Instead of take-off and land in Qstab, I take off and land in QLoit. So much less drama on takeoff and landing. It also has the advantage of preventing arming before achieving satellite lock, thus avoiding possibly flyaways.
I happy to report my Manta (built in FC) maiden was great. I used a 1850 3500mah battery and when balanced correctly easy to take up. It held it's position in QLOITER and transitions to and from FBWA were very good. So for a rookie VTOL flyer I'm impressed. It's a great way to get started with VTOL's. Winds were fairly light so I'm sure that helped. I did notice it climbs sharply with throttle or turn into wind. Did you just tilt the manta a few degrees and redo the basic level setup or adjust settings to compensate? I don't want to touch too much at this point as it is flying good. Thanks for all your tips. John
Nice demonstration. Good to hear, you're enjoying the FIMI Manta. It cruises well, but it appears more tuning is required (not factory tuned, and Ardupilot defaults have been poor for a lighter weight planes). It's not clear if transitions where performed into wind to reduce a tendency to yaw related to wind and wind gusts, which could be a contributing factor? (eg: 4:36). Did notice a similar a wing drop occurred in fixed-wing mode later on at low speed. Ardupilot uses a time-based transition period if there is no airspeed sensor as it can't judge when the wing is at flying speed. PIDs during transition seem a bit wonky for this light aircraft, as it tends to overreact. Adjusting the transition period might help. From the description I see Ardupilot firmware 4.3 was flown. Ardupilot v4.4 released a month ago reportedly has a number of VTOL fixes geared to smaller planes (and Y setup). I don't know enough to give advise. It may be worth consulting someone more knowledgeable to learn if a firmware upgrade would offer benefits.
Transitions into the wind automatically. The amount of wind might be an issue due to Ardupilot seeing the lower ground speed into the wind and thinking the airspeed is insufficient to transition. I will update to 4.4 after a bit more fiddling.
Next video will show any damage/repairs? 🤔😱 With our old XK X520 and X450 multi-modes we found that setting both sticks for fully self-centring made for less stalls and the flight controls getting their knickers in a twist! For Vertical Take Off nothing beats a Kmart chuckie twin with 2:1+ thrust and for Vertical Landing an RC Switch released parachute! Repairs are just as likely to be needed - but a bit cheaper than with 1 of those. 😉
@@AndrewNewton Yep. The construction is a lot better (both in materials and geometry) than the toy Multi-modes. Plus the square Al tube should be easier to re-align with a pair of shifters. 😉
What battery are you using skipper? I maidened mine yesterday on 1850 3s and 3000 Li-ion and was only getting around 7 mins with minimal hover time.Maybe I need to back off the throttle more,my OSD wasn`t working so not sure of the numbers.
hi Andrew, After watching yours videos about the Manta, I decided to buy it. I noticed that when switching to RTH, your motors go into tricopter mode. When I flip my switch to engage RTH, my motors stay in airplane mode. What parameters did you modify to do the RTH in tricopter mode? Thanks in advance
@@AndrewNewton Thanks Andrew. One last question, did you use programming with 2 switches to obtain your differents flights modes? In the original programming, the RTH is programmed on CH7 and the flights modes on CH6, which limits the flights modes to 3 possibilities.
@@AndrewNewton yes I watched the video. So you no longer have RTL on the CH7. I found where this is programmed ! It's in the "Config / QP extended tuning" menu. This is an outdated way of assigning a flight mode to a channel, according to the Ardupilot documentation.
All my modes are now on Ch6 and I use QRTL not RTL. Set up in the Flight Modes Setup page using QGroundcontrol. I have never been to the QP extended tuning menu. I guess you are using Mission Panner?
Hi just tested my fiimi manta today the servos don't fully extended for normal forward flight and remain at a 40 degree angle, but when you try it on the bench without the motors spinning and transitions fine? Any advice. Thanks.
@@AndrewNewton Thanks for the reply, not put my 03 air unit in the plane yet so I don't know, wanted to test it line of sight to make sure it works before fitting Fpv gear
![☀ Квадрокоптер с аэродинамическим профилем и гигантским потенциалом [Fimi Manta]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LtOiG-wiL_M/mqdefault.jpg)
![☀ Квадрокоптер с аэродинамическим профилем и гигантским потенциалом [Fimi Manta]](/img/tr.png)
Thanks Andrew! 👍💪✌
Instead of take-off and land in Qstab, I take off and land in QLoit. So much less drama on takeoff and landing. It also has the advantage of preventing arming before achieving satellite lock, thus avoiding possibly flyaways.
