negative pitch to raise the nose. The easy way to find out is to go to the setup page in configurator, raise the nose by putting it on a thin box, then add the opposite. So if raising the nose shows 5 degrees, you would need to set board pitch to -5 degrees. Then when you raise the nose back on to the box, it should show 0. If it now shows 10, you need to invert the number in the board pitch. Also, don't forget that if you have rotated the board yaw by 90 or 270 degrees, you will need to change the roll, not the pitch. For the auto tune, check out Marc's video. He shows exactly what you should do for this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJXLmGhql9ice68 I'm just wondering why you're using iNav 2.5? 2.6 was worth the update, and 3.0 adds quite a few improvements, including the rate tuning. There is a slight issue with autotune in 3.0, but you just need to lower the P and I in the tune to remedy this.

[@jhughes2286]

@@MrD Thank you so much for the response there was quite a lot of helpful information there. So now I guess I have to decide which road to go down, the only reason I'm on 2.5 is because I couldn't get it to flash after trying for 2 days you even gave some tips and no luck. One thing to note, I have my board alignment set to -3.5 degrees, was trying to give it just a little bit of nose up attitude to start with and about 1.5-2mm of reflex. I will follow your instructions and re-trim the control rods if needed, thanks for your help !

[@danemartin5288]

Great info

[@MrD]

Thanks Dane.

[@N8904V]

Thank you.

[@JohnStenborg]

…flying a klump…adjust by cli…good ol days…

[@FasterThanJesus666]

First :)