Gain tuning on vector?

[Nozer]

Have got my fpv plane flying decent for a few weeks now with only minimal adjustments on gains and other settings.
So now i am at the point of starting to tune the gains more seriously...

I have read the guides about gain tuning, and starting at 200 and the knob at 13%. But what i am curious about is how hard will the vector react to high gains?
I will only raise in small steps. But when it comes to the point its to high. Will it oscillate and behave really bad (crash) or is it easy to spot small osciłlatiions and just lower the gain?
Nice to know whats waiting.

My only experience with gains and pids are from quads. And wrong/high settings there could be fatal.

[SnoozeDoggyDog]

I've never had to tweak anything on my mini talon with a vector in it. Just how "tuned" does an fpv plane need to be?

P

[Nozer]

In general i ageee.
But when flying in windy conditions the plane is all over the place.
So the gains are absolutely needed to tweak.

[SnoozeDoggyDog]

I just use the pot and turn down the stab gain to about 15/22. I might be barking up the wrong tree, but again out of the box I've had no need to change stuff.

P

[Nozer]

The knob is enough when its a calm day.
But when flying in windy conditions, the plane is lika s leaf in the wind.

[SnoozeDoggyDog]

I've flown in what was being reported at 13-17 mph. No doubt it was higher speeds than that 250ft up. I didn't change anything other than the gain nob. But that isn't anything unusual even on calm days because sometimes I want to feel like I'm flying it, other days I'm happy to have a helping hand.

But play with the settings by all means and let us know how you get on.

P

[Loopdreams]

The knob is enough when its a calm day.
But when flying in windy conditions, the plane is lika s leaf in the wind.

I think you might be expecting a bit too much, there's only so much you can do with stabilisation and if the air is rough and turbulent any plane will get bounced around.

[Nozer]

You might have a point there as i been thinking the same thing.
But i have used other similar planes with frsky s6r (rx with stab) and they have compensated better.
This might be the result of a large wingspan and windy conditions = vecror cant do miracles.
Or it can be a matter of badly tuned gains.

Anyway i will try to adjust it to make it as good as it can be.

[Nozer]

Actually the plane is now in good shape. At least for the moment...
Have had a few experienced pilots looking over it as well as testing it.

Quick to blame? Before i found out about the spar, i was questioning the vector because at first sight the plane was ok and the vector was the only thing that no one knowed anything about. Not me, and not my club mates
And the spar was not broken. It just had a LOT of flex in it.
I bought the bixler as a second hand unbuilt kit.
A few pieces wasnt in the package, as well as a few pieces were different from what the manual said. So i can not be sure that the spar was the original one. Right diameter, right lenght. But flexed like hell when you bent it.
A fellow flyer got suspicious and disambled the plane on the field. Found the flex and i ordered a new spar. 
Yes, i have had problems with this plane. More problems than with any of my other planes.
But that is sorted out and the plane flies very nice.
Only question i asked in this thread is how much you can play with the gain to obtain optimal stabillity without risking any problems due to high gain.
I can live with the plane with the default settings for sure. It flies nice.
But as i said earlier its unstsable in the wind, so i want to try the gains.

Whats the point of having the possibillity to adjust settings if you shouldnt do it?

[BlueFlyer]

Quick to blame? Before i found out about the spar, i was questioning the vector because at first sight the plane was ok and the vector was the only thing that no one knowed anything about.

You came on here asking about the vector without first actually checking or getting someone else to check the physical condition of the plane. The assumption that fitting a flight stabilisation system will just "FIX" bad piloting, poorly setup or even faulty/broken aircraft is a dangerous one.

The golden rule is to have your aircraft working perfectly in manual flight before even considering the use of stabilisation.

I still have a hard time believing that a floppy spar gave you all that trouble in the other thread... clearly by opening this thread you're still having problems.

Could it be a duff Vector? theres always a possibility.

Whats the point of having the possibillity to adjust settings if you shouldnt do it?

Not saying you shouldn't do it... just pointing out that the majority of people that I know use the vector have never felt the need to adjust the individual gain settings inside the GUI, all simply use the knob to control the strength of the stability. It may not sound like it but I'm trying to help. If there is something wrong mechanically or physically with your aircraft, then chasing your tail with the vector's gain settings is NOT going to help you get the good FPV flight experience you're after.

[Nozer]

I understand your skeptism. And i cant do anything morr than trying to explain. What do i have to win by tell lies?

When trying the plane before enabling the vector, i just flyed LOS in low speed and small adjustments on the sticks.
Afraid to crash due to pilot error. And as far as my experience goes, the plane handled it nice.
When enabling the vector i flew with googles on, and at higher speeds.
My thoughts is that a flexing wing made the vector nervous and compensated like it were on speed..

All this is sorted out. And when flying in calm conditions its more or less perfect.
Might be that the vector and plane have limits i cant overcome when i talk about windy days...
A normal Day here the wind is like 5-6km/h, and gusts at 20km/h
Today, and like many other days we had like 10-12km/h and 40-50km/h gusts.

I i can tune for that im happy, otherwise its ok anyhow.

[FPVSteve]

Not with a Bixler - you'll need something a little heavier for those types of winds if you want stable flight.

Might I suggest a Boeing 747? :laugh: