Swordfish / Arduplane - Chasing Perfect

Finally getting it "perfectly" tuned...
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[@mark9328]

You have that thing really dialed in now! Nice work Keith!

[@bonafidepirate]

Thanks Mark, I'm quite happy with the way it's flying now. I was fine with it before, it was "good enough", but once you go down the rabbit hole looking for the perfect setup it gets kinda fun and challenging at the same time... lol I think it's flying the best right now that is has so far. It might even get a tiny bit better once I tighten up the navl1 stuff that I'd backed off to try to deal with the problem before I knew what it was... ha

[@janilamminen5320]

Dear Keith, I’m tempted to move from iNav to Arduplane with my Swordfish. I have never used Arduplane, but done some research. Can you make a straight drop down for the parameters of Swordfish you have your best tune on? And also some sort of guide to use Arduplene (ie. On first flight you must tune in servos, airspeed sensor is calibrated in following way..)? I know, by reading Arduplane documentary you can do it, but you make all so clearly explained. Only difference on our Swordfishes are that I have DJI O3 and airspeed sensor. Thank you for your contribution to this hobby!

[@North49RC]

I haven't built a Vtail before but your trim tip is something that I will use in the set up of my Swordfish. Makes total sense, thank you.

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic flying and tuning, Keith! 😃 It's flying rock solid! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@austntexan]

Your commentary is so helpful Keith. Great flight. I always learn something on this channel. Good stuff.

[@bonafidepirate]

I try to learn something myself every time I fly, and share what I learn... lol For me that's one of the best parts of this hobby, there's always something new to learn and even just brush up on old skills.

[@AerialWaviator]

I would have assumed that yaw (rudder) was trimmed too as part of auto-trim, particularly for a V-tail. Learned something! Great walk-thru detailing over flights leading up to the root cause explanation.

[@bonafidepirate]

Yeah the V-tail sort of complicates things... lol I still stand by what I said earlier, they have some benefits, work well when set up properly, but can be a pain to get them set up properly. :D Apparently the rudder isn't trimmed with auto-trim on a conventional tail either. It only trims for level pitch and roll, using surfaces assigned to control pitch and roll. ardupilot.org/plane/docs/auto-trim.html I had never really noticed that before since my other planes either have no yaw control, or have worked with the rudder trim at 0... lol It's definitely something to consider when setting up a new plane and getting it all dialed in though, something to check.

[@theflyingsandalrc]

Thats interesting, ill have to check the rudder trim on mine as well... ;)

[@EnglishTurbines]

I'd like to bet this model won't turn using just Rudder when in Manual? I seem to recall Mr Newton pointing this out some time ago....😳🤔🇬🇧

[@bonafidepirate]

I actually found the yaw control more responsive than I'd expected. In manual mode it does seem like there's a little bit of pitch coupling with yaw input, it tends to push the nose down a little with a lot of yaw input either direction. It's not really noticeable in stabilized modes though. To correct that in manual I think you'd either have to do some clever mixing, or set up some mechanical differential throw in the linkages. It's not a big enough problem for me to care about that much though... lol

[@reinhardherden516]

Would you upload your parameter file so that people can compare your tuning on the Swordfish with their own parameters?

[@shanesdiy]

Great bit of investigative work finding that trim issue. Got me wondering if "Instant Trim" on my TX16S includes rudder, just confirmed it does. Do you think Arduplane didn't include yaw/rudder trim since it was a v-tail or does it also not trim yaw on a normal tail?

[@teksingh4362]

what batteries you use and what flight time you get with it ?

[@horsship]

When you updated the new firmware for arduplane, did you have trouble arming the board?

[@bonafidepirate]

No everything works normally. If AP isn't arming it should give you a reason why, check the messages either on screen or in Mission Planner. Here's a list of reasons it will refuse to arm: ardupilot.org/plane/docs/arming-your-plane.html#diagnosing-failure-to-arm

[@horsship]

It says radio Failsafe in messages. I have no signal in the flight controller. Don’t know why though, I did not change anything when upgrading the new ArduPlane firmware so I could go from analog to the walksnail hd. As you can see I’m not program literate. Lol.

[@bonafidepirate]

@@horsship Updating the firmware *shouldn't* break anything, Ardupilot is really good about not changing settings between firmware versions. Double check your serial port setup and everything related to RC input. If you have a backup of your parameters and would like to send me that and some details about your physical setup, I wouldn't mind helping you go over it to look for anything out of place.

[@horsship]

Thanks! I finally figured it out tonight. I checked the back of my crossfire transmitter and changed it from crossfire transmit/receive to Sbus and it worked. I always had it on crossfire transmit and receive and it worked before. Don’t know what happened but changing it to Sbus and it worked. Now to go fly. Thanks for the support!

[@mauror79]

What prop and KV motor use ?

[@bonafidepirate]

It's the stock motors that came with the PNP/RTH version, I'd have to look again to see what they are. Props are 6x4.5

[@mauror79]

@@bonafidepirate thx ! 6x4.5 hq / gemflash ?

[@bonafidepirate]

@@mauror79 Just checked the motors, they are 2306 size 1700kv. The black props are some "old style" Gemfan clones, something I had in my parts box for years. I've also ran some Gemfan Flash 6042s that are equally as efficient, but I like the black ones because they have slightly less vibrations.

[@mauror79]

@@bonafidepirate my swordfish came with 1700kv motors, now I am using the original propellers, but I want to also try the K2 from Hq, they are 6x4, I think it will be a short step but I will wait until there is no wind to draw conclusions. I want to be more efficient and I can't do it yet.