Inav on 49" FPV Flying Wing

[Derek]

I've wanted a flight stabilizer, of some kind, on this wing for quite some time....not that it really needs it. This wing flies pretty smooth on it's own.

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But then I've also wanted Return to Home, OSD, voltage monitoring, and some other features. I've really wanted to get an Eagletree Vector but that full setup would be $250 with shipping. But, a few months ago, I found out about Inav (not sure what it stands for, lol) and Inav can be flashed onto flight controllers that are used on racing quads. Then I find out that an inexpensive GPS unit can be connected to it, too. Then I find out about RTH, auto launch, integrated OSD built into the flight controller. Awesome! Then I find out that the fc that is being talked about is an Omnibus F4 v1 flight controller (ordered from Banggood) and it's a mear $24.99US. Too cool! The GPS unit is only $19.99US, also available from Bangood but I got mine from ebay. So, it would seem that I can get a flight controller, with TONS of bells and whistles, for about $50.00US. Amazing!

You all know that I'm not very good at documenting projects but I will try to share my progress here.

Heres a pic of the Omnibus F4 v1 with the pins soldered (lots of pins)

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Got the connectors cut off the GPS unit and soldered some new wire with servo connectors

gps soldered.jpg (80.42 KiB) Viewed 5525 times

Unfortunately, the progress had to stop for the night but will resume on my next day off.

[Derek]

I did forget to mention that I needed something to mount the flight controller on because it has some ports on the underside and would be impossible to just stick to the inside of the component compartment. So, I just cut a 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" square from some 1/8" plywood, marked and drilled the holes for the standoff mounting. Glued the standoffs in place and attached the flight controller.

Now, I have something that can be secured with relative ease.

[Stambo]

Lol your super high tech mount is almost identical to mine.
Right down to the hot glued in standoffs.
I have the V2 omnibus though so I will have current monitoring an mah used.

[Derek]

I didnt know about the difference when i bought the v1. Ill likely order the v2 for the current sensor

[Derek]

Oh wow....I've just spent 6 hours working on this board and I have some good news and confused news.

The good news is that the GPS is working without troubles. It was really cool to see that, even in my house, it was picking up 11 satellites and there was a GPS map on my laptop screen that showed my neighborhood and there was a pin where my house is on the map. Too cool!

The confusing news is that I couldn't get the Spektrum AR7700 receiver to work in Inav. I know it's properly bound. I know it's properly connected via a servo cable. I tried to get it to work properly in the Receiver Tab....but, no. In the Config Tab, I set it for PPM RX input then clicked Save and Reboot. When I checked the Config Tab again, it has reverted back to PWM RX input. I went through this several times. I spoke with a guy on Facebook that instructed me to read about the PPM/SBUS jumpers that are near the PPM/SBUS pins. After reading a bit, I found that I needed to remove the jumper on the SBUS resistor. OK, so I did that and now I get nothing in the Receiver Tab. I've tried using the SRXL port in the AR7700....enabled UART1 for SerialRX...changed the PWM RX input to SerialRX input..clicked Save and Reboot. When I wiggle the elevator stick up and down, almost all of the available 16 channels moved around very eratically.

So, 6 hours later, all that I've accomplished was getting the GPS working. It's time to put it away for now and just refresh myself.

Some of the other "less than helpful" people on facebook were telling me things like:
F1 boards are crap
the v1 Omnibus is crap
I should have bought the v5 board
Spektrum is crap
Should have bought a Taranis

Lots of negativity!

[Stambo]

Sorry Derek, I can't help with Spektrum as I run a Taranis.
I am sure there will be a video out there somewhere that tells you how, just a matter of finding it.

That negativity is just part of being on the net unfortunately.
Lots of people say things from behind a keyboard that they would not have the balls to say in your face.
I learnt to go past it and ignore all that crap a long time ago.
I would rather spend my time trying to help the "good people".

[Derek]

Did you have to lift one of those resistors to get your SBUS to work?

[Stambo]

Nope, did nothing on the board, just set it in the ports tab and the configurator and it worked.
I think the ports tab has to be done first before the config, other wise it won't work.

[Derek]

Im workinf tonight and tomorrow. Maybe i can do a bit of video and post it. Maybe you can give me your opinion

[DOG]

That negativity is just part of being on the net unfortunately.
Lots of people say things from behind a keyboard that they would not have the balls to say in your face.
I learnt to go past it and ignore all that crap a long time ago.
I would rather spend my time trying to help the "good people".

You're so right Stambo about the BS on line. It seem that people grow hair around their balls when they are behind the keyboard vs in real life. You can't believe everything you here.That's why I like this site to get the right answer without the bull. I know that the members on here tell it like it is. I really appreciate everyone's help! Keep up the good work. I'm learning alot... little by little.

