Setting up the Futaba T8FGS (or 14SG) with the P2

[Frendel]

I wish this thread could come alive again with all the exciting ideas on how to modify the controls different ways. I had such a great time reading this thread tbh :geek:

I have some ideas that I'll share once I have one last piece dialed in. For now here's what I have working:

1) Gimbal: Coarse tilt on the right slider (0 to 90 deg) and fine tilt on the left slider (+/- 10 deg). I have a three way switch as a mode control. With the the switch up the right slider is disabled, the camera moves to -10 deg from level (so, almost straight) and the left slider still gives +/- 10 deg fine tilt. So, that's my "straight ahead with fine adjustment" mode. With the switch down it goes to -90 deg, right slider disabled, left on +/- 10 deg fine tilt. In the middle switch position I have full coarse control on the right slider plus the usual fine tilt on the left. Works like a charm!

2) "Cinematography" modes: I use a three way switch and the left volume knob for some yaw controls. Switch up is off - normal flight (no danger of forgetting to center the knob!). Switch in the middle is panorama - volume knob sets the speed and direction. Switch down is POV - volume knob sets the radius and direction of a POV circle. I still have a little dialing in to do on that one. I also use the right knob to dial in some forward motion - that way I can get the Phantom flying "hands free" and focus on the camera work. That is enabled and disabled by a switch too.

Will post my program when I have the POV calibrated properly. Many thanks to Ian for the inspiration and enabling me to largely avoid reading the manual!!

Real good job SJBrit! I really like concept 2, it'll be very interesting to follow the progress.

About concept 1 though, I'm not sure if I fully understand the +/- 10 deg fine tilt use. Does it work like this?

Switch up, left slider up: 0 deg tilt.
Switch up, left slider middle: -10 deg tilt.
Switch up, left slider down: -20 deg tilt.
Switch up, left slider halfway between up and middle: -5 deg tilt.

This gives me an idea. It would be cool if it was possible to do this:
- Normal function just as your normal function (Left slider: fine tilt. Right slider: 90 deg tilt.)
- then we would have one switch that turns the three way switch on or off.
- instead of +/- 10 deg fine tilt we could have +/- 15 deg fine tilt.
- The upper position of the three way switch combined with the left fine tilt slider would control 0, -15 & -30 deg.
- The middle position of the three way switch combined with the left fine tilt slider would control 30, -45 & -60 deg.
- The bottom position of the three way switch combined with the left fine tilt slider would control -60, -75 & -90 deg.

Could this be done you guys think? I haven't even gotten my radio yet so I can't try it myself.

 

[wkf94025]

2) "Cinematography" modes: I use a three way switch and the left volume knob for some yaw controls. Switch up is off - normal flight (no danger of forgetting to center the knob!). Switch in the middle is panorama - volume knob sets the speed and direction. Switch down is POV - volume knob sets the radius and direction of a POV circle. I still have a little dialing in to do on that one. I also use the right knob to dial in some forward motion - that way I can get the Phantom flying "hands free" and focus on the camera work. That is enabled and disabled by a switch too.

Will post my program when I have the POV calibrated properly. Many thanks to Ian for the inspiration and enabling me to largely avoid reading the manual!!

Got a stiffie thinking about your Cinematography modes. Thanks for moving the ball down field, and looking forward to the insights and details.

Kelly

 

[Frendel]

2) "Cinematography" modes: I use a three way switch and the left volume knob for some yaw controls. Switch up is off - normal flight (no danger of forgetting to center the knob!). Switch in the middle is panorama - volume knob sets the speed and direction. Switch down is POV - volume knob sets the radius and direction of a POV circle. I still have a little dialing in to do on that one. I also use the right knob to dial in some forward motion - that way I can get the Phantom flying "hands free" and focus on the camera work. That is enabled and disabled by a switch too.

Will post my program when I have the POV calibrated properly. Many thanks to Ian for the inspiration and enabling me to largely avoid reading the manual!!

Got a stiffie thinking about your Cinematography modes. Thanks for moving the ball down field, and looking forward to the insights and details.

Kelly

Haha!

One could also simply sum it up with this old goodie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLnWf1sQkjY

 

[SJBrit]

Got a stiffie thinking about your Cinematography modes. Thanks for moving the ball down field, and looking forward to the insights and details.

