Manual mode ... aka the $1000 laxative

[mroberts]

First time flying manual mode today. It really turns the Phantom from a family sedan into a sports car.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iThq9MnCWL8[/youtube]

I have the utmost respect for anyone who can fly manual mode FPV - I had a hard enough time at close range looking directly at it.

EDIT: Thanks for the linky tip

 

[jumanoc]

First time flying manual mode today. It really turns the Phantom from a family sedan into a sports car.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/iThq9MnCWL8[/youtube]

Can someone show me how to get the spiffy YouTube preview window thingy?

I have the utmost respect for anyone who can fly manual mode FPV - I had a hard enough time at close range looking directly at it.

Here is it. Just write the full http and url as this (without the quotes):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iThq9MnCWL8

 

[martcerv]

I think it went quite well, a couple pretty close calls it seems but you didn't hit the ground and pulled off some flips so that is a success in my books. :mrgreen:

Fpv is great fun in manual but Im not into flips that much more just some fast flying, I lose nearly 2 minutes of total flight time in manual but I think its more due to heavier load voltage used. I am putting back less mah but its flashing the first red led level sooner so I can only assume the load drop is higher but I also push it pretty hard. The last thing I would ever want flying in manual is it to go to auto land so I cut my flights quite a bit shorter.

 

[mroberts]

I think it went quite well, a couple pretty close calls it seems but you didn't hit the ground and pulled off some flips so that is a success in my books. :mrgreen:

I'll admit I switched back to ATTI for a couple of those to help recover!

Fpv is great fun in manual but Im not into flips that much more just some fast flying, I lose nearly 2 minutes of total flight time in manual but I think its more due to heavier load voltage used. I am putting back less mah but its flashing the first red led level sooner so I can only assume the load drop is higher but I also push it pretty hard. The last thing I would ever want flying in manual is it to go to auto land so I cut my flights quite a bit shorter.

I'd be curious to see (someone else) experiment with the failsafes from Manual mode - will it cut back over to failsafe? If so, then it may not be a bad thing to have it do a full GPS-assisted autoland when the battery goes flat.

If you are seeing a larger voltage drop, can you afford to run the battery a little lower on the indicated voltage, knowing that if it's showing say 10.4V under load, you're actually at nearly 11V if you calm down and walk it home?

Do you know what the FCS is actually doing in Manual mode? Is it really just doing the mixing from the four control inputs to the relative motor speeds, or is there still a level of stability augmentation? I'm assuming it's completely ignoring the GPS and compass. My main motivator for Manual mode was to demonstrate I could control it in the event of a major degradation in the FCS, and as an option for recovery if it does have a tweaky flyaway.

 

[martcerv]

As far as I can tell it leaves pretty much all control to you and no stability or altitude control is added. Though it still hovers very well and I haven't really looked into the actual COG of my setup so I am surprised if blind luck has got mine that well balanced.

The higher load use can be quite simply explained by the way I am flying it having a much higher average RPM then in GPS or ATTI mode. The lower speeds of the other modes keeps RPM down and this can be easily seen in the way to get maximum speed in manual mode, if you pitch forward it will lose altitude so you need to add throttle to keep it from dropping. In manual you can get a higher speed because in ATTI mode the pitch angle is limited and so it doesn't need as many RPM to keep this pitch and level flight in manual you can get any pitch angle you want and as long as you have enough power to keep it airborne at a higher angle then it will get higher speed. This will drain much more power out of the battery and in aggressive flying the load drop would be higher because of this. My batteries also get much warmer after a flight but My Tiger Motors even with 9050 triblades are cool doing even a 8 minute flat out flight with 2700mah battery.

I wouldnt really want to push the battery too much especially if flying aggressively because if going fast and low, if it were to go to autoland under high load this would force it to hit the ground hard. Im sure if you fly slowly and smoothly then manual mode would not consume more battery but I tend to push its limits in every mode. Flat out flying in ATTI mode gets me 8 min 2200mah and 10 min 2700mah, Manual these times are 6 and 8 minutes. GPS I havent flown a full flight in quite a while so Im not sure exactly but from memory it was quite similar to ATTI mode in consumption.

Here comparing flying Manual mode, ATTI mode & GPS mode flying around the same area.

Manual mode fairly calm winds 5-10kmh.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jTnb-szvYE[/youtube]

Atti mode bit windier 20-40kmh
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rffsMqwuMOs[/youtube]

ATTI and GPS mode about 20-30kmh winds, ATTI for most of the early part but GPS for the lap around my test track. This lap was not full speed all the way though like the 2 above.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIEg_O8k5zY[/youtube]

 

[CameraGuy]

So, have I learned from this that in manual mode I can do a 360?

Wouldn't want to, but have at it.

D

 

[martcerv]

Manual has no altitude hold or pitch angle limits, it also doesn't self level in any way so you can pitch it to any angle. It wont fly inverted for long so if you over pitch it will lose altitude quick, much more to flying manual then flips. You get smoother flight with complete control and can much easier raise or lower altitude if you need to in a hurry.

 

[CameraGuy]

Yes, with my new radio, I have enabled manual, so I will try and see what the difference is, but there is NO WAY I would even consider doing a flip. I didn't buy this to do acrobatics. There is too much money sitting there to try this, but like I said, have at it.

Darren

 

[martcerv]

First flights with manual mode be aware that there is no altitude hold so keep throttle about 50% when you switch and ensure you have good LOS of the quad so keep it close. You need to be 100% sure of orientation and though its great fun once you get the hang of it it will be a pretty steep learning curve. I hadnt flown a quad in manual before but have flow a few heli's in the past which are quite similar. Except a heli is much easier to see orientation but also they tend to be more on the edge or at least the ones I flew were compared to the phantom.

Before giving manual a full go I downloaded a free app for my galaxy s4 called "indoor heli sim" this has a small quad in there that is good to get a basic concept of manual flying. Well worth a go just to give you the basics of full manual flight. Set it to flight training expert or 3d and control to mode2 and it behaves pretty accurately and will give you a handle of the controls.

Flying with a touch screen is quite awkward with no feedback so its actually trickier then flying the real thing but good to learn the basic skills without risking your phantom. LOS is very different to FPV and LOS manual I would keep it fairly close to me but FPV its much easier as orientation is not an issue.

As the thread title says its a $1000 laxative lol and its quite likely you may need to change your pants after your first few flights. Do it in calmer winds first and be very light on the controls as you dont want fast jerky motions where it can get out of control very quickly. Also be ready to switch to atti or gps mode as soon you get in a bit of trouble.