[prnet]

Hello at all. After some years i'm trying to rebuild my drone, using a Revo Mini. I use an oplink for telemetry and m8n gps. (once i used to have an arduino board).

I cannot arm the quad. All the alarms are green, but when I try to arm, the ATTI and STAB rectangles on GCS became red for a moment, and a red cross appear for a moment too, as also disarmed rectangle flash yellow for a moment and the quad clearly wont arm.

I tryed to configure  everything, the terrain scope show and the 3d quad model respond good when i rotate the quad... home configured...
I also tried to configure an ubex m8n gps, but i have the same issue.
Gps seems well configured (i configured with ubex messages) and it fix more than 10 satellites.
I tried also to use an external magnetometer connected to flexy i2c port, but it seems to not get any value.
however, the board magnetometer seems to work, and send correct values.
Arm is set on yaw control, RC is well configured.
in a few words.. either with 15.09 and 16.09 i have the same issue.

So.. the quadcopter doesn't want to arm .. any idea? thanks, everybody.

[TheOtherCliff]

Are you still using Basic AttitudeEstimationAlgorithm ?

If so, this happens sometimes when the gyro sensor has more noise than normal (but still could be good and flyable).
https://forum.librepilot.org/index.php?topic=2910.msg20215;topicseen#msg20215
Well, this should only happen in 16.09 ...

[prnet]

Thanks, well, i'm using basic(complementary) fusion algorithm..
Magnetometer scope seems to be died..
raw magnetometer sends good values.
I'm starting looking also at barometer which seems to send wrong values now.. maybe too high.

However, if i switch to complemetary+mag on magnetometer scope alternates between warnings and ok tags.
I included settings if somebody could help me.
Thanks, Paolo

[TheOtherCliff]

It won't arm if you use Complementary but have some GPS modes on your FMS.

I suggest you start simple.  Leave it Complementary.  Set Flight Mode Switch to have only simple (non-GPS) modes like Stabilized 1 (Attitude) without "Assisted Control" (that is GPS Assist).  Disconnect Aux Mag.  Don't use a cloud config.  Use PWMSync for ESC protocol.  Use default config and don't change anything till you have it flying.

Baro a little high isn't a problem.  It's all relative.  It doesn't care if you are at 300m and want to climb 1m or if you are at 400m and want to climb 1m.

I see that you have a red ? and a red boot fault on your system health.

[f5soh]

Hi,

In all cases the 'Raw Magnetometer' scope show the onboard and auxiliary mag readings.
The "Magnetometer" scope show the Mag readings taken in account (can be onboard or auxiliary) when you use a Fusion Algorithm using Magnetometer.
Simple Complementary do not use Mag and others yes.

The Barometer scope show the pressure (black trace) with high number around 100000 so you cannot see precisely the others traces (temperature and altitude) because the vertical scale is shared. If you double click on scope and disable the temperature and pressure traces, altitude will be displayed alone and more precisely.

Boot alarm will prevent for Arming, simply reboot the board. Remove power, disconnect and connect again.

[prnet]

the red boot alarm is due to a couple of changes i made. I just shooted a screenshot after that.
A reboot is enough to fix that red warning.

I already set a simple configuration too and disconnected either gps and external mag (i also reconfigured properly the configuration board).
I'm trying to keep things as simple as u suggest.
the only weird parameter seems the barometer temperature, which fails to calibrate and show kind of 0 value.

I think also that gps is excluded from the problem because i excluded it from the flight modes.
The problem is always present.. in gps mode, and in basic complementary too.
It must be due to something else.. but I'm giving up, as it is very stressing to have everything semming well configured and cannot arm up the quad..

The only doubt that I have is that theboard is positioned on the top of quad, made of alluminium. I wonder if this can distort the readings (but why only when i try to arm?!).

[TheOtherCliff]

On top of a metal quad should not cause arming problems.

You should use all nylon/plastic mounting hardware for the FC, even the screws and standoffs.

Have you done the first 3 calibrations on the Attitude->Calibration page?  See the Attitude->Help page for help.

Are you using the onboard OpLink?  Try disabling it (set to 0 power and reboot).  I had some strange things happen that turned out to be the antenna was disconnected.  It could also be shorted.  Even shorted in the board sometimes with these cheap clones.

I would export my current settings (in case I wanted them back), erase settings, and start over (GPS/mag unplugged and disabled).  OpLink disabled.  You should be able to get something flyable within an hour.  Run the wizard, do some calibrations.

[prnet]

i'll give a last try disabling the board oplink.  Is there a debugger to enable or something that could help me  to catch the error?

[prnet]

in my version 16.09 this tab is not present?! any idea?
I saw in another thread that it was added on a rc15.09, but i discovered this setting tab on a youtube video.
any idea?

[TheOtherCliff]

If you are running the release version of 16.09 and you have an FC that has mags and you have it plugged in USB, it finally shows up after several seconds for the FC to boot up.

Plug in USB and look at Configuration->Hardware tab.  Picture will have small text saying what the FC is.  Do you have a CC3D, not a Revo, or somehow got a CC3D bootloader on to the Revo?  You can also look at Firmware tab for direct easy display of the board type.

CC3D does not have a baro.  That might explain the arming problems (if you have a baro thrust mode enabled).

[prnet]

going to verify as soon as i'll be home..
the FC has accel, gyro, baro and mag of course..
on raw scope i can clearly see mag data..
but i'm going to verify firmware version and and i'll post.
In the hardware tab I remember that it is shown Revo (not my mini version image, but i think that it's the same, my board it's just smaller).
When i opened the board enclosure I clearly saw that all the components are in place).
my FC is attached (but m8n ublox gps instead of the one in the pic).

[prnet]

I was finally able to set the external magnetometer on i2c port, and match the orientation with board mag.
External mag is quite precise, but the board mag reaches 20% error also.

I was able to arm the quad for a moment but I have now some other problem.

The system seems very busy, RX is on the red and sends more than 2200 packets.
every 3-4 or 5 seconds i2c and cpu flashes red which indicates too much activity.
For the truth rx has always been at max values but now cpu alarm started to give problems.
Also tx input always has some lags.

am I missing something else?
here attached config, thanks.

[TheOtherCliff]

I2C aux mag can cause this.  For several reasons it can have an I2C problem and that can cause red CPU or reboots.

I would try to make a better I2C cable.  Shorter is better.  I haven't tried it, but I would make the IC2 cable 3 wire instead of 2 wire, with the 3rd wire being a ground.  You can add some external pullup resistors too.

Also, 16.09 has "software configured pullups" coded in.  Earlier versions do not.  You should be running 16.09 or later.

[prnet]

It could depend on lots of factors.. maybe ram related... or firmware related.. maybe due to new versions which uses more resources?! or too much data to evaluate... or config.. And think that i was able to fly with a simple arduino mega 8 bit

Honestly  I don't know what to think.. The last possibilities is to find and try another firmware version or another firmware.
The FC behavior is too weird to work.
I already spend full evenings only trying to config a boad that should have flied in 10 min config.

However, thank you for your time and replies. You helped me a lot and you gave me hints. Unfortunately it seems liek that the board is like an evil that doesn't want to fly.

Have a nice day,
Paolo

[f5soh]

I2C error comes from I2C... errors.

That said you may redo the wiring, shorten the wires and maybe add pullups to ensure the I2C dialog still fine in all conditions.

Nothing evil or magic.