Recently, we got our first flight test finished. It works, except for the fact that the motors are receiving different amounts of power. I’m too afraid to crank up the power enough for full takeoff, but some motors reach that threshold earlier than others.
Is there any way to calibrate motor power individually? I want to offset the power of certain motors so that all four reach takeoff simultaneously.
Hey Jonah. Is this occurring even when you take off quickly? We’ve found this is probably just a quirk of the PID controllers that control motor speed when you take off too carefully/conservatively. If you give throttle input while the drone is still on the ground and it doesnt’t take off, it will “wind up” the PID controllers that are trying to fix small differences in how level the drone is, etc. We’ve found it’s best to take off quickly to avoid that.
@Jonah I think @Kyle_Millican hit the nail on the head. You want to get to 50% throttle pretty quickly (assuming were talking about the base drone without all the peripherals) and above the ground effect zone which makes the drone pretty unstable and hard to fly. Aim to throttle up to 50-60% quickly and up to a 3-4’ hover and you should be good to go. Feel free to post a video if you’d like us to observe.
Here is a video I put together on ground effect last year, to help explain what Dennis is talking about:
Thank you so much!
This is exactly what I needed to hear, makes me a little nervous to rush into takeoff faster, but if it’s what needs to happen then I’ll do it gladly.
I tried to tell teams last year that they need to commit to the takeoff. At the same, don’t overcommit and jump to 100% throttle and slam the drone into the ceiling like one team I said that to, but you can’t be shy about it. It takes some practice to get a good feel for it.