VTOL Basics Series (2/5): Flashing Pixhawk, Quadplane and CANbus setup and Managing Outputs

[@theflyingsandalrc]

Thanks for the video and the series. Having access to Ben's knowledge and experience is such a big plus!

[@fgo5872]

I mentioned in the previous video that I have a VTOL ( 2m) hanging in my cave for the last 2 years This video helps me a lot before I try my maiden. I do have the Cube orange but not using any CAN device yet. Still very necessary info from Ben. My other aircraft all using Ardu Pilot firmware I am lucky to understand him perfectly. Painless360, all your videos so informative!!! Thanks a lot.

[@ddegn]

I hope you post some videos of your VTOL project. I just subscribed to your channel in hopes you'll share your progress.

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic, Lee! Thanks a lot! 😃 People use to say that ArduPilot is too complicated and so on... But it's absolutely complete and, due to the complexity that comes with it, I really doubt we could have a much better GUI. It's too much things, it would be huge to download and install. 😬 Either way, for many applications, it's the only way. Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@eternity1243]

I'm currently converting my ar wing to VTOL and this series is helping me alot.

[@ayoaina_fpv]

Hi @eternity1243 how did the AR Wing VTOL conversion go?

[@jimross898]

Wow. Thanks Ben. What a wealth of information.

[@MrCoulson]

Thanks!

[@TheMarcball]

that was intense and very useful. Can't wait to tweak the finetune parameters. Just getting a RC Bronco hacked into an ArduRover first, before I go into planes and QP... THANKS !

[@edinburghdronecompany]

Great content and always have a little watch 👍

[@briancrick935]

Thanks so much for doing these videos.

[@OneTwo-wt8qv]

Terrific Detail ... Thanks Ben .. Cheers !

[@darrinanderson953]

Thanks so much for making this video big help for me working on the same thing

[@Utpal_YT]

Very informative video thank you❤❤

[@itzikronen105]

Thank you so much for the great video and work, an inspiring series. I have been thinking about the subject for two or three years and not progressing. I thought 4 + 1 is a bit of a banal configuration and I would have preferred something different but after seeing the amount of changes Ben made, maybe it's really right to start with 4 + 1.

[@temanelektro]

Trimakasih

[@nikotttin]

Love it! Thank you so much!

[@abdullahafzal9]

btw thanks a lot for such detailed videos

[@snowhack8903]

Do you plan on doing a more up to date series based on the fact that 3 motor VTOL setups are more common now with the Altus, Ranger, etc? There are at least 3 manufactured VTOL kits out there and virtually nothing on line in how they are set up properly.

[@Painless360]

There are no plans to make more setup videos on tilt rotor VTOL anytime soon. The vendors of these models need to do a lot more and provide reliable, tested setup files so customers don't destroy their new VTOL first time out. Happy flying!

[@shannonbaker9922]

Hi Lee, I'm on a VTOL journey and have designed up a retrofittable (if that's a word...) VTOL 3d-print mount for installing in a Mini Talon. Happy to share if you're interested in using it for the series. It's a very common airframe and people can breathe some life into it with a VTOL conversion. Using a Matek Wing FC.

[@Painless360]

Hi Shannon, that could be interesting. Please pop me a line to [e-mail]...

[@jamesbevan9989]

Great video!

[@pilotmiami1]

Thenks.bravo

[@allansmits9621]

Ben goes through the computer settings very fast. I couldn’t keep up. Are you logging these, Lee, and share them back to us later? Thanks!

[@Painless360]

This series is aimed at those who are familiar with Arduplane. A follow up series will take these lessons and tips shown here and use them in again in my regular format... stay tuned

[@allansmits9621]

@@Painless360 Good to know, Lee. I’m watching your videos series with great anticipation of trying VTOL in the future, a 4+1 design. Thanks so much for presenting this series!

[@LoudRC]

​@@allansmits9621 You could always pause and review again the bits that you missed? Arduplane is incredibly complex - Ben's ability to fly through these menus demonstrates just how familiar he is with it all. I personally use QPlanner as I find it's GUI to be more user-friendly than Mission Planner. It still runs Arduplane as the firmware it just presents the options to the user in what I fell is a more understandable manner. Thanks for the video Lee, I can't wait to give my VTOL Bixler a go once I've got it finished off.

[@kenhhay5812]

I have not seen your video detailing how to connect electronic components to the Flightcontroller

[@Painless360]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iH20onSOa69ohdU

[@fossel-11]

What about the wiring. I dont really have an understanding of electronics and I am trying to understand how I should connect 4+1 avionics to pixhawk 2.4.8

[@Painless360]

I'd strongly recommend spending time getting some basics of electronic engineering under your belt. Check out my builds aimed at beginners, that cover the basics. Best of luck

[@CalebOrtiz-u1u]

Servo outputs were written and pixhawk was rebooted. still only 4 of the 10 servos are showing up in servo output?

[@Painless360]

What troubleshooting have you already tried?

[@abhitechno]

Hi! I'm quite new to this, I just had one question where do we define Cruise motor? On which servo output and how do we connect Cruise motor which is in front or back of plane? And when and how to start that motor?

[@Painless360]

If you are new then taking a look at the documentation as step one. Full setup details are here ardupilot.org/plane/docs/quadplane-building.html best of luck

[@abhitechno]

@@Painless360 thank you so much for taking time and replying, I didn't know that throttle is aka cruise or forward motor and was always doubting what to connect in throttle pin, I was defining it as Motor 9, because it's octaquad, but after watching your videos I understood throttle aka Servo3_function in MissionPlanner is actually cruise motor. Much thanks, keep making wonderful content.