Kelly

LOL! TMI.... ;-)

I'm almost done. Got the POV calibrated last night and just need to test later today. I just realized one great advantage of an auto-circling mode: no more VRS! Just flip into POV, set a medium radius circle and spiral down at max descent!

 

[ianwood]

OK, now I am a little excited by this prospect. Be sure to tell me what program mix settings you're using so I can put them into the main profile. Or just explain the basic concepts of how you did it and I can fill in the blanks. Hopefully, you're not using anything specific to the 14SG so the 8FGS users can use the same capabilities.

The only thing I would caution is the flyaway detection in the Naza. I think there is some function that throws the Naza into FS if the control input is "stuck" at the same settings for a period of time. I haven't seen it but I remember hearing about it as a feature that if the Naza gets the same exact input for a period of time, it assumes the signal is frozen or hijacked and will go to failsafe. We should test for that in a controlled environment.

 

[wkf94025]

I'm almost done. Got the POV calibrated last night and just need to test later today. I just realized one great advantage of an auto-circling mode: no more VRS! Just flip into POV, set a medium radius circle and spiral down at max descent!

Like the idea of using auto-circle with down elevator to achieve "corkscrew" descent.

Ian, we need to get you that 14SG ASAP so you/we don't code only to least common denominator. Happy to pass the hat amongst the 14SG owners if Futaba doesn't wake up soon.

Kelly

 

[sar104]

OK, now I am a little excited by this prospect. Be sure to tell me what program mix settings you're using so I can put them into the main profile. Or just explain the basic concepts of how you did it and I can fill in the blanks. Hopefully, you're not using anything specific to the 14SG so the 8FGS users can use the same capabilities.

The only thing I would caution is the flyaway detection in the Naza. I think there is some function that throws the Naza into FS if the control input is "stuck" at the same settings for a period of time. I haven't seen it but I remember hearing about it as a feature that if the Naza gets the same exact input for a period of time, it assumes the signal is frozen or hijacked and will go to failsafe. We should test for that in a controlled environment.

I haven't seen that happen and I use a combination trim to do exactly that spiral descent. But maybe I haven't run it for long enough to trigger FS. It would be good to know. Any idea if that is documented anywhere?

 

[wkf94025]

If down elevator is manually controlled by pilot in concert with programmatic auto-circle inputs from the radio, that *should* avoid stagnant inputs and trigger of FS. Not to say that a non-descent auto-circle might also have same risk. Perhaps user just needs to know that some slight input on left stick is needed to avoid FS.

Kelly

 

[Khudson7]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, the vibration-thing is definitely a very cool feature! I too think beeping warnings can be a bit annoying

Honestly, I am not trying to hijack this thread but....beeping?? vibrating???

I recently got a FrSky Taranis....and love it. I at first wanted a Futaba because of all the good reports but was a bit too expensive for me. Then read about the Taranis and that it had the features of the more expensive ones out there. And it is true. I love all the things that this thing can do...

But, getting back to beeping and vibrating....what about having it talk to you, tell you what switch you just flipped, or tell you a specific warning, Example: "Battery low", "Battery critical", "IOC OFF", "COURSE LOCK ON", "FLYING FOR 10 MINUTES", "FAILSAFE ACTIVATED, SIT BACK AND RELAX, IT IS COMING HOME" etc.etc. you can program practically any verbal warning you want and have it say whatever you want...I suppose if you like beeps, you can even record a bunch of beep .wav files and listen to all the beeping you want, if that turns you on.

Anyway, I could not afford a Fubata, but so far, after reading thru this entire thread, have not seen anything that i can not do on the Taranis. Perhaps there are advantages, but not having one, I am not seeing what there are(OK, some may say the different vibrating is a feature, got me there). But I DO love the voice messaging(can you tell?)

 

[Cr8tive_leo]

Voice gets annoying.

 

[Khudson7]

Voice gets annoying.

Then just turn down the volume button...or change the voice...for me, I have become dependent now on it for notifying me of my settings and warnings... to each his own, I guess.

 

[Cr8tive_leo]

Voice gets annoying.

Then just turn down the volume button...

Really???

 

[Khudson7]

Voice gets annoying.

