Spirit System

First off I'd like to say that I love my Spirit and the community that comes along with it. Tomas, you've done a great job. However the main reason I bought the Spirit is for the recovery, but it remains unreliable at best. I know most people have no issues, but there are quite a few who do. I've taken all the steps making sure it's mounted evenly on all axises, verified Piro Optimization with you, verified vibrations are in check. Yet on some heavy 3D flights the angle is so bad that it recovers towards the ground. I've tried a new Spirit unit, yet still have the same issues.

I fear that I may have to switch to something like a vbar soon that doesn't change level readings throughout the flight, and where you can self calibrate the unit.

I know my helicopter may have something unique that the current Spirit software doesn't like, but my question before I switch is, do you think 1.3 will remedy this problem for people like me? And if so, could you please give me an estimate on when it will be released.

Thank you again!

We are testing the rescue for many years constantly in the most demanding flights that are possible, yet we are achieving just perfect results. We believe that there is no problem in the firmware.
It is very hard to fix something that is not reproducible even with flying of 3D Master pilots.

Can you send video from the beginning of the flight to the end, please?
If it is not possible, than at least detailed description of what you are doing from connection of the battery.

I think that there is still something wrong (it could be for example too noisy BEC, no ferrite rings). What version of the unit you have - do you see Spirit System label on the PCB when you are looking through the connector loom?
If you observing such poor performance then definitively something is very wrong.

Did you tried older firmware for comparison?
There was few pilots with the same problems (in previous versions). After days to months of searching for the issue, problem was always on the helicopter, settings or the unit itself. Fortunately we can solve each of these.

If you believe, that Vbar is better, then you can try it. This is your choice. Altough you can read about many crashes just because of rescue failure. Moreover Vbar has no stabilisation or similar options for the rescue.

Setting of the level is very unreliable, because it means you have to use accelerometer to the high extent, but it can't work properly due to its nature. Accelerometers are extremely sensitive for the vibrations.
Few years ago we have used same method with setting of the level, but it really can't work as good as our current solution.

If you can describe more the issue with the details, I am sure that we can solve the problem.
If you are interested we can offer you to participate in our development program, so you can try and check if it is getting better.

Thank you for the vote of confidence and the help. I'll try to leave space after every question as there are a lot, lol. Yes I see the Spirit System on the PCB. In the first picture below, it shows overcrowding of the servo plugs. Is this normal?

It's hard getting the Bluetooth module plugged back in to the system port sometimes. Today I tried two new things, increased the BEC voltage to 6V from 5.2V and completely disconnected the Bluetooth module. No change. Btw, should should I max run the BEC at the highest acceptable voltage for the Spirit?

The stock Horizon H3050 servos are a little jittery under load and I have new KST ds215mg servos coming to replace them. Do you think that could be the problem?

I'm using a Hobbywing Platinum 50a v3. Do I need to place a ferrite ring somewhere on its wires?

How do I know if it is noisy?

Is there a magnetometer on the Spirit that is getting interference?

The same problem existed with a Talon 35 so I'm thinking that's not the issue. My 360cfx flight procedure is pretty standard, rx on, then battery connected, wait still for Spirit Initialization, put canopy on, in about 20 seconds on level ground I spool up at 1800 rpm, then switch to idle2 2900 rpm when in the air. I always test Acro recovery and it's perfect. I fly mostly tail in, and can only do rolls, loops, tic tocs, aileron tic tocs, rainbows, and Piro Flips. I usually test recovery again after each move, and the recovery angle usually gets worse each time. The heading, however, aways remains the same. The heading each flight almost always stays from 270 degrees to 0 degrees. Zero being straight in front of me and 270 degrees being directly left of me. Also, when the recovery angle is getting worse, stabilization on Idle1 starts tilting in the same heading direction. When I'm not doing 3D, the recovery angle doesn't change much. I'll verify that again tomorrow with a flight of mild scale flying.

It also seems that the less I use the recovery the better it is. I probably average 7 times in a 4 minute flight. Not because I need it but because I don't have confidence that it will work when needed. I'm wondering if excessive use contributes to the problem and pros don't see much because they barely have to use it. What other things have pilots done to remedy this issue?

I would love to try a beta version of 1.3 if that is what you are offering. I know on Helifreak you said that you were tweaking the level and Stabilization settings for the next release. Thank you again for all your help!


https://www.dropbox.com/s/xdaanrpn5a0h9 ... 1.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zaczpe7fw8rjs ... 1.jpg?dl=0

hi,
do you have a cooler fan on the Hobbywing ESC? I remember that a user had problems with rescue/selflevel because of the hobbywing fan.

Thank you for the info.

Mostly the problem is in the wrong piro optimization settings - in this case rescue does not work correctly even with basic flight, stationary pirouettes are not good, inprecise flight, ..

You shouldn't set higher voltage on the BEC than your servos can handle.

Ferrite rings should be used always if possible altough mostly it is working fine without. Ring should be placed at the end of the wire (closer to the unit).

There is nothing that can be affected by normal RF interference in the unit.

Great, I will contact you regarding the firmware.