[@bohman3634]

Hi Ben, I’m working on building a vtol q-plane with a 10 motor Deca frame but my cube sends a message that it’s unsupported and there’s a config error, even though it’s a full parameter list option. Do you know if it’s a possible frame without any changes to the os code? Thanks!

[@Painless360]

Ben isn't on the channel answering question. Sorry to disappoint. I'd ask the person who supplied the hardware... best of luck

[@sidestickfpv8401]

Thank you for doing this series, I have been looking to converting one of my planes myself. BTW would it be easier/better to use CTRL+F and select reboot instead of power cycling the flight controller?

[@birdseyeview5242]

Many thanks for doing this! When you start your build which airframe will you use?

[@Painless360]

Unsure, possibly something like the AtomRC Seal..

[@jimmytheriot8978]

I purchased a v22 osprey from banana hobby, replace the original flight controller with a f405 wing, set it up for VTOL , having problem to get pitch and roll to work while in qloiter mode , notice I can't set up the motors as motor 1 , motor 2 , motor 4 , motors only work in RCIN3 which is throttle on my transmitter, I'm running crsf in sbus , any idea?

[@Painless360]

Sounds like something basic has been missed.. What have you tried already?

[@jimmytheriot8978]

@@Painless360 Ive tried everything from starting from reflashing the board , ever example I see they set it up with motor1 , 2 and 4 , but my motors won't turn when I set it that way , I have to set all my motor channels on RCIN3 to get them to work

[@farkhodkhikmatov4738]

I Have the same can bus set up!! But airspeed sensor won't come up!!! Plz help!

[@Painless360]

All the steos that worked for me are in the video. I'd contact the seller for help.. Best of luck

[@KernelKrunch663]

Any interest in showing how to build a good mapping drone?

[@Painless360]

See my Ardupilot Quad build. Lots of power and space for a camera gimbal.. Best of luck!

[@edivollgas719]

this concept sadly is too much of several things for me... motors weight money .... hope there will be a second series going the tailsitter way , arduplane on matek f7..... thats the way I am playing around at the moment for the eclipson printed vtol plane. Great to watch and learn anyway :-)

[@imaskai3484]

Can i use normal pixhawk flight controller for making a VTOL. I mean is it possible?

[@Painless360]

Yes, also possible with non Pixhawk flight controllers. Happy flying

[@abdullahafzal9]

can we go for a hexa plane setup using ardupilot or i need to change the firmware myself for it

[@Painless360]

Settings for the type of VTOL are in the Q_frame and type settings in the full parameter tree. See the ardupilot documentation... best of luck

[@SAMETELMACI]

hi ı got a ahrs not using configured ahrs type error please help me looks everything is okey ı have a cuav v5+ arduplane 4.3

[@Painless360]

Lots of details on how to fix this in the documentation and forums, i.e. "Good compass + good accelerometer calibration first things to check, as has been stated. Then check GPS - Bad AHRS can be a result of bad GPS lock. If your GPS is really next to the pixhawk, interference from the pix could be the cause, the GPS should be at least several inches away". I'd try those basics first. Also check out the Ardupilot 2020 series for the steps that work... Best of luck

[@SAMETELMACI]

@@Painless360 thanks when ı turn back to 4.2 or 4.0 the problem is gone, just 4.3 have problem

[@Painless360]

Sounds like something software related. If you are copying the setup from one version to another and it isn't working then I'd let the developers know. Best of luck!

[@SAMETELMACI]

@@Painless360 thanks much yes 4.2.3 works with not error, ı use 4.2.3 for now because ı dont have time for debug 4.3

[@Max-qs8fn]

My team ran into a problem of motor power output gradually drop after reaching a certain point and we lost control of a that motor as well, have you encountered something like this before? I’m trying to find a way to fix it.

[@Painless360]

I've not seen that here. I'd have a look at the Logfiles to see what is going on. Best of luck

[@alexandrelarribau4083]

Hey ! Is it possible to setup 2 motors for throttle ? If yes how can i do this ? What would be the parameters to modify ?

[@Painless360]

On a VTOL? I don't understand. If you are talking about a conventional twin engine model then it is covered in the docs. See ardupilot.org/plane/docs/common-all-vehicle-types.html

[@alexandrelarribau4083]

@@Painless360 yeah I mean a VTOL with 4 vertical motors and 2 to move forward

[@Painless360]

I see, I've not seen a quad-tilt style but knowing Ardupilot, I wouldn't be surprised if it is possible... best of luck

[@alexandrelarribau4083]

@@Painless360 okey thanks ! The idea is to be able to rotate while staying at the same place (i dont have the english word for it). I'll check this but congratulation for this serie of videos they are awesome !

[@jacobellingson7057]

I'm wondering, is it possible to contact you? My classmates and i were given an assignment to try and get an old vtol up and running with a pixhawk 6C, but we keep having issues. Do you think you could potentially help us? It's a Skywalker X8 VTOL

[@Painless360]

I am still learning with VTOL myself. Series like the one you're watching here are the best places to see the steps outlined and how to avoid the common mistakes.. VTOLs are not easy... Best of luck

[@pavelpavlov3237]

Hello ! Tell me, please, is the matek f405 CTR board enough for vtol 4+1?

[@Painless360]

You need to check if it has enough outputs for all the servos and motors you need... and it'll run Ardupilot... I've not got one here. Best of luck

[@allansmits9621]

Lee, do you have a purchasing source for the CAN bus hub?

[@Painless360]

Checking the 3dxr website would be my first option... Best of luck

[@sherefhussein2174]

Hello my friend, can you send me the parameter of this plane that you use for flight control🙏

[@Painless360]

Sorry, I can't as this is not something I have. Best of luck

[@AndreasMichael-o8b]

Hello, Can it be a 4 plus 2 VTOL or does the mission planner cannot do it? Thanks

[@Painless360]

It'll do it. Best of luck