Then just turn down the volume button...

Really???

Sorry, I was not trying to step on anyone's toes here...having recently purchased the Taranis and am very impressed with its capabilities and all of the programming features it has, I am still just curious what the big difference is between the two radios that justify a difference in price of around $200 as opposed to around $600 for the 14sg? (being able to vibrate, doesn't do it for me)

 

[wkf94025]

Suggest starting a new thread on Taranis vs Futaba.

Kelly

 

[Cr8tive_leo]

Suggest starting a new thread on Taranis vs Futaba.

Kelly

It's Not Taranis vs. Futaba. It's Open TX vs. the world. 9xr Pro does the same functions, it uses the same firmware. :ugeek:

 

[SJBrit]

OK, I'll do this in a few posts in the form of tutorial rather than posting my program - that way Ian can have a look at integrating with the default program. I pretty sure this will work on the 8FS too.

To start with, I did a test today with the Phantom hovering and a constant yaw rate applied. It hovered happily for 10mins before I got bored so I don't think there is any issue with the Naza entering a "lost signal" state with no changes in control input. I should point out that I am on Firmware 1.08 still, so someone should check this with the latest version just in case.

I'll go through the "cinematography" setup and the gimbal setup. These are all done using all 5 program mixes as follows:



Remember that "Gear" is actually the gimbal tilt. Here's what the mixes do:

1. Rudder mix. This gives the yaw rotation for panorama and POV modes
2. Aileron mx. This adds the sideways motion to turn panorama into POV
3. Switch/Gear mix. This sets the gimbal into "lookahead" "lookdown" and "manual" modes
4. Gear/Gear mix. This disables the right slider in the manual gimbal mode.
5. Elevator mix. This is the "straight ahead" tracking cinematography mode.

I'll go through 1, 2 & 3 in the next post, then I'll tackle the gimbal separately.

 

[SJBrit]

Cinematography Modes Post #1

Here's how they work:

SB along with the left dial (LD) controls panorama (pano) and POV modes:

- SB up is off - this should be your takeoff position since it disables any rudder or aileron inputs from the dial.
- SB middle is Pano mode: with the switch here the quad will rotate counter-clockwise when you turn LD counter-clockwise, and clockwise when you turn it clockwise. The further you turn it the faster the rotation.
- SB down is POV mode: with the switch here, instead of rotating CW/CCW when you turn LD the quad will circle and keep the camera pointing at the center. The first few clicks won't do much, but when you get to about 30% you'll be on a ~25m circle, and the further you turn it the tighter the circle down to about 3m. The 25, circle will take almost 2mins, and the 3m circle 10s. It scales in between.

Here's how you do it:

First, set up a program mix with LD as the master and RUD as the slave like this:



Assign SB:



And turn the mix on in the middle and lower switch positions:



Now you need to add another mix with LD as the master and AIL as the slave. Next post for that since I hit my attachment limit!

 

[SJBrit]

Cinematography Modes Post #2

Here's the LD/AIL mix:



Assign it to SB:



And set it to turn on only in the bottom switch position:



And that's it! Now you have pano and POV modes on LD selectable by SB. Don't forget to put SB up when you start up!!

 

[SJBrit]

For the tracking mode, you just need to do a similar thing but you are creating a mix with the right dial as the master, elevator as the slave, and assigning it to SC:

Here's the mix



Here's the switch assignment:



I set it up so it's only active in the lower switch position like this:



And that's it - now when you flip SC all the way down you can dial in a constant speed using RD: turn right for forward and left for backward. Again, add "SC Up" to your pre-flight tests!

 

[SJBrit]

Gimbal Post #1

So, onto my gimbal setup. First, I like to have a slow tilt rate so I set the servo speed to 22 (or whatever works for you). You find that at LINKAGE -> SRVO SPEED and set GEAR to 22.

Then I assign GEAR to the right slider (RS) under LINKAGE -> FUNCTION and go to page 2:



You'll see that I also assigned the left slider to TRIM which I have set at 20%. This gives you the full LS throw to dial in a small amount of gimbal tilt - a fine adjustment over wherever the gimbal is set using RS.

Note: when you calibrate using the Naza Assistant set LS to the center and move RS up and down through its full throw.

Next up: program trims.