[Derek]

Change in plan. We are going to remove the Full Naze32 board from Dad's 450 quad and install my Omnibus v1. I have two Omnibus v2 boards coming. One of these will go into my fpv wing. I decided to order the v2 boards because it has the current sensors. I thought this would be a good idea because, if this all works out like I think it will, I'll need some kind of means to monitor the voltage so that I don't forget to come back and land, lol

[Stambo]

Derek, V1 board will monitor the voltage, just not the amp draw.
Good idea though, your Dad will finally be able to fly his quad.

[Derek]

Well, i hope that we can get Dads quad flying. I cant get the motors to spool up evenly.....but thats another thread

[Derek]

Oh my.....On November 5, I ordered two Omnibus F4 v2 flight controllers, as an upgrade from the v1. I ordered them from Gearbest.com because Banggood was out of stock. I finally got some tracking information on November 11....my package was finally in the US. Through out the next 10 days, my package made 8 stops before finally making it to my house, today. The funniest part about this whole thing is that, according to the tracking information, my package was in my home state, less than 40 miles away, just 3 days ago. Then it went to Ohio (one state east) and then to Michigan (one state north) and then back to my state. Unreal!

Well....at least they are finally here and I can begin the install into my 49" fpv wing.

[Derek]

...and we have positive forward progress. Whew!

My Omnibus F4 v2 boards arrived. I have a GPS unit in hand. I have the special JST SH connector that I need to connect the GPS unit to the fc. I began to go through the video series, on YouTube, provided by Matthew Ogborne. He's done a fantastic series on setting up Inav on these boards.

So far, this is what I have done:

latest firmware flashed
pins soldered
gps connected and working
some settings done in the Configuration tab, Failsafe Tab, and Advanced Tuning Tab....all that were recommended by Matthew

I'm quite happy with that! Then came the dreaded Receiver Tab. This is the tab that I couldn't get working for me before, with the v1 board. I couldn't get a Serial, nor PPM, connection. Very frustrating! I have a Spektrum AR7700 rx with satellite rx. I wanted to use this with a Serial or PPM receiver protocol. Unfortunately, Matthew Ogborne won't be much help because he flies Taranis. I connected my rx to the fc and I began to "trial and error" set and change the UART3 and the protocol in the Config Tab. Nothing was working right. To speed the story up a bit, after about 30 minutes of searching, I found an article that had a very helpful image and they talked about how to get a PPM signal to work...but removing this one teeny tiny itsy bitsy, small as possible, resistor

removed resistor.png (579.43 KiB) Viewed 5479 times

Whoa! That's small! I read that these guys were just using a small screwdriver to strip that resistor off. So......"Where's my small screwdrivers?" LOL It took a couple of small scratches but I was able to get that resistor off. Got back to my laptop....connected everything back up....turned on Inav GUI...changed to PPM RX Input....turned on my DX8....went to the Receiver Tab and...................IT'S WORKING!!!!!!!!!! I am in such a good mood! I can see the channel sliders move with each stick input....each flip of the switches makes their appropriate channel sliders move. Just awesome!

Anyway...I just wanted to share that with you guys! We are making some progress. Time to go do the channel reversing, setting endpoints, flight modes, OSD, current sensor, and whatever else I can, lol. I might be able to install this new rx and fc into my plane real soon!!!

[DOG]

Hey there Derek. Forward progress is always a good thing. Sounds like you coming down to the home stretch. I'm simply amaze at you talent and perseverance . With that all said ... keep up the good work and best of luck on the rest of the project We will see you at the finish line. Thanks for sharing your progress and findings.

[Derek]

Thanks DOG! I've gotta say, any talent that I have is because of the guys here, at the Hangout, and many hours of researching text and watching videos. Eventually I get to the point where I can visualize what's going on, or what's suppose to happen, and then I do what I can to replicate those results. I've finished with the channel reversing, travel endpoints, OSD, and GPS. I'm not watching a video on how to solder the main power wires to the fc. I'm going to have to go get my 49" wing and put it in front of me so that I can plan out wire lengths.

[Derek]

Stambo....I've been going through Matt Ogbornes videos as I go though my install. Did I hear him right...I thought I heard him say that the flight controller doesn't power the servos. If that's the case, how do the servos get power?

I thought that the servo cables would get connected to the PWM Outputs on the flight controller. Is this wrong?

[Stambo]

Stambo....I've been going through Matt Ogbornes videos as I go though my install. Did I hear him right...I thought I heard him say that the flight controller doesn't power the servos. If that's the case, how do the servos get power?

I thought that the servo cables would get connected to the PWM Outputs on the flight controller. Is this wrong?

What ESC are you using?
If that has a BEC, power comes from there.

Yup, servos connect to PWM outputs as normal.

[Derek]

Im using a Plush 60amp esc. It has its own bec. So...I'll leave the red wire connected and just connect the servos to PWM 3 and 4. Thanks!