Cyclops Storm wants to commit suicide!

[jweaver]

Last year I converted my WOT4 into an FPV setup and used a Cyclops Storm for Autopilot, RTH and HUD and it was flawless.

Problem was, I wasn't and I basically lost it.... Almost exactly a year ago today!.

I decided to start again and rebuild it, this time using a different plane and spent the autumn putting it together.. But then the winter set in, and I had lost my nerve and I never flew it....

2015 came, and I kept putting it off.. And finally, because it was the anniversary of my loss, I decided it was time to finally take my new plane out...

And tonight was the night.. I had already flown it before I put the 'electronics' in and I knew how it flew.. And after all my modifications, it still flew well... And then it came time to try "Pilot Assist" and it all went wrong.. 2 seconds after flicking the switch, it would start to turn and would then go hard over and I had to put it back to normal and recover the plane (And change my pants).

After a few attempt, I figured that there was something wrong and bought it down.. And this time I decided to read the manual.. It seems that I had forgot to calibrate it.. So I did that (it took about 30 seconds.. a lot longer than I remember) and I set off for another flight.

When I put it in PA, the same thing happened, and again I soiled myself...

After landing again and checking things out I realised that I could actually test this on the ground (I had completely forgotten this fact).. And the problem was apparant.. If I held it horizontal.. And flicked the switch, after a couple of seconds the ailerons would move to a position which would kick of a hard left turn.. If I banked the plane to the left, it would get to about 20 degrees where the ailerons would level.. And at this point I could rolls it left to right and the ailerons would do their thing and try to keep it level, even though the plane was at an angle..

But then it got worse.. THere would be a click and they would go the other way.. And then exactly the same thing would happen.. I could roll to the right.. And find the point where the ailerons would hold their position, but again the plane was in a 20-30 degree bank.

When i tested pitch.. The elevators would do nothing to hold its position.
.
Its a real mess.. I tried several times to calibrate.. And I also played around with the other options but to no avail.. Interestingly, when I look at the P & R indications, its fine.. So the plane appears to know when its horizontal/level.. But for some reason it wants to level out at an angle.

I have no idea what to do from here.. When I had my old one fitted in my WOT4 it was perfect and worked first time.. But this unit is not working at all.


Has anyone seen anything like this before? Got any ideas where I can start?

I need to fix this soon, as I am already nervous about flying after last years mishap and am frankly running out of underwear..  I could live without PA.. But the RTH feature does the same thing.. So if anything goes wrong and it goes into RTH, the plane will get its last wish and end up in bits.

Jon

[CurryKitten]

I had a weird drifting gyro issue - as seen here :

! No longer available

However, given the fact you say you AHI indicators (or roll/pitch numbers) look normal, it seems less likely to be this.

Even though in manual mode your ailerons are obviously fine, you can still find these can be reversed in PA - in which case everytime it attempts to stabalise, it goes further out.  Just making sure you've checked it out on the ground (before it goes loopy)

A video showing the problems would be useful to help people diagnose it.

[FPVSteve]

Also - have you set "servo centre" ?

You have to fly in manual mode, trim it, bring it down and hit "servo centre" to make the centre point of the servos for straight + level flight.

[BlueFlyer]

I would strongly suggest you reflash the unit with the latest firmware, otherwise you may just find yourself chasing your tail.

[English Turbines]

I would strongly suggest you reflash the unit with the latest firmware, otherwise you may just find yourself chasing your tail.

Yes, me too, my Storm was doing some wierd stuff and some parameters would not function from the keypad, plus the mah counter was not working ok either, I think 2.10 Firmware is the current release...BTW, if the plane wont fly properly in PA Mode, RTH wont work either.
Flash it.
Its bad of them to put known crap Firmware into units they are selling?..How hard can it be?

:vulture:

[jweaver]

Thanks all.. I captured all of tonight flight(s) and it does appear that the P & R indicators are all over the place.. But I need to sit down and study it for a while to see if this is really the case.

I am already running 2.1.. Are you suggesting that I re-flash it anyway? Do I need a special dongle for that?

Jon

Edit.. Just had a quick scan.. Its not right.. Its very erratic, so hard to keep track.. But I have seen cases of where the artifical horizon is pointing the wrong way to actual.. And I have seen a roll angle of 110 degrees, when the plane is clearly at more like 40-50 degrees.

Something is very wrong. And I since I have the latest firmware, I am not sure what to do... 

[English Turbines]

Thanks all.. I captured all of tonight flight(s) and it does appear that the P & R indicators are all over the place.. But I need to sit down and study it for a while to see if this is really the case.