Thanks, I will try QLoit. I always assumed it needed compass.
I happy to report my Manta (built in FC) maiden was great. I used a 1850 3500mah battery and when balanced correctly easy to take up. It held it's position in QLOITER and transitions to and from FBWA were very good. So for a rookie VTOL flyer I'm impressed. It's a great way to get started with VTOL's. Winds were fairly light so I'm sure that helped. I did notice it climbs sharply with throttle or turn into wind. Did you just tilt the manta a few degrees and redo the basic level setup or adjust settings to compensate? I don't want to touch too much at this point as it is flying good. Thanks for all your tips. John
Great to hear that. Always too much wind here for nice VTOLs
Nice demonstration. Good to hear, you're enjoying the FIMI Manta. It cruises well, but it appears more tuning is required (not factory tuned, and Ardupilot defaults have been poor for a lighter weight planes). It's not clear if transitions where performed into wind to reduce a tendency to yaw related to wind and wind gusts, which could be a contributing factor? (eg: 4:36). Did notice a similar a wing drop occurred in fixed-wing mode later on at low speed.
Ardupilot uses a time-based transition period if there is no airspeed sensor as it can't judge when the wing is at flying speed. PIDs during transition seem a bit wonky for this light aircraft, as it tends to overreact. Adjusting the transition period might help.
From the description I see Ardupilot firmware 4.3 was flown. Ardupilot v4.4 released a month ago reportedly has a number of VTOL fixes geared to smaller planes (and Y setup). I don't know enough to give advise. It may be worth consulting someone more knowledgeable to learn if a firmware upgrade would offer benefits.
Transitions into the wind automatically. The amount of wind might be an issue due to Ardupilot seeing the lower ground speed into the wind and thinking the airspeed is insufficient to transition. I will update to 4.4 after a bit more fiddling.
💕 👍
Next video will show any damage/repairs? 🤔😱
With our old XK X520 and X450 multi-modes we found that setting both sticks for fully self-centring made for less stalls and the flight controls getting their knickers in a twist!
For Vertical Take Off nothing beats a Kmart chuckie twin with 2:1+ thrust and for Vertical Landing an RC Switch released parachute! Repairs are just as likely to be needed - but a bit cheaper than with 1 of those. 😉
No damage in the long stiff grass. I'm probably a bit over weight with the 4S.
@@AndrewNewton Yep. The construction is a lot better (both in materials and geometry) than the toy Multi-modes. Plus the square Al tube should be easier to re-align with a pair of shifters. 😉
What battery are you using skipper? I maidened mine yesterday on 1850 3s and 3000 Li-ion and was only getting around 7 mins with minimal hover time.Maybe I need to back off the throttle more,my OSD wasn`t working so not sure of the numbers.
4S 18650 3500. Much less current used in wing mode
hi Andrew, After watching yours videos about the Manta, I decided to buy it. I noticed that when switching to RTH, your motors go into tricopter mode. When I flip my switch to engage RTH, my motors stay in airplane mode. What parameters did you modify to do the RTH in tricopter mode?
Thanks in advance
That's just because I was near the landing spot. Otherwise it would stay in wing mode until it reached home, then transition.
@@AndrewNewton Thanks Andrew.
One last question, did you use programming with 2 switches to obtain your differents flights modes? In the original programming, the RTH is programmed on CH7 and the flights modes on CH6, which limits the flights modes to 3 possibilities.
@@patricehonvault2612 Yes, 2 switches. I did a video about how before the Manta came
@@AndrewNewton yes I watched the video. So you no longer have RTL on the CH7. I found where this is programmed ! It's in the "Config / QP extended tuning" menu. This is an outdated way of assigning a flight mode to a channel, according to the Ardupilot documentation.
All my modes are now on Ch6 and I use QRTL not RTL. Set up in the Flight Modes Setup page using QGroundcontrol. I have never been to the QP extended tuning menu. I guess you are using Mission Panner?
Hi just tested my fiimi manta today the servos don't fully extended for normal forward flight and remain at a 40 degree angle, but when you try it on the bench without the motors spinning and transitions fine? Any advice. Thanks.
What does it say in the goggles when you try to go into FBWA mode in the air? Failing to transition for some reason.
@@AndrewNewton Thanks for the reply, not put my 03 air unit in the plane yet so I don't know, wanted to test it line of sight to make sure it works before fitting Fpv gear
Wow, good job it was a calm day....The transition was horrible....🤔😳🇬🇧
yes, later transitions were better but I dont know the trick yet
Rough transitions. I think my Xiake is much smoother and that is not the best.
Yes something to play with when I know a bit more