I am already running 2.1.. Are you suggesting that I re-flash it anyway? Do I need a special dongle for that?

Hon

No, you can check the AP is working on the ground...In Pa Mode, plane level, roll it and check ailerons are moving to correct the roll, same with pitch....If not, dont even think of trying it up in the air...I found some zero setting using the keypad required a slightly deliberate and "long" keypress...You do need a USB interface to flash it...you need to de-case it and watch what you are doing or you could brick it....watch Painless 360 on UTube, I think he has a clip up showing how...

:vulture:

[jweaver]

No, you can check the AP is working on the ground...In Pa Mode, plane level, roll it and check ailerons are moving to correct the roll, same with pitch....If not, dont even think of trying it up in the air...I found some zero setting using the keypad required a slightly deliberate and "long" keypress...You do need a USB interface to flash it...you need to de-case it and watch what you are doing or you could brick it....watch Painless 360 on UTube, I think he has a clip up showing how...

:vulture:

I have to be entirely honest.. I completely forgot that you could check it on the ground.. I overlooked the fact that the P & R indicators plus the horizon are real time.. But when I was out today, and moving it around, I couldn't see any issues.. It was only during flight did I observe the issue.

But I will do some more tests with fresh eyes tomorrow and see where that takes me.

Jon

[English Turbines]

I have to be entirely honest.. I completely forgot that you could check it on the ground.. I overlooked the fact that the P & R indicators plus the horizon are real time.. But when I was out today, and moving it around, I couldn't see any issues.. It was only during flight did I observe the issue.

But I will do some more tests with fresh eyes tomorrow and see where that takes me.

Jon

Ok, sounds good...check your motor and prop is balanced really well....Giros hate vibration, and its those that fly the bird in PA and RTH...

:vulture:

[elmattbo]

Does the AHI look anything like this?
http://youtu.be/yrWTBDxKfJ0
If so the board needs to be replaced. Contact extraline on rcgroups, he designs the storm and replaced mine free of charge.
Outside of that, try flying it with heading hold and altitude hold off. If you haven't got a GPS fix heading hold doesn't work in the air or on the ground. Get it really level, calibrate the gyro and then ground test it and see what happens in PA mode.

[jweaver]

Does the AHI look anything like this?
http://youtu.be/yrWTBDxKfJ0
If so the board needs to be replaced. Contact extraline on rcgroups, he designs the storm and replaced mine free of charge.
Outside of that, try flying it with heading hold and altitude hold off. If you haven't got a GPS fix heading hold doesn't work in the air or on the ground. Get it really level, calibrate the gyro and then ground test it and see what happens in PA mode.

Nope.. It doens't look like that.. I don't have any kind of drift... If I put it flat and level, the P+R values are fixed and static at 0/0

I need to do some more testing, but I fear its faulty.. Problem is, its almost a year old, but was only used for the first time today, so I don't know if they will honor any kind of warranty.

Out of interest, how long does the calibration take? I was sure it only took a few seconds, but my current unit takes 25 seconds (flashing OK), which I am sure isn't right.

Jon

[elmattbo]

I have had calibration do that sometimes so it's hard to say if that's a problem.
The firmware flasher is only a few quid so give that a go. Really good instructions are on YouTube by bmsweb and  the latest firmware is on the rcgroups thread. Stick with the storm, loiter is coming!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jweaver]

I have uploaded the entire video.. Sorry that its so long, but I haven't had chance to edit it down.

Also, apologies for the flying.. Its quite erratic as it was my first light in a year and frankly I was crapping myself.. Plus the whole issue with PA was very unsettling me.. I never got settled into the flight, so its all over the place...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uwXtE0CZx8

Also, the first flight was an issue as I had a COG/Trim issue and the nose was pitching up... I corrected that after landing for the first time.

Some of the highlights I have found

4:45 - Roll showing upto 100 degrees, even though I am clearly more like 70 degrees
4:52 - PA
5:31 - PA
6:00 - PA
18:56 - Pitch, Roll and Horizon are clearly not right
23:12 - 23:39 - Long calibration
27:28 - PA

I am interested in your thoughts/obervations.. But please don't be too critical of my flight.. I know it was awful, but I was frankly terrified!

[jweaver]

loiter is coming!

Got to ask.. What is the Loiter mode.. I have seen it mentioned but can find little about it.

If I was to guess, is this a mode where it site in the same spot going round in circles? I guess like RTH, but instead of coming home, it stays where it is?

Jon

[jimbo19]

Video is private - cannot view